Strength of characters

The tale focuses on best friends Jiang Nansun and Zhu Suosuo－played by Liu and Ni, respectively－who lead completely different lives, but always support each other no matter what, whether one is trapped in a doomed affair or the other is struggling with her career.

In the story Zhu is young when her parents split up and she is sent to live with her uncle's family. Self-taught, she grows to be streetwise, yet sophisticated. After landing a job in high-end property sales, she works diligently, but her beautiful looks and ambition make her a subject for the office rumor mill.

Jiang is almost the opposite, as she grew up in a rich family. Her home is a luxurious villa in downtown Shanghai's Fuxing Street. Her life is full of high-end brands and expensive hairstylists. Even during routine dinners at home, the family's table is served with dozens of mouthwatering dishes cooked by a nanny. However, Jiang believes she is like a bird imprisoned in a golden cage and dreams to escape.

Just like the common viewer, Qin says she has sat, curled up on the sofa, to watch the latest episodes, as she's barely visited the film sets of her stories.

"I like both of the two leading actresses, whose natural acting chops authentically bring to life of the two characters. Liu Shishi matches the temperament of her well-educated character, who's gentle yet unyielding, while Ni Ni vividly portrays an ambitious and magnanimous woman," says Qin, a Shanghai native herself, who graduated from the Central Academy of Drama.

A prolific writer who, alongside the late martial arts novelist Louis Cha and sci-fi writer Ni Kuang, became dubbed as one of the "three top miracles" in the golden age of Hong Kong literature, Yi Shu has penned around 300 books, most of which feature strong female characters and are written in short and sharp sentences that belie their thought-provoking depth.

"Yi Shu's wording is a powerful charm that easily draws you into the story's atmosphere, but what makes Jiang and Zhu's story quite relatable is their enduring friendship," says Qin. "It makes me believe that friendship can stand the test of time much better than love."

However, the author's stories are widely believed to be a difficult task when it comes to being adapted for the screen, due to their shortage of plot twists and character development arcs. Qin reveals that she writes biographies for every major character before starting to pen the script.

"In most of Yi Shu's novels, male characters come and go and are often fleeting, adding to the difficulty in adapting her work into a TV drama, as viewers are used to seeing a major character exist through the entirety of the story," Qin further explains.