A Romance of the Little Forest Drama Review

• Title: A Romance of The Little Forest Drama
• Also Known As: 两个人的小森林, Two People’s Little Forest , Liang Ge Ren De Xiao Sen Lin
• Director: Cai Cong
• Casts: Vin Zhang, Yu Shu Xin
• Genres: Romance, Comedy
• Country: China
• Type: Drama
• Episodes: 35
• Year: 2022
• Original Network: Youku
• Where to Watch: Viki, Croton Megahit Channel on Youtube

Hello again. How are you today? I hope you all are alright, dear readers. Today I posted A Romance of the Little Forest drama review. A nice drama to watch. Let’s go!

A Romance of the Little Forest Synopsis

A Romance of the Little Forest was a Chinese romance drama, released in 2022. For Yu Meiren there were only two things that made her excited: Birds and makeup. Yu Meiren worked as a famous beauty blogger who record many videos of her trying new makeup. She was dedicated to her job and had gained many online followers. And with a smart boss who supported her, nothing can stop the Mermaid With Long Legs. The only problem was her job as a blogger must be kept from her parents, who wanted her to have a more stable job such as a teacher or scientist.

Aside from spending hours in front of the mirror, Yu Meiren also spends hours walking around parks or little forest near her home to take tons of pictures of birds. Not many knew that the famous beauty blogger also hold a doctorate in ornithology. Bird watching was the only reason that made Yu Meiren woke up early in the morning. Her bird photography skill was also famous online.

However, her not-so-simple life was shaken once more when she met her love interest back in college, Professor Zhuang Yu. Realizing that their path was crossed again, Yu Meiren made a plan to get close to him out of personal interest. She wanted to avenge her sadness of being stood up by Zhuang Yu back in the college year.

It was quite intricate for Yu Meiren to get close to the icy professor. But an opportunity came when she had to move to the same apartment building as his. The increased intensity of interaction between them ignites Yu Meiren feeling for Zhuang Yu. The revenge mission has changed into a love mission.

A Romance of the Little Forest Review

I was late to watch A Romance Of The Little Forest because it has been a while since I opened my Viki app. Lately, I was stuck on the WeTV app, so when I opened Viki and found this sweet drama, I was surprised. A Romance of The Little Forest was Vin Zhang and Yu Shu Xin’s (Esther Yu) drama. Hence, I have to watch it. Fortunately, I could keep up with the episodes, and last night I just finished the drama. It was a sweet ending, I did not cry, but my heart felt warm.

I loved Vin Zhang when he was acting in historical dramas, such as Eternal Love: Ten Miles of Peach Blossom drama and The Flame’s Daugter drama. He was always stunning in costumes. In this drama, he acts as a genius scientist.

His gold-rimmed eyeglasses gave a sense of sophistication to his look. And I’ve never thought that I could be blushing every time I saw a scene when Vin Zhang stared at Yu Shu Xin in a close-range shot. He was a mesmerizing handsome man, indeed.

Delighfull Sights

While I haven’t gotten used to seeing Yu Shu Xin in modern clothes (FYI, I still wrote the Love Between the Fairy and Devil episode recap), she is still cute with her bangs. Her voice still annoying though, but that was her charm. It completely suited her character as a pampered beauty influencer. And I really like her dresses and minibags in this drama… very cute!

A Romance of The Little Forest gave me such a delightful experience. The visual was great. There were many sets in this drama, I could recall the apartments, the university, the office, the hometown, Meiren Homestay, the vineyard, Zhuang Yu’s university abroad, and don’t forget the forest.

I might miss some sets, but you know what I mean. It was a feast for your eyes because the production team arranged the sets in a beautiful and Pinterest-style aesthetic. I like Zhuang Yu’s apartment, especially his study where many beautiful plant drawings were hung on the wall.

I almost forget to mention the soundtracks and the background music. Yu Shu Xin and Vin Zhang’s duet was adorable and their music GOOD!

The Story

Before we start the story, I would warn you that this is a drama about two young scientists. Yu Meiren and Zhuang Yu often use many scientific names in their conversation. I did not check them all, but as far as I know, some of them were real. However, I’m going to give you some information about Artemisinin, which was mentioned a lot in this drama. Since it was Zhuang Yu’s field of interest.

According to Wikipedia, Artemisinin was a chemical compound extracted from Artemisia annua or sweet wormwood. This plant is commonly used in Chinese traditional medicine. Artemisinin is now used as a standard treatment worldwide for malaria, a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals.

Okay… let’s go back to the story!

A Romance of The Little Forest’s pace was slow, but I enjoyed it. The character development was visible, Zhuang Yu who was cold and emotionless become a warm person and surprisingly flirtatious. While Yu Meiren face her appearance anxiety because of bullying trauma and took a step to reach her dream as an ornithologist.

The people around Yu Meiren and Zhuang Yu were amusing. For instance, Jin Xi and Li Tian Tian. It was funny to see them. Unfortunately, when they become an item, their love story was so-so. Nothing from their relationship excites me. Yu Meiren’s family members have different characters. Mother Yu or Sherlock Feng, was smart and good at investigating.

Father Yu was a submissive husband, always agreeing to whatever Mother Yu said. However, he was a good cook. Yu Meinan, Yu Meiren’s little brother, was too sweet and childish. But all of them share the same trait: Nosey! With that kind of family around her, no wonder Yu Meiren developed such an eccentric character. But they were kind people who cared for each other. My favorite was Zhuang Yu’s family. His little brother was cute, and her mother was interesting…😅

Yu Meiren and Zhuang Yu’s relationship was quite dynamic. At first, it was Yu Meiren who chased him. She wanted to make him fall in love with him out of revenge, but then she needed him to pretend to be her boyfriend. When the romance started to bloom, they had a misunderstanding that made them estranged for months. And after that, it was Zhuang Yu’s turn to chase her. Therefore, the story was quite interesting and far from boring.

Well, except for the scenes when they had to catch the bird smuggler. I felt that the subplot was too forced. But, it was kinda funny to see Vin Zhang in a 90’s Versace-styled silk shirt…😅.

A Romance of The Little Forest’s forte was the dialogues. Some of the beautiful dialogues came from books, such as the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This is one of my favorite books. Yu Meiren nd Zhuang Yu talk about good omens such as butterflies, crickets, lizards, and four-leaf clovers. But the cocky Zhuang Yu, who seemed to underestimate Yu Meiren, test her by asking what the Alchemist said to the boy.

Yu Meiren did remember the lines very well. She recites “There’s only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure”. Zhuang Yu looked at her, surprised and probably regretting that he was underestimating her.😉

And there was also some scene that I remember clearly. That was when Li Tian Tian mentioned to Yu Meiren some facts about a relationship that she got from the drama. The fact she mentioned was: when somebody falls in love, his/her eyes will be involuntarily drawn only to his/her love interest.

Yu Meiren, who had a high IQ but low EQ, thought that the drama writer must be clueless about human peripheral vision. The writer should know that the human eyes’ horizontal viewing angle could reach a maximum of 180 degrees. Therefore, it was impossible to see only one person.

However, when Zhuang Yu entered the room, Yu Meiren unconsciously fixated her eyes on him. The director even blurred things and people around Zhuang Yu to visualize what Yu Meiren saw when he was in the room. I really like this kind of detailed shoot. 👍

There were many comedy scenes in this drama. But my favorite was when Zhuang Yu went to visit Mrs. Zhong, his late teacher’s wife. Mrs. Zhong loves to bake Chinese traditional cake, but the cake tasted horrible. However, she was so proud of her skill. She bragged to Zhuang Yu that her husband, children, and grandchildren love the cake.

Every time her family eat the cake there were tears in their eyes. She also said that they love her so much that they stopped her from making that kind of cake anymore. Her family was afraid she would be too tired. And guess what, Mrs. Zhong never tasted her cake because she was diabetic. So she never knew that her cake tasted horrible…😅

The Character

Yu Meiren

Yu Meiren might look like a pampered girl. She loves to wake up at noon and dress herself to the nines. People might not believe that she was a hardworking person. She always woke up late because she worked until late at night, and sometimes she did not sleep a wink. She did her job with the utmost seriousness.

Yu Meiren was a simple and kind person, but she was a decisive person who also hold grudges. When Zhuang Yu went abroad without telling her anything and made her being stood up once again, she did not think twice to block and delete his number. Made him unable to reach for her. Although she was angry at him, Yu Meiren still cared about his precious plant.

She tried to close the canopy to shelter the plants, although it made her soaked wet because of the heavy rain. Zhuang Yu loved her for her nature. He thought that Yu Meiren was simple and direct, she put a lot of effort regardless of the outcome, optimist, vivacious, and smart.

Yu Meiren’s younger years were hard. Her appearance was unlike when she has grown up. Many of her friends bullied her for her appearance. She might be the smartest girl in her school but it did not make her immune to bullying.

Then, she learned how to use makeup, but she already developed appearance anxiety. Yu Meiren never leaves her house without any makeup on. If she had to, she would use other things such as a bucket hat or mask to cover most of her face.

Yu Meiren loves her family very much. She did not want them to be worried about her. She lied to her mother that she already had a boyfriend because she knew her family was worried about her who lived alone in a city.

Zhuang Yu

Zhuang Yu was an icy person since he was a child. His mother used to worry that he would cultivate into a plant because he was expressionless and emotionless.

And when he grow up, all he thought about was his study interest: Artemisinin. He did not care about social life let alone love life. His friend could be counted as less than 10 and he did not seem to have any interest in girls. Until his life was shaken by a Mermaid With Long Legs, Yu Meiren. Previously, many girls chased after him or pursued him. But nobody seemed to be able to endure his icy nature, only Yu Meiren who shamelessly determined to make him hers.

However, I do believe that Zhuang Yu was attracted to Yu Meiren from the first time when she messed up his greenhouse during a commercial take. Yu Meiren destroyed his precious research plant, but aside from a sharp “Get out”, he did not say anything. If it was me, I might already breathe fire like Dragon.😆

When Zhuang Yu warmed up to Yu Meiren, he become a whole different person. He was cheeky and flirtatious. It was a delight to see Zhuang Yu smile more often when he was with Yu Meiren. And he shows some jealousy towards Yu Meiren and Lv Jian’s interaction since they all meet at Meiren’s Homestay. It proves that he already had a feeling for her before they acted as a couple.

Zhuang Yu was born into a wealthy family, but he choose to walk on his path. He was determined not to use his family’s money because he did not earn it. But unlike any other drama, he had no enmity with his family nor the other way around. He still loves his little brother and parents.

The Ending

In my opinion, A Romance of the Little Forest had a satisfying happy ending. I wrote the detail of this drama ending in A Romance of The Little Forest ending explained post. You can read it to find out what happened to Yu Meiren and Zhuang Yu at the end of the story.

The Conclusion

Whoa… I never knew that this A Romance of the Little Forest drama review would be this long. My ability to babble seemed to increase since I wrote Chinese drama reviews for this site 😆.

A Romance of A Little Forest was an adorable romance drama. No angst, no bad quarreling, no face-slapping scene… Totally refreshing. I enjoyed every episode, especially the latter ones when Yu Meiren and Zhuang Yu finally become a couple. Their kissing scenes were good… Ahhh… Me and my dirty mind…😂.

I would recommend this drama for those who need a daily dose of sweetness. There’s no need to wait for the weekend. You could start watching it right now. Don’t forget to prepare some salty snacks or bitter drinks, because this drama was already sugary. And too much sugar is bad for your health…😅.

Hope you like this drama review. So, what are you waiting for? Go grab your Cheetos and happy watching!