I know about the original novel but I would like to review this drama as an independent product.

At first the show was quite intriguing but then 4th episode happened. It showed plot's biggest flaw — Yuan Yang character. The problem is that motivation behind his actions doesn't justify them or at least makes me care about him.

Yuan Yang decided to do business because he promised it to his grandmother but we know so little about their relationship, I don't have any idea what did that promise mean to him. Flashbacks told as almost nothing and we can't see him as a man of principle (like Gu Qing Pei). The whole hotel situation is inexcusable as things GQP did and the "lesson" YY decided to teach him are NOT the same. The fact what he started blaming GQP for what happened makes the character more unlikable. Yes, YY understood what it was wrong later but he almost didn't get any backlash for this.

The kidnapping episode despite showing that "new" YY hasn't improved and continued using violent and non-legal actions to solve his problems is completely meaningless. YY hated that GQP was contacting with a member of another company. However when he was fired because of video that YY has filmed (he also knew that his father was planning to replace him), he had a chance to continue working with them. So he literally didn't have a right to be mad at GQP. Another thing I've noticed that YY hasn't improved traits which GQP was scolding him for: he continued using violent methods, we never saw him understanding real value of money and etc.

So in the end his improvements are little and he didn't pay for his actions.

-- Story --
Either they didn't know or didn't care but business part of the drama is kinda weak. It seems to me that it was written by somebody who has basic image of how business works. Maybe our focus should have been mostly on romance but because of censorship we were left with this.

The best that this drama has is female characters. I like ex-wife's storyline, it was properly ended and she improved quite realistically, the scene on a roof really touched me. The colleagues were quite nice and Wang Ran is awesome.

--Acting/Cast--
Shang Bai (the actor who plays GQP) is one of the reasons I continued to watch drama until the end. The actress who plays ex-wife is good too, I could feel all the pain her character was feeling.

--Music--
Kinda okay. However music when YY was coming back for GQP is completely out of place.

--Rewatch value--
I personally wouldn't rewatch this, as there aren't moments that worth it. Chemistry between characters is really weak and sometimes they behave themselves completely illogical (especially GQP, sometimes during watching I thought that he had some kind of Stockholm syndrom).