Chinese Drama 2021

Our Secret (Chinese Drama Review & Summary)

 

Secrets in the Lattice

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• Genre: School, Youth, Romance
• Release Date: 10 August 2021
• Origin: China
• Cdrama: 24 Episodes

Cast

• Chen Zheyuan as Zhou Siyue
• Rainbow Xu Mengjie as Ding Xian
• Wang Zexuan as Song Ziqi
• Fan Zhixin as Su Bocong
• Wang Yilan as Kong Shadi
• Liu Zhiwei as You Keke
• Li Ri Yao as Jiang Chen

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Quick Precis

Cinderella became seatmates with Isaac Newton.

He looked down on her at first but gradually they developed a rapport.

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Episode 1

Ding Xian and her family just moved to Shenshai where her parents’ friends also live.

Her parents’ friend invited them for a welcome dinner.

It was rather excruciating for Ding Xian as her mother decided to reveal that Ding Xian was betrothed to Zhou Siyue.

Zhou Siyue asked what does he need to do to break the bethrotal? His parents told him off for being rude.

Anyway Siyue was with his two friends.

Siyue got up from the dinner table followed by his two friends.

Later Ding Xian overhead the boys talking about her and the bump on her forehead that looks like horn.  One of the boys said that she looked like Sherk’s wife Princess Fiona.

Siyue was so annoyed.

Then she learned that the boys were her classmates.  It so happened that her seatmate turned out to be Siyue.

When he tried to teach her what to study in maths, she told him to stop because who does he thing he was, he was not even top of the class.

Suddenly everyone looked at her.  One of the new classmates corrected her and said that Ding Xian was always the rep to all contest in the school and for the school.

She was humiliated and lef the classroom.  She was noticed by a boy she used to know.

Episode 2

Su Bocong who told her that it was normal to feel alienated at first but it gets better especially if she tried to make friends.

3

4

Episode 5

Ding Xian went back to her hometown for the new year.

Su Bocong also went back home.

While preparing the decorations and food, Su Bocong observed that Ding Xian talks a lot about Siyue.

She said because they were deskmate.

But they were both falling in love with each other.

Siyue called her at exactly the stroke of midnight to wish her a happy New Year.  Poor Su Bocong saw her excited waiting by the phone.

Ding Xian was so happy at the start of another school year because she was deskmate with Siyue once again.

Siyue actually made sure of it by purposely failing the exam.

Episode 6

Aww so cute.

Episode 7

Ding Xian’s mother was adamant that she chooses art rather than science but Ding Xian was not happy that she was not allowed to choose her subject.

So as a little rebellion she chose science without telling her parents.

Her mother went ballistic especially when she saw Ding Xian had cut her hair and now sporting bangs.

Episode 8 

Ding Xian’s father made a deal with her.  He will convince her mother for her if within one month she could improve her grades.

Episode 9

She was told by her parents to get 270 points extra in her test and she can do what she wants.

She got it and it was spot on.

So she finally submitted her science application to her homeroom teacher.

Her teacher though warned her not to get into any complicated relationship with Ding Xian.  He said that she will change seatmates but she said that she was not in any relationship.  She would improve her grade more just to prove it.

She and Shadi were puzzling over who grassed her and Ding Xian to their homeroom teacher.

It was of course the work of their jealous no 2 classmate.

There was a basketball game between class 2 and class 7.

Siyue at first refused to play but then he saw Ding Xian cheering for him with her self-made banner.

Suddenly he was invigorated and won the game easily for his class.

The next day he was not in class.  Their teacher announced that Siyue did them proud.  He won the math contest for their school.

Ding Xian went to visit him and cooked him porridge.  He said it was tasty.

The next morning she cooked more porridge but her young brother tasted it and told her never to cook again because she made dark cuisine.

While they were arguing, her mother found and started reading her diary.

Her mother went mental and confronted her.

Ding Xian was humiliated and upset that her mother invaded her privacy.

She grabbed her diary from her mother and chucked it into the window.  She then went to find it but it was gone.

Siyue saw her looking very upset.

She explained what happened.  He invited her to his house to calm down.

Later on, she asked if she could stay the night at his house.

Episode 10

Siyue walked her home.

Her mother asked him if Ding Xian has a boyfriend at school.

It got worst for Ding Xian because she failed her exam so she had to move desk.

She would not tell Siyue the reason why she changed seats and it was bugging him so much.

It was bugging Ding Xian as well.  She was so jealous that he seemed so close with another girl.

This episode is when Keke met Jiang Chen.  Instant chemistry.  I am loving Keke.

Ding Xian was surprised by her mother with rather expensive clothes she could wear to the play.

When she got there, Shadi was hiding from her and then Siyue turned up and took one of her tickets.  She finally told him about the reason why she had to change seats.

He promised her that she will not fail another test because he was going to tutor her.

Ding Xian found out why Siyue was talking to Yang Chunzi.  It was because he was asking her to get a painting tool set for Ding Xian. Awww

Episode 11

Siyue encouraged Ding Xian to enter a painting contest.

Her mother was against her having extra-curricular activities when she should be studying.

But her father helped her out by taking her mother and brother out.

But her evil brother had other ideas.

Siyue called for the help of Shadi and Siqi to look after the boy while he took Ding Xian to the contest.

She won.

It was holiday, so the friends decided to go camping.

Siyue and Ding Xian almost had their first kiss.

Episode 12

They both got very shy at the last moment so no kiss.

Ding Xian received a call from her mother telling her that there is a family emergency.

She went back home and found out that her grandmother had taken ill and her mother had to go back to their hometown with her brother to look after grandma.

Ding Xian ended up staying with Siyue’s family.

Episode 13

Hormonal Ding Xian was obsessing in telling her feelings to Siyue before she regrets having not done so prior to going to university as advised by Shadi.

So instead of doing revising and tutoring with Siyue, she was spacing out.

Jiang Chen joined the military against his parents’ wishes. He gave his motorbike to Keke who promised to keep it until he returns.

He told Shadi and Ding Xian to write to him and report on Keke, whether she was dating or not.

Ding Xian had to go back to her hometown because her grandmother passed away leaving Siyue lonely amidst his warring parents.

Ding Xian and Siyue are back being seatmates again.  Siyue told her that she had been his deskmate since the first year and it would be a shame if they don’t end up as deskmates to the end. Aww.

Episode 14

It was graduation ceremony exercises and Siyue gave a very moving speech.

Now it was the GAOKAO and poor Ding Xian had a mental block and came out to the exam centre totally shellshock.

She said she knew she failed and she was sad not for herself but from the thought that she was moving farther away from Siyue.

She did pass the GAOKAO but not at the grade that would allow her to go to Jiangling.  She told her mother that she would repeat the year to get the grade.  Her mother was furious because it would be an extra expense plus the fact that she could actually get to another key university locally.

Siyue said goodbye to her giving her his little robot as a memento.

He found out that his father was in so much trouble because his thesis/book was being investigated for plagirism.

Episode 15

Ding Xian was having a meltdown while she was talking to Su Bo Cong.  She said that she does not know anymore if she made the right choice of repeating the year.  She was so upset that she can’t follow someone she wanted to be always close to.  Siyue overheard what she said.

Su Bo Cong cheer on Ding Xian and told her that she was so near and to do her best.

Ding Xian felt lonely because all her friends had graduated.  She was also out of sort again because Siyue was not replying to her text.

Siyue was doing great at school and was told by the professor that he was doing great, above his expectation.  He advised Siyue to work even harder so he could be part of the intern team.

Xing Lufei is a computer science student who fancies Siyue and pursues him.

Siyue was not interested at all but he had to help her to the infirmary because she got accidentally pushed on the floor when Siyue was having a fight with a senior who was so jealous of Siyue.

While Siyue was taking Lifei to the school clinic, Ding Xian saw them because she went to Huaqing University to see Siyue.

She thought that Siyue and the girl were rather intimate so she texted Siyue that now that she was busy revising, they should never contact each other again.

That lasted for 5 minutes because when she saw a firework going off she knew it was from SiYue.  That was all it took for her to liking him back.

A year later!!!

Ding Xian got to Huaqing.  Not even bothering to find her dorm to deposit her suitcase, she went to the men’s dorm instead to look for Siyue.

She was of course barred from going to the men’s dorm but it did ot stop her hollering his name.

She immediately trended and Siyue saw her radiant face shouting for him to come out.

And he came out an took her somewhere where they could have a heart to heart.

Ding Xian did not waste any time in preamble.  She told him point blank that she likes him and does he like her  as well?

Siyue said that where he likes or not, he cannot be in a relationship.  He then told her to go away.

Siyue was really into her and admitted it to himself.  The problem was that his father was in a bad way and he could not really pay the hospital bills, if he could not protect his family, how could he protect Ding Xian.

Episode 16

No matter what Siyue does, how much humiliation he put her through, Ding Xian would not give up.  She was like a superglue.

When she heard that Siyue was going to study abroad, she also applied to study abroad.

She told Siyue that she will be with him whether he likes it or not.

He doesn’t know what to do anymore.

Episode 17

Siyue is seriously worried about Ding Xian.  She seemed living for him.

He tried to tell her to do something for herself, something that she likes not because she something would make her closer to him.

But she said being closer to him was her raison d’etre, the reason of her being.

She even managed to pass and be part of the scientific group but then she was struggling.  What she did not know was that there was only one quota for overseas study.

She was actually destruction to Siyue because she was making eyes at him which made him lose concentration he made a mistake in his programming.  Then instead of studying, she was drawing.

He really wanted that she choose what she really wants but she was tenacious, she just won’t give up.

Episode 18

Ding Xian saw that the chocolate she painstakingly gift boxed for Siyue was given to Lifei.  This was too much for her so she told Siyue that she doesn’t want to have anything more to do with him and she made good of her promise and started snubbing whenever they meet.

She was also realising that she likes arts very much.  She was signed by a large agency to do a cartoon for a story.

Siyue finally realised that he can’t imagine a life without Ding Xian and try to make up with her but she said she was over him and had moved on.

Episode 19

Aww

Shadi and Ziqi had made up.

Siyue’s parents had told him that he must not become lonely and be alone.  They told him to not worry too much about them.  He has to find his happiness.

His happiness was of course, Ding Xian.

Ding Xian is thawing towards Siyue after they spent the day in an amusement park.

They ended the day with a kiss.

Episode 20

In reality, it is good that the girl develops a mind of her own that a boy is not the ‘be all and end all’.

However, in dramaland of the cute romantic department, it is not very satisfying if the girl plays rather too hard to get.  It gets boring especially if one had invested a lot of hours on it already.

Ding Xian had been in love with Siyue for four years and nagged and stalked him to like her back.  She would not take his denial of their relationship at all until a box of chocolate she gave him fell on the wrong hands.

This was cleared immediately but she decided she is not into him anymore.

It does not really make sense why she was taking a verrryyyy lonnggggg time together with him.

Now it gets boring because it is just going round and round.

He saves her from being locked up in the dressing room by Lifei but she was not thrilled at all. She just pouted rather prettily.

She asked him if he knew what love was but she obviously does not know what it was about as well as she does not support his passion for his robotics at all.

What is that neckerchief she was always wearing?  Is she hiding a neck tattoo of something?

I am so tempted to drop this drama but I am now near the end

Anyway Siyue and So Bocong are in serious competition for Ding Xian’s affection.

Episode 21

At last, Siyue and Ding Xian are officially together.

Hongguang Technology wanted to work with the robotic teams but Siyue turned it down because he thinks there is something suspicious about it.  A major technology company wanting to collaborate with sophomore students is a suspect.

Ding Xian was so happy that she was earning from her cartoon illustration and even told Siyue that probably he could be a househusband while she goes and earn the money.  But then she got a call from the agency who was accused of copywriter infringement and that Ding Xian had to share the penalty which amount to 500,000 Rmb.

Su Bo Cong paid the penalty for her even though Siyue was arranging the money already by selling the patent to his robot project to Huangguang.

Ding Xian learning that Su Bo Cong paid the penalty, she went to see him and found him drunk.  She got them a taxi to take him to his house.

They fell on the bed, him on top of her, and confessed that he loves her.

Ding Xian told him that she was already in a relationship.

A regretful Bo Cong moved away and she left going straight to Siyue.

The next morning, Siyue went to see Bo Cong in his office and gave him the card with the 500,000 in it.

Episode 22

This episode is really cute.

Ding Xian got back her 500,000 from the company after it was investigating for conning young artists.

Ding Xian went home to her parents with Siyue tagging along.  Her brother rambled them immediately as being in a relationship.

The brother ended up telling his parents about it in return for his confiscated.

Ding Xian’s father was able to make Ding Xian confess the truth and said that he was quite happy for her because he saw Siyue grow up and he was always been a good boy.  He advised her to be careful of her mother.

Siyue came for breakfast the next day.  It was very awkward but later on the mother said that she knew about the relationship and was upset that she was not told immediately.

Ding Xian said that she was scared to tell her mother because she always said for Ding Xian not to go into a relationship.

Her mother said that was different.  She should have told her that it was with with Siyue.  Siyue is totally another kettle of fish.

Siyue is really different as Ding Xian found out from her best friends Shadi and Keke who were both shocked that Ding Xian had only held hands and kissed Siyue.

So Ding Xian had a new purpose when she went back to university.  To have a more mature relationship with Siyue.

Siyue treated her like a kid.  Not the romantic boyfriend she wanted him to be.

Her dormmate told her that it was because he had known her for such a long time, their relationship was not fresh anymore.  They advised that she should have a makeover.

She wore a more girly outfit but when Siyue saw her he told her that she would catch arthritis and next time he said to wear trousers for the current cold weather.

Finally Siyue could not take it anymore and told him that he was treating her like they were in high school.

Siyue apologised and told her he will change.  He loves her very much.

He took her back to her dorm but the door had closed for the night so she went back with him to his flat where she would stay the night with him. Asss

Episode 23

Siyue got into trouble with Huangguang for espionage but in the end it was proven that Siyue had nothing to do with anything.

Su Bo Cong resigned from his job because he felt guilty about going to the dark side when Ding Xian had always believed in him.

I feel so sorry go Bo Cong, he was a nice guy.

Meanwhile, Bo Cong gave Ding Xian a document to pass on to Siyue that could clear his father’s plagiarism case.

Siyue’s family had gone back to their old house next to Ding Xian’s family house.

When Ding Xian’s mother jokingly mentioned the childhood betrothal between Siyue and Ding Xian, Siyue’s mother broke it and said that Siyue is not good enough for Ding Xian.  Their family situation would tarnish Ding Xian.

Episode 24

I am so glad I did not drop this drama because it is so darn cute in the end.

The proposals, both of them, from Siyue to Ding Xian were so romantic.

She was so worried that his mother doesn’t like her and he said that if there is one reason that they can’t be together, he will find 1000 or 10,000 reasons why they should. Awww

They were so loved up so Siyue turned down the to study abroad.

Ding Xian heard about it from Professor He and she was so upset.  She told Siyue to go because it was for their future together and that she was fine with LDR.

Siyue cried again and she cried again as well.  These two cried a lot.  You could fill up a bucket with their tears.  LOL

Anyway, Siyue did go abroad and life went on.

After two years Ding Xian graduated with a Computer Science degree.  She was slightly concerned that she could not contact Siyue before her graduation but after the ceremony, she and her schoolmates were picture taking the last moments of university life then in walked Siyue.

Awww so cute.

When they returned to their basement apartment, Ding Xian told her to look for his passport inside the box on the top shelf which contains all the little drawings she gave him over the years.  Then there was a small box when she opened it, there was a ring box on it.

It was the diamond engagement ring he had promised her.

Aww they got engaged all over again.

They as most school dramas they ended up going to visit their old high school where Ding Xian found out that Siyue was always into her.

Their teacher confidentially told Ding Xian that Siyue applied to study liberal arts because he thought she was going to do it but when she turned up at the faculty room submitting her application to study science, Siyue changed his course to science.

Then they ended up in their old classroom, where Siyue carved Ding on his desk but modified it to ‘early’ so no one could see.

Then he wrote something on the book which he showed Ding Xian and she smiled she knew, she had always known it.

But we don’t know.  This remains a secret for non-Chinese because what he wrote was not subtitled in English.

So their secret is truly OUR SECRET.

The End