Network Love Story

Cast:
Lu Yi as Tao Kan
Jiang Hong as Liu Cui Yun
Michelle Yip as Yang Hui Min
Benny Chan as He Jia Lin
Tong Da Wei as Zhou Wei
Zhang Heng as Chen Fang
Gao Xiong as Yang Cheng Xi
Kevin Cheng as Lu Nai Sheng
Wang Lin as Xu Xu

The title is pretty much self-explanatory. It's about two people who meet on the Internet and they fall in love with each other through emails and chatting. What they don't know is that they actually know each other aside from the Internet. Does the plot sound familiar? It reminds me of 'You've Got Mail'. Doesn't it?

Two Hong Kong business people Jia Lin and Hui Min arrive in Shanghai. Then they meet people who will influence their lives as well as ruin them...

Lu Yi as Tao Kan

He's one of the first people that Jia Lin and Hui Min meet. He is an efficient web designer who has produced many beautiful works. He's pretty successful in his career but he's not doing well in his love life. First of all, his boss Xu Xu tries to pursue him but he remains oblivious. Xu Xu is an older woman and she tries too often to capture his attention. She would wear sexy clothing, touch him, literally sexually harass him. And I really wonder why he stayed at her company so long. Anyway, he couldn't take it any longer and resigned. At the same time, Jia Lin and Hui Min needed him at their new company. And this leads to Jia Lin's story which I will explain later.

Ah, did I mention he met this girl online named 'Dou Dou' online? Guess who it is.

Jiang Hong as Liu Cui Yun

She works in a real estate company and everyone knows that she's an Internet addict. She and Tao Kan are very much alike, both experts on computers. But the problem is that they cannot get along with each other. Why? Well, to be begin with, Tao Kan always claimed that she didn't deserve an award for this competition that they had earlier (it wasn't shown in the series, they just mentioned it). She always teased him about losing the award to her. And so, they were at each other's throats.

But then, the two somehow got along when Tao Kan's partner Zhou Wei fell in love with her.

Oh yeah, she met this guy online named 'Chang Feng Da Xia'. They chat a lot and somehow'she fell for this guy. I'm sure you already know who it is. Ah yes, do not forget Lu Nai Sheng. This guy is VERY ANNOYING. He stalks Cui Yun a lot, claiming to protect her and that's quite true. Want to know why? Read, read and read!

Benny Chan as He Jia Lin

He's nearly thirty years of age and plans to build a website for his own company. He may seem somewhat successful but you know, problems occur everywhere.

He had a steady girlfriend Li Si, who was residing in Hong Kong. However, one day, she was missing and he was going nuts. After a few hours of searching with Hui Min and Tao Kan, he finally received a call from her. She was in Shanghai. He thought it was a nice surprise, but it wasn't all that nice when he found out that she was having an affair behind his back with his supervisor and friend Wang Ren Yi (cameo appearance by Liu De Kai). So then he drank himself silly, quit working at his company, opened his own company with Hui Min.

Want to know what happened next? Read Hui Min's part.

Michelle Yip as Yang Hui Min

She is the only daughter of Yang Cheng Xi who owns Xin Xin Real Estates, the one Cui Yun works in. However, she doesn't not reveal to anyone that he is her father since she hated him since young. You know, the typical story where a daughter despises her father for having an affair behind her mother's back. Yeah, that kind.

Anyway, she is very independent and helps Jia Lin a lot, more than enough. So when he drank himself silly after breaking up with Li Si, she stayed with him the whole night, comforting him and it is here that she develops some feeling for this guy. Then she helps him open his own company.

Everyone thinks that she and Tao Kan are a couple because of their actions. But in fact, they are just close friends. But I mean, who will believe them? Jia Lin realizes that he loves Hui Min and gets jealous when he sees Tao Kan with her. But when his company is at stake, guess who is there with him? No other than Hui Min. Slowly, they became a couple.

Tong Da Wei as Zhou Wei

He is another Internet expert and after joining Jia Lin's company, he became Tao Kan's assistant. He is also the one of the guys who fell for Cui Yun. Yes, one of the guys.

Anyway, he tries to pursue Cui Yun but he never succeeded. Instead, they became good friends and he found himself in love with another person: Chen Fang.

He and Chen Fang are two different people. He is always joking around while she's serious. He's messy and practically lives in a garbage can (ahem, I mean his house is VERY MESSY). She's super neat.

So how did he fall for her? It's because he knows how to speak French fluently. Okay, so what does speaking French have to do with this? Simple. Chen Fang has always been fascinated by the language and plans to live in France soon. She wants to master the language before her arrival on the French soil. So he teaches her the language and the more time they spend with each other, the more their relationship deepens. Soon he finds himself in love with her but somehow, she can't get herself into a relationship. Then she flies off to France and he gets injured seriously by someone (I don't have a clue who it is).

Now we see a total transformation. He becomes less playful and more serious and waits for her to return. Want to know the ending? Be patient and read on.

THE ENDING TO THE (SPOILERS)

Tao Kan finally has a few clues about who 'Dou Dou' is. It's Cui Yun. He's been suspecting ever since he and Cui Yun became friends. He noticed that Cui Yun and Dou Dou had lots in common. He's a slow guy, I tell you. Cui Yun already knew that 'Chang Feng Da Xia' was Tao Kan since the time she stopped by at his house, used his computer and saw all the emails that she had sent him. But she doesn't reveal to him that she's Dou Dou yet. And he's still suspecting about who Dou Dou might be.

But unfortunately, something happened and it caused Cui Yun to transform into a quiet person. Okay, Hui Min's father Yang Cheng Xi sent her on a business meeting with this pervert and she got raped.

WAIT. She thought she got raped but in fact, Lu Nai Sheng saved her. But of course she didn't know because she was drunk. So she ran off, hiding herself from the others, thinking that she lost her virginity. During this time, Tao Kan was very concerned about her whereabouts and tried his best to find her, implying to the audience that he was very much in love with her. Lu Nai Sheng found Cui Yun and explained to her that she was not raped. So she returned to her usual self again. Hui Min thought that Cui Yun ought to know that Tao Kan was the most concerned one when she disappeared and suggested that she give him a chance.

Hui Min was having problems with Jia Lin too. Apparently, one day, they were supposed to have dinner at her apartment. But he never showed up. He called her, telling her that he had some work to do and being an understanding person, she decided to wait. Early in the morning, he called her and in the middle of the conversation, they lost connection. She called him again and this time, she found that he had spent the night with Li Si. She was devastated to know that. And after awhile, she demanded an end to their relationship. Jia Lin was overly shocked to hear that. Hui Min argued that he could have been more honest with her. She said that he could have told her that he spent the night with Li Si instead of telling her that he had work to do. Then he argued that she was having an affair with Tao Kan. She was bewildered to hear that and yelled at him for not trusting her. Then he grabbed her and uttered the words that you saw in the commercial of this . Shall I put it here? Oh all right. He told her that he would give up everything just for her (is that correct?). And so they ended up kissing and that's how they reconciled.

Also, Hui Min's father Cheng Xi grew ill and she found out that after all these years, he really regret what he did to her and her mother. She forgave him.

Who am I missing here? Ah yes, Zhou Wei and Chen Fang. Okay, Cui Yun was chatting online with Chen Fang (she's still in France) using a camera (erm...I forgot the name to it!). Then Cui Yun saw this figure behind Chen Fang and the person knocked her with a baseball ball (I assume). Cui Yun immediately contacted Zhou Wei and he used his fluent French to speak with the police over in France. Chen Fang recovered quickly.

Ooh...don't forget Lu Nai Sheng. He invited Cui Yun to his house and the moment the door opened, there was this woman who looked exactly like Cui Yun. She turned out to be Lu Nai Sheng's wife. His wife explained to Cui Yun that they were separated and Nai Sheng came to Shanghai for business. Then he met Cui Yun and took her as his wife. The more he saw her, the more he realized his love for his wife.

Okay, after all that, this is the end. Cheng Xi and Jia Lin opened a company together and on the day of the grand opening, Chen Fang arrived and she finally accepted Zhou Wei. A happy ending for this couple.

As for Tao Kan and Cui Yun'they once again got online and used their online identities to chat. They decided to meet again (I forgot to mention to you that they once arranged to meet - but Tao Kan couldn't go because Zhou Wei was beaten up and was sent to the hospital and he had go along with him). This time, when she arrived at the destination, she saw Tao Kan and they hugged. Then FIREWORKS came!

Finally, the end of this story!

Music

The theme song is sung by Tension. It's very a nice song, I tell you. I fell in love with it the first time I heard it. The background music was pretty emotional in my opinion. I liked it a lot.

Fashion

The clothes: all I can say is that the Shanghai style has improved. But the makeup needs some improvement. I mean, look at Michelle's cheeks. Two big spots of pink. Ew. I wonder who did the make up for the Mainland actors. They need to learn to use more bright colors.

Housing

I loved their apartments, especially Tao Kan's! His walls are painted blue and he has big rooms. Hehehe, I think they deserve credits for beautiful housing!

Cast

It's my first watching the following people: Lu Yi, Jiang Hong, Tong Da Wei and Wang Lin. So I don't want to say anything about them yet.

Benny and Michelle were the same. For Michelle, she was like the same in 'Gods of Honour'. I mean her acting, not her character. Luckily she improved in 'Eternal Happiness'.

Do I recommend this? Yes, if you're interested in the Internet. Otherwise, no.