The story is indeed slow burn, and I admit there were moments when I felt slightly bored, but I still think the actors were excellent, both Yang Zi and Xiao Zhan and the supporting cast of younger and older actors. Special mention to the nice little boy who played the role of Cupid in the hospital ward.
I was not drawn in immediately, found the bar scene a bit hysterical and Yang Zi despite her dimples looked too old at first (she is 29) to play the role of a supposed 23 year old behaving like a rash and rebellious adolescent in the first episodes. But turning out to be a rather repressed girl afraid of going all the way with her partner despite being able to enter his apartment almost at all times and getting a sterling occasion when she could share a room for a weekend. She was hiding their relationship from the terminally ill father and the mother who might also be opposed to her dating a doctor with a big age difference.
Xiao Zhan was quite well cast here, as the serious and attentive bachelor doctor wrapped up in his profession, who still had not found a love interest before his attraction to the ebullient girl. His talks with her were very reasonable, and the chemistry was rather natural, although I am not fond of lengthy deep inscrutable stares, to express his character's difficulty when he was in a quandary because of nasty news or events. Nor did I like the plot device of having him suffer from a psychological trauma because of a previously unsuccessful operation.
It got better on the way. The story is very simple. It carried some lessons about interpersonal relations, touched on the present world dangers to some professionals when they get in the cross hairs of social media rumors and disputes.
The ending was very satisfactory, romance wise.
I don't know if the difference between the TV version (which was unavailable to me) and the other version (DVD or international online 29 episode release) is only a question of cutting to size for ads or if there was more in the 32 episode TV version. I found the 29 episode version sufficient to my taste, but I don't think I will go back to rewatch it soon.
I am not that fond of the OST songs either: one makes me feel like it is a sort of lullaby, too sugary for me. But the whole story being steeped in honey brew, I cannot be too critical there. It is a "nice" story, very clean, very respectful of current social rules, and it deals with problems that anybody can expect (age, illness, protecting one's reputation) and hopes that everyone may have (the oath of love in the end is very sweet). It certainly is worth watching once at least.