This drama has been on my radar but I never got around to starting it. Wound up watching Love Game last month and it left a lot to be desired. The drama hack is to watch Moonlight AFTER you watch LGIEF because then you can just pretend that Ziqi and Miaomiao's relationship just continues in the real world ;P Even the bunny shaped apple slices make an appearance in both!

Actually, in all fairness, I do believe that this drama is good all on it's own. Ding Yuxi is such a dedicated and talented actor. He has one of the most expressive faces in cdramas. While I didn't care for LGIEF story that much, his acting is undeniably great in both of these dramas. You can tell he definitely puts his all into his acting and truly became Zhou Chuan and Mu Sheng. As for Esther Yu, I really love her singing voice and her comedy is always spot on. No one else can deliver the facial expressions that she perfectly nails every time. She just falls short in the emotional scenes in every drama for me. I think it's because she does so well in the funny/silly scenes that I don't take her seriously when she's trying to be sad. But her chemistry with Ding Yuxi is undeniable and I love watching them together all the same.

What surprised me with this drama is how engaging it was. I think what made me procrastinate on watching this was that the story didn't seem that interesting but the reviews were all good. The workplace story wasn't boring to me at all. I had no prior knowledge of the publishing process before and how intense of a job being an editor could be. The writing and pace were both perfect in my opinion. Every character's growth was both substantial and realistic, especially ZC and his father. Their ending scene almost made me cry. The balance between the comedy and romance while also portraying their career stories was done really well.

I also credit the actors for keeping it interesting. ZC was your typical grumpy tsundere but I felt myself siding with him. He hated most people but loved his dog. I think a lot of us are like this! To me, he was just an introvert and his reasons for disliking the people he did were actually justified because a lot of people in his industry were just trying to take advantage of him. I also really liked that Chu Li came off as sweet & silly but she was actually pretty straightforward, fearless and intelligent. Watching their love grow was so sweet from start to finish. The more you see them together the more it becomes apparent that they are made for each other. When Chu Li is in trouble at work or sad about anything, ZC scrambles to do anything he can to make it right and it's the cutest/sweetest thing. Throughout most of the show ZC is pretty strong and independent when it comes to his career but when the ghostwriting scandal comes up you can see how much Chu Li loves him because she cries more than he does when she sees him breakdown and become sad and vulnerable. Neither of them are perfect people but they really do make a perfect couple.

It's also nice to see that their are no other serious competing love interests for either of them. ZC only has eyes for Chu Li from the beginning and rolls his eyes at any other female attention. Chu Li only gets excited over the small things with ZC and gets so giggly when he does anything for her. Although his best friend seems to find her cute and interesting and openly confesses to wanting to date her, he's really doing it to agitate ZC and scare him into showing his true feelings. Also, Chu Li's reaction is more horror than her being happy or flattered and she quickly tells him she likes someone else.

Side stories: It's very rare that I don't find the side stories boring but I actually didn't fast forward these scenes. They perfectly weaved in Chu Li's efforts at building her career into the story and made it relevant to her relationship with ZC. The second male lead is also lovable and his love story is just as sweet, that and his bromance with ZC. I actually found him more likeable in Moonlight than as Liu Fuyi in LGIEF. He was adorable, caring and way more expressive as Jiang Yu Chueng imo. Liu Fuyi was too stoic for me to really care about.

The ending: The ending was beautifully done as well. I won't go into detail but they did a great job with closing every character's story. I also love that Er Gou stayed a relevant character in every episode and they didn't phase the pet out after some time like I've seen in other dramas. This drama was tasteful, heartwarming and satisfying from start to finish. Definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the two leads and definitely recommend watching it AFTER Love Game in Eastern Fantasy.

-----Favorite moments:
- when ZC gets drunk the night before and Chu Li teases him the next morning, making him think he proposed.
-also the following scene and how mad ZC gets when JYC is confessing to Chu Li
-when ZC finally gets his revenge on Chu Li when she gets drunk the night before and he makes her think they kissed. The scene in the living room is comedic gold and just spectacular acting from both of them.
-ZC & JYC's "big fight". Their friendship is as hilarious as it is endearing.
-ZC internet searching how to apologize LOL
-ZC internet searching how to not break up on vacation LMAO. He's so emotionally inept but his efforts are too adorable.
-ZC is doing research at Yuan Yue and Chu Li tasks him with listening to pitches from new writers. His reaction to the 1st horrible writer had me in tears. Needless to say the task was taken from him after that.