#falling in love with a rival

[lunarriviera]

Hey, so I heard about a really popular (atp freakishly popular) ongoing chinese queer romance drama (I think it might have been called revenge love) going 'temporarily' off air, as in, they are not airing next week and it made me think of what I've heard about spirealm. Do you remember how exactly the spirealm banning went down? And how they released all the eps prior to it being available on official sites?

oh gosh i have heard about this one, from my guilty furtive lurking on the Bad App. it's 逆爱 revenged love, it's based on a danmei called 逆袭 counter attack, and there was already an extremely watered down version of it in 2015 (barely a bromance). but this is EXTREMELY not watered down, and, well, let's just say it's streaming via thailand and indonesia. and, um, here's this, from x user yifulover:

what i know so far is that one of the leads, 田栩宁 tian xuning, has been harassed online and i think on his way to/from flights as well, and has been suing various stalker fans (here's his statement posted on weibo a few hours ago). so everyone is guessing that the release of this week's episodes has been delayed because of this scandal, such as it were, to let it die down a bit? but it's been 2 days and the normal episodes + bts video haven't appeared. viki (or viu to be precise) posted on x/insta saying they'd postpone until next week due to an "order from the production company," then deleted those posts. but the other reason netizens/fans are panicked is that ep 12 coming up would have had…The Sex Scene. so they're worried that maybe that's why it was pulled, not tian xuning's PR problems? and they're even more worried that it might not come back at all (cf. blue canvas of youthful days…which did reappear, eventually).

this is however way different from the spirealm, which was without ANY warning dropped onto iqiyi for barely 2 hours in february 2024, with no one saying a damn thing about it, and then disappeared again without a trace, also without anyone officially acknowledging its existence (we pretty much figured some intern got annoyed and just hit the "play" button until they got caught). but netizens never sleep! so it was downloaded immediately and shared widely. then it was some months before viki finally uploaded the whole thing, and in its proper form (not 78 20-minute episodes, but the usual 45-minute kind; at first we feared bits were missing, but it was intact). to this day iqiyi keeps saying "coming soon" and inviting you to make a reservation for it, but there's been no sign of spirealm coming back to iqiyi. viki seems to be somewhat more profit-motivated? hard to say.

the only other thing i know about revenged love is the danmei author chai jidan noted that first few episodes are kind of comedic, so she was worried that viewers wouldn't get hooked and wanted to drop the first 8 all at once (which i don't think she could make happen). anyway, it seems whumpy and steamy and convoluted and actually has dubcon (!) so i hope for its fans that they get to see the rest of it! because god do i know that feel. it's like getting a few thousand feet from the beach, smelling the sand and salt air, and then just turning around and driving back home. but hang in there, revenged love fans. the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. (PS fun fact, tian xuning was supposed to play earth master [male] in the live-action tgcf, eternal faith, now forever in dangai purgatory…)

[trustonlymoon]

When they said, "I love you," but Chi Cheng never gave up on Da bao. He killed his favorite snake to save Da bao. He sold his expensive car to Da Bao at a low price. He bought new beddings for Da Bao when he noticed he needed it. he bought dabao lots of fine fabricated underwears by himself. He yearned for Da Bao's cookies. When Da Bao got scammed, Chi Cheng helped him get his money back. He gave his credit card to Da Bao to fund his business ideas. He changed his bad behaviors for Da Bao. He always sent gifts to Da Bao's mom without Da bao knowing. When Da Bao said the cigarettes were good, Chi Cheng bought him more cartons. He even quit smoking in front of Da Bao to prove how much he loved and cherished him.

[rinbylin]

逆袭之爱上情敌 (2015) EP05 // 逆爱 (2025) EP05

[save-the-data]

Counterattack and Revenged Love

Counterattack still remains one of my favourite dramas, I re-watch it every year (as well as re-read the novel at least every couple of years) but Revenged Love is giving me all the same feels for these larger-than-life characters, and it puts a huge smile on my face. Also, people think RL is crazy, CA was just as unhinged before censorship.

[acequinz]

Of course he looked familiar!!!

OMG you guys, it's the OG!Wu Suowei!!!!

in an omegaverse bl working for the enigma sjdksjgk

How you doing honey?????

[hughungrybear]

I finally finished the Counter Attack danmei through gritted teeth 😭😭😭

There are so many questionable things in the novel that would hopefully never see the light of day in the series.

As few people pointed out to me in the comments of my previous posts, the author did not intend anyone to read the novel because it is batshit insane. With that, I wholeheartedly agree.

Please, if you are thinking of reading it too, don't 😅 Do it for the sake of your sanity.

That said, there are still some precious scenes embedded in between the sex scenes like this gem below the cut which can be found in the very last chapter.

Since I do not know if the show will adapt this,

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

(Again, rough translation because my Chinese is no-good😂. For context, WSW brought CC in front of his parents' grave for formal greetings. Yes, the mum also died due to her illness sometime during the Wang Shuo plot.)

"Dad, Mum, I brought my husband to you."

Chi Cheng heard Wu Suowei, but said nothing.

"There were so many good things that happened recently. My company is thriving. We also bought back the old house and the old apricot tree is as strong as ever. Chi Cheng has also introduced me to his parents and they are willing to recognise me. But the happiest news is that we will have a child soon. My son may not look like me, but his personality will definitely be like mine!"

(Sidenote: This was done through blood, sweat, and tears. CC's parents are not good people 😑. The only reason they accepted WSW is because CC's sister essentially blackmailed them. She is pregnant with a son and has CC and WSW legally adopt the baby.)

Afterwards, Wu Suowei burned some joss paper money then turned to look at Chi Cheng, "Aren't you going to offer something too?"

Chi Cheng took a photo from his bag and started lighting its corner to burn while saying:

"Mum and Dad, I don't have any betrothal gifts. So I'm burning our wedding photo instead. If you think they are good, please give me your blessing"

Wu Suowei was surprised. Wedding photos? Looking at the burning photo, he can only see his and Chi Cheng's naked upper bodies embracing each other.

"Wait. What photo did you burn for my parents?"

"Nude photos."

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

[gay-meowmeow]

THE ORIGINAL WU SUO WEI FROM "FALLING IN LOVE WITH A RIVAL/COUNTERATTACK"(now "Revenged Love") IS GONNA BE IN THE OMEGAVERSE BL "DESIRE"!!!!!

King said he has to be part of history again😂

[lovepeaceandcheese]

You made me look forward to Mondays and now it just feels so empty...

[dadvil]

Getting a counterattack (uncensored) remake in the year 2025 was not on my bingo card

[thelitaeffect]

Chi: I have a snake in my backseat

✨Me popping out from behind the car “that’s not a euphemism”✨

[trustonlymoon]

~ It wasn't about anything so shallow as physical desire. They wanted each other in the way of flesh wanting to knit itself together over a wound.

[absolutebl]

Will you make a Revenged Love vs Counterattack post like how you did with Love Sick?

Oh goodness, nice of you to ask but nope.

I remember disliking the original quite a bit, so no point, this one has already won.

[ppeonppeonhan]

I'm not okay.

Bring my heartbroken, toxic, brooding snake charmer and manipulative, reluctant-bottom, masc twink back.

Posted week of 7/14.

[takumitsukishima]

how I am behaving since revenged love is in hiatus

[siderealsusurrus]

Okay idk what's going on but I'm trying to read Falling in Love With a Rival (revenged love), and all the translations are being taken down. Has anyone been smart enough to download a pdf?

I know its been out for several years judging by review dates on N.U.

I was reading a translation uploaded by raoink on wattpad (which was a better one than what i had first found before that vanished), and it disappeared when I wasn't looking

Novel updates doesn't have any live links, but it shows the ghost of the 4 groups that have tried.

Does the author just hate fan translations?

[hughungrybear]

For the nth time, I think I need to wash my eyes with holy water 😭😭😭😭

Below the cut is a spoiler from the novel regarding Xiaoshuai's past.

Also, trigger warning: IMPROPER USE OF SNAKE 😭😭😭

Based on one scene from Ep 13 (before Xiaoshuai went to the bar to get drunk), it seems the live-action will have Meng Tao as perverted professor who took advantage of med students under his care.

But in the novel, Meng Tao really was Xiaoshuai's ex boyfriend. He is also a germophobe. The reason why he and Xiaoshuai broke up is because the latter was gangraped.

The "lead perpetrator" was Xiaoshuai's friend who was also apparently in love with Meng Tao. Meng Tao used the rape incident to dump Xiaoshuai claiming that he does not touch DIRTY things. After he dumped Xiaoshuai, Meng Tao and the friend (the one instigated the gangrape) became a couple. That relationship didn't last long and eventually, Meng Tao got married to a woman.

It is later revealed that Meng Tao really masterminded Xiaoshuai's gangrape so they can break up and he can marry a "respectable" woman (Seriously, wtf?). But he only confessed after he was tortured by Suowei, Chi, and Li Wang.

Suowei captured him and held in an underground warehouse where he forced Meng Tao to eat dirty food and drink his urine for a week (yes, gross) as revenge for breaking Xiaoshuai's heart.

Chi later found him in the same warehouse and literally hang Meng Tao by the balls — mostly because Chi was irritated that Suowei always goes home tired after secretly torturing Meng Tao 😅 Chi then gave Meng Tao to Chengyu, who trusted his right-hand man Li Wang to make Meng Tao talk (Chengyu already knew Xiaoshuai was gangraped but he didn't know who really instigated it).

Li Wang then proceed to, uhm, rape Meng Tao using a fucking snake 😭😭😭 Don't ask me how it's possible, it is gross enough to read from the danmei.

So, there you have it. I am still a Chengyu wrong supporter. But I think I draw the line with animal abuse. That poor snake did not deserve to get shoved in Meng Tao's anus 😭😭😭