Ban Yin (2021)

Like most people who watched the drama in the past week, they probably came due to a viral YouTube clip of the male protagonist fake-forcing himself on the female protagonist so that the enemy would believe that she is his. That’s what caught my attention and so I decided to watch it. It had aired back in April and May so all the episodes were already fully subbed. A lot of reviews said that it’s one of the most underrated dramas this year. I actually really enjoyed it. It’s only 16 short episodes (at roughly 30 minutes each).

The female protagonist is Ruan Nian Chu. She’s a theater actress. About 5 years ago, she had gone abroad in SE Asia and was kidnapped. She fell into the water and was rescued by Lee, an undercover agent. In order to protect her from the other gangsters, he faked sexually assaulting her and making her his woman. She stayed with him in his bungalow and the two developed a friendship that lead to love. During this time, there are two important characters that appear. Wa Sha is a female gangster who’s in love with Lee, the male protagonist. It sounds like he used her to get into the gang. She is the niece of the gang leader and hates Ruan Nian Chu because she could see that Lee likes her.

The other character is Tuo Li. A young slave/servant who befriends Ruan Nian Chu. He falls in love with her despite the age gap between them. His crush is found out by Lee who warns him that the two of them are from different worlds. During a business transaction between the gangsters on a yacht, the chip that held all the illegal dealings was missing. This was actually a setup by Wa Sha to frame Ruan Nian Chu. She kidnapped Ruan Nian Chu and brought her onto the boat. Lee was able to rescued her and tossed her out of the yacht with a life jacket on right before the yacht exploded. Ruan Nian Chu isn’t sure if Lee is dead but she spends the next 5 years waiting for him.

In present time, Ruan Nian Chu is at blind date when she sees someone who looks like Lee. She chased after him but he disappeared. She finds out from her boss that the actress who they made popular is ignoring calls from them after promising to act in their play. She goes to the sponsor event. But she’s not allowed to enter without an invite. She calls her best friend whose family happens to be the sponsor. Thus, she gets to enter. When she confronts the actress, she is brushed off. She sees Lee who’s working there as security detail. However, he pretends not to know her. He tells her that his name is Li Teng and she must have confused him with someone else. The actress throws the contract into the pool and tells her that if she can get it, the actress will sign the contract. Knowing that she can’t swim, she proceeds to jump into the pool. She is rescued by someone and it turns out to be Jiang Hao, another security guard. She is bummed that it’s not Lee.

Ruan Nian Chu has a pot of forget-me-nots that Lee had given her. It was the only thing she took with her when she left the island. Her boss was re-potting the flowers when he noticed a chip. He plugged it into his phone but thought that the chip was not working so he unplugged it. This was enough to show Li Teng and his crew that the chip was located in the theater company. Thus, they realized that Ruan Nian Chu must have accidentally brought it with her when she left the island. Li Teng set up a blind date between him and Ruan Nian Chu. The two dates but Ruan Nian Chu will find out that Li Teng approached her to get the chip. Although she was upset at first, she eventually decides to trust him.

We find out that after the boat exploded, Lee was rescued and in a coma for 2 years. He was disabled and worked hard to be able to walk again. On the day he went to find her, he received a call saying that the gangsters know that he’s still alive. So in order to protect her, he doesn’t approach her. One of his fellow agent brothers died. His wife became crazy and was locked in a mental institute and his baby daughter had to be adopted by Jiang Hao. Li Teng doesn’t want that for Ruan Nian Chu.

We get the return of Tuo Li who is actually not a slave but the son of the gangster boss. He blames Li Teng but he’s also in love with Ruan Nian Chu. He shows up again as a doctor at the mental institute. He had Ruan Nian Chu kidnapped and in order to rescue her, Li Teng had to bring 3 of his men with him. They’re supposed to fight to their deaths. However, in the end, Li Teng rescued Ruan Nian Chu and Tuo Li ends up unconscious. This was all pre-planned by Li Teng and his team as they were aware of what Tuo Li was planning.

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