All right, I’ve been sacrificing my sleep for a mad marathon of the first eight episodes of Autumn’s Concerto, a Taiwan drama that is the second highest rated drama after Fated to Love You. Right now, I will do a quick recap of the first six episodes, and then perhaps a 2 episode recap thereafter.

So we were introduced to Ren Guang Xi, the son of the director of the school and he’s a badass, who thinks that he can get every girl he wants, which is kinda true. So his friends will always find the hottest girls in school and bet whether he can get the hearts of those girls within a certain time frame. Liang Mu Cheng’s father died when she was young, and together with her stepmother, they found shelter at a stranger’s home. This ‘stepfather’ of hers always tried to sexually harress her, by peeping in through the windows when she is bathing, or when she is changing. One day, Mu Cheng has to rush home but Guang Xi, the jerk, dumps his girlfriend Zhang Ai Li, by stopping his car right in front of the public bus that Mu Cheng is in. Mu Cheng comes down from the bus to ask him to move, but he refuses to, and in the end manages to dupe Mu Cheng into reversing the car to bang the bus.

Because of that, Mu Cheng ends up in the police station, but two nice aunties come forward to be the witnesses that she didn’t bang the bus on purpose. In the police station, Guang Xi further provokes Ai Li by telling the officer that Mu Cheng is his girlfriend and that he does not have anything to do with Ai Li. Ai Li leaves in a huff after throwing Mu Cheng’s bag on the floor. Mu Cheng gathers all her stuff and leaves as well, but she did not take her book with her. After that, Guang Xi’s lawyer finds the book and gives it to Guang Xi, thinking it’s his, but because of that library book, Guang Xi now knows that Mu Cheng is in his school. Turns out Mu Cheng is the girl at the cafeteria, and Guang Xi, out of ‘revenge’, takes on the bet of getting the kiss of Mu Cheng within a day. He brings her to the ice rink, and tells her that if one trusts the other enough to give her hands to him, it shows that you the other person will protect her forever. In the end, he succeeds in getting her kiss but Mu Cheng is smart, and tells him that she also takes a bet with the others, that Guang Xi will come and date her within a month, and get her kiss within a week. Guang Xi believes her and thus gets angry, because now she will win her bet as well, and also because she says that if she wins her bet, all the students have to go to the cafeteria for a month = more money. So Guang Xi now thinks that she’s willing to use her body to get more money.

That night, Mu Cheng runs out from her house, and enters Sheng De Tang, a place with a piano. She played the piano when she was young, but stopped playing after her father died. Unable to control herself, she enters Sheng De Tang to play the piano there, with the piece that she likes Air On G String. She doesn’t know that Guang Xi shares fond memories with his father there as well, and at that moment, because she is playing the piano, Guang Xi wakes up. He was actually sleeping on the couch and he gets angry with Mu Cheng for touching the piano with dirty hands. He threatens Mu Cheng, that if she doesn’t strip in front of him right there and then, he will go ask the principal of the school to kick out the caterer [ Mu Cheng’s stepfather]. In order for her survival, and her stepmother’s survival, Mu Cheng starts to unbutton her shirt while crying, and she tells Guang Xi "After I strip, please tell me how you feel, sitting there looking at a woman trampling on her own dignity" Guang Xi looks at her with guilt and tells her to stop, but she continues. He holds her hands and shouted " I tell you to stop!"

"You men are all the same.. It’s really fun to bully others like that right" and her tears fall on Guang Xi’s hands. Guang Xi looks at her in shock, because this is the first time that he has seen the tears of someone so innocent and honest. He apologises but both of them didn’t realise that Mu Cheng’s stepdad is outside listening to them/thinking that he can see Mu Cheng strip as well. A security guard comes to patrol and Mu Cheng’s stepdad tells on them. The security guard goes into Sheng De Tang, and Guang Xi grabs Mu Cheng’s hands to hide. However, they are accidentally locked in by the guard and during the night, Guang Xi gets to know more about Mu Cheng and his view of her changes. He realises that Mu Cheng must be lying about the bet. The next day, he reveals that he has the key to Sheng De Tang and unlocks the door, much to Mu Cheng’s indignation.

Major events that follow are Guang Xi falling in love with Mu Cheng and vice versa, which annoys Ai Li to no end. She kidnaps Mu Cheng in hope that it will get to Guang Xi but it fails because Guang Xi saves her together with the efforts of Hua Tuo Ye, someone who likes Mu Cheng. Guang Xi’s mother wants Guang Xi to get together with He Yi Qian, the daughter of the Director He, who can save the school which is in financial difficulties. Guang Xi goes for a party with Yi Qian, and Mu Cheng’s stepdad knows that, so he purposely chooses that day to want to molest/rape Mu Cheng. He almost succeeds but is stopped by Mu Cheng’s stepmother. The stepdad’s brain moves fast and convinces the stepmother that Mu Cheng is the one who seduces him. Stepmum gets angry and beats Mu Cheng, who is saved by Guang Xi. Ai Li steals the videotape of the CCTV in Sheng De Tang and takes a screenshot from that video such that it looks like Mu Cheng and stepdad are doing it.. She then spreads rumours that Mu Cheng always sells her body for something in return. Guang Xi decides to help Mu Cheng and he wins the case during a mock court that the school always sets up when there’re disputes that cannot be settled.

Guang Xi’s mother calls him to her office because she wants him to get together with Yi Qian, but he confesses his like/love to Mu Cheng during the court, much to Director He’s irritation. He tells Director He and his mother that he likes Mu Cheng and he will never get together with Yi Qian, but he faints right outside the office. They quickly rush him to the hospital for a check up, and realise that he has an ultra big tumour in his brain, which is the reason for his headaches and blurred visions at times. Now that Guang Xi nows that he’s either going to die in a month’s time or having to go for a surgery with only 15 % chance of survival, he thinks that he shouldn’t be with Mu Cheng anymore. Thus he shuns Mu Cheng, goes back to his playboy times, and basically just take every chance to break her heart. Mu Cheng’s stepdad has escaped and her stepmother disappears out of sadness after finding photos of Mu Cheng in the bath and her legs and everything. She’s all alone now, but she’s still very strong, and she continues to work at the fish market. One day, she has to help the fisherman to take in the nets but she accidentally falls into the sea and her leg gets trapped in the net. She’s going to drown, when Guang Xi saves her. Guang Xi is so worried about her that he breaks through of his facade and fusses over her, and Mu Cheng asks him why he’s doing all that. Guang Xi tells her the truth, that he has a brain tumour, and that his chances of survival are very minimal. Mu Cheng answers him with a kiss, and then Guang Xi knows her answer, that even if that’s the case, she still wants to be with him, and to walk through this whole ordeal with him.

They kiss passionately, and soon they did it. The next morning, Guang Xi’s mum comes to find him, and even though she’s super displeased to know that they were together for the whole night [which she knows sort of equate to them doing it already], she contains her irritation towards Mu Cheng, because Guang Xi declares that now he has Mu Cheng by his side, he’s willing to go for the surgery rather than waiting for death. Guang Xi’s mum is super happy and tells Mu Cheng that she allows her to stay by him not because she has approved of her but because they have a common aim. Guang Xi goes for checkups which are very painful because of all the injections and what not, but because Mu Cheng is with him, he survives through them all without wanting to give up. They get to know Luo Jia Da, someone who has a brain tumour and has lived past the time frame that the doctors predicted. Jia Da invites them to his impending wedding and they agree, both seeing this as a sign that perhaps it will be a happy ending for the both of them. On the day that the final report comes out, Guang Xi purposely asks Mu Cheng to go for a checkup while he listens to the report because he doesn’t want Mu Cheng to hear the bad news. Mu Cheng sees the girlfriend of Jia Da, and notices that she has a piece of paper in her hands. Mu Cheng is shocked to see that it’s the death report of Jia Da, someone whom they think will survive the final surgery to remove the tumour suddenly just died like that because of the last surgery. After that, Guang Xi’s mother finds her and asks her to leave Guang Xi’s side, because that’s the only condition that Director He will save Guang Xi — he’s the first corporation in Taiwan to invest in the new medical equipment that can raise the chances of Guang Xi’s survival up to 30%. However, Guang Xi must get together with Yi Qian or he will not help Guang Xi.

Mu Cheng agrees and then she goes for a date with Guang Xi, which is their first and last date. They go to take photos and the photographer says "A second passes very fast, but to capture a second and make it last forever, that’s the magic of photography" They take many photos together and the photographer puts the softcopy of these photos into a bracelet, something that couples love. Mu Cheng buys the bracelet for Guang Xi and Guang Xi does not suspect anything all the way until he enters the surgery room. Even though they give him sedatives, he still wakes up halfway and the moment he sees Yi Qian in the room, he knows that the surgery he goes for is not the normal one, but the new and improved medical surgery that only Director He has the means to. He runs out of the room [don’t ask me how he does that, I’m still very doubtful about it] still in his patient’s clothes and runs to Mu Cheng’s house. Mu Cheng has already moved out of it and Tuo Ye is ready to drive her away when they see Guang Xi. Guang Xi says that he knows his mother must have said something to Mu Cheng to make her go away, but Mu Cheng says that it’s not his mother, it’s herself who wants to leave him. Mu Cheng gets back into Tuo Ye’s van and asks him to drive away but Guang Xi keeps running after the van until he cannot anymore. He slumps down on the road and suddenly Mu Cheng’s stepdad turns up and stabs him. The unknowing Mu Cheng just continues to cry and asks Tuo Ye to just keep driving.

Guang Xi’s mother finds him and they send him to the hospital. When he wakes up, the first person he sees is Yi Qian. Then, we are told that the report for Mu Cheng’s check up is out — she’s pregnant, with Guang Xi’s child.

After that, is what happened 6 years later, which starts from Episode 7 and where I will start doing 2 episodes recap!:D

Now what do I think of this drama? It’s definitely of a certain standard or it wouldn’t be the second highest rated drama. However, I still find it illogical that Guang Xi can like Mu Cheng so much within perhaps a few days, and that because of Mu Cheng, it gives him the strength to go on. My fellow drama addicts who love this show remain adamant that it’s something like love at first sight, because Mu Cheng is the first girl that is so different from all the other women that he has met, it immediately strikes him how special and unique this girl is. Granted, it makes sense, but it’s still tooo fassst. Everything is just ridiculously fast and the show is pretty much filled with taiwan cliches [something that I will write on soon]. Do I sound like I hate the show? Nehhhh I love the show. There’s a reason why cliches are still so popular and that’s because girls like us just can’t help but fall in love with them, which is why they are still in fashion. It’s like yes I know Guang Xi is a cliche, but he’s just so nice and sweet you can’t help but squeal loudly.

I’ve actually watched quite a few episodes after episode 6, and I think the good parts of the whole drama lie at towards the back of the drama, because the emphasis of this drama is actually on what happened 6 years later. Episode 1 to 6 are more of like a prelude, which is why I think it’s so under developed and fast. To be honest, Vanness Wu’s acting is lousy and because he’s American-born Chinese, his pronunciation is bad. However, I guess if you give this drama a shot, you will find his acting relatively better and improved with the progress of each episode. 😀

All right, here’s the review and recap of the first 6 episodes!:D 

<3thoughtsramble