Hidden Love: The One That Started the Universe 💕

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 The drama that came before First Frost — and honestly, might have ruined me even harder


Quick Info

  • Episodes: 25
  • Genre: Modern Romance, Coming-of-Age
  • Released: 2023
  • Leads: Zhao Lusi as Sang Zhi, Chen Zheyuan as Duan Jiaxu
  • Where to watch: Netflix, Youku
  • My rating: 10/10

Spoiler-Free First Impressions

I actually watched this one after The First Frost, and it completely changed how I saw that drama. Turns out, First Frost is a spin-off of Hidden Love — both are based on novels by the same author, Zhu Yi, and fans call it the "Hidden Love Universe." Hidden Love follows Sang Zhi, the little sister of Sang Yan (the male lead of First Frost), and her years-long crush on her brother's best friend, Duan Jiaxu. If you've watched First Frost first like I did, this one is full of Easter eggs — the four college roommates, the recurring bar, even a wedding that gets mentioned in both shows. I was hooked from episode one, partly because of the story, and partly because Chen Zheyuan's face should honestly come with a warning label.

💕 The Romance Timeline (Spoilers Ahead!)

My signature way of tracking a drama's romance — because sometimes that's really all we're here for.

  • First meeting: Episode 1 — Sang Zhi is in 8th grade when she first meets Duan Jiaxu, her older brother Sang Yan's college roommate
  • Reconnecting: Episode 1 — years later, now in 11th grade, she helps her brother move into his dorm and reunites with Jiaxu; he gives her a fox plushie that becomes a running motif
  • Feelings start showing: Episodes 2-5 — through study sessions, shared meals, and Jiaxu quietly remembering her food allergies, Sang Zhi's crush deepens. She starts writing secret notes on paper stars and hiding them in a milk bottle he gave her
  • The heartbreak detour: Episode 7 — Sang Zhi hears (wrongly) that Jiaxu has a girlfriend and flies to his city alone to confirm it, only to get her heart broken thinking it's true. It wasn't, but the misunderstanding devastates her for a while
  • Reunited as adults: Episode 8 — two years later, she's now in university in his city, and they run into each other again, both older and clearly still drawn to one another
  • The moment it truly began (revealed later): Episode 11 — during the first snowfall of the year, Sang Zhi wishes for Jiaxu to have someone by his side, secretly hoping it's her. It isn't confirmed until the finale, but this is the exact moment Jiaxu says he started falling for her 
  • Milestones: Episode 9 — an accidental forehead kiss while rushing him to the hospital for appendicitis; she nurses him back to health, and the "just siblings" wall starts cracking
  • First real spark acknowledged: Episode 12 — while drunk, Sang Zhi admits she likes someone, and Jiaxu (thinking she's asleep) quietly confesses to himself that he wishes he could be that someone
  • Confession: Episode 15 — Jiaxu asks Sang Zhi if he can pursue her, telling her plainly: "I don't want to be your brother, I want to be your boyfriend"
  • First kiss (cheek): Episode 17 — a shy, testing-the-waters kiss on the cheek
  • Officially a couple + first real kiss: Episode 17 — Sang Zhi agrees to be his girlfriend on his birthday, and they share their actual first kiss as a couple.
  • Conflict (not a love triangle — external forces): A recurring subplot involves Jiang Ying, a woman whose father died in an accident caused by Jiaxu's own father. She's obsessed with Jiaxu and believes he owes her a lifetime, but he never reciprocates any feelings — he's clear from the start that he's only settling his father's debt to her family, nothing more. She harasses him repeatedly throughout the series, including one memorable scene where she throws water at him and Sang Zhi immediately throws it right back in her defense
  • Family approval hurdle: Episode 23 — Sang Zhi's parents find out about the relationship and have real, valid concerns about Jiaxu's family situation. It's handled with a lot of maturity on both sides rather than dragged-out conflict
  • "I love you": Episode 24 — Jiaxu says it for the first time, apologizing for taking so long, followed by one of the show's more intimate moments
  • Loss and support: Episode 24 — Jiaxu's father passes away, and Sang Zhi is there for him through it, deepening their bond further
  • Long-distance chapter: Episodes 24-25 — Jiaxu moves back to their hometown first to build his business and win over her parents properly, while Sang Zhi finishes school
  • Happy ending: Episode 25 — after Sang Zhi graduates, Jiaxu proposes in front of her whole family with six words: "Only one person for a lifetime." 

Love rivals? Essentially none that ever threaten the main couple. Two boys — Fu Zhengchu in high school and Jiang Ming in college — both confess their feelings to Sang Zhi at different points, and she gently but clearly rejects both, since her heart was always set on Jiaxu. On Jiaxu's side, the only "other woman" is Jiang Ying, but that's one-sided obsession tied to his father's past, not mutual feelings. If you're like me and prefer minimal love triangles, this delivers cleanly.

Chemistry & Leads

Zhao Lusi and Chen Zheyuan are simply perfect in these roles — I genuinely can't picture anyone else playing Sang Zhi and Duan Jiaxu. I've rewatched this more times than I'll admit, and it still gets me every single time — the same butterflies, the same tears, the same laughing out loud at their bickering.

Zhao Lusi carries Sang Zhi from an awkward 8th grader all the way to a confident young graduate, and every stage feels believable. Her range here is genuinely impressive.

Chen Zheyuan plays Jiaxu with so much restraint and quiet devotion that when he finally lets his guard down, it hits twice as hard.

Victor Ma as Sang Yan (yes, the same character from First Frost, played by a different actor there) also deserves real credit — the sibling dynamic between him and Sang Zhi is one of my favorite parts of the whole show. Their bickering feels completely natural, and you can tell how much they genuinely love each other underneath it.

What Didn't Work For Me

Being fully honest, since that's what I want this blog to be about: the OST didn't leave much of an impression on me one way or the other — not bad, just not memorable, especially compared to how much I loved the First Frost soundtrack. That's really my only note. Everything else about this one just worked for me.

Why It Hooked Me

What makes Hidden Love stand out for me is how healthy this romance is. There's no toxicity, no unnecessary miscommunication dragged out for shock value, no dramatic twists just for the sake of drama. The appeal here is purely the believable chemistry and the slow, steady, very real way these two people grow up and grow toward each other. It's proof that a drama doesn't need chaos to be addictive — sometimes watching two people simply be good to each other is the most satisfying thing you can watch.

If you've already seen The First Frost, watching this one afterward (like I did) adds a whole extra layer — you get to see Sang Yan as the protective, occasionally overbearing big brother here, then flip your perspective completely and watch him fall in love himself in the spin-off. Either order works, but I'd recommend experiencing both.

One Easter egg I loved: Qian Fei, one of the four inseparable college roommates, gets married in Hidden Love — and that same wedding gets referenced again in The First Frost. It's such a small detail, but catching it made both shows feel like they were quietly winking at each other, like the timeline is real and still going even in the background of a completely different story.

Next up on My Drama Desk: still deciding, but the Hidden Love Universe has me tempted to see what else is out there in this world.

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