《双世萌妻》Love for Two Lives – Perfect for Chinese learners

《双世萌妻》”Love for Two Lives” is my favourite Chinese short drama of all time. I love this so much that I’ve seen it three times!

It has the perfect blend of comedy and romance with a decent plot in under 4 hours. And I’m going to tell you why you should watch this short drama for entertainment and to improve your Mandarin Chinese.

For those new to short dramas, it’s a form of TV drama that is becoming popular in the Chinese entertainment industry. Each episode is usually under 15 minutes, and the entire show is generally at most 5 hours.

Short dramas are the perfect entertainment material for Chinese learners, and if you haven’t already incorporated them into your immersion routine, I highly recommend that you do so!

Synopsis

The show starts with the main character’s life falling apart as she loses her job and discovers that her boyfriend has run away with her roommate. Completely devastated by this chain of events, she drowns her sorrows with alcohol and a hot bath while admiring her favourite idol.

While she is drowning in her sorrows, her apartment starts to fuse with an emperor’s palace in an ancient kingdom. In her drunken state, she stumbles out of her bathroom, into the imperial courtroom and into the arms of the handsome emperor, who looks exactly like her idol.

She appears at a crucial time for the emperor and saves him from being betrothed to the Empress Dowyer’s niece. The two of them arrange an agreement where she will act as his arranged marriage betrothed, whom nobody has seen, and he will provide her with the money she needs to pay for her rent.

Like all light-hearted stories with two handsome characters, they soon find themselves falling for each other…

Trailer

The Watching Experience

The short episode formats make for a rather addicting experience. On paper, the episodes are 8 mins, but if you subtract the opening and ending song, it’s really only 5-6 minutes.

The plot is fast-paced, and with limited time, there’s no room for pointless scenes. It does mean that a bit of concentration is required, or else you could miss an important part of the plot as it comes and goes so quickly.

The characters travel between the emperor’s fantasy historical realm and the female lead’s modern world. There’s a good balance of scenes and subplots from both worlds, allowing for the development of both characters’ own paths.

It’s not a high production show

This is a low-budget show, which can be seen in the setting and lack of any cinematic scenes. The one-fight scene was even completely skipped over. Nevertheless, this short drama is all about the fast-paced, engaging and absolutely hilarious narrative.

This show will have you rolling on the floor laughing

A few of the scenes are some of the funniest in any Chinese TV drama I’ve ever seen. They are so ridiculous that I couldn’t believe that it really happened!

One of my rewatch was during a watch together event on a Chinese learning Discord server, and we all had an amazing time laughing (and crying from laughter) over these scenes.

Surprising side characters

I won’t give away any spoilers, but the storyline involving the side characters was the best surprise of this show!

These side characters are the true stars of the show!

It’s not all perfect

As much as I wish for this show to be perfect, there was one minor letdown, which, sadly, was the last story arc. This storyline in this last arc was a little too serious and felt awkward and out of place from the rest of the show. Luckily, due to the short length, this quickly passed before moving on to the final wrap-up.

I couldn’t have asked for a better ending

Endings can often be a letdown, particularly in Chinese transmigration TV dramas. However, this wasn’t the case. The ending was a happy and satisfying one, and I couldn’t have asked for more.

A great short drama for Chinese learners

An approachable drama for newcomers:

• Casual dialogue — mostly modern with some light historical language.
• A straightforward and easy-to-follow plot with not many characters.
• Simple historical setting with minimal politics — great for picking up vocabulary

Final Thoughts

When I watched this show for the first time, I loved it so much that I binged it all in one day.

I absolutely loved the historical and modern combo, particularly the parts where she introduces the people of the palace to many modern-day objects and ways of living, adding a fun and charming feel to the show!

This show is charming, funny, sweet and relaxing to watch. The female lead is really cute, and I find her smile very genuine; it makes me want to smile every time!

I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a short, relaxing, and funny Chinese drama.