Cruel Romance
Genre	Romance Action Republican
Created by	The Fate of Jinxiu by Yu Yi
Written by	Yuan Shuai
Directed by	Lin Helong
Starring	Huang Xiaoming Joe Chen Kimi Qiao Lv Jiarong Tse Kwan-ho Qi Ji
Opening theme	Fate by Huang Xiaoming
Ending theme	Circumstances Changes with Time by Shen Yisha
Country of origin	China
Original language	Mandarin
No. of episodes	40
Production
Executive producers	Huan Ming Huang Bin
Production location	China
Running time	45 minutes
Production companies	Asian Palm Film Huang Xiao Ming Studios
Original release
Network	Hunan TV
Release	3 March (2015-03-03) – 26 March 2015 (2015-03-26)

Cruel Romance (Chinese: 锦绣缘华丽冒险) is a 2015 Chinese television series starring Huang Xiaoming and Joe Chen. It is based on the republican novel The Fate of Jinxiu (锦绣缘) by Yu Yi. The series aired on Hunan TV from 3 March to 26 March 2015.

The series is a commercial success,^[1] and became second highest rated television drama for the first half of 2015. It also has over 5 billion views online. Broadcasting rights of the drama were sold to America, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

Synopsis

Set in the 1930s, Rong Jinxiu (Joe Chen) was born in a renowned medical family. When her father saves her teacher Mr Chen from a gunshot wound, her entire family was killed by the Japanese. With only a piece of watch as evidence, Jin Xiu heads to Shanghai to search for her enemies. On the ferry there, she meets the famous triad leader Zuo Zhen (Huang Xiaoming) of Shanghai's Huang Pu commerce. Through some entanglement, the watch ends up with Zuo Zhen. In order to retrieve her watch, Jin Xiu heads to Bai Le dance hall to look for him. There, she meets her long-lost half-sister Yin Mingzhu (Lv Jiarong), who is currently a famous dancer and the lover of Shanghai's wealthiest businessman, Xiang Hanchuan (Tse Kwan-ho). However, Ming Zhu still harbours hatred for the Rong family because they abandoned Mingzhu and her sickly mother many years before.

At the dance hall, Jin Xiu gets injured in the midst of a fight between Zuo Zhen and his enemies. Zuo Zhen rescues her and then brings her to Lion Forest hotel, which he had gifted to Xiang Yingdong, the brother of Xiang Hanchuan. While Zuo Zhen finds Jin Xiu annoying, he can't help but find himself attracted towards her and keeps helping her in the shadows, making sure that she is safe and comfortable in Shanghai. Jin Xiu remains clueless and continues to believe that the comfort and safety she has is because of sheer luck.

With all that happening, Mr Maeda, the one behind the murder of Jin Xiu's family, came to Shanghai posed as a businessman from Japan, with plans to execute all the anti-Japanese rebel groups in Shanghai and make Shanghai's business Japan's.

Cast

Main

• Huang Xiaoming as Zuo Zhen
  • Also known as Second Master. Leader of the Freedom Fighter triad. Calm, composed and sharp, Zuo Zhen is cold and indifferent to women. However, the appearance of Jinxiu changes that.
• Joe Chen as Rong Jinxiu / Yoko
  • Determined, pure and kind-hearted. Jinxiu learnt medicine from her father since young, and is a skilled physician. After her parents' death, she comes to Shanghai alone to find out the truth, gaining independence and wisdom throughout her journey.
• Kimi Qiao as Xiang Yingdong
  • Also known as Master Ying. Gentle and humorous, he has sought independence since young, but is overshadowed by his brother. After losing his beloved woman Mingzhu to his brother, he hides his inner pain and struggles by being a playboy. He subsequently falls in love with Jinxiu and comes into conflict with Zuo Zhen.
• Lv Jiarong as Yin Mingzhu
  • Jinxiu's half-sister. Because of her mother's death, she is consumed by the desire of revenge and becomes the Japanese's puppet. She loves Yingdong but has no choice but to be with Hanchuan to complete her mission.
• Tse Kwan-ho as Xiang Hanchuan
  • CEO of the Xiang Enterprise. A loyal and faithful man. He discovers Zuo Zhen's potential and grooms him into a capable man. Having accidentally snatched his younger brother's lover Mingzhu, he feels deeply apologetic toward him and thus is willing to condone all his wrongdoings.
• Qi Ji as Maeda Ryuichi
  • A cold and cruel militarist who would resort to anything for his country. Because of his lowly position, he had no choice but to watch his lover Yang Zi being killed. When he comes to Shanghai and discovers Yang Zi's look-a-like Jinxiu, he resorts to all sorts of methods to win her over.

Supporting

Soundtrack

Ratings

• Highest ratings are marked in red, lowest ratings are marked in blue

International broadcast

Channel	Country	Date	Notes
KTSF	United States	April 9, 2015
8TV	Malaysia	May 28, 2015
True Asian HD	Thailand	July 12, 2015
OMNI.2 (ON)	Canada	August 3, 2015
OMNI AB
OMNI BC
ON TV	Taiwan	August 17, 2015
CTS		August 24, 2015
Mediacorp Channel 8	Singapore	September 10, 2015
True4U	Thailand	February 22, 2016
Asian TV	South Korea	April 4, 2016
중화TV		2016
Giải Trí TV	Vietnam	March 21, 2017
D-Drama		May 10, 2018
Sony ONE	Singapore  Malaysia  Indonesia  Philippines  Thailand	June 23, 2018