Impossible Lovers

Description

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Zheng Baozhu and Qu Zhi grew up together, but they didn’t become the enviable childhood sweethearts; instead, they grew up to be arch-enemies.

Zheng Baozhu thought Qu Zhi was hypocritical, pretentious, and self-righteous.

Qu Zhi thought Zheng Baozhu was vulgar, materialistic, and superficial.

Everyone said they were the least likely to become a couple.

Their mutual friend Cen Tongtong declared, “If they end up together, I’ll eat all the keyboards in my house.”

Later, she threw away all 17 keyboards from her house overnight.

One-sentence summary: What’s it like to be in a relationship with your arch-enemy?

Associated Names
One entry per line
不可能恋人[娱乐圈]
Related Series
Finding Glowing Beauty in Books (Shared Universe)
Just Blame Me For Being Blind in the Beginning (Shared Universe)
Marriage Concerto (Small Thing Called Love) (Shared Universe)
Good Morning, Miss Ghost (Shared Universe)
Amnesiac Queen (Shared Universe)
Divorce: This is a Trivial Matter (Shared Universe)
Sweet Heart in Honeyed Desire (Shared Universe)
Sonata: Fleeing to Avoid an Arranged Marriage (Shared Universe)
Hear My Heart: My World Falls into the River of Love (Shared Universe)
I Seem Unsuited for Dating (Shared Universe)
Midnight Cinderella (Shared Universe)
Slowly Falling For Changkong (Shared Universe)
The Lady’s Facade was Ruined (Shared Universe)
Kiss of Venus (Shared Universe)
Twelve Units of Sweetness (Shared Universe)
Recommendations
Entertainment’s Villainess Lost Her Memories! (1)
If You Don’t Go To Hell, Who Will? (1)
Noble Wife Wants No Love (1)
Rebirth of the Pampered Wife’s Daily Life (1)
I See Roses (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. MOINE
  2. showbiz, entertainment
  3. Modern Romance
  4. CN Favorites BXG 2024
  5. SHOWBIZ NOVEL

Latest Release

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07/30/23 KriTLs – Scribble... extra 19
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15 Reviews sorted by


Vim
Vim rated it
May 11, 2023
Status: --
If you like Pride and Prejudice, you would definitely see that this Chinese novel is inspired by it or at least follows the slowburn theme and what we call 'female gaze' in the story.

The female lead is an example of a modern feminist, not the overated or stereotype cold and independent type, but the empathetic successful woman who behaves in her principle of helping each other up and not pitting and dragging each other down. It's also realistic in terms of female relationships, that doesn't force women to be in... more>> good terms, but teaches that as a woman, we must help other women in need, even if it's your own enemy.

Spoiler

Sun Jing, a bratty female lead in one of the earlier films that the FL auditioned as an extra, called her out on her bad behavior which Sun Jing then marked her as an enemy. Sun Jing even sabotaged the FL when she finally entered the netizens attention by spreading malicious rumors of her plastic surgery (not true). But instead of thinking of retaliation, the FL ignores her and sued the blogger that Sun Jing paid. When Sun Jing accidentally stepped on her strapless dress and flashed everyone in the red carpet, FL helped her defend and call out against the reporters who mercilessly flashed their camera against Sun Jing who's desperately trying to cover herself up (like a Manilyn Monroe incident). When the FL later was being harassed online by an investor the FL refused to drink with, Sun Jing exposed the investor's dirty deeds leading countless women to step forward and expose him too. Sun Jing and the FL lead are not magically friends, they are both adults who helped each other out and put aside their differences by repaying good deeds.

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There are two main plots in the story: 1) The FL's brave and unrelenting pursuit in her dream job of acting despite her family's oppositions; 2) the Pride and Prejudice love story between the FL and her childhood enemy.

1) The first plot tackles depression and the generational gap between family members. The FL's aunt, Su Mingmei, was a widely popular and legendary actress during her time and the pride of their family. However, everything falls apart when her aunt committed su*cide after the release of her last film, indicating that her aunt wasn't able to get out of her depressing role (who committed su*cide at the end of the film). Because of her aunt's time where technology and communication weren't as advanced and convenient as today's, the family discovered her depression too late and weren't able to help her. The FL was only five years old at this time. Her aunt was her inspiration but at the same time the reason why her family opposes her pursuit of acting, bec the FL looks so much like her beautiful aunt that they're afraid that she would suffer the same fate.

What makes this novel so good is that the story could stand alone as Josei and coming of age/ Slice of Life even without the romance part. But the author masterfully intertwines the love story into the FL's story which makes it better.

2) The love story between Qu Zhi, the ML, and Zheng, the FL lead is not just a childhood enemies turned to lovers trope, but a story of rediscovery and reevaluation, basically seeing someone's 'true self' for who they truly are without the prejudice and biases that they have beforehand. Qu Zhi and the FL lead are neighbors and classmates, and one time during their composition class, the FL wrote of her ambition of becoming an actress which the ML snitched on FL's mother, causing the FL lead to be shamed and chased around to be beaten down by her mother in public. FL's family had come hard on opposing her, causing the FL to keep quite of her dream. Since then the FL treats the ML as her enemy and become prejudiced of him at every turn.

The ML, like Mr. Darcy, holds a mean grudge. He has a high sense of moral righteousness. His parents are scientists who are always away and basically left him to be raised by their neighbor, FL's mother. When he saw that the FL is complaining about the ML getting better grades than her and being shady about her composition work to her mother, he believe it was righteous of him to tell the truth. Since then, he looks down on the FL as being shallow who only likes glittery stuff and focuses on her appearances instead of character and morals. He doesn't take acting a respectable job, and sees it fit for a 'shallow' girl like FL to like. He didn't expect the FL to be serious about it. They had so many misunderstandings and fights during their school days and because of their prejudice with each other, they had viewed all their experiences and memories together with bias against each other.

It was only then when the ML returned to China after studying abroad and staying in FL's hotel, (who successfully running her own hotel and other businesses at the age of 25), that they were able to see each other eye to eye as adults and began to reevaluate their experience and grudges against each other.

As the ML continue to live in the hotel and interact with FL and her hotel staffs did ML reach to a beautiful realization that all this time he judged her character wrong and never really able to get to know her despite being with her since childhood. Since the FL is successfully independent, she finally could start pursuing her acting career through small acting gigs and the ML witnessed how serious she is and her struggles to land herself in roles as extra. He then began to respect her and her job. And by continually getting to know her through her actions and other people, began to fall in love with the FL even to the point of acknowledging his mistakes and staying by her side, supporting her, and accompanying her in the best way he can despite his busy career as a scientist.

It all goes back in circle when he helped her keep it a secret from her family, and as if to rectify his childhood mistake, stands by her side and helps convince her family to accept her dream of becoming an actress. Not the dramatic, angsty, or antagonistic approach but the soft persuasion of acknowledging the family's fears and old wounds and bridging the gap between older and new generation.

I just loved how to novel acknowledged depression and mental health in general. It's about educating older generations lack of understanding and assuring that previous mistakes won't be repeated bec of better facilities, open communication, and therapy approach compared to FL's aunt time. It's expressing the point that the best approach to depression and other mental illnesses is open mindedness and familial support.

In Pride and Prejudice, one of the core themes aside from questioning our own biases is that love blossoms from respect and gratitude.

As the FL navigates her path towards being an actress, she notices the ML's 'weird change in behavior' and as they interact more, communicate more openly and honestly, discovers that she was wrong about the ML. She views the ML as a hypocritical man who pretends himself humble and above the praise and recognition when he hypocritically and secretly enjoy the privilege he was given for his scientific achievements (i.e. Better government support, housing privileges, career advancement, etc.) The FL thinks that he's a proud man who projects an honorable image of helping the blind and the common masses when he actually has a 'bad' side (after misinterpreting ML's action of beating someone up when in truth he's actually defending a blind old lady from a bully). Bottomline is, both protagonists think the worst of each other when actually they are both misunderstood and actually good people in general. (The ML for his patriotic goals of helping the blind and the masses through robots and scientific advancements, whereas the FL is actually not shallow but very principled in helping women in disadvantageous circumstances and has a good eye in helping, raising and nurturing people especially from those of humble background (as how she successfully managed to run her hotel from the ground up).

The FL after reevaluating her impression falls in love with the ML's continuing support and display of affections and the ML fell in love by setting aside his biases and getting to know her again through her interacting with her and and people's account and her actions. It's a beautiful modern day Pride and Prejudice added with a Josei genre if you ask me. <<less
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solivagantsoul
solivagantsoul
May 14, 2022
Status: Completed
I would say it's a good 4.5 or a 5 since it delivered everything as imagined.

The MC and ML were what I would say frenemies. Their contradiction started all the was from 3rd grade and from then on the MC blacklisted the ML... XD after that they seem to have grown up together till high school neither close friends nor enemies per se but seem to have been there for each other in tough situations. However, their misunderstanding of each other runs too deep so they always had prejudice against... more>> each other and only after returning back to china and meeting once again do our ML and FL start to clear up misunderstandings and gain a whole new perspective of the other.

Their relationship was very interesting to see and the growth was very natural. I do wish tho that there were more extras for their childhood and more scenes with ml's family. there is no antagonist in this story and no terrible struggles. It could be better if some issues brushed over lightly would be explored deeper but ig the author wanted to keep it simpler.

If you're up for a lighthearted romance between an odd pair of childhood sweethearts that blooms late I suggest you read this.

its pretty short with 95 chapters and is simple to read. <<less
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Shortk
Shortk rated it
October 23, 2022
Status: Completed
(same as I wrote in my list) This is the pinnacle of everything I like in a novel: a cliche concept with a nuanced approach and characters who are natural and pull the novel through their indepth, well written, not overly dramatic, and refreshing characterizations with absolutely no misogyny. This is the best enemies to lover for me because the misunderstanding is understandable & natural to their ages, yet not so dramatic that you will have to do some moral restructuring in your brain for them to get together;... more>> they are just two GREAT CONFIDENT people who have strong personalities and had misunderstandings about either other's character and or just petty grudges against each other like ppl do have.

I am extremely picky about entertainment novels. Most of the time I'll just settle if there is a good MC even if I dislike the way the Novel developed, but no. Every single thing was to my TASTE. Bit*h this is the first novel that mentioned you could test to get a special acting license. It's just refreshing how she got into acting. The MC is so my taste. They way she goes about the entertainment world is just fun and so not misogynistic. The way women compliment and lift each other up as strangers and protect each other was so spot on. It feels f*ckin real.

The ML is not a CEO. He has character. He has a real purpose in life. He has friends. This novel actually genuinely SEES mental illness for what it is, it SEES ablism, it SEES disabilities, it SEES depression etc. It doesn't get too deep into all of it bc the focus is on the present with the main leads, but it is there. It is well acknowledged as it should be.

Exhibit a why I like this: no variety show at all. Exhibit b: you see netizens tweets in about 5-6 chapters max. Give or take. It's very VERY MINIMAL comparatively. But I will say it's not a solely entertainment novel as the romance and human relationships are the focus.

This book is a cliche novel with REAL CHARACTERS AND CIRCUMSTANCES THAT FEEL REALISTIC. Just comfortable and epic and fun and not misogynistic!!! (Note: this review doesn't include the extras btw) <<less
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romcom_is_bae
romcom_is_bae rated it
July 30, 2023
Status: Completed
This was such a nice read. I am usually a silent reader but considering that this novel was translated recently and does not has much reviews, I came to give my opinion so others can also find it.

I admired how the female lead was shown to be a strong character with her goals clear. The male lead was also supporting after his initial judgement. It was a nice read.

A perfect 4.5⭐ but since it's not taking half star I would rather give it a 5 than 4 to increase its... more>> initial ratings.

Also a big thanks to the translator, they translated it so quickly that my interest was still there till the end. Although they translated it fast, the quality also was maintained. Will definitely try their other works. <<less
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Leier
Leier rated it
December 31, 2023
Status: extra 1
The novel starts powerfully with the beginning of MC's dream. The fascination she felt when she first saw her superstar aunt was the seed that grows into a lifelong pursuit.

It also shows the meaningful point of the relationship between her and ML, the one in which he tattled on her, which became the seed of her long term resentment and dislike of him that lasted their entire childhood. How vengeful little children are! Of course the child ML has also made his significant contribution to the quarrel. I can imagine... more>> how annoying it is to be around a kid like him.
Spoiler

He is the goody two shoes, the perfect kid, the 'other people's kid'. A high achiever kid who is very polite, has perfect manner, quiet but eloquent, and is terribly good at sweet mouthing his elders. Oh and he is a little tattler, a dog traitor in MC's eyes.

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Unfortunately MC is never able to shake him off because he is forever her mom's favourite 🤣.

The ending is equally powerful, the third grade essay about her dream that starts the novel also ends it. So satisfying!

I like how MC is depicted, how unashamed she is at both pursuing her aspiration and boasting her most obvious strength: her beauty. She has more though: intelligence, boldness, resilience and magnanimity. The ML is a bit two dimensional, but his character is quite consistent, and his pettiness is quite adorable.

The middle is a bit boring because her successes come so soon that's really unbelievable (MC golden halo? Explained by her outstanding beauty? Whatever, I am still not that convinced, but this is a short novel anyway) and I never like peanut gallery talk in this genre of novels, but that's just me.

All in all, this is a good one of this author's and Kris TL is great, although the aunt's name seem to be wrong most of the time, not sure why. <<less
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hy-d-ra
hy-d-ra rated it
November 8, 2023
Status: Completed
Yet another beautifully crafted story. And it's LIVELY. Wonderful frienemies.

Before reading I did not know what to expect, from one point I know that Chestnut doesn't write in a steretypical way, from the other side it still involved the topic of 'becoming an actress' and I had my share of worries, but it's a good thing that things that I was worried about did not occur. Thanks to the author's laid-back style, light-hearted approach and absolute indifference to drama (and I mean that melodramatic, overbearing, tear-jerking drama that is so... more>> abundant in the novels by many other authors).

CHARACTERS:

    • Zheng Baozhu. She's absolutely killing it our golden girl. What already attracted me a lot from previous novels is that they prefer livelier female leads with a human touch to them. I mean where else have I read that FL takes care of herself, likes to dress and put on make-up, takes selfies like any other girl, likes to laugh, keeps in touch with friends. There is no tragic background that makes her into that beautiful flower that blooms at the edge of a concrete road, she's non-average average girl. Yeah oxymoron. So far she's on par with FL from Offended boss ( ), because they have so much to them unlike being plainly beautiful. This is often a downside of stories where mains are beautiful and it's like the main force that moves their character forward, not any other traits just beauty and it helps them to succeed, which sounds so wrong. On the contrary I think big and small details about Baozhu make her more vivid. Baozhu is self-made enterpreneur at the age of 25 and now that she achieved success in her career she decided to chase her dream - and that is to become an actress. She believes in self-improvement and we can see it in details, like the ability to dance when the path to acting was closed or she cooked when her business faced difficulties, but she still continues. Although she never studied acting, but she signed for acting classes and trained every day. She also has a likable personality and full of optimism (because the storyline lacks drama it also helped this image to be solid and carried for the entire novel and small episodes don't hinder her) after all she believed she should start from the bottom, even if she drives Porsche and has money to invest into her own role and never gave up or ranted that work as an extra was hard or was underpaid (of course the fact that she's financially secure helped her not be desperate, but thank author we don't have such a female character). We also find her funny, because of her bickering with ML and also other characters. Her character basically reminded of prejudice we have against beautiful people (even Baozhu herself in one scene mentions that another person sounded prejudiced based on her looks). Like in RL for example several renowned models were said to be good in science or, for example, a fact I had heard only recently and had no idea about Julia Roberts liking/playing chess, although her first major role I remember was in Pretty Woman. So yeah, beauty is not all and there is no need to create some beaten by society girl to make her a heroine.
    • Qu Zhi. For a change we don't have ML who is a big CEO. Honestly, there is so much of them that it feels all non-CEO guys became extinct. So it was fun to read about a scientist. And not some completely lacking in emotion, total iceberg type of scientist, but more human, a little black-bellied even, yet still a warm guy who has his own awkwardness. I guess authors mainly choose CEO of some big groups because they're so lost in this stereotypical plot where a girl is smeone like a Cinderella and only a guy at the helm of power can protect her from all the bad guys eyeing her as if she's the only charming girl in the world. And even if they write about someone else, their character is always cold and weird. I read my big share of those stories, so you can imagine my surprise when I came across a character like Qu Zhi.
    • Secondary characters. Mainly here I noticed that characters are used more as part of the background instead of being a driving force or influencing at least something, but they keep the armosphere being lively. The only characters that had bigger influence on our main characters is obviously Baozhu's aunt from her side and Aunt Xiao, visually impared aunt that influenced Qu Zhi's decision in making small things that also have influence.
RELATIONSHIP: What is wonderful about relationships that they feel organic. It's more of a slow burn. At first finding that someone you once denounced actually is different from what you thought before. Later it's attraction and then love. They also have quite a nice reaction from a beating heart to some awkwardness to finally confirming their relationship. I found such development quite natural and even something one might relate to. We've seen a lot of confident people, but when these people truly like someone they feel insecure and no matter how good they are or how much they earn or how beautiful is their appearance, they will feel insecure. When I read about them I don't have the feeling of - oh, this is so unreal - but on the contrary I feel closer to it as a reader.

STORYLINE: As mentioned this is a very light-hearted novel, so it doesn't bear the stereotypical world of entertainment. I can't stress enough how stereotypical the world of entertainment is portrayed on the average basis, both in BG and BL, this is always called a dye vat, that it's a dirty place. Although there is truth in fact that no place is completely white, but no place is completely black. Because how many times I read about either conflicts or set ups or ulterior motives or unspoken rules or unworthy characters who have their noses held so high they're scraping ceilings. Time and time again in these stories only a handful of people who are truly good and except for the main character it's like that one crew that tries to stay clean. I know I said too much, but it's because my own surprise was so big when we didn't get any of that. We only have Baozhu who went through basic procedures to become an actor and get a chance to be an extra, then her status slowly improved to supporting role, but it wasn't accompanied by entertainment news, there's a lot of off-tim when we witness her casual life in the hotel and interaction with ML. There is no big thrill in their story, they just happen to be together, he comes back from abroad and temporarily lives in her hotel, they also have bickering from time to time and by the end of the day they manage to solve decade-old misunderstandings that've been hanging around. With this knot untied several coincidental events lead both our main characters to suddenly look at each other from a different angle. So the entire storyline does not describe anything big, but these interactions between the two do not make you feel bored. And the climax I think is the moment of understanding that aunt's story. You know the whole novel doesn't really make you swell on it, but when the plot finally reaches this point it's still quite sad. Thus the story is not only a perfect example of light-hearted, entretaining read, but also has emotional parts making the story more dimensional. <<less
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Pandaisy06
Pandaisy06 rated it
July 30, 2023
Status: Completed
I have read many of Chestnut's novels and I think the FL in this story may be my favourite. She's strong, kind, intelligent, witty and courageous. Although she has a head start due to her privileged background, she's still hardworking and very likeable. The FL really shines in this story.

Also, I want to give a shoutout to the translator for giving such a quick and high-quality translation. The translator chooses some of the best stories to translate and is now one of my favourite translators (high quality and reliable).
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dewey
dewey rated it
July 24, 2023
Status: c33
I’m pretty satisfied with this novel so far! I was hesitant to read it because the author is the famous Chestnut who has a bunch of romance novel that I am not a fan of. Believe me I have tried to read their novels, (Blame me for being blind... , Good morning miss ghost, slowly falling for, hear my heart, and fleeing to avoid..) but the stories just fall flat and the characters are so one dimensional.

However this novel is great (one of their most recent works) the FL... more>> is passionate and likeable. While the ML has character that are not limited to his handsomeness or stoicism. The best part is that how the plot progresses naturally. So I definitely recommend, there’s also some comedic element which is always welcomed.
Hopefully the story does not lose steam as did her other novels but as the things stand right now, I doubt it.
Translation is great, thank you translator! C: <<less
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cosmicpeach
cosmicpeach
December 15, 2023
Status: Completed
4 / 5 ⭐

It was a good light read. A showbiz story with almost no drama in it.

Honestly I liked it but somehow it was a bit bland? I like slice of life but this novel definitely isn't a slice of life...

... more>> I was reading this because I want to read another showbiz story and yes this one is actually more logical but that was the very reason why it feels "bland".

I like our FMC & ML but somehow I don't feel any depth in ML's character, he has no presence... at least in my opinion.

Nevertheless it was still an okay read. <<less
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kirtil
kirtil rated it
September 18, 2023
Status: Completed
This is a very light read. It is a very good healing novel, perfect when you feel down and need something lighthearted and without any drama for a pick me up. I understand this is the authors brand of writing.

I like the MC, she is free, privileged and readily using her privilege to help the others.

I did not like the whole linchpin of the story is a misunderstanding from their childhood and the MC kept it with her for years. Once the misunderstanding is cleared I felt the story was... more>> done and the rest was a little too perfect too much sweet for me. <<less
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JoRlly
JoRlly rated it
August 16, 2023
Status: --
Something more light to read. Honestly, to me, there doesn't seem to be that much romance, more focused on her acting journey. But, overall, not a bad read.

Spoiler

Even after the first night they were together, nothing was lovey dovey, they were back to discussing some conflict she had with a man.

I liked that the first time she had stomach issues it wasn't because she was pregnant (usually what it is in these novels). Also, loved that this FL doesn't seem to hate intimacy, like many FLs seem to do.

[collapse]
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chande
chande rated it
August 14, 2023
Status: Completed
This novel followed most of other Chesnut's novel's pattern: sweet, lighthearted, and without much drama. I didn't mind though since I also like some of Chesnut's other works too. This novel focused on MC's journey to become a serious actress and her relationship with her childhood friend, ML.

I love how MC started her acting career from the bottom since she knew that she still lacked acting lesson. She started from being an extra, supporting role, and finally leading actress. It wasn't easy but she still persisted through it.

Her relationship with... more>> ML also went through some misunderstandings before they finally resolved it and got to know each other from the scratch. But I think the process from being a normal friend to take a liking towards each other was a bit hasty because they barely knew each other again after all those years. And honestly, the story got a little boring after MC's career took off and she got into an relationship with ML.

But overall, this story was sweet enough for you who craved many romantic moments between MC and ML. In addition, the extras also provided you a sneak peak of their marriage life with their little buns. <<less
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fakeluff
fakeluff rated it
August 12, 2023
Status: Completed
A beautifully naturalistic fantasy, until it gets too perfect towards the end. The finale to the FL’s journey moved me.
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RajSanthosh
RajSanthosh rated it
August 11, 2023
Status: Completed
Awww.... Such a sweet story...

There are reviews down there... Just go and read those...

For me this is just a time pass - Sweet bites -

There are no love triangles, no over dramas,...

Just a girl pursuing her dreams and get hooked up with her childhood sweetheart
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bluesonnet
bluesonnet rated it
August 6, 2023
Status: Completed
It's just okay. You can breeze through it, there's not a lot of story twists. Usually even if a story is just okay, as long as I got invested in the romance of the characters, I give a 5. But this one didn't make me invested in the characters or the progression of their romance, so it's just a 4.
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