LayarHijau.com—The highly anticipated Chinese drama, The First Frost (Sulit Dibujuk), premiered yesterday, February 18, 2025, on Youku. Starring Bai Jingting and Zhang Ruonan, the drama debuted with four episodes. According to Maoyan data, the drama ranks first in ratings among Chinese dramas.
This is not surprising, as the novel The First Frost is quite popular in China, boasting a large fanbase. Coupled with the success of the drama Hidden Love, which is adapted from the same series of novels, viewers in China are undoubtedly curious about this new drama.
Warning: The following discussion contains spoilers.
I personally read the novel The First Frost in English a year ago and have now watched the first four episodes of the drama. It can be said that there are several changes in the story setting and characters in the drama compared to the novel version. The dark atmosphere in the drama feels very strong. In the first four episodes, Wen Yifan, played by Zhang Ruonan, is nearly sexually assaulted several times by different characters. This contrasts sharply with the romantic comedy tone that is prominent in the early parts of the novel.
As the story progresses, readers begin to suspect that there are elements of sexual harassment, even more severe than what happens to Wen Yifan. However, this theme is introduced subtly and ultimately shocks readers in the middle to the end of the story.
The drama version takes a different approach by prominently featuring these elements from the start. The dark tone from the very beginning makes some of the humorous moments involving Wen Yifan, Sang Yan, and other characters feel awkward (at least in my opinion). In the novel, the humor feels much more pronounced and contrasts sharply with the characters' normal behavior.
In the novel, Duan Jiaxu (played by Wu Yuheng) only officially meets Wen Yifan in the epilogue, during a dinner gathering with Sang Yan, Duan Jiaxu, and Sang Zhi for the Lunar New Year.
Although Wen Yifan hasn't met Duan Jiaxu directly before that moment, she has heard rumors about him. In the novel, Wen Yifan knows that Sang Yan is popular and adored by women because of his good looks. However, she does not feel jealous of the women approaching her boyfriend.
Ironically, the only person who makes Wen Yifan jealous is Duan Jiaxu. This is because Sang Yan is cold and indifferent toward the women who pursue him. However, Wen Yifan has heard rumors on campus about Sang Yan and Duan Jiaxu being in a same-sex relationship.
These rumors arise because these two handsome campus idols are cold toward the female students chasing them, never dating anyone of the opposite sex but spending a lot of time together. Perhaps the female students feel hurt by the rejections and create these rumors to comfort themselves.
It seems these rumors leave an uncomfortable feeling in Wen Yifan's heart while she and Sang Yan live together in an apartment and are not back together yet. In the novel, every time Duan Jiaxu's name comes up, a feeling of jealousy and curiosity arises in Wen Yifan. She wonders how handsome Duan Jiaxu is to be considered a suitable match for Sang Yan.
Wen Yifan's curiosity is answered when she gets the chance to see an album filled with photos of Sang Yan and his college friends. She finally sees a photo of Duan Jiaxu and discusses her feelings of jealousy with Sang Yan. She even admits that she wants to see Duan Jiaxu's face out of curiosity about her "rival" in love.
However, when Sang Yan hears Wen Yifan's opinion about Duan Jiaxu, it's Sang Yan who ends up feeling jealous. Wen Yifan innocently praises Duan Jiaxu in front of Sang Yan, saying, "He's quite handsome."
Sang Yan's jealousy lingers until he meets his college friends, including Duan Jiaxu, at Qian Fei's wedding reception. This wedding reception scene also appears in the drama Hidden Love, starring Chen Zheyuan and Zhao Lusi.
How would Sang Zhi feel if she knew that her future sister-in-law, Wen Yifan, thinks Duan Jiaxu is "quite handsome"? Perhaps Sang Zhi would also feel jealous of Duan Jiaxu. In the novel, Wen Yifan is described as very beautiful.
In the drama, Duan Jiaxu meets Wen Yifan for the first time in episode 4. At that moment, Sang Yan asks Wen Yifan to let him know if she returns later than 8:00 PM. This conversation leads Wen Yifan to misunderstand and feel annoyed because Sang Yan's request seems confrontational.
When the misunderstanding is resolved and Wen Yifan is about to enter her room, Duan Jiaxu unexpectedly comes out of the bathroom wearing only a towel. Both are surprised to see each other. Wen Yifan's facial expression looks strange when she realizes that the man in front of her wearing a towel is Duan Jiaxu, as it reminds her of the rumors she heard about their relationship.
With these changes in the storyline, does this mean that other parts of the story involving Duan Jiaxu and Sang Zhi, as seen in the drama Hidden Love, will also change in The First Frost?