A very cliché opening to a hopefully not as cliché story. The author is doing a good job at setup honestly. The first 8 chapters do a great job at establishing the relationships between the main characters and the main misunderstanding between the protagonists. As should be expected, Zhou Xu is not in love with Xie Yanmo. He hates him in fact and his confession is all a part of some kind of scheme. One of his close relatives, perhaps even a twin brother (they look very alike but the man in the hospital bed is not introduced yet) appears to be in a coma. A picture at the bedside shows a picture of Xie Yanmo with one of the brothers. Zhou Xu reveals his hostility to the former by turning the photo face down. 

Song Shuzhi is sincere to Mr. Xie, but may have fallen in love under false pretences. He was given some lyrics by Xie Yanmo on their first meeting. The lyrics impressed him and he crushed on him for the next four years. Xie Yanmo started to reveal that Song Shuzhi had a misunderstanding about the lyrics, but then the conversation was interrupted by a call. 

Zhou Xu is clearly attracted to his new co-renter and co-worker. He plays along with the love rival thing. He seems to think it's fun. He gives Mr. Song a friendly warning that what he likes may not be the real Xu Yanmo (paraphrased). He doesn't seem to be in love yet to be fair. I think he's too focused on some kind of revenge to fall in love. For now. 

The knocked off stars are primarily for the already flat side characters, especially the various suitors and other antagonists. You can tell that they exist purely to push the plot forward. They have no depth. It's still early so I might update my rating later if this aspect changes for the better. It's clear regardless that this is going to be a dog-blooded drama type story. 

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