The Eternal Love (双世宠妃; Shuāng Shì Chǒng Fēi) is a 2017 Chinese historical/romantic comedy series starring Liang Jie and Xing Zhao Lin. It's based on the novel Bao Xiao Chong Fei: Ye Wo Deng Ni Xiu Qi by Fan Que.
A romance gone wrong leads to Qu Tan Er attempting suicide. Her attempt fails, and she wakes up to find someone else has gotten trapped in her head. The other person is Qu Xiao Tan, a modern woman, who's accidentally travelled back in time. When either of them hits their head or tells a lie, the other takes over their shared body. Their situation becomes more complicated when they have to marry Mo Lian Cheng: Qu Xiao Tan falls in love with him, while Qu Tan Er is still in love with his brother.
A second season, The Eternal Love 2, aired in 2018. A third season, The Eternal Love 3, aired in 2021.
The series can be watched on Viki
and YouTube with English subtitles.
Not to be confused with Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, which is sometimes called Eternal Love, or its sequel Eternal Love of Dream. Also not to be confused with the trope Eternal Love.
Contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Tan Er's stepmother beats her up for the slightest fault while her father stands by and watches.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Yi Huai both in-universe and out of it. After his death Xiao Tan hopes he and Tan Er will meet in their next life.
- Alpha Bitch: Yi Xiang Nong and Yun You Lian, Lian Cheng's concubines, spend most of their time insulting each other and Tan Er/Xiao Tan.
- Arranged Marriage: Between Tan Er/Xiao Tan and Lian Cheng.
- Attempted Suicide: Tan Er's suicide attempt kicks off the plot.
- Babies Ever After: Played with. Xiao Tan and Lian Cheng have a baby, then are forced to leave him behind when they're sent to the present shortly after his birth.
- Blatant Lies: Xiao Tan tries to get Lian Cheng to help her by claiming she's been kidnapped and Tan Er's family plan to sell her to a brothel.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: The YouTube subtitles have frequent grammar and spelling mistakes, as well as sometimes ignoring the "Xiao" part of Xiao Tan's name and referring to her as "Tan".
- Blood from the Mouth: Shows up when Qing Yun is poisoned.
- Brick Joke: When they first meet Xiao Tan tells Lian Cheng she's viewing the scenery then claims her family will sell her to a brothel. Later Lian Cheng catches her climbing over a wall again and asks if she's viewing the scenery or if she thinks he'll sell her to a brothel.
- Cassandra Truth: Xiao Tan tells Lian Cheng the truth about her and Tan Er. He assumes she's lying.
- Cherry Blossoms: Or the Chinese equivalent in this case. When Xiao Tan first sees Lian Cheng he's surrounded by falling petals.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance:
- Shows up when Xiao Tan is confronted with the differences between the present and the past. She calls Lian Cheng a womaniser because he has two concubines. Jing Xin points out that as a prince he's expected to have concubines.
- Lian Cheng doesn't think marrying another woman is cheating on Xiao Tan and can't understand why she's so angry about it.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Yi Huai dies in the emperor's arms.
- Evil Costume Switch / Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: Yi Huai starts wearing dark colours and black eyeshadow after he becomes a villain.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Tan Er overhears Yi Huai telling his accomplices he was just using her and doesn't care what happens to her.
- First Kiss: Between Xiao Tan and Lian Cheng in episode three. Xiao Tan is furious about it because at this point she doesn't even like him.
- Gainax Ending / Mind Screw: The story takes a turn for the bizarre after the birth of Xiao Tan and Lian Cheng's son. Not only does Xiao Tan return to the present, Lian Cheng comes with her — but their baby doesn't. And along the way they end up on another continent, meet Lian Cheng's grandfather Yi Feng, and Lian Cheng develops amnesia.
- Happily Married: Xiao Tan and Lian Cheng quickly become this.
- Have a Gay Old Time: In-Universe. Xiao Tan is very annoyed when Tan Er's servants call her "Miss", because in modern Chinese "Miss" can mean a prostitute.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Xiao Tan sets up a bucket of water ready to fall on Lian Cheng's head. Lian Cheng jumps over the tripwire twice. Xiao Tan forgets it's there, walks right into it, and gets drenched.
- Identical Grandson: Yi Huai looks exactly like (and is played by the same actor as) his grandfather Yi Feng.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Lian Cheng gets impaled by an arrow. Luckily he survives.
- Interrupted Suicide: Jing Xin walks in while Tan Er is preparing to kill herself.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Lian Cheng develops amnesia after he and Xiao Tan meet Yi Feng.
- Literal Cliffhanger: Lian Cheng falls off a cliff. Xiao Tan grabs him and then they both fall.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: All of the male characters have long hair and most of them are very pretty.
- Love Dodecahedron: Tan Er loves Yi Huai but is betrothed to Lian Cheng, who loves Xiao Tan, who's sharing Tan Er's body. And Yi Huai is married to Pan Er, Tan Er's half-sister.
- MacGuffin: The soul-suppression orb. Two cultivators and their employer are searching for it, Liu Qian Shui tells Xiao Tan she'll need it to return to her own time, and Yi Huai suggests using it to save Lian Cheng's life.
- Malaproper: Xiao Tan announces she's "so fettered". Jing Xin has to explain she means "flattered".
- Meet Cute: Xiao Tan and Lian Cheng's first meeting is a subversion. She's stuck on top of a wall after an ill-advised escape attempt, doesn't know he's the man she's expected to marry, and asks him to help her down. It looks like it's going to be a Meet Cute... but Lian Cheng is uninterested in the whole situation, refuses to help, and doesn't lift a finger when she falls.
- Mental Time Travel: This is how Xiao Tan ends up in Tan Er's body.
- Mystical White Hair: Yi Feng has white hair and is somehow connected to the soul-suppression orb.
- The Not Catch: Xiao Tan falls off a roof while Lian Cheng is below her. Not only does he not catch her, he deliberately steps back so she doesn't land on him. Xiao Tan is not amused.
- Not What It Looks Like: Lian Cheng learns Xiao Tan has agreed to meet Yi Huai. He assumes she's in league with Yi Huai and passing information to him. Actually she wants to give him a piece of her mind on Tan Er's behalf.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: The empress dowager tries to poison Tan Er/Xiao Tan.
- Parental Abandonment: An unwilling example when Xiao Tan and Lian Cheng are forced to leave their baby behind when they time-travel.
- Playing Sick: Xiao Tan pretends to be sick after the falling-off-a-cliff incident. Lian Cheng gets a doctor to play along and tell everyone she's seriously ill.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Xiao Tan tells Lian Cheng's concubines what she thinks of their bitchiness right before literally throwing them out.Xiao Tan: You came for trouble, right? Have you heard of the wife beating the mistress? Today I'll enrich your experience!
- Princeling Rivalry: Between Lian Cheng and Yi Huai. Yi Huai sees Lian Cheng as a threat so he gets one of Lian Cheng's concubines to spy on him.
- Right Behind Me: Xiao Tan grumbles about Lian Cheng and calls him "a heartless inhuman bastard", unaware he's sitting behind her.
- Sharing a Body: Tan Er and Xiao Tan are both trapped in Tan Er's body. Whoever's in control depends on which of them last hit their head or told a lie, and neither has access to the other's memories.
- Shout-Out: Xiao Tan says she should be more like the title characters of The Legend of Zhen Huan and The Legend of Mi Yue.
- Sibling Triangle: Played with since the siblings aren't in love with the same person but with two different people who share a body. Lian Cheng loves Xiao Tan, while Yi Huai was in a relationship with Tan Er and is now married to Tan Er's half-sister.
- Tantrum Throwing: Xiao Tan throws things around when she hears Lian Cheng is going to marry another woman.
- Wicked Stepmother: Madam Da, Tan Er's stepmother, has Tan Er tortured for Xiao Tan's actions.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Lian Cheng can't live past twenty-five.
