Introduction
I was interested to watch Love’s Ambition because it’s a non-traditional approach to romance, in which the Female Lead is a social climber who fabricates a new identity to achieve wealth and status, and marry into high society. Unlike traditional “poor girl meets rich guy” stories, the drama presents a more mature and complex story that challenges conventional romance tropes.
Although this is a modern drama, which is normally easier to watch than historical dramas, I still recapped the series because the drama is long. I will guide you through draggy parts and annoying characters, lol. Moreover, I have to admit that, since I don’t like the business genre, I would summarize or skip the business scenes. I would also omit the romance of the second couple. Actually, I like Wan Peng and Tang Xiao Tian, and have seen them as main leads in their respective dramas. However, I feel their story in this drama is just a typical romance. We have watched this kind of romance in many dramas, so I won’t recap the details.
Drama Info
Drama title: Love's Ambition (Native title: 许我耀眼 )
Alternative title: Xu Wo Yao Yan, Let Me Shine, Da Qiao Xiao Qiao
Genres: Romance, Drama, Business, Family
Aired: 26 Sep, 2025 - 11 October, 2025
Episodes: 32 | Duration: 45 min.
Director: Chen Chang ( 陈畅 )
Screenwriter: Ye Yang ( 叶扬 )
Adapted from the web novel "Da Qiao Xiao Qiao" (大乔小乔) by Zhang Yue Ran (张悦然).
Where to read the English translation novel: ReadtheDrama
Where to watch: WeTV and Viki
OST: Full album (fan audio - English translated)
Trailer
Synopsis
Xu Yan has spent nearly a decade building up her career as a celebrated television host, transforming herself from a small-town girl into a young woman in the big city through a carefully-crafted public persona. To complete her “perfect” life, she marries wealthy businessman Shen Hao Ming. While the two are admired as a well-matched couple, they struggle behind closed doors due to their different backgrounds and beliefs. After a fight, Xu Yan decides she’s had enough of Hao Ming’s controlling nature and divorces him. Shocked, Hao Ming realizes how much Xu Yan truly meant to him, and decides to win her back. Will they finally allow themselves to be vulnerable with each other and find true connection? (Source: Viki)
Characters
Main Characters
Zhao Lu Si ( 赵露思 ) as Xu Yan / Qiao Yan
Qiao Yan grew up with her grandmother since she was a child, and the alienation of her original family made her stubborn and independent. She was admitted to a key university from a small town through her own efforts, and after nearly ten years of struggle, she gained a foothold in a big city. She changed her name to Xu Yan, using her grandmother’s surname, and became a TV host with a glamorous appearance, but she has been hiding her true inner world for a long time.
William Chan / Chen Wei Ting ( 陳偉霆 ) as Shen Hao Ming
Shen Hao Ming is a business elite who hides his true self. He is gentle and humble on the outside, but cold and arrogant on the inside. He claims to be all-knowing. Shen Hao Ming maintains a seemingly happy marriage relationship with Xu Yan, but in fact, they hide secrets and disguises from each other. He knew that Xu Yan was pretending, but he played along.
Supporting Characters
People around Xu Yan
Qiao Lin (Wan Peng) – Xiao Yan’s sister
Yu Yi Ming (Tang Xiao Tian) – Xiao Yan’s high school friend
Sun Si Wei (Wang Yi Yao) – Xiao Yan’s colleague
Xu Chang Hui (Wu Mian) – Xiao Yan’s grandma
Qiao Jian Bin (Feng Hui) – Xiao Yan’s father
Liu Min (Wang Ya Zhen) – Xiao Yan’s stepmother
Lin Tao (Guan Zi Jing) – Qiao Lin’s boyfriend
Jiang Liang (Fan Shi Qi) – Xiao Yan’s business partner
People around Xu Yan
Yu Lan (Wen Zheng Rong) – Shen Hao Ming’s mother
Shen Jin Song (Xu Ya Jun) – Shen Hao Ming’s father
Fang Lei (Zhong Ya Ting) – Shen Hao Ming’s childhood friend
Shen Hao Chen (Fu Bo Han) – Shen Hao Ming’s brother
My Rating
My rating for this drama was based on MyDramaList’s scoring system, which is from 0.0 to 10.0. For any drama/movie/show I completed, I gave a minimum rating of 6.0 to appreciate the hard work of the production team, and to adjust to MyDramaList’s overall score base. From 6.0, this drama has additional scores of:
1.0 for Xiao Lu Si’s acting as Xu Yan.
1.0 for the visualization (Xu Yan’s outfit) and other characters’ nice costumes.
1.0 for non-conventional main romance plot/second chance.
Thus, my final rating is 9.0/10.
Recap Episodes 1 to 8
Episode 1
Xu Yan has fabricated a perfect ‘family’ since she was a child. She was actually raised by her grandma. Her parents abandoned her. Now, to meet her boyfriend’s parents, she fabricated her ‘family’ again by hiring fake parents. After training them on what to say, they met Shen Haoming’s parents. However, Yu Lan, Haoming’s mom, sensed that they were like strangers. So, she probed Xu Yan further. Xu Yan told her a half-truth. Her [fake] parents left her to be raised by her grandma, and they worked abroad. So she and her [fake] parents were like strangers. Their relationship was not harmonious. If not that she would marry Haoming, she wouldn’t contact them.
After being scolded by her archenemy at work, Sun Siwei, Xu Yan worked on her script again at home. But Haoming didn’t want to be ignored any longer. He told her that he would contact the person she needed and started kissing her. What, he has his spies at her job!? Xu Yan asks what he loves about her. Everything. Xu Yan feels Haoming is a perfect man for her. She loves him. He’s the first man with whom she feels loved and irreplaceable.
They met six months ago. She had to interview him, the owner of the exotic agave plant store, but he didn’t want to give any interviews. Xu Yan tried hard to impress him by doing homework on agave and giving him a rare gift. It worked, and he sent her a message to grant her an interview. When she went to the meeting place, it was a grand building. From the staff, she found out that this Shen Haoming was the vice president of the famous Jinda Group, and the chairman’s eldest son.
Episode 2
Xu Yan was very sick from overwork when she was waiting for Shen Haoming. She fainted, and he took her to the hospital. Xu Yan was very moved by Haoming’s attentiveness.
It didn’t take long after the hospital incident, Xu Yan and Haoming have been seeing each other now. They were definitely attracted to each other from the beginning. Now, Haoming even took her to meet his mother, Yu Lan, and left her there with her future mother-in-law and her friends. Although Yu Lan acted friendly toward Xu Yan, she and her friends were a bunch of snotty people. From Xu Yan’s look, Yu Lan knew right away she was not from a rich family.
So, Yu Lan specifically invited Xu Yan for an afternoon tea, and even brought a girl, the type she would approve. Xu Yan knew Yu Lan didn’t approve of her son being with her, so she confronted Yu Lan. The next time, Yu Lan took her for house hunting for the wedding. But the fact was to question her for her lack of knowledge, or lack of knowledge, in real estate. Fortunately, Haoming arrived and took Xu Yan away for some private time.
At his home, while they had a romantic time cooking dinner, Xu Yan kept wondering: every time Haoming showed his love sincerely, and every time he was so supportive of her… was she worthy of his pure love?
Episode 3
Because Xu Yan wanted to have a future with Haoming and climb the social ladder, she tried hard to win over her future mother-in-law’s heart. In fact, this entire episode is dedicated to her endeavour. Xu Yan’s hard work resulted in Yu Lan’s approval. I won’t detail what Xu Yan did, but if you want to win over your current mother-in-law’s heart, or your future one, you’d better watch this episode, haha!
Haoming’s influence as Xu Yan’s boyfriend also resulted positively in her career. Her rating as a talk show host increased, and her new program got a bigger piece of the pie in the company. Her archenemy, Sun Siwei, was very jealous and planned to investigate Xu Yan.
While watching TV with the Shen Family, Xu Yan suddenly saw her biological father being interviewed on TV!
Episode 4
Now we’re back at present…
If she didn’t let the Shen Family know about her biological father, why should she tell Haoming that she has a sister named Qiao Lin? That was exactly what Xu Yan did. Qiao Lin called off her wedding with Lin Tao and ran away from the village to find Xu Yan in the city.
Of course, Xu Yan was not happy about Qiao Lin’s visit. She introduced her to Haoming as her cousin and put her at the hotel. Since her surname is Xu now and she’s in Grandma Xu’s family registry, legally, she and Qiao Lin are not sisters. Qiao Lin was shocked and angry. Because Xu Yan has a rich boyfriend now, she doesn’t want to acknowledge her poor family.
In this episode, we gotta see Xu Yan’s heartbreaking past because of China’s One-Child Policy.
Episode 5
Because of Qiao Lin’s running off, her parents went to the city to find Xu Yan. Her lie is almost caught by the Shen Family! They were walking in the park with Xu Yan and her fake parents when Xu Yan saw her father and stepmother coming. She sent the Shens away at the right time, since her father and stepmother approached her. After learning that the real parents were here, the fake parents left, but not before congratulating the real parents on their daughter’s upcoming wedding to a wealthy man. Her father got angry at Xu Yan because she didn’t inform them that she’s getting married, but she reasoned that she’s no longer his daughter, since she’s in Grandma Xu’s household register. Xu Yan was happy when her father said he wouldn’t attend the wedding and told him Qiao Lin’s address.
However, Qiao Lin persuaded their parents that as a family, it was just right to attend Xu Yan’s wedding. She confronted Xu Yan about how far Xu Yan would go down the path with her lies. Initially, Xu Yan only wanted to invite four guests to the wedding: her [fake] parents, her boss Mr. Zhou, and her assistant Huan Huan. She didn’t even want her grandma to attend!
After knowing that her parents insisted on attending the wedding, Xu Yan went as far as returning to her home village to ask her grandma to stop her parents. Only this time Xu Yan told Grandma that she’s getting married next month. Grandma expressed her hope to see Xu Yan’s wedding, but Xu Yan gave the excuse that it’s too far. Grandma won’t make it with her poor health condition. Poor Grandma could sense that her beloved granddaughter didn’t want anyone to attend… Xu Yan almost had a nervous breakdown, crying because of guilt! We got to see Grandma Xu’s care and love for Xu Yan over the years until she moved to the big city to work.
Upon returning, when visiting Haoming at his office, Xu Yan saw that there was a new female employee. However, it seems that the new girl and Haoming have known each other before. Seeing them talking, Xu Yan’s gut feeling senses danger, and we, too, because… dun dun dun… here comes the obsessive female character in romantic drama trope: Fang Lei!
Episode 6
Fang Lei was shocked when she heard from Haoming that he was getting married. Xu Yan claimed Haoming right away in front of Fang Lei, no matter that Fang Lei said that she and Haoming had known each other since little. It seems Fang Lei has an unrequited love for Haoming.
Xu Yan and Haoming finally got married. Their romantic venue almost became a thriller when her classmate’s parents saw her wedding photos outside the reception area and decided to meet her to congratulate! She quickly asked her fake parents to spill wine onto her classmate’s father, so the nosy couple left.
This crazy Fang Lei, wearing a swimming suit, texted Haoming to come out or she would drown in the pool. Xu Yan is asleep, so he came out but scolded Fang Lei for being dramatic. Little that he know that Xu Yan was not asleep and watched him talking to Fang Lei from the window. Xu Yan was relieved that her husband didn’t do anything to Fang Lei and quickly left.
After the wedding, they went to visit Grandma Xu, but Xu Yan dominated the conversation between Grandma Xu and Haoming because she didn’t want any of her secrets revealed. Finally, Grandma Xu only told her that her father had a tumor in his lung, so she secretly gave Grandma Xu money for her father’s treatment and dowry for Qiao Lin. Even in the morning, when Haoming met Grandma Xu, who went to the market early, their conversation was just positive on the surface.
Episode 7
There is not much happening here for the couple, but Yu Yiming and Qiao Lin’s relationship kicks in. In fact, they have known each other since high school in their hometown. Actually, Qiao Lin had a crush on Yiming, but he had a crush on Xu Yan. Luckily, Yiming doesn’t harbor any feelings for Xu Yan anymore. He’s an orthopedic doctor now, and by chance, Qiao Lin met Yiming again in the hospital where he works. Knowing this, Xu Yan moves her sister next to where Yiming lives. Qiao Lin has lived in a bad place before. Meanwhile, Lin Tao, Qiao Lin’s ex, roams around the city and wants to get Qiao Lin back. That’s why he’s angry at both Xu Yan and Yiming for causing his ex-fiancée not to want to be with him anymore. When he was causing a scene at the cafe close to Xu Yan’s workplace, Xu Yan’s archenemy, Sun Siwei, was curious. Especially, since Lin Tao called Xu Yan Qiao Yan.
Now about our couple. Haoming had some difficulties at work since an investor he wanted to approach despised him as being the heir prince. workers despise him as being the prince of the Jundai Group. However, he didn’t want to tell his parents. Xu Yan senses this, and she decides to help her husband and asks around about the investor.
Episode 8
Xu Yan finds out that Mr Huang, the investor, has a mother-in-law who has Alzheimer’s. With her skills in taking care of her grandma, Xu Yan was able to win over the old lady and, in turn, won over Mr. Huang’s heart. He decided to cooperate with Haoming, who didn’t know that his wife had approached Mr. Huang’s mother-in-law beforehand.
Meanwhile, after doing some digging, Sun Siwei found out that Xu Yan had ‘parents’ who attended her wedding to Haoming. She knew Xu Yan had told everyone before that she only had a grandmother. Siwei found the fake father, who was suspected of getting involved in marriage fraud, as the fraudster’s fake father. He looked like Xu Yan’s father in the wedding picture Siwei stole from their boss’s phone. The man and Xu Yan were invited by Sun Siwei during her live show, and during the streaming, Siwei blew up Xu Yan’s wedding picture and accused them of colluding in a fraud.
The man didn’t acknowledge that he was in Xu Yan’s wedding picture. Moreover, he has a birthmark on his neck, and Xu Yan’s ‘father’ doesn’t have one. Sun Siwei was very angry and humiliated. Turns out that Xu Yan was already suspicious when Siwei nicely invited Xu Yan into her show, so Xu Yan met with her fake father beforehand and paid him handsomely to denounce Siwei being her fake father.
Sun Siwei was suspended by her boss. Moreover, Xu Yan provoked her, and Siwei furiously slapped Xu Yan, witnessed by Haoming. Angrily, Haoming called his legal department to deal with Siwei!
Conclusion
Oh my goodness… the situation with Xu Yan’s fake parents is so scary! At least, she’s able to marry Shen Haoming and enter the hi-so circle. However, with her web of lies, Xu Yan is digging a deeper hole. In the end, the truth will be out. No need to wait till the end, it’s in the second part of this recap series: Love’s Ambition: Drama Recap Episodes 9 to 16.
