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A Dream Like the True Love (一梦如初) details

Michelle Topham June 23, 2025

Chinese Title: 一梦如初 (Yī Mèng Rú Chū)
English Title: A Dream Like the True Love
Also Known As: Yi Meng Ru Chu
Genre: Historical, Romance
Episodes: 24
Director: Lu Tian

Plot Synopsis

A Dream Like the True Love follows Chen Pan’er (also referred to as Chen Bao Yin), a young woman from an impoverished rural family whose life takes a tragic turn when she’s nearly sacrificed to appease a river god. Escaping that fate, she adopts a new identity and becomes a servant to survive.

Meanwhile, Wen Su, the nobleman who once rescued her, falls on hard times and becomes the favored consort of the powerful Elder Princess. Reuniting under difficult circumstances, the two join forces to survive palace intrigue, resist corruption, and reclaim their dignity.

Along the way, their shared struggles draw them closer, turning admiration into love against the backdrop of injustice and social barriers.

Main Cast & Characters

  • Liu Xu Wei as Wen Su
  • Na Yi as Chen Baoyin / Chen Pan’er
  • Qi Yi as Elder Princess
  • Sheng Gang Shuai as Luo Teng
  • Peng Si Qi as Chen Bao Zhu 
  • Pan Yun De as Father Wen

Production Details

Original Work:
Adapted from the web novel Yi Meng Ru Chu (一梦如初) by Xing Zhi (行之).

Production Company & Platform:
The series was produced for Tencent Video, where it premiered as a short-format historical romance.

Format:
This is a short-form series, with each episode running approximately 17 minutes, designed for quick yet engaging storytelling.

Episodes & Airing

  • Total Episodes: 24
  • Episode Length: 10 minutes each
  • First Aired: June 24th, 2025
  • Final Episode: July 4th, 2025
  • Original Network: Tencent Video

The compact episode format helped the series tell a full, emotionally resonant story in a condensed run.

Where to Watch

China:

  • Tencent Video — The original streaming platform that aired the series in 2025.

International Platforms:

  • WeTV – international streaming.

Why It’s Worth Watching

  • Short & Sweet: With bite-sized episodes, this series is perfect for quick binges that still deliver a complete emotional arc.
  • Underdog Story: The drama explores class disparity and resilience, focusing on two protagonists defying fate and social barriers together.
  • Palace intrigue: The mix of political scheme, identity reinvention, and romance offers layered historical storytelling.
  • Character Growth: Both leads evolve significantly through adversity — a theme that resonates with fans of both historical and romance genres.

Articles About A Dream Like the True Love

A Dream Like the True Love character posters are out for Liu Xu Wei, Na Yi, Qi Yi and more

About the Author

Michelle Topham

Michelle Topham

Administrator

British-American journalist currently residing in Vienna, Austria and obsessed beyond measure with C-dramas, a subject I have been writing about for more than two decades. How many C-dramas have I watched? Many many hundreds. How many are still in my backlog? Hundreds more.

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Tags: A Dream Like the True Love Chinese Historical Drama Chinese Romance Drama Liu Xu Wei Na Yi Qi Yi Sheng Gang Shuai Tencent Video

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What is Michelle Topham?

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A blog dedicated to Chinese dramas founded by Michelle Topham -- a British-American journalist who spent almost two decades living in Asia, and wrote about Chinese series for most of that time. That's me!

Come on, if I'm this obsessed with C-dramas, you need to be as well.

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