The First Frost: The Youku Romance Where Old Classmates Become Roommates

Why this one

Many second-chance romances open with a reunion. The First Frost (难哄, Nan Hong, "hard to coax") opens with a failure. In high school, Wen Yifan (温以凡) rejected Sang Yan (桑延) and the two drifted apart. Years later they meet again at a bar, and circumstances put them in the same apartment. The premise is a rejection that has to be answered at close range, one shared kitchen at a time.

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The series is based on the web novel of the same title by Zhu Yi (竹已), the author of Hidden Love (偷偷藏不住). It aired on Youku and Netflix from February 18 to March 10, 2025, and has 32 episodes of about 45 minutes. It is finished, so the whole run is available.

The series was a large hit by platform measures, and it also drew a public debate over what it changed from the book.

The setup

Wen Yifan, played by Zhang Ruonan (章若楠), is a former ballet student who now works as a news reporter. Sang Yan, played by Bai Jingting (白敬亭), co-owns a restaurant and bar and leads a video game team. After years apart they meet again through her best friend, Zhong Siqiao (钟思乔). Circumstances then put the two former classmates under one roof, where they keep their distance until her sleepwalking draws them closer.

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The synopsis on English Wikipedia adds the detail that gives the story its second layer. Wen Yifan sleepwalks, and the condition is tied to trauma from her family. Sang Yan is the one who notices it. The romance therefore runs alongside a quieter question: what happened in her family, and what does it cost her to be looked after. The story moves between the present and the high school years, and it often shows the same event from a second person's point of view some episodes later.

Production took place in Chongqing and Hong Kong, according to English Wikipedia. Hong Kong is also where Wen Yifan spends part of the story.

Cast and crew

• Bai Jingting (白敬亭) as Sang Yan (桑延)

• Zhang Ruonan (章若楠) as Wen Yifan (温以凡)

• Zhang Miaoyi (张淼怡) as Zhong Siqiao (钟思乔), her best friend

• Edward Chen (陈昊森) as Su Haoan (苏浩安), Sang Yan's friend and bar co-owner

• Zhai Xiaowen (翟潇闻) as Xiang Lang (向朗), a childhood friend of Wen Yifan and Siqiao

• Liu Chutian (刘楚恬) as Sang Zhi (桑稚), Sang Yan's younger sister

• Kong Lin (孔琳) as Che Yanqin (车雁琴), Wen Yifan's aunt

• He Jiong (何炅) in a guest role as the teacher Zhang Wenhong (章文宏)

The director is Qu Youning (瞿友宁), whose earlier work includes Love or Not (我可能不会爱你). Screenplay credits differ between sources. Zhu Yi's novel is the source material. Chinese Wikipedia describes it as a companion to Hidden Love.

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The novel and the screen version

The argument over the adaptation is the part of this series that readers of the novel bring up first. China News Service, a state news agency, covered it on March 18, 2025, under a headline asking where the limits of adaptation lie. It reported that the series was being discussed under the label mogai (魔改, "heavy-handed rewrite") and that its Douban score then stood at 5.4. Douban is the Chinese review site; other figures for the score circulate, so 5.4 is the one that mainstream coverage reported.

A Taiwanese entertainment site listed seven changes in a March 2025 comparison. The ones that recur in commentary are these:

• In the novel, Wen Yifan handles a neighbour who harasses her by recording him and taking the evidence to the police. In the series, the neighbour storyline escalates, and a man steps in to help her.

• Her workplace troubles are heavier in the series, and she responds by staying silent rather than pushing back.

• Siqiao and Su Haoan, friends of the leads in the novel, have their own romance in the series, as do their grandparents. The comparison treats this as an original addition.

• Sang Yan's high school gestures, such as saving her a seat on the bus, building a rooftop space for her dance practice and accompanying her at a funeral, are new scenes. They make his feelings visible earlier than in the book.

Two interviewees in the China News Service piece framed the debate. A graduate student said the novel's heroine is calm and resilient and that the series version lacks this. A critic said a progressive story should let a heroine grow from within rather than wait for rescue. The same student also said the flashback transitions and some shots are well made, and that casting actors who match the text can offset script weaknesses.

Wen Yifan's family and how the show tells it

The series treats Wen Yifan's family history as the structure beneath the romance. Her sleepwalking, her habit of apologising, her reluctance to ask for help and her aunt's role in her life all point back to it. The show reveals this slowly and through the other characters' eyes. A viewer in a September 2026 r/CDrama thread put it this way: you see events from one perspective and then, sometimes ten episodes later, from a different one.

This is also the area where the series is most heavy going. Viewers on r/CDrama who recommend it add that it deals with serious mental health themes, and the Taiwanese comparison notes that the series adds harassment incidents to a heroine who already carries a family history. One viewer's reservation is that the trauma story "almost overshadowed the romance." Another reads the show differently, calling it "a healing drama for me." The two comments describe the same material.

A reviewer at Chasing Dramas, who scored the first ten episodes 5 out of 10, objected to the same point: that harassment functions as a plot device and that men supply the resolution. The reviewer had not read the novel and noted that readers of it were disappointed. Viewers who plan to watch should know the series includes harassment, assault and family abuse as plot content.

Bai Jingting and Zhang Ruonan

The leads carry the series, and opinion about them is divided in the same way as the writing. On r/CDrama, a poster called the casting "done very well" and the directing the best part. Others call Sang Yan an idealised figure rather than a character, and one commenter prefers the version of the character in Hidden Love. A reader of the novel said they liked the book's Wen Yifan and her development better.

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The Chasing Dramas reviewer's view is at the other end: the lead performances read as stiff to that writer, and the chemistry as weak. The China News Service source goes the opposite way on one point, saying that actors who suit the characters can compensate for plot weaknesses. These are separate opinions, not a consensus.

Several r/CDrama threads from September and October 2026, more than a year after the finale, are rewatch confessions or recommendations. One commenter wrote that the show "was slow and felt very depressed most of the times." Another who gave it a second try found it more enjoyable the second time. The pace is the most consistent complaint, along with the angst.

Reach on the platforms

English and Chinese Wikipedia both report that the series passed 10,000 on Youku's popularity heat index within days of release, which they describe as the fastest on the platform. Netflix lists the series with Bai Jingting, Zhang Ruonan and Edward Chen as its leads.

The series was released at the same time in China and on a global streaming service, so overseas viewers could watch it from the first episode.

Where to watch

In China the series streams on Youku. Internationally it was released on Netflix on the same day as its Youku premiere, and Netflix lists it as a title. Availability varies by region, so check Netflix in your country first.

What overseas viewers are saying

The overseas conversation is long-running. r/CDrama posts from September and early October 2026 include a rave about the series' music, acting, cinematography and chemistry, a post from someone who finished it and could not stop crying, and a thread asking whether the show is too angsty to start. These are viewers who chose to post, not a poll.

In the thread about angst, one commenter wrote that "The angst is bearable because you know there is a happy ending." Others said they dropped it with episodes left, and some found the pace slow on a first watch and better on a second. Several describe rewatching it. Viewers broadly agree that it is a heavy romance and disagree on whether the weight is earned.