Cai Jin Lai / Frank

(portrayed by Joe Zheng)

            24 years old.  Car salesperson.  His life until the present can be described simply as nothing accomplished.  Because he dislikes his name for being too old fashion, he demands others to call him Frank.  Why Frank?  Because wealthy men will most certainly have an English name.  His biggest pleasure is to daydream about getting rich.  He wishes that he would have millions and yet he doesn’t work hard toward his goal.  Like many of the rest of the young people nowadays, he is a slave of the credit card.

            Although he is lazy and unrealistic, but in actuality, he is kind-hearted and very loyal.  Still with a childish heart, he would often do things that would make people mad.  When he is jealous, he would deliberately make things difficult for the other person.  If he wants to protect someone, he would definitely lend a helping hand and at the most crucial moment, he would always be able to show his manly side.

Zeng Shan Mei

(portrayed by Ariel Lin)

            25 years old.  Bank Teller.  A modern day girl with a hard life.  Since childhood, she has been earning money to support her family.  She is willing to work at any job and is a filial and obedient child who is willing to sacrifice for her family.  She believes everything that people tell her and falls into every trap that people set for her.  Her life can be described as a down-to-earth and honest person.  She has a frank personality and a good heart.  When it comes to love, she is a total idiot.  She put all her heart into financially helping her senior classmate to college but in the end, all she got back in return is his falling in love with another girl.  She can’t do anything but thank him for being honest with her.  She is very slow when it comes to love and doesn’t really know how to express herself.  She has a weak personality and cries very easily.  Against her will, she has to live in the same place as Frank and in the end, she falls in love with the typical guy whom she detests – Frank.

Ah Xing / Wen Xing

(portrayed by Huang Wen Xing)

            24 years old.  Owner of a cleaning company.  He is the owner of a small cleaning company.  Although he is the CEO and an employee but when he is working, he is very serious and will absolutely not goof around.  He grew up together with Frank and has an honest and practical personality.  He excels at overcoming hard and difficult things.  He is softhearted and hardheaded but is a passionate person who treats others sincerely.  For the person that he likes, he is willing to do anything for her.  In the end, he is together with Ling Long.  This could represent the good outcome of being an honest person and makes everyone envious.

Huang Ling Long

(portrayed by Angus Zhang Jia Hui)

            25 years old.  Make-up specialist.  Zeng Shan Mei’s high school classmate.  She is very pretty and comes from a family of many sisters.  She thinks about hooking a rich guy everyday and dreams about marrying into a wealthy family.  A pity, since this type of a wealthy romance is as far from her as the cloud in the sky.  She loves money and buying famous brands and detests poor people and ugly men.  Yet in the end, she marries Ah Xing.

Jin En Hao

(portrayed by Bryan Zhang)

            27 years old.  Second generation of a wealthy family.  Although he is the second generation of a wealthy family but he doesn’t have the air of a son from a wealthy family.  He has a modest and elegant personality and is considerate towards others.  Perhaps it is because he was adopted by his foster father when he was young, but he always has a sad look on his face.  He loves photography but in the end, he gave up his interest in order to take over his foster father’s company.  Due to a coincidental meeting, he gets captivated by the frank Shan Mei.

Ye Ke Na

(portrayed by Lu Xiao Lin)

            24 years old.  Owner of a coffee shop.  A pretty, graceful and slender woman.  Originally, she was supposed to be a professional dancer but due to an accident, she is not able to carry on her dream.  However, she is the type that all guys would like.  Under her gentle and soft appearance, she has a very strong personality.  She has been Frank’s crush since childhood but in the end, she becomes Frank’s good friend instead.

En Hao’s Foster Father

(portrayed by Yue Yue Li)

            53 years old.  An entrepreneur.  A successful multinational entrepreneur.  Because he doesn’t have any children, he adopted En Hao from the orphanage when En Hao was a child.  He regards En Hao as his own born and educates him in hopes that En Hao would take over his business.

Wan Ye

(portrayed by Zhao Shun)

            68 years old.  Former mafia boss.  He was the previous leader of the Ax Gang.  He is honest and outspoken.  His wife passed away due to a car accident.  He can’t forget his wife and through Frank’s arrangement, he incidentally meets Shan Mei, who looks very similar to his wife.  Later, when Shan Mei meets with some trouble, he lends her a helping hand without asking for any type of payment in return.

Jing Rong

(portrayed by Wu Jian Fei)

            26 years old.  Shan Mei’s senior classmate.  Shan Mei’s senior classmate from high school.  Have been going out with Shan Mei for many years.  He has a polite and elegant appearance.  With Shan Mei’s financial help, he goes to Hang Zhou to study for his master’s degree.  Originally, he was planning to get married with Shan Mei after he graduates, but en route to continue his studies, he meets Xiao Bo, who is completely the opposite of Shan Mei.  He is deeply attracted to Xiao Bo and couldn’t help but go against morale and his own conscience to tell Shan Mei that he has already fallen in love with another girl when Shan Mei comes to Hang Zhou to see him.

Xiao Bo

(portrayed by Zhang Na)

            25 years old.  Jing Rong’s new girlfriend.  Her appearance is very similar to Shan Mei’s but their personality is completely different.  She has a lively and independent personality and is great with interpersonal relationships.  Due to the fact that she comes from another city to Zhe Jiang to study, she meets Jing Rong, who comes from Taiwan.  They get acquainted and during the course of their study, they developed feelings for each other after mutually supporting and depending on one another.

Zeng Huo Shu

(portrayed by Guo Zi Qian)

            50 years old.  Shan Mei’s father.  He has the appearance of a strict chauvinist male but deep within, he is a good man with a gentle heart.  All the big and important decisions in the house are left for him to make and all the little things are taken care of by his wife, Shui Liang.  However, nothing big or important has ever happened in the family!  After his business went bankrupt a few years ago, all the heavy responsibilities at home are attended to by his daughter, Shan Mei.  Huo Shu is extremely grateful of his daughter’s filial nature.  As a result, when his daughter is bravely pursuing love and wants to leave home for Hang Zhou, when the whole family is against this matter - this time, he displays the manliness that a man should have and supports Shan Mei!

Zeng Huang Shui Liang

(portrayed by Lin Mei Xiu)

            48 years old.  Shan Mei’s mother.  The tigress in the family.  When she speaks, her tone of voice is as if she is threatening everyone.  She has only loved Huo Shu in her whole life and so her gentleness can only be seen by her husband.  Shan Mei’s hardworking, thrifty, and virtuous personality is educated by Shui Liang.  When Shui Liang was young, she left home for love.  She lived a hard life with Huo Shu and they are always pressed for money.  It wasn’t easy to wait until Shan Mei could help out with the family finances and now she is going to leave home for love.  No matter what, Shui Liang would not be able to accept this.  On one hand, she is afraid that her daughter will follow her old footsteps and on the other hand, she is worried that if Shan Mei is no longer able to support the family, then their financial circumstances would become really bad!

Zeng Xi Yue

(portrayed by Ma Guo Bi)

            30 years old.  Shan Mei’s brother.  He has a personality that craves to be the best and to gain success.  He has many dreams but very few that are practical.  He believes that he is born to be a CEO.  It’s just that no one would hire him.  During his unemployment days, he convinces his wife and child that he is someone who does important things.  However, his chance has yet to come.  Although they live very poorly but it is very romantic.  When he finds out that Frank is the owner of a sports car dealership, he immediately uses his brother-in-law status to go to the shop to request to try out the cars.  He takes his wife for a drive on a sports car for their wedding anniversary.  Unexpectedly, he crashes the car and creates more trouble for Shan Mei.

Shan Mei’s Sister-in-law

(portrayed by Rachel Fu)

            28 years old.  Xi Yue’s wife.  Shan Mei’s sister-in-law.  From childhood to adulthood, she has never had to worry about the trivial matters of life.  After marrying into the Zeng family to be a housewife, her life is just as worry-free as before.  She doesn’t need to cook or do any housework.  This is because, she wisely knows that as long as she has a sweet talking mouth and display a look of innocence, Shan Mei and her mother-in-law would take care of things for her.

Zeng Xiao Bei

(portrayed by Wang Yue Tang)

            7 years old.  Shan Mei’s nephew.  Although he is young but he has a very mischievous nature.  He is the treasure of the family.  When everyone believes that Shan Mei is in Hang Zhou and he was being bullied, he discovers that the person who comes to save him is none other than Shan Mei.  Who would have thought, that this little rascal would use this secret to blackmail Shan Mei for allowance money.

  translated by mandy

Love or Bread synopsis