# A Little Mood for Love (小敏家)
*A Little Mood for Love* (小敏家) is a 2021 Chinese family drama television series adapted from the novel of the same name by the writer Yi Bei (伊北), following two divorced sisters in Beijing and their middle-aged mother as the three women rebuild their emotional lives. It was produced by Linmon Pictures ([柠萌影业](https://www.edgepedia.org/ningmeng-pictures)), directed by Wang Jun, with Huang Lei as chief screenwriter, and stars [Zhou Xun](https://www.edgepedia.org/zhou-xun), Huang Lei, Qin Hailu, Tu Songyan, Tang Yixin, and Liu Lili.[1](https://ep.shxwcb.com/2021/12/08/img/111208.pdf) • [2](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s61bb32dee4b0d5b7f3667b09.html) • [3](https://www.zaobao.com.sg/entertainment/story20211217-1223941)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original novel | Serialized online from January 2019 by Yi Bei, written in about half a year; published in book form in 2021 by People's Literature Publishing House[4](https://www.jfdaily.com/wx/detail.do?id=872504) • [5](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16055540) |
| Premiere | December 11, 2021, on Hunan TV and Youku[2](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s61bb32dee4b0d5b7f3667b09.html) • [3](https://www.zaobao.com.sg/entertainment/story20211217-1223941) |
| Production | Linmon Pictures, directed by Wang Jun, chief screenwriter Huang Lei[1](https://ep.shxwcb.com/2021/12/08/img/111208.pdf) |
| Premise | Wang Sumin raised her daughters Liu Xiaomin and Liu Xiaojie alone; both daughters divorce, setting the story in motion[6](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20211222/herald/842a4cd1fc0853ff5a82a824ab3f7212.html) |
| Reception | Ratings broke 2 and stayed in the provincial-satellite top five for its first ten days; the Douban score fell from 7.5 to 6.7 over the run[6](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20211222/herald/842a4cd1fc0853ff5a82a824ab3f7212.html) • [7](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20211231/b638ba89ace54731a093f402418d0b0f/c.html) |
| Milestone | The first of Yi Bei's novels to be adapted for television[4](https://www.jfdaily.com/wx/detail.do?id=872504) |
## Spoilers
### Story and characters
The drama centers on Liu Xiaomin, played by Zhou Xun, a midwife who divorced years earlier after her husband's affair and moved north to Beijing as a single mother, working her way up to head nurse of the obstetrics department at [Peking University First Hospital](https://www.edgepedia.org/peking-university-first-hospital)'s international division. She carries on a quiet relationship with Chen Zhuo, played by Huang Lei, a divorced middle-aged man; the relationship is kept secret until her son arrives from their hometown for college-entrance-exam repeat classes and her former husband Jin Bo, played by Tu Songyan, follows him to Beijing.[2](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s61bb32dee4b0d5b7f3667b09.html) • [9](https://movie.douban.com/review/14060087/) • [6](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20211222/herald/842a4cd1fc0853ff5a82a824ab3f7212.html)
The entanglements multiply from there. Chen Zhuo's former wife Li Ping, played by Qin Hailu, was Xiaomin's childhood friend and now runs the tutoring center where Xiaomin's son and Chen Zhuo's daughter study, and the two teenagers fall for each other. Xiaomin's younger sister Liu Xiaojie, played by Tang Yixin, divorces after a whirlwind first marriage and is courted by both the steady Qian Feng and the wealthy newcomer Xu Zheng.[7](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20211231/b638ba89ace54731a093f402418d0b0f/c.html) • [6](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20211222/herald/842a4cd1fc0853ff5a82a824ab3f7212.html)
A distinctive feature noted by critics is that all three women of the household, the mother Wang Sumin and her two daughters, are divorced, and each handles her emotional life differently. Their contrasting choices present how society evaluates divorced women across generations.[2](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s61bb32dee4b0d5b7f3667b09.html) Yi Bei said he did not set out to write about middle-aged women as a group; the fit with the moment was, in his words, a coincidence of the times, and he approaches every subject through people and their choices within larger social currents.[8](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_15951656)
## Origin of the novel
The author Yi Bei, born in 1983 in Huainan, Anhui, worked as an editor at the Workers' Publishing House and then People's Literature Publishing House before becoming a full-time writer in 2018.[4](https://www.jfdaily.com/wx/detail.do?id=872504) The novel's starting point came at the end of 2018, when Douban Read sought a deeper collaboration with him and he chose this story from several drafts of material he had on hand. He observed that in Beijing many couples with established careers and children from earlier marriages face layered practical problems when remarrying, and he judged the subject fresh enough to anchor the partnership.[8](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_15951656)
Serialization began in January 2019 on Douban Read, and Yi Bei finished the draft in roughly half a year. From 2019 onward Douban Read held exclusive agency over his novels, and it also handled the film and television rights for this one; the rights were sold to Linmon Pictures before the serialization even finished.[5](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16055540) • [8](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_15951656) The book appeared in print in 2021 from People's Literature Publishing House.[4](https://www.jfdaily.com/wx/detail.do?id=872504)
## Production and adaptation
The screen adaptation moved quickly. Linmon Pictures secured the rights while the novel was still being serialized; filming began in the spring of 2021 with Wang Jun directing and Huang Lei serving as chief screenwriter as well as lead actor, and the series reached Hunan TV and Youku that December.[8](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_15951656) Yi Bei took no part in the screenwriting. Professional screenwriters handled the adaptation, communication ran through the agency platform, and he never saw the script; when he met director Wang Jun and Huang Lei on set, Huang told him the basic structure, character relationships, and major conflicts were left intact while dialogue was added and many scenes were improvised on set.[10](https://www.cnprose.com/article-detail/b2wZg5jB) • [8](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_15951656)
The series belongs to Linmon's "small series" (小系列) brand of family dramas, following *A Little Mood for Love*'s predecessors *Small Separation* (小别离) and *A Little Reunion* (小欢喜). Unlike those earlier entries, which focused on family education, this one places its emphasis on the characters' emotional lives, and it carries cameos and references linking it to the earlier shows, such as the reappearance of the character Song Qian from *A Little Reunion* among the tutoring center's teachers.[6](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20211222/herald/842a4cd1fc0853ff5a82a824ab3f7212.html)
## Reception
The premiere drew a large television audience: ratings broke 2, and the show held a place in the top five among provincial satellite channels for its first ten days, with an early Douban score of 7.1.[6](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20211222/herald/842a4cd1fc0853ff5a82a824ab3f7212.html) Reviewers praised the cast's performances, particularly Zhou Xun, Qin Hailu, and Liu Lili, and the series' warm, unhurried treatment of middle-aged romance, which one critic described as opening a new direction for the family drama by keeping its tone upbeat rather than anxious even amid tangled relationships.[6](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20211222/herald/842a4cd1fc0853ff5a82a824ab3f7212.html) • [11](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2021/1221/c419388-32313161.html)
Criticism concentrated on plausibility. Xinhua's commentary noted that the score slid from 7.5 to 6.7 as the plot stacked low-probability coincidences, with the two leads' children attending the same exam-repeat class run by the male lead's former wife, and the female lead's sister loved by the male lead's best friend.[7](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20211231/b638ba89ace54731a093f402418d0b0f/c.html) The 21jingji review argued the show's middle-class setting felt detached from ordinary pressures, citing details such as a midwife who can take a day off at will and a student days from the college entrance exam who earns thousands a day game-boosting as a side job; it ranked the show's reputation near the bottom of director Wang Jun's recent work.[6](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20211222/herald/842a4cd1fc0853ff5a82a824ab3f7212.html) A Phoenix Television review took the opposite view on the melodrama question, arguing that the strong characterization of the heroine and the ensemble's acting pulled the story back from the edge of soap opera and raised its register.[12](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/8BzIaIXP23y)
The series was named an outstanding drama at the 1st China TV Drama Annual Ceremony.[13](https://mxgxt.com/news/view/451218) In the first half of 2023, Linmon reported that the drama was released exclusively on Disney+ in several overseas regions.[14](https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2023/0927/2023092701685.pdf)
## Aftermath for the author
The drama's success put Yi Bei's other novels on a fast track to the screen. *Shu Nian* (熟年) followed on CCTV-1 in 2023, *A Little Reunion*-style family drama *Xiao Ri Zi* (小日子) aired in March 2024, and *Six Sisters* (六姊妹) became a hit in early 2025, making four of his novels adapted for television in total; he wrote the screenplay for *Six Sisters* himself, the only one of the four he scripted.[4](https://www.jfdaily.com/wx/detail.do?id=872504) • [15](https://cul.anhuinews.com/wentwj/lianzai/202502/t20250206_8228050.html)
## References
1. [2021年12月8日 新闻晚报版面（柠萌影业出品信息）](https://ep.shxwcb.com/2021/12/08/img/111208.pdf)
2. [《小敏家》：在一地鸡毛中抚慰世俗人心，北京日报客户端](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s61bb32dee4b0d5b7f3667b09.html)
3. [《小敏家》未播先红 聚焦中年人爱情，联合早报](https://www.zaobao.com.sg/entertainment/story20211217-1223941)
4. [人物 | 伊北：人生四十，离乡与归"家"，上观新闻](https://www.jfdaily.com/wx/detail.do?id=872504)
5. [最火电视剧《小敏家》原著作者是咱淮南人！澎湃新闻](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16055540)
6. [收视率破2的《小敏家》，没能破除悬浮感，21财经](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20211222/herald/842a4cd1fc0853ff5a82a824ab3f7212.html)
7. [新华网评《小敏家》](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20211231/b638ba89ace54731a093f402418d0b0f/c.html)
8. [《小敏家》《熟年》被看见，因"中女"故事与时代暗合丨专访伊北，澎湃新闻](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_15951656)
9. [北漂十几年的小敏，遇到陈卓好幸运（小敏家）剧评，豆瓣](https://movie.douban.com/review/14060087/)
10. [伊北：作家与题材的相遇是命运的安排，散文网](https://www.cnprose.com/article-detail/b2wZg5jB)
11. [《小敏家》："新市民"的中年战事和世俗精神，中国作家网](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2021/1221/c419388-32313161.html)
12. [凤娱指数｜周迅新剧《小敏家》：狗血剧情，不一定会失去格调，凤凰网](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/8BzIaIXP23y)
13. [小敏家 - 明星关系图](https://mxgxt.com/news/view/451218)
14. [Linmon Media Limited 樂動影視傳媒有限公司公告（2023）](https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2023/0927/2023092701685.pdf)
15. [本报记者独家对话《六姊妹》作者伊北，安徽新闻网](https://cul.anhuinews.com/wentwj/lianzai/202502/t20250206_8228050.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › Chinese modern and contemporary drama › Premiered 1998 to 2023*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license