General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Exploration Method of Love (爱的勘探法)

Exploration Method of Love (爱的勘探法) is a 2023 Chinese urban romance television series directed by Qiu Yu (邱钰) and starring Song Yanfei (宋妍霏) and Gao Hanyu (高瀚宇), in which a geology PhD impersonates her celebrity twin sister and enters a fake relationship with her sister's boyfriend, a young mining-company executive.¹^•² The series premiered on Mango TV on June 21, 2023, and ran through July 13, 2023.²

Key fact	Detail
Original title	爱的勘探法 (Ai De Kan Tan Fa); also known as 莫达维的秘密 and 白莲花不好当²^•³
Format	22 episodes of about 45 minutes each, Mandarin, mainland China¹
Broadcast	Mango TV, June 21 to July 13, 2023, 20:00 air time²
Source	Adapted from the novel 《莫达维的秘密》 by Mo Li (莫里)¹
Lead cast	Song Yanfei as Su Jishi / Su Jinqing; Gao Hanyu as Mu Xiulun²
Creative team	Director Qiu Yu; screenwriters Tu Yuejue, Xie Yier, Li Li, and Qu Hange¹
Reception	9.1/10 from 23,047 user ratings on Rakuten Viki⁴

Spoilers

Premise

The story centers on twin sisters with very different careers. Su Jishi (苏纪时) is a doctor of geology who prefers fieldwork to the spotlight, while her twin sister Su Jinqing is a star in the entertainment industry, until the day she disappears, leaving a letter of resignation and professional damage behind her.² To limit the fallout, Su Jishi is kidnapped and forced to take her sister's place, making television appearances and pretending to be in love with her sister's wealthy boyfriend, Mu Xiulun (穆休伦), played by Gao Hanyu.⁵

The two leads' backgrounds mirror each other in the script. Su Jishi lost family closeness when her parents divorced in her childhood and came to value family ties especially highly; Mu Xiulun is an orphan raised by adoptive parents who treat him as their own son.⁶ Mu Xiulun manages a company that resists change: his reform proposals are opposed by senior executives led by his second uncle, and research on a new mineral advances with difficulty, while Su Jishi helps him with her mineralogy expertise.⁶ As they spend time together, the two grow close, healing each other while advancing the new-mineral research.⁶ The Mango TV episode descriptions add that Mu Xiulun, who initially only wanted to deflect his mother's matchmaking, begins to fall for the independent Su Jishi, then discovers the secret of her identity, so that a romance of equals begins with a lie.⁷

Cast and production

Song Yanfei plays the dual lead roles of Su Jishi and her twin Su Jinqing. The supporting cast includes Cheng Lei (丞磊) as Gao Ling, Lin Zilu (林子璐) as Mu Xiaoman, Zang Yiren (臧一人) as Fang Jie, and Shi Jieru (石洁茹) as Xiao Xia.²^•⁸ The screenwriting credits are shared by Tu Yuejue (屠悦爵), Xie Yier (谢依尔), Li Li (李里), and Qu Hange (屈菡阁).¹

Attribution of the producing company differs between sources: Baidu Baike credits Huace Film & TV (华策影视) as the production company, while DramaWiki lists Mango TV.¹^•² Baidu Baike also lists the opening theme as 《恋爱标准》 and the closing theme as 《love wave》.¹

Genre placement and reception

Catalogs classify the series differently depending on their emphasis: Mango TV's own listing labels it urban drama (都市 · 剧情),⁶ the international distributor C-DramaRights lists it under romance, lifestyle, and reality,⁹ Rakuten Viki lists romance and comedy,⁴ and DramaWiki describes the genre as romance with suspense.² On Rakuten Viki the series holds a 9.1 rating from more than 23,000 user votes, with English, Polish, Portuguese, and twelve other subtitle languages available.⁴

Long-tail performance. The series returned to attention in 2025 through Mango TV's summer free-viewing campaign. According to the Yunhe Data industry report on the 2025 summer season, during the free window 《爱的勘探法》's daily effective plays rose 12-fold compared with the period before the free release, a larger jump than the 0.2 to 1 times increases recorded for eight other library dramas in the same campaign.¹⁰

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026