When I Meet the Moon (折月亮) and Hidden Love Connection

When I Meet the Moon (折月亮, Zhé Yuèliang) premiered on November 5, 2026, streaming exclusively on iQIYI with a simultaneous TV premiere in Jiangsu TV's 7:30pm "Happiness Theatre" (幸福剧场) slot. It stars Lin Yi (林一) as Fu Shize (傅识则) and Lu Yuxiao (卢昱晓) as Yun Li (云厘), runs 27 episodes, and is directed by Zhang Boyu (张博昱).

If the setup sounds familiar, there is a reason. The drama is adapted from the novel 折月亮 by Zhu Yi (竹已), the same author who wrote Hidden Love (偷偷藏不住) and The First Frost (难哄). So the first question almost every international viewer asks is the obvious one: is this connected to those two shows, and do you need to have watched them first?

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The short version: a trilogy, not a sequel

Chinese and Taiwanese coverage of the premiere is consistent on one point. Zhu Yi's three novels are grouped as the Nanwu trilogy (南芜三部曲, Nánwú sānbùqǔ), named after the fictional city they share, and When I Meet the Moon is its final installment. HK01's premiere-week pieces (1, 2), TVBS (3) and the Chinese Wikipedia entry for the series all describe it this way.

But "trilogy" here does not mean one continuous plot. Each book has its own couple and its own complete story:

Book / drama	Chinese title	Leads (characters)	Drama year
Hidden Love	偷偷藏不住	Sang Zhi (桑稚) and Duan Jiaxu (段嘉许)	2023
The First Frost	难哄	Wen Yifan (温以凡) and Sang Yan (桑延)	2025
When I Meet the Moon	折月亮	Yun Li (云厘) and Fu Shize (傅识则)	2026

Taiwan's Bella magazine puts it plainly in its explainer on the drama: the three works share a world, but their protagonists and storylines are independent. You can start When I Meet the Moon cold and follow it.

What ties the books together is the same thing that ties Hidden Love to The First Frost: a shared city and a web of people who know each other. If you have not read how the first two connect, our Hidden Love and First Frost universe explainer covers the Sang siblings in detail. Sang Zhi is Sang Yan's younger sister, and each of their books uses the other sibling as a supporting character.

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The shared city: Nanwu (南芜)

All three stories are anchored in Nanwu (南芜, Nánwú), a city Zhu Yi invented. HK01 calls it a fictional coastal city. In When I Meet the Moon, Yun Li moves to Nanwu to start a master's degree, partly to prove to her father that she can live independently. That is the premise as stated by HK01, TVBS and Chinese Wikipedia alike.

Nanwu is not on any map, and the dramas have filmed it in different real cities: Chongqing for The First Frost and Xiamen for Hidden Love. Hubei's Chutian Metropolis Daily (楚天都市报) reported in October 2025 that Lin Yi was filming When I Meet the Moon in Xiamen, which puts the third drama's Nanwu back in the same coastal city as the first. For the full story of the invented geography, see Are Nanwu and Yihe real places?, and for the earlier shoots, Hidden Love's Xiamen locations and The First Frost's Chongqing locations.

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The people who connect the books

This is where the trilogy label earns itself. Taiwan's Marie Claire, in its guide to the drama, describes Fu Shize as the hub of the cross-book relationships:

• Fu Shize is a younger schoolmate of Sang Yan and Wen Yifan. In The First Frost universe, Sang Yan and Wen Yifan met at high school in Nanwu. Marie Claire says Fu Shize attended the same school in a younger year, making him their 学弟 (xuédì, junior schoolmate).
• Fu Shize is related to Fu Zhengchu (傅正初). Fu Zhengchu is the boy in Hidden Love who had a crush on Sang Zhi. Marie Claire calls Fu Shize his 小舅舅 (xiǎo jiùjiu), his young uncle. In the drama, Fu Zhengchu is played by Li Geyang (李歌洋), according to the Chinese Wikipedia cast list.
• The cameo-style jealousy. Marie Claire also notes that in the novel, praise of Fu Shize from Wen Yifan and Sang Zhi makes both Sang Yan and Duan Jiaxu jealous. It is a small moment, but it is exactly the kind of overlap that makes Zhu Yi readers treat the three books as one world.

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Is When I Meet the Moon a sequel to Hidden Love?

No. It does not continue Sang Zhi and Duan Jiaxu's story, and it does not continue Wen Yifan and Sang Yan's. It is a third romance set in the same place, among people who overlap at the edges.

The closest English comparison is a shared-setting series rather than a sequel: each book stands alone, and readers who know the others get the pleasure of recognising names.

HK01 adds one note about tone. It describes the new leads' reunion and growth in Nanwu as echoing, in its timeline, the story of Sang Zhi and Duan Jiaxu. In both, the heroine has carried a feeling since her school years for someone who seemed out of reach.

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What the new story is about

Based only on the premise published by HK01, TVBS and Chinese Wikipedia:

• Yun Li (云厘), played by Lu Yuxiao, has mild hearing loss in her left ear and severe social anxiety. HK01 also describes her as a talented video creator.
• Fu Shize (傅识则), played by Lin Yi, was a prodigy who skipped grades into university at 15 and was Nanwu's top science scorer in the gaokao. In high school he was Yun Li's 白月光 (bái yuèguāng, "white moonlight"), the idealised, untouchable first love.
• They meet again at a VR experience centre in Nanwu, fall for each other, split over different outlooks on life, and Fu Shize later works to win her back. Chinese romance has a ready-made idiom for that arc: 破镜重圆 (pò jìng chóng yuán, "a broken mirror made whole again"), the reunion of a separated couple.

The drama is still airing, so that is as far as this guide goes. For the full cast of characters, see our When I Meet the Moon characters guide. For why "white moonlight" is such a loaded phrase in Chinese romance, see White Moonlight (白月光) in Chinese drama.

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What order should you watch them in?

There is no required order, because the stories stand alone. But if you want the cross-references to land:

1. Hidden Love (2023): introduces the Sang family, Nanwu, and Fu Zhengchu.
2. The First Frost (2025): Sang Yan's own story, and the Nanwu high school that Fu Shize also attended.
3. When I Meet the Moon (2026): the third couple, with the earlier names in the background.

That is also the order in which the dramas were released. If you only have time for one before starting When I Meet the Moon, Hidden Love sets up more of the people you will hear about.

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FAQ

Is When I Meet the Moon connected to Hidden Love? Yes, through a shared fictional city (Nanwu) and overlapping characters such as Fu Zhengchu. It is not a sequel, and it has a different couple.

Is When I Meet the Moon connected to The First Frost? Yes. Coverage of the drama describes Fu Shize as a younger schoolmate of Sang Yan and Wen Yifan.

Do I need to watch Hidden Love or The First Frost first? No. The three stories are independent. Watching the others first only adds recognition value.

Who wrote When I Meet the Moon? Zhu Yi (竹已), the author of both Hidden Love and The First Frost. 折月亮 is the last book of her Nanwu trilogy.

Where can I watch When I Meet the Moon? It streams exclusively on iQIYI and airs on Jiangsu TV in mainland China.