Messages from the novel's author, Chai Ji Dan

 ensky:

Please post any translated messages from CJD regarding the drama in this thread.

1.) https://www.reddit.com/r/boyslove/s/xXdZFmTg4x  (CR: africafeifei)

[spoiler]Jun.22,2025 Could you not read the original novel?

- I opened this account to share with you interesting things during the shooting and get my messsages across.

- Becausing of the update frenquency of the show is slow, lots of fans chose to read the original novel "Counter Attack". I want to beg you not to do so. I was very young and unhinged when I wrote the novel (editor: roughly ten years ago). Now, I'm more mature, when I did the adaption, I find some of content is really ... you know, unbearable. Please stick to the TV adaption.

Jun.24,2025 Real story will begin since Episode 9 

- We‘re trying to update more in each week, but it is very difficult to coordinate with different platforms around the world, thus more communication cost.

- During the internal review of drama, we think the real story will begin since Episode 9 , around which the two MLs confirmed their inner-hearts towards each other. We think it will be more additive episode by episode after Ep.9, with the climax of the apperance of WangShuo .

-Prior to Ep9 are more like love comedy. We were worried that those episodes won't be good enough to allure the viewers and tried to upload 8 episodes in the first week (but clearly failed).

- Be patient and continue to pay attention to the latest news. Next video will be about casting

Jun 26 2025 Casting is a "finding" process rather than a "choosing" process 

-Most of my actors are junior actors or person with no acting experience. Many people are curious how I found them. Actually, in the first three projects (Counterattack, Addicted & Advanced bravery) I don't have a professional casting team. It's just me and some colleages combing through the handsome guys from fashion blogger/vlogger posts. Though I have a professional team now, the most suitable ones are often founded by me this way.

-When I got the boy's account, the first thing I do is to go through his friends list. Handsome guys tend to follow each other, and the majority of handsome boys' friends are also handsome. so I have a network of potential candidates. After several rounds of combing, I probably will find the most promising ones. I dm（Direct Message）them directly with my official account and invited them for audition.

-I got rejected a lot at the begining because of low fame. Money is an important incentive for them to join my team. In early times, several tens of thousand of yuan is good enough for someone freshly off the boat. ( FZ: I guess 2-3 months of their time tops?)

-In my mind, casting is a "finding" process, not a "choosing" process. I'm the mother of my work. I have a ambiguous profile about my character. I will find you. It should be unique rather than optimal . Of couse, 100% match rarely happens, but you have to check a few important boxes, the rest can be coached through some time.

-The coaching experience, by which the actor can reach the maximum similarity of the character I imagined, is very satisfying. That' also the real reason for my insistence throughout the years and survival tricks during difficult time.

-Next time will talk about some casting details of Revenged love.[/spoiler]

I can't make this a drop down spoiler tag for some reason...

Yeah I'm sorry but I just had to start reading the book and I'm loving it!    The  book is just as good as the tv series but the series has a leg up on the book  for two reasons.. its live action  and the actors are doing a fantastic job  bringing  the characters to life. 

Oh, i figured that the reason for disliking her own novel now is due to changing her views in the span of ten years the moment i heard about it. I was like that too, an unhinged teenager, lol, but now i cannot bear to look at the stuff i liked before. And i think that's alright and understandable, because it's quite normal to change your views throughout your life.

I really like the drama version, I don't think i would bear to read the novel now, even though I'm sure i would've liked it five years or so ago. I think saying stuff like "Westerners just can't handle dark fiction" is wrong, because every person, westerner or not, have their own tastes. And it's not shameful to not like dark fiction like the original novel.

 Nope:

Anyone know where I can find the english translated version of the novel?

Wattpad