I thought it would be interesting to share trivia from the novel to help understand the characters and their relationships better.
Feel free to join in!
I don't know which parts of the story will be included in the show but needless to say, this will include spoilers for the plot of the novel Counterattack, on which the show is based.
I will begin with...
Jiang Xiaoshuai:
- So, basically his backstory is that he has a traumatic past and his ex was very abusive to him. They were together for several years and Xiaoshuai eventually moved to a different city to get away from him and get a fresh start (this is also mentioned on the show as "getting over a heartbreak"). This explains a lot of his behavior on the show: why he doesn't want to get in a relationship and seems to want to live vicariously through Wu Suowei.
- He has bad experience with sex because of said ex. It was always really painful. Remember his reaction when he showed Suowei p*rn videos and Suowei asked him about his own experience? Apparently he was also r*ped and his ex even dumped him after this instead of supporting him.
- Another reason he is reluctant to get close to Guo Chengyu in the novel is that, for the longest time, he is convinced Chengyu is actually in love with Chi Cheng... which is not the case.
- There is a pretty funny scene when Xiaoshuai finally confronts Chengyu with this theory and Chengyu is just annoyed and responds something like "By using your logic, shouldn't I think you're secretly in love with Wu Suowei?" and leaves. (another reason this is funny is Xiaoshuai and Suowei actually DO make out at some point in the novel... but only because Suowei misses Chi Cheng lol). So anyway, Chengyu is offended that Xiaoshuai doesn't recognize his true feelings.
Speaking of which: (these spoilers are concerning Xiaoshuai/Chengyu)
- Playboy Chengyu describes Xiaoshuai as his first love, or, the first person he likes (how sweet is that?)
- I haven't gotten around to this part in the novel, but according to a girl on TikTok, Xiaoshuai was really nervous to sleep with Chengyu for the first time because he didn't know sex could actually feel good. Let's just say, Chengyu is a very selfless lover. So yeah, his character is described in a pretty dreamy way compared to Chi Cheng who is more... forceful ig.
I find Jiang Xiaoshuai to be a very interesting character who is still very underexplored on the show along with his relationship with Guo Chengyu.
Anyone got other facts about this character that I maybe missed or haven't gotten around to yet?
