Xiang83

Dai Xu is definitely getting attention on weibo (haven't checked out douyin yet), as I pointed out to someone yesterday earlier on this page. I label his character Pei Zhen as charming yet repellant, and I haven't decided whether 2ML Syndrome will apply.

He's been professional yet underhanded within the boundaries of what a guy in his position would do (red-flag upbringing?). His obsession is centered on ML, not FL. The car incident is one example, where he did what he did because FL was driving ML's car. Previews for next episodes seem to emphasise this. This far, he hasn't been a cartoonish clown or an exaggerated dumb villain, which easily drags down an entire drama.

The reality is that an actor is not his role. However convincing or unconvincing their portrayal, conflating an artist doing his job to the best of their abilities (also primarily with the input from screenwriting and directions from the creative crew) as offline reality to take it personally (or on behalf of a favourite idol) isn't fair to the actor or actress. People praising or gushing over Dai Xu's performance doesn't mean people are dumber than other viewers for appreciating Pei Zhen's role in this drama as a foil that isn't stereotyped and boring yet.

"This Thriving Land", "Fated Hearts" and other dramas that succeed usually require a strong ensemble cast to go with the plot and directing. Leads alone don't carry the success of a successful drama except for specific situations, such as it being a vertical drama or the longform drama has significant flaws needing compensation. Ni Dahong, Qin Hailu, Lu Xingyu and Jiang Qi Lin are sought-after supporting actors who automatically elevate any drama they are in because their performances are realistically strong and captivating onscreen. Nothing to do with looks. Ni Dahong was repulsive yet commanding and well-nuanced in "This Thriving Land" and if you think Pei Zhen is damn annoying to the point that a fictional character is affecting you offline, be prepared for a lot of disgust and losing more than your temper with Ni Dahong for TTL, which no one would deny he executed very well.

As Pei Zhen, Dai Xu "lost" where he needed to in portrayal to Chen Xingxu but when he needs to level up his screen presence, he did so, as seen in episode 14 when they have one-on-one scenes. Pei Zhen doesn't irritate me because in RL, I've met far-worse people in all sorts of shades and had to handle them accordingly. Very curious to see how the drama will allow all supporting characters to turn out. I'm more interested in the evolution of the supporting characters than any romance for them, when it comes to the supporting cast.

In fact, I would prefer Pei Zhen not to fall for FL because I prefer to see how he will deal with achieving his goals or failing in them and changing as a person. Some of us do not automatically pair up single characters in a drama just because they happen to be under the age of 40. We don't think being in a happy romance is the ultimate happiness for everyone. In terms of dimensionality writing characters for this drama, a well-written character for leads and supporting cast is what I want. I like that this far, ML and 2ML are allowed to showcase nuancing and dimensionality as individuals which makes their current dynamics interesting, because what happened from the time they were kids until now?

Maybe someone's already done this much earlier, but I shared my thoughts on the title of this drama yesterday (I only came to this page yesterday):

[ The term 轧戏 (gá xì) originates from Peking opera, whereby an actor could take on multiple roles in the same performance during different parts of the same play, or two or more actors taking on two or more roles in the same performance. In the Golden Age of HK, 轧戏 was a symbol of the popularity of an actor or actress eg. Andy Lau. After 2017 from a mainland China POV given today's regulations, the term has a negative connotation of unprofessionalism due to abuse of substitutes in dramas and choosing work conditions resulting in not sufficiently understanding a role to portray it with the attention it deserves.

In this drama being inherently meta, certain characters take on multiples personalities in more than one reality. The VR reality is akin to a Chinese live-action game of role-playing to solve a fictional murder, hence known as 剧本杀 ((jù běn shā).... ]

https://kisskh.at/760693-ya-xi#comment-24832946

Trivia tip: The fox plushie I mentioned is also a wordplay on the FL's name ie Hu Xiu (胡羞) and fox (狐), and it's very adorable to remember the context of how and why this fox plushie affects Xiao Zhiyu because of FL. And that's all I'll say. If you want to know, you'll have to watch this drama :p

In the meantime, I leave you with an enchanting dance between the leads: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5255090562930936

Ps. 2ML Syndrome is definitely smouldering on weibo XD but I have not decided yet. I hope he stays a gentlemanly villain (if he's going to fall into that definite category).

Fun facts: The term 轧戏 (gá xì) originates from Peking opera, whereby an actor could take on multiple roles in the same performance during different parts of the same play, or two or more actors taking on two or more roles in the same performance. In the Golden Age of HK, 轧戏 was a symbol of the popularity of an actor or actress eg. Andy Lau. After 2017 from a mainland China POV given today's regulations, the term has a negative connotation of unprofessionalism due to abuse of substitutes in dramas and choosing work conditions resulting in not sufficiently understanding a role to portray it with the attention it deserves.

In this drama being inherently meta, certain characters take on multiples personalities in more than one reality. The VR reality is akin to a Chinese live-action game of role-playing to solve a fictional murder, hence known as 剧本杀 ((jù běn shā) . The settings of that fictional reality is Republican-era since episode 1, so you get old-school glamour and one of the best-looking visuals of an actor in a uniform.

This drama is not about incisive social commentary or some arthouse deep-dive into a niche topic or a bleak Master Rubik cube of mysteries shattering you with highly-distressing situations to unsettle you and make you stew for half the night. The Director knows what meaningful angles this drama ought to be through utilising specific scenarios and realities, hence weaving an architectural game of curiosities, comforts and consequences engaging specific emotions within the viewer to connect to. It would be impossible to grasp basic fullness in layers of a very tasty cake without understanding everything I have pointed out in this post. "Love Between Lines" is brilliant for understanding where it wants to be, which intentionally includes overall being as comforting as a bowl of cream to a cat. You might find yourself ODing on this unique cream full of schmaltzy grounded surprises XD

Libra_Aries is a CXX fan. Here's one of their versions utilising BTS in the VR world: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1BHidBGEt8/

Let me help you further. There are ten songs for the official OST. This user matched scenes from various episodes with short segments of each song, using all ten songs for this FMV: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1pVrwB2Eks/

It's so sweet that you might get cavities after finishing this XD

That's what you get for sucking me into Pro Bono, heh!

Oh, given the tech involved here, an AI-generated duet makes me think of Zhiyu and Hu Xiu in this drama (Adele and Jungkook = "Without Words"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWHkQm7xNB4

Hahahahahaha! We can multi-task together.

These scenes with the night lights, neon city vibes backdrop and our ML were giving me K-drama feels: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV18GrMBrEDE/

Don't worry, you only decide at the end of the drama ( I suggest enjoying various gifs and stills XD). I find the competition between Pei Zhen and Xiao Zhiyu professionally assuring. It's very annoying when a drama makes 2ML a completely melodramatic caricature and/or dumber villain inferior to ML. Is 2ML truly a villain yet? Can't decide.

The incident involving his car tells us a lot about his mindset relative to his father's upbringing.

As someone who typically doesn't watch romance dramas because I want plot, subplots, screenplay, pacing plus characterisations to align like marshmallows happily melting in sequence over a campfire of night-time stars merrily twinkling overhead- This drama is lit! Be warned: You might not be able to stop once you start, because you can forget to sleep (or make bad jokes about sleep being for the weak).

The Shanghainese cultural references are fun. Shanghainese architectural appreciation and AI are well-integrated, so to use VR here with architecture is spot-on.

Here's an example of plans to build a nature reserve in Shanghai at the mouth of the Yangtze river: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGAjrLGvYzQ

And the leads! Lu Yuxiao is super-adorable yet feisty once she is inspired. A kind nice exterior contains a rainbow of surprises and ideas for others to discover. She definitely brought a smile to my face every episode, while rooting for her to overcome obstacles and win. No unnecessary melodrama, communication FTW and any misunderstandings get resolved. Chen Xingxu is a green light showing off so many little tweaks and nuances to his expression- That plushie fox will never stop being funny when triggered XD

Romance and realism are nicely balanced in many episodes. Director's camerawork will make one feel at home and/or intimately spying on scenes of what is happening and feel shameless about it all. I enjoy seeing Xiao Zhiyu and Hu Xiu naturally slide headlong into friendship + emotional feels together with all the brakes of a bicycle gathering speed downhill.

Fun, fresh, and a genuine mood-booster. A feel-good drama that sits warmly in your heart, before you know it. Very curious to see how Pei Zhen of Zhuling firm turns out (Dai Xu is charming and repelling me in turns, and I hope this isn't going to give me 2ML syndrome XD). Wang Zhi Fei acting as his father of layers was a significant character in forensic investigative suspense thriller "The Truth Within", which just finished airing. Kudos to the cast, especially the leads!

Thanks for this detailed post! I heard about it from another source, but was busy checking out your updated forum thread of metrics here:

https://kisskh.at/discussions/755725-shui-long-yin/146888-shui-long-yin-whispers-of-fate-3weeks-post-svip-finale-achievements?pid=3441282&page=1#p3441282

# Top 1 drama on International Qiyi & WeTV, Monomax (historical record high, certified no 1 C Drama in 2025), MOA Korea, Netflix, etc: North America regions, UK, Russia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and more.

# IQiyi International broke historical record: Most viewed drama in one day, surpassing 10M views (while Qiyi aired 2 Its own flagship dramas). Qiyi actually bought SLY several big screen Adv for NON Qiyi drama in Hong Kong, showed high ROI satisfaction.

# Broke historical record for C-Drama: simultaneous overseas broadcast sold to 23 platforms covering 120 countries and 8600 cities worldwide.

#Huace ONLY Youtube views 10M+ and counting

# News Coverage by 800+ international publications (Associated Press-USA, Straits Times, Thailand Business News, etc.).

# Spotlighted by Xinhua News, China Daily, China Women’s Daily, and Beijing TV for international success. Main actor Luo Yunxi featured by Xinhua News 9x in 1 month. China Rating (the issuer of CVB) issued an article praising SLY for its cultural export and excellent broadcast data (these are all heavy weight in China)

# AliPay co-branded drama (only 3 dramas have ever received an AliPay skin offer – Joy of Life, Empress in the Palace, and SLY, and SLY Tang Li Ci character ranked No. 1 in historical AliPay co-branded sales skin.

# China Rating, CVB quoted SLY is the winner 2025 winner of 🥭TV total drama views and SLY is no 3 (the only costume drama in the top 3) for satellite TV prime time drama views.
TV Landmark 2025 and Online Audiovisual survey list awarded SLY as “Excellent TV Series of The year 2025”, Note: This certification was guided by The Development Research Center of the State Administration

Our tail is great :D

Which episode are you at now? I reckon anyone would fall for Tang Lici, given how he carries himself and how he speaks, when he decides to be kind :D

Shen Langhun is my favourite jianghu therapist, although it sucked that Xiao Shunyao got injured during a stunt and it affected his screentime in the drama. I enjoy every scene he shares with Tang Lici and/or Chi Yun. Chi Yun made such an entrance in episode 1, and he's a hoot to watch with Zhong Chunji. I have a younger brother, and I would be happy to have Chi Yun as a second younger brother because he is very fun to be around and super-loyal XD

Gui Mudan is my favourite C-drama villain in decades, and keep an eye on his cat. Xue Xianzi is a wonderful foil, and he'll be even funnier when we get to a certain episode XD Characterisations of many characters are rich, and the drama doesn't over-explain what a character is.

If you want any references or want to explore trivia for those episodes you have already watched, here's a few.

Episode 14 about Gui Mudan:

Zaju recited by Gui Mudan (context plus mandarin and English translation):
https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24049694
https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24049698

Interpretation of Gui Mudan in episode 14 referencing two works including that zaju:
https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24049658

underthestars created a very-helpful explainer and hidden-facts thread capped with a general timeline for all 40 episodes, alongside a very useful diagram. See how many nuggets you noticed! Start from the top of the post for the earliest episodes after watching an episode, and work your way down:

https://kisskh.at/discussions/755725-shui-long-yin/146048-it-s-all-in-the-detail-whispers-of-fate-explainer-and-hidden-facts-thread

There are other phenomenal posts such as Azure's timelines and trivia forum post, but that contains spoilers for where you are. Look through the forum posts when you have the time and if you are curious :D

It is brotherhood-centric and of the four major relationships (all male-centric) important to Tang Lici (who keeps secrets of his own), one of them is with his former sect brother whereby their love-hate dynamics are on display throughout this drama. Bromance is something you can decide for yourself as you watch, given different opinions. He develops a good friendship with at least one female character. There are multiple reasons why this is the drama in C-Ent history that broke never-before multiple records for Migu, state-owned platform predominantly constituted of male sports subscribers. This drama also hit 1 billion views in Thailand alone according to Monomax.

Here is the official opening song, with scenes from the drama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn9_a762jU8

Brotherhood and brothers not by blood in wuxia is a strong theme here, An unusual protagonist with key themes of brotherhood, camaraderie and conflict are buoyed by a delicately-woven map of Taoism and Buddhism philosophy studded with Confucian elements.

As to the three schools of thought I mentioned above and why the wuxia theme is very strong, I have touched on three literary references utilised for this drama and explained with translations: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24569086

Tang Lici as per the synopsis is drawn into unfolding a complex conspiracy which he is confidently capable of countering as a chess master and best martial arts warrior of the world ie Shenzhou, unlike many protagonists in typical C-dramas who must cultivate and slowly go through trials to develop capability.

With this approach, the central plot is focused on plans and developments increasingly cementing crucial necessity and evolving symbolism of his adventures and existence, via numerous subplots. Viewers are primarily engaged in figuring out finer details and plans from antagonists versus the philosophical enigma of Tang Lici, not bogged down in concerns for a weak still-developing protagonist.

Tang Lici in the novel flirts with anyone, male or female. In the drama, Tang Lici has chemistry with everyone but above it all, he makes friends and forms healthy friendships. This drama made many fans of one actress in the supporting cast unhappy (there is only one lead for this drama), and you can see why in the official MV above shared by China's official Huace channel because it reflected her screen time plus significance in the drama. I strongly advise anyone expecting CP and two-way romance to not watch "Whispers of Fate" because you would be very unhappy due to ML prioritising brotherhood and friendships and the fate of Shenzhou.

There is a forum post titled "Group Collective Contributions: Details, trivia, insights across 40 episodes of "Whispers of Fate" created while the drama was airing, which contains collated insights from multiple mandarin-speaking viewers who are also MDL users:

https://kisskh.at/discussions/755725-shui-long-yin/146454-group-collective-contributions-details-trivia-insights-across-40-episodes-of-whispers-of-fate

Older mandarin-speaking viewers who have seen at least 20 to 30 years of C-Ent media will appreciate this drama. I am one of them. If you want to find out why this is the drama of 2025 that aired late in October yet broke 1.8 billion views on the Maoyan charts in less than 5 weeks (and according to CSM data, hit 2.838 billion views across all channel categories by 30 December) and is an international success whereby it is the only drama of 2025 nominated for CPOPwave 2026 by this point, check it out :)

Arrogant pop idol by day and vigilante at night sounds interesting. Hm. That could be cool!

Not so sure about vampire and vampire slayer angle.

The ending of episode 22 gives me chills. Halfway through this drama, I'm tense yet hyped and giddy with it all. Whether it is the Americans advancing towards the Doolittle Raid, Japanese politics and subplots, or the Colonel and Ye Biying and Sanzao islanders- Juggling of balls has been nothing short of spectacular. Woah.

Sorry about the delayed reply! MDL was lagging terribly for me for at least 2 days and nights, which meant I returned to a pile-up of notifications.

You have an interesting watchlist :D

Evil is evil, and you don't have to be a descendant of tragedy to have a greater standing than someone else when it comes to choices of standing against evil. German Nazis are the most-talked about and globally taught about for World War II, but they had international counterparts whose atrocities were greater.

You mentioned Italian Nazis. Other than those, Stepan Bandera and the OUN were terrible, whereby the genocide of 1.5 million Jews in Ukraine is a horrible record of history not taught in most history books because the actual details would be more terrible than what the German Nazis did to Jews which Eduard Dolinsky expounds on here (I also add that parts of modern Ukraine has a Nazi problem which is terribly inconvenient for international news, but not mentioned in the link): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JLlC6zqywU

I am curious to hear what you think about Italian Nazis, but that is best taken in DM and not this page.

Druze of Syria are now fighting for their survival. There is a lot of on-going conflict right now, but the news is woefully activist for more than 20 years and tends to be one-sided, lacking in details, and an insult to journalism. If the news reported fairly about Africa, that would be too heart-breaking.

Very cruel events happen when one ethnic group thinks they are superior to all others. Imperial Japan during WWII is one apt example. I don't hold what was done then against Japanese descendants, but I can understand the surviving comfort women in South Korea and other countries demanding sufficient justice with apologies.

Happy watching of all visual media, to all of us!

CP stands for couple. Tang Lici doesn't wind up with anyone, and a certain episode was very disappointing for fans of a certain actress. In fact, I'd say the screenwriters were notably wonderful to drama-Tang Lici, granting him novel-Tang Lici's wish for the woman dearest to him. The Celestial Realm arc resonated greatly with me.

Heroism-focused is what at least one producer claimed, way before the drama aired. There is no romance hashtag for this drama. If you want to see the statistics for this drama, scroll down to the sixth comment underneath my reply to you here :)

You're welcome. This is actually one of those very rare dramas that manages to walk a tightrope. A big age gap and infidelity are taboos and hugely frowned upon. In the original, Dong-hoon is morally upright and when he is on someone's side, he is totally for them. A certain character in the original K-drama said Dong-hoon is attractive to women. If Ji-an was older, Dong-hoon would never buy her a meal. He starts out seeing her as a child in comparison to him (hence his emotional guard is down) but he is also aware of proprieties.

His marriage was over in everything but technicalities by episode 6, when he discovered his wife knew about him being framed by a certain dude but she did nothing. I started out the original and remake not being enthusiastic about the MLs in their characters, given it's all part of the writing. The dysfunction in the marriage of the ML isn't totally his wife's fault.

One could watch the original and claim it's all platonic love. But given all the hints that Dong-hoon didn't realise what was emotionally happening to him as the episodes progress, his actions and choices had me chuckling, especially the slippers.

I won't approve of a romance that has infidelity. There is no romance as the screenwriters wrote it. There is a time-skip in the final episode, after Dong-hoon and Ji-an part. In the minutes of the final episode after the timeskip when Dong-hoon talks about the kid and the kid's mom before Ji-an finally meets him again as she walks towards his voice, we have two healthy individuals able to reconnect as equals and soulmates. Platonic or not is up to how you want to interpret it. He offers to shake hands and after he releases her hand, you can see how tightly he held her hand to leave an imprint. That was the confirmation for me of all the hints I had been seeing: Truly a powerful love story of soulmates finally healthy and finally ready to try a new beginning together.

To be able to incorporate all sorts of love in a story is amazing. I have friends who fell in love and got married, all in ways that people don't deem romantic. One couple I know reminds me of Dong-hoon and Ji-an. That's all I will say :)

Here is what I can say about romance and a love story of the two leads: https://kisskh.at/748667-wo-de-da-shu#comment-24805186

tvn Asia airs media from South Korea including dramas. They aired "My Mister". If you're going to insist on your perceived version of "My Mister", you have to brush up your reading comprehension when you're disagreeing with someone.

[ A significant number of viewers will say there is no romance in the original K-drama. There are also a significant number of viewers of the original K-drama who say it's ultimately a journey of two very different people overcoming their personal hurdles and becoming friends to finally be free and resolve issues they each needed to tackle, resonating as a rare love story without romance (in the sense of romantic portrayals and tropes commonly expected by viewers for romance). ]- That's what I said. Try rereading. I backed it up with the English-version recommendation from tvn Asia (btw, 2:56 for at least three seconds in the stills makes reference to "Goblin").

Less than ten episodes of "Loving Strangers" has aired. I won't claim I know how everything is turning out for this remake. I'm enjoying the differences for the original and remake, and also enjoying the attention to details. You're coming across as annoyingly condescending ever since you've dissed the Korean ML and the Korean original drama to multiple viewers on this page.

I've said this isn't a competition. Nobody has to choose to like only one drama and dislike the other. Oh yes, your answer to me on my other comment less than 12 hours ago:

[ Comparison is necessary, but it should be done in every kind of aspects, so acting, portrayal, character development, settings and conveying the message. I like My mister plot in general but this remake is moving me more in the portrayal of the characters and the message conveyed. I see better the whole idea, the whole deep meaning and teaching the original has glimpses of it. ]

You 10000% prefer this remake? Cool. You can continue the way you're going on about your 10000% preferences of completely dissing "My Mister" and the Korean leads as if you're smarter than everyone else on this page.

I'll be surprised if your approach on this page doesn't eventually backfire on you in the same way as your approach to viewers on the "Man's Inhumanity to Man" page.

This is all I can say about romance and love story for the K-drama original: https://kisskh.at/748667-wo-de-da-shu#comment-24805186