#zhang jinran
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☺️ to 😒 in 0.5seconds
Looking proudly as Duanwu's business thrives : ☺️

Sees Zhang Jinran helping Duanwu : 😒


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Nothing Else I'd Rather Choose (fic)
The Story of Pearl Girl | Duanwu character study
Duan Wu and Zhang Jinran | Duan Wu and Yan Zijing
Duan Wu stares into the doe-like eyes of Zhang Jinran, feeling something unusual coming up to the surface from the depths of her heart. She didn't know it could even feel things like that. A mixture of gratitude, gentleness, and clarity, seeing the other for what he truly was - a gentleman with a noble heart, traditional upbringing, and a wish to lend her a helping hand. Probably, along with his bright sparkly eyes and a chivalrous heart.
He was everything a girl could dream of, taking care of her with utmost attention, not being entirely open about his affection, but she could feel it nonetheless. She has learned to read people while growing up, especially the men who surrounded her, looking at women as if they were prey or a prize to fight over and win for themselves. No one ever asked the women what they wanted in the place she grew up. Even within that dark nook of the world she was living, there were rules of its own and the strong always ruled over the weak, even if they themselves were ruled by even stronger predators and slave-keepers.
She had finally turned that page of her life over, but her agile mind and perceptive heart were still with her, more sensitive than ever before. The man sitting in front of her was nothing like the ones she grew up around - he was the very opposite of everyone she knew back at the pearl farm. So far from the world she lived in that he almost seemed like a mythical being. Much like she was a little mermaid for him back when they first met, he was a celestial creature for her - untainted with the darkness of the real world, the one that would grab you while you're young, enslave you, rape you, and make you bear their children just for profit.
In a way, she got lucky. She fought for her body as fiercely as she did for her heart and soul, but the damage was already there. She knew it when she looked into his eyes with all the light and nobility sparkling there like rays of sunshine - he would never be able to understand her. He could love her, long for her, and take care of her the best way he could, but he'd never give her the freedom she craved so much. It simply didn't exist in the world he was living in. But she, herself, could make it come true. Carve out a path for herself using whatever strength and wit she could master. Learn everything there was to learn about trade, follow Yan Zijing to the end of the world to see how it's being done, and explore the world she didn't yet get the chance to see.
Will it be as ugly as the pearl farm she grew up on? Or will it be as magical and soft as the poems written by Zhang Jinran? Will it cradle her in her arms like the waves of the ocean she both loved and hated so much? Or will it crush her, piercing like a sword that she was only learning how to use? She really didn't know, but she would do everything in her power to find out.
Duan Wu smiles at him with the softness of a person, who has seen light after living in the darkness for most of her life. It was the light emanating from her own heart, and one would be foolish to tie it to another person and hope that they would help this light burn brighter. He wouldn't be able to carry this burden - it was hers and hers only. Both her life and her future, and her death were in her own hands. As well as the secret of her origin and, maybe, who knows, some relatives that could still be alive somewhere out there.
She will find out only if she ventures out into the wilderness of the world that raised her in the darkness. But now the sun was shining brightly and it wasn't the sunlight sparkling in Zhang Jinran's eyes - her sun was burning brightly in the sky, bigger than anything, than the whole world, and she would follow it just like she would follow her heart and soul, wherever they'd take her.
"I can't accept this, sorry," she returns the envelope that could help her start a new life, and leave everything behind, but that everything was who she truly was. He didn't get that, but she did. And she knew she wanted to build on top of that, becoming so much more than a little scared mermaid who has finally reached the surface of the ocean and seen the broad sky, spread limitless above her head.
The light in Zhang Jinran's eyes dwindles just a bit but doesn't fully disappear. He might not be the type that lets go of the things he likes easily, especially the things that don't want to be owned and taken care of. The wild things, the mysterious things, the bitter and broken things he thought needed mending.
When she returns back to the ship, accompanied by Zhang Jinran, she spends a long moment staring at the tall figure of Yan Zijing, who came up either to greet or to scold her, or just to make sure that his asset was still in one piece. It was a weird mixture of sorrow, strength, and edginess emanating from the man as if he were a sword ready to strike at any minute. Relaxing was really not Yan Zijing's forte and the only thing that brought him peace of mind seemed to be music, that erhu that he played sometimes. The sound was beautiful, but she always felt like his soul was weeping at the time.
This man reminded her of the Ocean's depths that birthed her, nurtured her, tortured her mind, body, and soul, and then suddenly let her go to the surface to breathe in fresh air and enjoy the sun of the day. Could she really let go of her origin, though? He reminded her of harsh ocean winds and waters so cold that you could barely move in them, feeling the freezing current hug your body, slowing down your movements. One wrong decision, and you'd stay there forever, becoming a part of the deep-blue depths, just another piece of the still underwater landscape.
And yet, it was that very Ocean that held so many pearls in its bottomless pits. And the treasures Yan Zijing was hiding were but merely a glint in his dark eyes. A slight curve of his lips, a vicious stare, or a sudden gentleness that softened his features, emphasizing the raw beauty, like the light of a sunset would make the ocean seem so calm and welcoming, soft even.
Him, she could relate to. His eyes were mirroring her own. His philosophy was that of a person who has survived and prospered in a world that killed anyone who would so much as show a hint of weakness. Just like the Ocean, Yan Zijing would one moment torment her with a storm and the next gently support her with his strong waves and undercurrents. His presence, for some reason, felt like home - that dark place that birthed her, but also the one that let her feel what freedom truly felt like. She was, indeed, a mermaid. She could never let go of the underwater world with all its inhabitants, both the weak and the vicious, the soft and the strong.
And just like a pearl diver that she's been all her life, the pearls hiding in the depths of Yan Zijing's heart seemed too attractive, although unseen if you just look at the surface. It was similar to a feeling that she always got when going deep underwater, intuitively knowing where to look for those shells containing precious shiny droplets of light.
The moment passes and his eyes dart toward Zhang Jinran, a spark of hostility turning his face into that of a general ready to command his army to attack the opposing forces. The other man looked at him with a mix of disdain and fascination on his face. They couldn't be more different, and yet, fate, or destiny, or someone's brilliant plotting entangled them together, making one follow the other. But as it goes, sunlight would never pierce the darkness of the ocean waters, at least, not to the full extent. You'd have to be a mermaid to go that deep, look that far, and find whatever monsters, gems, or pearls hidden where no man could ever go.
Maybe for the first time in her life, she was happy to be a mermaid. For the Ocean was truly her home. When she steps onto the ship's floor, she feels a door getting shut behind her - the life she could have had, but that just wasn't meant for her. Whatever was waiting ahead of her, she had no regrets. None at all.
#fic#fiction#writing#fanfiction#the story of pearl girl#duan wu#yan zijing#zhang jinran#cdrama#starting a bit early aren't we? XD#I just love her character so much up until this point#I was wondering about her choice-making in the first half of the series#Like why not fall into the hands of Prince Charming who's obviously smitten by you?#well here's why)))#this show is way too realistic in terms of character psychology#you'd want to be with someone who gets you#and before that you'd just want to live your life#and not get stuck in a relationship duh
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Read at your own risk ‼️‼️
Story of a pearl girl episode 18
I knew the moment they said that damned word always I knew it's gonna go downhill and it sure did 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Why can't my puppies have a good long sweet relationship and why do they have to go through so much trauma why??????
In the span of three episodes we went from them planning out their entire life and being all cute and fluffy and Yan zijing finally getting to know he can live longer like look at those cute eyes TO downright duanwu getting kidnapped and the bloody entire trading convoy getting killed and Yan zijing ending up alone with kangju like in the beginning???
LIKE WHYYYYYYYYYY
Why would you spend 17 episodes to make me come to love all these characters along with duanwu and make me dream about the happy life they are going to live and how shrimp asks his sister to wear bright red dress on the opening of the shop and he f-ing won't be there to see her????? How accountant wei was supposed to manage books and she won't be there anymore??? How Loud finally started speaking loudly and they just killed him off?????? Like why did you spend so many episodes making me grow close to these characters if you were just gonna brutally murder them all within the span of a single episode and break all the dreams and all the found family in one single episode make my poor girl duanwu almost dead and Yan zijing barely surviving????
Why did you even begin drawing if you had to bring back the line to the beginning point ? Why did you have to make a circle and not a cute home for them to live together forever?
Why are you playing with my already weak heart 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Why is life so cruel to themmmm I need their fluff moments not their angst ones they have already gone through a lot writers why would you do this to me 😭😭😭
Please begging you to let them have a happy ending 😭
😭 how am I supposed to wait till tmrw to know what happens??????
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珠帘玉幕 | The Story of Pearl Girl E39 ° Thank you.
#珠帘玉幕#The Story of Pearl Girl#cdrama#Liu Yuning#character: yan zijing#Tang Xiaotian#character: zhang jinran#meowmao gifs
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The Story of Pearl Girl Whump List

WHUMPEE: Yan Zi Jing played by Liu Yu Ning, Zheng Zhi Heng played by Tang Zhen Chao
Where to Watch: Netflix, Youku
Genre: Historical, romance, business, revenge
Synopsis: After escaping a brutal pearl farm, Duan Wu, a skilled diver, meets merchant Yan Zi Jing and noble Zhang Jin Ran. Joining Yan's caravan, she gets drawn into the glittering world of jewels, while uncovering secrets about her past. Along the way, she faces betrayal and loss but stays determined to uncover the truth. Renamed Su Mu Zhe, she starts her own business, "Clear Mind," and teams up with Zhang to right an old wrong. In the end, Su Mu Zhe thrives at the Jewel Exhibition, inspiring women to take control of their destinies.

Yan Zi Jing
Ep1- none
Ep2- flashback to family being killed, emotional, coughing, asked if old illness is acting up
Ep3- flashbacks to family being killed, emotional
Ep4- none
Ep5- emotional moment
Ep6- none
Ep7- emotional remembering fathers death
Ep8- emotional
Ep9- arrested for murder, in prison, reminded to take his medicine
Ep10- none
Ep11- flashbacks to family dying
Ep12- none
Ep13- angry dealing with enemy, finds out sister died, devastated, tries to kill him, held back by his men, crying, falls to his knees, comforted ; drinking, told to stop in case his old illness comes back, emotional drinking with FL, emotional telling FL about shared past ; crying alone
Ep14-none
Ep15- given poisoned wine, coughing blood, given medicine, mentions being poisoned many times in the past and that body was at its limit ; coughing, appears weak, FL concerned for him, coughing, coughing, tells FL he was poisoned, in pain ; condition worsened, laying in bed, feverish, weak, FL tending to him, tells FL about being held by bandits for 8 years, flashback to past beaten as captive, in pain ; missing
Ep16- tied up in poisonous water, weak, in pain, helped out, collapses to knees, fighting, kicked, protects FL, falls and spits blood, saved by KJ, gives antidote to FL, helped to walk, weak ; in bed asleep, wakes up, weak, tended to
Ep17- treated for illness, told medicine can only suppress not cure
Ep18- flashbacks, cool fight, dr who could save him was killed, dazed, emotional, ambushed, cut on arm, cut across stomach, shot in chest with arrow, cut across back, stumbling, shot in leg, crawling, trying to get to FL, shot in back, unconscious, carried away, drug on stretcher, flashback escaping bandits cut on back drug by noose around his neck coughing
Ep19- unconscious being tended to, wakes up weak, tries to sit up coughing, in pain, covered in wounds KJ worried for him ; recovering in cave, emotional, coughing, appears weak
Ep20- emotional crying confronting FL, grabs knife, hand bleeding
Ep21-24- none
Ep25- coughing blood, chest pain, unsteady, falls to his knees, asks Kang Ju how long he has to live ; coughing ; coughing, chest pain, taking medicine
Ep26- none
Ep27- none
Ep28- none
Ep29- in a trap, locked in burning building, fighting, shot through shoulder, coughing blood, weak, carried away, barely conscious, helped to walk, unconscious, sweating, in pain, wound tended to ; unconscious, FL finds out truth about desert; wakes up, shoulder pain, winces, helped go sit up ; yelling at KJ, shoulder pain; goes to shrine to honor convoy members
Ep30- shoulder pain ; stretching, shoulder pain ; coughing ; given medicine
Ep31- wincing, shoulder pain ; emotional moment with FL
Ep32- none
Ep33- hand tremors, dizzy, blurry vision ; head pain, wincing, telling KJ he’s been having blurry vision
Ep34-none
Ep35- talking about past
Ep36- emotional thinking about death
Ep37- tough fight against Li Kui, shocked to find out its old friend, flashback to family death and torture as child, crying, fighting, coughing blood, collapses to his knees, struggling, asleep in bed, wakes up weak, blurry vision, says poison keeps acting up
Ep38- emotional moment with FL
Ep39- dizzy, blurry vision, holding FL arm as guide; Zhang Jinran finds out Yan Zijing is poisoned; unsteady on his feet, helped to walk, head pain, blurry vision, argues with KJ, stumbles standing up, holding head ; confronts old friend, refuses antidote, unsteady, coughing, leaning on wall, says its too late for antidote, body is beyond saving, hugs ZJ, coughing, walking unsteady; eye pain, unsteady ; chest pain, blurry vision, breathing heavy, extreme pain, crying ; in pain, has to lean on cart, chest pain
Ep40- coughing, weak, KJ mentions body is getting weaker by the day, FL says hes losing weight ; coughing ; emotional, family cleared, emotional finding out FL is already aware of poison ; coughing, emotional, FL begs him not to leave

Zheng Zhi Heng
Ep29- finds out truth about ML
Ep32- restrained, caned, wincing ; walking with support, limping and wincing in pain
Ep33- still recovering, helped to sit up
Ep35- on the run, confronting father, stabbed through chest with spear, spitting blood, passes out, wakes up, very weak, heavy lidded eyes, tries to pull spear out, pulls body off spear, collapses, dragging himself over to lover, begging her to leave him, helped to walk, collapses, coughing blood, throws lover into well to save her, burning beam falls on him, dies; being mourned
#whump#whump list#chinese drama#cdrama#asian whump#liu yuning#tang zhen chao#the story of pearl girl
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C-Drama Review: The Story of Pearl Girl
Broadcast: Youku, 2024, 40 Episodes, Genre: Historical

My Rating 7/10
On paper, this drama has everything I look for: a compelling story centered on character development, female relationships, and political intrigue rather than just romance. It starts off with great promise, drawing the viewer in with its strong foundation. However, as the story progresses, it becomes stalled by repetitive obstacles thrown in the protagonist's path, which ultimately saps the momentum from an otherwise intriguing narrative.
Acting: 8/10 World-building: 6/10 Production: 8/10 Storytelling: 6/10 Pacing: 3/10 Re-watch Value: 6/10
Summary with minor spoilers
Duanwu (played by Zhao Lusi) is raised as a slave on a pearl farm until she escapes this harsh and oppressive environment. Determined to uncover the truth about her family, carve out a place for herself in the world, and seek revenge on those who wronged her, she embarks on a transformative journey. Her path becomes intertwined with the enigmatic Yan Zijing (Liu Yuning), who is pursuing his own vendetta against the families that destroyed his life. Along the way, they encounter new allies and adversaries, including the righteous Zhang Jinran (Tang Xiaotian), the skilled Yue Yunxi (Shang Wanqing), and the ambitious Cui Shijiu (Xie Chloe).
Through numerous twists and turns, Duanwu begins building her own business as a jewelry maker and seller. Slowly, and with the support of her newfound allies, she not only establishes her reputation and business but also closes in on the people who took everything from her.
My review - spoilers ahead!
The first few episodes were absolutely thrilling and deeply moving—they even brought me to tears. The show tackled heavy themes like sexual violence with sensitivity, delivering a female-focused narrative that made me root for the main character with all my heart. The developing friendships and romances were equally compelling, filled with chemistry and emotional depth.
I’ve always loved stories about women overcoming adversity to build their own businesses, as seen in New Life Begins. However, in this case, the story begins to lose its spark in the second half. The intrigue fizzles out as repetitive obstacles are thrown at the protagonist, making the narrative feel stagnant. The show would have greatly benefited from fewer episodes and tighter storytelling in its latter part.
By the time the tragic ending unfolded, my emotional connection to the characters had waned due to the overly drawn-out plot. Finishing the show felt like a chore, as each new conflict added little to the overall progression of the story. While it had incredible potential, the lack of narrative focus in the second half sadly undermined its impact.
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where are the "story of pearl girl" fics? i need to read about zhang jinran getting his back blown by yan zijing and those sexy braids leaving welts on his chest
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Rambling About a Show (01/15/2025)

⚠️SPOILER?!⚠️
This series was definitely worth the watch. I watched it on Netflix.
I ended up watching this series because of an edit on tiktok. I think this is the second drama that I've seen Zhao Lusi in. First drama was The Last Immortal. I loved her character in that and decided I'll eventually watch more of her works. I think she did a fantastic job in this one as well.
Duanwu/ Su Muzhe(Zhao Lusi)was such a strong character. As I kept telling everyone that would listen, this poor woman went from one horrible situation to another. Well, when she first meets Yan Zhijing(Liu Yuning), it's not the best. Eventually, it does get better. I loved how Kang Ju(YuYonghai)ends up being the biggest Duanwu/Su Muzhe and Zhijing shipper. 🤣
I ended up loving the silly banter between Zhijing and Zhang Jinran(Tanf Xiaotian)towards the end. Because they were competing for Duanwu's/Su Muzhe affection. I also loved Yingtao's and Gaoshou's relationship. They were so adorable and I wish we got more screen time with them.
In the beginning, Cui Shijiu/Cui Zhaohua(Chloe Xie)was a strongly dislikable character. With her character growth, she became a likable character. The same goes for her love interest Zheng Zhiheng(Tang Zhen Chao). I swear these two were only dislikable because of their circumstances surrounding their families.
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watching story of pearl girl and i get they're trying to make Zhang Jinran the 2ML but really he just feels like a girlipop trying to get his bestie away from her fuckass boyfriend
#story of pearl girl#him trying to give her that peace of the emperor tablet last minute was so real#girl do NOT go back IN there#throwback to me trying to write a promissory note so girlipop would TAKE THE MONEY and LEAVE THAT MANS APARTMENT
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Poema 鲛人泪 (Lagrimas da Sereia) por Story of Pearl Girl
Em dezembro de 2024, comecei a assistir a série chinesa The Story of Pearl Girl, e gosto muito que o personagem Zhang Jinran é um poeta, porque não sei nada sobre poesia chinesa.
Então no 4º episódio tem esse poema “鲛人泪” (lido em pinyin: Jiāo rén lèi), traduzido é “Lágrimas da Sereia”, é um poema sobre escravos coletores de pérolas da Dinastia Tang.
Poema em Hanzi / Pinyin
南海有鲛人 – Nánhǎi yǒu jiāo rén 扬波蹈泓澈 – Yáng bō dǎo hóng chè 泪酒成珍珠 – Lèi jiǔ chéng zhēnzhū 龙宫锁霜雪 – Lónggōng suǒ shuāng xuě 鲛人随波逝 – Jiāo rén suí bō shì 采珠无闲缺 – Cǎi zhū wú xián quē 浪底寻母贝 – Làng dǐ xún mǔ bèi 灵蛙罹寒铁 – Líng wā lí hán tiě 怒海风涛急 – Nù hǎifēng tāo jí 负重力将竭 – Fùzhòng lì jiāng jié 一颗较人泪 – Yī kē jiào rén lèi 万千珠奴血 – Wàn qiān zhū nú xuè
youtube
Não vou traduzir isso porque sou muito iniciante em chinês, passei apenas uma ou duas semanas estudando esse idioma, mas é um desafio que aceitei (principalmente porque perdi dois bons empregos porque não sabia chinês, e não quero perder outras boas oportunidades por causa disso (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻).
Tem essa série na Netflix, e se você quiser ver a tradução, pode ver lá ou neste vídeo do Youtube.
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STORY OF PEARL GIRL
time to start a new drama 😁
Ep1: OK First thing to get this out of the way. This is like my fifth drama with FL actress, Zhao Lusi. The last drama of her that I watched before was The Last Immortal. Love it sm. My second I think with ML actor, Liu Yuning. Love the soundtracks he sang too. I don't think it makes sense to get/harvest hundreds of pearls everyday but it was for the plot I get it. 2ndML spotted omg. I saw this actor before. Oh finally, ML. He was some kind of a bad boy. As for 2ndML, seriously he was pretentious. That fkg fat ugly man needs to die, he threw the fish blood just for sharks to come and harass the divers for his entertainment AGHHH. Those degenerates men needs to be eaten by that shark!! Please let it be a W for our girl. She needs a fkg break coz she was this close to end it all.
Ep2: Although 2ndML can be pretentious in a dumb naive scholarly way, he was a good man (for now?). I'll give him that. It was kind of obvious that Lala wld betray Duanwu one day. I wld love to be proven wrong but.... Let's see. Wait... I just said it. Few seconds later it happened omg. Like obviously she was so stupid coz why the fvck she shouted out abt that fat man being killed? Omg omg omg I knew it that Lady Eight wld be FL mother coz FL got "special" treatments and attentions from her. That necklace that fell in the sea.... This new girl hmmm a love rival for FL?? Must be a villainess tbh. What's the chance their small boat wld be in the way of that villainess ship?? Like I knew it wld be like this. That poor boy. Dammn it was amazing that they can save her. Like her luck was abundant.
Ep3: That was so satisfying to see Duanwu beat that steward ding. But then, ML/Yan Zijing entered. He was really the bad boy huh. Girl... You were courting death attempting to snuck into his room. Like how are you going to find it?? It's not out in the open. Well it was amazing that you found it. PFFT SKSKSKSKSKKS but in the end *sigh. So Duanwu had Shrimp(I should figure out his Chinese name) to be her sidekick and that kid was skillful enough(tl=friendly) to fish out informations...
Ep4: She was really bent on annoying him to get his attention skskksks I think she needs to be more patient. See.... She was easily tricked by him. I am worried about Shrimp/Xiao Xiami you know. He can be targeted to whoever that feels Duanwu wronged them. Whoaa Zhang Jinran/2ndML really guessed almost all of it right. Yan Zijing/ML was too confident that ZJR wld not connect it to him.
Ep5: I knew it wld not be that easy for her to sell the scraps and Mr Cao also had a hand in duping her. Can see that from a mile away. Like that pig was greedy!!! I live for her bravery to beat someone for deceiving her.
Ep6: wait... She was going to sell that coral pearl that way??? Wasn't that just nonsense sh*t she said?? ZHANG JINRAN SKSKSKSKSKKS OMG she was busted. OK ZJR gave a good advice and it worked out in the end. This son of b(tl:ML) he fkg knew that Duanwu wld be the only person that suits the Shark Hunting and ofc he dangled that one million maces in front of her. It just an excuse to disguise it under slaves choice. I'm worried tbh.
Ep7: oh it was actually Cao pig scheme and luckily Duanwu saw through him. She was close to winning it but ofc that villainess played dirty. Hmm.... So he still can get the upper hand somehow. This conversation with Xiami seems like a flag to me. A death flag. I WOULD LOVE TO BE PROVEN WRONG BUT IT WAS SO SO SUSPICIOUS.
Ep8: I'm soooo glad that Lady Wu was kind. For now. I wld hope so much that it wld be a sure thing but we are still on episode 8. Anything could happen tbh. I can't help but laugh a little when Yan Zijing scolded Duanwu for talking out of turn. Like girl... It's not your place to decide who can stay on the ship. That white hairpin must be made from jade right? It was so white. You know, this was quite rare for us to see. It was quite informal that Zhang Jinran can be in the state of undress in front of Duanwu. I mean among nobles, for a noble lady this wld not be an appropriate situation I guess. No use for ZJR to like Duanwu... Unless Duanwu makes a name for herself and be among the important people then it wld be acceptable for her to get married with him. Like I don't make the rule but family of nobles like ZJR wld behave like that. That fkg pig and his owner wld get their dues when Duanwu finds out about this. How cruel to torture a child like that?!! What a good cliffhanger/hook for this episode.
Ep9: humph that accountant wei surely accepted the bribe from the villainess Cui Shijiu. Please let Duanwu wins this. What the fvck Duanwu? You must be in denial bcs that useless deposit box was in your hand so why you defended that accountant??? OK whatever at least she called Yan Zijing out for this awful plan of him but Zhang Jinran didn't need to pour salts into her wound. Ughhh. There was no way YZJ wld go and kill that accountant by himself. This was a set up. When I said, ZJR was pretentious in the earlier episodes, I WAS RIGHT!!!! WHO WERE YOU THE GENTLE REARED NOBLEMAN TO INTERFERE WHEN YOU KNEW NOTHING/DIDN'T EXPERIENCE OF HOW XIAMI GOT FLOGGED BY THOSE PIGS?!!! HE WAS A CHILD. I hope Duanwu chews his ass out for meddling in things he knew nothing about.
Ep10: the way I thought initially that he was going to offer on behalf of Duanwu to flog those pigs.... Like this man heard Duanwu said those pigs beat up a little kid and he still stop her, to act holier than thou. I'm glad Duanwu made it clear that they were not the same people and said like it is that he was privileged bcs he was man on top. When she said, "beat them!" with that look in her eyes. APPLAUSE FOR DUANWU!!! I'm sure she was hurt that this thing affected their friendship but she needs to get real. Skskskskks "She learned to be patient" ahahahahhahaja. Oh YZJ was so so calm. I think him being in the prison was to lower the guards of Cui Shijiu. Kind of pity her a bit, obviously her father think that low of women. At least ZJR knew his faults. Phew that was a move wow gotta give it to YZJ. There was a part of Yan Zijing and Duanwu being so close that gave me a reminiscent of the Long Ballad. Iykyk. Shijiu had cautioned her father a lot of times but now he blamed her.... That Cui Jia scum needs to die slow torturous death.
Ep11: wait he thought Duanwu likes ZJR??? Ouuu a budding progress in our main couple relationship. Sksksksks the aide of ZJR said what we exactly thought. Omg a rare moment of the villainess Cui Shijiu feeling a connection with Duanwu of something they can relate. I don't know why CSJ didn't just set off after meeting that Zheng guy. His offering of the wine was so suspicious. See! at least she had the skills to detect something fishy with the drink. Girl............ You shld have take my advice about leaving and You really should hv a brawn bodyguard. Wait... This Zheng dude really like CSJ?? Ain't no way I wld believe it. Duanwu is really something else. Sksksksks the way Kang Ju was so shocked at the unprompted praise YZJ gave to Duanwu. Like that was so unexpected. OK I hv to give it to YZJ bcs he really wanted to help Duanwu in every ways to stand on her feet. Like the suggestion to make her be more skillful at using sword to defend herself. That was a good quote. It was so satisfying when she shocked Kang Ju with her crossbow creation. And really she was such a sweetheart when she thought it was Kang Ju who gave her the sword and she wanted to return the gesture. Girl where was your man-ish outfit? Wear that instead of your dress to practice with the sword and another thing, get a good partner to sharpen your skill. Oh... she got the Master himself well. Oh my... It wld be a bump in their relationship if she knew that Yu Shi was dead.
Ep12: I can't believe I didn't save what I hv written before and now hv to do it from start again. Duanwu didn't know that the girl she was going to meet was his sister. She really thought he wanted to marry that woman. OK finally she can deduce it. Oh she still didn't get it. Hmm... ZJR ni lai la. Yup, she connected the dots. No no no I don't believe it. That was so devastating to him.
Ep13: Ouuu another progress in their relationship. So what they going to do with that woman now that she wasn't the one?? I just don't believe it you know bcs she had another half of that jade. I really don't get why CSJ had to ask help from that viper of an uncle. Obviously she underestimated how cruel can he be. She should figure out how to snatch back that lotus terrace pearl base instead. A mess, this was a mess. Like she really can't help herself, one hole after another. At last YZJ told Duanwu about her father. But seriously that Yunxiu girl was not his sister??? I'm saying this first here, CSJ was overconfident. No one to blame but her. Like her uncle was the leader of Black Dragon Bandit, the one who killed YZJ family. This was so out of nowhere tbh. She really thought she ate.
Ep14: ohhh Ah Hu and her friend will not be joining them. It makes sense tbh. They had been on the ship for so long and they must miss their hometowns. Ohhh she was aware of him as a man omg the progress in their relationship +30%. I regret that I read the drama's synopsis on this episode. Why didn't I read it after the damn western region arc??? OK Duanwu rejected his confession gracefully.
Ep15: CSJ was busted. Well not Duanwu got dragged into this too but she must be in this arc to save the victims of trafficking. I forgot to mention this but I am so so glad that Loud got well with his voice out loud.
Ep16: FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN DUANWU AND CSJ?! I WOULD DIG IT Tbh but I don't really trust CSJ. Like I wld be mad like her too just like what she did to Cui Jia. That man shouldn't had quick kill tbh. OMG A BIG PROGRESS IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP. Aaaah so cheesy. He shld put that flower near her the bun on her head like that wld make it more natural. Ohhh Xiami finally approved of their r/s. This ep ended on such a happy note. That's good BUT I'm afraid for the next episode.
Ep17: She made a good suggestion to leave others especially Xiami. I want it to happen but I've read the damn synopsis. Skskskks when Duanwu was surprised instead of Xiami, I relate to that sm. Why I hv a bad feeling from the military guy? I'm scared of their plan being leak.
Ep18: Wait.... How can she be easily kidnapped?? There must be a mole. Duanwu was so smart to mention about Lake Zijing. Oh it was the same man that abused YZJ, he better died slow torturous death.
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I'm just here being thankful and content zhang jinran carries so much power to bust everyone every other ep 😂💀👏
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The Story of Pearl Girl (ep.24 - ep.30)
I finally did some binge-watching - it's so satisfying! These episodes were quite packed with events. I loved 2ML's comeback - Zhang Jinran genuinely cares for Su Muzhe and all their scenes were very heartwarming and touching. He's willing to be her 'brother' and just help her as a friend when she most needs it. He probably doesn't feel like one, but his intentions are pure. All their interactions are very beautiful.
Our couple also starts meeting more often (finally!) in a friendlier way. They also get to resolve some of their issues, ah, I'm glad I got to watch all this in one row. I've got to say that Zhao Lusi looks ethereal as Su Muzhe. As always, some intense staring is happening between the two :3
Our girl Su Muzhe was wrongly accused and arrested. While Zhang Jinran valiantly investigates the case using the 50 shades of law, Yan Zijing protects her from the shadows, and in the end, we understand that without his help the case would have been lost. Nothing is quite as hot as a man torturing and blackmailing bad guys for his favorite girl XD I thoroughly enjoyed this sequence))) Also, Yan Zijing looks dashing in his stabby/dangerous mode.
2ML is righteous, while Yan Zijing knows how to get results in a world filled with lawlessness and corruption. Yes, he plays the bad guy and he's on a vengeance mission, but he's much more real and down-to-earth in this aspect. As a businessman, he's also very practical. I love their juxtaposition, though. He and Zhang Jinran are two sides of the same coin, they just act using different methods. Both have a place in this world and both are effective in their own right. Our girl was lucky to have them helping her at the same time.
Both Su Muzhe and Yan Zijing sure do know how to suffer prettily XD I love it in FL and ML, and I have to say that both Zhao Lusi and Liu Yuning are very beautiful sufferers and criers (and that's a form of ART). I mean, not only do they transport the viewers to their world emotionally and let us feel what they're feeling, but they also look STUNNING while doing so.
This was one of the highlights of the episodes and made me giggle so much. Zhang Jinran pretending to be spending the night with Su Muzhe, covering for Yan Zijing who's hiding back in the room all wounded. So they very fakely/cutely play a couple to avert suspicion from their place XD But poor Zhang Jinran, he's so gone for her. He can say whatever he wants, but we all know he's feeling all those feels. This whole sequence was hilarious)) The three of them do make quite a good team.
I also enjoyed this very random but funny meet-cute of a girl working at Su Muzhe's jewelry shop and a guy coming to 'rob' it, but not really. She grabs a broom to fight him and the magic happens XD As always, very cinematic, but also hilarious))) The show has its humorous moments, which are very sudden, switching between super drama and home/bliss/lightheartedness all the time. I'm digging it, though, I love this mix, and it leaves me as a viewer some air to 'breathe' and not just feel super tense all the time worrying for the main leads.
I appreciate the geometry of the scenes - some shots look like they're encoded with the Fibonacci sequence. Like, seriously, they are picture-perfect! The composition is physically and mentally pleasing.
#the story of pearl girl#it's so visually pleasing and cinematic#I love all those pretty shots#and pretty sufferers#so much has happened during the last few episodes#I'm happy at least part of the misunderstanding is gone#courtesy of Zhang Jinran and Kang Ju#it was such a relief#zhao lusi#liu yuning#duan wu#su muzhe#zhang jinran#yan zijing#cdrama#review#cdrama review
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2024.11.03 - https://weibo.com/l/wblive/p/show/1022:2321325096691572277348
- /no luck with the AV settings, it seems. off to a great start./ LYN: Blame it on the fact that I haven’t streamed in too long. I’m sorry, excuse me. - /fixes it, sort of/ LYN: This still looks like it won’t do. Is- is this thing messing with me?? Can you only see one half? I think the aspect ratio is wrong. Let me work on it. No rush. /sigh/ I’m speechless. Maybe it’s because I haven’t used it in so long. - /crowdsourcing for help XD/ C: It sounds like we’re in a water drain. LYN: Hold on. Why don’t you wait for me- when I’m done fixing the settings I’ll turn it back on. - LYN: I haven’t streamed in so long that I’ve gotten rusty. I haven’t planned well, but I have just contacted some weibo staff in the hopes that they will impart their wisdom to me. They’ve told me to restart the video, so I’ve done that and it seems fixed. Is the sound ok now? There’s no more echo, right? Can you hear the music? You can. And the laughter? Ok, perfect. Today’s stream will go extremely smoothly. LYN: I’m sweating. LYN: Let me once again welcome you all to my stream. Welcome, everyone! I am seeing you all on this Sunday night. Welcome in. LYN: For the last stream I used a vertical view but everyone said that horizontal was better so I’ve switched back but what I didn’t account for was the issue with the settings, but that’s all been fixed now.
C: Congrats on breaking 1 million (views). LYN: Congrats, indeed. Of course, this is due to the efforts of the cast, crew, and viewers. Thank you, everyone. LYN: I saw yesterday that ZLS was working hard to get a lot of her friends to promote the drama. I saw many different posts from everyone around the industry in support of ZLYM. She’s worked really hard on this, and even /I/ wanted to make a post for her. It would say: “Friends, let’s watch ZLS’s drama ZLYM together.” I also count as one of her good friends in this industry, right? I wanted to get in on the fun. But then I was afraid that if I did people would accuse me of being dramatic (getting himself involved so that people talk about him). I wanted to post, “Support ZLYM, quickly start watching it!” But then I thought about it and came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be proper, so I reconsidered and did not make a post about it. LYN: I’ve learned to restrain myself. I’ve been cursed at so much in the past year that now I’m cautious and timid. If this were me a few years ago, I would promote it to the extreme. But now I’ve started acting as the male lead in dramas, and the ratings so far have been pretty decent, so… as a male lead I need to be more honorable/proper. I don’t want to stir anything up.
10:26 C: Boss, may I go to the upper decks*? LYN: You must thank the *heavenly realm. For letting me meet you. - [t/n: 上舱 = shàng cāng = upper deck; 上苍 = shàng cāng = “upper realm” = heaven ] LYN: /YZJ voice/ Stay on the lower decks! - C: I want to be your personal attendant. LYN: Oh, you must have seen up to today’s ep. (e7), right? YZJ gave DW two choices: 1. Come to the upper deck to be YZJ’s personal attendant, serving only me. YZJ didn’t get to finish, but DW chose the second option. But the second option was to… get hit. I’m speechless. LYN: You want to be on the upper deck? Oh- I don’t need you, though. The upper decks are full. There are no more beds left on the upper deck. Kang Ju sleeps on one, and his cane takes up another. I don’t have any more spaces, so how about you see if you can bunk with someone else? - C: Are there other jobs on the ship? LYN: You mean, other than my personal attendant? There are cleaners, aren’t there? And cooks, and… there are lots of jobs. Putting wood in the furnace (engine?), steering the ship, etc. LYN: /sigh/ Forget about it.
13:35 C: Ge, are there cockroaches on your ship? (蟑螂 = zhāngláng) LYN: /laughs/ No cockroaches, but Zhang-langjun (郎君) (Zhang Jinran) is there. LYN: Oh, Tang Xiaotian is here. Zhang-langjun is here, I saw him in the comments! Report him to management! Oh, we can’t? Zhang-langjun is here, let’s welcome him. LYN: It’s such a coincidence, isn’t it. A lot of things are just bound to happen- they’re determined by fate. Who would have thought that we were just talking about Zhang Jingran- a very handsome scholar, a poet, well-liked and kind, who is helpful to others, talented, handsome and taller than me! Such a handsome fellow, and people are calling him “Zhang-langjun.” - t/n: “Master Zhang”, but can also be interpreted as “Mister Cockroach” depending on where you put the hyphen. LYN: We said this during our livestream the other day, too. When we were shooting and had to call his name- “Zhanglang-jun.” We had already thought of this joke but I didn’t think that the viewers caught on as well. Such a coincidence! Then, I went to shoot at Hi6- also to promote for ZLYM- I had gone as an actor of the ZLYM crew. That slipper… the crew chose it for me. I didn’t choose it myself! When I had gone backstage to change there already weren’t that many selections left, so they suggested I wear the slipper and even asked me if I had any idol baggage. I said, “It’s fine, I can wear whatever. It’s all good. Let me wear the slipper.” At the time I recorded the variety show, the drama hadn’t started airing yet. So… it was just fate’s plan. I didn’t think I would be the slipper, but in the end I became the cockroach’s nemesis. LYN: Welcome, TXT. My “qiáng”. Why is he my “qiáng”? He had sent me a message earlier that read: “What do you mean that I’m your “qiáng”?” I thought about it the whole day- I just got off the plane and was on my way here when he replied with that. I was thinking about it and it’s because zhāngláng = xiǎo qiáng. [t/n: 蟑螂 (zhāngláng) = cockroach; a common online word referring to cockroaches uses the words '小强' (xiǎo qiáng) (little strong); even cockroaches get cutesy nicknames.]
17:53 LYN: Let me ask him if he wants to come on. // If video is not convenient for you, just audio is fine, too. LYN: TXT, I sent you a text message. Take a look at it.
LYN: You’re saying that Li Bofan is here? Oh- welcome, Bofan! [songwriter] C: Change the song. LYN: I’m playing songs in my own stream, and you want me to change it? /sigh/ There’s two possibilities with this friend: 1. They have high standards for music. They must have heard the previous song too much and it’s annoying them, so they want me to change it to something better. The other possibility is 2. They say that Li Bofan is here, so they want me to play this song. LYN: LBF- Start crying! // I’m joking!! (x3) I shouldn’t be touching his scars. -- 努力的人 (Hardworking People) [written by LBF]
LYN: He said that I haven’t turned on the “join livestream” feature. Let me turn it on for him. Okay- now it’s on. Hold on- I’m streaming on my computer, so- It should work! I’m on my computer. I’ve fixed it now, its on. / Oh- you’re eating? Okay, audio is fine. LYN: Then why don’t we just do a voice call from here (phone)? It’ll save you the trouble of connecting to the stream… // Because I’m streaming from my computer I can’t see the join request. Hold on. Let me see… Maybe we just connect via phone. LYN: /talking to someone offscreen/ I know it’ll come through the phone, but he hasn’t sent the request. Has he? No- what are all of YOU requesting to join for?? Stop messing around. I’m going to reject your requests! If you’re in the queue then TXT doesn’t have a space! Cancel your requests and stop messing with me. LYN: How long will it take me to find… /scrolling/. Wait- I can just invite him.
23:03 - /trouble getting started/ LYN: Okay! Let me interview you a bit. You now have the very resounding nickname of “Mr. Cockroach”- what do you think of it? TXT: /laughing/ I think this shows the viewer’s love for our drama. I was called “Laobing-ge” in a different drama, before. LYN: Do you mind it? TXT: No, because everyone has their own ways of expressing their love for something. I think it’s great, as long as we have the love in the first place. LYN: That’s fine, then. Thank you, also, for sacrificing so much for our drama. (being called Mr. Cockroach) TXT: No, no. It’s my pleasure. LYN: Are you eating? TXT: Yes, some Hunan cuisine and it’s so spicy. LYN: Okay. Well, do you want to say “hi” to everyone, and let them know if there’s anything they can look forward to in the drama coming up? TXT: Oh, they CAN hear us talking? Then I should blow my nose… LYN: Yeah, they can hear clear as day. Did you think we were talking privately, making secret phone calls? TXT: Oh. Well we’re on 8 episodes today, and- I won’t talk about myself, but I’m sure that people are seeing that YZJ is secretly teaching DW all these survival tactics and that he cares about her. ZJR continues to unhesitatingly help DW, but… Ning-ge will probably show a lot more change, so I hope everyone continues to watch and support. There’s more to the plot waiting for you. LYN: :) Honestly, I think that ZJR’s character is quite charismatic and he’s helped out a lot on the journey. He’s very upstanding. In the later episodes my relationship with him will undergo some changes, as well. Also! I saw a funny video today- the part where you were being pursued by killers and you took a rock to slam on their feet. TXT: /laughs/ LYN: Did you see that? TXT: Yeah, and someone had commented that they feel sorry for the killers. LYN: I saw a comment that almost made me die from laughter. TXT: I think I saw it, too. LYN: The comment said, “I’m a patient with severe paronychia* and I can’t bear to watch this image. It sincerely hurts to look at.” [*nail inflammation resulting from trauma, inflammation, or infection] TXT: I hurt, too. I was exercising and two of my nails... LYN: I’ll send that video to you, later. It was so funny. LYN: Friends- you can go find that video. When ZJR is using a rock to smash the bad guy’s feet. TXT: I even replied to that author, I said I was smashing cockroaches. LYN: Oh, you replied? TXT: Yeah. LYN: Okay, well- you eat. Later when you have some time I’ll call you over to come play. TXT: Okay, no problem. Bye, everyone~ Ning-ge, you continue. LYN: You, eat. TXT: Ok! LYN: Everyone, please give TXT some attention and follow him. There are more interesting plots and performances waiting for you. Please pay him some attention. TXT: Bye bye, Ning-ge.
28:00 LYN: Usually I use my computer to livestream, so sometimes connecting with someone is a little difficult. There’s a bit of a delay, which complicates things. Okay. It’s fine. C: What is paronychia? LYN: Go look it up! I won’t be explaining the symptoms and pain of having paronychia to you, here. This joke is the type where if you get it, you get it but it you don’t, then forget it. I don’t know why I have to be explaining this to you, when my drama is airing (and he could be talking about it instead). Along with treatment methods and the harm it brings to the body? What’s the point in me telling you this? To put it plainly, paronychia is when the nail grows into your skin. It hurts a lot. It hurts even when you're not moving, let alone when you’re grabbing a rock to smash feet. It’ll hurt you to death. C: The edges were red and swollen. LYN: Stop talking about it. Let us end this topic about paronychia here, okay? I have a drama airing, so my hope is that we can be talking about ZLYM when people enter the stream, so that they can go and support the drama. But here they are, entering the stream to hear us chatting about paronychia. Is this a side story? The Story of Pearl Girl: Legend of Paronychia??
30:35 C: Turn off the “join livestream” function. LYN: I won’t turn it off just yet. What if the female lead comes in, later? What will it mean that TXT came and I opened the connection, but now that the female lead is here I’ve turned it off? People would be able to hold that against me. There are people hating on our drama already, you want to give them the excuse to say that the male and female leads don’t get along? That’s game over.
31:25 C: Coconut Chicken. (yēzǐ jī). LYN: Is that the name you’ve come up with for me (Yan Zijing)? Mr. Cockroach is a pure tonal pun, but “Coconut Chicken” is a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? I think you’re just here for clout. It’s a little… not so… natural. LYN: If you wanted to call me Swallow Spirit (yànzi jīng), that’d be okay. For example, Fox Spirit, but I am a Swallow Spirit. /sings a bit of a song he associates “swallow” to/
32:26 LYN: Let me tell you- I am someone who is not affected by negative comments. Someone in the chat wrote four words, “the plot is average.” Friends- a normal artist will not respond to such a comment, but I am the type to face difficulties head-on. What type of person do you have to be, to come into one of the actor of this drama’s livestream when we are all having fun, just to say the words, “The plot is average.”?? You’re the type of person who makes a lot of noise online; but in real life- For example: a property just had its grand opening today and they’re celebrating with fireworks, but you walk over cracking melon seeds and just say, “The structure of this building is just average.” Eight security guards will come out of nowhere and beat you up! You really don’t know how to speak. You’re only good for making noise online. In real life, you’d go to a restaurant on its opening day, look at what other people are eating and say, “These dishes were cooked just averagely.” The chef is going to beat you over the head with their ladle. LYN: How annoying! LYN: Also I want to discuss a problem with you. “The plot is average.” If the plot is average, go find the drama crew! Go ask the screenwriter, what are you harassing me for??? You must be sick. Go find the scriptwriter’s weibo account and leave them a message, why are you complaining to me?! I’m just an actor, here to perform, so there’s no use in complaining to me about the plot. If you wanted to say that my acting was mediocre, that, I can accept. But for the plot? You’ve come to the wrong door. Get out. LYN: You’re such a bad person, so annoying. You’re likely to have paronychia. Later you can have Mr. Cockroach go treat it for you. This must be a sever paronychia patient: they’re in pain, so making a fuss will make them feel better. Go have Mr. Cockroach treat you. Follow TXT’s weibo account, as he’s a paronychia doctor. With his miracle rock you won’t ever have to worry about paronychia again.
36:30 LYN: The stream isn’t lagging. It’s because ZLYM has a promotion group, so I told them that I was going to go back to Beijing, but that I’d maybe do a livestream tonight. I told them about it, and ZLS asked me when I would start streaming, so she can come and send me gifts. I told her that my gifting is closed, and how about she just sends me 66 over WeChat for the ceremony of it and be done with it? So she supported my livestream that way. LYN: I’m kidding! How could I ask her for a red envelope?? I told her that my gifting was closed and she was happy she could save some money. But I told her that when I was streaming, if she had nothing else to do, she could come over and greet everyone. She’s the main lead of our drama, after all. So it would be nice if she could come to chat. She said OK, but that I had to remind her because she’s flying out somewhere tonight, she’s about to get on a plane. LYN: Our entire drama, including the producers and platform are all very attentive towards the promotions of this drama. I’m sure you can see it. We hope that more and more people can be aware of ZLYM, like it, and watch it. I hope it can bring people relaxation or enrich your lives, just a little. C: Lusi is here. LYN: Oh? Let me look- LYN: I realized something embarrassing- which is that when I was connecting to TXT a little earlier, I found out that I wasn’t following him. So when I sent him the invitation to come on my stream, I also subscribed to him as well. LYN: Lusi is here, so let me connect with her. So she can come on and say “hi” to everyone. // ?? What’s her weibo ID?? No- she’s not in here? It’s okay, we’ll wait for her. C: She came, then left. LYN: … Ok, fine. I’m guessing she wanted to spend some money but saw that the gifting option was closed so she went back out. LYN: She’s here now? Okay, she’s here! Oh, my goodness. (sifting through the requests) She’s here. // Um. I sent the request to her, but it’s telling me “Please remind the other part to upgrade Weibo to the latest version.” C: She left to recharge (add money to) her account. LYN: No, she doesn’t need to. LYN: It’s telling her to update to the latest version, so… I’ll invite her again. All she has to do is accept.
42:05 ZLS: What does this mean? What does this mean? LYN: It doesn’t mean anything- it means that we’ve successfully connected. ZLS: Oh, it connected! It told me that I’ve upgraded! This is so professional, Liu-laoshi! I really like connecting like this. This is my first time doing it. LYN: Of course! This is my previous area of expertise! ZLS: This is really professional! I like it. Hello, everyone. “Lao-da, put on some bgm.” Someone needs some music. LYN: Why don’t you greet everyone, first? ZLS: Hello, everyone. LYN: There really is a delay. // It’s okay- you can speak! - /she’s going through a security checkpoint, so they’re asking about the things in her bag/ LYN: Did you see today’s episodes? It’s the treasure hunt, today. ZLS: Last night, I- Oh, no. I haven’t had the time to watch today’s updates. LYN: Mhm. ZLS: I was in a hurry to catch your stream, so I’m happy. LYN: So what you mean is that catching my stream is a little more important than watching the drama? ZLS: It’s more important. Very important. LYN: So my stream has delayed you from watching the drama. ZLS: I said that your stream was more important, right?! LYN: I know- what I mean is that you should watch the drama when it’s time (and not get distracted), so that you can support ZLYM. ZLS: What are you- Okay. Okay, laoshi. LYN: Yesterday I saw that you were working hard and requested a bunch of your good friends to promote the drama, so I was telling everyone that I also wanted to repost and ask people to support your new drama.
ZLS: Sorry- I need to go through the security check. Let me tell you- sorry, Liu-laoshi- you’ll have to go through the checkpoint. Hold on! Go through the checkpoint, ok? Wait a moment!! LYN: Oh- she’s showing us the inside of an x-ray machine. Now we can so some research on it. She said I’ll have to go through the machine- but I’m holding my phone?? Okay, well. LYN: This might be the first time in my life- I’m sure that while I was being screened, all of you who are watching the stream right now have also been screened. ZLS: Sorry, I’m sorry! Sorry, everyone!! LYN: It’s okay! ZLS: Ten million people have been screened, sorry about that! I had to go through the- but it’s fine now. Sorry, sorry. Otherwise I would have delayed when everyone else is already waiting for me, and then I’d be in trouble. I think-yeah. LYN: Go ahead. ZLS: Everyone is very safe! Everyone went through, so you’re all safe. LYN: /laughing/ Yes, we’re all safe. Thanks for your hard work. On behalf of everyone here I want to tell you that “you’ve worked hard” yesterday to promote the drama. ZLS: Well, you’re the one streaming. And I felt that there was nothing more that I could do. What touched me was that a lot of friends that I don’t talk to that often also helped to promote the drama for me, probably because it was my first time asking them such a thing. And then- because I know that people are busy- and you know that most of the time you have to lighten it by saying “Oh, it’s no problem if you don’t have time. I was only asking.” LYN: “If it’s convenient for you, please help me to promote my drama.” ZLS: Yes, yes. - /talks about someone she only met yesterday, but was very sincere and encouraging/ ZLS: I was happy to see that everyone was willing to help and it felt a lot more meaningful than just a regular drama announcement. LYN: Of course, we’re thankful to all these friends. ZLS: Yes. Thank you, Liu-laoshi. Thanks for your hard work. Thank you to the fans- LYN: Thank YOU for your hard work. ZLS: It’s nothing. I want to thank you and your fans, and my fans, and the actors. We’re all working together to protect the show. I’m thankful that you like the drama.
ZLS: Oh! Your dog popped up! [t/n: a sticker in the comments] LYN: It’s a special effect! ZLS: Daimi!! LYN: Okay, well. You should catch your plane. I won’t disturb you, but it was nice of you to come at the last minute to greet everyone. ZLS: Yes, please support Liu-laoshi’s stream, and thank you everyone! Okay. LYN: You’re using my platform to extend your thanks to everyone, is that it? ZLS: Yes, that’s right. This platform is great! LYN: You can come more often to promote your dramas and I will collect less of a fee from you. ZLS: I think that’s a great idea! We can even join the stream. I think I should just promote my dramas with you in the future. There are a lot more people watching, here. LYN: That’s the truth. I have good equipment here, too. I have BGM! ZLS: Oh, right! You have the laugh track! /lyn plays some bgm/ Wow! LYN: It’s very impressive. You can give it a try next time, okay? You can promote your songs here, too. I can promote everything. ZLS: Ok, sounds good. Thank you. Thank you, Liu-laoshi! I should catch my plane now. LYN: Oh, my. Thank you for coming over and you’re welcome to come play more often. Have a safe flight! ZLS: Ok, ok. Bye! LYN: After you get off the plane, remember to watch ZLYM. Support ZLS. ZLS: Ok, ok. I’ll go and re-post ZLS’s weibo in support of the drama. LYN: /waves/ Okay. ZLS: How do I get out of here?? :) LYN: I’ll do it, I’ll do it.
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51:08 LYN: Ah! Oh, it’s back. Ok. LYN: I think that’s a good direction for the future of my business (having his actor friends join the stream to promote their dramas). LYN: I wasn’t kicked out. - /thanks people again for promoting ZLYM/ LYN: People are so nice, aren’t they? I started streaming and TXT and ZLS both came. TXT’s out there eating, too. But they still came over to be a guest. It makes me happy that everyone is working together in the hopes that we are properly promoting the show to everyone. I saw something even more touching though, today. After I saw it, I cried. The first thing is that I saw many of you had reserved cloud servers (?). It’s touching, because I know that they’re expensive. 30 yuan for a private room. Why do I know it’s expensive? Because I also paid a lot of money- but it’s not worth mentioning, because I know it’s what I should do! I spent a lot of money and- I don’t regret it at all. Thanks to all the friends who reserved the server in order to promote the drama, so that more and more people have the opportunity to watch the drama. I hope that if you were able to get the server, that you are able to watch ZLYM on time. Don’t have rushed to get the reservation but end up watching a different variety show instead… C: What’s the point of that? LYN: It’s like buying a membership for everyone. For example, there are some students out there who don’t have a lot of spending money, and therefore won’t buy themselves memberships to watch dramas. Then, some friends can come out and buy a membership for them, so that they can watch the drama. C: I didn’t get one. LYN: If you didn’t get one, then buy one. Please support the drama, ok? C: I bought SVIP. LYN: Yes, I did too. Did you think that as a big artist we can get memberships to big platforms for free? No, we still have to buy them, too. How strange is that? It’s a drama that I filmed myself, but I still have to pay money to watch it. I’m kidding! That was a joke. (about it being strange) LYN: Our friends are great and have kept promoting for me, which I am grateful for. I also expressed my thanks to them in the group chat yesterday. I know that every time one of my dramas air, that my fans have a hard time of it. Thank you for your hard work, everyone. Right now, your Ning-ge will offer you a deep bow.
56:45 LYN: I really enjoy reading the comments that are a little mental. Someone just posted a comment that read, “Then, why don’t you kneel for your fans?” /laughs/ That is, “If you’re so thankful for your fans, express your sincerity and get on your knees. Kneel, if you’re so thankful.” Some people… I want to share something with you- LYN: If you’re going to be so sarcastic, then it will be really difficult for you to survive in a workplace. Getting back on topic- if I were to kneel down in this livestream- So what? There’s no need to speak so mockingly. Do you think you’re Yan Zijing? Friends- I’m gonna kneel! This person is provoking me! Well, I’m the type of person who doesn’t back down to provocation. You really want to do this? You said, if I were really thankful, to kneel down to my fans. I’m going to do it. And what about it?? Let’s do it. /points at the camera/ Watch me. - /makes like he’s going to get on his knees but ultimately uses his hand trick/ LYN: I knelt. C: You mustn’t! LYN: You’re a good actor.
C: That scared me into sweating. LYN: What does that mean? Why would it make you sweat? You afraid that if I kneeled down… then what? I don’t know. C: I’m going to cry. LYN: No, no. Don’t cry! Kneeling is also a form of respect and becoming sworn brothers. It doesn’t matter- even if I did kneel it would be in the name of friendship. C: Bow to one another as husband and wife. LYN: That’s not worth it. Let us just bow to one another as sworn brothers. We may not have been born in the same month, day, or year, but we can die on the same month, day, and year.
1:00:45 C: Ning-ge, did you play the erhu yourself? LYN: Did I play the erhu myself… Um. Did you think I was like a blind person, and that as such playing erhu should come naturally? - /puts on some shades to blindly feel around/ LYN: Is that what you mean? LYN: I didn’t play it myself. I was making the motions, but the sound was filled in during editing. Yan Zijing was really playing, though.
C: Did you provide the beads for the drama, too? LYN: No- most of them were mine, but part of them were the crew’s, because some of the scenes required me to… throw the beads. /laughs/ I had to throw them at someone’s face, and I couldn’t bear to do it with my own. Most of them really are mine, though. Yu Yonghai- who plays Kang Ju- he gave me a string, and he put another string on for me. I gave him one of my plain ones and he gave me a matching one. He is also a hobbyist. He gave me a string of old xinyue, bodhi, and cinnabar, and I used that in the drama.
- /a comment about more puns of the name Yan Zijing; LYN: You can call him whatever you want./
C: Are the pearls in the drama real? LYN: If I were to say they weren’t real, would that be bad? If I were to say during this live that all the pearls in the drama were real, would that make it seem like we are serious about the props? Why don’t you just ask me if the gold bars in the drama are real?? Ask me if we really chop off people’s heads, while you’re at it. /sigh/ If the execution were real, actors would be one-time use, like chopsticks and tableware. Disposable. The beheadings and everything are for real, yeah. LYN: You know how YZJ is deeply poisoned? As the actor who plays him, I was also poisoned. It gives you a sense of immersion. On the day of filming wrap, I died.
C: Ning-ge, did you really play YZJ yourself? LYN: /laughing/ Uh? What type of question is this, I can’t wrap my head around it. Hold on. ??? “Ning-ge, did you really play YZJ yourself”? … No, I didn’t. I didn’t play him myself, no. A different actor did everything and they used AI to swap his face out for mine. That’s popular now, isn’t it? I don’t know when it started, but no matter who acts in a drama, they all have to use AI to switch the face and post it online to ask, “If it were this person instead, wouldn’t it have been a better fit?” If they’re more suitable, you should have had THEM act in the first place. Of course, I’m not talking about myself, here. I have also been face-swapped, you all know this happened with YNGS. But there are always these posts, “If this role were played by this person, wouldn’t it have been more suitable?” And in the comments are a bunch of fools adding fuel to the fire: “Yes, yes. This person is more suitable. It’s not bad?!? This looks good!” LYN: If acting relied on good-looks alone, then any good-looking person could become an actor.
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1:05:55 LYN: I hope everyone here can support Fangs of Fortune (FoF/DMGL)! It’s airing at the same time (as ZLYM) and is also a very amazing project. It’s extremely not bad, ok friends? There’s a singer called Liu Yuning, who sang one of the songs, called “Unintentional Big Dream (无心生大梦)”, okay? Let’s take a listen. -- 无心生大梦 (Unintentional Big Dream) [Fangs of Fortune OST] LYN: This song is my first time trying a new style (for me). When I received the demo I was wondering if I would even be able to pull it off. But I grit my teeth, because life is all about breakthroughs and I’ve never tried this style before. So I gave it a try. I recorded it, and I quite liked the result. LYN: Next week’s Hi6 should feature the FoF crew. I will also be there. I’ll be representing the ZLYM drama crew.
1:08:37 C: My mom says your mouth is poisonous. LYN: Did your mom watch that part in the drama? Yan Zijing has a poisonous mouth and he licked his own lips and poisoned himself to death? LYN: Thank you. I’m guessing Auntie has some good taste. I’ve seen Aunties and Uncles around me- not Brothers and Sisters, because I am already old- I see that they’ve also been watching ZLYM. They’re sincerely watching it. C: Will you go to Hello Saturday? LYN: I already went. I was on the episode that aired yesterday (11/2). You must not be my fan! All of my fans know that I went to record for Hi6. So if you haven’t yet subscribed to my weibo, please do so. That way you will always know what I’m up to. Ok? Support me. C: My mom says you look like a son-in-law. LYN: Ehm… if you get a chance, take your mom to get glasses. She saw incorrectly? Or maybe she was a little confused, just now? It’s possible that she saw incorrectly. Take her to get some glasses or something. Look after her.
C: Ning-ge, people are making fun of you online. What do you think of that? LYN: Friends, it’s like this- I am very thankful for YNGS. The ridicule and hate I received during that time was- I’m not exaggerating- almost three times worse than it is now. What I get now is actually not bad. The first thing is that the original group of people probably aren’t spending the money to purposely put me down anymore, and secondly the haters aren’t as enthusiastic about me anymore. They’re probably tired. After everything, they’re only saying the same things that they were last year. They just need to simply copy and paste their comments/opinions from last year and be done.
LYN: /whispers into the mic/ Friends, there are crazy people in this stream. Watch out. There are crazy people here. Earlier you told me that there were people hating on me, to which I replied, (basically) “So what?” Just now someone posted, “I’ll go kill them all!” Did you see that? It’s terrifying! I was told someone was hating on me and someone else posted a message saying that they’ll go kill them all. Really. LYN: Don’t do that!! There’s no need- what sort of grudge, and how much must you hate someone??? There’s no need. Don’t be like this. Calm down. It’s okay. (x3) Let me tell you- the people who hate me, deep down, actually love me. If you really hate a person you don’t even want to SEE them, but these people tirelessly pay attention to every move I make. They listen to every single word I say, trying to find something to use against me. Think about how attentively they must be listening to my timbre, my voice, my resonance, on top of looking at my average face. Right? How much must they have to pay attention to me? On a base level, it’s love. If they didn’t care about me, how would they know where I am wrong or which point to use to ridicule me? So really, they love me. Don’t kill them. Save me some face, and spare their lives. Spare their “dog” life. Ok? C: I’ll go all out. LYN: Don’t!! You’re going to fight the haters? It’s enough. That one person alone was terrifying enough. LYN: “Spare the individual under the knife!” [t/n: used to save someone from execution]
1:14:00 C: Why did you only have one sip of champagne yesterday? LYN: Because… my alcohol tolerance sucks. LYN: Just one sip was enough. It’s not like I was there to get drunk. It’d be a sight if I were to attend an event and just drink all their alcohol.
LYN: I’ll repeat myself- I hope you all can support FoF. If you’ve watched ZLYM and have nothing else to watch, you can support FoF. Widen your horizons. There’s also another drama called Our Days, which is also airing on CCTV. It’s a high-quality drama and this song has a sense of the times, which really helps you to become immersed in the drama. It’s called Our Days. -- 这一路 (This Journey) [Our Days OST]
C: You’ve done quite a lot in this stream tonight. LYN: I skimmed past this comment and at first thought it read “You’ve done some inhumane things in this stream tonight.” I saw wrong. I did a lot of things in this stream, yeah? I promoted ZLYM, and the dramas for which I’ve sung OSTs for (FoF, OD). Of course! We focus on cost-effectiveness and after-sales services. If YYXH had asked me to sing their OST, I would also help to promote them. But they didn’t come to look for me, so there’s nothing I can do. That’s just how it works. I accept the money to help people alleviate their “disasters.” It’s that simple. So I won’t be helping to promote YYXH today. Despite the fact that I am quite close with the actor-friends of YYXH, to each their own. Please be understanding. Excuse me, I’m sorry. We’ll work together the next time.
1:17:12 LYN: There’s also another very good drama airing called A Beautiful Lie. It’s on iQIYI and it ends today, friends. If you haven’t seen this drama yet, you can go support it. If you’ve finished watching ZLYM and you don’t have anything else going on- this drama has ended and all the episodes are out now. You can check it out, okay? It’s called “A Beautiful Lie” and you can take advantage of your break to watch it from start to finish. This song is called “You Are The One.” It’s a song I sang for the OST, and I hope you like it. -- You Are The One [A Beautiful Lie OST]
LYN: That’s right, and there’s another drama which is airing, called The Rise of Ning. This drama stars Zhang Wanyi and Ren Min. We also recorded an episode of Hi6 together, and I was happy to get to know these two new friends. So, friends, if you’ve got nothing to watch after finishing ZLYM, you can check out Rise of Ning, okay? In this drama I sing a song called 泼墨. -- 泼墨 (Splashed Ink) [The Rise of Ning OST]
LYN: There’s another drama, called Kill Me Love Me. Some very amazing actors brought to life the very beautiful drama called KMLM. I think it’s already finished airing, right? In it I have sung a song called “不敢逢春 (Do Not Dare to Welcome Spring). I hope you all can support this drama as well. Even though it’s already finished airing- the membership period for it is already over- but you can watch this great drama in your free time. Okay? Please support it, friends! -- 不敢逢春 (Do Not Dare to Welcome Spring) [Kill Me Love Me OST]
C: Ning-ge, do you still owe OSTs? LYN: I owe two, and there’s one I haven’t decided whether I will take or not. They haven’t been recorded yet. Thanks for your support. C: Do you have more? LYN: Of course I do. That’s right. This song is from the drama Story of Pearl Girl, which also stars me. The OST is called 惟愿 (Wish). -- 惟愿 (Wish) [The Story of Pearl Girl OST] - C: Ning-ge, your dance at the press conference wasn’t half bad. LYN: /glares into the camera/ You don’t need to say it like that. - LYN: This song is from a drama airing on Youku. This is the ending theme from the amazing drama called ZLYM. It’s sung by a singer that I really like- Modern Brothers Liu Yuning. This drama is about a pearl harvester- /laughs at himself/ It’s too “official.”
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C: Ning-ge, is the ending a BE or HE? LYN: The ending… I think it’s fine if I tell you, because everyone already predicted this ending. The ending for ZLYM- for YZJ’s part- nearing the end he started to find the reason to keep existing in the world. He ends up finding something that made him truly happy. But in the end, he was taken away by aliens. The moment he found happiness, he was taken away by aliens. Which planet did they take him to? Maybe that will be revealed in the second part of ZLYM; it’ll be called The Story of Pearl Girl: Interstellar. It’ll tell the story of what happens to YZJ after the main storyline. It’s okay, because it’s an open ending. It’s not a sure thing where the aliens took and left him. It’s also possible that he was cremated. He was lit up, like a lighter. Or maybe they threw him to a different planet, full of Mr. Cockroaches. It’s a planet that gives him a headache because the planet is full of Mr. Cockroach. The story is about him fighting with these Cockroaches, I’m guessing. C: As long as you don’t die. LYN: I already said this before- the mortality rate of the characters I play has reached 80%. As long as LYN is in the role, the character’s mortality rate is already 80%. 10 characters, 8 have died. That’s just, inexplicably, how it is. No one else has reached this point, have they? Very few people can have this effect. The mortality rate of any character that I play is 80%.
C: Lao-da, you can watch an ad, then come back to life. LYN: /laughing/ Wow, that’s an idea. For example, a character I play dies near the ending. At this point a 30 second ad pops up on the platform. “Would you like to resurrect Ning Yuanzhou?” Use 30 seconds of your life to resurrect. That’s an interesting way to interact with viewers. You can resurrect protagonists. I’m sure this will be an expensive ad. This way, when you’re filming the drama you can shoot an alternate version where the protagonist isn’t dead. Another example! When you’re filming, you shoot two versions- one dead, and the other not dead. Then, when it gets to the last episode, a window will pop up. “If you would like to purchase an ending where the character is alive, please pay 6yuan.” So the people who want this character to be alive can pay to watch an ending where everyone is alive. There can be multiple endings to choose from: A) The leads are in love. B) The leads aren’t in love. C) People live. D) They’re all dead. If need to spend 6yuan to unlock each ending. The platform sure can make a lot of money, that way. 6yuan for a resurrection. Not bad. C: You’re a shrewd businessman. LYN: /YZJ voice/ Of course.
C: Spend money to determine life or death? LYN: Yes, because the audience is God, and God can decide whether you live or die. Right? Even for me- whether as an actor or before when I was a waiter in a restaurant or a salesperson in a clothing shop- this is a service industry. As an actor, you serve the audience, and serve the drama crew. In this case, we are also service workers. The consumers are God. You can spend 6yuan to determine if we live or die. Only 6yuan to hold the life of a character an actor has played in your hands. Is it worth it or not? C: 3yuan for half-dead but not alive. LYN: Do you think this is Haidilao?? There are large portions and half portions??? “Give me a half serving of duck blood!” Half-dead? What does that even mean?? Someone who’s catatonic? The person is lying there, alive but mentally dead. Half-dead. Can’t you just grab your roommate and pool your money to split the bill? You pay 3yuan and they pay 3yuan, and together you can eat a full meal! Honestly…
1:31:20 C: Ning-ge, quickly apply for a patent. LYN: What’s the point in that? I’m sure that a lot of platforms have thought of it. If I can think of it now, then platforms have thought of it ages ago. It’s just that if such a thing really was released… the platform might get cursed to death. Then that means my idea was a bad one. :( LYN: I can joke about it in my stream but I’m sure that if any platform out there really does implement such a thing they’d be cursed to death by the viewers. I’m saying it as a joke, friends. Please don’t take it seriously. Because- how can I put this? The platform wouldn’t need to use such measures anyway because doing so would affect their stock value. It’s not worth it. The money they make in stocks is probably higher then your 3-5 cents. LYN: But my Yan Business Empire WOULD use such a measure. The Liu Group Business Empire would. XD
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1:32:20 -- break #1 - /troubleshooting bc we can’t hear the audio from the video he’s playing as commercial break/ - /he CAN play Hardworking People, but it’s not the full version (and he needs more time than that)/ - /video editor OP has new works, but he hasn’t dl-ed them to this computer yet bc he just got back/
1:38:32 LYN: I’ve found out that there are some friends who have already predicted my prediction. Oh my goodness. You all are too amazing. Why don’t you go be a streamer and be done with it? I think you’re too amazing. You’ve already predicted what I was going to say! I JUST sat down and I saw a comment scroll past saying, “When Ning-ge comes back he’s definitely going to say, “The neighbors weren’t fighting, they were watching e7 of ZLYM.”” Amazing. Hey- why don’t I sign you as one of my artists? Your reaction-time is too fast! Episode 7 of ZLYM is YZJ’s first fight scene. I was already prepared to come back and tell you about it but you took my baggage and- what is it called? You didn’t spoil the joke… there’s this thing in crosstalk where members in the audience- “pao le”! Yes. You’ve “dug up the baggage”! Aiya. But, your reaction ability makes me really admire you. I’m impressed. Not bad.
1:39:50 C: Can you see me, Lao-da? LYN: I can see you all! Of course- yes, you’re a new fan. LYN: I want to take this time to thank all of my fans and friends. I’m really grateful for all of you. You’re there for all of my offline activities, program recordings, and such. When I was recording Hi6 for two days you were down there shouting and supporting me. I want to sincerely thank all of you. Thank you, and you’ve worked hard. I hope that you are happy, though. Okay? LYN: I know you’ve been helping me to fight against the haters and to promote the drama, and the very talented friends among you make video edits. When I see what you’re doing I feel touched and a little proud. I just want to say that you all are pretty talented! C: Ning-ge, I believe that good fortune will arrive. LYN: I-I’ll work hard, okay? I’ll do my best to work towards that goal. I don’t dare to acknowledge the fact, but I can work hard. People must have dreams. Maybe your dream, to others, can appear ridiculous or make people give you spurned looks and spit, but you just need to believe in and work hard towards your own dream and I’m sure you’ll find an answer.
1:42:45 LYN: See? I’ve just finished saying that and already there’s someone pushing me, asking if I’ve looked at any scripts recently. Um. Well… I haven’t. I already said- I’ve come back to being a singer. That means it’ll be hard on you for a while longer. LYN: The reason I’m not too anxious about it is because I still have three dramas that are waiting to air. Of course, if I come across a good one I will definitely accept it. Mainly it’s because I’ve been pretty active lately with business, variety show recordings, and some stage performances. I’m not in the mindset to sit down and look through scripts. And… I’ll look at them in a couple days. Don’t worry- I’ll give them a look. I’ll finish what I’ve got going on first, and will be busy for a while yet. Such as discussions for my concert, recording the OSTs that I owe, and… in any case I will be adjusting my own physical condition.
C: How’s the second album coming along? LYN: The second album… I think it’s just short one song now. I’ve collected another one recently, so now I’m only short one. If I wanted to release it I could grab any song to add and release it. I do have some songs that I like, but the question now is if I really want to get this going right now or not. I CAN release the album, but I would need to form more concrete plans first.
1:44:53 C: I feel like you’re in a better condition now than when you were filming. LYN: Yes, because I got fatter after I came back. My skin and body are in a much better condition than when I was filming, because for the past four years I’ve been in Hengdian and haven’t left it. I think it’s okay, though. This year and last year the two guzhuang dramas for which I am the male lead have aired and they count as an acknowledgement of the past four years I’ve worked here. The reception for YNGS was good, and I think it broke 10k views, right? Actually, on iQIYI that’s hard to achieve. There aren’t many dramas in a year that can do that, if you think of how many drama that are released in a year. So YNGS already achieved great results. But I always see some inexplicable commentary. LYN: Of course, I can understand why people say this about the drama. People have said that “The ML in YNGS is too unfortunate (looking). I got halfway through and stopped watching.” And people were following along, saying “Yes! The people around me all said the same- they got halfway through and stopped watching because the ML was ugly.” I guess it’s my fault, otherwise YNGS would have surpassed 2m? Blame me. Think about it- so many people STOPPED watching and it already broke 10k. If the continued to watch, maybe it would have broken 20k. Right? Because about half of them stopped watching because of me, and I am one of the leads. I’m sorry- I was the block that kept YNGS from hitting 20k. Sorry, sorry.
LYN: And then, this year, the same words are flying around. I will never be free. There were comments saying that the ML is too ugly and that they won’t watch the drama. I opened up their Douban reviews, and attached was a really long image- someone sent it to me and told me, “Check this out, Ning-ge.” It was a really long image. They weren’t my anti, but an anti of one of the other actors in the drama- and they gave a one-star review to any actor that I’ve worked with. Meanwhile all the other actors received five stars. So- it’s an enemy of one of the people I’ve worked with, but the blame is all on me. [t/n: I’m confused] This person must have felt like a genius. Actually, I want to say that maybe you didn’t know who the protagonist was- you might not even know me. It’s also possible that it’s because I’m ugly. That’s entirely a possibility. But the problem is, there was no need to drag me into it! I was just here to blend in, you didn’t need to drag me in and use me as the weapon. I know I don’t look very alert, but there was seriously no need. If you’re so amazing, pick your fights one-on-one but don’t use me as a shield. You used a borrowed knife to kill! I’m too miserable! C: I’ll go kill them! LYN: No need!! Are you all crazy?? YZJ looks so mean but he hasn’t said anything about killing anyone. He’s only mean on the outside- on the surface level. But here it’s like there are a group of you gathering together and are ready to commit murder.
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1:49:35 LYN: I want to thank all my good friends, my fans, and the people who are in the stream today, who are probably watchers of ZLYM. Many of you must be fans of other artists, or just passing by. I want to thank you for your support of ZLYM. I, Liu Yuning, will toast to you all. Cheers. C: Drain it. LYN: You people- Let me tell you, I really see all sorts of people in my streams. Have you ever met a person like this- for example: a groups of friends go out for drinks. “Come on, let’s drink!” Okay, drink. /sip/ “You- you didn’t drain your glass. What, are you raising fish? Drain it! Drink it all. If your feelings are deep, you’ll drink it in one shot. If your feelings are shallow, then one lick is all it takes. You’re a grown adult man, you should down it. Do it, do it!” “If you don’t drink, then you’re not giving me any face. Quickly, down it.” … Do you know anyone like that? I don’t know- I think they exist, because I’ve met them before. C: Acting as me? LYN: You’re THAT person?? It’s really annoying. C: Sounds like me. LYN: Oh, there are so many people who act like that? That tracks, because the stream's full of people who would kill an anti if they got the chance. LYN: Actually, friends, I am also this type of person. How else would I know how to act them so well? We’re the same type of person. I am not discriminating against you. Come then, friends. Let’s act that out again. LYN: A toast to all of you, and thank you for supporting ZLYM. I hope you can continue to watch until the day it finishes airing. Continue to support it, okay. Thank you. I’ll toast to you. /one shots it/ LYN: Drain your glass!! What are you doing, raising fish?!? Drink it, drink it! - LYN: ! (to Daimi) You gave me a fright, you. - /picks Daimi up, but she’s not in the mood for sitting/ - LYN: Down it, down it! What are you doing? /laughs/
1:48:45 C: How did English speaking go yesterday? LYN: I know I always brag in my streams that my English is so good, but when I actually need to use it I’m lost. I’m dumbfounded. The thing I’m most afraid of, you know- a normal person would be like this. For example. To my understanding, when a foreigner wants to communicate. First, they will say “Nice to meet you.” Then, of course I know how to say “Nice to meet you!” back. “Nice to meet you. Thank you, thank you.” But after two sentences, they think I KNOW English!! That’s a bug (glitch), friends!! “Nice to meet you.” “Yes, nice to meet you, too.” Then they will start- /”speaking English fluently”/ To which I- /can only smile and nod, laugh politely and say “yeah/of course/thank you/cheers” in response/. /sigh/ LYN: The most embarrassing thing is that you just finished saying, “Nice to meet you” and they start talking. After a while of talking, while they are awaiting your response, the person next to them (translator) says, “Oh, he can’t speak English.” And THEN, the person you were trying to talk to just goes, “Ah.” I’m sure they’re thinking, “If you didn’t know how to speak English, then why did you say “Nice to meet you”. I think you look like a mudfish (ni chou)!” LYN: But the good thing was that I could understand about half of it. Half-guessing and half-listening helped to me understand half of the conversation. I also watch foreign movies, and I’m the English class representative of Dandong Cooking Second Technical School, after all. You knew that. I went to study how to be a cook, but there are English classes.
C: You had such a history? LYN: ! A new friend. I caught you. I told you I was the English class rep of my cooking school, and someone asked, “You have such a history?” You’re either trying to flatter me, or you’re a new friend. Friends, let me tell you- you have to pay attention to the details. From this single point alone you can infer that I have new fans. Even if they’re not my fan, I still have a new friend in my orbit. They’re not my fan, but we’re still considered friends, right? Nodding your head at someone can mean that you’re friends, right? I will nod my head to you right now. /Nods/ That’s how you make friends. LYN: This means that the YZJ’s drama has attracted fans. :)! So for those of you who are acknowledging our friendship by nodding your head, if you have not subscribed to my weibo yet, please do so. I am Liu Yuning. I welcome you all.
LYN: Oh, my. You are quite educated. Someone used the term “as close as old friends.” C: I’m not a new fan anymore. LYN: That’s good, too! ~ Welcome new friends, without forgetting old friends. The road is easier to walk with more friends. At this moment, you all should be thinking of this song: -- (朋友 (Friends) - Zhou Huajian) - /someone hands him something/ LYN: Huh? Friends- Youku platform is too kind. I just said something that I need to apologize for- I was too narrow-minded. My bar was set too low. Friends, I want to cry. I made a joke earlier, asking why I had to buy SVIP membership to watch my own drama… /holding back his fake tears/ It’s like this- to the directors, first of all, I was joking when I commented on having to buy membership to watch my own drama. But they have gifted me with 1,001 SVIP cards. Friends, aren’t they so righteous? This means that I don’t need to spend money to watch any drama that airs on Youku in the future. Maybe I’ll save these cards, and for example in the future when I have a daughter, I’ll use it as her dowry. It’ll pass down from generation to generation. C: Ning-ge, can you give them to us? LYN: I can’t. Thank you, Youku. Thank you. C: Raffle them off. LYN: I won’t! Why should I?? I’m keeping them for myself! They sent me 1,001 SVIP cards, and I’m going to keep them for myself. Why should I give them to you? I won’t! -- 朋友 (Friends) - Zhou Huajian LYN: Friends, sing along!! LYN: I was too short-sighted. I can’t believe they sent me 1,001 cards. But what if I turn around and start selling them? One card is 30yuan, then that means 1,001 cards is…. 31… 33,030yuan! [INCORRECT] C: That’s 1110, not 1001. [this woud be 33,300yuan, actually.] LYN: Oh, sorry. /thinking/ C: It’s 1101. // They charge by month. LYN: Oh, it’s by month?? Help me to calculate- how many years is 1101 months? Ten years? Nine? They’re using this as an opportunity to educate me. 9- 91 years?! C: 91.75 years. LYN: /lol” “.75”! They gave me 91years of membership??? HUH?! Wow, 91 years of membership. Oh my goodness, then that really IS going to be passed down through generations. I’ll need to give this to my children. LYN: They already put it in my account, so I don’t think I can give them to anyone. Sorry, friends. But what if I sell my account?! What if I sell my account, with the caveat that if my drama airs they have to go and leave comments. That way no one will found out that I’ve sold my account. I’ll sell the account to them for cheap, but every time a drama of mine comes out they have to go leave comments for my fans. LYN: That’s so dumb. I’m kidding! Thank you- thank you, Youku. I’ll strive to live until I’m 125 years ol; someone counted it for me and by then I’ll be 125. This account is going to be a target for hackers in the next 91 years… C: What’s the password. LYN: The password is yanzijing666. You can try it. LYN: ZLYM started ariring on Nov 1, so that’s meaningful. [t/n: not sure why he made that comment.]
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2:06:12 C: This is my first time seeing a ML play an erhu. LYN: ? I think that’s true. Usually it’s playing the dizi (flute) and playing the guqin. For the most part in guzhuang dramas it’s either dizi or xiao, the guqin. Erhu is pretty rare- not saying it’s never happened- it’s just rare to see, especially for the male lead. Other roles would play it, of course. But specifically the male lead, and not a supporting character or those fortune tellers by the side of the road. Think about it. C: Violin! LYN: I was talking about guzhuang dramas. Have you seen a violin in a guzhuang drama??! Why don’t you just get an electric guitar, then? We’ll do death metal. There’s no way.
C: Male God, how long have you been streaming for? LYN: She called me her “male god.” I don’t think I count as that, but maybe as a “male psycho.” How long have I been streaming for? Let me take a look. Two hours. It’s been two hours. Why? Where you looking for me for something?
1:08:07 LYN: The character of YZJ is quite… I’ve said this in an interview before, too. He’s special, and a character I enjoyed portraying. Maybe- not humbly speaking- I can see my improvement in acting through YZJ. Let me praise myself. I did improve. Because, honestly speaking, after I finished filming for YNGS I felt that I had made a breakthrough somewhere. I don’t know, but that’s how I felt. I’m not trying to say that my acting is amazing- I don’t act well. I’m still a very immature actor. I just want to share that even though I am immature, after YNGS I feel like I came to an understanding. I figured out how to handle acting, so I was able to experience/feel a lot more. After YNGS, I filmed another drama- you know (ZY). After going through that drama, I came into YZJ. Although he didn’t have any outstanding performance, I think it’s the smaller details that were more difficult to get a good grasp of. After watching my own performance, I want to say that I think that I have matured just a little bit. I’m happy for that, and I’ll keep working hard! LYN: Liu Yuning. I have high hopes for you. Jiayou. LYN: I saw a teacher comment on my performance, saying “You weren’t as natural as when acting in YNGS.” YNGS… (NYZ) was a different role entirely and the way I acted as him was different. The baggage they (Ning Yuanzhou vs Yan Zijing) each had to carry was different, so therefore their characters were different. Keep watching. One day, you’ll understand.
C: Who’s YZJ’s little sister? LYN: His sister? YZJ’s mom and dad had a little girl, and she is YZJ’s little sister. That’s how she came around. There’s nothing strange about it. His mom and dad had another kid, who is a girl and younger than him. So she is YZJ’s little sister. Yeah. C: Do you find her later? LYN: Didn’t you hear what ZJR said? “Sometimes you think the clue is lost, but the clue is right next to you.” When I was reading the script and saw this part I said, “Who’s YZJ’s little sister? Don’t tell me it’s Duanwu?!?” Because we’re seeing the same thing- I was reading the script and I saw that and was thinking “Is Duanwu his little sister?? How am I supposed to act from now on? Does this scriptwriter really want to play with this type of plotline? Is that okay?? Will it pass the censors?” XD - [t/n: Discussing the term used for when one sibling loves another, but idk what it is in English, let alone Chinese. There’s a nicer term than “incest”, I’m pretty sure.] LYN: In any case, I was thinking, “It can’t be HER, right?” - [t/n: honestly, I also had a split-second where I went there.] LYN: But you should keep watching… because it might really be her! I don’t know. Keep watching. You’ll get an answer to who YZJ’s little sister is.
LYN: Youku came to comment, “We must be generous to Mr. Yan. Come to ZLYM and watch Yan Zijing stir up the business world.” Our platform’s boss- I mean, leader- is here. I’m very thankful to Youku. Thank you, thank you. They left a message, did you see it? Why don’t you go start up a conversation with them? LYN: My fans are the best, in that they are thankful to whoever treats me well.
C: YZJ’s little sister isn’t ZJR is it?!? LYN: /GASP!/ D-did you buy a copy of our script? I heard that our script can be bought online for 5yuan each issue. You’re not the consumer, are you? I heard the electronic copy is being sold at 5yuan each issue, but it used to be 10. Maybe the market wasn’t good enough, so it dropped to 5. In that copy you saw that… my sister is ZJR?! What did my sister go through to in Linglong Cave to turn into a boy?!? XD LYN: Oh- maybe it’s because our family- I am 1.90m tall. TXT is taller than I am. That’s fitting for my little sister. Usually the second child in a family is taller than the first. It’s true, then. He’s my sister. LYN: The friend who commented this is actually very right. Because not once in the drama does ZJR deny the fact that he is my sister. He didn’t deny it, which means that it’s true. LYN: This theory is… quite wonderful. You can use it for anyone. For example, you can say, “Liu Yuning, you’re an alien. Why? Because not once in your life have you ever denied the fact that you are.” Isn’t it strange?! It sounds strange, but also reasonable.
C: Change the bgm. I want to listen to 惟愿 (Wish). LYN: Alright, as you wish.
C: So do you have a sister or not? LYN: I do. Yan (?) Ding said before he died, that my sister was still alive, right? So there must be a storyline in here in relation to that. I have lines referring to it as well. When the matters in Guangzhou are handled, I’ll be going to Shaozhou to find my sister. So, what’s next? Actually friends, Shijiu is my sister. I saw in the comments that someone had guessed so. I was watching the drama and reading the comments scroll by and someone commented, “Cui Shijiu isn’t his sister, is she?” Because the story that’s been revealed up to now is that the Cui family’s pearl farm used to be owned by the Yan family. They stole my family’s pearl farm, and took a child while they were at it. So Cui Ding must know who my sister is. It’s actually Cui Shijiu. It’s a possibility I also thought of when reading the script. The farm used to be the Yan family’s, and when the Cui family took it they also took the daughter. It’s reasonable. C: What “pig” farm? LYN: I can’t believe you wrote the “zhu” for “pig.” You OBVIOUSLY must not be watching the drama! We’ve been talking about it for a while now- ZLYM!! Friends- You know what, I am ashamed. Because- - /creates a banner that reads “Please watch ZLYM. Thank you~” and puts it up on screen/ LYN: - I should have put this up sooner. When the platform came by, I didn’t have this up. I should have had it there long ago. See? Friends- this space up here is advertising space, now. Today it’s been bought out by ZLYM. In the future, for my next stream, maybe ZLYM would have finished airing so our cooperation is over and this space will be free. Other drama crews could then purchase this ad space. 200 yuan/night. Unlimited scrolling. How about it? / But can the scrolling speed be a little faster?? Ok, I got it. I can just repeat the message a few times.
C: CSJ can’t be YZJ’s sister because her eyes are too big. LYN: !! Do you think you’re very funny? Do you think your comment is very amusing? She- can’t she take after our dad?!? It’s normal for the children of a family to look different, isn’t it? Especially with boys vs girls. For example, the boy looks like mother and the girl looks like father. Isn’t that normal? What’s the problem?? There is no problem. Why did you have to bring it up?! Why does it HAVE TO BE the eyes??? Don’t you know that my eyes are my bottom line and you’re not supposed to mention them???? You’re going to give me a breakdown. You think you’re so funny, huh? LYN: There are antis everywhere, and no matter what you do they’ll say, “Look, he cares so much.” Don’t even mention it! This is moral kidnapping. You stand on your high ground and kidnap others. For example, someone comes to curse at me, and I try to refute. They’ll say, “Aiyo~ You’re trying to explain? Look how much he cares about this. If he didn’t care, then he wouldn’t bother to correct people when they’re wrong.” >.< I hope you eventually meet a person like this in your work environment. LYN: No, no, don’t kill. No need for killing. Save me some face. C: I’ll go kill them. Leave it to me. LYN: It’s fine. It’s fine, really.
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2:24:54 -- break #2 LYN: Let me play a video for you, and I’ll come back later. I need to use the restroom- I drank too much water because I was toasting to you too much earlier. I'll come back and we can continue to chat for a bit. If you have any questions- if you’d like to interview me, for example they always gather questions from fans to ask me during interviews. You can just ask me directly. I’ll choose some questions and answer you directly, okay? We can interact. We’ll do an interview. If you have any questions, we can chat. You can also ask me questions about filming, and whatever else you’re curious about.
2:31:50 C: Lao-da, will you hold your concert in Singapore? LYN: Singapore… I won’t be going. It’s... overseas. I don’t have any plans for anything overseas at the moment. Because I’m not popular to that extent yet. I know I have an overseas fanbase; many of you told me about it last time. I have a lot of foreigner fans, for which I am happy for! But for now, I won’t be going overseas because I’m not that popular yet. I’m sure that if I did have a concert overseas people would come to watch. But it would also be a lot of you (in China) flying over to watch me (in another country). There’s no point in that. C: I was really happy to see you in Macau the other day. LYN: We’re friends, now. If we met once in Macau then we can be considered friends, right? If you met me once and we’re able to exchange words now, then we’re friends already. Please watch ZLYM, thank you.
2:33:45 C: Can you talk about NYZ? LYN: Of course I can. - C: The lyrics are gone. LYN: Ok. /brings them back/ - C: Does YNGS have a part 2? LYN: Yes, it does. It’s ghost story. If I’m in it, I’ll be acting as the ghost. A horror movie, a little thrilling. I have a lot of fans and friends who are girls- so maybe they would be less receptive to horror movies. Why would I say (that I’m a ghost)? Because at the end of YNGS, Ning Yuanzhou died… He was stabbed to death. So the next part would be a horror movie, set in the underworld. It’ll be set over by Fengdu County. (aka Fengdu Ghost City) It’ll be about people from Fengdu and the customs there. You can look out for it. It’ll be called “Er Nian Guan Shan.” C: I’ll watch an ad to revive him! LYN: /laughs/ Oh~ Right! That’s a good idea! If you want a second part to YNGS, you could do this- The start of the first episode of ENGS would be a viewer watching YNGS. Then, they’ll receive a pop-up that reads, “If you’d like to revive NYZ (and all the other heroes who have died), please pay 6yuan.” The viewer will pay and then ENGS will officially start. That’s a possibility. Watch an ad to revive the hero after 30 sec. It’ll give you double the gold coins too, right? Watch a 30-sec ad to revive NYZ, and right when that’s done another pop-up: watch 1-minute ad to double NYZ’s force value. C: I’ll pay 60yuan. LYN: Don’t do this.
C: I want to see the Six Paths Hall Prequel. - /misspelled a word to make it “Six Questions”, so LYN makes fun of them for a bit/ LYN: You must be preparing for the high school entrance exam, huh? Jiayou. Once you solve those “six questions”, you can revive NYZ.
C: What job did NYZ have when he was working in An County? LYN: Don’t ask! This is the only secret that he’s kept: what his job was when he was undercover in An County. You can think about it yourselves.
C: Does it take a long time to braid Yan Zijing’s hair? LYN: Not really. Actually YZJ’s hair/makeup was pretty quick. Because his braids- you girls must know of a thing called fake bangs, right? He has fake hair, like how you get extensions. He’ll braid the extensions and tie it to his real hair.
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2:38:30 C: Trending topics #7. LYN: Is it positive? It’s not a bad topic, is it? C: #2. LYN: You can’t look in “My Topics”! It’s because you follow me, so you see that I am at #1. If you want to look accurately, you should- C: #1. LYN: #1?? Huh? #2 in Entertainment, but #1 on the Main list?? Don’t lie to me. Especially now, when my drama is airing- my mood is very fragile. I can very easily be pushed towards a mental breakdown. I’m very sensitive right now. Because when YNGS was airing I has hurt too much. So- I don’t want to experience that type of pain again. Let me take a look. LYN: I saw it. The topic is just “LYN wants to repost ZLS’s weibo (post).” /sigh/ That counts as a positive thing, right? It’s drama promotion. LYN: I saw them- I have a team, and they send me screenshots, too.
C: Ning-ge, I started liking you because of YNGS. LYN: Thank you.
LYN: In in regard to the trending topic, I was not tricked. My fragile heart was saved. Thank you, to Weibo, for supporting me and my drama. Thank you to the team that works on the livestreams, as well. I had a small problem with my stream and they helped me to resolve it immediately. They taught me how to fix it, and I understood how. So “Thank you”, to them. Thanks for supporting us, and thank you for supporting me, Liu Yuning. Thank you.
2:43:00 C: Did Kang Ju teach YZJ all of his fight moves? LYN: The plot doesn’t give an explanation, but I don’t think he did. Because he grew up in a very- Since you’re on the seventh episode today, you know how YZJ fights. He grabs the arm and breaks it with a kick. Deadly and cruel. Including this- /gestures with an elbow/- almost like wrestling. So even though it doesn’t explicitly say how, from my understanding of YZJ- because his past hasn’t completely been revealed yet- but he grew up in an extremely harsh environment. He survived by crawling and fighting. All of his fighting skills are pretty much lethal. He’s not doing any of this for show; he fights to kill. Because in that kind of environment, any mistake can cost you your life. That’s my understanding. So as you can see from they way he fights in E7, he’s very cruel. He’s not the type who fights beautifully and looks like he’s flying. He’s going to immediately break something to make you quickly lose your fighting ability.
C: HE or BE? (happy ending or bad ending) LYN: Uhhh… /halfway towards Mongolian throat singing/ HE or BE? I can’t tell you. There’s no way I can spoil that for you. There’s the third possibility: it’s related to aliens. I’ve already told you- the ending is that he was taken away by aliens and went to another planet where there’s nothing but cockroaches. At the end it crosses over into a different, Three-Body (scifi) genre. C: Look up the ending to the original source and you’ll know. LYN: The original source of this original work has not been written to the end yet. This drama’s source material is only a preface, but not much story otherwise. This is an original script which borrows established backgrounds and characters, but the rest of it the scriptwriter wrote themselves. C: Aren’t you afraid I’d really believe it (about the aliens)? LYN: What do I have to be afraid of? The end is that he was taken away by aliens. That’s all there is to it.
- /promotes that ZYLM will air on three stations/platforms at once/ - /does the rounds thanking everyone for their support of his livestream and of the drama/
2:48:10 C: Will you work with Li Bofan again? LYN: He asked me the other day, “Ning-ge, what type of music do you like?” and I told him that as long as he wrote it and he thinks it’s good, I am okay with anything. I don’t have any fixed genre. I want him to write, and if there’s a song he likes that he think suits me, all he has to do is send it to me.
C: Ning-ge, are there any parts in this drama where you have to show some skin? LYN: /sigh/ Uh… more or less. Because in guzhuang dramas the more the ML appears all arrogant and domineering in the first half, the more he’ll suffer in the second half. If he doesn’t suffer and stays arrogant until the ending, that’s a villain. How does one define “suffer”? Either shot with an arrow, stabbed with a knife, axe, hammer, a drop of blood on the head*. Anything is possible, you just have to suffer some injury. I don’t think the blood drop is possible though, because in that case you’d be turned to ashes immediately.** In any case, you’ll have to suffer some injury. [*t/n: I think he’s referring to a game or something, here.] LYN: You’ll see that a lot of dramas all do this- and I’m not saying that we don’t- the ML gets injured and the FL takes care of him. Think back on the recent guzhuang dramas you’ve watched lately- didn’t every one of them have this situation? Either it’s tending to the injury, feeding them the medicine , or bandaging a wound- there’s always such a scene in these dramas. Think about it- isn’t that the truth? You can say, “But Ning-ge, this drama that I’ve watched didn’t have such a scene!” and that’s okay- I’m sure there are some that don’t. But most of them do. LYN: This drama does have a scene where I am injured and the FL… didn’t care. In the end, the one by my side was Kang Ju. /laughs/ I’m kidding! You can watch what happens when the time comes. There will be a bit of injury. But even if I show some skin, there’s nothing to look at because I don’t have any sort of figure. I’m not like others with their well developed muscles, pecs, abs, and biceps/triceps. I don’t have that, so we’re not trying to “sell” you anything with my showing of flesh. It’s just a requirement of the plot. I can’t “sell” you any meat, anyway. I’m not worthy of selling any. I don’t have any muscles.
C: If I spend money can I get a sneak peek? LYN: Peek at what, my showing of skin? What you mean is that if my gifting option were open, you would send a gift my way in expectation that I take my shirt off for you? You wish. That’s the first point. The second point is- you’d openly solicit a male actor?? If I were to report this to the police I could have you arrested. Your words were a bit too frivolous. You think you can buy me with money??
C: The 2ML showed his. LYN: What does what he does have to do with me?? If they want to show off, let them. Everyone has their own limits. Mine is to show as little skin as I can while shooting these dramas. Because it’s… embarrassing. I’m afraid to lose confidence because of it. My second limit is that if there are any scenes that require getting underwater, I’m not taking that drama, because I’m very afraid of water. LYN: When I first saw the ZLYM script, honestly I was a little afraid. Because the front part was all about pearl fishing. I was reading through the script and was dreading coming across “something happens to the FL while she’s in the water harvesting pearls and the ML has to jump in and save her” or “the ML falls into the water and bc the FL is a good swimmer, she goes to save him”. I was the most afraid of seeing such a scenario, because that would mean that I would be shooting a scene underwater. LYN: I’m afraid. Once I’m in the water, I can’t breathe. Or rather- the moment I’m in the water I WANT to take a breath. For example- if I’m on the shore and getting ready to go in. 3, 2, 1. /holds his breath, not going in the water/ I can hold my breathe above water for about a minute. But as soon as I’m in the water I can’t even hold it for ten seconds. I suspect that I was a fish in my past life. Once I’m in the water, I just want to breathe. I don’t know why. - /talks about how much he was practicing holding his breath for that one scene in Heroes, and he could hold it for a long time! But as soon as he was in the water he took a great big lungful of H2O./ LYN: I just starting breathing! Instinctively, I wanted to breathe (in the water)! Do you know how it feels to be underwater and breathe through your nose? It feels like you’re choking on it and the source of the water is through your nose (bc mouth is still closed). This is why Ning-ge has been a little slow these past two years. I used to have a quicker reaction time, but I’ve been slow because “my brain is filled with water.” [t/n: this is an insult people use when they want to ask why you’re an idiot.] It was filled with water. When I resurfaced it shot out my nose. After that scene, I don’t dare to take any more that involve water. I’m afraid of dying. Because I don’t know why it is, but as soon as I’m in the water, I want to take a breath.
C: Your brain was filled with water and it’s been a few years since then but it hasn’t dried? LYN: I don’t know if that’s how it works. You mean that it’s been three years since my brain was filled with water, so it should have dried up by now? It’s like this- I don’t know if you wear a watch? If you wear your watch in the shower, there’s going to be water vapor inside your watch. Water got inside it, and just letting it dry on its own is not going to fix it. The brain is the same- once water gets in, it won’t come out. Sometimes you think its dry but actually there’s still water in it. The brain is always going to be wet and damp. In Dandong, we have this saying to describe people who aren’t too bright- we say that their “heads (brains) are damp.” C: Use a hair dryer to blow dry your brain. // Take it out to sun-dry. LYN: You think I’m Sponge Bob? C: Throw your brain in a rice bucket. LYN: /laughs/ Oh yeah, they say if things get wet you can toss it into rice and it will absorb the water, right? That’s one way to do it. Tomorrow I’ll buy 400kg of rice, fill a tub with it, and sit inside. Other people take baths (in water) and I’ll take one in rice. That’ll do it.
2:58:55 C: People say that you have a specific horse that you use in Hengdian, is that true? LYN: No. I saw it- our platform went to Hengdian to conduct an interview and they went to the horse stables. They found the stable master and he said, “This horse, 123, is designated for use by LYN-laoshi.” That’s true. Whenever I’m in Hengdian I will always ride that horse. But there are a few horses to choose from, not only 123. 123 was used in several scenes, though. For the most recent SJYM, I think we used Lao Jia. Maybe it’s because the production always pairs me with a black horse, or a dark-colored one, so they’ll have me ride 123. At least with that horse… how should I put this? You can bribe it a little- bring it snacks everyday and at the very least it won’t kick you, right? LYN: At the very end of the interview- after hearing the last sentence my heart skipped a beat. The host had asked, “Among the actors you are familiar with, who do you think is better at controlling the horse?” The stable master said, “Oh, Liu Yuning has good control…” and I didn’t hear the rest. They mentioned me first. They said my equestrian skills are good. I was thinking, “You must be tricking me.” There’s that saying, isn’t there? “The stubborn of mouth will be beaten, a good swimmer can drown, and a horse-rider will fall to their death.” Of course, that’s not how the saying goes but the meaning still applies. LYN: Whenever I make it into a new crew, the director will usually ask, “Xiao Ning, can you ride a horse?” and I will reply, “I can’t. I KNOW HOW, but I’m not very good at it.” So I’m afraid that this interview will get out- I don’t dare to say that I know how to ride. The more confident you are- you know? (the more arrogant and prone to mistakes.) One must not be too confident. I keep telling myself that I have to treat horse-riding with the utmost of respect. I have to be respectful of the horse. Their height and weight are all greater than ours. In a natural environment your survival rate is not as high as that of a horse’s. So you have to be in awe of them, respect them, and treat them as a friend. C: You didn’t ride any less for having said you didn’t know how to ride, though? LYN: Well, if the production insists…
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3:01:55 -- Break #3 LYN: Watch a 30-sec commercial to revive me. C: You’ve made me cry miserably (by playing 别梦寒 for the break). LYN: You’re fine.
LYN: Anyway, please support ZLYM. It’s currently being broadcast on Youku, and when I woke up this morning I received the good news that it’s broken 10k views. That’s great and I’m really happy. I hope you all continue to watch and support the drama. I also saw- because I see very few comments on my stream- but apparently an actor from our crew, Zhu Rui, was here? I’m thankful for that, and she plays the role of Bai Niao, whom we will see later on. She’s another amazing actress, so you can check her out. I hear our drama is also Youku’s fastest to break 10k views, so I’d like to of course thank the viewers and our celebrity friends who ZLS lured in. Thank you for your support. I’d also like to thank the fans of these celebrity friends- Thank you very much. C: Reimburse the money used to pay for the membership. LYN: So you mean that if you’ve spent money to watch one of my dramas, I should reimburse you for that support? Should I also pay for the duck necks/tongues (snacks) that you’re eating while watching the drama, too? Should I prepare drinks (starts naming them), too? Would you like me to pay for those?? C: I want to drink Chunzhen. LYN: Oh, well that’s ok. Chunzhen works- you can support it more, if you’d like. When you’re watching the drama you can partake in some Chunzhen drinks and snacks. And if you’re up late watching dramas and your skin condition is not too great because of it, you can use our L’Oreal products- face masks, hydrating serums, and etc. Replenish and moisturize to make your skin look more beautiful and youthful.
LYN: Today’s update has been up to- /counting/ episode 8, right? If I’m remembering correctly it should have aired up until the Treasure Hunt. It’s my first fight scene in the drama. C: Your brother is here. LYN: Oh? Kang Ju is here? Welcome! I also said this earlier, but the actor’s name is Yu Yonghai. He’s a very splendid actor who is very serious on set and works very hard during filming. It’s actually a lot harder on them (supporting actors) than most of the leads. LYN: Yes, he’s given me beads before, for my birthday.
3:11:30 C: Wow, you’re streaming. LYN: Yes, I have been for about three hours now… You’ve only just come now? What took you so long? LYN: If I don’t have anything big going on, and especially as my drama is airing, I’ll come to stream. While you’re watching the drama and you think something looks fun or if something comes to mind like “how was this part shot?” or “what were you thinking when you did this scene?”, you can come to my stream to share it with me and I’ll chat with you. Ning-ge will take you and reveal the secrets behind the whole film and television industry. No- that doesn’t seem like a good thing. (the way he said it) It sounds like I’m going to say something bad. /rephrases/ Ning-ge will take you and reveal the mysterious story behind the drama.
3:12:35 C: I want to ask LYN, what part of the drama left you with the deepest impression? LYN: Your question is a lot like ones I get asked in interviews. “I think the scene that left me with the deepest impression was… There are quite a few. Because, how should I put this? There are several scenes to highlight that reflect the conflict and drama of the story. So for me, I… I’ve forgotten everything. Oh, of course, I can’t respond that way. I don’t remember.” C: !! LYN: No, don’t interrupt me!! What do you mean I can’t remember??? One of you hit the nail on the head, actually. “The scene that left the deepest impression on me was the very last scene, where YZJ boards the UFO. Every step he took was like a step on his own heart. Each step was heavy. When I stepped foot on that UFO- when that escalator descended- only an actor can understand that feeling. I don’t believe the audience would be able to understand was he was feeling in that moment. I hope that my expression can help everyone feel YZJ’s happiness, sorrow, and fear of the unknown.” You can check it out when the time comes. C: You saw the aliens? LYN: That’s right. With heavy steps I set foot on the spacecraft, and the alien who came to greet me cried. It was also deeply moved by my performance. I stepped with heavy feet and the actor who played as the alien cried with every step I took. Although they were wearing a little green alien costume, I could still feel their sadness. The tears flowed out from their feet. The alien cried.
C: How was the fire on the pearl farm shot? LYN: Do you mean the arrow shot from afar, or the fire on the inside? The indoor fire is just shot as it normally would be. The arrow was green screen. When I shot the arrow, it was at a green screen. The scene was created with special effects in post. That’s normal. You can’t REALLY build a building and burn it down in a fire. I gazed upon that green screen and felt a trace of hatred in my heart. C: Spoiler! LYN: What’s there to spoil?? Do you not normally watch xianxia? And even if you don’t, have you ever watched a spy movie or the like and there’s a gunfight? You don’t think they’d give real guns to these actors, do you? That’s all special effects; they have to be. Look at all those xianxia with immortals flying everywhere. Aren’t those all accomplished with large fans and wires? Do you think a push of the hand would create such a strong lift-off? That’s straight up a fan- /whoosh/. There are many scenes atop a mountain where a slight breeze gently makes the female actress’s hair float and look beautiful. The truth is that below the camera-line there’s a group of people each with a small 25yuan electric fan. You can buy them on Taobao. The rechargeable kind. Did you think they were really standing on the top of a mountain? What they’re actually standing on is what the professionals call a one-meter stand. It’s a stage that’s one-meter tall and the camera shoots upwards from below- because we can’t aim it at the ground, so we aim it at the sky. It only gets the actor’s face and chin, clothes and hair; and there are two small fans below, making the “wind”.
C: Did you laugh at all while “playing” the erhu? LYN: No, no bloopers because I am a professional. :) In the beginning though, I did. When I was first learning/playing- I laughed. Because I don’t know how to play, so the sound- /imitates the sound while maintaining a serene expression/. Even if /I/ were to be able to hold back my laughter, I don’t think anyone else on set could. There was another scene where I had to play the erhu while everyone else danced!
C: Ning-ge, should I watch ZLYM or your stream? LYN: You can do whatever you want to do. ZLYM had already updated, so you can watch wherever you want- it will still be there. As for my stream, there’s the playback. So you can come back whenever you want to watch it. Do you have difficulty making decisions? I do as well. So, you can play rock-paper-scissors with your left and right hands. /plays a match/ Ok- right hand won. I will watch LYN’s stream first.
C: How are scenes in the sea shot? LYN: You mean in the beginning, when they’re on the sea floor? They build a water shed. Our crew spent a lot of money to build a water shed, and we shot in there. It was… quite expensive. Did you think we were really throwing people into the sea?? Why don’t you ask if the shark was real or not? This friend is very innocent. C: Did they really go into the water? LYN: Yes. You can tell when things are shot really in the water vs. when they’re not. - LYN: Actually, I’m grateful that friend didn’t ask if the shark was real. “If the shark was real, how was it trained to listen?” C: Is the shark real or fake. LYN: The shark was definitely real. We borrowed one from an aquarium. I told you earlier, didn’t I? Actors are disposable, just like the chopsticks you get with your takeout. When you buy takeout, don’t they ask if you want to pay 50cents for utensils? We actors are the same- 50cents and disposable. If the shark bites us to death you can just throw us away. - C: Was the ship real? LYN: The ship was real, but we were shooting on land. All of the water was put in with green screen. There’s no way… no way they’ll drag us out to sea. Also, I don’t think the quality of this ship was suited to being on the water for very long, so it’d be dangerous. - C: Ning-ge, the shark was real? But I thought it looked so fake. LYN: /laughs/ No making fun of our special effects! What do you mean?? We were just talking about whether the shark was real or fake, and I told you it was real, so you’re going to ask me why it looks so fake??? For this things in the drama, you’re supposed to watch just to get the meaning. If you understand that the FL is in danger, then it’s done its job. When the shark appears, what is it to you whether it’s real or fake? The shark wasn’t there to let you see how exquisite our special effects are. We’re not filming Jurassic Park, here! This isn’t Jurassic World. Seeing the shark is to let you know that there’s a hidden danger. Is it really necessary to discuss whether the effects were good or not?? There’s no need, really. This isn’t a xianxia drama, where the special effects are to look cool or bring authenticity to the world. Nor is it a monster film. It’s just there to let you know that there are sharks in the water. Why are we taking this so seriously? There’s really no need.
C: Are the pearls real? LYN: The pearls were all real. They’re from those oyster/clam opening videos you see online. A few of us actors stayed up one night to stream an oyster-opening video. After we opened all those shell we took the pearls from them to use as props. That’s what we did. The pearls were all real.
C: Is the hair real? LYN: The hair…? Are you talking about my hair- YZJ’s? It depends on what angle you’re looking at it. From the crew’s perspective, it’s a wig and not my own hair. But from the wig’s perspective, it’s all real hair. You haven’t heard those vendors on the street when they pass by your house calling, “We accept hair! Accepting long hair!” You haven’t heard of that before? They go out to collect real human hair in order to make wigs. “We accept hair! Accepting long hair!” XD C: I haven’t heard of it. LYN: You must live in the city. Over in my hometown you hear it all the time.
C: Liu Yuning, are you a real person? LYN: I already told you that I didn’t act in this drama at all. They just used AI to switch in my face later.
C: Is the ending sweet? LYN: So sweet it’ll choke you. After you watch the ending you’ll gain 2lb. It’s that sweet. Even if you don’t eat anything- just by watching the ending alone- you’ll gain 2lb. The sugar intake will be too high. Be careful. I promise you it’ll be sweet. If it’s not sweet, I’ll give it to you for free. This melon is guaranteed to be sweet. If it’s not, I won’t take your money for it. C: I don’t like to eat sweet things. LYN: No way? I promise you it’s going to be sweet, but you don’t like sweet? C: If it’s not sweet, will you reimburse for my platform membership? LYN: I won’t be, no. LYN: You don’t like sweet? In that case, let me tell you- the ending is sour like an unripe pear. There’s all sorts of heartbreak and suffering. The ending will torment you to death. Really. Just wait for it. After you watch the ending, you’ll lost 2lb. Why? Because it’s so sad that you’ll keep crying, so much so that you’ll tremble and sweat. When all the water weight has left your body and you stand on the scale, you’d have lost 2lb. This is a weight-loss drama. You can weigh yourself before you watch the finale, then weight yourself after you’ve watched it. You will definitely lose 2lb. C: If I watch it twice, then will I lose 4lb? LYN: /laughs/ ?! Hey- that’s… you’re very smart. You say, “Lao-da, I want to lose weight.” I tell you, “Watch the drama, and you’ll lose weight.” Then you reply, “If I watch it ten times, will I lose 20lbs?” I don’t know if that’s possible, but you can try it. Watch it 60 times and lose 120lbs.
C: Were the scenes on the ship shot on a real ship? LYN: It was filmed on a real ship but it wasn’t in the water, but on land. Some of the cabins weren't on the ship- rather they were sheds build on land. It’s convenient to shoot things on a ship.
C: Ning-ge, what meaning does the blood pearl have to you? LYN: The blood pearl, of course, is a very important thing. I can’t tell you, but later you can post on weibo: “Has anyone bought the script and can tell me? What does the blood pearl mean?”
C: Have you ever hit your head while filming? LYN: I often hit my head. That gave me the most headache. There were a couple times I hit my head pretty hard. There were additional three-four times I didn’t hit it that hard. The cabin was too low. I kept forgetting, so I would walk around and hit my head on the door frame all the time! After shooting a day in there my neck hurt SO MUCH. Because I didn’t dare to lift my head, I went around like this (neck extended low). Oh my goodness. I was hitting my head so much. Sometimes you just forget, turn your head, and bump into it. C: Why didn’t they make it higher? LYN: … “Why didn’t they build it higher”?? Go ask the director, why ask me??? I’m not the builder or artist, so I’m not there to build up the sets. Go ask them, how should I know?? I don’t know either. Why didn’t they make it higher? I also wonder. D: LYN: It’s not because we didn’t have enough money. Making it higher would only take a few extra pieces of wood. This height must have been specifically designed. It was the perfect height for me to stand up straight- with the exception of the door frames, which should be expected to be lower. So apart from the doors frames, you’ll notice that the roof is my exact height when standing up straight, save a couple inches. If I were to speculate on the director’s intention, he probably wanted to convey that: “YZJ is only an upright man when on his ship. But when he’s off the ship, he’s nothing.” LYN: The early episodes are all mostly on the ship, because I don’t leave it much. I left it in the latest episodes to attend the Treasure Hunt. C: Did Zhang-langjun also hit his head? LYN: He definitely must have! I don’t know, though.
C: How can I get into YZJ’s company? LYN: We were thinking about this while filming- how should we be pronouncing “Yan Zijing”? Because at first we knew that the character for “yan” (4th) in surnames is pronounced with the 1st tone. Just like the “ning” in Liu Yuning changes tone when used as the surname “Ning”, as in Ning Yuanzhou. We were thinking about what to call this character, and I tried it both ways. Yan Zijing (4th tone) was smooth. But Yan Zijing (1st tone) didn’t seem as smooth. I don’t know if actually both work? But if using the surname, it should be 1st. // Using the first tone makes it sound like this kid’s been drowned. That’s what we were thinking while filming. Yan (1st tone) Zijing. :|? Doesn’t sound very manly. So when I was acting, I basically used the 4th tone. It sounded more impressive. But the problem is that later when I went to dub my parts the laoshi said I should change it back to the original tone. It just… doesn’t sound very impressive.
C: Ning-ge, you’re trending at #5. LYN: Thank you, everyone. Thank you, weibo. - /promotes ZLYM again/
C: Ning-ge, in E8, what are YZJ’s feelings towards DW? LYN: Now you’ve come to ask about how my understanding of the character? I have to answer these types of questions carefully. As an actor, you have to answer these questions carefully, because people with find a problem with whatever you say. I already saw someone a couple days ago trying to make people play to their tune. What did they say, “This ML is really dislikable. The first thing he does mistreat the FL. He doesn’t respect women.” Tsk. They’re clearly trying to stir things up. It’s BECAUSE I respect her, that I don’t treat her as a woman. Everyone on my boat is equal and punishment and reward is given fairly. If you do something wrong, you’ll be punished. But likewise if you do something right, I will definitely reward you. This is the company’s system. These are the rues of this world. You know?? LYN: Also, in the beginning I didn’t know the FL and I wasn’t close to her. YZJ’s personality was clear from the beginning. Zhang-langjun and I went to the pearl auction and I told him then, “You’re such a good person. You can meet anyone and want to help them.” Later there’s a scene of us playing chess and there was a critical line there, too. I said, “There are so many pitiable people in the word, but can you help them all?” These actually are proof of YZJ’s morals. He CAN be kind, but… has a very formal standard for evaluation. He’s not someone who would save or pity anyone. He’s not this type of character, but if you like this type then Zhang Jinran is your man. C: Kill them all. LYN: YZJ is a very sensible and clear-headed person.
3:37:40 LYN: Also, before the drama had even aired people were saying that in order to get revenge, YZJ shot DW through with an arrow and that his character was the worst, etc. That’s complete nonsense and the plot wasn’t even like that at all. But people will use these out-of-context in order to comment on my character, which I think is really unnecessary. So, friends, please don’t be led on by these kinds of things. LYN: No need to kill anyone over this. Spare their lives. No one has it easy.
C: Is the hairpin a token of love? LYN: I can tell you that it’s not.
C: Ning-ge, can you talk about the roles you’ve played in the past? LYN: I can, but I wouldn’t know what to say about them. // Or ZLYM? I can talk about them all. - C: Bai Choufei. LYN: Ok. BCF’s is a role I liked very much; he’s unrivaled. For that time. Every character will leave you with regrets, right? My regrets for him- honestly speaking, these are words from my heart- was that my own proficiency in acting wasn’t very high at that point in time. If we were to liken it to a skill chart, my strength was there but my performance was not. Acting requires the use of certain skills, and at that time I didn’t have those skills yet. I had used my intuition/real feelings in order to act as BCF. So when I was shooting for the drama I was often quite weary because I was too invested in the character. I used my heart to express the acting, but it’s an exhausting way of performing. Normally, one would be able to use skills to accomplish the same effect. That’s were my regret lies, with this character. If only my skills had been better- not saying that I am very highly skilled right now- just saying that if they had been better, the character would have been more richly interpreted. But I’m already very satisfied with it, because when I look back on past roles there are some things that I may not be able to ever reproduce. I was just too invested. - C: Hei Xiazi. LYN: Hei Xiazi… I really liked the character, and thought he was similar to me. He’s a little like how I am when I’m streaming. There’s a saying in this industry, “Acting well is not as good as looking alike.” I offered up a different topic, but this is what we say, on the inside. In a normal casting, acting well is not as good as fitting the look of the character. I may not be like Hei Xiazi, but there’s some part of my personality that matches and fits the character more. There’s a joking/teasing side, but when he needs to be serious he’s reliable. I was happy to have played him. LYN: Sometimes if you tell me that an actor played a role with a high-status, I don’t even believe it when I see it. With this type of person, it means that he doesn’t look the part- not to comment objectively on his acting or whether be is good-looking or not. That’s secondary. The thing is that when he’s standing there, he doesn’t LOOK like someone who would have a high status or be in a position of power. That’s really unbearable. It just… doesn’t fit. Other people can just stand there and already fit the look. You don’t have to act, because you ARE him. These types of people are more suited to the role.
LYN: Sometimes if a character is similar to me in some aspect- personality or state of mind- I’ll try to express that similarity more clearly. This helps to make the character feel more alive. LYN: I don’t really want to talk to you about acting, because I’m not really worthy of doing so. I’m just a singer. If i say too much about it, people are going to think I’m putting on airs and “teaching” you about acting. I’m not. I’m just sharing how I approach and get into my roles. I won’t talk about it anymore, because it’ll look bad if I say too much. Because I… don’t understand it (wasn’t professionally taught). No more of this topic.
LYN: When actors are shooting, there are certain scenarios that are quite fun. There were a few dramas of mine where the actors were all very good, when we’re together. For example, in this scene there are 4-5 people. Normally when we get on set the director will tell us to do a run-through. We know what the scene is about, so we’ll start running it through. We start going through our lines, and at some point there’s space enough to make a change. But with one change something else has to change to accommodate. We’ll play off of each other so that the scene can play out with more life, to make the drama richer, more fun and more reasonable. Some dramas may only have two pages worth in writing, but if we think there’s something that’s excessive- once we are familiar with each other, there’s no need to say much- there’s no need for too much explanation, so we’ll decide to cut that part in the script out. Some dramas may only have a third of a page in writing, but we can turn it into ten minutes’ worth of time. It’s entertaining and emotional. When you meet such actors, shooting with them is an enjoyable experience. You’ll feel the creativity flowing in the environment. You’ll believe that you ARE your character, and the people around you are your friends and relatives. This is why I think acting is interesting- because I enjoy this process; I enjoy creating with everyone. Sometimes when we’re shooting with a partner, especially for one-to-one, with you sitting across from me and we’re having a conversation. You one line, then me one line. I especially like filming scenes like this. Because sitting across from the other actor lets me observe them and change my own rhythm of speech, performance method, and inner state to react in the best way. I feel it’s almost like an interview, like a conversation. I think it’s really interesting. As if I’m watching to see what move they’ll make so I make my move in turn. After I’ve made my move and they were able to counteract, I’ll need to think of my next play. It’s fun. I enjoy the process and it’s really satisfying.
LYN: Sometimes I’ll watch the dramas of other actors in my drama ad see how they act. If there’s good things to learn, I want to learn from them. If there are bad things or things that were different from how I was imagining, I will avoid and try to mask those shortcomings. That’s how I am- I’ll look at other people’s work, and that way I can learn from them. C: Ning-ge, you keep working with veteran actors. LYN: Of course, working with mature actors means that there is definitely something for me to learn.
LYN: Okay. That’s about time, everyone. Thank you all for your support and companionship. Many of you probably started watching from the start and haven’t left, so thank you for your company and support. I hope you all can continue to support ZLYM. If I have time coming up I’ll come to chat with you. It makes me happy that we get to chat like this. Thanks for your support and company. It was great to have you and I hope you had fun. Let’s meet again in my next stream. Goodnight everyone!
#Liu Yuning#lyn livestream#(3:50:22)#if anyone is still interested in this lol#this took so long i alr forgot what happened in it#now i am three streams behind :')#i can prob play catch up during holiday break (no promises)
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Story of Pearl Girl (ep. 20)
Pushing away the woman you love because of reasons is so cdrama-style. These two need some serious couples' therapy, but just telling her the truth would have been enough. She would understand him, she's not stupid. Even if he wanted to continue his vengeance spree. Even if he decided to do it alone without her (that would have hurt, but not as much as thinking that the man she loved betrayed her and tried to kill her).
But I get it, he's trying to protect her the best way he knows how (make her hate him, very old-school, but works every time, in every tv series). I'm just hoping they won't drag this thing out between the two of them, but at this point, they probably need to go their separate ways - he needs to sort his things out, and she needs to see what she can build on her own.
So, we're adding more heartbreak upon the already existing heartbreak to make it nearly unbearable for all the parties involved. Pretty people prettily crying in the rain. Beautifully shot and as sad as I imagined it to be when watching the show's trailer
On a brighter note, the highlight of the episode is definitely Yan Zijing's fur coat XD Can't pass by a gorgeous man clad in fur, delivering his vengeance in style. The house of Cui has fallen, but there are still plenty of people he needs to deal with. YZJ also looks quite dashing in his psycho/vengeful/stabby mode (but definitely not dating material XD)
We also get to finally see the mysterious Prince Ying, who was desperately trying to bring the 2ML back to the capital and make him take some official post to stop him from continuing the investigation of the Yan family murders and whatnot. He went as far as locking our boy Zhang Jinran in his room, but he was smart and wrote straight to the Emperor, asking for the post of Investigator. And that's what he got, in the end. But this makes me think that Ying guy either knows the truth and tries to protect the 2ML from getting killed, or is involved in the whole thing somehow.
2ML's storyline isn't super thrilling, but it probably is needed for the plot to unfold. I'm also not a very big fan of Cui Shijui's story - it just feels bland for some reason, although the actress is very beautiful and could be a fresh take on women trying to find a place in a world dominated by men, but all her decisions up until now weren't too smart, to say the least. Just not as interesting as the main couple's story.
#the story of pearl girl#duan wu#yan zijing#zhang jinran#zhao lusi#liu yuning#cdrama#cdrama review#This drama is making me a bit emotional#it's still quite good#but we'll what the screenwriters have prepared for us#men in fur#fur coat tribute
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The Story of Pearl Girl (ongoing)
So far the show is delivering hard in all aspects. We get a very dark and tormenting beginning of the story, outlining Duanwu, Zhao Lusi's character, as someone resilient, hellbent on surviving, and also very hopeful about life, despite all the hardships she's experiencing as the pearl diver. But despite being able to leave the godawful place, she finds herself in a world filled with more agony, insecurities, and people doing even worse stuff to each other.
No Savior Is Needed
I really like how her arc is unfolding so far - she's a tough cookie (or, rather, pearlie) and knows what she wants in life, and what's really not her cup of tea. When a knight in white armor appears (quite literally Zhang Jinran is mostly wearing light-colored clothes) she feels an ocean of gratitude towards him but denies his numerous attempts to save her like a damsel in distress that she quite obviously wasn't. She wanted to know more about her origin, and revenge also suddenly appeared on the table. This, and her unwavering desire to be free and fend for herself is what pushes her towards Yan Zijing (played by Liu YuNing).


Matchy-Matchy, but Not Quite
We first see Yan Zijing as a wealthy trader with a super dark attitude towards life (which, later, we get to know why, and he has REASONS to be beyond angsty, stabby, and vengeful like a person who has survived hell on earth, or worse). There's a spark that draws the ML and FL together, but there's no fluff or attempts to save the girl - he's on his vengeful path, but there's just something about Duanwu that reminds YZJ of himself - the way she not only survives but also takes matters into her own hands and wants to learn as much as she can about everything (mostly it's trade and jewelry because that's what she wants to do herself in the future). So, he starts low-key mentoring her, allowing her to make her own decisions (and/or mistakes).


Cuteness Unfolds, but the Drama is Drama-ing
So they stick together with a slow-burn romance blooming veeeery slowly between the two of them, but this is really not the focus of the first, let's say 10 episodes, because the plot is unraveling up to this point. Then we start getting glimpses of them finally acknowledging each other, but once again, it feels more like Duanwu's character development arc than a romance-centric story, and that's what I'm loving about this show.
We get to know more about her origin, and that changes things for her (and him, probably, as well). We also get to see how due to her dark and painful childhood, she grew up to be an incredibly empathetic woman (who is both gentle and strong-willed). She will never pass by a person in distress, and she will fight for the things she feels like fighting. She's quite close to the morally grey character of YZJ because she would literally kill someone if she had to (or believed it was the right thing to do, or for revenge). So it really feels like they're soulmates and have lots of tacit understanding.


2ML Still Doesn't Get It
Zhang Jinran still doesn't get it, even when she straightforwardly tells him they're not meant to be for various reasons. Like people belonging to two different worlds. He still dreams about saving her, not realizing she doesn't need any of that. He follows Duanwu and YZJ pretending to investigate things, but it really feels like he just can't let it go. Which ends up being not a super bad thing, but he could get mildly irritating in the future (for now it's passable and you can feel that he's love-stricken, just a bit delusional and ego-centric in his devotion).
It's like you can dream all you want, but there's the reality they're living in, and it's dark, and violent, and Duanwu is really not the type to end up as some official's wife, raising his babies (and even that wouldn't be possible, she could only become his lover of sorts).


I'm Loving It Up to This Point (ep.15)
We've almost passed the equator, and things are still pretty much interesting - the plot is getting more heated with the romance, but also with stories of traumatic pasts and some future heartbreak looming ahead, judging from the trailer. For now, it's a 10/10 and I'm watching it as the series is being released (first time for me, usually I don't do this to myself XD). But here we are.
Needless to say, Liu Yuning looks posh in his attire and his acting is top-notch. The heartbreaking scenes and the cute ones - he's just very natural and depicts his character with a wide range of emotions. There's always so much DEPTH in everything he does.
For a character who hasn't known or wanted love, his interactions with Zhao Lusi's Duanwu are very heartfelt, and you can see him slowly warming up and looking like an actual human being when he's with her. He's not needlessly vicious, though, there's a reason behind everything he does, and she gets onto that pretty fast. And goes from a pawn to something of a partner, but that still hasn't fully unfolded.
Definitely recommend!
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