Joseph Zeng Shunxi and Wang Herun danced uncoordinatedly to popular K-pop song “Queencard”, while netizens are anticipating Cheng Yi’s promise of dancing on camera!
The buzz of the week has to be iQIYI’s latest drama Mysterious Lotus Casebook (莲花楼) which stars everyone’s costume drama crush Cheng Yi (成毅) and includes many enthralling martial arts sequences. The compact and suspenseful plot has seen discussions arising among netizens and the topics constantly trended on Weibo hot searches.
It not only emerged champion on iQIYI’s broadcast list, but its popularity index also surpassed 10,000 on iQIYI last night. Joseph Zeng (曾舜晞), Aero Xiao (肖顺尧), Wang Herun (王鹤润) and others uploaded dance videos as promised, while male lead Cheng Yi uploaded a singing video, which was to the disappointment of many fans.
Thus, they all left comments under his video, anticipating Cheng Yi’s dance video.
Mysterious Lotus Casebook narrates the story of the martial arts genius Li Xiangyi (played by Cheng Yi) and the leader of the Golden Yuan League Di Feisheng (played by Aero Xiao), disappearing after a fight in the East China Sea. Ten years later, Li Xiangyi changed his name to Li Lianhua, a doctor on the go, and met the passionate Fang Duobing (played by Joseph Zeng). By coincidence, the three of them joined hands to solve many strange cases.
Actors of the drama made an agreement with fans that they will dance to celebrate, as long as the popularity index of the drama exceeds 10,000. When asked to dance, shy Cheng Yi smiled and said, “If everyone really wants to see us dance, we will go all out.”
Mysterious Lotus Casebook successfully became another popular title on August 9 following titles such as Story of Yanxi Palace (延禧攻略), The Knockout (狂飙), Love Between
Fairy and Devil (苍兰诀) and many other dramas.
While Aero Xiao presented a dance that was as smooth as his martial arts move with Fujii Kaze’s (藤井风) voice, Joseph Zeng and Wang Herun, who played the leader of the Jinyuan League in the drama, danced to ‘Queencard’ by the popular Korean girl group (G)I-DLE.
The sincere but slightly uncoordinated dance made netizens laugh and exclaimed, “You guys should act more!”, “They look so cute with uncoordinated dance moves.”
Cheng Yi and Xiao Shunyao also participated in a live broadcast of iQIYI’s office visit a few days ago, chatting about fun filming moments and character experiences. Playing Di Feisheng, Aero Xiao appeared fierce at the beginning of the drama, but gradually revealed his cute and contrasting side as the plot developed.
Wanting to help detoxify his rival Li Lianhua, he also has a big appetite. He laughed and said, “Besides being able to speak eloquently about martial arts, Di Feisheng may not be very smart in other areas.”
Many fans love the brotherhood between characters Li Lianhua and Di Feisheng in the drama. When Aero Xiao was asked whether he prefers fighting or Li Xiangyi, he replied humorously: “He prefers fighting with Li Xiangyi. Their relationship can be described as life-and-death, if Di Feisheng did not have an opponent like Li Lianhua, his world would be much bleak.”
Cheng Yi echoed, saying that the duo cherishes each other in the drama, just like meeting each other off-screen for the first time. Although they did not have much to say, they knew that they shared a close friendship and had the chemistry to film the drama well.
While Li Lianhua solved many strange cases with Di Feisheng, and Fang Duobing, he also chose to let go of his relationship with his first love Qiao Wanyu (played by Chen Duling (陈都灵)), which involves a love story with no fate.
Chen Duling said in an interview that apart from pain and love, Qiao Wanyu also has feelings of self-blame and guilt in this relationship. After knowing that there is no possibility between the both of them, she will understand and respect the other party. She had a greater sense of justice than love though she agreed to marry someone else in the drama. The marriage failed in the end and she did not become anyone’s wife.
Chen Duling revealed that although the relationship between her and Cheng Yi in the drama was a tragedy, she recalled the romantic scene of them having a fight practice in the sea of flowers which made it quite unforgettable for her.
The movements designed for both of them were ethereal, with the turning movements also resembling dance moves. She also admitted that she prefers stories with a little regret, which is also a very attractive part of Mysterious Lotus Casebook, which is similar to reality.
It is impossible for all love endings to be perfect, and in the drama, Li Lianhua and Qiao Wanyu did not have a super tragic ending but instead, both of them chose to let go of the past while cherishing and respecting each other.
Speaking of Cheng Yi’s beautiful and tragic persona in the drama, Chen Duling said: “Li Xiangyi was a proud and dazzling boy 10 years ago, and 10 years later, Li Lianhua has become a beautiful and miserable person, which is very distressing for Qiao Wanyu. I thought Cheng Yi was a relatively quiet person before working with him, but after working with him, I found him to be actually very humorous.”
While Li Lianhua suffers from the poison and gets weaker day by day, he finds out about being betrayed by his brother Shan Gudao.
Audiences are anticipating what would happen next as Mysterious Lotus Casebook enters its finale. iQIYI International VIP members can purchase and catch final episodes from ep. 35 to 40, along with special behind the scenes with the “Mysterious Lotus Casebook Express Package”. The series is available only on iQIYI International (www.iq.com & apps).
*Press Release
