Translated by: Twitter @Wonwoncity

Actress Zhu Rui, who played Li HongYing in Hutong, shared a long heartwarming essay on weibo complimenting Zhao Lusi. Normally when a show wraps up, actors would post farewell messages for the show and their characters but instead she chose to write about Lusi. 🥹

There are many young actors whom I have worked with. Most of them would usually just leave me a WeChat message after the shooting and we would not have many interactions afterwards. Due to our age difference and our busy work schedule, along with our short-term connection that only exists during the short shooting period, it is often difficult for actors to form friendships through a show collaboration. That is very normal. However, my friendship with Xiao Lu* is indeed rare.
On the first day I met with Xiao Lu, I was filming a group scene. Many actors were in this scene, but everyone wasn't familiar with each other. Except for our show's dialogues, everybody didn't communicate much. During filming, she took the initiative to ask me: Jielie, am I right about this Er Hua Yin? I was taken aback for a moment and
replied quietly, "Oh, I'm not from Beijing either. I was born in Jiangxi and grew up in Anhui." Then we laughed loudly. She is the kind of sincere girl who can make you feel
close after speaking just one sentence. She's not pretentious, is passionate and loves to laugh. Ever since then, we have slowly become acquainted. But what makes me like her more and more is her attitude towards work and people!
Let's mention a few details.
One day, a scene in which a specially invited actor was being filmed. The actor was about 60 years old. After shooting the close-up scene and Xiao Lu's individual shot, the director adjusted the light and the camera position. The executive director asked us to take a break to prepare for the next scene. We were sitting next to each other chatting and eating popsicles. Suddenly, she heard a sound that indicated that shooting had begun. She instinctively stood up and rushed over. I didn't even react. After a while, I saw her running to the actor and started acting alongside him. As soon as the director called for a "Cut!" , she asked the executive director seriously, "Why didn't you call me? I have to act alongside Lao Shi since Lao Shi also acted alongside me when I was filming."
Another time, there was a scene in the script where Tian Zao knelt before Li Hongying. The director came to talk to us about our dialogues first, and I faintly heard the
cameraman whispering to the executive director, "Will Tian Zao kneel for a while? Which position is she kneeling? Does she want to find a stand-in to find a suitable
kneeling position?" As the cameraman was talking, Xiao Lu walked over after changing her clothes, and said with a smile: "What do you mean by finding me a stand-in? I will just directly kneel here!" After speaking, she immediately knelt down. When everyone was stunned, she rehearsed the dialogues with me, which made me nervous. I thought to myself, isn't this just a rehearsal of our dialogues? Why did she kneel down to me, so I knelt down to her too. So she said, "Why did you kneel down for me? I have to be the one kneeling down for you!" I replied, "I know, but isn't this just a rehearsal now? I think it's too much to let you kneel like this. I'll accompany you!" Then everyone on the scene laughed!
She always makes the atmosphere relaxed and pleasant, and the staff likes to shoot scenes with her. After finishing the dialogues, the director patted Xiao Lu on the shoulder and said nothing, but I know that this is a silent compliment.
After the shooting, I thought that our contact would gradually decrease. (I am the kind of person who is embarrassed to take the initiative to contact very popular celebrities, and I am afraid of burdening others.) I didn't expect that she would take the initiative to contact me every week to share about food, animals, and fashion with me. She is the kind of Girl Next Door. She is very affectionate and intimate with me every time she meets me, and she never makes people feel alienated, This is something I never expected! At the beginning of the year, when I was in a slump, she took the trouble to post a 60-second WeChat voice message to comfort me over and over again, which made my manager sighed, "After working for so many years, this is the first time I've seen such a good child. It's really rare for people to stick by your side like this."
Xiao Lu is a good child, kind-hearted, heartwarming, and is always thinking of people for the big and small things. She has good values in life, is humble and works hard. I
hope everyone can be kinder, more tolerant and caring towards her. She is the sweet
Jujube for all of us!

Note/FYI:
“Xiao Lu” - translates to Little Lu; Xiao is used as an endearment
“Er Hua Yin" -  is a peculiar pronunciation phenomenon you find in the Chinese
language.
“tián zão (jujube)” - is a word play with LuSi's character name also tián zão in HuTong

Mom of child actor (for HuTong’s Mei He) shared on Xiaohongshu
ZhaoLuSi is very dedicated to her work! Although it was very hot, in order to not make others wait too long for her, she would wait for her next scene at the site. She would be chatting with everyone as she was waiting and did NOT put on any airs since she was a celebrity. She also liked playing with Mei He. She’s truly the “king of kids”
However, Mei He is a blunt boy so he didn’t laugh at some of #zhaolusi’s jokes 😅
She also liked to treat Mei He to yummy food. Really like LuSi JieJie so much 😘

Chelsea, a lady who worked with Zhao Lusi for Hutong
Lusi jiejie in real life is really sweet and youthful, her face is super tiny. ever since she knew that i’m a person from changsha, she started speaking with a bit of an accent. They all said that i’ve led her astray hahaha. After she knew that I’m here on my own, she exhorted me to be careful and take note of my safety. I hope that her smile will keep staying on her face, because it’s really very contagious!

Hutong Staff 
I took photos for Zhao Jie with an iphone camera, she was almost bare-faced! She’s so cute, I remember on the first day of filming, I had to darken her arms (tian zao is tanned)
she asked if I were helping with her make up and asked for my name succeeded fangirling

***

Learn more about Zhao Lusi here: testimonials from people Zhao Lusi actually met and worked with | Love Like The Galaxy Team | Gen Z Team | Hidden Love Team | The Long Ballad Team | Hutong | The Fairy Tales | The Last Immortal Team