theotherayn

the poster/materials released yesterday by the production team all have "The Wanted Detective" on them so it's still the current English title. Maybe the programmers at iQiyi just didn't revise it yet.

in the novel there is a love triangle with his older brother (who tries to force the FL to be his male concubine) but reportedly the script is more comedic so they might've changed it to not make him a serious threat. Plus the actor for the 2ML (Chang Long) is more known for his comedy chops. ML is not betrothed to anyone in the novel, but the brother is.

Douban rating rose to 6.1 now (originally opened at 5.8)

UPDATE:

April 18 - commercial shoot
April 30 - variety show recording (hi6)
🍉shooting a Yueyang travel diary/show for the Hunan Tourism Conference on May 25
🍉Love in Red Dust starts shooting May 7th for around 100 days (3 months) UPDATE: official booting ceremony will be May 16 or 17

Love in Red Dust is now scheduled for early May. FL is Xu Ruohan.

not totally mad about it, at the very least she can sell a romance.

new 🍉 says it's Xu Ruohan

melon owners say they're contacting 95🌸 with connections to Mango and HLD fits so I'm hoping she's an option. they were really cute in that variety show together.

Li Landi is actually the closest looks wise based on the description in the books. WCR seems too tall (idk her actual height tho haha) and I don't have an impression of GXT but she's reportedly shooting a movie soon so they've eliminated her. I can actually see He Landou as the FL too, but I don't know what she's doing right now or if Mango will think she's bankable enough. Lu Yuxiao was also rumored a few months ago so maybe a second collaboration is possible? Yeah Song Zu'er is still banned. I think her projects can air but they can't do any promotions with her.

looks like the deal with WYW fell through. melon accounts now saying Wang Churan or Guan Xiaotong (edit: Li Landi is also back in the conversation). anyway, they should announce soon unless it gets delayed.

I read the novel and it's not really anything new, except for the fact he'll be playing a deaf hero. it'll depend on the way it's adapted (as always).
Zhu Dadeng is a capable director despite the complaints about his over the top shots/lighting (but there's a running joke on douban that his headlights became Zhang Zhe's holy lights since WXY came out of it unscathed unlike BL and ZLH lol).

Honestly, he's still stuck in idol dramas so I'm not really expecting too much. I'll watch anything he's in anyway. And maybe if the CCTV drama is real then it will lead to more serious/prestige roles in the future.

YZ said there were 3 scripts: a housefight, a political conspiracy, and a fantasy/xianxia. none fit LIRD really since it's a roadtrip romcom. but guess we'll see soon.

I think the denial was that it was XYL that was the ML. all the melons still say it's hers.

there's no real confirmation for WYW yet and YZ keeps denying Love in Red Dust in spite of all the melon owners saying it's settled (but he did the same with Tang Palace so whatever YZ.) It might be that LIRD has the better configuration for his career as a Mango key project compared to the other options (I know the only other project he was rumored for that was scheduled for Q2 was Tencent's Imperial Court Ballad but it seems YZ handed that to Wu Jinyan instead.) The headwriter is good anyway so maybe this time he'll be able to play a character with complete development lol.

the description of the romance from someone who read the script was "a secret love with a little redemption at the end" so I'm guessing it'll be mostly subtle until the scene they shot today (unless they cut it)

WXY's April Schedule:

April 6 - 🍉his last day of filming for Tang Palace (Bai Lu's is April 9)
April 8-10 - dubbing 🍉The Wanted Detective
April 11 - event recording (update: confirmed to be CCTV's Lilac Poetry Reading Festival)
April 14 - business live broadcast
April 15-17 - variety show recording (update: confirmed to be hi6)
April 18 - business live broadcast
April 19-21 - dubbing 🍉The Wanted Detective
April 22 - event recording 🍉for CCTV youth gala in May
April 24 - magazine shoot
April 27 - business live broadcast (update: cancelled)
🍉if rumors of Love in Red Dust are true then he'll also start filming in late April lol no vacation for our Taotao😂

🍉Project Updates: (all rumors, please take with a grain of salt)

Shadow Detective - apparently the investors ran away and that's what's causing the delay.
The Wanted Detective - WXY just said it's coming soon. rumor has it, June.
Tang Gong Qi An - shoot extended till early April but it might just be the B unit (non-main actors.)
Love in Red Dust - mostly confirmed as ML, no FL yet. it was presented during the HK exhibition as a key 🥭 project so it might be his first big (possible S+) project as 1st billed. shoot still set for late April.
Xing Zhi Wan - still no FL, shoot probably in September.
The Epic of Tang Dynasty - Yu Zheng boasted about a CCTV drama next year and signs point to this one. let's manifest it's true and not just YZ saying stuff for publicity because a serious historical/political drama will be awesome for his career.

Netflix does release viewership but just twice a year in Aug-Sep/Feb-Mar. search Netflix What We Watched on google for last year's data. There's also flixpatrol, a website that tracks Netflix/Disney/etc Top 10 rankings. From the score there, Perfect Match did similar to Kill Me Love Me which had 1.5M views on the Netflix report.

Also 🍉 first sister and husband already have a rumored modern drama with Mango but Youku seems to be the platform with a consistent distribution deal with Netflix.

take with a grain of salt but I saw script reviews on douban and xhs say there is romance, it's just not the main focus.

yes, check out his instagram. she follows him, liked all his photo posts this year (just skipped the video one) and commented on 3 of them praising his acting. he really gained a superstar fan.

for the Huanyu drama 行止晚 (Xing Zhi Wan), Yu Zheng pushed it to September since the script is still being written (it probably won't start until he finishes the drama with Hou Minghao/Gulinazha anyway.)