Ruby Lin Teams Up With Joo Jin-Mo For New Qiong Yao Drama!

And Ruby Lin looks like she has the secret to looking beautiful forever.

In the CDrama world, especially in the romance department, there’s perhaps no bigger name than Qiong Yao. The brains behind the legendary hit Huan Zhu Ge Ge is back with another drama! The new drama 花非花雾非雾 (Rough translation: Flowers are not flowers, fog is not fog.) should be aired sometime next year. Meanwhile, check out some cast pictures and the article for more details about the plot!

Translated by Tianlu for 24-7 KPOP. Use with credit.

Lately, Qiong Yao’s new drama “花非花雾非雾” released costume stills of the actors including Ruby Lin, Li Sheng, Zhang Rui, Yang Zi, plus Korean star Joo Jin-Mo. This lineup plus Qiong Yao’s script and Ruby Lin’s acting builds even more anticipation for the audience. However, the reporter found out that Ruby Lin, who shot the couple photo with Joo Jin-Mo is not the female lead, but rather plays a smaller role.

Actor: Ruby Lin Not Female Lead

“花非花雾非雾” is Qiong Yao’s first time to write a script without writing a novel first. Rumor has it she had the inspiration for this several decades ago, and it took her one full year to write it out.

The story revolves around “four flowers” that grew up in an orphanage: Xue Hua (Snow), Lang Hua (Wave), Huo Hua (Spark), and Yan Hua (Fireworks), and their love stories. Ruby Lin plays the big sister Xue Hua and is picked up early by an aunt living far away, afterwards falling in love with the son of a manager of an opera house Qi Yuan who is portrayed by Joo Jin-Mo. It is hard to guess whether the ending will be happy or tragic.

For Ruby’s fans, their idol once again playing a role in Qiong Yao’s drama is a highly anticipated event. However, Ruby is not one of the leads of this drama, making just a cameo appearance.

Fans feel that the promotions for the drama is lying to the audience.

After Ruby heard such talks, she quickly replied on Weibo: “It doesn’t matter if it’s filming for one day or one month. I look at the importance of the character’s role and the degree to which I can express this character, plus, of course, the relationship at play [between me and Qiong Yao].” In reality, every time she mentions Qiong Yao, Ruby uses the word “benefactor” to describe her.

Ruby also revealed “Xue Hua” is a “core character” in the drama that pulls the whole story along, making people both love her and become hurt because of her.

Even if it’s like this, fans will still think is this a way of Qiong Yao looking down on Ruby?

Early in 2001, when answering questions for an interview, Qiong Yao said, after making it big, some actor immediately said that to accept roles in her drama was sole due to thanking her, making Qiong Yao very hurt. Even though Qiong Yao did not say who this actor was, the drama showing at the time was “Romance in the Rain,” and Qiong Yao only said she was very satisfied with Vicki Zhao and Leo Ku, not mentioning Ruby at all. Not only that, she also criticized Ruby online, saying her acting was too bland, perhaps expressing some discontent.

However, afterwards, netizens felt that this type of rumor cannot stand, because when filming “New My Fair Princess,” Ruby’s cameo as the 18-year-old “Xia Yu He” was hand-picked by Qiong Yao. It seems that “花非花雾非雾” is merely borrowing Ruby’s appearance to promote, a more reasonable assumption.

Storyline: Love and Suspense Become One

Besides Ruby Lin’s performance as big sister “Xue Hua,” Li Sheng’s character Huo Hua (name later changed to Ye Fan) enters into the French Eastern Art Academy to search for Xue Hua, and falling in love with the prince of the school Qi Fei, portrayed by Zhang Rui, in the process. Lang Hua (name later changed to Bai Hai Hua), portrayed by Wan Qian, wrote a Cinderella story with rich traveler Geng Ruo Chen. Yan Hua (name later changed to Bai Meng Hua), portrayed by Yang Zi, is pursued by colleagues Xu Hao and Han Li, resulting in many amusing episodes.

The Xiao Yan Zi and Fifth Prince of “New My Fair Princess” come together once more to act out endless love.

However, this cast will make those 70-line and 80-line Qiong Yao fans feel very disillusioned. They worry that the new drama will be too immature. Last year, when “New My Fair Princess” aired, ratings and tough criticisms came flying with the audience doing their best to compare with the 1998 version of “Huan Zhu Ge Ge,” with the conclusion of the actors not being good-looking enough and the storyline was not realistic.

Qiong Yao’s dramas being able to stand for 50 years cannot be separated from her selection of actors every 10 years, using new costumes, new lighting and sound effects, and new dialogues of the new generation. However, on the most basic level, Qiong Yao has not changed her pursuit for perfection. Complementing these pursuits, there’s also her fascination with youth, laughter, togetherness, traveling the world together, and that confidence that comes from within. However, Zhang Rui revealed in an interview that the main theme of “花非花雾非雾” will not be purely love, but rather love and suspense being one and the same, a slight difference from typical Qiong Yao dramas.

Picture Source: 21CN

Source: HunanTV