Dear Cheng Yi, Xiao Shun Yao, Zeng Sunxi, and the whole Mysterious Lotus Casebook (MLC) cast and crew too many to mention individually. Director Guo Hu and Ren Hai Tao. Screenwriter Liu Fang and last but not least Novelist Teng Ping.
We are MLC international fans and we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for MLC.
We smiled, frowned, were saddened, angry, and happy, we cried and laughed while watching MLC. We may not contribute to the over 10 billion views. But we can assure you, we are avid viewers just like the Chinese fans.
We rooted for our beloved trio. The most unpredictable team forged through the highs and lows of life. We were glued to our screens and waited impatiently for new episodes. Then gushed about it in forums after every airing.
We were surprised by the so many layers of each character in MLC. Nothing was like what it seemed and yet they stayed true to each character's development.
After a masterfully choreographed opening fighting scene, we were introduced to our hero after ten years have passed. Bit by bit, through flashbacks, we learned why he is what he is now. A once youthful arrogant hero, whose life turned upside down. Learning that his arrogance has cost the lives of his friends and commoners who he thought he was protecting, ended up suffering. He believed the world would be better off if he stayed dead, so he did.
10 years later, Li Lianhua (LLH) emerges as a traveling doctor, in search of his senior's body. The struggle, pain, and suffering felt by Li Xiang Yi were conveyed so beautifully by Cheng Yi's expressive acting. It wasn't the grand revealing emotions, but through Li Xiang Yi's teary eyes, trembling lips, his facial expression. We felt his pain, our heart was bleeding along with his. Cheng Yi's portrayals of his characters, be it the arrogance and full of confident Li Xiang Yi to the witty, manipulative, resourceful Li Lianhua. With a glance, soft gestures, a slight smirk, and just his eyes, Cheng Yi took us through an emotional roller coaster. Tears were shed, jaw dropped, "awesome" performance as many of us repeatedly say. We ❤️ it!
Zeng Shunxi's portrayal of our young hero Fang Duo Bing was spot on. Growing with each case, from a newbie, who is eager to face the world. He learns the world is not just black and white. He matures up as the hero, before our very eyes. We cheered, we laughed, and we embraced his character development. Zeng Shunxi holds his ground well amongst more senior actors.
Di Fei Sheng (DFS), the villain in the story, or what we are to believe. He turns out to be one of the most lovable characters. Xiao Shun Yao nailed his part. While DFS's answer to most situations is to kill everybody in his path, we see him blossoming as a strong righteous character. After he met LLH and FDB, the unlikeliest friendship developed - two confidants he can trust and rely on.
The trio navigates through evil schemes and solves mysteries together. We craved the witty banter between the 3 of them. LLH's ability to notoriously lie with a straight face impressed us more than his swordsman skills. With an even straighter face, DFS instinctively refused to believe his lies during his brief amnesiac period – as if he still remembered Li Xiang Yi. Yet, our lovable young hero fell for it again and again. We are still madly in love with our dysfunctional trio!
Most of us expected somewhat of the usual Wuxia drama. Heroes against a group of villains. But MLC gave us so much more. We were obsessed to put it lightly. Rewinding every little detail not to miss any clues – trying to guess whodunnit. We had so much fun!
The writing of the mysteries kept us guessing. The comedic dialogues during serious scenes, literally had us laughing our socks off. We owe our gratitude for it to screenwriters and novelists for it. For our directors, we bow to the great production you have created. The stellar acting of the cast ensemble and the impressive stages/ sceneries are done superbly.
And to top things further the great fighting scenes, the choreography, the artistic stunts - it was just beautifully executed. MLC rose to our top Wuxia drama of 2023, to some even the best of the decade.
We are also grateful for the bonus ending scene. It allowed us to be happy knowing that whatever Li Lian Hua had to face in life, he had his two best friends by his side as well as his loyal companion Fox Spirit.
We read that MLC breakthrough 10,000 iQiyi heat index and was on a hot search on Weibo. This is an achievement as well as an acknowledgment by all the fans. We international fans, unfortunately, cannot contribute to it. Hence, we are writing this letter, hopefully, it can reach everybody who dedicated his part to this production.
We would like to let you know, how grateful we are for such a rare gem of a production. Kudos again to everybody involved in the production, thank you for the emotional ride. It has been fun!
MLC International fans at Mydramalist 🪷
Just to note some of the countries we are from:
Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Germany, France and other countries in Europe, USA, Australia, Canada, Morocco, countries in Africa, Pakistan, India, and Turkey.
https://mydramalist.com/713331-the-lotus-casebook
Cinderella:
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