LayarHijau—The drama starring Zhao Lusi and Chen Zheyuan, Hidden Love, has concluded some time ago. Yet, its popularity remains strong to this day.
Even though Chen Zheyuan’s new drama, The Princess and the Werewolf, premiered shortly after Hidden Love ended, viewers in China and Indonesia still find it hard to move on.
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In the comments on LayarHijau’s Instagram account, many Indonesian viewers expressed that they are still unable to move on from the drama. They are not yet interested in watching Chen Zheyuan’s new work. Some even feel that other dramas seem bland compared to Hidden Love. It is no surprise that many viewers in Indonesia rewatch the drama multiple times.
According to Sohu, the drama was adapted from the novel Can’t Hide Secretly by Zhu Yi. The novel was also turned into a manhua (Chinese comic), and both versions have been popular in the country.
In the novel’s additional notes, which you can read [here], Zhu Yi shared the inspiration behind the story. Apparently, the novel was based on her personal experiences as a teenager.
Once, while coming home for lunch, she met two of her older brother’s friends who were taking their university entrance exams.
“When I was writing Losing to Love, I had already decided on the title of the article. At that time, I thought about these two characters but didn’t know exactly what to write. Then, in September last year, I suddenly remembered someone, and vaguely established the prototype of this story. Before I entered high school, I would have lunch at home because my school was nearby,” Zhu Yi wrote in the additional notes.
“When my older brother took his college entrance exam, the exam room was at a high school near my home. He brought home two classmates. I arrived home later than them. When I walked through the door, I was surprised to see these two strangers, and immediately realized that one of them was very handsome. He was tall, with sharp features and a clean smile,” she continued.
“At that moment, my heart raced, and I felt embarrassed for no reason. After I greeted them, I didn’t speak again, and I couldn’t help secretly staring at him at the dining table. Over the next few days, I quietly asked about this person, like Sang Zhi, but I was afraid of seeming arrogant, so I didn’t continue after asking a few words, and kept thinking about him for a while. Then, because I had never seen him before, I forgot about him for another three minutes. That’s just how it was. Now, my older brother hasn’t contacted this male friend for a long time, and I don’t remember what he looked like. But when I was talking to my friends that day, I suddenly remembered someone like that, and I wanted to write a story like that for no reason,” she revealed.
Although the real-life story did not have a happy ending like in the novel and drama, Zhu Yi hoped that using her personal experience as inspiration could create something meaningful for readers.
The story follows a girl named Sang Zhi, who has a crush on Duan Jiaxu, a man much older than her. Sang Zhi is both brave and timid, afraid that others will discover her true feelings. When she learns that Duan Jiaxu has a girlfriend, she runs to find him and search for answers.
Through this story, the author hopes to convey the pure and passionate experiences of love that many young women go through. She hopes female readers can relate to Sang Zhi’s courage and fear in expressing her feelings. She also wants to give hope that everything given in love will be rewarded, and that readers may find true love in the future.
