Writing at a Dating Show, the Movie Emperor Takes It Seriously

Five years ago, web novelist Su Wanhe heard a voice on a late-night radio show. From then on, the male lead in her stories had a face: movie star Gu Shen.

Five years later, they meet on a dating reality show. The book in Su Wanhe's hands falls to the ground, not because Gu Shen is so handsome, but because the male lead she'd written is exactly like him. A mole on his left ear, his habit of rubbing the knuckle of his index finger when nervous, even the story behind the scar on his wrist is exactly the same.

She thinks she's stolen his life story and guiltily tries to avoid him. But he keeps drawing closer, from a bowl of non-spicy porridge to 365 lights on a rooftop.

“Teacher Su, what does page 287 of your book say?”

“When Gu Shen wins his fourth Best Actor award, he finally learns how to smile.”

Later, he really does win his fourth Best Actor award. Onstage, he reads those words aloud, then smiles for the cameras.

Everyone thinks she predicted his life. Only he knows the truth: it wasn't a prediction. Someone had waited for him in a story for five years, and now he is simply stepping into the ending she wrote for him.

From the rooftop of a dating show to a family of four, from the 365th light to the “next chapter” marked by the 366th.

This is a story about waiting and being answered. She writes as she waits, and he draws closer with every role he plays. Later, when the children ask, Gu Shen says, “Dad acted out every story Mom wrote. And while I was acting, they all came true.”

The characters in the story ultimately come to live the story itself.