Director Ji

Biodata

Background / History

Director Ji is the son-in-law of director Liu Jiangzhou, whose approval he struggles to obtain. He takes on the dating-show project hoping that outstanding results will improve Liu’s opinion of him and ease their strained relationship 28 98 99.

Before the show begins, Ji tries to arrange an introduction between Ye Yizhou and the person Ye wants to meet. He contacts investors, calls in favors, visits the person’s company, and even asks his father-in-law for help, but cannot secure a meeting. Ye initially makes his participation conditional on Ji inviting that person 28.

Personality

Ji is practical about publicity and keenly aware of what attracts viewers. He allows misleading dinner rumors to circulate for the show’s exposure and privately celebrates the attention generated by Ye Yizhou’s confrontations. His enthusiasm for gossip can outweigh his anxiety about the broadcast becoming uncontrollable 28 42 47.

Despite his appetite for dramatic television, he takes physical safety seriously. He rejects games in a moving vehicle, checks on the guests after an emergency stop, and immediately sends crew members to handle a burning frying pan. He also changes an inconvenient meal task rather than needlessly antagonize the guests’ fans 21 26 49.

His exchanges with Ye frequently become theatrical arguments, but his concern is not entirely performative: after urging Ye to leave, he follows him outside to check whether he has transport. His more persistent insecurity concerns his father-in-law, whose recognition matters to him beyond the show’s financial success 30 98.

Abilities & Skills

Live Production Management

Ji directs activities, coordinates the crew, and adjusts the broadcast in response to practical problems and audience interest 26 45 50.

• Authorizes a separate livestream camera when viewers show greater interest in his conversation with Ye than in the other guests 26.
• Revises the grocery-shopping task so the production team provides lunch before the guests shop and cook 26.
• Monitors guest footage and discusses upcoming arrangements with the assistant director 45.
• Coordinates a camera-and-microphone break for the guests while the livestream switches to alternative footage 50 51.

Publicity and Audience Judgment

Ji recognizes the promotional value of controversy, although Ye repeatedly pushes the broadcast beyond his intended format 24 42 48.

• Preserves the attention generated by the dinner controversy instead of immediately correcting it 28.
• Praises Ye’s suggestion to edit their argument into a promotional teaser 49.
• Credits Ye with generating much of the show’s popularity and online discussion 98.
• Struggles to keep viewers focused on the dating segments when Ye offers gossip, commentary, or unrelated entertainment 44 48.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Dinner Rumors and the Guest Lineup

Wei Zhao initially believes Ji accepted dinner and expensive liquor before reneging on an agreement to include Ye Yizhou in the show. A gossip account reinforces that interpretation with secretly recorded photographs and video, portraying Ye as an unsuccessful supplicant and Ji as someone who accepted benefits without delivering 9 11.

Their later livestream conversation overturns that account. WeChat recordings show that Ye refused to participate unless Ji could invite his desired guest. Ji also explains that he paid for dinner and took home the two expensive bottles because Ye had not drunk them. He admits leaving the rumors uncorrected for publicity 28.

Managing Ye Yizhou’s Participation

Ji introduces The Red Thread of Love as a program pairing seven guests into three couples and measuring their emotions during themed activities. Ye immediately complicates the format by suggesting that he could belong to one of those couples 23 24.

Concerned that Ye’s interactions with Jiang Chuyu will disrupt the intended pairings, Ji proposes a separate role as a romance commentator, on the condition that Ye stop interfering with the other guests. The conversation instead becomes a public discussion of Ji’s unsuccessful matchmaking efforts and Ye’s private relationship 27 28.

Ji initially interprets Ye’s ring as styling or an advertising placement. When Ye confirms that it is a wedding ring, Ji is astonished and warns him that his jokes about meeting other men are going out live. Ye subsequently pretends that Ji is forcing him off the show; Ji exposes the performance by separating him from Jiang Chuyu, though he still checks that Ye has a car available 29 30.

Conflict Becomes Content

Ji brings the guests to Ye’s villa, where Zhong Xi challenges Ye’s wealthy image. Although Ji privately welcomes the resulting confrontation as excellent material, he eventually interrupts and moves everyone toward the love house, giving Zhong Xi an opportunity to retreat 41 42.

Ye later criticizes the show’s manufactured romantic interactions and turns his own broadcast into a discussion of entertainment personas and industry gossip. Ji alternates between enjoying the revelations and trying to redirect attention to the dating show 44 46 47 48.

Their disagreement peaks over a cooking segment. After Ye criticizes its food waste and lack of romance, Ji challenges him to produce something better. Ye accepts and begins arranging a new activity 49.

Sponsored Castle Escape Room

Ji announces that a sponsor will cover the next outing’s expenses and takes the guests to a stretch Rolls-Royce. During the journey, he reads the sponsor’s messages and introduces an immersive first-person driving broadcast using Lingyao Group technology 50 51.

At the destination, Ji is as surprised by the castle as the guests. He introduces the escape-room activity but initially does not know its theme or details. Afterward, he explains the screens, glasses-free 3D effects, and concealed mechanisms used to create the apparent supernatural events 52 62.

Ji also welcomes Yan Qingdu’s participation and assures the other guests that the married couple’s affection is suitable for the livestream. At the activity’s conclusion, he leads the guests in thanking Ye for providing the funding, venue, and technical support 61 63.

The Show’s Future

Following Song Jincheng’s downfall, Ji worries about the remaining recordings and the show’s survival. Ye points out that advertising revenue has already recovered the investment and produced several times that amount in profit. Ji then suspects that Ye deliberately combined revenge against Song with a profitable publicity strategy 98.

Ji reveals that his deeper concern is losing the chance to impress Liu Jiangzhou. After Ye offers the choice of ending the show at its peak or continuing with new couples, Ji decides to approach his father-in-law and improve the relationship himself 98 99.

Later Auditions

In later passages using the name Ji Yanchuan, Director Ji sits beside Liu Jiangzhou during auditions that Ye joins remotely. Liu tells him that he has acquired a powerful backer. Ji handles the transition between auditionees, while Liu subsequently urges him to do his own job properly and praises Ye’s precise acting critiques 138 139.

Relationships

• Ye Yizhou — The show’s investor and an unpredictable participant. Their frequent arguments coexist with professional cooperation; Ji acknowledges Ye’s central contribution to the program’s success 27 30 98.
• Liu Jiangzhou — Father-in-law and director whose approval Ji actively seeks. Liu is openly dismissive of him, and Ji hopes professional achievement will improve their relationship 28 98 138.
• Yan Qingdu — Ye’s husband and the person Ji had been unable to secure an introduction to. Ji later invites him to participate in the show 28 61.
• Jiang Chuyu — A guest whose interest in Ye threatens Ji’s planned romantic pairings. Ji repeatedly intervenes when Ye initiates physical contact with him 27 30.
• Song Jincheng — A guest whose scandals make Ji concerned about the show’s remaining material and future 98.
• Zhong Xi — A guest whose clash with Ye supplies publicity; Ji eventually intervenes to end the confrontation 42.

Notable Quotes

“First of all, playing games in a moving vehicle is unsafe. Safety has to come first.” 21

“You can participate throughout the show as a romance commentator, but you can't interfere with the other guests' normal interactions.” 27

“It's not about the final payment.”
When Ye suggests withholding it: “Absolutely not. I still want the money.” 98