Bai Zheming

Biodata

Background / History

Childhood and the Rongcheng fire

Bai Zheming was at school in Xuancheng when his parents and three-year-old younger brother were caught in a hotel fire in Rongcheng. He arrived the following afternoon and was told by hotel staff and his eldest uncle that all three had died. He signed papers claiming the bodies without seeing them himself 181 188.

The disaster happened the day before his birthday. His father had called to promise he would return for the celebration; during that call, the family cook, Su Zhang Lin, asked which driver would accompany him. Bai Zheming later came to suspect that this exchange had exposed his family’s travel plans 192.

Afterward, Bai Zheming became seriously ill, suffering a persistent fever and recurring nightmares. He lived with his eldest uncle’s family and did not return to his own home for about two years. By then, the longtime household staff had disappeared; his uncle claimed to have paid and dismissed them 188 189.

Acting career and inheritance

Bai Zheming entered entertainment partly to recover a sense of family through acting. Many of his roles gave him gentle parents and an affectionate younger brother, but fictional reunions never relieved his grief 182 200.

His career also provided distance from Bai Corporation. Although his uncle had promised to return control when he grew up, Bai Zheming gradually doubted that promise and feared becoming a target. He left the company temporarily without abandoning his interests within it 200.

By his first documented meeting with Jiang Mingxi, he was an established senior actor whose industry standing was described as even higher than Song Lan’s. He was expected to retire the following year and formally take over the family businesses 134.

Appearance

• Build: Tall, with a straight bearing 135.
• Features: Handsome enough to earn Jiang Mingxi’s immediate admiration; his unmasking on Survival Challenge also prompts an enthusiastic audience response 135 170.

Personality

Bai Zheming is usually steady, restrained, and disinclined to interfere in other people’s affairs. His instinctive decision to ram Su Hui’s vehicle to save Jiang Mingxi shocks even him: he acts before thinking and feels no regret afterward 139.

Around Jiang Mingxi, he becomes teasing, attentive, and fiercely protective. Initially mistaking that attachment for romantic attraction, he openly challenges Song Lan and repeatedly judges their relationship from limited observations. Jiang Mingxi eventually tells him directly that his concern is interfering with their relationship 139 148 173 175 182.

His grief is enduring and private. For years, he dreams of his younger brother calling for help and maintains the boy’s room as though he were still growing up. After their reunion, his protectiveness is accompanied by guilt over the suffering he failed to prevent 174 187 199.

He distinguishes loyalty from family status. Despite Bai Zhonghui’s crimes, Bai Zheming continues to cherish Bai Jing because she stayed beside him during his bereavement. By contrast, he removes relatives implicated in the case from the corporation and pursues imprisonment where possible 241.

Abilities & Skills

Acting

An award-winning leading actor with extensive film and television experience 134 179.

• Character analysis: Identifies that Ji Hanyu’s audition captures a blind prince’s despair but misses the character’s concealed viciousness 136.
• Professional influence: Evaluates candidates for Zheng Jie’s drama and recognizes Jiang Mingxi’s performance 136.
• Composure: Quickly controls his expression after realizing sensitive information is being broadcast live 192.

Business and Corporate Strategy

Bai Zheming remains involved in corporate affairs despite his entertainment career 200.

• Negotiates a joint project with A-Wang and accepts an increased profit share and the lakeside project after saving Jiang Mingxi 138 139.
• Challenges shareholders seeking to divide Bai Zhonghui’s substantial stake among themselves 200.
• Produces evidence that Bai Yunyu sold company secrets to competitors 200.
• Eventually takes over management, removes implicated relatives, and reclaims Bai family assets 241.

Investigation

He follows both personal clues and corporate evidence rather than relying solely on official explanations 147 177 195 200.

• Investigates Jiang Mingxi’s birthmark, childhood abuse, and adoption history 147 177.
• Connects Jiang Mingxi’s childhood fire to the disappearance of his own brother 179.
• Exposes the attackers’ link to Bai Zhonghui by matching their call log to a number saved on his own phone 195.

Relationships

• Jiang Mingxi / Xiaoxi — Biological younger brother, confirmed by a DNA result reported as a 49.87-percent match. Bai Zheming initially mistakes his instinctive attachment for romantic affection; discovering their kinship gives him a chance to rebuild the family bond he believed lost 182 184 199.
• Zheng Muyun — Mother, long presumed dead. When she awakens after twenty-five days in intensive care, she recognizes him as “A-Ming,” and they embrace in tears 215.
• Bai Jinghan — Father, also found alive. He still has memory difficulties during Zheng Muyun’s hospital recovery and later joins the reunited household 215 217.
• Bai Jing — Cousin whom he treats as a younger sister. She stayed with him night after night after his apparent family loss; he does not blame her for her father’s crimes 241.
• Bai Zhonghui — Eldest uncle and former guardian. Bai Zheming once trusted his care, but later exposes his connection to armed attackers and the conspiracy surrounding the family’s disappearance 191 195.
• Song Lan — Jiang Mingxi’s partner and Bai Zheming’s initial rival. Their disagreement over Jiang Mingxi’s needs escalates into a physical fight; afterward, Song Lan helps Jiang Mingxi consider the possibility that Bai Zheming is his brother 178 181.
• Gong Wang / A-Wang — Business partner and Jiang Mingxi’s longtime protector. He rewards Bai Zheming for saving Jiang Mingxi and assists during the corporate dispute. Bai Zheming later feels both grateful for and jealous of his meticulous care for his brother 139 200 221.
• Butler Wang and his family — Longtime household members whose disappearance Bai Zheming had not understood. Learning that they were murdered and buried beneath his flower bed nearly overwhelms him 188 196 199.
• Su Zhang Lin — Former family cook implicated in the family’s suffering. Bai Zheming recalls her questioning his father’s itinerary and later recognizes the osmanthus cakes she used to make for Xiaoxi 192 209 215.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Saving Jiang Mingxi and the Audition

• Bai Zheming accelerates his Cullinan into Su Hui’s vehicle, knocking it aside before it can run over Jiang Mingxi and Xu Tao 134 139.
• He accompanies Jiang Mingxi to Zheng Jie’s audition, critiques the other candidates, and asks Jiang Mingxi to call him “Crown Prince” again 135 136.
• A-Wang thanks him with three additional percentage points of their joint project’s profits and the lakeside project for the Bai Family 139.
• During a later club gathering, he examines Jiang Mingxi’s birthmark because it seems familiar and might help identify his birth parents. Song Lan misinterprets the encounter 142 144.
• Footage of the rescue and audition is subsequently used in a smear campaign alleging an improper relationship between Bai Zheming and Jiang Mingxi 154.

*Survival Challenge* and the Family Connection

• After admitting his supposed romantic interest to Song Lan, Bai Zheming volunteers to join Survival Challenge. Song Lan’s incorrect identification of the masked newcomer earns him the penalty of carrying Bai Zheming for one hundred meters 148 170 171.
• A fire-themed challenge revives Bai Zheming’s recurring memories of his brother begging for help. After Jiang Mingxi breaks open the bathroom door, Bai Zheming briefly sees him as the lost Xiaoxi 174 175.
• His criticism of Song Lan’s treatment of Jiang Mingxi escalates into a fight caught by the livestream 178.
• Song Lan’s reference to Jiang Mingxi’s earlier experience of fire prompts Bai Zheming to ask whether it happened in a Rongcheng hotel when he was three 179.
• Jiang Mingxi questions why a real older brother would fail to recognize his birthmark or jade pendant. They agree to settle the matter with a DNA test 180 181.
• Gu Yanchu explains that the 49.87-percent result confirms they are biological brothers, correcting Gao Le’s mistaken announcement that they are unrelated 184.

Exposing the Bai Family Conspiracy

• Jiang Mingxi recalls returning to his childhood home and being turned away. Bai Zheming insists he would never have rejected him and promises to identify the person responsible 187.
• Questions about the unviewed bodies, missing staff, and company handover undermine the account Bai Zheming had accepted as a child 188 189.
• When armed men attack the group, Bai Zheming helps subdue them and publicly links their phone records to Bai Zhonghui 195.
• The captives reveal that Butler Wang’s family was murdered and buried beneath Bai Zheming’s flower bed, while his home was fitted with surveillance equipment before his return 196.
• Bai Zheming accompanies the police excavation and breaks down when the remains are recovered. He then confronts resistance to the redistribution of Bai Zhonghui’s shares and exposes Bai Yunyu’s corporate misconduct 199 200.

Reunion and Corporate Takeover

• Watching the village livestream, Bai Zheming recognizes a birthmark on the scarred man believed to be his father and urgently tries to warn Jiang Mingxi about Su Zhang Lin’s cakes 209.
• Zheng Muyun’s awakening brings a direct reunion with his mother. He tells her that Su Zhang Lin and Bai Zhonghui have been arrested 215.
• His parents choose a home on Yonghe Road rather than returning to the Bai residence 217.
• He rejects Teacher Zhou’s attempt to extract further support through her child, explaining that A-Wang has already provided a million and an apartment 221.
• Taking over Bai Corporation ahead of schedule forces him to retire early from acting. Another actor replaces him as the lead in Zheng Jie’s drama 241.
• For the reunited family’s first Spring Festival, he prepares couplets, window decorations, and fortune signs to cover their courtyard in red 241.

Personal Possessions and Keepsakes

• Cullinan: The vehicle he uses to intercept Su Hui’s attempted attack 134 139.
• Xiaoxi’s room: Personally maintained throughout his brother’s absence, with larger beds installed when Xiaoxi would have turned ten and fourteen 199.
• Age-by-age gifts: Toys, books, and annually updated clothing purchased for the younger brother he believed dead 199.
• Family flower bed: Once his favorite place, containing his mother’s favorite hydrangeas beside his brother’s favorite swing. Its role as the concealed burial site of Butler Wang’s family transforms it into a source of horror 196.

Notable Quotes

“Call me Crown Prince again.” 136

“How could I ever refuse to acknowledge you? Xiaoxi, you're my little brother.” 187

“I'll find that person, all right? I'll find him for our Xiaoxi.” 187