Wu You'an

Biodata

Background / History

Childhood and revenge

Wu You'an grew up in a poor household despite Huo Cheng providing child support. Investigators suspected that his eldest maternal aunt's family had pocketed the money. His younger maternal aunt, Lu Lu, was Huo Cheng's first love; she had been pushed into a river and drowned, and her case became a lead during the investigation into Wu You'an's family 163 174 176.

Wu You'an made revenge against Huo Cheng his lifelong goal, believing that Huo Cheng had driven his mother to suicide. Later findings undermined that belief: his mother had another man, and Huo Cheng had continued providing money. Rather than abandon his revenge, Wu You'an blamed Huo Cheng for failing to care about him personally 169 176.

School years

Wu You'an attended school two grades below Zhang Ze. He appeared to rescue Zhang Ze from bullies, breaking his arm in the fight and missing a piano competition. This incident became the foundation of Zhang Ze's long-standing devotion to him 165.

The rescue was staged: Wu You'an had hired the attackers himself. Zhang Ze also mistakenly credited him with retaliating against other school bullies, although Huo Cifeng had secretly taken that revenge 191.

Acting career and public reputation

Wu You'an built his entertainment career without relying on Huo Cheng and won Best Actor at three major awards. His reputation rested on courtesy toward senior colleagues, care for juniors, and an unusually scandal-free public image 165 172.

Public investigations uncovered substantial charitable work, including helping a shelter of stray cats, saving people, and donating supplies to impoverished mountain regions. These discoveries initially strengthened his popularity when his illegitimate birth became public 165.

Appearance

• Refined features: His appearance is repeatedly described as refined, with a fair face 161 165 166.
• Resemblance to Huo Cheng: Luo Beishi noticed their likeness and proposed the paternity testing that confirmed their relationship 163.
• Controlled expressions: He maintains gentle smiles even while suppressing anger, sometimes revealing his feelings only through clenched fists or strained composure 168 170 174.

Personality

Wu You'an presents himself as gentle, cultured, humble, and self-sacrificing. His willingness to appear vulnerable or put others first wins over colleagues, admirers, and even former rivals. After his kidnapping, he publicly minimizes his ordeal and defends Hu Lian, reinforcing his reputation for extraordinary kindness 165 166.

Privately, he cultivates people's attachment and uses their sympathy to advance his interests. He treats Zhang Ze's decade-long devotion as something he can rely on indefinitely, while his staged school rescue shows how deliberately he manufactures emotional debts 174 180 191.

His patience is considerable, but so is his capacity for self-deception. Even after learning facts that contradicted his grievance against Huo Cheng, he preserved his revenge by changing its justification. During his downfall, he blamed those who had hurt him rather than reconsidering the grievances behind his actions 176 182.

Abilities & Skills

Acting and emotional control

• Won Best Actor at three major awards and established a widely admired public persona 165.
• Conceals anger behind amiable expressions, including during confrontations with Qin Feiyue and Zhang Ze 170 174.
• Sustains an image of innocence and generosity strong enough that his endorsements initially survive the exposure of his family background 165.

Social manipulation

• Creates sympathy by recounting his suffering and allowing listeners to act on his behalf; recordings later expose this method with Chen Boyan and Hu Lian 182.
• Encourages admirers' attachment while repeatedly stating that he is straight, leaving men such as Wang Chen hoping to win him over 166 173.
• Keeps compromising information on entertainment stars, business tycoons, and investment figures in a concealed room 170 182.
• Misjudges the durability of these relationships: Qin Feiyue cuts contact, Wang Chen decides to withdraw, and Zhang Ze turns against him under altered memories 170 174 177.

Music

• Played piano during his school years and had been due to enter a competition before breaking his arm 165.
• Learns the guzheng and demonstrates correct posture and hand movements, including playing without watching his hands 173.
• Performs “High Mountains and Flowing Water” poorly at a banquet after becoming distracted by Zhang Ze's attention to Huo Cifeng 173.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Huo Qiuya's murder and the Pearl Tower kidnapping

Years earlier, Huo Qiuya paid five million to meet Wu You'an and brought Luo Bai along. Wu You'an appeared to take an interest in Luo Bai. Luo Beishi later concluded that this courtship was a calculated way to intensify Hu Lian's resentment toward Huo Qiuya 157 161 163.

After Huo Qiuya's death, investigators initially attributed the killing and staged crime scene to Young Master Cen and an accomplice. Wu You'an's connection to Hu Lian attracted further scrutiny when surveillance showed Hu Lian watching his home from an opposite villa 157 161.

Wu You'an then provoked a confrontation with Hu Lian, who kidnapped him and left him dangling from Pearl Tower. Police rescued him after Luo Beishi's system supplied his location. Hu Lian surrendered and disclosed his planning of Huo Qiuya's murder; Luo Beishi interpreted Wu You'an's provocation as an attempt to emerge as the victim and escape suspicion 163 164.

DNA testing simultaneously established that Wu You'an was Huo Cheng's son. The public revelation brought renewed sympathy and popularity, while police reopened Lu Lu's drowning case 164 165.

Investigation of the hidden room

Luo Beishi continued investigating after discovering Wu You'an's connections to Zhang Ze and the Qin brothers. A partially visible concealed doorway raised further suspicion 165 166.

Qin Feiyue visited Wu You'an with Zhong Qijiu, who posed as his boyfriend. During the visit, Zhong Qijiu cracked the secret room's code, allowing a miniature reconnaissance camera to record its contents. The room held compromising files on influential people and a wall of recently posted photographs of Luo Beishi 167 170.

Luo Beishi suspected that Wu You'an's renewed interest in Qin Feiyue was intended to provide access to him. Meanwhile, Wu You'an's insinuations against Zhong Qijiu prompted Qin Feiyue to end their friendship 170.

Loss of Zhang Ze's devotion

Huo Cifeng hired Lu Yinshan to replace Wu You'an with himself in Zhang Ze's memories. Unaware of the hypnosis, Wu You'an attended Old Master Wang's birthday banquet as Wang Chen's companion, hoping to meet both Zhang Ze and Old Master Huo 172 174.

Zhang Ze's unexpected hostility unsettled him enough to spoil his guzheng performance. The subsequent confrontation humiliated Wu You'an and led Wang Chen to decide that protecting his family mattered more than remaining close to him 173 174.

Wu You'an later found that Zhang Ze's contact number had been disconnected. During a prison visit, Hu Lian warned that Wu You'an's involvement in Huo Qiuya's death could be traced 175.

Public downfall and imprisonment

A hotel encounter with Ma Jiaojiao generated romance rumors. Wu You'an claimed that she had lured him inside and had him tied up, then issued a statement implying that powerful opponents had framed him and erased surveillance evidence 178 180.

His insinuations directed public hostility toward Huo Cixiao and Luo Beishi. Luo Beishi responded by anonymously releasing an authentic recording exposing Wu You'an's private behavior. His public image collapsed, and endorsements began disappearing 180.

A later video showed Wu You'an manipulating Chen Boyan, who declared that he would poison Old Master Huo for refusing to see him. Hu Lian supplied additional evidence that Wu You'an had incited him to commit murder. Police arrested Wu You'an and recovered compromising materials and the photographs of Luo Beishi from his home 182.

Wu You'an subsequently shared a detention center with Zhang Ze and Huo Cifeng. He ultimately received a life sentence 190 191 197.

Relationships

• Huo Cheng — Biological father and the target of his revenge. Wu You'an continued blaming him even after evidence contradicted his account of his mother's suffering 163 176.
• Hu Lian — Childhood neighbor and paternal younger half-brother. Wu You'an had protected him from bullying, later exploited his attachment, and was kidnapped by him. Hu Lian eventually supplied evidence against him 157 164 182.
• Zhang Ze / Assistant Zhang — School senior whose devotion originated in Wu You'an's staged rescue. Zhang Ze spent years scheming for him without knowing that he had arranged the attack 165 191.
• Huo Cifeng — Paternal older half-brother and rival for Zhang Ze's loyalty. Huo Cifeng used hypnosis to erase Wu You'an's place in Zhang Ze's memories 164 172 173.
• Huo Cixiao — Paternal half-brother whom Wu You'an wrongly suspected of engineering his hotel scandal. His attacks on Huo Cixiao prompted Luo Beishi's retaliation 166 180.
• Luo Beishi — Investigator and opponent. Wu You'an kept a wall of his photographs; Luo Beishi helped uncover his family background, concealed files, and public deception 163 170 180.
• Luo Bai — Apparent romantic interest whom Luo Beishi identified as a tool for provoking Hu Lian. Luo Bai hoped to obtain entertainment-industry resources from him 160 163.
• Qin Feiyue — Former friend and music-video collaborator. Wu You'an sought access to the Qin Family through him, but Qin Feiyue ended contact over his treatment of Zhong Qijiu 168 169 170.
• Qin Feilin — Friend introduced through Qin Feiyue. He continued defending Wu You'an during his scandal, contributing to the collapse of his own wedding 170 180.
• Wang Chen — Admirer who brought him to his grandfather's birthday banquet. After defending him, Wang Chen decided to distance himself to protect the Wang Family 172 173 174.
• Chen Boyan — Manipulated associate whose proposed poisoning of Old Master Huo became decisive evidence in Wu You'an's downfall 182.

Trivia

• His merchandise includes a red cord bearing the character “Wu.” Zhang Ze's matching cord helped Luo Beishi identify their hidden connection 165.
• Online commenters call his fans “Acetaminophen fans” during the collapse of his reputation 180.
• In the Huo Cifeng × Zhang Ze parallel-world extra, Zhang Ze reflects that his attachment to Wu You'an had been guilt over the broken arm rather than romantic love; learning the truth eliminated that guilt 209.