Cui Ming

Biodata

Background / History

Cui Ming personally scouted Jiang Nuo and had managed him for nearly two years when Jiang Nuo joined Weird and Strange Adventure. Formerly regarded as an ace manager, he lost professional standing after insisting on supporting Jiang Nuo through his troubled career. Colleagues mocked him, and he lost access to promising artists, but he remained convinced that Jiang Nuo could become a top star 1 49.

During Jiang Nuo’s difficult early years, Cui Ming helped him afford food and waited outside directors’ workplaces to plead for minor roles. By the opening of the story, their company had threatened to dismiss both of them unless Jiang Nuo’s variety-show appearance reversed his fortunes 1 36 251.

Appearance

• Despite being only in his thirties, Cui Ming looks weathered and develops deep furrows across his brow when worried 36.
• He describes himself as no great beauty and places little importance on a prospective partner’s appearance 120.

Personality

Cui Ming’s relationship with Jiang Nuo is distinctly paternal: he brings meals, supervises his diet, packs his belongings, and lectures him about dangerous behavior. His exasperated scolding often gives way to quiet consideration, such as turning off the music and slowing the car after noticing Jiang Nuo asleep 1 35 49 66 249.

He is fiercely defensive of Jiang Nuo’s reputation, sometimes becoming angrier about online abuse than Jiang Nuo himself. Nevertheless, he draws a firm line between defending his artist and letting him act recklessly; when Jiang Nuo proposes beating Lin Youqi, Cui Ming immediately tries to stop him and considers calling Si Yan 52 296.

Although openly frightened of ghosts, Cui Ming remains capable of compassion toward them. After learning how Li Dan died, he responds with anger at her abuse and sorrow over her lost life rather than treating her solely as a threat. His attraction to her originally rested on her apparent gentleness and kindness, even though he had never clearly seen her face 120 122.

Abilities & Skills

Talent Management and Contract Review

Cui Ming handles Jiang Nuo’s professional opportunities and scrutinizes the terms offered to him.

• Seeks acting roles, endorsements, auditions, and variety-show appearances 1 49 251.
• Requests an upgrade from Jiang Nuo’s C+ artist contract and carefully checks the unexpectedly generous S-rank replacement for hidden traps 107 108.
• Organizes travel, luggage, clothing, and gifts for production crews 12 66 259.

Publicity and Crisis Management

Cui Ming monitors online opinion and recognizes attempts to exploit Jiang Nuo’s popularity.

• Identifies a brand’s plan to provoke fan arguments, erase its invitation to Jiang Nuo, and announce Lin Yu as its ambassador 106.
• Asks the PR team to reduce excessive exposure after Jiang Nuo’s popularity surges following the Fragrant Tree Village incident 175.
• Prepares crisis publicity when Jiang Nuo and Si Yan’s visible disagreement makes him fear a breakup 175.

Cooking

Cui Ming regularly prepares food for Jiang Nuo and sometimes for Si Yan and Yang Hong.

• Supervises Si Yan’s attempt to make sweet-and-sour shrimp, correcting the excessive oil and stopping him from handling starch near an open flame 57 58.
• Eventually removes Si Yan from the kitchen after repeated safety concerns 58.
• Agrees to make crispy pork bites when Jiang Nuo unexpectedly begins crying during a lecture 249.

Supernatural Protection

Cui Ming relies on Jiang Nuo’s protection rather than confronting ghosts himself.

• Uses protective talismans supplied by Jiang Nuo, including one attached to his back during the Li Dan incident 63 106.
• Remains vulnerable to yin energy and supernatural nightmares, requiring Jiang Nuo’s spiritual power to wake him 118 119.

Story Role / Major Arcs

*Weird and Strange Adventure*

• Cui Ming brings Jiang Nuo the show contract and warns that the production has assigned him a sacrificial role to profit from hostile attention before removing him after two episodes 1.
• Jiang Nuo’s successful first appearance instead earns him a regular place for the season, continued housing, and a company car. Cui Ming initially dismisses the supernatural events as production tricks even after Jiang Nuo tells him they were real 11.
• After Tian Dong’s death and the show’s suspension, Cui Ming proposes an independent ghost-hunting livestream to keep Jiang Nuo working 36.

CP Promotion and Si Yan

• Cui Ming arranges Jiang Nuo’s meeting with Si Yan’s team for a promotional pairing agreement and selects outfits intended to emphasize Jiang Nuo’s looks 12.
• Before their audition, he supplies an elaborate breakfast for Si Yan and instructs Jiang Nuo to present it as something brought especially for him 49.
• He reacts dramatically when Si Yan moves across the hall, treating the arrangement as effectively living together. Soon afterward, he learns that their promotional pairing has become a genuine relationship 54 57.

Haunted Inn

• During the encounter with the qipao ghost, Cui Ming clings to Jiang Nuo’s arm so tightly that he contributes to obstructing Jiang Nuo’s movements 62.
• That night, he insists on sleeping in Jiang Nuo’s room. Jiang Nuo sends him away with talismans, but Cui Ming later calls in panic about a ghost in his own room 63.

Li Dan’s Ghostly Romance

Li Dan, Cui Ming’s next-door neighbor, draws closer to him after inviting him to dinner during a blackout. Believing her to be a gentle freelance photographer, Cui Ming develops an interest in her and brings medicine for her visible injuries. Jiang Nuo subsequently identifies the relationship as a dangerous ghostly entanglement 106 120.

After Cui Ming stops contacting her, he experiences recurring dreams in which she eats him. Yin energy eventually traps him in elaborate nightmares involving her severed head and false versions of Jiang Nuo and Si Yan. When he wakes, the protective talisman he believed he lost only in the dream is also missing in reality 118 119.

• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan identify Li Dan as a Resentful Sha Woman and recruit Lili to pose as Cui Ming’s romantic partner to draw her out 120.
• Li Dan appears in a jealous rage and attacks Cui Ming and Lili before Jiang Nuo subdues her 120 121.
• After hearing about her abusive marriage and murder, Cui Ming asks whether she obtained revenge. Once she disappears, he mourns the waste of her life 122.

Managing Jiang Nuo’s Rising Career

• Cui Ming secures Jiang Nuo’s improved company contract as Seven Shadows Entertainment comes under the Si Group 107 108.
• He alerts Jiang Nuo to fans requesting rescue from zombies in Fragrant Tree Village 130.
• He presents Jiang Nuo with a short-form drama role as a ghost-catching celestial master and announces Xu Jin’s decision to make him her clothing brand’s first spokesperson 251.
• When Lin Youqi uses Jiang Nuo for publicity and replaces a drama’s male lead, Cui Ming exposes his insincere behavior while trying to keep Jiang Nuo from retaliating violently 296.

Later Dangers and Ending

• Cui Ming apologizes after a supposedly easier dating-show assignment exposes Jiang Nuo to danger. Jiang Nuo jokingly makes a home-cooked feast his punishment 197.
• When Jiang Nuo disappears into an underground river, Cui Ming presses the association members for a clear answer about his survival. He later watches the livestream without resting and scolds Jiang Nuo after his return 234 246 249.
• Before the final mountain expedition, he tearfully insists that both Jiang Nuo and Si Yan return safely, claiming to be saving every upcoming job for Jiang Nuo 346.
• He waits outside with supplies for Jiang Nuo during the final rescue. After Jiang Nuo awakens from fifteen days of sleep, Cui Ming brings livestreaming equipment so he and Si Yan can reassure their fans 378 380.

Relationships

• Jiang Nuo — His personally scouted artist and a near-familial responsibility. Jiang Nuo acknowledges that Cui Ming supported him when he could barely afford to eat and later thanks him for his years of difficult work 1 36 251.
• Si Yan — Jiang Nuo’s promotional partner and eventual boyfriend. Cui Ming helps support their daily life, attempts to teach Si Yan cooking, and explicitly asks him to return safely from the final expedition 57 58 346.
• Yang Hong — Si Yan’s manager and Cui Ming’s professional counterpart. They coordinate around the couple’s publicity, relationship, and work obligations 52 57 250 251.
• Li Dan — His neighbor and prospective romantic interest, later revealed to be a dangerous ghost. His fear gives way to sympathy after he learns the circumstances of her death 106 120 122.
• Lili — A junior assistant on Jiang Nuo’s team who poses as Cui Ming’s lover to lure Li Dan into appearing 120.

Trivia

• By Chapter 36, Cui Ming has been dumped by five girlfriends in succession. Jiang Nuo continues teasing him about finding a sixth romance much later 36 295.
• His first love’s ringtone became a traumatic reminder of catching her cheating. Jiang Nuo plays it to convince him that he has truly awakened from Li Dan’s nightmare 119.
• He owns an aging apartment near Jiang Nuo’s home and remains attached to it despite its old furnishings 118.