Li Qin (李沁): The Soul of Xue Ziye (薛紫夜)
Portraying the enigmatic Xue Ziye, Li Qin approached her character with both admiration and challenge. As the youngest master of Yao Master Valley, Ziye’s life is one of quiet authority, layered with grace and restraint. For Li Qin, the role demanded a delicate balance between Ziye’s icy exterior and the fire that burns within her—a dynamic she calls the “paradox of warmth and distance.”
Li Qin drew parallels between her own personality and Ziye’s demeanor. “At first glance, people may think I’m a bit cold,” she shared, “but I’m actually warm and optimistic once you know me. Ziye is similar. Beneath her composed surface, she’s passionate, resilient, and deeply empathetic.”
A standout trait for Li Qin was Ziye’s quiet defiance of traditional gender roles in a martial arts-dominated world. “She’s not just a healer; she’s a warrior of compassion,” Li said. “Her strength isn’t in physical combat but in her ability to mend the broken, whether it’s bodies or hearts. That kind of power feels timeless and relevant.”
However, Ziye’s reserved nature also posed a unique acting challenge. With few spoken lines, much of Ziye’s emotion had to be conveyed through subtle gestures, expressions, and timing. Li Qin noted, “Her interactions with Huo Zhanbai (霍展白) evolve slowly, and we needed to show that progression with great care. It’s all in the small details—the hesitation in her gaze, the slight softening of her voice. These are moments where her guarded walls begin to crumble.”
Joseph Zeng (曾舜晞): Breathing Life into Huo Zhanbai
For Joseph Zeng, stepping into the role of Huo Zhanbai was both physically and emotionally demanding. As the first disciple of Tianshan Sect and a celebrated swordsman, Zhanbai’s life is defined by unwavering loyalty and self-sacrifice. Yet, beneath his heroic exterior lies a man grappling with loneliness and unspoken regret.
Zeng described Zhanbai as “a man of actions, not words.” This made the chemistry between Ziye and Zhanbai particularly intriguing. “He’s not good at expressing his feelings directly, especially when it comes to Ziye. Instead, he shows his devotion through his actions—protecting her, trusting her, and ultimately letting her go when duty calls,” Zeng said.
To prepare for the role, Zeng immersed himself in physical training to perfect Zhanbai’s martial arts skills. “It’s not just about looking the part,” he explained. “Huo Zhanbai’s movements—his precision with a sword, the way he holds himself in a fight—reflect his disciplined mind and unwavering moral compass.”
However, the emotional depth of the character was where Zeng found his greatest challenge. Zhanbai’s journey spans from youthful idealism to the weary reflection of his older years. “Playing him as a man looking back on a life of missed opportunities was heartbreaking,” Zeng shared. “He’s haunted by his failure to fully express his feelings for Ziye. That sense of regret needed to come through in his body language, his tone, even the way he looks at the snow falling around him.”
The Subtle Power of Unspoken Love and Regret
The emotional core of Snowy Night Timeless Love is undoubtedly the relationship between Xue Ziye and Huo Zhanbai. As their bond evolves, it weaves through complex layers of love, duty, and regret, offering both the characters and the audience a portrait of a romance stifled by circumstance. For both Li Qin and Joseph Zeng, their characters’ emotional journeys were not just about what was said but about what was left unspoken.
For Li Qin, portraying Xue Ziye meant finding strength in restraint. “Ziye is a woman who has always lived with emotional distance, perhaps out of necessity, as she’s been betrayed and cast out of her original life. When Zhanbai enters her world, she’s challenged by her growing feelings for him,” Li Qin said. "Her struggle is not just in letting herself love but in understanding the price of that love. It’s about showing her vulnerability without overwhelming her stoic exterior.”
One of the key moments that encapsulates this emotional evolution is the recurring theme of “the missed opportunity”—an opportunity both characters realize too late. “The scene in the snow is one of the most tragic,” Li Qin reflected. “They both walk past each other, unaware of the other’s presence, and that represents so much of their relationship—missed moments, unspoken words, and the barriers of fate and duty that kept them apart.”
A Love Lost to Time
The intersection of these two powerful performances is what makes the love story in Snowy Night Timeless Love so poignant and impactful. The chemistry between Li Qin and Joseph Zeng transcends the typical romantic arc. It is a tale of two people who understand each other’s pain but can never truly be together. As Ziye and Zhanbai’s relationship unfolds from mutual distrust to profound respect, and finally, a love too late realized, the depth of their feelings is portrayed not through grand declarations, but through quiet moments of connection.
The heart of their connection lies in the way they challenge each other. “Ziye sees in Zhanbai a man who embodies the spirit of sacrifice, but at the same time, she’s forced to confront the emotional cost of his choices,” Li Qin explained. “Their relationship is a reflection of that constant tension between love and duty, and that tension is what drives the emotional stakes of the show.”
For Zeng, this interplay of love and sacrifice is something that drives Zhanbai to the edge of his own limitations. “Zhanbai’s story is one of selfless devotion, but in the end, that devotion leads to a life of loneliness,” he said. “In the final moments of the story, Zhanbai realizes that no matter how much he has given to others, he’s lost the one thing that truly mattered to him.”
