The Soulmate - A fun murder mystery drama set in the Republican Era with an isekai twist!
Drama title: The Soulmate
No. of episodes : 24
Duration of watching: 6/6/2026 - 7/6/2026 (this is a mini drama with episodes spanning around 13 to 15 minutes each)
I decided to watch this drama on a whim because my mind was so restless and I wasn't able to focus on a lot of the things I usually do in the past couple of days. Basically I was feeling bored and wanted to do something to get rid of the boredom but I also don't have the mood to do anything much hence the restlessness of my mind caused by the conflicting feelings. It was much worse on the day before I decided to watch this drama though so I'm glad that my mind was calm enough to watch and enjoy this drama.
What's the drama about?
Nan Yu and Gao Han - 2 NPCs from different games - suddenly find themselves transported to a murder mystery game set in the Republican Era. With Nan Yu's background as a matchmaking NPC in the dating sim game where she originally belongs to and Gao Han as a detective in his original game, the two must work together to solve the murder of the Grand Marshal of Rongcheng Town, believing that solving it is the key to coming back to their respective games...
Characters
— Nan Yu, played by Snow Kong :
A matchmaking NPC from a dating sim game who suddenly woke up in the body of Miss Yu Mei Ren — a coroner in a murder mystery game set in the Republican era. As a matchmaking NPC, Nan Yu's train of thought mostly consists of her evaluation of the people around her and their interpersonal relationships. This rather puts her at a disadvantage when she tries to solve the murder mystery as she usually comes up with speculations rather than basing her conclusion off on facts. Realizing her disadvantage, Nan Yu seeks the help of Gao Han and works together with him to solve the case. Despite being not very good at investigating initially, Nan Yu is street-smart and learns very quickly from Gao Han, gradually becoming capable in doing her own investigation though still not as skilled as Gao Han.
— Gao Han, played by Li Ge Yang :
Gao Han is a top detective NPC in his original game. He first meets Nan Yu when she has to do an autopsy on the Grand Marshal's body. Nan Yu seeks his help when she has no clue how to proceed with the autopsy hence letting him taking over her body during the procedure as Gao Han is initially transferred as only data in the game and has no physical body of his own. While Gao Han is skilled in investigation, he still counts on Nan Yu for her people skills, working well together. Coming from a mystery-solving game and only knowing how to solve mysteries all his life, he is surprised to see himself only thinking of Nan Yu during his almost final moments — showing just how much he cares and loves Nan Yu.
Li Ge Yang is the reason why I came across this drama as I had wanted to check his other works after seeing him as the second male lead in In Blossom. I thought he had a really good screen presence and bounced off of Liu Xueyi pretty well in that drama — hence the reason why I got interested to watch more of his works. His acting in this is decent at best though as I feel like his smile felt awkward and forced at times and his expressions don't match certain situations.
— Jiang Junsheng, played by Zhang Hao Yu :
Jiang Junsheng is an NPC of the murder mystery game that both Gao Han and Nan Yu got transferred to. He is the Marshal of Rongcheng Town as well as the Grand Marshal's adopted son and Gu Mengqiu's adopted brother. Jiang Junsheng is a righteous and stoic man who tries to uphold justice as best as he can. Beneath his stoic facade, lies a good heart for those he truly cares about — making him a good friend to both Nan Yu and Gao Han (in addition to being a good love rival to him).
I'm only writing about these 3 characters are they are the core characters and progressed the story the most.
Things that bothered me/I don't like/feel that there's room for improvement
— The acting :
The acting was overall pretty good but there are some moments when Gao Han's smile looked pretty awkward and forced while some characters just don't express their emotions well at times.
— The pacing of the mystery-solving :
I think the mystery was okay but at one point it did feel like they were going around in circles. It's probably just me though.
— The fight choreography :
Most of the fighting scenes looked decent at best but there are some fight scenes that pretty sloppy.
Things that I absolutely love!
— The bond between Nan Yu, Gao Han and Jiang Junsheng :
Jiang Junsheng actually cares and loves Miss Yu but was just too stoic to show his feelings. When Nan Yu came into the picture (read : took over Miss Yu's body after her passing), she mostly avoided him because she initially distrusts and is naturally closer to Gao Han because she likes him and they are in the same boat, which triggered Jiang Junsheng to make an effort to show his sincere feelings for her. Gao Han has always liked Nan Yu since they first met. Nan Yu, just like Gao Han, has feelings for him since earlier on but the both of them just couldn't expressed their feelings to each other at first.
Naturally, there exists a love triangle between the 3 of them with both Gao Han and Jiang Junsheng vying for Nan Yu's attention in their own way. However, Nan Yu's life, happiness and safety come first for the both of them and they would much rather work together to ensure those aspects are in a good place first rather than one upping the other for Nan Yu's love. As a result, Gao Han and Jiang Junsheng ended up as good rivals and Nan Yu becomes closer to Jiang Junsheng when she realizes that he is actually a good person.
— The ending theme
— The isekai twist :
I think the concept of both Nan Yu and Gao Han originally being NPCs from their respective games trapped in another game is interesting. I just wish we could have seen a bit more of the game which Gao Han originally belonged to.
— The costumes and the sets
Other thoughts about this drama
— Love and hatred can drive people to go through extreme lengths for their loved ones :
This thought exists because of Zhang Zhiran and Gu Mengqiu. Near the end of the series, it was properly revealed that Gu Mengqiu had been Zhang Zhiran's long-lost younger sister after all. And just like that, Zhang Zhiran's actions made sense to me, because I was initially confused as to why would he kill his own lover and later on himself even though it seemed like he had already achieved his goal. Then, it turns out that everything he did was to protect Gu Mengqiu, to erase all traces of her involvement in the murder case. It all started when Zhang Zhiran killed the Grand Marshal in order to save Gu Mengqiu from his harassment. From then on, Zhang Zhiran killed all the relevant witnesses, including his lover Feng Qianhong in order to protect Gu Mengqiu. Despite knowing that his sister framed him, Zhang Zhiran let Gu Mengqiu use himself to her advantage, and ultimately sacrificed himself in order to cover the real truth of what happened. It was because of his love for his younger sister that he is willing to sacrifice everything — even his own life.
As for Gu Mengqiu, despite using all means possible to leave town, she decided to stay after her brother's death in order to avenge him as she believes the main trio is responsible for his death. Because of her hatred for them and her love for her brother, she is willing to jeopardize her own dreams and plans that she had worked and yearned so hard for.
While one action isn't really better than the other in this case, it just goes to show how hatred and love can really drive a person to go through extreme lengths for their loved ones.
All in all, this was an enjoyable mini drama which was worth the time to watch. I had a hard time deciding between 8.5 or 9.0 for my rating of this drama but the plot reveal about Zhang Zhiran and Gu Mengqiu just made it shoot up to a solid 9/10 for me because I think that plot point ties everything up neatly that it gave a bit of an impact on me, even if the characters' actions and decisions can be a bit stupid sometimes and even when it felt like they were going around in circles trying to solve the mystery at one point.
That's all that I have to write about this drama. See you in the next entry!