Wu Lei and Dilraba Dilmurat Don't Give Fans Friends-Only Vibe, Here's Why

For GeSun stans, The Long Ballad main leads, Dilraba Dilmurat and Wu Lei (also known with his English name, Leo Wu) are still the ultimate couple goals in C-Drama. 

No matter what those antis say, Reba and Lei Lei are two actors who showed so much authenticity how they treat each other, how they shared common bond.

And just as some already losing hope to hear candies from them, recently, Dilraba candidly talked about Wu Lei and The Long Ballad, much to the delight of GeSun (Changge and Ashile Sun coupling name) supporters. 

Dilraba during the live stream for The Blue Whisper promo

 

Normally, celebrities never talked about previous co-stars in an interview while promoting a different project, especially if the interviewer won't prompt them to drop a name. 

Dilraba also once said she has short memory span about previous co-stars' details and what's happening on the set during filming.

Surprisingly, she made an exemption when she blurted the name of Wu Lei in her recent interview for The Blue Whisper. 

It stunned fans with Dilraba's straight-to-the point words because she is known with her conservative approach during interviews, and does not talk much about previous co-stars or filming details of previous projects. Unless when asked by a specific name.

However during this interview she was not asked to give examples 😄

Dilraba Dilmurat and Wu Lei during the live stream appearance in April 2021

Here's how it came out:

The interviewer asked her how immersed she is in a sad scene in her drama. She replied that she is always immersed on the sad scenes, and she cited an example in The Long Ballad scene (of all the drama filmed the past years, it's the TLB she recalled!).

According to her, one of the saddest scenes she had in TLB was the scene with the child actor, A Dou, who was her sidekick in the series. When A Dou was killed in the war in Suzhou and he blurted "I wanted to be a general when I grow up", and Changge could not do anything to help him and just watched him die.

She said that scene kept bugging her and stuck in her mind for so long and she always felt sad each time she recalls it. 

It was the same scene she and Wu Lei watched during their live stream in April last year where she also shed tears. It is amazing to hear that among all the drama she did for the past years, it's always The Long ballad she can recall.

Dilraba shed tears when they re-watched the scene where A Dou died

Then, as the interview went on, she was asked by the interviewer if she can accept modern drama projects with a theme that talks about a younger man falling in love with an older woman.

She confirmed yes, and remembered Wu Lei, noting that she and Wu Lei has seven-year-age gap and things feel okay, adding that it's the only age gap she can tolerate and can't go younger than Wu Lei's age, who is now 22.

It was not the first time Dilraba hinted about her preferences towards Wu Lei. During the live stream joint appearance in April 2021, she praised Wu Lei for being so mature, attentive, and caring and that his future girlfriend is very lucky to have him.

She also said that it felt like he is an older brother and not a younger one because "he will take care of your emotions". She was also surprised to see him quickly grow into a mature actor from the teen star she paired in the 2017 Bazaar photoshoot.

Dilraba and Wu Lei seem do not give fans friends-only vibes

A "Friends-only" vibe is a feeling where we don't feel anything between a man and a woman other than just purely friends. It's a situation where two persons (man and woman) have no warmth towards each other and there's no way to bring the "relationship" to the next level other than just staying friends.  

With Dilraba and Wu Lei, it was not the case, things seem very different. At least in my own opinion. 

There's something about the way they treat each other. The way they stare at each other. The way they speak for each other.

Of course for shippers who are strongly shipping real persons and not the fictional characters in the drama they starred in, assuming there's something between the two love team is always the sticking point, but Dilraba and Wu Lei seem like different, they do not give us a friends-only vibe. They are transparent that they treated each other special.

We have not seen them in one frame since May 2021, but when you try to look back at their live stream appearance in April 2021, it was easiest to see they were so engrossed in each other's presence. 

Like, at one point the interviewers kept prompting them that the live stream already started but they did not listen and continued doing things on their own, talking, comparing things on phone, and taking a selfie, laughing.

Taking selfie even if the staff prompted them the live stream already started

Reba also, in all her interviews, always showed her authentic self, giving honest answers and holding back what she thought inappropriate. 

She would give short description about male co-stars; for example Vengo Gao is serious and does not talk much, Zhang Binbin like a funny little brother, and addressing Yang Yang as "teacher", which is her usual description of a male co-star whom she's not particularly close.

But when she described Wu Lei, it was epic! A long description and a lot of praises, describing him as an attentive guy, very caring, his future gf would be so lucky, felt like an older brother, etcetera. 

And she repeated the words "your future gf will be lucky" in front of Wu Lei during the second phase of the interview. And she was also franked in describing him "handsome" when asked to draw how they would describe each other.

She also said they often talked about food and drink and where they have vacationed. And seemed very comfortable in Wu Lei's company. Even without saying anything, it's pretty obvious Wu Lei is more her type than any of her other male co-stars. 

Wu Lei on the other hand never see Reba as an older sister but a younger one. He said many times in his interviews that Reba tend to be more like a child off-camera and he is always amused when she screeched her seeing small insects.

When they were in one frame, you could tell they are genuinely close and have special understanding between them. They are comfortable sharing jokes, with Dilraba even tapping him many times, sharing laughter, and speaking to each other in a way we hardly understood.

Wu Lei seems so close to her too than any of his female co-stars. His eyes tend to sparkle each time he gazed at her and you could tell how much he cared about Dilraba and how much he gave her attention. 

For example during the live broadcast in April, in a portion where they were immersed in their drawing activity and Dilraba blurted it was hot in the room, and Wu Lei immediately asked the staff if they have extra fan.

Blowing fan on Dilraba while doing the interview

And it's not like they have to do it just for drama promotion-sake or Dilraba showering Wu Lei's praises for some marketing stunt to promote their CP, no it's not. Because you can tell when celebrities will do gimmicks and something stupid just to promote their drama. 

With Reba you could feel her sincerity. She had previous interviews promoting her drama and she always showed her authentic self and she has always been very honest with her comments. 

So all those compliments she said about Wu Lei came from her heart and not just for marketing stunt. Wu Lei too is very transparent the way he gives interviews and answers questions. 

He is always smart and one of the most eloquent C-Drama actors in the interviews. So all those comments he said about Dilraba are real and not because they are promoting drama.

Thus, they never give us those friends-only vibes. There's more than meets the eye. Their actions speak louder than words. Whatever it is, their fans only hope for the best.

Their supporters continue to hope for another collaboration. Yes, hopefully! But worry not, they seem keep on bumping to each other even without planning it.

In The Long Ballad, Wu Lei was not the first choice to play Ashile Sun but another actor. However, the guy got involved in a domestic abuse controversy, prompting the TLB production team to scrap him to avoid complication on securing an airing schedule.

In 2017, Wu Lei was also not a first choice to appear with Dilraba in a Bazaar photoshoot, but the original choice had a schedule conflict prompting the team to replace him with Wu Lei.

This article originally appeared in Thoughts and Writings