The Lament of Autumn premieres, with a micro-drama star as second female lead

The Lament of Autumn (玉簟秋; pinyin Yu Dian Qiu, the English title listed on TMDB), a 40-episode Republican-era romance, premiered on October 12 on Hunan TV (湖南卫视), the provincial broadcaster, and on its sister streaming platform Mango TV (芒果TV).

Cheng Lei (丞磊) plays Yu Changxuan (虞昶轩), the fifth son of the warlord Yu family. Xu Ruohan (徐若晗) plays Ye Pingjun (叶平君), a girls' school student who takes a job to pay her mother's medical bills and is caught up in an assassination attempt on him. The two strike a bet: he must find the real culprit within ten days. The series is directed by Ju Jueliang (鞠觉亮) and Wang Hui (王辉) and adapts a novel by Ling Xi (灵希), part of her "Republic of China trilogy" (民国三部曲).

Guo Yuxin (郭宇欣) plays the second female lead, Tao Ziyi (陶紫宜). Press coverage describes the character as a wealthy, headstrong heiress whose path darkens after a family upheaval. Guo is best known for the vertical micro-drama Sheng Xia Fen De La (盛夏芬德拉). A vertical micro-drama is a series of short episodes shot in portrait format for viewing on phones, usually on dedicated apps. That series launched on the Hongguo (红果) app on September 20, 2025, and had passed 3 billion cumulative views by early October, according to Qianjiang Evening News (钱江晚报).

Chinese entertainment media have framed the casting as her step from short drama into long-form series. The same coverage says audiences had praised her natural style in the micro-drama.