Character Relationship Map: SoulMate

Characters

• Li Ansheng (played by Zhou Dongyu) — protagonist

  Li Ansheng is a thirty-year-old working woman living in Shanghai. Her life is disrupted when a novel based on her youthful friendship with Lin Qiyue is published, and an accidental encounter with Su J...

• Lin Qiyue (played by Ma Sichun) — supporting

  Lin Qiyue is Li Ansheng's closest friend during high school. The two girls become inseparable and believe their friendship will last for life, but the pressures and cruelty of youth eventually send th...

• Su Jiaming (played by Toby Lee) — supporting

  Su Jiaming is a past love of Li Ansheng whose unexpected encounter with her helps unlock memories she has kept repressed. Although the story centers on the friendship between Li Ansheng and Lin Qiyue,...

• Ansheng's Mother (played by Meng Ting-yi) — supporting
• Qiyue's Father (played by Cai Gang) — supporting
• Qiyue's Mother (played by Li Ping) — supporting
• Young Ansheng (played by Li Haofang) — supporting

  Young Ansheng represents Li Ansheng during the formative school years covered by the story. Through her youth, the close friendship with Young Lin Qiyue develops, becomes central to both girls' lives,...

• Young Lin Qiyue (played by Cindy Yao) — supporting

  Young Lin Qiyue represents Lin Qiyue during the high school years when her friendship with Young Ansheng begins. She is part of the period in which the two girls become inseparable, build their belief...

• Jiaming's Colleague (played by Liu Beige) — supporting

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Ansheng's Mother → Li Ansheng (mother)
• Qiyue's Father → Lin Qiyue (father)
• Qiyue's Mother → Lin Qiyue (mother)
• Jiaming's Colleague → Su Jiaming (colleague)
• Lin Qiyue → Young Lin Qiyue (Temporal Adult Self And Youthful Self)

  The character list identifies Young Lin Qiyue as Lin Qiyue during the high school years when her friendship with Ansheng begins.

• Li Ansheng → Young Ansheng (Temporal Adult Self And Youthful Self)

  The character list explicitly identifies Young Ansheng as Li Ansheng during the formative school years later recalled in adulthood.

• Young Lin Qiyue → Su Jiaming (Youthful Romantic Interest)

  The plot says both girls have complicated feelings about Su Jiaming after he enters their lives.

• Young Ansheng → Su Jiaming (Youthful Romantic Interest)

  The teenage friendship becomes tangled with attraction after Su Jiaming enters the girls' lives, and Ansheng later goes looking for him.

• Lin Qiyue → Su Jiaming (Complicated Romantic Rivalry)

  The plot states that both girls develop complicated feelings about Su Jiaming, creating jealousy and confusion in their friendship.

• Li Ansheng → Su Jiaming (Romantic Past Love And Emotional Trigger)

  Su Jiaming is described as Ansheng's past love, and their accidental encounter revives memories she had kept repressed.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Young Ansheng → Young Lin Qiyue (Social Inseparable Childhood Friends)

  They first meet during military training at age thirteen and become inseparable while sharing letters, postcards, and a secret.

• Li Ansheng → Lin Qiyue (Social Lifelong Friends Turned Estranged)

  The plot describes Ansheng and Qiyue becoming inseparable as teenagers, later separating, arguing in Shanghai, and eventually meeting again.

Story Analysis

A lifelong friendship survives attraction, separation, resentment, and radically different choices without receiving a simple resolution.

Plot Progression

1. The Novel Mirrors a Friendship
2. Youthful Promises and Desire
3. Distance and Unanswered Resentment
4. Lives Disrupted by the Past
5. A Careful Reunion