Pretty Li Huizhen

Pretty Li Huizhen is a 2017 Chinese television series starring Dilraba Dilmurat in the title role, along with Peter Sheng, Vin Zhang and Li Xirui. The series is a remake of the South Korean drama She Was Pretty. It was first aired on Hunan TV from 2 January to 2 February 2017.

The series was a commercial success in China, ranking first in its timeslot during its run, and has over 7 billion views online.

Synopsis
Li Huizhen (played by Dilraba) was a pretty girl when she was young, but years of hardship have taken a toll on her physical appearance. Her childhood friend, Bai Haoyu (played by Sheng Yilun) was short and chubby, but grew up to be successful and handsome. 12 years later, Haoyu tracks down Huizhen to reconnect with her. They decided to meet, but Haoyu was unable to recognize Huizhen, he walks right by her & towards her best friend, Xia Qiao. Embarrassed by her looks and situation, Huizhen talks her popular stylish beautiful best friend, Xia Qiao (played by Li Xirui) into appearing in her place.

Things turn complicated when Huizhen lands a 3 month internship at a fashion magazine company, Immortal, she's been wanting to get into, but is disappointed when she finds out she is assigned to corporate support department. Later, through a series of incidents, she is transferred to the editing department, but finds out Haoyu is her new boss. Not knowing her true identity, Haoyu openly berates her clumsy nature, inefficiency and looks. Meanwhile, Huizhen's colleague, Lin Yimu (played by Zhang Binbin) falls in love with her unique nature. Xia Qiao also begin to develop feelings for Haoyu.

Huizhen, at first, wanted to go back to the corporate support department, but decides to better herself & learns more about the fashion editing department & becomes invaluable to the staff. Haoyu is surprised Huizhen has the same name as his childhood sweetheart, not realizing that is who she is. He finds the Huizhen he met is not the childhood sweetheart, he knew. Clues & behaviors of the real Huizhen seems familiar to him & he becomes unsure of his feelings toward who he thinks is Huizhen. Xia Qiao's feelings towards Haoyu becomes stronger & she betrays her best friend trust by making him believe she is the real Huizhen. Haoyu's feelings towards the real Huizhen becomes stronger & he becomes conflicted. Unknowingly, he becomes a love rival with Limu for the real Huizhen.

Limu tries to win Huizhen's heart, but she only sees him as a friend. He realizes she only loves Haoyu. He resigns himself to being her good friend. By accident, he also befriends Xia Qiao, not realizing she is Huizhen's best friend. Haoyu tries to push the real Huizhen away, but finds he is unable to because she behaves more like the Huizhen he knew as a child & he is falling for her. He is trying to stay true to who he thinks is Huizhen.

Main

 * Dilraba Dilmurat as Li Huizhen (a.k.a. "Charlie" [查理], "Baozhatou" [爆炸头])
 * Qu Zhihan as young Li Huizhen
 * A kind and caring young woman who the crew relies on for hard work. She cares deeply for Haoyu even through all the times that he's wronged her. Huizhen is best friends with Xia Qiao and considers her as her sister. Although she cares for Yimu as a friend, she doesn't reciprocate his feelings.


 * Sheng Yilun as Bai Haoyu (a.k.a. "Fatty Yu" [白胖宇], "Deputy Editor-in-Chief Bai" [白副主编] or "Lao Bai" [老白])
 * Zhou Baizhen as young Bai Haoyu
 * A strict and demanding man who treats his staffs horribly. Although Li Huizhen's clumsiness and klutz-like nature annoyed him at first, he slowly began to soften up to her and his staffs. He somewhat views Yimu as a rival, often feeling jealous when Huizhen's around him.


 * Zhang Binbin as Lin Yimu (a.k.a. "Diviner" [占卜者], "Aiden James")
 * An unruly man and jokester who's well respected member of the staff. He loves food and always asks Li Huizhen over to eat. Even though he is a prankster, he is very emotional, choosing to hide his feelings from most people. He has a special bond with Xia Qiao, bonding with her over the fact that the person they love doesn't love them back. He is in love and holds affection to Li Huizhen and is very protective of her. He doesn't like Haoyu, viewing him as undeserving of Huizhen.


 * Li Xirui as Xia Qiao
 * Zhu Nihua as young Xia Qiao
 * A fashionable young woman who works at a hotel. She houses with Li Huizhen and considers her as her best friend. Xia Qiao didn't expect herself to fall in love with Haoyu, but still does. She and Yimu often get together and talk about their loved ones.

People at Immortal Magazine

 * Ren Wei as Vivian
 * The Editor-in-chief who is very high fashionable woman.
 * Wang Xiao as Lin Hao
 * The Column editor, a carefree and laid-back worker who is known for his eccentricities and later revealed to be the chairman's son.
 * Wang Yinan as Zhu Ying
 * The Fashion editor and a highly respected worker who has been at Immortal for thirteen years.
 * Song Wenzuo as Lin Husheng
 * A kind worker and the help mode team who has a crush on Han Xue and later become her boyfriend.
 * Zhao Zihui as Ya Ling, the Beauty team
 * Wang Yifei as Han Xue
 * The assistant of the beauty team and a selfish worker who is looking for a rich man to marry, even already become Lin Husheng's girlfriend.
 * Hao Shuang as Lu Lu, the make-up assistant
 * Yang Yanru as Mei Li
 * A worker and the mode team at Immortal who is known for her obsession with Diviner, an anonymous author.
 * You You as Anna, the public relations team

People around Li Huizhen

 * Wang Zaihe as Huizhen's father
 * Su Xin as Huizhen's mother
 * Miao Zhongzhen as Li Huilin, Huizhen's little sister

People around Bai Haoyu

 * Li Dongheng as Eric, Haoyu's best friend who is Diviner’s manager.

People around Xia Qiao

 * Gu Kaili as Xia Huijing, Xia Qiao's birth mother
 * Cai Gang as Xia Qiao's father
 * Zhang Pingjuan as Luo Minli, Xia Qiao's stepmother

Others

 * Wang Chu as Department Chief
 * Zhang Jiayi as Gi Gi
 * Li Yunao as Pang Nansheng (the fat guy, eps. 1)
 * Yu Qing as Mike
 * Im Ho as Wang Xiao
 * Chen Saisai as Chen Fei
 * Gan Liying as Sis Yang
 * Mi Ya as Wang Shina
 * Wang Jiali as Han Ha
 * Li Dong as Bao Zi
 * Tian Rui as Teacher Zhang
 * Wu Qian as Clothing Store manager
 * Zhu Zicong
 * Long De as a countryside restaurant owner
 * Ge Xiaosong as President Ge of GIO
 * Bu Yaping as Store manager Xiao Li

Premiere ratings

 * Highest ratings are marked in  red , lowest ratings are marked in  blue