Co-founder of the Time Photo Studio, Cheng Xiaoshi has a strange power: thanks to Lu Guang, he can enter a photo and take over the body of the person in it, reliving their next twelve hours. With his partner, he takes on missions for clients who want to understand a moment of their past.
Personality
Spontaneous, generous and often impulsive, Cheng Xiaoshi cannot bear to see someone suffer without stepping in. This empathy pushes him to break the studio's golden rule: never change the past.
Powers & abilities
He embodies the person in the photo and lives the scene from the inside, with its sensations and risks. Lu Guang guides him from afar, but Cheng Xiaoshi is the one who acts, and every deviation can have unpredictable consequences on the present.
History
The studio's missions start as simple investigations: recovering a memory, uncovering a secret. But by putting himself in other people's shoes, Cheng Xiaoshi gets swept up in the dramas he lives through, and a case tied to a series of crimes plunges the duo into a far more dangerous story.
Relationships
Lu Guang is his partner and best friend, as calm as he is impulsive. Qiao Ling, their landlord's daughter, handles the studio's clients and finances and looks after them like a big sister.
Key moments
- His first dive into a photo, which sets the studio's rules.
- The missions where he cannot help wanting to change the past.
- The investigation at the end of season 1, which shakes the duo.
In the adaptations
Studio LAN's donghua, airing from 2021, was a worldwide hit, praised even in Japan, where it was dubbed and inspired a live-action adaptation.
Did you know?
- His name, Xiaoshi, is written with the character 时, meaning "time".
- Link Click is one of the few Chinese series broadcast on Japanese platforms with a full dub.
Our take
Cheng Xiaoshi is the beating heart of Link Click: his compassion makes every mission devastating. We watch him make the same mistakes with growing affection.
— Spidermas, for Donghua Fan