Love in Red Dust
Love in Red Dust is a 34-episode Chinese historical romance drama from iQIYI. It has no confirmed release date yet. It is adapted from a novel by You Si Jie.
Where to watch Love in Red Dust
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Is it worth watching?
No verdict yet. We rate a drama once it has finished airing and we have watched it through. How we rate
Fans of Pursuit of Jade and Story of Kunning Palace who like a light, bickering couple on top of a revenge mystery
The story, without spoilers
What to Expect
We haven't watched this one, and it hasn't aired. This section is based on the official synopsis, the trailers and the production's announcements, and we'll replace it with a verdict once the drama finishes.
iQIYI sells it as a light comedy romance, and the trailers lean that way: a girl in men's clothes hunting for odd jobs, a prince who plays the fool at court. Underneath is a case-of-the-week mystery and a long revenge plot. The two leads meet over a string of murder cases, work them together, and follow the trail to the corruption behind both their losses: the faulty weapons that got his army killed, and the charge that got her father executed. The September 2025 trailer also shows that Hongce is partly deaf, a detail that matters to the plot.
Director Chu Yui Bun (朱锐斌) made Ashes of Love, so expect a polished, good-looking production. Production designer Liu Shiyun built the prince's mansion, the river boats and the frontier pass as real sets.
Wang Xingyue led Story of Kunning Palace, and Xu Ruohan is the lead of The Lament of Autumn, which is finishing its run in early November 2026.
The Story
On Mid-Autumn night, the Fox General Yuwen Hongce rides into an ambush in Sailun Valley and loses his whole army. That same night, the official Wen Lu is accused of colluding with the enemy state of Wudi, and his family is destroyed. His daughter Wen Dingyi survives, takes the name Mu Xiaoshu, and hides as a young man working for an executioner. Eight years later her own life is on the line at the execution ground, and a prince steps in to save her. He doesn't know she is a traitor's daughter. She doesn't know he belongs to the imperial family that ruined hers. Love in Red Dust (红尘四合) is a 34-episode iQIYI period romance with Wang Xingyue and Xu Ruohan in the leads, adapted from You Si Jie's novel. It's finished and listed on iQ.com as Coming Soon, but there's no release date yet.
Release Notes
iQIYI co-produced the drama with several companies, including Strawbear Entertainment, and holds exclusive online streaming rights. It was first announced at Hong Kong FILMART in March 2024, filmed at Hengdian from May 16 to August 18, 2025, and has finished post-production. It has 34 episodes of about 45 minutes. Several release dates were reported during 2026, including early July and August, and none of them held. Hunan TV and Mango TV have been named as the planned TV channels. iQIYI has kept releasing posters and short videos through September and October 2026, and iQ.com already lists it as Coming Soon in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. We'll add the date to our calendar as soon as it's announced.
Does Love in Red Dust have a happy ending?
Nothing opens until you ask. The first step shows only the type of ending; the details come after.
Love in Red Dust has not aired yet. We fill this page in after the finale.
In Brief
Ending spoilerShow the ending in brief
The drama hasn't premiered, so there's no ending yet. The official synopsis says the pair expose and break the corruption plot at court and clear Wen Lu's name, so the central mystery gets solved. Whether the romance ends happily is something we'll answer after the finale.
Full Ending Explained
Full spoilersShow the full ending
The drama's ending hasn't aired, and we won't guess at it. We'll replace this with a full account once the last episode is out.
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Cast and characters
Also starring
- Yuwen Hongce (Wang Xingyue): an imperial prince who went to the northern frontier young and earned the name "Fox General". After the ambush he hides behind a cheerful, harmless act at court while he hunts the officials who sold out his men.
- Wen Dingyi / Mu Xiaoshu (Xu Ruohan): a high official's daughter who loses her family and survives on the streets as "Mu Xiaoshu", a boy apprenticed to an executioner. The production calls her the capital's hardest-working odd-jobber.
- Yuwen Hongtao (Chang Long): another member of the imperial Yuwen family.
- Bao Xiaoman (Chen Shujun): a supporting role; iQIYI hasn't published a description yet.
- Yue Kun / Wen Rujian (Cheng Hongxin): a character with two names, one of them carrying Dingyi's family name.
- Sister Hui (Marmalade Zhang): a supporting role.
- Wen Lu (Wang Yu): Dingyi's father, the official executed for treason.
The novel behind it
The drama adapts Hong Chen Si He (红尘四合) by You Si Jie (尤四姐), a romance novelist who publishes on Jinjiang Literature City (JJWXC) and is known for historical palace romances. As far as we know, the novel has no official English translation.
Differences from the Novel
Ending spoilerShow the differences
We can't compare yet. The drama keeps the novel's title and its leads, Hongce and Dingyi, and sets them in a fictional dynasty with the imperial Yuwen family and the enemy state of Wudi. The trailers put a case-solving thread and a light comic tone up front. We'll note what changes from the book once episodes air.
Novel Ending
Full spoilersShow how the novel ends
We haven't checked the novel's final chapters ourselves, so we're not describing them here. We'll add the ending once we can confirm it.
- Original title
- 红尘四合
- Author
- You Si Jie 尤四姐
- First published
- JJWXC
- In English
- No official translation that we know of
Words and customs you'll hear
The executioner's trade
In imperial China, executioners did necessary work that most people would not touch. The job was seen as polluting and unlucky, and was often kept within families. For an official's daughter, hiding as an executioner's apprentice is about as far from her old life as she could get, which is exactly why no one would look for her there.
Mid-Autumn night
The Mid-Autumn Festival is the holiday for family reunions, when families gather to eat mooncakes under the full moon. Setting both disasters on that night, his army lost and her family destroyed, is a deliberate choice that a Chinese audience will notice at once.
"Red dust"
"Red dust" (红尘) is a common Chinese phrase for the ordinary, noisy world of human life and its attachments, as opposed to a monk's withdrawal from it. The title roughly means life's crossroads in the everyday world, which fits a story about two people working through the capital's back streets.
Love in Red Dust FAQ
When does Love in Red Dust come out?
There's no confirmed date yet. Reported dates in July and August 2026 passed without a premiere, and iQIYI hasn't announced a new one. The drama is finished, iQIYI is still putting out promotional posters and videos, and iQ.com lists it as Coming Soon. We'll update this page with the exact date and time as soon as it's announced.
Where can I watch Love in Red Dust?
It's an iQIYI drama, so outside mainland China it should stream on iQ.com and the iQIYI app with English subtitles. When we checked on October 29, 2026, iQ.com listed it as Coming Soon in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Episodes aren't out yet, so we don't know yet which will be free.
Is Love in Red Dust on Netflix or Viki?
Neither has announced it. iQIYI holds the exclusive streaming rights, and its own dramas usually stream internationally on iQ.com, so that's the place to watch for episode 1. If a Netflix or Viki release is announced, we'll add it here.
Is episode 1 of Love in Red Dust out?
Not yet. As of October 29, 2026, iQ.com shows the drama as Coming Soon with no episodes. You can reserve it on iQ.com to get a notification when it starts, or follow this page: we add the premiere date and the release schedule here as soon as iQIYI announces them.
How many episodes does Love in Red Dust have?
34 episodes, each about 45 minutes, according to iQ.com and the production's published details. That's shorter than most big costume dramas, which often run 40 episodes or more. The release schedule, meaning how many episodes come out each day and how far ahead VIP members get, hasn't been announced yet.
Who is in the cast of Love in Red Dust?
Wang Xingyue plays the prince Yuwen Hongce and Xu Ruohan plays Wen Dingyi, who lives as Mu Xiaoshu. Chang Long, Chen Shujun, Cheng Hongxin and Marmalade Zhang (Zhang Zixuan) co-star. Chu Yui Bun, the director of Ashes of Love, directs.
Is Love in Red Dust based on a novel?
Yes. It's adapted from Hong Chen Si He by You Si Jie, a Chinese web novelist on JJWXC. The novel hasn't been officially translated into English. The drama keeps the novel's two leads, Hongce and Dingyi, and builds the series around a string of cases the two solve together. You Si Jie's other novels include Gong Lue and Suo Jin Ou.
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