Qiao Ling

"If you ask me, what has happened is inevitably what will happen. Amongst countless outcomes, Lu Guang sacrificed himself to save you. That fate is inevitable. "The past and future must not be changed."

— Qiao Ling to Cheng Xiaoshi, Episode 19 — Hostage

Qiao Ling (Chinese: 乔苓 Qiáo Líng) is the tritagonist of the Link Click donghua series. She is the landlady of the Time Photo Studio and a close friends to its owners Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang, watching over the two as they pay off their debt to her.

While not playing a very active role in the show's events until later in Season 2 where the story shifts its focus to things happening outside of the resident studio, she is still a core part of the show's centerpiece photo studio and a very present figure in the series.

Qiao Ling has an average build, light skin and dark brown eyes. She has black shoulder-length hair and front bangs that reach just above her eyes.

In Season 1, Qiao Ling's outfit consists of a tucked-in black undershirt, with a white short-sleeved dress-shirt worn over the top. The dress shirt is cut off to expose the black undershirt over her midriff, and has red and black stripes on the sleeves. She wears a red knee-length skirt with a full-length black skirt on top. The black skirt is half-circle, only covering her right side and revealing the red skirt on the left side, and is white at the bottom. In the main series, she wears a pair of black platform sandals and no socks.

In Season 2, Qiao Ling sports a white cuffed full-sleeved sweatshirt. The shirt has a cut around the middle to reveal red fabric underneath, and has a red stripe running along the length of its sleeves. She wears this with a black button-wrap pencil skirt. This skirt reaches to her knees and is asymmetrical, with one side of its length reaching down further than the other. In the main series. she pairs this outfit with white sneakers and socks.

When possessed by Li Tianchen, her eyes turn red and she is no longer in control of her body.

Qiao Ling is a lively, outspoken, no-nonsense individual who rarely hesitates to express what she's thinking or feeling. She takes guff from nobody, and can be quite quick-tempered, a personality trait most often brought out when dealing with Cheng Xiaoshi.

Although not one for beating around the bush, Qiao Ling is neither tactless nor mean-spirited. Instead, she frequently exhibits a remarkably warm and compassionate side to her temperament. More than once, she's demonstrated herself to be adept at soothing people through her gentle demeanor, with other characters like Cheng Xiaoshi and Li Tianxi finding comfort in her presence. She is also extremely loyal to her friends, seen in her willingness to follow Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi into the fray, as well as defend them, and look after them to the best of her ability.

However, while benevolent, Qiao Ling does have something of a tendency to run away from things that make her distraught. Such a habit can be perceived in her not coming forward in spite of having sighted a disappeared child, Doudou, and later in her reluctancy to confront Lu Guang about what she saw in his memories through Li Tianxi. Curiously, she usually shows no signs of this apprehension when it comes to facing immediate danger, such as a physical altercation.

Nevertheless, Qiao Ling is ultimately willing to take responsibility for her mistakes, remorsefully admitting to having withheld valuable information regarding Doudou's kidnapping to his father. She also jumps aboard very quickly upon learning of her two tenants' supernatural powers, indicating adaptability and open-mindedness.

Qiao Ling has the ability to possess others by using a photo of them. When doing so, she can see what they are seeing in the present and gains access to their memories. As Li Tianxi was dying, she entrusted and transffered her ability to Qiao Ling. She is currently unaware that this has happened, and has not used the ability since. However, she questions why Li Tianxi's memories flooded her mind suddenly and why Lu Guang has memories of Cheng Xiaoshi's death.

(To Li Tianxi) "I always saw myself as his big sister, but we're not that far apart in age. Now he's all grown up, and he's tall and strong. He is still impulsive sometimes, just like he was when he was a kid. But when he's up against all odds, there's no one cooler.”

(To Cheng Xiaoshi) "Your friend is so popular. Are you jealous?"

Qiao Ling's character color is typically represented as shades of pink or reds.

Her animal depiction is a pink rabbit.

According to her character bios:

She likes running, music, painting, gossip, and milk tea.

She dislikes dirty things and going slow.

Her MBTI is ESFJ.

Her birth flower is the Hyacinth.

As part of the Dream Out! anniversary album's story, she was assigned the Heavenly Virtue of Kindness.

As of Season 2, Qiao Ling, Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang have matching charms on their phones, with Qiao Ling having a white bunny, Cheng Xiaoshi a black dog and Lu Guang a white cat.

While never stated outright, it is hinted during the time she spent talking with Li Tianxi in Season 2 that she may be foster siblings with Cheng Xiaoshi.

Qiao Ling was on the track team in middle school.

Qiao Ling has been referenced in other media:

In Episode 11 of The Girl Downstairs, characters cosplay as Qiao Ling.

Qiao Ling and Cheng Xiaoshi have known each other since early childhood. They are extremely close, with Qiao Ling being Cheng Xiaoshi's first and, for a very long time, only friend. Despite vague implications that she had other friends beside him, she never abandoned Cheng Xiaoshi throughout the years and continued to stand by him. Being well aware of his loneliness and inner despondency, Qiao Ling used to perpetually worry about his welfare. These worries would later be alleviated by Cheng Xiaoshi making another friend, Lu Guang.

Qiao Ling considers Cheng Xiaoshi to be like a little brother to her, and holds him dear, even though she is often frustrated by his immaturity. This is best demonstrated by her habit of yelling and physically assaulting him when she thinks he has gone too far (though it should be noted that this is done in a comic manner, and he's never shown to feel threatened by her in any way). Be that as it may, she would never wish serious harm on him, and goes to great lengths to protect and defend him when she perceives the need. She is not afraid to accompany him in dangerous situations, and occasionally also offers him pieces of insight and wisdom. And beyond all his childishness, Qiao Ling does acknowledge that when Cheng Xiaoshi is against all the odds, there is no one cooler than him.

Qiao Ling is first introduced to Lu Guang by accident, with him walking past the photo studio, and her noticing that he is familiar with Cheng Xiaoshi. Curious, she invites Lu Guang to help them in renovating the studio. After getting a moment alone with him, Qiao Ling questions his intentions, and why he's interested in being Cheng Xiaoshi's friend. Lu Guang answers that he liked Cheng Xiaoshi's genuineness and naivety. As she later admits to agreeing with this assessment, it can be assumed that this was what ultimately won Lu Guang her favor.

Qiao Ling and Lu Guang's friendship is not conspicuous in the same way as either one's relationship with Cheng Xiaoshi, but there does seem to be a level of familiar fondness between them. She openly considers Lu Guang as the more responsible one, and generally goes to him when a task requires any kind of trustworthiness. Lu Guang seems to possess a similar view of her, indicated when he privately instructs her to keep Cheng Xiaoshi from doing anything stupid while he goes to the police. Lu Guang is also shown to watch out for her, as it was him who noticed Chen Xiao tailing her, and intervened when he assumed the situation was about to turn dirty.

Xu Shanshan is a close friend of Qiao Ling's, with whom she is frequently seen hanging out. The two appear to have roomed together in college. They trust each other greatly, as Qiao Ling promises to discuss the case of Liu Min with Xu Shanshan during a better time, and Xu Shanshan confides in Qiao Ling about her crush on Dong Yi. Initially, Qiao Ling is seen expressing mild frustration over Xu Shanshan and Dong Yi simply not getting over themselves enough to get together, and she is also the one to suggest that Xu Shanshan should seek help from Time Photo Studio.

When Li Tianxi is discovered in an abandoned store after having run away from her brother, she is turned in to the police, and subsequently comes across Qiao Ling. As she is unresponsive and withdrawn because of her trauma, Qiao Ling offers to converse with her through a method of drawing pictures. Calming Li Tianxi with a short story from her own childhood, Qiao Ling manages to get her to open up, and explain how her and her brother's powers work. Qiao Ling's patient kindness also causes Li Tianxi to quickly take a liking to her, showcased by her seeming to somewhat gravitate towards Qiao Ling afterwards. Tianxi is then insistent on accompanying her, along with Cheng Xiaoshi and Captain Xiao, when they are about to head off to the hostage exchange with Li Tianchen and Qian Jin.

Upon Li Tianxi suffering a fatal gunwound, Qiao Ling stays by her side to try and stop her bleeding. In the end, she is unable to do so, and Tianxi passes away in her arms. As her last words, Li Tianxi thanks Qiao Ling for everything, and transfers her ability and a portion of her memories to her.