Here are some patterns to think about:
1) Drama started with her in red running, drama ended with her in red running.
2) She was buried in that pit and she later buried the real Jiang Li in the pit. Both she and JL were dead together in the pit as the same person (SYR thought that was her when he dug up the grave), then she was acknowledged publicly as JL and when she was with Duke Su over "her" grave/pit, she eulogized herself AND Jiang Li.
3) The piece of music she played with her ex while she was alive was the piece he played at his death. Meanwhile she and Duke Su told each other stories and Chinese opera acts instead.
4) She shot out BOTH soft scholarly hands that whacked her and buried her alive with a shovel. Her ex had promised to keep her safe and broke that promise pretty spectacularly. OTOH, when the camera did show the Duke's hands, they were calloused by swordplay and they held on to hers tightly, keeping her safe. Her future husband kept her safe over and over again throughout the drama.
5) SYR was a lowly scholar below JL status. He chose power over her and in the final acts, he was elevated that he stood above her and Duke Su at the city gate. However, Duke Su started well above in status over XXF/JL and he enjoyed (as she had accused) watching "plays" from above. As the drama continued, he "came down" to be part of her play, as seen in the Drinking Game at the black market. They became equal when he told her he would be her pawn and to let him win the game for her. Also final scene, he was also in red, returning her equal.
6) SYR threw his flute into the grave, signal his abandoning her and their dreams together. XFF had cried over it but as JL, she buried it with the real JL. She had no dreams or past she wanted to remember at that point. But then came Duke Su's fan (haha). By the latter part of the drama, XFF had impersonated his fan action (at the gambling den), had used it to tap under his chin (as he'd done to her) and he'd thrown his fan at her and she'd caught it and in that scene, put it against her mouth (I see it as a nod to the kiss because that fan of his is quite an intimate part of his persona!).
I'll be editing and adding more as I rewatch the drama AGAIN! Hee.
