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 Vya van Velaris:

And is ChiYan the same as Northern Yan? I look it up with Google Translate in case it's a translation thing, but the Chinese word for north is běi.

Northern Yan is the place where Mei Chang Su helped 6th prince become the crown prince - has nothing to do with Chiyan Army (the ones massacred in the first episode). 

 Vya van Velaris:

I mean, why oh why do we need to know all these 1000 characters in 2 episodes? I even had to look up our ML name when I'm writing this, because I just can't remember anything. (Okay, maybe it's just me.) 

Haha, I got confused about the ML's name too.  I knew his name was Mei Chang Su, but when he introduced himself as Su Zhe I was like O___O????  I totally forgot he was supposed to be disguised and that Su Zhe was his hidden identity name. ^^;;

 mengosteen:

they aren't emperor's kids. They are a separate bloodline - hereditary lords-governors of Yunnan.

thank you :)

 Thousand_Paper_Cranes:

Can someone explain the houses to me; They're noble families? So House Mu- Princess Nihuang & Prince Mu Qing probably have a dead?? mother who was consort to the king and they're not on the family tree as Mu Qing is too far back in the lineage and Nihuang is female?? or am I dim?? Idk what are spoilers on the tree so just spoilering that bit. 

House Mu, as @Meng said, is not biologically related with the royal family. They are in charge of Yunnan Palace / County. They're also in charge of an army of 100 000 troups, that are stationed in the Southern border of Da Liang, to deter Southern Chu (another country)'s advances. Princess Nihuang is currently in charge of the Imperial Mu Household (supposedly until her little brother becomes of-age). She also holds the title of Marquise General of the first rank and, if I am not mistaken, also is officially "the Emperor's Niece" (although not biologically related to him) -- that's why she's often translated as a "Princess".

^These are all in the first 2 episodes, so not a spoiler.

When I which political dramas, I always take notes of the revealing plot and make predictions, and sometimes they're true, so please forgive me if I make a prediction and it actually happens in the drama.

My thoughts:

Everyone wants this "Divine Talent" Mei Chang Su with brains.

Empress and Noble Consort Yue - we can see the rivalry between them and their sons because of the fight for the throne. It looks like Noble Consort Yue is more favoured since she helped the Emperor to his seat.

In Episode 2, things begin to unfold more.

So it is revealed that Marquis Ning, the father of Xiao Jing Rui and the residence where Mei Chang Su is a guest at, is actually working for the Crown Prince in secret. They also mentioned this in the drama, did Mei Chang Su live in Marquis Ning's house on purpose knowing the head of the house is working for the Crown Prince or is it just a coincidence? Also, why did Marquis Ning turn a blind eye to his 2nd son Xie Bi working for Prince Yu, his benefactor's enemy?

Prince Jing is highly unfavoured. Sad.

Grand Empress Dowager called Mei Chang Su "Lin Shu", the dead fiancee of Duchess Ni Huang. Could that be his real identity?

What is Lin family's history and Chiyan Army's history?

Revealed Xia Dong's dead husband is General Nie Feng was a result of treason by the Lin family and there was irrefutable evidence, yet Duchess Ni Huang, her best friend trusts the Lin family because of her relationship with Lin Shu. There is still that between them.

Anyhow, I didn't take any screenshots.

Episode 1 is confusing due to the many character introductions. Keep in context this was set during 6th century when China was very fragmented with many feudal states. During this time, generals tend to be very powerful at the court because the borders are unstable with enemies at every border. They are both needed and feared by the emperor because it is common for them to usurp the throne. The Mu family/Ni Huang control Yunnan, a vassal state to Da Liang where they are de facto internally autonomous. The emperor also needs but fears them/Ni Huang which is why he is so keen to marry her off now that her brother has come of age and can assume control. Marriage alliances are commonly used to secure the loyalty of both generals and high court officials. This is why Lin Shu/Mei Changsu's mother is the emperor's sister as is Marquis Xie's wife Grand Princess Liyang. Understanding these power dynamics and broad relationships will help in understanding the strategies and motivations that play out over the coming episodes.

If it is not clear, Mei Changsu deliberately set out to tempt Prince Yu and the Crown Prince to fight over him. He already established his kingmaker credentials as a strategist with the Yan state. His presence in Marquis Xie's manor is also not accidental and he is not there to be as incognito as he pretends. He let Fei Liu out to play (I cracked up at his insistence that Fei Liu is mild tempered) so that his martial art prowess would be noticed and deemed suspicious by Marquis Xie. 

Episode 2 when he sees his great grandmother again and she recognizes him as Lin Shu and remembers his engagement to Nihuang was the first episode that made me tear up. He almost gives himself away but thank goodness everyone but Nihuang was fooled by the word play on his name.

It is clear that the Lin family's treason was divisive and still in many people's minds. Why is Prince Jing so unfavored? We will see soon.

No worries, the first episode is so heavy with character introductions that it overwhelms the settup of the backstory - I had to watch it a few times to appreciate how meticulously it was all planned. It is the one place where the drama IMHO is the weakest and it discouraged me from continuing on my first attempt at watching.

So the party started when I was sleeping, great! Reading all your comments made me even more confuse than rewaching the first 2 episodes LOL 

From my point of view, everyone who try NIF for the first time complained with the characters introduction, too many, too early, it's very hard to keep track specially if someone is not into cdrama historical and subs doesn't help with calling a princess a woman who is not a princess. 

Being this my second time I had less hard time and it was very useful to refresh my memory on who is who and what side they takes in the political scheme. But I can't deny that as introduction, beside the first battle, the drama didn't do a great job. It's confusing like hell. 

Said that, I have enjoy the rewatch more than the first time, but the emotions  that I had are the same as the last time. 

1.  hyped for the first battle hoping in a great bloody revenge
2. confused and angry for the messy characters introduction and for a ML who is sick, that's means no bloody revenge, but political plotting (boring)
3. that FBI woman who lost her husband and that prince who come back after years gave me hope for a romance between them. I don't know why, but I had the same feeling last time I saw their no interaction scene.