The flood of tears as death after death unfolded, the outpouring of grief of those around them, and the reveal of their backstory. Eps30-31 shatters my heart over and over, already knowing it would happen, and yet could no more stop myself from wishing time would slow down, and that those who love them, and by extension myself as a viewer, would have them with us for that much longer. The sight of fireworks had me in tears - the festivities a stark contrast to the loss that I feel; and the narration of each entry in Susu's diary breaks my heart all over again, It is a testament to the actors' on-point delivery that without even realising it, they have carved a place in my heart, and it hurts so much to lose them.
My suspicions were right with regards to the White-robed Stranger, though I don't think it was really ever any real surprise there. We now know about his relationship with his mother, and are given an inkling as to his actual plans, which has to do with Yanle itself. I suspect that he is actually another long-lost descendant of the Yanle royal family, and the meticulous plot over the years is to enable him to take the throne in the end. Still, just my conjecture for now... we shall see if I am barking up the wrong tree.
Love how deftly Advisor Ma is dealt with - especially by Yu Deshui, and later by A Shu. He is simply a small pawn in a massive chess game, and I don't think he is of any real threat, at least none that cannot be dealt with. The real threat would be as and when A Shu returns to Yanle. From the previews,
she has determined she would stop running and go back. A Shu has slowly come into her own, and is living up to her identity, her position - be it out of guilt, or to honour those who died protecting her. At this point in time, Yuan Mo is still not seeing any real character growth -even his decision to properly compete for the position of Sifang Envoy is very much rooted in his desire to be able to accompany A Shu back to Yanle, which is a disappointing development. From the previews, he came in 2nd place after An Xiuyi, so there goes his plans. I only hope that we will see him choose to rise up to be the man he can be, not because he cannot be parted from A Shu, but because he finally embraced a vision beyond his personal hopes and dreams, and cared for the greater good of the people.
6 more episodes left. I'm not ready for it to end.