AleksandraSucur

I still haven't rewatched it, I am sure we can catch new clues - like you just did - each time we rewatch it. And if such details pop up only if a person is very attentive, that means the authors put a lot of thought into every singular scene.

If he plug it to avoid a pleural effusion and die suffocated, he can't breathe and dies. As simple as that.

his martial arts are not that great: in fights, he used his arms, his internal strenght in mastering the metallic fan with removeable posioned ribs from a sitting position.

He doesn't use his legs and when the palanchin was debalanced and he risked to be thrown on the ground, his "instinctive move" revealed he made use of his upper arts (again), catching a pole of the palanchin like a monkey, flying around the pole in order to avoid to touch the ground. Facing an attack with flying weapons, the first move of a fighter with normal ability to use and quickly reach a stability on his legs, would be to protect his face and breast using a fan as a shield, and wouldn't care to desperately maintain his stability on a trembling palanchin bc. such a fighter knows (subconsciously) that even if he lands on the ground - it's fine, it's just a simple jump. He can't do that, to me it looked like his degenerative illness affected his lower limbs as well as muscles of throat and upper thorax, like it happens to patients with ASL.

As for "levitation", images we've seen through Pingping's eyes were too distant, translucent and vibrant to be "truly physical" (his body feels different in last eps). They could have been a result of some ancient "special effect" (eg. his image painted on paper or silk hanging on a roof under a scorching sun) or even an image the girl created sensing his presence around. The heat itself produces optical illusions (mirages) and one can never be too sure what he or she sees.

You're welcome.
As for the PGB's reference above, I also believe Minghai is the Nether Sea but don't think the reason Tang Zheng doesn't cross it is due to his fear of the space between living and dead. He said he avoids ANY water, so the reason can only be: a) it is cool while he needs warmth and b) in case that palanchin capsizes and the water enters his tracheostomy - it will end directly in his lungs (people with tracheostomy cannot cough it back) - he'll die for sure.
I don't think details in this drama were shown just for show and he is not depicted in such a terrifying way only to create theatrics. His presence gave us a better idea what ZLY had to endure when lived as a guinea-pig of this twisted person, affected by a severe degenerative illness. We don't know why exactly he has that tracheostomy but we have a vague idea when it is required: when small muscles enabling the respiration and/or swallowing are paralysed for some reason (eg, neurotoxins, degenerative deseases of brain and nervous system etc)

yes, numerous poisons, esp. neurotoxins (many snakes, pufferfish... bc they mess with thermoregulation centre in brain) cause hypothermia, which is also an effect of certain hemo- and cardio-toxins causing hyperthermia first and later a sudden drop of body temperature. As ZLY also suffers from hypothermia after being affected by a hallucinogen (therefore, a neurotoxic - perfectly logical) poison, I think we are induced in this drama to think that one of the effect of poision in general is hypothermia.
And that we can also presume he doesn't touch water bc it is generally cold.

Beautiful

Looks interesting... I will, thank you. 👍

ok.

Found them! Unsettled Case has interesting synopsis but very low rating, small n° of people who've seen it, very few comments and zero reviews 🤔. I've seen Detective L (it is among those dramas I still haven't put on the list and rated) years ago, when I saw Miss S from the same Republican Shanghai period (I even remember you didn't particularly like Miss S).
Now I see that Narcotic Operation was already on my radar, we can try it when you're back in October. 👍Good luck for everything!

I'm passing directly to S2

Can't find the first two, maybe they are on MDL under different titles. I've watched Light of Dawn when it aired and got stucked at ep 5-6, not sure whether I'll pick it up or drop it in the future, the pace was too slow, as if the story was intentionally dragged and convoluted to make more episodes than needed and still lacked in providing proper hints.
The Light to The Night may be interesting but the investigation is in the present not republican era setting. I am not in a rush at all, currently I have dozens of historical classics I've watched years ago (and a few I haven't watched) to finally put on my list and properly rate. Last few months didn't offer much, so I thought it's better to rewatch smth I know was good putting it in order than to waste time. Don't worry, I won't complete them all before October and, once you're back, we can calmly decide...
Have a great vacation and good luck to your niece!

yeah, actually I am not a fun of mystic nine universe either, I've just noticed many of my friends watched it and some of them rated it well. As for Cases between Us, I was judging by the synopsis.
In investigative genre, which dramas got better ratings, maybe we can choose one among them and watch it together

I've checked both and neither grabbed me. Can't believe someone found similarities with this one and Silent Tides! They have practically nothing in common. Nanyang Archives looked promising, but alas... I've dropped even that one after a few eps.
Last good espionage/wartime story I was able to complete were the Guardians from 2025 I've seen only recently.
Cases Between Us looked interesting to me, but I still haven't check on that one, as I haven't on Mystic Nine. Have you seen these two, would you recommend them?

What you might have overlooked in Bancha-Puying dialogue in ep 9: that reference to Yuan general Köke Temür (aka Wang Baobao) as the owner of gold is clear homage to wuxia creator N°1, Jin Yong, rendered by the scriptwriter, adaptor and director of this brilliant drama. As in Gu Long's novel the treasure was a MacGuffin, it didn't really exist (novel readers, pls. confirm), Xu Bing thought "why don't I fill this small gap with Jin Yong?"

As I've rewatched Heavenly Sword And Dragon Slaying Sabre 2019 just three months ago, it flashed to me immediately. Wang Baobao there was a Yuan general with Mongolian name Köke Temür (interpreted by Sun Yifan), older bro of the extravagant FL Zhao Min (interpreted by Chen Yuqi) who loved her a lot but struggled even more to cover up for her and cope with the consequences of her jianhu hyperactivism. Fun fact is that this general was a real historical person (actually a member of Yuan imperial clan) and that their last fortifications were along the Hexi corridor westward of Gansu where this story takes place. Like Zhao Min who married Zhang Wuji ("Ming sect"), real Köke Temür's younger sister married, as primarily consort, the second son of Hongwu (the first emperor of Ming).

As a wuxia lover and a Jin Yong's admirer, I appreciated a lot this witty homage 👍And I loughed heartily at Pu Ying's difficulties to repeat "kuò kuò tiē mù ér" ("what, mr, mr?!" 😂😂)

I get your point, it must be distracting, probably even irritating for people speaking Mandarin. As I watch many Asian dramas, I am used to subs, but I remember a specific nerve straining feeling when I've watched Gomorrah in 2008 and later that year a series Romanzo Criminale, the first completely in Neapolitan and the second completely in Romanesco with subs. I've read original novels of both, great stories completely based on real persons and true events, but they were written in Italian with few dialectal words written in cursive and with the meaning in the footer... can't tell you how much those unfamiliar sounds and words discombobulated me while franticaly trying to catch what was written in subs in order to understand what the people on the screen was talking about...
But as a person who doesn't speak Mandarin, understanding less than 100 words, which I managed to catch in all these years, different accents in this drama add to my entertainment. I was so amused in today's Pu Ying-Ban Cha dialogue, recognizing certain Mandarin words like "shāle tā" pronounced by Bancha through the apocope of the final vowel (the apocope is so common in Central Asian and Caucasic languages, spec. but not limitedely those Turkic) and the Pu Ying's difficulty to pronounce "kuò kuò tiē mù ér" (what "mr, mr" 😂😂)... I've cracked despite not knowing the language 😂👍👍

I wish I've started today... instead of being roasted every single day with just one episode. But that stingy episode release make us think more about the story and all the subtle details we might have missed... You are coming fast where we are, remember I warned you 😂

Oh, you're welcome. If you read older comments here, other people noticed the same thing, mentioning other characters also speak with accent revealing where they come from (Futu, Bana... speaking western dialect, while Pu Ying speaks with "central" (Shanxi) accent coming from a region closer to the capital).
The production put a lot of thought and care in making this drama, we aren't all so hooked for no reason 😂

The instruments of NW of China would sit well with Ennio Morricone's genius and atmosphere his music was able to create. In Once Upon A Time in The West he used folk instruments such as harmonica and cimbalom (traditional cord instrument of Central Europe similar to Chinese yangqin but able to produce vibrant metalic sounds almost as a guzheng) mixing them with all sorts of orchestral instruments, percussions, electric guitars...

I've noticed a different pronounciation of these two, too, so I've asked AI, which replied "yes, Pingping speaks Sichuan dialect bc she is from the region where Tang clan (famous in Chinese wuxia literature for their poison skills) lived". Ban Cha is supposed to speak "northwestern" dialect as someone in the drama referred to him as a "Tartar" but I'm not sure how his lines are delivered, remembering Mandarin speakers criticised Vengo Gao's accent in Eastern Heretic and Western Venom in which he was supposed to speak northwestern dialect but he delivered it speaking with his (native) northeastern dialect and people said it would have been better if he was dubbed in that drama.
I am also curious what Mandarin speakers have to say about it, bc I have ear to distinguish different accents but can't precisely tell where it comes from...

My impression is that the fight scenes are intentionally "mediocre". Most of the fighting scenes were under the effect of poison, when the moves would naturally be uncoordinated, beside the fact her family members were not particularly skilled (her statement), she is ill and broken, Pingping is also a fragile girl, Pu Ying is clumsy and can't keep his nerves in check, soldiers aren't much motivated to fight... Two assassins (the dancer and the other one) from Futu's gang moved well, so I concluded the level of fighting skill was tuned to depict every singular character