AleksandraSucur

I think that, too, and already like schemings up to this point.

Btw., I've just found this info on wiki "Lychee was a favorite fruit for Yang, and the emperor had the fruit, which was only grown in southern China, delivered by the imperial courier's fast horses, whose riders would take shifts day and night in a Pony Express-like manner, to the capital. Most historians believe the fruits were delivered from modern Guangdong, but some believe they came from modern Sichuan."

I remember the original author from his other works, I've noticed he likes to use many historical details and/or gossips of the time and wave them into the stories he created. An additional pleasure for the two of us, who enjoy digging and discovering these details 🤓

I've assumed that N.C. Yang should be Yang Guifei... 😁Tnx for the confirmation.
I've enjoyed the first 5 eps very much, what are your thoughts?

Me too 😌👌

Me too. And I've enjoyed Tribes and Empires of the same director who also wrote the script as he did for TLDiC. That drama was just a bit too lenghty, but the plot was interesting and action and thrilling scenes already displayed his great directing potential.
I was very disappointed last year with his Legend of Heroes, but he has no fault for the bad scriptwriting in that drama.

It is indeed all about our tastes. I think it's less about our habits. Eg. when I was a child, my mom never bought grapefruits bc. she doesn't like their bitterness and sourness, while probably these properties make them (together with bitter Sicilian orange and lemon) one of my favs. I have no idea why I prefer these flavours or how I've developed such a taste, very different from my bro as well (who likes sweet and salty food). I also like very spicy food, independently of their origin.

what's the title of that drama, is it good?

All summer fruits are refreshing bc they mostly contain water. But there's smth with litchi sweetness that I find repulsive (I don't like sweet foods, beverage or sweet wines in general). Now, I've checked, 100g of litchi contain 15,2 g of sugar, compared to 6,2 g in 100g of watermelon (I mostly eat in summer), so, there's almost three times more sugar in a litchi than in a watermelon, which is also sweet, but still within the range of my personal taste.

But you're right about the cool storage and transportation, maybe Li Shande will invent it later in the drama. 🤓

So fun, thank you very much.

Question for Mandarin speakers. What is written all around the ML in this poster?

Maybe we should ask a Mandarin speaker what is written around the ML figure.

In first three eps I've seen, there isn't only a "healthy dose" of humour, but a "helthy dose" of a... masterpiece. It's truly on point in every aspect, the production covered every minimal detail such as the quality of paper to write on, the dialogues (the way of speech) totally conveys the geist of its (Tang) time (for the first time I can say: translators, you did great!), the costumes, the coquettish and somewhat clownish (Tang) style to represent female characters, the art department fully delievered the full immersion. The OSTs are also incredibly fit.
What to say about the cast? Imho, top-notch from the ML to the child actress who plays his daughter. Simply perfect.
Direction: since The Longest Day in Chang'an, I haven't seen any worthwile drama of this director. But here, he is again in the symbiosis with Ma Boyong's genius and I have a guts feeling they'll exceed all our expectations in every sense.

yes, kind, honest, dedicated - the best material for others to profit from

yup. I've never rated any drama with 10 points, but the first 3 eps of this one are all 10/10 and if it keeps going like this till the end... I'll be very very happy to assign my first "10" to this one

And the double save of the same man his brother in law drowned twice? I was literally dying 😂😂😂😂😂
He's knowledgeable and a fool at the same time, too fine man and too unlucky.

The drama seems to possess the same vibrant (although less dark) thrill of The Longest Day in Chang'an alternated with a good dose of humour and sense of absurd.
Litchies are probably the only fruit I dislike: wondering why would any emperor insist on getting it fresh (btw. it doesn't look so perishable in my supermarket) adds an additional note of that funny absurd I like very much in arts.

If I were younger, I'd pick Ma Wei.
And would be a mantis religiosa kind of partner

If I've expected a lot of sex in a drama, I wouldn't have watched hundreds of C-dramas, knowing such scenes are banned. I've explained it clearly: I've started the novel only when nonsensical things started to accumulate, not out of curiousity but just to know who to blame, and mainly skipping the intimate encounters between the leads, I find that kind of narrative pretty boring in general.
But, now that you've mention it, I can additionally point out that for an alpha person, a young and strong male, passionate and overflowed with stamina, like Wei Shao, full of resentment, traumas and constant thoughts of vengeance, it's more logical to develop such a deep love from strong physical attraction and bed bond than from a childish push and pull, clumsy flirting, pointless "touristic tours" etc., ie., in the ways their feelings were built up in the drama.
It is not me who has any preconceived idea, the political clash was the opening device of the (dramatised) story, we were introduced to the courts of various warlords and their political agendas, the marriage was political, with professional diplomats/advisors negotiating the terms, these things determine, in an objective way, the frame (and the genre) of the story and shape spectators' expectations. Then, the author(s) simply abandoned that frame and turned the story into a fluffy romance. This turn makes no sense, too, beside the things I've already pointed out. I'm fine if you don't find this genre-change illogical, but then I must think it is you who has a preconceived idea: nothing is wrong with a drama if it turns to be a "slow burn romance", which is evidently your preference and what you are after. I'm totally neutral towards romances: if they make sense, I'm fine with them and don't mind if they're slow or fast burn

Yes, "we're in Zichuan", which is not some lawless territory as it isn't Bei's, the author of the story set a perfectly logical power frame and follows realistic conflict patterns, that was my point.
Now, the stake is Yanzhou and we see what happens when a sovreignty over a dishomogeneous territory such as Yanzhou passes from one state to another due to an "international treaty" of "unconditional cession" of this territory, but it is still out of "on the ground" control and looks more like a no man's land than like a governed territory. These "realistic" chaotic traits make Yanzhou a perfect place for the ML to make some order and affirm himself

I respect all political opinions, don't worry about that: my statements on conflicts were generic, unoffensive and well-known (I'm a political scientist), while two examples I've mentioned have both domestic (pending court orders) and international law basis (for one, a conviction and imprisonment in the Hague, for the other, a warrant arrest issued by the ICC in Hague), so there's hardly any space for counter-arguments... 😌

I agree with you

if it was the emperor, he would have killed ZH right on the spot of his "confession".
The thirf man is so else