Alysha Johnson

Dancing on the bridge? You meant from the drama?

Ironically you call that a "secret". But is the "marriage news" a secret? Everybody in the town knew about her marriage news and yet she hesitated to tell Ye Xian. Even his own sister say "I'm worry when YeXian finds out". How many people knew about GJZ past exchange with CXQ? Why do you think it was kept on a down low? Funny why you don't take into the setting of the story. If ML was such a jealous man, why don't you see him acting jealous with Ye Xian when FL repeatedly put herself in danger to save Ye Xian.

Didn’t she do the same trying to explain to him? Idk why you made the male lead so horrible when he need some time to process the situation. Your wife and your nephew - it’s definitely a shocker however you think about it especially when no one told you and you have to find out yourself. He is more mad at the nephew for acting unhinged and putting the FL in danger by ruining her reputation. He told her he’s not mad they used to interact but he’s more upset she didn’t reach out to him when the nephew gave her a hard time. If she had told her earlier he would have take care of the nephew and she didn’t have to deal with him alone.

Are you talking about Ye Xian that she was too afraid to tell him she going to get marry?

yeah too bad it's only his POV in the first life. I would love to know how he think in the second life.

I agree but it depends on how you define smart. The FL is not "OMG she's so smart" in your face. She's a very reasonable, and sensibly smart for her AGE and her position in life. For example - she's quite people smart. She know who she can be tough to, and who she can be soft to. She know business, she observe, and navigate family life. She doesn't understand all things politics given her station in life, but she's a good partner. If you team up with her and explain to her your position, she will help you with what she know and capable of. But I think the "smartest" thing about her is not that she is NOT rash. She's not going to act "smart" if the ML or other characters tell her it's dumb. However, in the beginning when she navigate her family life, she was a little impulsive. At that time though her action make sense, but later on when she think back on it, she admit she should have been smarter, and she thought too simply.

Count me in. 3 Weeks already. Everyday man, I keep rewatching clips and re-read the novel.

A lot of Cisha previous roles are martial art based. He play as ML in Legend of Condor Heroes, and his previous movie he starred next to Jackie Chan. Dude seem more like a physical/martial art actor more than a romance actor.

I'm biased. It's similar to Splendid Match with the courtyard fights and political intrigue. Personally I find the chemistry between FL and Cisha much better (although his character is an unhinged red flag). And the main couple has the "sibling" ick vibe, they thought they were and hang out together to later find out they not, but I can't quite get over it. So yeah. I much prefer Splendid Match for the romance, but that just my taste.

I watch Rise of Ning, but really speed forward most of it tbh. I found a youtube clips with just scenes of Cisha and Renmin and watch that. I'm watching their clips on Youtube short everyday now. I'm so obsessed. I already reread the novel for the 3rd time, their part only ofc.

I’m so surprised some people here find GJZ and Sanye liking each other too sudden. They literally has spark on their very first meeting. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him and he kept looking at her when her cousin drag her off. They literally has chemistry from the beginning. First - Sanye save her from drowning. From his POV frankly she should have die because she witness one of his biggest crime (murdering a prince). But he freaking save her. Secondly, he indulged her when she used him to scare off her dad. He literally has a soft spot for her from the beginning. And then the back and forth mind game they have with her sending letters out assuming him to intercept. This already establish they are on the same mental wavelength despite being very different people. Sanye was lowkey jealous when she send gifts to congratulate CXQ and his brother passing the exams. He literally told his friend/ advisor early on that seeing her so wary of being misunderstood makes his heart ache. Whenever he look at her he always have an amuse/ intrigue face. All of that happened before his realization of his feelings in episode 9. And in the same episode she realized he have save her so many times. It makes her ponder but she didn’t indulge in the feelings because they have a big social gap, and by then she already experience the disappointment with CXQ so she not as naive anymore. I think with these two, their feelings are like ice berg under the sea. With GJZ never actually allowing herself to realize it. Instead she just accept the fact that this powerful person just somehow is very caring and considerate of her because he is just THAT nice. So nice he fall off a cliff with her just because. Like girl come
on.

I finish this two weeks ago and I’m still so obsessed with GJZ and Sanye. I’ve rewatch the series and reread the novel. I need an intervention.

15 and he’s late 20s or 30. There’s a 3 years time jump so she’s 18-19 and he’s maybe 32-33?

frankly yes and no. I read the novel after watching the drama and couldn't get over the two leads. So I speed run the novel to get the gist of what's going on. I really read it more carefully after the two leads got marry. But this is coming from a person who generally don't like to read so take it as you may. I think the drama is better than the novel, when it come to a lot of the family and political conflicts. Drama merge several storyline together and build a better foundation for the main two leads. In the novel the leads learn to love each other after they got marry, but a lot of that is from the lead's own thinking and you can't really make a drama with just voice over. A lot of their interactions in the novel can't really go on screen if you know what I mean. So I understand the change. Also the novel carry more of the patriarchal context and the ages of the leads really make me uncomfortable when I read it, especially when it talks about how the ML met her when she was younger. The drama make the FL older and the ML younger so it easier to stomach.

to be frank I skipped a lot while reading the novel. But regarding her brother the gist I got was that she blamed her stepmom for leading her brother down the wrong road. Her brother is much younger than her. So when she return, he is barely 10-11. This time she determined to get involved way earlier so he would not turn out that way.

The novel is about rebirth. In her first life, the FL did not care or remember ML at all. In her second life, because she knew they would get marry, she pay attention to him and notice how handsome/ attractive he is. It's also when she realize that this man has always been protective and caring to her in her first but she just didn't notice. When they first got marry, she decide she own him to at least have an open mind. Eventually she really fell in love with him and realize she cannot live without him. She said to herself, it's really hard NOT to fall for him.

mydramanovel, you can also just google the show name + Novel

that's the least icky thing about him.

The last 5 episodes were too rushed but the slow burn romance was done right. I felt so discontent that I start reading the novel. I would say there’s a lot of sexy time in the novel that couldn’t make it to the screen but a lot of the cute time on the screen wasn’t in the novel. I’m content now and will rewatch this again. The chemistry is off the chart. I’m not a fan of age gap but these two pull it off so well. This drama was not on my radar neither are these two leads but I saw short videos of them on my YouTube. At first I did not like the ML look because he just look too old. But as I watch the series he looks just right. Not old, not young, but mature and sexy but not sleazy. Yes maturity is very sexy. Im glad to know the two leads are only 2 years apart in real life. The two energies are like yin and yang. Beside their looks their demeanors are so fitting. I especially love how the actress play the FL. She has that unrestrained spunk but not stupid. She has a firecracker personality and spark but know when to show restrain. I especially love her facial mannerism. How she can be childish/ bratty to the ML after marriage but also emotional and supportive. ML is almost too perfect 😂 so I’m glad he had a jealous arc. If he didn’t I would feel a bit discontent. I like when ML is a little jealous as long as they not toxic about it. I also like the 2nd ML. Is he a red flag? Yes. But as a character I like him. He’s the yin to our ML yang. I really like his relationship to both leads, how he support ML in his scheme, how even in his brattiest moment when the ML call him out during important time, he put aside his jealousy and he listen. His “domestic violence” tendency is a no-no though so I’m glad he didn’t get the girl. You can’t be violent and get the girl no matter how cute you are. But as a character I like what he added to the story. The politics are decent enough to create momentum to push things forward but not too draggy and too twisted to understand. I also like how they changed the stepsister story, and give her a growth arc. In the novel she was just too one dimensional. I’m glad the two sisters have each other back in the end. Overall I feel this is the “lite” version to Ming Lan, but I love the ML here more than ML simply because I like the actor here more.

Actually I understand why they gloss over him being a widow part because usually audience don’t like when the ML already have had partners. But because of the big age gap and historical set up they have to say he’s a “widow”. Otherwise it would make no sense for him to not get marry by 30. It’s actually a negative social point for the men to be too old (never married), because it implied there’s something wrong with the man. In the drama, they glossed over it because they want the audience to conveniently forget. ML only married his ex wife for two years before she passed. And he didn’t want to get “remarry” is conveniently implied as him not seeing anyone else fitted to marry until our FL. But to satisfy your curiosity the novel did address the ex wife a little bit, and has a side story on his life with the ex wife. She’s one year younger and it was an arranged married when he was 16 and she was 15. He don’t have any feeling for her but they were cordial. She even gifted him 3 concubines and he didn’t like that because he didn’t like the temperament of any of them. In the novel they were married for 10 years. He “mourn” for her for 2 years because it’s socially required to mourn for your wife for at least a year. In the novel he did it for 2 years so his mom could back off trying to get him remarry too soon. And he wasn’t interested in romance or women. He found them burdensome. In the novel the nephew is actually his own son. In the novel FL had a rebirth. In her first life when he found out he wasn’t outright mad, but understood her and even try to win her affection. He was patient and give her space, very protective of her but she didn’t care for him. He put a lot of effort in throwing a lantern festival at home because he thought she love festivities (although he prefer quiet) but realized she still love her son. During the festival her son create a flowing river of paper lantern for his wife, the our FL picked up one to keep for herself. ML saw the lantern on her desk, wet and dirty, and realized his whole effort didn’t even amount to one dirty lantern. So he gave up trying to win her over. In her second life, she was way more affectionate and love the ML when he found out. And they had angry make up sex then she told him everything from her perspective. He understand her and sent the son away. He sometimes was jealous when he saw the son/nephew around her. But she called him out saying she felt the same way about his ex wife, how he lived with her and what he did with her. He was glad she’s just as jealous as he is. So he told her about his past and they both got over it.