Alysha Johnson

I already imagine the “biting” part is hard to act out. They also made CSS the one that request it so it would be weird if LBY bite her again. The drama LBY always gentle with CSS whereas the novel always a bit more possessive and raw. I would still love to see he got on his knees and beg though. Otherwise I thought he got it too easy~ I love LBY but he need to be on his knees. The drama CSS sacrifice for him even MORE than the novel CSS. I think drama LBY is too “passive” that he’s okay with her not forgiving him or letting her be with someone else. Meanwhile the drama CSS is more sad and mopey whereas novel CSS look more cheery. I’m a little dissatisfy with that.

I agree with you. I didn’t enjoy the drama ending because I was expecting certain scenes to show up. The drama also slightly alter CSS personality at the end so I’m not sure if it’s something I can get behind. If I didn’t know the novel I don’t think I would have these bias. It’s best to take a break to watch this with entirely new “eyes”.

In the beginning she was not insane, she faked it. But her mind deteriorate and she really became insane.
When they first came back they want to tell the Emperor LBY true identity and what happened but they got no proof. And they were afraid nobody would trust the Aunt's words. When Aunt was young - she was spoiled, naughty and probably lied so the Emperor don't have good impression of her. They are afraid that if Emperor don't believe her, and Ling Yi insisted that LBY is his own son and accuse Aunt of speaking nonsense due to grief, that would put LBY in danger. Ling Yi then can quietly kill LBY.

So Aunt act insane so that she and LBY can live separately from the main house, away from Ling Yi so he won't be able to see through that LBY is not his son. My speculation is that she fake acting insane so that LBY can be raise in the palace which is safer from Ling Yi than her, who has little power to keep LBY safe. Over the years LBY grew up and they lost their chance to ever coming clean with the Emperor because LBY features have changed a lot. She regretted it a lot and start going crazy, pouring the hot oil of revenge into LBY mind and ear constantly. Slowly she just lost it with some moments of lucidity in between. But she still sane enough to remember not to spill LBY secret.

I know I wrote a long essay about why I love LBY but seeing the trailer make me hate LBY again, especially some of the things he said. Still love the man but still hate what he did. I can’t make up my mind about. I love him but hate him, hate him but love him.

They need more than 2-3 episodes for LBY to make up for what he did to CSS. Yes I totally understand why he did what he did but that doesn’t mean he justify hurting CSS. I know our girl is kinder than she let on but LBY need to be kissing the ground she walk on. The only time I felt like LBY deserve any chance again with her at all was when he show the scars from YS arc but seeing the number of episodes I don’t think that will be included. If CSS easily forgive him I’m going to riot.

I’m feeling bittersweet. I’m glad we getting all the episodes but I’m sad it’s ending this week. I probably have to stay away from MDL for a while until I finish the series. Hopefully people are gonna still be around. I will miss the lively discussion we have here after each episode drop.

What 2 episodes~ I give it 15m max and for 10m of it is LBY telling them to break up.

To be fair, when Wu Lei answered this, he said if he is a girl he wouldn’t date someone like LBY because he’s too complicated and suspicious. For ZLS, she did say that as an outsider it may look romantic, but as CSS it was too heartbreaking to bear. ZLS personally said she would prefer love that is sweet than one like what LBY and CSS had.

Beside that you made a fair point: LBY was always the best choice for her considering CSS personality. She wish to live a carefree life like a nobody but she has a larger than life personality so she need a partner that can match that. Despite what LBY did he is the most capable of giving her the best life out of the 3. He’s powerful enough to give her the “freedom” she craves - simple life is not simple. And hardship is everywhere just in different form.

Good point.

I think he either got bought by Peng Kun, take over Tong Niu, earn the trust of the Emperor and continue to work for Peng Kun secretly. BUT I don’t think it’s his long game. The long game is to double cross Peng Kun - acting like he working for Peng Kun but waiting for a good opportunity to betray him so he can gain even higher merit with the Emperor down the road. If Lou Ben is smart he would already know Peng Kun is not as smart as LBY and their rebellion plan is doom to fail. A smart person can guess the direction of the wind, Lou Ben may be using the opportunity to use Peng Kun. I skipped this arc in the novel so idk the details, but for the drama, the biggest mistake is to sacrifice CSS’s father. I think this is a plot hole weakness because if Lou Ben was smart he wouldn’t have mess with CSS father and have LBY on his tail. OR the drama can explain it away by saying he got desperate and took a risk anyway.

I'm not surprised. Based on the limited interviews I saw of them, they both sound like very level-headed and logical people who are also humorous but hardworking and single-minded.
They both come across as ambitious and career-driven so I don't think they are as passionate with love, hence they can see LBY without the rose-colored glasses of romance.

Like what I always told my friends, "drama is the most enjoyable when it's not your own"

@Chido Moira Majaha have gave an excellent explanation. I just want to add one last thing.

Perfect explanation.
One caveat about the Grand Tutor Lou is that he was not clipping Lou Ben wings to protect the Lou family. In earlier episode, they had mentioned that there is a rule that state the court limit the amount of officials one family can have because they want to discourage cronyism where officials keep recommending their own family for positions. Hence, with limited seats Grand Tutor Lou want his own sons to get them over Lou Ben/Lou Yao because they are on his nephews. However Grand Tutor Lou sons are incompetent and has not achieved any merits or even pass the imperial test, hence they have been unable to achieve any important positions. Grand Tutor Lou don't want Lou Ben to get any position before his son because that mean his son will lose out on opportunities due to this limitation. So that's why he been pressuring Lou Ben not to accept anything when LBY was trying to get Ben a position.

Without any official position, Lou Ben and Lou Yao are actually living as "useless" people. They don't have their own money and is living at the mercy of Grand Tutor Lou and his wife. He pulled this scheme now because it's such a huge issues that the Emperor and the court CANNOT ignore him and not give anything, something so big that even Grand Tutor Lou can't refuse even with the "humility" excuse that he tried before with LBY. This is also the main reason why LBY was worry about CSS when she was engaged Lou Yao. Had CSS marry Lou Yao, LBY would have openly fought for Lou Ben so they can gain power over Grand Tutor Lou. Additionally, it's also the reason why CSS's mom was against Lou Yao and thought CSS was naive because due to Grand Tutor Lou, Lou Yao can't even dream of being a governor/official like he and CSS was dreaming about.

I just wanted to add a cultural context to the scene where CSS was blaming LBY about not being here for her.

That line that she said wasn’t meant to be blaming him considering how softly and pitifully she said it. She was being coy/semi-flirting to him because he just said something very romantic to her. Acting pitiful and whining to your lover to be coax is a type of flirting in some East Asian cultures and I think a few SEA cultures do the same. It depended on the tone of voice and how you said it. What CSS actually meant was “I’m not alright when you not here. I needed you!” And LBY understood that right away so that’s why he softly said that he will always be with her. If CSS really was blaming LBY the tone of voice and expression would be different.

I think some people miss this cultural context and think CSS was being unreasonable and childish for blaming LBY. There is no hint that CSS blame LBY for anything. The part where she insist on looking for her dad is because she was high on the adrenaline of finding her dad bodyguard dead. It was a lot to take. As soon as she learned what LBY had done she immediately calmed down.

Can I add a cultural perspective here. I don’t think CSS was seriously “blaming” him because of her tone of voice and the way LBY responded.

They were kind of semi-flirting. She was acting pitiful and jokingly “blame” him so he can coax her. The dialogue isn’t meant to be taken at face value. The idea of “whining” and being “coax” by your lover is a common type of flirting in East Asian culture. The reason why it’s flirting is because you can only ever expected your lover to be there for you and whine to them when not there. You can’t really do it with your parents because it’s unfilial. You can do it to your friends but the tone would be a lot more harsher and more laugh out loud kind of joke. So CSS was definitely flirting and LBY just took the hint.

In a roundabout way - what CSS actually meant was “I’m not alright when you not around. I need you.” Hence LBY answer “I’ll always be with you!”

sorry i don't know.

I just want to get this off my chest. I love LBY so much!! I don’t care if I get drag for being a LBY apologist, but I just love this character so so much. My heartache for him whenever I think about the life he had led. I used to hate him for what he done to CSS but now after rereading the novel and rewatch the series several times, my heart is just full of pain for him.

He remind me of this Confucius saying “before setting off on a path of revenge, dig two graves. One for your enemy and one for yourself!”

By setting on the path of revenge, LBY already set his life for doom. For something that happened to him when he was only 5, it already decided his destiny for him. By 5, he had already paint his life the color of revenge, when most kids are out there throwing tantrums and skipping rocks, LBY was fighting for his life.

For him, it just didn’t end that night. Revenge was not his only goal, it’s his only hope for living and survival. Not only did he saw his family massacred, their bodies dismembered, he lost his identity that night with no way to prove it. He lived his life trying to become stronger to take back his identity and to seek justice for those who died, but he did it with no one he can trust and no one who knew who he really was. He was unable to trust because it mean life and death to him, and he saw first hand what betrayal did to his family. He learn to read people intention, be suspicious of everyone and plan for everything because that’s how he can keep himself safe. What an agonizing, toxic and lonely way to grow up.

In the beginning of the drama I always felt uneasy when LBY was on screen. I thought maybe WL was just stiff, but after watching to ep.41 and rewatching the earlier episode I understand why. LBY in the earlier episode was rigid and stuffy. The uneasiness I felt was because it was suffocating to watch him. And if you think about how he grew up and all that he is keeping to himself, it is a suffocating way to live. The biggest irony to me about LBY was that in the beginning he came to us like a glorious young man basking in the limelight of power and prestige but the truth is he is a dead man walking whose shadow is twice that of the light that is shone on him. A man who is on the path of revenge is already half way in the grave because he was always ready to die for it.

Then he began to change when he met CSS, he found another reason to live, another light in this pitch Black Forest. LBY always use his softest and gentlest voice to speak to CSS, as if he worry she going to get scare away. He began to change little by little and dream of a life with her. But alas life is cruel. For someone who got it together for so long, the weight of the world became too much to bear and his string of sanity just snapped. He was a dead man walking and the grave called for his name. It would have been better if he was dead but he didn’t. He still alive and therefore he can still feel - the pangs of regrets. He achieved his goal to only lose the only thing left that matter. He slept every night dreaming of what could have been. He dreamed of a different life. What if his family never got massacred? He would have grew up happy and bright as the youngest son of the glorious Huo clan. He would met CSS, fell in love and confident ask her hand for marriage. He would be free to love her endlessly without the weight of the world and be good to her. But alas that was not his life. Destiny had something else in store for him since he was 5 and he chose his path. Now he can only lie in the bed he had made. If only.. if only…

First time I’m so obsessed with a drama. I watched every new episode twice and rewatched some favorite scenes again and again. I have rewatch the series from the beginning 3 times already. The subs on YouTube channel is better than the one when the episode release. I’m even camping here everyday reading comments and even rate every episode when I rarely ever rate dramas. This is the first time in my life I’m doing this. I’m going to be so sad when this drama end. I wouldn’t mind it going to 80-90 episodes. How can it fit the rest of the story to just 14 episodes? There’s still so much.

Anyone dying over the latest bts scenes?

The bts clips are so much sweeter than the actual scene and they are giving me diabetes and I love it. It really add an extra layer of enjoyment to this drama for me

Anyone in that palace is in the “serving” position to the Empress, and is her people. Even her own sons and daughters “serve” her. That’s what I meant. CSS isn’t a “servant” persay but she ended up doing many things a servant/confidant of an Empress do. She also learning from the Empress that establish a teacher-student relations, and hence a student is always at a “serving” status to the teacher.
The Madam Wen Xiu didn’t elaborate because it’s a minor conflict that the novel didn’t find worth exploring since it already has other plot lines. As for Eastern palace - the plot line will play out by itself with its own consequences.

the people was talking about overthrowing the Crown Prince, not the Emperor.
And the other half of the pendant contain the pendant "women" which is a very common character in a girl name, so it's not easy to find out it's CSS. It was explained in the novel but not explained clearly in the drama.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3XmzichzzA

It's a letter from a poem. It mean a beautiful lady.
When the jade is broken, the "women" character was broke off from the word, hence it become "rourou".