JJJ

Yup, a lot of the times the boldness FLs have against MLs is because the script has already decided that the MLs have a soft spot for FLs already and that the FLs is already special from the start.

Jiang Ci's actions during the first 10 episodes have all been to save her own life and stop harm from coming to others (within the knowledge she has). If it isn't Wei Zhao trying to end her, it is her knowing she did be executed if Teng Rui dies.

Plus, she also doesn't know Wei Zhao's position then (whether he is "right" or "wrong"), she can't just let other regular citizens die especially when she knows her revealing the truth would prevent a war. Jiang Ci is like this from the beginning and continues to do so with the famine survivors, Ayan, etc. She sees and thinks of the people that someone like Pei Yan (and Wei Zhao then as he is more focused on Yue Luo over people from these other states) might not care about (atm) and that's what makes her character great. Aka she sees the "little people" beyond just pieces that make up a state/nation.

Jiang Ci is probably the first person who acknowledged and praised him as someone who shoulders such heavy responsibility and how he is amazing for it because not everyone can do that (his mom for example just says it is his role as the heir of Pei family and I don't think any other women would have that boldness to have such deep conversations with him then). I forgot the episode number, but it was during the birthday banquet when they had that convo under the stars. That speech Jiang Ci said to him made him tear up and you can see he became really attached after that.

Pei Yan essentially just doesn't want to let go of the one person that acknowledges/praises him directly and so sincerely. Jiang Ci viewed him as a "good person", and he relished in that.

Jiang Ci is also "refreshing" in the sense that she seems so sincere and full of love unlike him who grew up in a stressful environment and had to constantly plan 10 steps ahead. She is basically the first one to "see" him.

He feels "good" when he is with Jiang Ci so he doesn't want to let that feeling go and even want to keep her in a cage like a bird so she can't go anywhere else.

He did underestimate her thinking she won't uncover the truth about Teng Rui. He was shoooooook.

Tbh she did save lives in the sense that it prevented an all-out war between Wei and Liang state. Regular civilians would have died. Pei Yan also did say if Teng Rui was dead, both him and Jiang Ci would have been executed so she was also saving herself.

Lmao yup. I think that's what is great about this drama too. None of these characters could see into the future and made decisions in the present they thought was the best and to their current knowledge.

A lot of these drama tend to have characters do things like they knew what would happen later on in the script.

Random ML who usually has a bad rep/ruthless suddenly decides to save random FL because gasp... the script said she is the FL. Random FL stands in the middle of stairs blocking the way with wind blowing her hair in that exact moment because gasp... the script said random ML was secretly watching her and fell for her then LOL. Just a lot of examples.

I think the He dad will be more of a problem tbh. The He son is horrible and did so many bad things to the women but what he did to Ayan was also part of him being calculative. He thought him doing that to Ayan = Ayan would run away or end up tied to him so she can't make the military equipment fire case any bigger. He did also say he will do anything to protect the He family/his dad. Now He dad still got something on the Pei family so I am sure he will probably still be around to cause problems.

This drama honestly has pretty quick pacing. I think back to the past 18 episodes and sooooo much happened. There is so much plot AND character development. I am so used to some of these drama having filler episodes where nothing major happens for 5+ episodes except for ship moments but there is literally something happening in every episode here.

Lmao Jiang Ci was raised in the mountains after all and loved/protected by her master for years, so she doesn't really have "fears". Her contact with death before coming down the mountains was just her cat, so she is very blank slanted in a way. Good thing she is flexible though and willing to change/adjust with new info.

Her boldness enabled her survival because had it been some regular person... yeah, they did die already. And like her master said, she is like a loach who can survive anywhere and a cat with 9 lives.

Yup!! I dislike it when people are so harsh on female characters because I feel like a lot of it are projection. And these same people then forgive the male characters easily or aren't as harsh on them.

At the end of the day, I am not in this story, and I am not the character. I can shake my head at some decisions but also recognize it is because I know more as a viewer while the character in the story don't have the same insight. Had Jiang Ci known her revealing the Teng Rui incident might have led to the butterfly effect of these deaths, I don't think it is likely she would had made the same choice (probably would try to find other ways). Just as Wei Zhao probably won't be stabbing Jiang Ci in the first episode if he knew he did fall for her LMAO.

I think they don't want to focus on the trauma for too long. I think a lot of drama sometimes when it comes to these topics drag it on to the point it almost feels like trauma entertainment.

I am the opposite because I actually liked that they didn't focus on the aftermath as much. We all know what happens and what the aftermath usually is (especially as women) and sometimes, people just want to see the "victory" (even though it might be unrealistic especially for this being historical time). They just want to see the women coming together and being able to win.

Your point is valid though, and I can see why you would want it to be explored more, but I also get that this is not a drama that is meant to focus on this for more than 2 episodes when they got a whole war plot to get to. 😂

Also we gotta remember there are also censorship rules.

I think the only people who don't get Jiang Ci's character or her POV are those who are too in Wei Zhao's POV. Because as viewers who can see perspectives of all the characters, it is easy to get their motives and actions.

As someone on C-side has commented before, FL might seem "annoying" when you are standing in ML's position, but ML is terrifying in the beginning when you are standing in FL's position.

Jiang Ci only survived mainly because it is said she had a super healthy body to begin with when as she was living up in the mountains with the fresh air + variety of herbs/plants. She could had easily died if she was any physically weaker in the beginning and Pei Yan didn't decide to save her to use her. I give grace to all characters in the drama since I try to get their POV but Jiang Ci for me is above all the other characters. She didn't ask to be involved in any of these political fights to begin with.

Also just in general as a woman, I will also put the female characters first LOL.

Yes, and it was said Li Landi was chosen for the Jiang Ci role because they saw her role as Yetan from The Starry Love.

LSTT is a pretty old novel (2009) so it could had been adapted way earlier. But it seems like all the pieces came together and they got the cast they wanted for this drama.

CRYING, sharing a funny comment. In the beginning of the drama, Pei Yan has his hair up while Wei Zhao's hair was down. As the drama progresses, Pei Yan tends to have his hair down more while Wei Zhao has his hair up more in a bun. C-netz are cracking jokes that they each thought Jiang Ci liked each other's hairstyle more, so they swapped. 😂

Their turning point. 😞

Hehe, they are SO CUTE. Glad we moved on from the enemies phase.

I feel like that highlights the difference between him and PY so well. PY straight up said "I treated you well so you should trust me" like JC is some fool who should just follow his orders blindly. At least JC definitely knows the good/sweet things WZ has done for her (and purely due to affection), she is observant after all. 😊

Yes haha, she got shy. 🤭

I hate that they translated that line wrong too!! JC actually said, "You squashed me to death". It sounds more playful. 😂

It was a whole plot to blame Liang state for the death of Teng Rui. Remember Teng Rui gave JC that jade gourd? The jade gourd was stolen and then used by the Wei state general to put the blame on JC and PY to say they caused Teng Rui's death as it was found by his fake corpse (so it did be Liang state's fault). PY can't deny anything because he is trying to hide the fact that the emperor visited his mother during the birthday banquet (since he did humiliate the emperor, and the emperor will make sure he would never ever be a court official again if exposed). That's why both PY and JC ended up in prison even though JC did nothing (well, except revealing that Teng Rui was actually alive all along which IMO she was right to do because it did cause a war, but it hurt WZ's plan).

Wei Zhao actually blamed himself. When JC was trying to comfort him, she was saying it wasn't his fault. He then said "Is it your fault then? Right, I should have killed you from the start". He thinks because he didn't kill her, and she unintentionally ruined his plans regarding Teng Rui, that his people died due to that butterfly effect. So in a way, he thought it was his fault that this all happened.

The English sub I was watching didn't translate it correctly when Jiang Ci said, "Give me your hand" (for his hand injury), she actually said close to "Give me your cat paw" and I squealed, their banter is so cute.

They cast him with all these baby actresses in typical idol dramas and a lot of them are not good actresses + terrible script so not much he can do.

Wished he could had gone for non-idol dramas but those are probably hard to get too when you have so many great actors who have been in those genres for awhile and bring in an audience.

It is regrettable but it is also the current state of C-drama industry. Look at the so called "top" traffic stars we have right now, not many are actually known for their acting skills (or eventually their acting worsen as their name brand becomes too powerful and they focus more on acting to make themselves look better, not acting with the character's and script's logic in mind).