Cesia_07

I think he is suitable as the gentle, manipulative kind of villain. The type who looks harmless, but actually poisonous. Not the cruel bloodthirsty villain.

In the novel there is no antidote. Lv committed suicide. Taohua survives the poison bcos she gave birth to a daughter.

There is NO love affairs between Wuyin and Empress Lv. Wuyin deeply loves Taohua since they met in gambling house. He keeps wanting to bring her back and marry her as concubine, then make her his empress. Wuyin is the first love rival for Zaiye. Wuyin is ambitious, but actually a good man and sincere. Taohua pities him. She knows Zaiye wants to kill him, so she saves Wuyin's life. At the end, the three of them meet again.

Like you said, perhaps the banished disciple was Empress Lv. She ran to Beiyuan and became a consort. Also, Wuyin has been giving the emperor meds (or should we say poison). Most likely bcos Empress Lv gave him the recipe.

In the novel, she made the poison, but this poison doesn't have antidote. Also, the emperor of Qi is killed by Zaiye and Consort Lan (his childhood friend). This is to make Wuxia the emperor.

They will. Perhaps after ep 29 where he comes all the way for her. Their hearts will reunite this time.

Indeed the emperor is not evil. He is wise, knows who to punish and not, knows how to balance the court. But he is now addicted...

I also don't know why the drama made a plot like this: love affairs between Beiyuan regent and prince of Qi... She already has Wuyin, why would she need Taohua? Or Taohua is just a camouflage while Lv is working underneath?

Meng family is doomed to go down with Wuyin. But I do wish for Wuyin to finally realizes that Lv doesn't love him at all.

It's actually 6 years age gap, but anyway. Wuyin is only 20 y.o, Taohua is 18. Lv became a consort of Beiyuan when Taohua was 7. Well......

From ep 29, they will move on to Beiyuan arc.

Let me try to explain.

First, Taohua's most precious person is her brother. He is on Lv's hands. She doesn't know what will happen to him if she is caught rebelling against Lv. She doesn't say her secrets to Zaiye bcos she knows exactly what he is capable of. See, once Zaiye takes action to help Taohua, her brother gets the punishment (ep 28). The target is Zaiye, and the victims are Taohua and her brother.

Second, Zaiye knows she is in danger. So he also tries to protect her by keeping her away from getting involved. Remember he said he will search for the antidote and save her brother. Basically they think the same. The difference is: Zaiye wants Taohua to stay by his side, while she thinks it is more dangerous if she agrees.

Third, Taohua and her brother have been suffering since childhood. Taohua is bullied, threatened, poisoned with no antidote, used as tool, schemed against, almost getting killed. She wants to make her brother the emperor bcos he is the rightful heir, but if she could she wants to live in peace with her brother.

Fourth, Zaiye and Taohua serve different countries. Although they love e/o, is it enough? Her county is in decline, no money, no army, while Qi is prosperous. What if Zaiye plans to annex Beiyuan? What if Qi ministers demand war? She sees the bigger pictures, unlike other FL who will throw away everything to be with ML.

If Taohua doesn't get HE, then she is the most tragic character in cdrama, along with the ML in OAO.

Chinese drama industry is very productive. With thousands of novel, donghua, rich history with enormous amount of people, sources, places and money. Those who are traffic stars, or actors who do idol drama will get offers faster, shoot 4 drama in a year. While those who focus on mainstream drama only shoot 1 drama in a year or two.

Considering the number of episodes, a drama will be broadcasted for 3-4 weeks, then they need a new one to fill the empty slot. In a year, they could shoot more than 100 drama. However, a drama may not obtain broadcast license and air right after the filming ends. It may take 2-5 years or more.

While in Korea, 1 drama airs 2 eps each week. Daily drama airs right after shooting. But remember, the kpop industry is much crazier. I remember reports saying that in a year there are 100 groups that debut, but only a very few who could make name.

Zaiye looks down on women, sees them as pawns, and has never been in love. Yet this Zaiye fell in love at first sight to Taohua. He admitted later. He is attracted to her brain and courage. She can outsmart him. She is not like other women he ever met.

Every drama has BOTH leads speak their inner voice, not just this one. If this is from FL pov, it will be "FL is the target, ML is the hero".

After watching teaser for ep 29, they just about to start the Beiyuan arc. Yet the reign in Qi hasn't changed? How are they going to finish everything in 6 episodes? They should finish the Qi arc before moving on to Beiyuan.

Now we can see WHAT will happen to Changjue once Zaiye takes action... 😭

And bcos the drama is from ML's pov, the target is the ML while the victim is the FL.

His concubines only appear on early episodes, barely gets screentime. He doesn't have any interactions with them either, only with his principle wife, for a tea and threat.

I think the problem is audience feel fed up with cdrama industry tend to pair 2 actors with big age gap. For example: Song Qian and Song Weilong, Michelle Chen and Zhou Keyu, Jerry Yan and Xu Ruohan, Gao Weiguang and Ouyang Nana, and now they are pairing Hou Minghao with Aimi. They could have cast someone who looks young, but their age gap doesn't exceed 10 years. There is also a drama where the girl (born in 2003) was raped multiple times by a man (born in 1977). It's odd bcos the govt is very strict with drama plot, but they allow minor being paired with an adult and sadomasochism.

For Zhang Junning, he deserves to be paired with someone mature instead of a 19 y.o actress. But perhaps bcos he didn't get much offers or his agency can't promote him. Or most likely bcos this is a low budget B class drama they were cast.

Considering his age, it will be hard for him to get ML roles in costume drama. Perhaps modern drama or he could switch to mini drama like He Xuanlin.

Me too! So when i was reading TPG novel, I thought oh this FL is so similar with Hua Liuli! I could imagine Meng Ziyi as Taohua. But what did I get? A different person 😭

He is the teacher of Taohua and Changjue. He taught Taohua the charm skills which could hypnotize men (this doesn't work on Zaiye). He taught Changjue fighting skills. He wears red robe and has silver hair.

Qian Baimei deeply loves Taohua and he is the last love rival for Zaiye. He is a man from pugilist world so he roams the world. He has been searching for the cure to Taohua's poison.

He doesn't exist in the drama. There is a man named Qian Mochen, the advisor on Empress Lv's side. On the characters chart it is written he is Taohua's master.

The producer cast MZY first, way before they cast LXY. She had signed the contract on Q4 of 2023.

Meng Zhenzhen will surely die considering she becomes evil and will most likely marry Wuyin. Zaiye has grudge on Meng family and will make sure them pay.

This!!!! The reason why I feel yuck watching romance movie or tv series is bcos it is full of sexual activity. First meeting and they already go to bed. But somehow I feel so happy and digging for romance in historical cdrama. The subtle skinskip, the blooming first love, the shyness and awkwardness, it's just feel sweet.

Also, her brother will be killed. Wuxia will be killed while Qingying will be a fugitive. Wuyin will then become the emperor with Lv as his empress. Happy ending 🤣