IA-000

This drama is a real danger for young women who seek inspiration through dramas. Here, the show normalizes and glamorizes the fact that a woman decides not to choose herself, not to prioritize herself, for the sake of a man's well-being.
If QiaoXi had truly loved YingTao with a pure and strong love, he would never have held her hostage. He would not have fueled YingTao's perseverance to continue waiting for him and finding him.
QiaoXi is a coward and a hypocrite, his character is really realistic tho, don't get me wrong, most people would have behave like he did. He had legitimate reasons for being so, but that doesn't change the nature of his actions and choices.
He tried to make her understand why he gave up on her, saying it was because he was too ashamed of what he had become, that leaving her was for her own good blablabla ...
But in reality, he's a very self-centered person, who displayed ambiguity that was detrimental to YingTao's well-being simply so that he could keep two options open for his very own well-being: keeping her in his life or abandoning her for good AKA breaking his heart or hers.
Yintao has such a strong love for QiaoXi that she couldn't bear to leave him behind (the taxi scene, episode 21), to see him destroyed because of her decision. QiaoXi couldn't do what she did. Why? Because that's what we expect from women, not men ...
YingTao acted like the mother he didn't have lmao, and it was cruel to watch, making sure he felt secure and loved in her presence no matter what ... But she wanted to be a lover, his lover and his insecurities even stole this dream of hers for so many years, having her instead chasing and showing a devotion for a man who didn't actually do the same.
It was so unfair. And most people actually focussed on how QiaoXi was feeling.
Of course, his life was very sad but you shouldn't mislead people to think because of how sad your life is, you can have the right to misbehave with someone who always had pure intentions for you. This is not fair. We all have to face our responsabilities and the consequences of our actions.

Please, women, don't sacrifice your time for a man who hesitates to keep you in his life. You deserve more than a man incapable of confronting his pride to preserve your love. You deserve someone who is determined to choose you no matter what !!!

This drama is a mess, awful pacing and way too many uninteresting scenes left and right. Slow pace dramas are a thing indeed but the control of the pace in them is always very important, here its done in the most random way with a terrible editing.
I wish zjm and zlh's 2nd collaboration would've happen through another drama ... a waste of their chemistry tbh.

It's ok, no problem !

I know they're in love and were supposed to end up together, I have no issue with this. My concern is about the general narrative around both of them as induviduals.

I just finished ep 28. I'm feeling kinda perplexed lol
The first strong theme of the show being the generic "mary sue" role freeing herself from that narrow minded narrative turned into a strong will to make the ml the most pitiful possible.
How come the work around the fl didn't get the same dedication?
I hope the drama before the end is gonna balance things out cause right now, it really isn't ...

Thank you for your kindness ! Your insecurities are valid, you shouldn't be ashamed. You are seen and accepted. 🥰

You're so welcomed ! ✌
And again, thanks for giving me your attention, glad you got so interested in my comments without feeling insecure. ❤

It's always a pleasure for me to give my unsolicited opinion to people like you. Thank you for motivating me to keep doing so.
Enjoy ! 🥰

You're welcomed !

You would think skipping so much scenes could make you avoid dealing with the boredom of the drama, haaaaa but NAH. Istg, the drama is hella boring. Did the screenwriter really thought they ate when they changed 95% of the novel? How could you be this delusional? In this economy? LOL.

I wanted to really finish the drama for the sake of paying respect to the original work but I can't bring myself to disrespected my being like that and my pecious time too ... The ridiculousness of ep19 was really a wake up call ...

Good luck to yall who are keeping up with this drama.

To give you an idea if you haven't read the novel and don't understand how much the drama has developed in such a lazy and lame way the main cp's relationship, I will say the cp's dynamic in the drama "Royal Nirvana" is much closer to the actual one between Zai Ye and Tao Hua from the novel.

It's so different, I can't even begin to summarize everything.
Here are some major differences:

1. The cp becomes intimate very early on (ml is violent and cruel to her, litteraly r&ped her ... the setting of the story is far more dark but quite realistic). Thus, in the first part of the novel, we don't grasp Zai Ye's true vulnerability nor his good side. He's not just strategic like in the drama, he's also selfish, insensitive, and cruel. This really makes understanding his character HIGHLY challenging.

2. Tao Hua in the novel is much more interesting, less passive, she's embodies the fox energy. She absolutely not agree with Zai Ye (in a fake colllaboration) when it comes to pretending to the other concubines that they're in love. On the contrary, they both act like husband and wife, they don't pretend to be in love. They simply take care of each other, and they make sure everyone sees it (for their plan), but they don't fake their caring. They display many layers of caring while using each other. Their dynamic gets blurry even to themselves. In a way, they collaborate unconsciously but also implicitly, which makes it all much more fascinating.
They both try to understand when the other is feigning affection or not, but they never get to be sure, since they lie to each other but also to themselves. Both have no intention to fall in love, but being husband and wife to each other isn't something they are against.
While developing feelings for and using each other, they eventually fall in love, but at no point are they willing to give up on their goals. They don't understand nor accept that they are truly in love with each other for most of the novel, but they know full well that they have feelings, they care for each other.
Both are actually ploting against each other while wanting to stay together and yawning for each other's attention and love. And both are trying to guess who's gonna abandon the other first. Zai Ye literally tries to kill Tao Hua more than once, and they both use and deceive each other very often.

3. The politic games are far more realistic and complex in the novel. Basically, many hide their true agenda, the nature of the relationship with each other etc. The whole situation with the princes are far more intriguing and less stereotyped.

Glad I'm not alone ! Some cdramas have +5 adaptations (of course because they are about classics in china), so why can't we hope to have a better version?
Cdramaland these years are struggling to give us originality, so why not pick up every novel they ruined, and adapt them again instead? 😅😭

Dramaland, please just give us another adaptation of the novel, such a complex and epic tragic story can't be destroyed like that ... Manifesting this for 2028 or something 😫😭

I decided to read the novel because the first four episodes were very good. Once I finished reading, I caught up with the episodes, but what a disappointment.
The adaptation is neither faithful nor does it do justice to the original work.
The drama went downhill precisely after episode 4.
It's just a lazy approach to the original material and a waste of Liu Xue Yi's acting skills. The casting is weak and most scenes they added are terrible.
The only reason I'm not dropping it, is because I had already invested my time in reading the novel because of this drama. Ugh, they played me so badly...

I feel you hehe, so many angsty events are coming tho 👀

I haven't finish the novel yet, I have still so many chapters to read.

I had to pause this drama at episode 4 because I could feel the potential of the high intensity of upcoming angst.
I had to pause to go read the novel AND HOT DAMN THE ANGST IS COMING. But I have to finish the novel before starting again the drama.
I wasn't expecting so many changes in the drama adaptation, hopefully they will still match the angst of the novel. But I'm glad they didn't keep all those awful scenes ...
The writing of the novel, especially the scenes between the cp is very triggering, so many disgusting scenes actually, I'm gonna keep reading just to know how the major events are going to develop ...

I'm loving the cp's chemistry, love how actually smart the characters are ! This drama better give the angst & tension "kill me love me" was supposed to serve !

Thanks ! 🙏