PeachBlossomGoddess

The 7 seniors under the headstone should be the ones burned alive in the capital by Lu Changfu. She should still have surviving seniors - we know of at least two, and technically Prince Li is one of them too - he was also a student of the academy. There is also one that writes to her. But I don't think there were any other survivors on the mountain.

Lol - he does and I am totally not defending him. I just think he did something beyond breaking the engagement to make Ye Li so contemptuous of him. She is otherwise so fond of all her former classmates from the academy.

Well if he blushes easily naturally, even better!

Maybe it wasn't exactly a betrayal but more like he could have tried to help or save them but he didn't. His entire existence is built around maintaining a façade of being a dissipated prince.

The thing is - I have watched MANY of this director's dramas... and ALL the MLs get red ears - Mark Chao, Chang Chen, Ren Jialun... I wonder if she asks them to pinch them.

There is a scene where she tried to escape wearing a mask but the other scholars stopped her and said something about Master Helai will find a cure. Maybe they all caught covid or something like that and died.

I suspect she died of rabies from a monkey bite. That's probably why Ye Li practices running all the time - PTSD from when she had to out run those wild things.

I think they had some kind of a past at the academy where there was some mutual affection between them. I don't think she despises him just bc of the broken engagement. There must be more to it - I wonder if he had something to do with the 7 Lishan academy scholars that died in the capital. Maybe he betrayed them somehow.

Hi, that is a very good channel but it is not mine. That is a different user, I think she goes by Peachey Blossom and she is on MDL as well.

Maybe she was still alive and with Ye Li and the Lishan academy people when he saved them from bandits years ago.

and I wonder if the crown prince's death is suspicious.

She had the support of many high court officials

I was zooming in on the scene bc I was really curious about Qingshuang and trying to figure out when she died. And then I noticed that pile of clothes in a hat looked like the assassins's outfit.😅

This is a theoretical dynasty but it looks very much like Tang. During Tang dynasty, they didn't strictly practice primogeniture but Ye Li's grandfather, as the head of Lishan Academy would have probably advised that the correct line of succession should be through legitimate heirs only. So the son of the empress or legitimate wife should always inherit first. Since Mo Jing Li's father was the crown prince and if his mother was the crown princess, by right he has a very valid claim on the throne. The Dowager Empress was NOT the empress, she was just Consort Guo, one of many consorts of the late emperor. So the current emperor would not have been in the proper line of succession, especially since the past crown prince already has an older legitimate heir which was Mo Jingli. That should be the substance of Ye Li's grandfather's criticism of the Empress Dowager. Unfortunately for Jingli, his grandfather, father and mother all seem to have died at the same time. So he was legitimate but had no powerful backers, leaving room for Consort Guo backed by powerful court officials to seize power. But it wasn't until Ming dynasty that the Chinese dynasties officially practiced primogeniture to avoid this kind of succession mess. So the first Ming emperor outlived his crown prince and passed his throne to his grandson instead of his other surviving sons.

Ep 2 when she leaves the academy for the capital.

Well maybe she can be a Merry Widow - her husband is the one on very shaky political ground.

I have a feeling the inhabitants of Lishan academy may have fled long ago,. Bc Ye Li was there as a child and then she was on a trip as a teenager with her mother when Prince Ding rescued them. Subsequently she was still with her mother when she gave him food. So they must have left the academy. Maybe she only returned after her mother died to find it abandoned. I doubt she could have survived there alone for 8 years.

Ikr? They look like they are going to be comic relief. Btw did you notice he was asleep with his hat on his face in the back of the cart Ye Li hired to go to the capital. I wonder if he already knows her.

The actress is doing a terrific job parodying a tropey role. Her interactions with and expressions in the assassin sketch was hilarious. She seems to have potential with the “assassin”. Maybe she will grow up and surprise us.

I think the Empress Dowager set aside his marriage with Ye Li bc of her maternal grandfather’s influence. As son of the former crown prince, he has a legitimate claim on the throne , arguably a better one than the current boy emperor who is only the son of a concubine. That’s probably why Ye Li’s grandfather objected to a former consort making herself the Empress Dowager seizing power like that for herself and her son . It would be very dangerous to match her most vocal critic’s grand daughter with the late crown prince’s son. So she had her married off to a cripple who can never claim the throne. Arguably both Prince Ding and his brother who are late emperor’s brothers also are in the line of succession . In fact since the current emperor presumably has no heirs yet, Prince Li is still in the line of succession but Prince Ding is disqualified bc he is crippled.

It is quite clear the Empress Dowager is a highly fictionalized version of Wu Tzetian.