PeachBlossomGoddess

No worries - I always scour for good subs for my mom. Dramacool for many shows has the best ones.

Awww,... I would almost rather she turn into a real kick-ass villain instead! Not an obvious one like Lu Yuan but the one you never see coming.

Both iqiyi and Viki is blocked for my mom too so she is watching on Dramacool with subs.

It is not the kind of role any actress should try to excel at. Its career limiting to have every director immediately think of you when they wish to cast this kind of cliche role.

I know I am supposed to suspend disbelief but if they haven't figured out who each other is by now, they are both dolts! My eyeballs have toured the back of my head so often at this point they gonna go on strike soon.

No just problem - ping me I am happy to post links for you.

Not sure re: Viki subs but I tried to volunteer once but once I got the details I ran for the hills. It is hard work indeed!

iQiyi is especially good at geo restrictions - better even than Netflix and Youku. I just gave up my China VIP (cheaper, more content) for the international one because it was too tiring circumventing their geo restrictions. I have found that if you restart your device and turn on your VPN before launching the iQiyi app/go onto the website, you have a higher chance of success. Also make sure you turn off location services. Usually either streaming from my laptop or ipad works with Express VPN. I have the same issues with Youku but Youku doesn't have an international app yet. This show can be watched on iQiyi in HK but not in Malaysia (for both Viki and iQiyi). For most shows the one place that is almost never geo restricted is the Philippines.

Yes yes... I am still behind in episodes but can't wait...

Hope so but unrequited love has this nasty habit of changing into something else and a new concubine the husband is infatuated with can be a huge trigger. But yes, I still really dislike Consort Sun the most, she has given me the most bad vibes from day 1.

Indeed and there is something odd going on in that marriage. It is almost like he is aloof from her because he doesn't want to give her family too much power even though she APPEARS devoted to him. I do hope they do something different with some of these women/tropes. Its just too much Weiyoung vibe.

Well it is about Liu Yikang vs the aristocrats - he seems to have routed the Lu family (but he is down not out necessarily) but there is still the Xie family. Dunno if Princess Consort is just collateral damage and there is another Xie antagonist. But seems still the one with the most to gain is the one with a clear path to the throne which must be Yixuan or his overly ambitious mother.

Are you using iQiyi? Which episodes are you missing?
Happy to post the missing links.

Its possible. She is Xie family that was deposed by the ruling family. But my money is still on Consort Sun.

Only if you let me push you first.

I think she may end up being the most evil one. She is trying to get rid of Liu Yikang so that her son Yixuan can be next in line for the throne. The kingdom must be unstable with the emperor so sick. I will be surprised if Lu Yuan ends up being the villain of the piece the whole way through.

How is she related to Consort Sun? She is from the Xie family. If Consort Sun is related to Lu Yuan then she must be from the Lu family, not Xie?

Why is Liu Yikang so uninterested in his wife? She seems to be quite devoted to him.

Just a few more hours.... I am behind because I was watching other things but now its basically just this so in a week or so I will be in the same boat.

Many of the villains have similar characterizations and I see some predictable/familiar plot threads emerge. I think its way too early to pass judgement on this (I am only at ep 9) but what was lacking in Weiyoung was a well dimension-ed male lead, it was mostly about the FL. For this, just based on Liu Yikang's historical achievements, I think there is potential for the ML here to be a really amazing and nuanced character with some flaws so I am waiting to see that. So far though, I have only seen a really strong FL, kind of like a more bad-ass Weiyoung that can fight but there is still a long way to go.

Yeah and actually that is what swayed me to watch this despite the Weiyoung vibes - the actual historical character sounds so interesting. [btw I loved Weiyoung cliches and all but unfortunately watched it too many times I may have OD-ed on some of the tropes].

Heheh... it was on my mind too - I was debating whether to rewatch it or watch this (which feels a lot like re-watching Weiyoung tbh).