PeachBlossomGoddess

I think ZX made it clear to her at end S1 they are on different paths bc he has nothing to offer and he doesn't want her to just wait for him. That is what SYL also clarified. So you are probably right, he loves her more bc he can set her free. But now that Ma Wei is clearly courting her, let's see what ZX does. I think if ZX is committed to YZ, then he should be happy to see her grow up and move on. And I do hope she does - I don't really like stories where someone sits around carrying a torch for their lost first love forever. Both Ka Dan and SYL are ending up with a very decent person who loves them more without expecting anything in return. Its not a bad place to end up in a chaotic world like this. It would not be terrible for Ning and Xiu to end up in a similar situation although there is still hope they will both actually fall for someone else. I know Ma Wei is cunning but so far he hasn't been shown to be evil and he fell for her when they were still kids. I think Ning needs someone cunning to navigate Canxing and all the scheming that comes with being the Zichuan heir.

Weren't they planning to marry? SYL had asked Canxing for permission and he didn't exactly say yes or no.

Yups he wiped out Luo Minghai’s whole family, women children and all. It should be somewhere in the middle of S1

I am glad Si Yilin confirmed it for us but in hindsight it was actually quite obvious from the way Xiu kept sending her momentos from all the events that profoundly affected his life in Yanzhou. You only do that to someone you love. But he wrote about them so flippantly like it was just a joke because he couldn't/didn't feel worthy of expressing what he really felt. That is Zichuan Xiu, he hides behind his blatant lies and his jokes. But bc Ning seemed so dislikable in S1, it made it hard to think why he could love her. But Ning's actions spoke louder than words. She wasn't really that dumb, she was just pretending. And she won me over the way she used to help Ka Dan and Si Yilin while playing the ditz at the same time. That was when I realized she is actually just like Zichuan Xiu. They are both great pretenders who can read between each other's lines. Although I can tell they are not end game, I feel a bit sad for them too.

I dropped Zang Hai at ep 3 so I don't have much to say about it but I thought the kid killing there was gratuitous and didn't make sense. But it was done by an antagonist and that is my point wrt Di Lin. Good guys/grey/anti-hero characters don't kill kids. No matter what. That is strictly bad guy territory.

When he massacred Luo Minghai's kids in S1, he was already irredeemable for me. Killing kids is my red line in terms of whether someone is an antagonist or a protagonist. I also felt that when they wrote him that way, they intended to send him down the dark path. I didn't feel sorry for him at all for losing/not being able to have kids. People who kill kids don't deserve to have their own.

Yeah I don't think Ning is endgame for Xiu. But in tonight's episodes Si Yilin confirmed what I suspected since S1 - Xiu loves Ning.

Wow but that is pretty much what happened to the previous generation... Maybe this time they can "save" Di Lin from going to the dark side.

Yeah it’s written by a proper Tang dynasty historian turned novelist. Those are the best!!!

Yeah... its like the white truck of doom is headed straight at it...

Strange Tales of Tang Dynasfy is awesome! I hope S3 delivers its gonna be about Wu Tzetian!

Maybe it just means they will fight. Canxing is trying to manipulate them against each other.

It looks like he is going to try to kill them both no?

She actually grew up and got smart in the latest episode.

Di Lin will kill Si Yilin. 🫣 But I can't tell what is supposed to happen to Ning?

So according to the King of Light's premonition:

All c-dramas need steep cuts to their CGI budgets. Less is more.

Well at least the CGI is very nice bc they didn't have enough money to go nuts with full on extra bright lights etc.

My understanding is they are focusing more on the internal conspiracy plots and less on the battlefront. Which makes sense - wars are not always won on the battlefield and when you have no budget to shoot wars then focus on the internal plots.

Ty for your kind feedback. The cast really played well and deserved a better written story.