PeachBlossomGoddess

I posted my guess above:
https://mydramalist.com/779368-mo-li#comment-26461730

I think it is possible that Ye Li's grandfather headmaster Xu had drafted the edict on behalf of the then dying emperor and Ye Li's mother was supposed to meet Mo Xiuwen in the capital and hand it to him there to permit him to enter the city. I am going to guess that the edict was more than just about allowing him to enter the city but to also install Prince Li as the heir apparent. That is why an army escort may have been needed to help him ascend the throne.

I think she is definitely in the empress dowager's faction. But I think the Red Fox dude is in Prince Li's faction and his boss is the goofy assassin Han Mingxi's bro Han Mingyue who hasn't appeared on screen yet.

Cuckolding the late emperor... I am gonna guess that is the kind of stuff that could get both their heads separated from your neck.... They probably sent him back to his mother's family to be raised.

Possibly. His mother could be Dowager Consort Qin. Now that would be pretty scandalous.

He is pitiful. Ye Li is his only remaining link to a past when he was happy. That's probably why he is finding it so hard to let her go even though he did break off the engagement.

Same director. And I actually did read the books. They are pretty good.

This director is fantastic. I hope they finally release the revamped Golden Hairpin after this!

Yes I agree that Prince Li will lose because he went about reclaiming the throne using morally questionable methods. His scheme of sowing discord between mother and son is and Marquis Murong and the empress dowager is diabolical but he committed murder and sacrificed a righteous official in the process. If he had tried to win the "right" way maybe he and Ye Li and Prince Ding could have joined forces - they have common enemies after all.

Definitely no love lost between her and her hubby.

What??? No way! I hope Ye Li haunts the daylights out of her!!!

Money for the dead.

Yeah he's hard to like but his scheming is pretty much on the same level as the FL.

She is my favorite director. I at least check out all of her dramas! I also loved Love and Destiny.

Exactly! I think before she can even explain her family's involvement, she needs to find out for herself what the hell happened. Beyond that, her agenda is a higher purpose. Explaining herself to him is not what is driving her actions.

In the latest episode, she actually did hear him out. You can see she had quite a bit of affection for him - was it love? Maybe the beginnings of it - after all they grew up together and were engaged. But he disappointed her super high expectations. And there is no going back from that. I like that she almost loved someone before - I think that is why this director's biggest hit TMOPB is still one of my all time favorite love stories (and I don't like this genre in general). I think relationships that disappoint actually make the subsequent ones stronger and more real.

I can't say I am there on liking him. But I do feel very sorry for him. And Ye Li's feelings for him are complicated:

Nah - she is not playing him. As she told her mother, she sincerely is happy to be his good wife. But they BOTH don't trust each other. They both know the consequences of blind trust. He is no dummy, he knows there is a lot more going on with her. That's why he instructed Feng Zhiyao to continue to investigate her. They live in dangerous times and are carrying out dangerous missions. I would be disappointed if either of them just trusted the other naively.

That had lots of hair way back then. Cushioning effect.

Indeed Master Zhu should be an illusion. But well before that they have been trying to track down other disciples. That's why Feibai found Wei Zhuang, they were looking for other disciples from the get go.