PeachBlossomGoddess

Tell me you didn't break it to them that ZLH is never ever going to marry them!??!

Li Ni is opposing his father bc he doesn't want to fight Cui Yi. He will likely have to oppose his father again to fulfill his promised to reinstall the kid. The purpose is in both cases is far from seizing the throne kind of opposing his father. I agree Cui Lin is ambitious and she does want to rule the world. I mistakenly thought she wanted to be empress. What she really wants is to be emperor. But women can't sit on the throne so Li Ni is going to be her puppet. She has already been training him to bend him to her will each time. This aspect is super unpleasant to watch. I liked them as a power couple of more or less equals and not this where he is becoming subservient to her demands.

So far she has done so many more questionable things that for me it’s going to be hard to turn it around in the remaining episodes.

I think they are communicating and it is on the table that they just want different things. She has pretty much forced Li Ni to choose. She is a package deal - Crown Prince + Ying or neither. She didn’t just give him that ultimatum verbally she also forced the decision with her letter to the emperor. So the question is who backs down or will Li Ni be able to come up with an acceptable compromise. What I don’t like is she has acknowledged Li Ni is a chess piece. I just don’t think you do that to someone you allegedly love.

She was his uncle the deceased crown prince’s wife.

I must have missed that post. I don’t think this is a well written drama either. Too much filler and lots of things don’t make sense.

I stopped liking her a long time ago. Li Ni may make a fantastic emperor if he wanted it but she would make a terrible meddling empress. The only way to deal with her would be to have an extra large harem so that she is too busy sorting out squabbling women to muck around with affairs of state.

Other than CL kicking GWN to the ground I agree the last two episodes were boring. The whole back and forth about whether he should seize power is boring. If she is so sure she is right she should just marry him anyway and let him see that for himself over time. That is how GWN would play it. It doesn’t have to be my way or the highway. It’s just she has to win all the time. People like that are very insufferable. Li No is better off without her.

Why delete it? You made a post to get more discussion, no? I am merely pointing out Li Shimin’s story didn’t end that well and that these dramas based on him tend to sugar coat and cherry pick the parts they like and not the less good parts. His children’s succession struggle is depicted realistically in Court Lady another Xu Kai drama. He respected and was cordial to his empress but he married many many many other women and had tons of children. I don’t think anyone would claim she made him great.

The real Li Shimin would turn in his grave to be portrayed as an unambitious and unflavored prince that has to be bullied by a woman onto the throne . He was by all accounts very ambitious and locked in a long succession battle with his brothers. They were all trying to kill each other but he managed to prevail. His father was by no means incompetent and neither was his eldest brother the crown prince. He was one of the greatest Chinese emperors whose whose only questionable action was fraticide. But karma is a bitch bc his two favorite and most capable sons were locked in an equally bitter succession battle and ended up deposing each other. He ended up leaving his throne to his least competent son who married his concubine Wu Tzetian and handed the throne to her. So drama Li Ni is wise to want to avoid all that family drama and heartbreak.

That is probably true but with a family like that, I'd avoid them too. But it shouldn't directly affect his desire not to be crown prince.

I like her too but I don't ship them at all. They have the look of siblings.

Try Ripe Town. Won't spoil the hidden identities.

I am lmao imagining you writing borderline pornographic mini drama fan fiction....

The return of Luoyang doesn't solve the problem, it only ameliorates it temporarily, something CL herself admitted. Cui army is too powerful they are a law unto themselves in many ways. While it was common in Chinese history for there to be warlords that didn't fully bow to the emperor but also didn't outright revolt, there is limited tolerance to make them even more powerful the way this kind of marriage alliance would. Li Ni's dad is pretty dumb but he is not that dumb. Li Ni gets it. CL either refuses to see it or her analysis of the situation is shallow and only considers her POV.

So far I actually like and respect Wan'niang's tactics more than I do CL's. But knowing this writer, they will probably also make her do something bat shit crazy at some point.

She keeps riding out on her own, knowing full well there is an unhinged sociopath with an army behind him after her. 🤷‍♀️

He already explained - it is impossible for him to be crown prince and marry Cui Lin. The price for that is Cui Yi would have to disband the Cui army. It is true he doesn't want to be crown prince but he also doesn't want to disenfranchise her father.

I don't think the Cui Yi has any intention of revolting. That will only happen if the emperor tries to forcibly remove his military power. He is not opposed to the Li family, indeed he is like Li Ni more inclined to restore the imperial grandson to the throne. It is his daughter that wants to be empress and unlike Li Ni, she naively doesn't get it yet that his father won't allow that.

Except he will break his promise to restore the kid to the throne and he will probably have to kill both his brothers and maybe even his father along the way. Someone who doesn't want to do that isn't that bad a guy. And the person who demands he do just that isn't that great a gal. I am not as opposed if he just does it until the kid grows up or if they kill off the kid. In that case I understand there is no other choice.