Rachel

I have gotten mixed feelings about Yan Fengshan since early on. He probably was really close to Huai An's dad and was one of Huai An's close uncles. We need to know the backstory of why he betrayed Liu Ziwen :')

He probably will. I'm sure they are grooming him to be the next Emperor. He was predicted to live till 83 too haha

I understand what you mean! Actually this show was cut down from 32 episodes to 28 episodesdue to censorship. So 4 episodes full of content was cut, which is very significant.

As for the man with him in the weed field, he was someone that was indebted to the Liu Family. I don't think he knows martial arts though but maybe like street fighting? Xie Huai An actually knows how to "street fight" too, just not the proper martial arts. He is better at brains than brawn.

Also Nirvana in Fire is set in Wuxia setting too so there's more emphasis on martial arts.

100% agree with what you said!! Love and hatred on just different sides of the same coin. For him to want revenge so badly, it's because he genuinely respected and loved those Huben uncles and aunties. Xie Huai An actually is stronger than me. I would've cried way more times hahaha. The scenes where he cried are also the scenes that I'll cry if I was in his shoes tbh...

Let me share with you all the Liu Siblings' original names.

**Possible slight spoilers on background information**

Xie Huai An's original name is 刘知 (Liu Zhi). 知 means knowledge and is a very scholarly name. Huai An was born with a whole head of white hair (extremely rare and odd trait) and it has been mentioned in ancient texts that people born with white hair will lead incredibly difficult lives filled with many hardships. Liu Ziwen's wish for his son is to be able to grow up healthy and happy and it could be deduced that he was reluctant for his son to join his Huben Army. Hence, Liu Ziwen named his son Liu Zhi with hopes that he can be a scholar instead, and even sent him to learn with the other princes/nobles at the Grand Academy. He probably hope that by doing this, his son could be away from the hardships of the army. Of course, this doesn't mean that he stops his son from hanging out with the Huben Army uncles/aunties/older brothers/sisters.

Bai Wan's original name is 刘理 (Liu Li). 理 means truth, reason, logic and is also a very scholarly name.

The '知' from Liu Zhi's nams and the '理' from Liu Li's name are found in the idiom '知书达理' which means to be well-educated, intelligent, and reasonable. Back in those days, where people are superstitious and names hold parents' wishes for their children, it can be deduced that Liu Ziwen wanted both his children to be well-educated rather than a focus on martial arts.

It's not that difficult to understand. Despite Liu Ziwen being the founder of the Huben Army, he may not want his own children to succeed it. Precisely because he is the founder of Huben Army, he knows the hardships of the army and do not want his own kids to be in it (unless they want it).

Since you said that you don't understand, let me give you an explanation.

First, a lot of people have the misconception that his father must have taught him martial arts. Xie Huai An's original name is 刘知 (Liu Zhi). He was born with a whole head of white hair (extremely rare). It has been mentioned that for children born with white hair, their lives will be extremely difficult. His father knew from the start that his son will not have a good life, people back in the day were very superstitious. Hence, his father named him 刘知. 知 means knowledge and is a very scholarly name. I believe his father did not want him to join the Huben Army. His father even sent him to learn with other princes and nobles in the Grand Academy. From this, you can deduced that his father probably wanted him to live a life away from the hardships of the army, thinking that this can protect his son.

Second, Huai An's whole family was wiped out when he was only 10 years old. Lin Shu or Mei Changsu's family was wiped out when he was 19 years old (in the novel I think it was 16). Lin Shu was known as the young marshall and have been actively participating in his father's army since young. I will not say how he lost his martial arts because it's spoilers for NiF. Anyways, the point is it's very normal for 10 years old Huai An to not know any martial arts? I don't know what misconceptions you have that believe that born in military family = learning martial arts since toddler/preschool age? From 10 onwards, he became a fugitive, there's no way he can suddenly learn actual martial arts without an instructor/teacher.

Oh lmao I can't relate....this show made me stop breathing for certain scenes and there are so many details and foreshadowing that even when I'm looking at my phone for awhile I had to rewind back 😅 So many mysteries that got me thinking too. But to each their own I guess.

I saw some clips on Weibo and I am distraught and depressed 😭🥹.

Well yes definitely. But my point was that emotions and revenge are not separate.

Do brother and sister recognise each other?
It'll be explained fully in Episode 7. Brother knew all along while sister doesn't. Will they officially reunite as brother and sister? No definite answer as of ep 12.

Deposed emperor is an interestingly complex character. He is having major growth moments. He is good but like many characters in this show, morally gray actions may be expected.

How many people are helping ML? Quite a few. There are remnants and old allies of the Liu Family helping him, and also new allies.

Well a lot a lot of people will die. It's only the beginning Based on the genre and the overall setting, you better be prepared 😭 It's nowhere near a fairytale.

The MC being born with white hair already predicts his fate of having a terribly bitter life 🥹.

Maybe because I'm an empath but imo wanting revenge is not completely a separate entity from having emotions. And I like how this show portrayed this complexity.

The following is what I personally understood so far from the show, but if it's too long-winded for you, you may choose to ignore.

We're not robots that can turn off our feelings even when we think that we want revenge. For Huai An, he and his family were betrayed by their closest people (Huben Army uncles and aunts). The people he hates so much now are some of the people who played with him, taught him when he was younger. I really like that he cried one tear for Pu Nichuan although he was resolute to have him die too. It shows that human emotions are complex.

For him crying when Han Ziling sacrificed himself is also very normal. Throughout the series, from the start even, it has been shown that he dislikes involving innocents and hates hurting his allies even more. His words to Chancellor Gao is that he would NOT sacrifice Gu Yu, saving him means he'll protect him forever. For Zhang Mo (the pageboy), the perfect plan was to kill of Zhang Mo otherwise his scheme would risk being exposed, but Huai An was unwilling. Han Ziling was someone he started using at first but he is innocent. Not only is he innocent, he is also a very good person and him and Huai An has formed a bond while surviving in Hidden Soldier Alley. As much as Huai An hates despicable people, he respects and admires good people (e.g. Gu Yu, Han Ziling). Unless you are extremely cold-hearted, a good person (who becomes your ally/friend) sacrificing themselves for you will definitely make you cry. Huai An has been shown to be far from cold-hearted despite outwardly being cold. His allies like Ye Zheng and Zhang Mo (pageboy) have said that he is kind-hearted and a good person. Another instance, Huai An spared the coachman who participated in killing his father despite wanting revenge, because he understood that the coachman was forced.

Ohhh true. I thought it was weird but I was thinking maybe the gold coin is made up of real gold and she wants money? 😅🤣

LOL I think that's the point. In the flashback when he was a young kid, his hair is legit completely white. But his hair right now is dyed grey because Wang Xing, the person he is impersonating, has greyish hair.

Everyone calling him "white hair" is not really saying that his hair rn is white but it's because seeing him with grey hair is reminding them of his nickname, "white hair". In episode 4, Pu Nichuan called him "white hair" once too while Huai An is in his black hair appearance.

Well, are you both smart and strong? I'm neither.

I want to watch some good storytelling and not a Gary Stu trampling on enemies. The MC must have some flaws.

I like that this drama has no dumb character! Some characters are definitely way more intelligent than the others but almost every single character can be considered smart (in their own way). Although frustrating, having intelligent enemies enhances the storytelling and plot.

Bai Wan's death is caused by Xie Huai An. He mentioned a travel pass that he wrote for Yan Fengshan. Yan Fengshan is no fool. I think that the travel pass will somehow be given to Bai Wan instead. This will cause the soldiers/assassins to kill Bai Wan. If this is really what is going to happen, my heart will break into a thousand pieces for Huai An 😭😭

My guess for Episode 13 based on the trailer (Spoiler)

Yes agree! It's even more significant to consider that Han Ziling is a scholar and not really suited for running 😭. At the end when he was surrounded by the Huben soldiers, he collapsed out of breath. I liked that detail.

I know it's going to be sad but I'm interested in seeing how the deposed emperor will react when reading his letter. I'm sure Han Ziling's death won't be in vain!

Actually although Xie Huai An is hellbent on revenge, I realised that he really tries not to involve innocents. When he heard that Wang Xing died and after killing Di Lu, you can tell that he feels extremely sorry. Of course, feeling sorry is of no use as those people are already dead, but this show manages to bring out the feelings that those "enemies" he killed are real, living people and not merely cannon fodders (as portrayed in other media). The characters are so memorable despite having little screentime. I still remember Zhou Mo the funny magistrate, Zhang Mo the loyal pageboy, Di Lu who is friendly to newcomers, Wang Xing who just wants to protect his family, Pu Nichuan who actually participated in Huai An's father's death but is also a silly man crushing on the tavern lady, and of course, Han Ziling. Han Ziling is such a respectable man. He is a scholar but he yearns to serve and die for the country and people. I'm very sad that he died but I'm also relieved that he didn't die in an ugly way. His death can be considered one of the better deaths in this show 😭.

The interaction between Han Ziling and Huai An right before Han Ziling sacrificed himself was also very well done. Huai An dislikes involving innocents but he hates having his allies die for him. Even Gu Yu said that Huai An usually gives the survival path to others. In the early episodes, I actually thought that Huai An would sacrifice his allies when utmost necessary but I realised from how he felt about Zhang Mo (the pageboy) to Gu Yu (his conversation with Chancellor Xiang) to Han Ziling, that Huai An will not sacrifice his allies. He will instead sacrifice himself. However because both Han Ziling and his goal is to ultimately kill Yan Fengshan and both of them know that it can only be done if Huai An is alive, Huai An sort of "accepted" Han Ziling's sacrifice. But from what I saw, Huai An will probably blame himself, he will also never forget this and it will spur him on even more to kill Yan Fengshan.

I knew that death in this show is inevitable, that it was going to be a huge bloodbath. I'm glad that so far the deaths were portrayed well. Han Ziling can be said to die with honour. But I'm afraid that this is just the beginning of allies dying left and right 🥹.