Saffy88

The family set up isn't the same in the novel - in fact FLX engineers a clean sweep of his troublesome siblings and there isn't much background info before that. In the novel, he's also much colder and calculative due to the usual vicious palace feuds and vendettas and he knowingly allows his father to get injured during an assassination attempt so that his way to the throne is facilitated.

In the novel, he was near death and HFX didn't have enough medicine to save both him and BFX so he left him one petal of the lotus and used the rest on BFX. Then he left YYZ at the bottom of the mountain to live or die according to his fate. I think he was then found by HC. But then HC deployed him in the battle against BFX/FXY I suppose thinking she wouldn't kill him. He wore a mask when facing BFX in battle and she wasn't aware it was him until she struck him. YYZ wasn't bad - he was just following HC's orders and he went into battle knowing he would be killed by BFX. The novel has more shades of grey than the drama.

She killed him on the battlefield right after she became the ruler of qingzhou.

He’s pretending as well. He knows full well what she is up to but as HFX/FLX says he is happy to use all of them as pawns in his game of balancing power and ensuring that he stays on top.

Bad parenting - the root of so many problems in cdramas……

They already knew/suspected each other’s identity so there was no surprise reveal.

In the novel, they've already known/suspected each other's identity for a long time which makes sense given they've been interacting with each other for 10 years. Looks like they won't follow that in the drama - in upcoming trailers we see BFX wondering about the link between FLX and HFX.

Yes her eyebrows suddenly stand out because of the weird shade they chose. Really have to wonder where they find these makeup artists sometimes.

Same thought - his bio says he graduated from the Dance Dept in the PLA Arts college so he can definitely move and has more of an appropriate background for wuxia than a lot of other stars. There’s a BTS of him doing pretty impressive kicks while balancing perfectly.

There's probably too much slow motion in the fighting scenes and yes the general greenish tint is a bit off, but the story is very good, especially the interaction between the ML and his father, and the ending is fantastic. There was a general virtual standing ovation from viewers in the MDL comment section right after the finale aired. It's adapted by the same scriptwriter as Joy of Life and with Zhang Ruoyun playing both MLs, there's a certain similar enjoyable vibe. In fact I don't think I've been actively commenting on any cdrama since SSS ended.........

It's the first decent wuxia drama this year since Sword Snow Stride ended in early Jan! That's why am watching avidly 😂.

The producer removed the director's name from the credits according to Avenue X - soooo much real-life drama.

About 23? He set up his own establishment outside the palace at 15 and the story takes place 8 years after that.

Apparently the producer and the director got together on the set of Ancient Love Poetry and that was hugely promoted..............

Probably around 22+? She's been wandering the jianghu since she was 12 and been famous for about a decade.

There's speculation that it's tied to the mess between the producer and the director. Apparently they had a messy breakup during the filming of WRTW and then she released a rather melodramatic post about the problems she faced as a producer on the set and how even a housewife would find it difficult to cook without rice etc etc. Check it out in Chinese Star News' video. So the promotion may be muted cos of the producer's effort/lack thereof?

The term “gong zi” means a youth (male) of noble birth. In the novel HC is considered one of the 4. One can assume as much from the way he is described by BFX as being a prince with an intense regal aura plus his kung fu is excellent.

I was thinking the exact same thing! Better to just watch it play out on tv 😂

Who wouldn't? 😂

Think subbers should have translated as the Four Gentlemen instead of gentry. It's basically a list of who's who in the Empire or it might help to think of them as the hottest male idols/famous eligible bachelors of the day. No 1 is Yu Wuyuan, and then not sure how the rest are numbered after that but the list includes HFX, FLX (both his personas are on the list) and Prince HC. They're the most outstanding young gentlemen/noblemen in the Empire whether due to their status, wisdom, martial arts, elegance, looks etc etc.