ShortCircuit

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So, TGCF second season has started, and I keep getting reminders of the fake wedding between Xie Lian and Hua Cheng LOL. And then there's the fake wedding between MoRan and CWN and that too ended up mattering a LOT. This was yet another reminder - fake weddings are only fake til it matters, and then they're 1000% real! :D

I know that's the usual way it deals out (I've seen lots of xianxia and wuxia where they pull armies out of the director's sleeves, LOL), it's still remains that the Cui Army attacked and killed off a lot of them, despite the Zhenxi Army saving the very same Cui Army leaders that have now betrayed them.

Ruthless but totally ungrateful - I hope someone goes and puts Cui Lin stand-in out of his misery the soonest. If he could plan and execute that, he has no morals and deserves no chance at redemption.

What are they, scorpions stinging the turtles who are trying to get them past the river or something? GAH!

If the Zhenxi Army is totalled, he'll have to go in hideout or on the run - I don't bet on his brothers or father protecting him in Luoyang. And so will Pei Yuan and the very few people he still has. And if he had a chance to protect the other surviving grandson, it's gone now.

If I were him, there would be no coming back from that - I mean, it's like he gave her his heart completely and unreserved, and she (through her allies and closest friends) cut it up, salted it and handed it to him on a platter.

I guess if we're going to have a HEA there will be lot of moments she can redeem Cui Lin stand-in's fault, but still... We're in ep 14 only, LOL, 26 more painful possibilities await :D

What the hell goes through Cui Lin stand-in's head though?!!! What is he even THINKING?? She won't CARE about his reasoning, even if military sound - the Zhenxi Army SAVED their freaking ASSES what the hell!! They would be pushing daisies already if it weren't for Li Ni and his people riding to their rescue, and they needed WEEKS of healing before even being able to get up and betray the people who saved them!!!

I am spitting mad at them right now.

And no, He Ying weakly protesting she didn't know - even if she obviously didn't know - isn't that strong a defense as she thinks. She tricked him so many times in smaller things, she can't protest innocence now he's been betrayed by her closest ally in this extreme way. I mean, there is no more Zhenxi Army right now, what does Pei Yuan have with him, two dozen men? Even if in pure wuxia manner some tens of thousands come up from the underground for reasons - a LOT of them are dead by the hands of the Cui army...

I can totally see this putting huge barriers in front of their romance, even if it's clarified.

And she totally WLL take advantage of it, because she can't help it - she has other things to think about than what will Li Ni believe...

Dammit. I guess we're in for the rough ride now. Dark and bloody times ahead!

That's right, He Ying, that is PRECISELY what happens when you trick him one too many times.

I knew bad times were coming, and there were way too many sweet moments in these two eps for it not to be a HUGE bad time... but seriously, Cui Lin stand-in, please drop dead ASAP, thank you very much you traitorous PoS.

In a sadistic kind of way, though, I loved Li Ni's shocked expression in the last part of ep14. Does that make me a bad guy? Who cares, he has beautiful eyes (even when in shock).

Also, since it appears everybody and their dog too can claim to be Emperor of China - here's my claim - I AM PROCLAIMING MYSELF EMPRESS OF CHINA. Brethren MDLers, please support me in this important undertaking. We have cookies to share to all on our side.

I can't find any reference to a voice actor dubbing him in that drama, so that's just indirect proof he did dub himself. I haven't watched it (I don't like Republican era dramas) so I can't tell for myself. But they do try to use voice actors who have similar tones to the ones they're dubbing, so who knows...

AFAIK, he did use his own (very nice) voice in She and Her Perfect Husband (and also in Lost in Kunlun Mountains, though I haven't watched that one).

There was a very long trend of having voice actors dub the actual actors - particularly in historical/wuxia/xianxia dramas, mainly for 1. accent, 2, time constraints or 3. the producers wanted a different voice than the actual actor's. Now the censors have been cracking down even on THIS industry (voice acting) so that more dramas are having the actual actors do their own dubs. In some cases (like in TTEOTM) it's a total win (I mean, if you hear LYX's actual voice you can't help but admit it's just perfect for the characters he's playing) so I think that'll make the producers be more courageous and let their main actors voice themselves. Maybe WoL was filmed before it became the rule of the land, LOL. (I have to admit it, his voice actor has a very nice voice, too - very soothing and expressive.)

As for WHY is dubbing or re-dubbing needed anyway - filming environment in China is pretty noisy. They're doing more than one drama or movie at a time even in Hengdian, so the sound isn't really great and they have to clean it all up in studio, and that means re-dubbing is necessary.

Zhang Fu Zheng

He dubbed him in Snow Eagle Lord too.

There's no love triangle, LOL, she friendzoned the third wheel so hard he's still wondering what hit him.

Yes. I liked him - and his chara - in The Legends, and he has a much better character (so far) in Li Ni of Wonderland of Love, plus the styling, cinematography, chemistry between leads (and their horses LOL), plot pacing etc are way better. Despite the strange editing of the ending, I liked TL, but this one is better, judging from the 12 eps out so far. If they manage to stick the landing (aka, give it a good ending), it'll be one of the memorable wuxia tales of the year.

Chen Xing, yes, He's the one Cui Lin stand-in sent for her in WangZhou and had a few encounters with Li Ni and the rest of the Zhenxi Army already. He came through as someone not so un-important. And now he's dead (a quarter of the drama in).

I hope none of the other support charas go out soon - people like TaoZi, for example, or the ex-Crown Princess. Keeping fingers crossed Pei Yuan makes it to the end of the story, too, LOL.

Because she's a girl. I mean, most ancient societies were heavily patriarchal, and China was no exception - if Hua MuLan were to be discovered as a woman, she'd have been killed, not celebrated, no matter what Disney movies would have you believe, LOL.

Her mother and all the other noble women in her close family died defending a city when the men were all away, but Cui Lin / He Ying had already been trained just as if she was a boy, so probably most people thought General Cui had a son, not a daughter. And to protect her, and make people follow orders with no protests, they might have decided to use a son figurehead (who is the Cui Lin stand-in) and have her be the actual mastermind behind him.

As for why she's addressing him as Master - she has to keep up appearances. By now, after a life of pretending, it probably comes pretty natural to both of them.

I think she'll get close to the Li dad and maybe have him suggest a marriage for his youngest son - I hope it blows up in her face and Li dad decides to ask her to marry one of his other sons, because he's stupid like that LOL.

Or if not, I guess Pei Yuan isn't married yet. And as Jane Austen said, everybody knows that handsome men with some standing and a fortune are in dire need of marriage LOL. I'll contribute to Pei Yuan's dowry if he takes her off Li Ni's hands :D

Either an adopted son, or her sparring/educational partner, maybe - IMHO. I'm basing this on gut instinct. Li Ni pretended once he's He Ying's study partner, I guess it was a bit of paralel thinking and introducing the idea of similarly-educated persons that could be either the noble, or his/her partner...

So, we all noticed that her order of worry/care- since she can SEE Li Ni is safe - goes like this: Cui Lin stand-in, TaoZi, and then THE HORSE. This girl has her priorities straight LOL.

The Li dad is useless, as I feared (I did hope for a tiny microsecond he'd just be a great pretender and instead be some genius. I mean, Li Ni has to have inherited from somewhere, right? I guess his mom really was the brains in the previous generation.) The dad and the two brothers will cause so much strife, I just can see it. I am almost ready to bet on a forced marriage between Li Ni and the Mrs Gu because dad wants it to happen. We'll see. He doesn't even show the slightest hint of being grateful he's NOT in constant danger any more, just bitches about having ONCE been in danger... F off, Li dad!!

Li Ni riding hard to the rescue was pretty cool IMHO. Though Cui Li getting cold feet because his advisors scared him off was boo!! They should've offed him then and there. And in the meantime, does Cui dad live or die, since nobody is able to come to his rescue ATM?

First support important chara is out... we're going to escalate from now on, I think. As long as the mains, TaoZi and her willing test patient and the two horses and the youngest imperial grandson all make it, I'd be set :D

Another mini-theatre episode, LOL.

Pei Yuan (in a tizzy): You're the general of this army, you CANNOT place yourself in danger for the sake of a girl!!
Li Ni: I did it for Cui Lin, not her.
Pei Yuan (inner monologue): I don't trust you!!!
Li Ni: *proceeds never to visit Cui Lin, whom he saved, presumably, instead spends all his time next to He Ying*
Pei Yuan (inner monologue): I THOUGHT SO!!!

Later on, He Ying won't eat if she doesn't have something sweet.

Pei Yuan (in a tizzy): You're the general of this army, you CANNOT place yourself in danger for the sake of a girl!!
Li Ni (oblivious): Sure, let me get back to you on that when I come back from the mountain.
*merrily goes off to hunt for honey on the mountain*
Pei Yuan : What the hell did just happen?!

Don't take it to heart so much. I am not dissing the actors, I am just finding it funny that I am still coming back episode after episode to a drama that I'd usually not keep up with. That is actually a praise for it.

Everybody gets invested into a story, more or less, according to their own tastes. I am glad people like it for what they find in it. I am liking bits of it for making me come back LOL.

For what it's worth, I'm currently mid-ep4 and I still think this definitely shouldn't be my cup of tea. I'll keep with it for another ep or two, at least, or maybe right up til the end, depending. Who knows, maybe it'll be one of the better ones in the end.

Because when it is THIS good, you always want seconds!

Also, it has an episodic rhythm that allows for at least one more season, if not more. So here we all are, hoping it happens!

I KNOW, I too like fantasy/time travel, even ghost stories, LOL, it's just that this definitely is not what I'd usually keep up with and yet I AM keeping up with it hahaha. At least for now, anyway :)