ShortCircuit

I'm watching ZLH in Zhu Yu, he has a softness to him that Hua Cheng wouldn't have.

I bet ZLH would have made some great role... too bad they won't ever show us anything, of TGCF or 2ha or any of the others T_T

You know what, Zhou YiRan would make a perfect Hua Cheng.

... Tastes like chicken.

There are no chimneys in an ancient house made out of wood. They're always burning charcoal or wood in fire basins, there are no woodstoves in the house.

The only actual stoves are for cooking AND their smoke goes in under the house brick-beds. (His bed isn't one of those, because he's upstairs, but if you're looking at the lower side, they all have Kang beds (or simpler versions of Kang beds). They're made out of bricks with internal smoke funnels, so that the heated smoke goes and warms the bed while the fire is on. Kind of like the Roman hypocaust system, but for beds only IIRC.

So it totally makes sense to have at least some opening to allow the charcoal/wood smoke to escape outside BUT it's a drama, so way too many windows open in order to allow him to spy on what's going on outside (and hear her whispering her secrets to the world, LOL).

In my country's past, peasant homes' roofs were made out of straw, and that (vaguely) lets smoke escape. (I don't know what they did when it snowed and totally covered the straw, maybe they just went to sleep warm and cozy and never woke up or something).

Anyway... I think the drafts are too gentle. None of them managed to make his shirt wave aside yet, or something. I mean, this should be put to the test. For science.

I wanted to send you a DM to invite you over, but I was being mesmerised by those eyebrows. I think they're magnetic or something, they managed to attract you over here all by yourself :D

Well, if she ever tires of him, I'll take him off her hands. Just sayin'.

I mean... if not food, why so delicious roasted?!

I pity the piggly population.

And the best part - he's a MATRILOCAL husband.

Why?

Because she needs 100 pigs.

The fight for the infamous city in Beijou (I hope I'm remembering that county's name correctly) was a long while back, some 16 years or so? The one where Xie the Father died and his body desecrated on the walls?

Because Yan Zheng took it back about 10 years back, or so. Or maybe closer to the current timeline. And caused a massacre there (or at least they're accusing him of doing it).

So ChanYu's dad had a lot of time to go home, married and have daughters. OR he was already married (and her mother is also suspiciously well-read, educated, knows how to do special incenses etc). I expect the father WAS General He (who maybe in drama-timeline conveniently disappeared after the fight was lost where Xie-the-Father died. And maybe her mother is also either some soldiering woman, OR a noble lady who was in love with him or he helped save or something.

And in the meantime... he had all the time and interest to grow (bodily) a lot, LOL.

Screenshots. So many screenshots. Now I totally get that Chinese meme LOL. And the one about licking the screen too, hahaha~ (NO I'm NOT licking the screen, I have cats and they don't know any boundaries. I bet one of them licked their behind on my laptop or something and not even ZLH's face is worth doing that LOL.)

Then again. That face. My BFF isn't even watching it yet and I'm totally already envying her for seeing it for the first time.

So, let's take it slowly.

1. Her father was either General He or one of his soldiers and maybe Yan Zheng was his student back in a while? (Which makes him HOW MUCH older than her, LOL?)

2. His mother was a total b!tch. Yeah I get it she was wrecked with sorrow over her husband's death, STILL she left him all alone as a child. And in continuous danger. You don't do that as a soldier's wife. Shame on her. (It's probably the writer's fault, but still).

3. I hope Academy-pal is going to be a real friend and not a dagger in a velvet sleeve. The way the initial interraction goes, they seem to be very good friends.

4. The assassins came for the whole Fan family. So did General He (or his bodyguard) do a run and hide with the family and has been on the Wanted List for all this time?

ETA Got any more of that wonder wound elixir, Secret Pal-in-Writing? :D

I shouldn't have started this one til it was all done. I have a problem with waiting and obssessing over things. Dammit.

Anyway - I'm pretty sure the fighting choreo was awesome in episode 7, but I kind of was only looking at his face.

Also, certainly a lot of other things probably happened in this ep7... but you know, his face is kind of distracting.

I don't know how popular NiF2 was in China, but I don't think it could surpass the first one. It's very good in a different way (that keeps the same high production values, good plot, good and interesting characters etc). It's more romantic than NiF and there are unforgettable MCs there too - just that it's not the same. Which is also very good IMHO, I mean, why wouldn't it be different?!

I think these were the roles of their lives, for both of them. I don't think there's any of their work out there to surpass NiF (though Hu Ge also did a lot of live theater so maybe there?...)

Anyway, after this one, if you're interested, dive into the second season (next generation, not a lot of the same characters), you'll see another masterpiece, and Huang XiaoMing's most lovable character ever (in my opinion). The best battle scenes in costume drama ever.

That's the one I meant. I also love that BGM, it's just perfect. And it's also perfect when there's no BGM at all - just MCS calmly explaining how he cut off all avenues of escape for Xie Yu and Xie Yu starting to panic. And then the confession. And JingYan and MCS' exchange of looks - because now there IS proof of what happened in the past.

That's seriously one of the best scenes in the whole drama (and there are so many of them).

I jinxed it, somebody sent him a wonder-working wound elixir now LOL. I guess he'll be 100% back in form in a day hahaha~

Nothing is ever private in a small town. (And they have no regular entertainment anyway, gossip would be the only type of distraction from life's problems).

Now if they had internet and socmed in those times, LOL, imagine the shorts :D

She hand-feeds them LOL. I'll take a bet none of the actual living pigs in the drama did any kind of dying (by her hand or someone else's). I almost expect some BTS where someone takes them home as pets LOL.

ETA Actually come to think of it those pigs are SO SMALL. Too small to butcher anyway. Does anyone know what historical period this takes place in? Were pigs supposed to be so generally small at that time? My grandma in the country used to grow a pig annually and those behemoths used to get up to 200-250 kgs each, they were many times bigger than these piggies she's got.

Anything she carries on her shoulders or butchers is CGI, painfully obvious. His falcon is also CGI from time to time - basically any in-flight shots. Sold pig meat is also obviously cleanly cut - so it very probably comes from an actual butcher shop.

So rest easy, no pigs were butchered for the sake of filming. Unless they were in the catered food or something LOL.

It's a fact though that there are animals raised for food and their fate is to get eaten in the end. We're all of us born omnivores.