Shrimpy

Almost certainly not. Just staged so the Marquis could get out of a messy situation. He is now free to operate in the shadows.

There is romance but it is a side plot, it shouldn't be too disruptive. At least I hope.

Today is going to be exciting! I keep wishing to have all the episodes at once but on the other hand I understand why this is better for the drama. Yesterday was incredible and those episodes are being shown on CCTV today. I hope it helps spread more word of mouth!

Who made you God of these comments and the person to decide what can and cannot be compared? Last time I looked I am also pretty certain nobody made you the ultimate arbiter of what is and isn't good.

What arrogance.

I think one thing that is slowly being revealed, at least it appears this way to me, is that Zheng Xiaolong isn't just talking about Zanghai's revenge for the murder of his parents in the way he is setting up the stage of this play.

They are certainly a part of that but looking at these episodes Zanghai isn't going to end up standing just for them. Throughout this set up the people who end up dying are the commoners, the "little people". We have death after death with such callous disregard because in the eyes of those who head this empire, who are steeped in corruption, these people aren't actually human. I think 7 really emphasises that and rounds up the set up with the ritual burial and the words that are uttered by Zhinu's uncle.

I do think that this episode fully opens the door to a larger plot point of Zanghai seeking justice on a much larger scale, for all those who are disenfranchised and downtrodden in this corrupt empire, who do not have a voice. I think Zheng Xiaolong is setting up Zanghai to be that voice.

I tried opening a thread in the official forum but I don't know if it will do any good. On the other hand, if we don't even try, it will definitely not happen.

It has always been bad for XZ here but this is ridiculous now. I suppose it's because ZHZ is close to exploding so they are desperate.

I have been following XZ in China for years and I really don't remember the last time I have seen such a positive explosion even in unfriendly places like now. Episode 7 really exploded in positive comments. I am so happy!

You will love 8 too. We know he is incredibly talented and he has shown it so many times but here, it was special. A great director met a great actor!

Mods need to step up and protect the drama, otherwise it's a lost cause. I opened a thread in the forum but I doubt it will help.

The drama is recieving rave comments in China overall and especially for these two episodes. They are most likely going to go even more crazy now.

Yes, absolutely phenomenal. I didn't expect it at all, it was so good. I need to decompress before I find my words 😂

Xiao Zhan is weaving the role of a lifetime here. Both episodes from today are incredible. What a performance.

I want to bow down to Zheng Xiaolong for giving him this opportunity because it is genuinely the best cdrama in years. Oh and not mentioning Huang Jue would be a crime. So good.

No. It's an original script that is sort of a spin off from the novel universe.

No problem whatsoever. Episode 3 is again a little complicated because the explanation goes by super fast so if you get stuck please ask. Hope you have fun with the drama! 😁

So the father part was answered. The second, nobody knows where the treasure is. It's not the emperor's which doesn't mean that the emperor also isn't looking for it. We don't know anything about the identity of the masked man. He could be emperor's faction, he could be his own but you can bet he wants the treasure too.

Marquis wanted the treasure and he tried using his family as a bargain. So he started killing them and in the end, Zanghai's father commited suicide because he wanted to keep it a secret but also end their presence there. He knew Zanghai was hiding so committing suicide got the Marquis to leave.

Dongxia was the kingdom that was conquered at the start. Why it was conquered we don't know. It could be usual expansion desires of those times or it could be that emperor wanted the treasure in the tomb, that was in Dongxia kingdom. We don't know yet.

Dongxia is the conquered kingdom that is now a part of the kingdom where Zanghai lives. She is probably the second princess because there are two, not one. The first one is most likely the one who whipped Zanghai when he was a small child. She was brought to the capital, probably as a hostage when her kingdom was taken over.

You can ask, don't worry about it. It's just that we have had a lot of anti activity and drama is getting heavily downvoted so some people are a bit on the edge.

I will answer what I know under spoiler in the following post.

It's a Prisoner of Beauty fan and SZR. They are not here in good faith, it's just to bad talk the drama. Ignore it, they have been bashing ZHZ from the start. There is nothing we can do about it.

No problem, my pleasure. Cdrama land can be very complicated because a lot of data tends to come out during broadcast and it is very, very overwhelming for people just entering. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

I hope you enjoy the drama 😀

Yes! They are definitely against the Marquis but why, who knows. We have to wait and see if they have their own individual ambitions. Such a good drama so far.

It's about popularity on the platform. Each platform has its own heat index and its own way of calculating them so you can't really compare them but a drama is considered a hit if it passes 30k on Tencent and 10k on iQiyi and Youku.

So Zanghai reached 10k on Youku and it was the fastest time to reach it. Which couldn't be better of course!

10376, again First Frost. Even 10500 has been too far for all the dramas.

Youku calculates heat in such a way that a drama has a window of three to six days to hit that high. After that it is essentially maintaining the numbers. It's really unfortunate that it's not like the other two platforms where the heat rises continuously.