Gracie

Throughout the drama, Chang Ge experiences a lot of pain
some examples:
her mother's death and seeing her second uncle step out with blood thinking he was the murderer; and almost her entire family got killed

Wei Shu Yu, a close friend betraying her and shooting an arrow to her

Youzhou governer's betrayal

A Dou and Gong Sun Heng's death

knowing Ah Zhun's real identity and having to be a slave for him

people thinking she caused the death of Gong Sun Heng and his wife

There are some other examples but these are the ones in the beginning that hurt the most. Also as she becomes stronger during her journey, some things that would pain a lot of people like betrayal and getting an arrow shot to you no longer pain her as much because she is so used to it

Yes agree, I have noticed plenty more as I have am rewatching the drama

agree, to Li Jian Cheng, Chang Ge might have been like a burden to him

Yeah, one example is he starts allowing girls to train for shooting arrows and learning martial arts. Even Mu Jin was surprised because Sun had never allowed that. Sun also becomes more warm-hearted. Like Yi Cheng said, Sun also got a weakness, aka Chang Ge. Before Sun didn't really have any weaknesses before meeting Chang Ge but after and after he fell in love with her, protecting Chang Ge became one of his top priorities and he developed a weakness which is also one of his strengths. Think about this, Sun might have had to go through horrible things if Wang Jun Kuo said the truth and if it were not for Chang Ge. Sun had been captured by Yi Cheng and without Chang Ge's help, he would not be alive. So it is also a strength because Chang Ge can also protect and help Sun. Also, don't forget the many times when Chang Ge sacrificed herself for Eagle Division and Sun or when she thought of strategies super quickly to help Sun and Eagle Division. Chang Ge also made Sun feel real love and care. I mean yeah Great Khan cared for him but like as a person who always expected Sun to follow him like a boss that cannot be removed. Great Khan treated Sun like a person to do Great Khan's hard work or something, meanwhile Chang Ge truly loved Sun for who he was.

As stated in a comment by myself below, LI Jian Cheng is less sincere about Chang Ge's well performance at the Cuju game and just talked about how she won glory and pride for him...
But her interaction with Li Shi Min was different, he just gladly and kindly accepted the gift and didn't talk about glory or honor. Also Li Jian Cheng said " I've never thought a girl could do better than your brothers." This shows he underestimated Chang Ge and doesn't know Chang Ge that well compared to Li Shi Min who never showed underestimating what she did.

Li Jian Cheng clearly hates/ dislikes Li Shi Min a lot based on his conversation with Chang Ge.

That slap must have hurt a lot to Chang Ge but I know Lady Jin was just extremely worried about Chang Ge.

That pledge has a lot of meaning in the rest of the story since Chang Ge starts her journey everywhere seeking revenge for the person who "killed" lady Jin but that stops being her motivation and helping others and seeking peace then become her priorities. Chang Ge's entire journey started with her not following what her mother wanted her to pledge for. Her mother wanted her to hate no one at all but Chang Ge pledged she would not hate anyone unless they murderered Lady Jin.


My guess on the scheme is that Li Jian Cheng had was to kill Li Shi Min and maybe Li Yuan Ji that was probably his father (Chang Ge's grandfather) and then take over the throne.

will type the rest of my thoughts later

Episode 2 Thoughts, What I Noticed And Connected (based on somebody rewatching)

I typed quite a lot and then the page malfunctioned because of how much I typed so I will just shorten this

Just in the first episode you can see Leyan having a crush on Wei Shu Yu while Wei Shy Yu has a crush on Chang Ge. This I like her/him things gets more complicated later.

The Cuju game is an example out of many where it demonstrates Chang Ge's ability to pitch in and devise a solution in a sort amount of time. This also shows her wide knowledge of strategies.

rest of episode 1 what I noticed or thought
Li Shi Min and Li Jian Cheng all looked pleased when Chang Ge was playing but I think Li Shi Min looked more sincerely proud.

Li Jian Cheng kinda shaded Li Shi Min when ShiXin Sili asked about Leyan and he said they would go over and discuss the marriage agreement later. Li Shi Min was upset obviously.

Ashile was at least a bit impressed by Chang Ge during the Cuju game,

Li Jian Cheng looked at the knife like he was gonna kill somebody.

Chang Ge and Li Shi Min dueling when Li Shi Min had a knife while Chang Ge had no sword might have been what would have happened if Chang Ge had not left before the purge.

Li Shi Min's speech about the weak and strong I think is relating to his and Li Jian Cheng's plots and Li Jian Cheng's position is higher than Li Shi Min at the time.

Chang Ge's attitude and how she feels is completely different with Li Shi Min and Li Jian Cheng. She is so carefree, can speak her mind and be herself with Li Shi Min. But with Li Jian Cheng, you can clearly tell she is so afraid and anxious.

Yes, agree

I love Leyan and Chang Ge's relationship as bffs in the beginning and later when they reconciled. Chang Ge knows that Wei Shu Yu is Leyan's crush just like any best friend would be able to tell who you have a crush on, I am like that Leyan refused to think bad about Chang Ge because she is one of the people who know Chang Ge the best and she clearly was not wrong,

I can also conclude Li Jian Cheng doesn't really care or respect Lady Jin just because of his attitude towards Chang Ge and Lady Jin. Must have something to do with the past or when he made her his concubine. The next scene shows Lady Jin crying I think because she heard Li Jian Cheng's plans to kill Li Shi Min but I think she might have still cared or loved him and didn't want him to get killed especially by Li Jian Cheng. That night, the letter or document she was writing probably was to Li Shi Min warning him.

Also in episode one where Chang Ge asks San Niang why her mother wants to see her father when she has always disliked him, I assume San Niang knew at least some of the schemes of Li Jian Cheng or at least Chang Ge's mother's thoughts so she looked worried

I just feel bad for Chang Ge's mother. She knew the whole scheme of things and knowing the backstory to her and Li Jian Cheng was more painful. She had to keep all this to herself and it would have pained and did pain Chang Ge when she knew about it.

The first episode, I remembered something, in a later episode I saw a comment saying something like since Chang Ge is/was a Tang Princess, she could have had the marriage with Ashile Sun. I mean obviously that was impossible from the beginning because of LI Jian Cheng's death but lets just say Li Jian Cheng was still alive. Obviously Chang Ge would have revolted against the marriage. I don't think Sun would be as happy with Chang Ge if he had been "forced" to marry Chang Ge. But also, it might have not worked because Sun is an adopted sun, not a biological one. Just something somewhat ironic that came to my mind that I would like to share

This time, I am going to try to watch all scenes with no skipping and on a normal speed to see if I find some new things or discover some more plot connections

still not over my obsession for TLB, watched like half of The Romance of the Tiger and Rose, btw which was really good and funny but I still came back to TLB to rewatch for the 5th time lol

the comparing them to teenagers is so accurate, they are enemies but like buddies too in a way

100% agree with everything you just said

Your welcome!

I would say I give this a solid 8/10 from the 10 episodes I have watched, the plot is ok I guess and a bit of a plateau in some parts, the acting is fantastic and Esther and Ryan play their characters well, I hope the story doesn't go down and just become boring

Zhou Chuan's character is also funny. He is super chill and like annoying, but he also gets jealous alot