kyangg

Li Lejun's death is so sad but yet so meaningful and powerful. She knew that for Li Mao to be a great emperor he must sever all ties with both Xiao Wuyi and Xie Jiayu because his love for them are the chains that will hold him down. And they are is weakness.

You can see how hard it was for Xiao Wuyi to kill her because he knows that killing her means severing his friendship with Li Mao.

Li Mao understood that as well and it's sad that they have to sever their ties this way — by sacrificing the one person that Li Mao loves the most.

I believe Xiao Wuyi, He Yuanji and Li Mao stripped her of her powers when she poisoned Li Mao and tried to pit the blame on Wuyi for storming the palace to save Li Mao.

Yes — he's not a child, but even adults can get manipulated. And yes, adults can be victims too.

But after watching episode 25, I was right — there are many hidden meanings behind Li Mao's and Wuy's words.

I am more certain that Li Mao is not a villain and he is the best choice on that throne. He cares and love the people just as much as Xiao Wuyi.

I believe that they both sacrfice a lot of things — Li Mao sacrificed his freedom for the realm. You may not agree with this, but Xiao Wuyi will always have freedom once the war is over, but Li Mao will never have freedom unless he is dethroned and even then, freedom, probably not.

Also — I believe that Emperor and Empress Wen Xi have already paid for what they did. They both died. Of course the An-Lu case means more than just framing noble families. It is the very case that will reform the entire nation, sadly, it took 20 something years but it is the case that will destroy the noble families' hold on the royal court.

We don't know if Li Mao is going to repent or not. We will have to wait and see, but even the purest people have a breaking a point.

I don't think he's playing victim, but he is a victim. He is a victim of the Grand Tutor's schemes, the Empress Dowager's schemes, and even Wuyi's. So, I wouldn't say that he's playing victim, but he is one.

Honestly, I can also blame Wuyi as well. He also schemed against Li Mao. I know that this is an unpopular opinion, but Wuyi is not a saint at all. He is just as scheming and manipulative as Grand Tutor Xie and Empress Dowager — the difference between all three is how they execute their schemes.

The Grand Tutor puts on a nice face, but behind that fake face is someone who is scheming for vengeance. The Empress Dowager hides behind her power and schemes through others. As for Wuyi, he does it openly and doesn't care.

As for repentance, I don't think Wuyi have repented at all. Everything he has done so for was for the reform. He doesn't apologize for what he has done, he justified what he does. Everything he says, have double meaning.

But we can disagree to agree — that there is still more that we need to see in the upcoming episodes.

I believe that Li Mao is still the Regent to the Emperor. They haven't shown if the Emperor had died or not. The Emperor is the one who is sick in bed.

The Empress Dowager lost her power so now Li Mao is the one with the power.

Xiao Wuyi is a general for the Beifu Army. He only has power within the army.

Honestly, I don't think Li Mao is bad. He's just being manipulative by the people around him and he can't think for himself. I kind of feel bad for him. He was thrown into this regency without a choice. Of course, he doesn't want to be a pawn but he ended up being a pawn.

After these latest episodes, I can finally make my judgment on Grand Tutor Xie. He's not the villain of the show. He's just obsessed with the An-Lu case and he loves Noble Consort An too much that he's bent on avenging her death. I am glad that Xie Jiayu and Xiao Wuyi were able to untie the knot in his heart and resolve him of all of his pain.

The Empress Dowager deserves to lose power too. But honestly, I wasn't satisfied with how they handled her punishment. I get that she's the Emperor's mother, but she had done so many bad deeds and she deserve more than what she got. Innocent people died under her lust for power.

I don't think there is a true villain in his drama. The villains that we have seen so far were put there by circumstance.

The Empress Dowager — the HE family used her for their own glory. She was put in the position and she decided to fight for power because if you have power, no one can touch you. At the end, the very family that put her there, also turned their backs on her.

Li Mao — the Grand Tutor made him the Regent. He wanted to leave but he was forced to take up the throne. He was hesitant but he had to become who he is now because he needed power. Xia Jiayu doesn't want a cage, but Li Mao was thrown into the cage. IF the Grand Tutor did not scheme to put him on the throne, he would be free with Xia Jiayu.

Li Lejun — she only wanted to protect her brother. She had already lost her home and her family. She can't afford to lose her brother too. Her need to protect became more prominent when she found out that he is the Grand Tutor's son and not the direct lineage to the throne. Now that they power, she needs to hold on to it so that they can push them around.

Of course, I am not saying that they have to be a villain because there are always two paths to take, but like I said, the choices that they made was to protect themselves from the very people who forced their hands.

He's the crown prince from the previous reign. He never truly had power as the crown prince. He was put in jail because Grand Tutor framed him for treason and working with the enemies.

I am still debating if Grand Tutor Xie is just a manipulative man who is obsessed with revenge for the An-Lu case, or if he's truly the villain of the entire drama. I mean, this guy is hard to read. One minute, he's the loving, doting father/husband and dimwitted tutor and the next, he's the manipulative chess player of whatever game he's playing.

Please tell me if anyone else is suspicious about Old Man Taebaek? The moment I saw him on screen, I have a bad feeling about him. Like he’s the reason for I Rang’s father’s death. He’s a villain through and through, so maybe I’m projecting, but he is hella suspicious.

And Young Taebaek is driving me crazy. He thinks that by using underhanded methods make him a good lawyer. Smh. He can’t compare to I Rang.

For me, they both have good Eng translation. So it's really up to you. However, the translation does not match. I have both Tencent and IQiYI and the translation are different in how it's being translated.

For example, in ep 25, where she's trading SYQ for food —

Tencent: "Listen, rebels! If you want to save your Young Lord's life, bring meat and grain to trade for him!"

IQIYI: "Rebels! If you want to keep your Heir Apparent alive, you must trade meat and food for it!"

So, you take your pick.

I see it as more of an admiration that may be misplaced as affection. I think he admires her and there is probably some gratitude in it as well. I don't know about the novel, but I do know that sometimes we misplace affection with gratitude and admiration.

Even though I agree with you, I feel that ep 34 was more of an introduction to the emperor and how divided the court is. It also showed the audience how spineless he really is and how the two factions are pushing their agenda and that the emperor is merely stuck between them. Other than that, I do agree with what you said.

I agree with you. I actually feel sad for SYQ. He is a crazy psychopath, but I think that he genuinely loved QM. He really thought that even if everyone in the world betrays him, his brother would never do and to find out that his brother was the biggest traitor is kind of sad. I believe that he wanted to protect his brother the entire time. It is sad that QM was the one who killed him and not FCY.

Ep 34 was all about the emperor and I am up for it. I actually feel bad for him. It's sad to see him not have one person he can trust. He was a funny character but behind that, you can clearly see how lonely he is. WY and Grand Tutor Li only wants his power, I even feel that the Eunuchs don't take him seriously. I feel that the only one who genuinely cared for him is Princess Royal. The life of our puppet emperor is really sad, in deed.

Honestly, I feel bad for the emperor. He is a person who is in a bad place. He was made emperor by Wei Yan so that he can just be a puppet. He has no real power. And he knows that he can't offend Wei Yan or Grand Tutor Li. He is stuck in a hard place. That scene with him being so happy, laughing about what FCY did after court was genuine. I feel that since he became emperor, there were really no one who was genuine with him, maybe except for Princess Royal.

And I can see that he's scared because he knows that the two people that he should be able to trust, is working against him and that they can replace him whenever they want. I cannot imagine living in that kind of fear. And he can't really threaten them either.

It was leaked. The only thing keeping me from watching it on KISS is the subtitles. I checked the episodes and the subtitles were AI so I’m waiting for the express to release so I can watch with good subtitles to understand the episodes.

WOW...

I loved that the comedy came back because after a few episodes of heartache and deaths of many, it was perfect timing for us to get some lightheartedness. The entire scene with the teachers was hilarious. No one can teach her except for her matrilocal husband. She even drove Lord Li to sickness. I think they need to bring back Grand Tutor Tao. LOL. Besides her matrilocal husband, I believe that Grand Tutor Tao is the only other person who can teach her without getting sick.

I also love how feisty the women are in this drama. They are giving their lovers a hard time. Honestly, I would have loved it if Princess Royal slapped Mr. Gongsun too. I mean these women (FCY, YQQ, and Princess Royal) are to be messed with and they are driving their lovers (XZ, GY, and QM) crazy.

My favorite scene, besides the teaching of FCY, was the reading of the imperial decrees. All she can think about was her stewed meat instead of the decrees. I laughed out loud when Head Eunuch was reading the decree for her and she wasn't there. LOL. I guess you can say, "like husband, like wife" right?

Honestly, I think Mr. Jin is becoming my favorite person. He has grown so much since he first came on screen. He went from a ruffian into someone who is loyal. But he is also a comedic relief. I love how he wanted to protect FCY's reputation, but it was so that he can keep an eye on Li Huai'an for XZ. LOL. His little jabs were so funny. Of course, his jabs to XZ was equally hilarious. He was just protecting FCY of heartache since XZ is now the Prince Consort, but he didn't care to rub salt on XZ's wound at all. He didn't even care when XZ threaten him with Mess Crew.

I cannot wait until the political stuff gets revealed.

These two episodes did not disappoint, especially the fight scene between FCY and Lord Changxin. Of course, I would have loved it if FCY killed SYQ but I’ll take what I can get.

Now, the cinematography of that fight scene was magnificently executed, especially the realization from Lord Changxin when he saw Wei Qilin standing behind FCY. He realized that the man who made a traitor’s very own daughter defeated him was gratifying.

The scene with Li Huai’an throwing away both couplet from the Li and Wei family was one of the best scenes with him so far. It brings me back to the talk he had with XZ about deciding which family he was from. That scenes shows that he is not a Li but a He. He was struggling with his identity and now he knows who he is. It shows his growth.

Of course the scene with Grand Tutor Tao never disappoints. I loved how he had so much wisdom and he knows that his goddaughter was smart enough to understand him even when he’s not being direct.

The little spar between FCY and General He was also wonderfully filmed. I loved the back and forth between the past and the present. I just wished that General He told FCY the truth.

Overall, these two episodes did a wonderful job of portraying the conflict that FCY feels about fighting and the resolution she got when she realized the difference between fighting and not fighting. That was a great moment to see that she understands why she needed to fight in the war.

Man Di dying showed how courageous he was. From the very beginning, Man Di was shown as someone who’s timid and just followed his older brothers around but in that moment when he protected his older brother, he was brave. It was heartbreaking because FCY have already lost so many important people in her life and she promised the Pig Butcher Squad that she will bring everyone home safely.

I don’t know why you called Li Huai’an a bad apple, but he’s taking is anger out on her because his master died. He was really close to General He and to him, her knocking him out stopped him from saving his master.

I don’t think it has to do with being insecure. I think that he’s just grieving and felt that FCY was at fault. He didn’t care if she did it to keep him safe, to him, she prevented him from saving the person he cares about the most.

General He was more than a master to him.

———

Going to your point about XZ. I have always thought that this story was female centered. I mean, they focused more on FCY than XZ. The entire show focused on her so for you to assume that it wasn’t female centered was kind of weird. Of course, I haven’t read the novel, so I don’t know if it was changed but from the very beginning, I have always thought that it was female centered.

I think it was arranged by Wei Yan. I haven’t read the novel, but I’m just basing it off of the previews and flashbacks. I talmost seem like Lord Changxin and Wei Yan was in cahoots.

HOWEVER, I did read somewhere that the most incident 17 years ago, happened because of the late Emperor wanting to protect the 16th prince who got caught by the enemies due to his ambitions. But, it was Wei Yan’s letter that caused FCY’s father to bring the tiger tally to Lord Changxin who then lied that the tally was a fake, thus making him a traitor.

Rewatching some episodes while I wait for the new ones, and it just hit me that they didn’t really explain why SYQ thought that CN was XZ’s daughter. I mean, yes, he saw the portrait of them together, but (unless I missed it again) they never said how long XZ was missing for. I just find it funny that SYQ would think that he has a 5-6 year old daughter at that time. Of course, unless he has been missing for that long.