whoissilmoy

The emperor is not the bad guy:
The emperor is shrewd. By grounding her at the manor, he not only protects her—since she’s no longer inside the capital—but also protects himself. Placing her at the crime scene gives her the opportunity to uncover the truth. I'm sure she's going to be coming and going too. I doubt she’s ever returned there because of her trauma, and she did not venture outside the capital until she went to see her uncle in an earlier episode, but once she did that, the mastermind started to make moves because they worried that she was tracking them down.

ship fuel:
But why does she need to change into feminine clothes to be grounded especially since the place hasn’t been maintained. The ML dressing casually makes sense — he’s been cleaning the place. The way the ML and FL dress, the way the ML acts like a different person, I thought I'm watching a different drama with the same actors. It feels like they're setting up some romance with that setup.

Yeah, I really don’t believe the ML was just “cleaning up the place.” He most likely set things up so he can come and go easily, even traps.

I’ve never read the novel, so everything I’m saying is pure conjecture. With maybe 6 episodes to resolve the political intrigue, it probably won’t be too complicated — and honestly, I suspect the ending will circle back to a women’s issue, because that’s the emotional core the drama keeps returning to. How does her revenge tie back to the women's sufferings? If it doesn't, does it matter how it ends? Do I care if it was late emperor or current emperor, or what her relationship is to the current emperor? At this point in the story, I've watched all the horror stories of the women. What does the ending have to do with it? How does the story change the characters? Most likely, once the truth is uncovered, revenge is done, she will leave the palace and FL and ML will go live on their own, but they can't make change life for women.

I'm not sure if 15 yrs ago:
1. was the late emperor still alive or he just passed away
a. if he was alive at the time, why would he massacre his older son and entire family - would a father do that to his son?
b. if he was dead at the time, and succession was passing to crown prince, but FL father has military power, I can see the crown prince massacre his older brother and family.

if I assume late emperor was still in power 15 yrs ago, then FL's father must have been his elder brother, and he was afraid of his miliary power, he could someday usurp the crown from his own son the crown prince. This scenario makes more sense to me.

if I assume late emperor was dead 15 yrs ago, that makes ML's father colluded with the right prime minister, but I want to assume ML's father is a good guy in all this. He's smart guy, if the late emperor had passed away, it would be so obvious to everyone it was the crown prince at the time (he's the only one who benefit, eliminate the only person who could usurp the throne from him), but ML's father recounted to the FL that he borrowed the crown prince men to go to Prince Duane's mansion that night and were careful not to be seen by the imperial guards.

Regardless of whether the late emperor or the current emperor was behind the massacre, the current emperor would still need to cover it up. Public knowledge of the event would damage the Mandate of Heaven and undermine the moral legitimacy of his reign. Even though he inherited the throne legitimately, his ascension is still tainted by fratricide, and this weakens the moral foundation of his rule.

If the current emperor murdered his own brother, the entire drama becomes a political tragedy, not a story about women’s suffering. This contradicts the emotional focus of the show, if the FL revenge is bigger.

The ML's father is loyal to the throne, to late emperor and current emperor, but he also protected LI Peiyi and has his own coverup with saving and protecting her even though he knows someday she may uncover it - everyone hoped she never regain her memories. I tend to think the ML father is expendable, and they'll kill him off later. Maybe Consort Shu / Cui will have her own female tragedy.

ML and FL's bonds:
ML's father was said to be grand tutor to the crown prince (the current emperor) and FL's father was Prince Duan, I'm assuming the elder brother of the late emperor and uncle to the current emperor.
It is reasonable young ML and young FL crossed paths during palace events and visits in their childhood; but I think after the massacre, I assume the ML's father didn't want ML near the palace anymore, sent him off to study astrology. I thought he was against it, but he told FL he had wanted to study it to solve what happened that night, that he made her a promise back then. Her trauma and she was only 9 at the time, and his disappearance from palace, explains why she didn't know him at the beginning of the drama.
Young ML saved young FL twice: he rescued her from her family's mansion during the massacre 15 years ago (he was at least 14 (it was said that he was a teenager at the time), while it was said she was 9), and he later pulled her from the palace pond after she was pushed in. He has carried deep guilt and suppressed these memories for 15 years, hoping she would forget to spare her pain. This protective history supports that he has always liked her—in a quiet, devoted, fated way—from childhood into adulthood.

So the synopsis before they deleted it, gave this away which is why I assume this is the correct ending.
Consort Shu (Cui Yuyao) and her uncle, Right Chancellor Cui Minzhong, plotted and carried out the massacre of Prince Duan's family 15 years ago to seize his military power, framing it as madness and treason. Consort Shu helped raise the orphaned Pei Yi under the Emperor's decree, showing her kindness despite her guilt. They share no blood relation.

No, that’s simply my take on WXY’s portrayal. I don’t know how the character is written—I’m only going off how I interpreted it through his acting.

When the guy who killed Peiyu’s master—blinded by poisoned needles—shouted, “You evil woman!”, and the woman who performed the acupuncture snapped, “You’re ruining my reputation!”, the entire scene lost any sense of seriousness. In that moment, it felt like I was suddenly watching a comedy.

On the contrary, the ML never holds back. He expresses himself freely to the FL, and the drama gives him that opportunity in every scene where they’re alone together. He’s actually quite romantic — like when he looks at the stars and teases her for being unromantic because she’s thinking about work instead of the beautiful night sky. He’s the one who consistently initiates emotional conversations and openly tells her how he feels.

It’s just that he plays a soft‑spoken, calm man who serves as a stabilizing presence rather than someone who dominates the scene. But he’s not shy or reserved at all— he initiates emotional moments and expresses his feelings every chance he gets.

A genuinely reserved character wouldn’t initiate a confession, especially when the FL never gives him obvious encouragement. Yet he still takes the initiative and expresses his feelings first — openly and repeatedly. That’s not the behavior of a shy or reserved or emotionally closed‑off man; he’s quiet but emotionally brave. He may have a job that keeps him working alone or not out and about much, but he’s not an antisocial person. He works well with others and is perfectly sociable.

The drama is case‑driven, not character‑driven. Its theme centers on the plight of women in the Tang dynasty, and the ML and FL are written as “steady anchors.” Because of that, the characters don’t change much, except the ML and FL do get closer together.

No problem — I only mentioned it because you were asking with such enthusiasm (!!). Like I said at the start, they’re only broadly similar but also very different, and I explained why.

They have very different personality traits. One is a stoic character who practices suppressing his desires and emotions (MR), while the other (UJ) is a quiet, gentle man who expresses himself freely to the FL, which he does in almost every private scene with her.

Someone finally removed the spoiler from the synopsis.

ML character has reason to act the way he does, it explains it in the drama, so it's not like he's that way for no reason, it's a big part of the story, though you may not like the character

you're not supposed to know that "Li Xuan, a half-human, half-Kunwu student"

oh really? it was all there when I watched it, thought the subtitles were a bit messy in later episodes.

Amazon Prime

Mei Zhuyu’s long dormancy
is a seed hidden underground—
quiet, unmoving,
yet holding its own small flame of life.
After years of stillness and perseverance,
he begins to sprout again.

suicide is a recurring motif, though common in historicals, is more frequent and heavier here

Finally, YouTube videos about Xu Kai that feel authentic because they stay true to the way Xu Kai speaks about himself in interviews.

perhaps my favorite line:
"... but the bond that carried everyone through them."

It's not 80's and 90's. The drama is Love in the 1970's. Is this drama in late 1970's Mao was old and died in 1976. How can anyone really expect to be watching a true life story? This is just a romance fiction.

That time was full of struggle and big changes. it was a fundamentally different world.

Actors today are really young and grew up in a much richer, more comfortable China, with the internet and everything. They didn’t live through that era, so they can’t really connect to what life actually felt like back then. It makes for good romance drama, but real life in China in the 1970s was full of hardship, uncertainty, and major social change. This is a romance drama, only 29 episodes. The director is really great at romance so I expect it to be a very good romance watch, set in 1970's will be interesting background too, but I doubt it can really portray life in 1970s the way that generation experienced it.

In 1970, the area that is now Shenzhen, China had 40,000 people compared to the 17+ million people living there today. In just 30 yrs it grew from small fishing and farming villages to one of the world’s biggest tech cities today. There is an upcoming drama called My Destiny about life of a young girl trying to make it in 1970's in Shenzhen,

Speaking of Nothing Gold Can Stay. It hooked me. I couldn't' stop watching it. I like Betty Sun's acting so much. It's powerful. Chen Xiao performance was really great too. The MDL rating is only 8.1 which tells you how inconsistent ratings are.