Alida3:

Thank you for explaining everything in detail! 🩷

I did watch TROP and wondered also there why he called her little civet cat, I thought there must be more to it.

I think the grand tutor will be a very layered character. Episodes 1-2 almost had me fooled.

In TROP the FL was an imposter all the way through!

aeons_02:

The Lu and An family were accused to rebellion because they colluded with Northern Qin right?

Yes - they were just the collateral damage from the Northen Qin ED’s plan to get rid of the Right Wise King’s lineage to protect her son’s place on the throne.

AjibadeAtanda:

• Li Mao is a prince, one of the emperor’s sons (or a close imperial prince, depending on the translation/version). He is part of the ruling Li family

• Li Lejun is also a member of the imperial Li family and is related by blood to the emperor. In many translations, he is portrayed as another prince or royal relative.

Yes with the surname Li and the title Wang it is a given that Li Mao is part of the extended imperial family. However, he is definitely not directly related to the emperor - i.e, not part of the emperor’s immediate family (not his son or his brother). That is what second or third rank prince means - he is not a 亲王. And if you keep watchinghe is not even related to the emperor at all. That is also why his sister Lejun’s title is third rank princess or Xianzhu 县主. That means their father the late Qi Wang was a second rank prince (not part the then emperor’s immediate family or not a a 亲王). Otherwise her title would be Junzhu 郡主, same as Jiayu's mother or the daughter of a first rank prince. Jiayu's mother's title should actually be a Gongzhu 公主 as she was Wenxi emperor's younger sisterbut she got demoted one rank for defying an edict to marry the Grand Tutor.

so how does changsha wang come into the family tree he is a duke but calls ed aunty in one scene so he has to be from her side of the family and even the xiao's their family is also wang but papa xiao is commoner and mama xiao is butchers daughter so how did they become prince household can someone clarify

PeachBlossomGoddess:

sunmoonstar:

so how does changsha wang come into the family tree he is a duke but calls ed aunty in one scene so he has to be from her side of the family and even the xiao's their family is also wang but papa xiao is commoner and mama xiao is butchers daughter so how did they become prince household can someone clarify

Changsha wang is a first cousin of the emperor. He is a closer relative to the emperor than Qin wang. He is only related to the ED by marriage - she is his 叔母 which means aunt, specifically father's younger brother's wife. The Xiao family are 外姓王 or wang of a different surname. That means their title was granted and is not due to blood ties. They are not part of the imperial family. Wenxi emperor granted the title to them.

Thank you for clarifying in English everyone is a princess,aunt,prince there is no distinction at all which leads to a lot of confusion.

in pinyin there are different words for each so there is more clarity.

@PeachBlossomGoddess What is your interpretation of Li Mao's character mid-series? It appears the writer wanted the audience to guess his true intentions mid-story but we of course later find out where his intentions truly lie at the end.

However, I could not help but feel whiplash from seeing his interactions with XWY - especially how they just moved on like nothing happened after the episode where he tortured XWY demanding him to write a divorce letter. From what I can see, he was serious and did it out of his own jealousy. However, XWY showed his devotion to the country by writing the manual for Li Mao - I mean was that the only reason why Li Mao released him (along with the fact that XJY would reveal his identity)? I just find it unrealistic that XWY and Li Mao can remain friends after that.

@PeachBlossomGoddess Ah yeah I felt things were disjointed with his character so it was hard to figure out how he actually was supposed to feel midway through. I just watched the final episode and he appears to be genuine with both XJY and XWY. Based on the conversation between Li Mao and XJY, XWY was in recovery for a while (they didn't know whether he'd survive) and had only woken up 3 months ago. XJY refused to come back despite Li Mao trying to figure ways to get her to return, until she came back on her own accord after the Northern Qin Emperor died. But regardless it would've been nice to have his character flushed out and portrayed a bit better. Funny how Riley Wang plays the second lead again alongside HMH haha