Timeline and ages hypothetical discussions

By Yerisina's suggestion (<3) I'm saving this whole rambling here, inside the forum, for anyone who also wants to dig about that.

The only age confirmed so far (that I remember at least) is Shu Qian that died with 24 years old (as mentioned on episode 9 narrative). Important points that I noticed so far:

01. Huo Ying is 17 years beside him, then, they met when he was 7yo:

• Huo Ying came from the Crimson Shadow Guard Camp, so he was from Ji Bei. Shu Qian with 7yo, could not do more than watch and learn about combat. So, I will put a polemic question here, he "saved" Huo Ying or "kidnapped" him from the camp? Because, it is implied Huo Ying is always serving the prince "at night" and that no one has ever seen him do so. It seems to me that Shu Qian was too young to fight, but old enough to wish for a secret shadow guard for himself.
• Somewhere in the beginning episodes, it was mentioned that the CSG has been long gone, Shu Qian was surprised hearing about them after Zi Ang's arrival at Shu He's palace. So, that may imply that they thought this raid exterminated them.
• Let's remember that Huo Ying grew up thinking that he is a "choosen" orphan, raised and trained by Shu Qian (and mostly brainwashed, sigh). But his family is alive and well in Ji Bei, so everything that Shu Qian told Huo Ying about his past can be a lie. Being a "survivor" of the camp's extermination, he was probably too young to remember the truth about this but old enough to remember being saved, so I would put him around 4 yo, more or less the age our first long-term memories are made and old enough to start being obediently trained and hidden.

02.  Duan's family extermination was 10 years ago: so when Shu Qian led this, he was only 14 yo (!).

03. Huo Ying starts serving Shu He 5 years ago, so Shu Qian was 19.

04. Prime Minister Gu served two emperors: So he is at least more than 25 years in power, getting the older emperor before Shu He's father.

05. Shen Song mentions in episode 1 he is only one year younger than Zi Ang.

06. According to the novel, when Shu Qian gave the Qin string, Shu He was 16. Huo Ying doesn't seem to be his guard. 

07. When Shu He gained the royal brocade and the box with the string was thrown away, Huo Ying was with him already.

08.Shen Song and Shu He age seems really close...

09. Huai Yi is probably the youngest of all. To be fully ordained as a monk, he would had to have reached maturity, typically the age of 18 or 20.

10. Even if we don't know when Prime Minister Gu made his move to kill Shu He's mother, surely is before Duan's family fall, since Zi Ang rescued him:

• Shu He doesn't mention being a prince when he was saved (Zi Ang only "finds out" when they arrive at the Sixth Prince Palace after coming back from the monastery).
• It is mentioned they played some time together, but it doesn't seem too much time between the rescue and new separation.
• During the awkward carriage talk between Shu He and Huai Yi, our beloved Sixth Prince mentions he played Guqin in Duan's house as Zi Ang's friend.
• So, that's a point that intrigues me. That information implies that Zi Ang must have hidden Shu He into the cabin, but even so, they escaped to the main house enough time for Shu He meet Huai Yi or maybe he took Huai Yi with him to the cabin? Both is ok, I guess. Anyway, it is mentioned that General Duan was in a war campaign, so probably the only person who could have identified Shu He as a prince is not around on both cases.
• So, one day, the Emperor's soldiers find Shu He in the forest cabin. Let me put another polemic question here: the treason accusation was never explained. WHICH treason Duan's family was accused for? I don't remember this being mentioned, but let's think straight: the prince that was lost for probably weeks, suddenly appears into a forest cabin that is probably Duan's property. How the soldiers found him? Maybe after one of his visits at the main house? Maybe following Duan? Who knows. That's a possibility.
• Going even further, I would say this can be correlated and that part of the accusation can be a prince kidnapping or something. So, I would place the Duan's fall short after Shu He's rescue from the cabin.

So, let's make some calculations. When Shu He assumed the throne, they were at the "25th year of the Great Xiao Era" what implies that his father probably assumed the throne one year before Shu Qian was born, so starting with a 1 (+/-):

• Other dynasty - Prime Minister Gu was already into the politics and serving the previous emperor
  No details how the Xiao's family assumed the throne
• Year 1 - Shu Qian and Shu He's father assume the throne
• Year 2 - Shu Qian is born
• Year 3 - Counting as he is 1 year old here and beyond
• Year 3 - Possible year of Duan Ziang's birth
  Year 4 - Possible year of Shen Song's birth
• Year 4 - Possible year of Shu He's birth (according to the novel, Li Congjia's birthday was the day of the Qixi Festival)
• Year 5 - Possible year of Huo Ying's birth
• year 7 - Possible year of Huai Yi's birth
• Year 9 - Shu Qian (7yo) "saves" Huo Ying (4yo) from the Crimson Shadow Guard Camp. CSG is "exterminated" by the South Kingdom
• Year 15 - Shu He's (11yo) mother's death and they met each other (Zi Ang 12yo)
• Year 16 - The Imperial Guard found Shu He (12yo) at the cabin and took him (Zi Ang 13yo). Shu Qian (14yo) led Duan's family extermination and assumed the Imperial Guard command. Zi Ang (13yo) was saved by the Crimson Shadow Guard and taken to Ji Bei. Huai Yi (9yo) went to the monastery
• Year 20 - Shu Qian (18yo) gave the Qin string to Shu He (16yo). Huo Ying (15yo) doesn't seem to be his guard
• Year 21 - Shu Qian (19yo) sends Huo Ying (16yo) to Shu He's (17yo) side
• Year ?? - Somewhere here, Shu He gained the royal brocade and the box with the string was thrown away. Hard to say when, exactly
• Year 25 - Shu Qian dies with 24yo
  
  So, the ages when Shu Qian died:
  Shu Qian - 24 years old
  Duan Zi Ang - 23 years old
  Shen Song - 22 years old
  Shu He - 22 years old
  Huo Ying - 21 years old
  Duan Huai Yi - 19 years old (let's in the middle (lol))
  
  Ages at the time lapse:
  Duan Zi Ang - 28 years old
  Shen Song - 27 years old
  Shu He - 27 years old
  Huo Ying - 26 years old
  Duan Huai Yi - 24 years old
  
  What do you think guys? Any thoughs? I'm curious if all this thinking of mine made any sense. 

Now, my following considerations (lol)

- HY: Could be a little bit older than you think, but I believe younger than XSQ, so at the time of his rescue, 4-6 y.o. seems likely. All of your sound reasoning with conditioning HY could still happen if he was a little bit older, imo.

I kinda beg to differ here. We're talking about a 7yo child manipulating the mind of another child. First, he can't be THAT good on it yet, lacking experience. If the ages are too close, the cognition, reasoning and understanding would be too similar and this would make it really hard for Shu Qian to manipulate him. Isn't much easier to brainwash and lie to an younger child?

Also, Huo Ying seems really surprised that he has a family. Shen Song said on ep7 "you said you had no parents". With 5 to 6 years old, he should have enough memories to know he had alive parents and got lost from them or even remember their deaths somehow. But he had -no- parents, like he was always an orphan, as far as he remembers. 

So, I would say Shu Qian lied to him saying he had no one and he was just "found" at the camp. And he believed because he can't remember them at all, mostly likely because he was too young to have any real memories. All he probably knows in his whole life is Shu Qian, if so, how can he bear to remove him from his heart? All of this only seems plausible for me, if he's before 5.

- Next I thought about Shu He in relation to Shu Qian.
...
So the age gap between Shu He and Shu Qian cannot be too narrow, with each pregnancy lasting 9 mo + recovery (so at least 1 - 1.5 years between births).
So imo, even with tight spacing between births and wives being pregnant at the same time (and death during/after childbirth being a real threat) at least a 3-4 years age gap between Shu Qian and Shu He seems likely. (For the real life counterparts I found a 4 year age gap).

But even with Shu He being a bit younger, I. think it still makes kind of sense. He would have been 10 around the time of the Duan massacre, and Zi Ang slightly older (2 years seems likely).

What I read from the novel so far also doesn't mention other brothers , besides studying together: "He still vividly remembered his brothers studying together as children" (chapter 15). So, I can presume they were probably near the same age.

BUT, I found a mention that Shu He and Shu Qian were born of the same mother (chapter 1). Shu Qian's age is not mentioned, so maybe they created that number for the drama only and we are just messing things here hahaha. Also, being from the same mom would give them more blood ties. Several mothers could still have children in between, but they are just non-important.

Well, I'm mixing both drama and novel ages here (who knows if this is really right?). With this, both of them being 2 years apart could be as plausible as 4 years. The whole point for me is the use (or not) of the information from the novel, that when Shu Qian gave the string to Shu He, he had 16 years old.

Huo Ying was sent to Shu He on Year 21 (Shu Qian's 19yo), this is a "solid date" because is 5 years ago, independent of how many years they have. And we know that Huo Ying wasn't with Shu He when he gained the string. So this needs to happen before Year 21. 

If the difference between them is, for example, three-four years, this means on Year 21 he has 16-15yo on this year. It's not impossible, ignoring the novel hint. 

So, I'm not sure about considering the novel or not here. Both things are possible inside the suggested years. And in your case, he would have 11-10yo while he was with Duan. What I think it's ok as well.

I think Huai Yi must be even younger. Shu He said (I think in ep 1 or 2) that the last time he saw him as a child he wasn't yet able to ride a horse - so that makes me think 5-7 years old. Because at age 9 I think he already should have been able to. But I don't know about the age to be ordained as a monk (again, great insight!). So let's assume he is 18 (youngest age possible) when we meet him again in the series.

I'm ok with that. XD hahahaha

So far then...
Agreed:
Shu Qian - 24 years old
Duan Zi Ang - 23 years old
Shen Song - 22 years old
Duan Huai Yi - 18 years old

Doubts:
Shu He - 22 years old (me) or 20-21 years old? (Y)
Huo Ying - 21 years old (me) or 21-23 years old (Y)

(I still kinda feel Huo Ying should be younger than Shen Song, thou...)