ra111ster

Were there any other daughters shown? Just in case I missed it. I was under impression she is an only child. Maybe subtitles stroke again?

Where did you get this from? Just like General Cuí,PM has only one child he loves her more than anything. He sacrificed his hard earned easy-living for her.Why dismiss it so offhand?

Let's not limit it to China only. Any monarchy or other system where power is passed by birth instead of merit will have a few "gems" like that.

We only know that he is very influential politician who managed to survive 2 previous emperor's. He tried to discourage Miss Gu from pursuing LiNi and Crown Princess title. I think they had at least 4 conversations on the matter. He would've made sure her life would be fine without all that. Once he saw she is adamant he threw in his weight behind her cause.

Really just like FL's father was helping his daughter to get what she wanted.

Gu's father succeeded in getting her to become LiNi's 2nd wife. They had moderate success in setting up FL's father. But this part got quickly resolved. Ending was driven by slightly different events although all those people were involved.

Miss Gu tried to harm FL.
It was on her request Gu's father got in the game. He was hesitant to do so and even warned her if she knows that her opponent is not FL but LiNi's feelings for FL.
In the end they agreed that after 5 or so years after FL is out of the picture LiNi's feelings will change and it won't matter.

It was miss Guy's mother who instructed a maid to give aphrodisiac to Li Ni. Which really messed up Gu's long term game plan.

Given everyone was cast so well I don't want to think they went so overboard with this guy's stupidity. Also we're only presented with LiNi's interpretation of events leading to his departure. I doubt that as member of royal family he could just get up, leave, travel all the way to some remote army station without his father's agreement. Which could also be interpreted differently.

I don't think brothers were spoiled. The brothers stayed in this courtier environment where intrigue is the norm. Trying to one up each other. The phrase "blame it on misfortune of being born in royal family" is like a red thread running through whole series.

Thank you.

Is it a cliffhanger?

Was there some early release package of last episodes somewhere? I thought there were 6 more episodes to go yet.

Yeah but there was a scene where he stares him down and tells him to ask for it. If he seriously objected to it he wouldn't have asked minister's opinions to begin with. But Li Ni being crown prince and having command of an army was a threat as well. Anyway, if Li Ni would've said "yes please ... grant me the title..." it's unclear how the story would go.

I'll throw in a heretical thought. What if emperor was just playing stupid and the actor accidentally went "full retard". We never actually see him expressing thoughts or emotions when he is by himself. Acting like a cowardly retard did keep him safe for quite a long time.

To me his preferences and objectives are open to interpretation.

His own father wanted him to get the title as well. He just wanted LiNi to ask for it. (not sure if he wanted him to "beg")

Little grand prince will be just fine. And will reunite with mom at some point.

First,problem is that was marketed as S2 to FBS.Even if you look carefully at URL of this page. People who watched FBS years ago expected an S2 to FBS not an S2 to an S1 that never existed. So they've failed to meet expectations of FBS S1 watchers who wanted to know how their story ends not a new story. So, immediate hate is from failure to meet expectations for continuance of story told in FBS S1.

OK, marketers got attention of FBS S1 watchers. Now.

Second problem. Quality of pretty much everything compared to S1. It's something subjective, but when putting them side by side S2 is just cringe.

I'm sure they're going to annoy those that liked original source as well. Someone noted below that Mu Qing Luan here is cast as a guy. Like,I'm not *hua versions that much but even I knew who she was.

Overall creators made it not just easy to hate on it,but also enjoyable 😜

They probably thought there was already too much female interest floating around 🤔.Did they do the scene where XY admires MQL's
" beautiful figure" and "delicate mouth"?

Unfortunately nó.

In terms of this "love at first sight". I guess it's just expected. When it's not like that (e.g., Wonderland of Love) people start to get confused and agitated. But, she is hot, he is young, hormones hit his brain hard. Love is indistinguishable from madness :D . Now, his reaction to Teng Zijing's death I felt was a bit too much.

To me Wan'er never looked like a damsel in distress per se. Other than health issues, her life was pretty good until he came along.

Albeit, the book was actually very good. Wang Juan did a great job to refit it for screen purpose. But it's hard to predict what's going to be in S2. Like in the book FX will get together with Haitang as well. How it could pass censorship standards no idea. I suppose one way is for Wan'er to die first. Also, Wu Zhu actually tends to go missing for quite a long time but how it was done in the series, shifted timeline quite a bit. I guess we just have to wait and see.

I would be in the opposite camp. I find their relationship is most believable because, well, they are courting. He is the one doing the chase. She likes him and is playing along. They are interested in each other but neither is smitten by emotions. So their romance is a bit atypical for drama insofar as they are not acting like a bunch of retarded teenagers. Again given the time they know each other and circumstances of their interactions it's more believable than them starting to sacrifice their organs for each other :)

I don't see it happening.