AleksandraSucur

Her twin bro died saving LZ's dad.
But you are right she might have lied about how she felt about her twin, I didn't think about that possibility. We heard her talking about how much she loved her bro when she talked to her own child who was raised believing she was the daughter of this heroic man (and thus entitled to do and behave as she did), which is certainly a better picture than being born out of the wedlock. She might have even hated his guts, bc. maybe he opposed her being with the father of Jundai, who knows.
Yeah, that creepy sis-in-law... she wasn't talking about her husband, she doesn't give a sh*t for him. I felt as she was talking about her dead bro-in-law, the twin. She might have been in love with him (he was the preferite son and a hero, btw) and hated his wife (consort Li, who lamented she was mistreated in the Wei's houshold) to the core, enough to kill their daughter and making the plan look like she was saving her sis-in-law's child out of the wedlock. This actress always plays such a creepy roles, she was the stepmother-in-law of Minglan in Story of Minglan giving incredible, truly memorable performance of craziness.

I understand they hated Lady Li, but her kid is also a daughter of her twin bro, whom she was attached a lot, why killing his baby? You switch them, ok, makes sense, but you settle your niece nicely somewhere safe. Killing her is the part that doesn't make sense.

I've also thought it would be more logical if they left the revelation last. So, there must be a reason why the authors chose to deal with the identity revelation in the 2nd arc. There must be more in this story we still have no idea about

Hmm. LZ is certainly into her, but not to the point to trust her. He wants an honest love relationship, not to be constantly lied and tricked by her. I think she still isn't starting to fall for him. There's only one tiny signal she can be honest in her own "wicked" way (as he tenderly calls her "wicked woman"): she openly told him he may have her body but not her "sincere heart". If we think better, it was pretty honest and paradoxically "heartfelt" of her.
From the narrative pov, it would be more logical - after the 1st arc in which LZ awaited the confirmation of his suspect there are two of them (and the audience was on the edge expecting the "swap moment") - to develop their romance in the 2nd arc. There must be a reason why the screenwriters preferred to reveal first the dark secrets of Wei aunts and A'Chuo's true identity. That's why I'm not expecting their romance to take a full swing in this arc

When she met Consort Li at the palace, she already knew it was just a matter of time when Consort Li will learn from her mother (the emperor's wet nurse) it wasn't her daughter (who now goes with the name of Jundai) who married LZ. There was a split of a second in their scene in the palace in which Consort Li sent a maid to her mother and WR(A'C) knew "the game is over". So, her next move was to publicly distribute the wealth received as compensation from HL and leave impression at home she parted forever (to allarm her husband). She then went to the refugee camp with the Qi guy, knowing he'll inform her husband she was taken by Consort Li people. As he was already allarmed (that she was parting with her life), he understood she wasn't taken to the palace but to the Zhao's/Consort Li's private estate.

WR /AC: You saved me, I want to thank you with my body
LZ: I want your sincere heart.
WR/AC: Just a body, I'll keep my heart and continue lying.
LZ: No, thanks.
Beside being the only true adult in this drama, Lu Zhuo also knows what's self respect. 👍👏
But I am afraid the 2nd arc won't dwell much on romance, apart from those tender "wicked woman" whispers... It looks like we'll have to dive into dark secrets of Wei aunts first, seeing more of the psycho killer these two created than we wish.

yup

You are unwilling to suspend your disbelief. 🙂‍↔️
But how a nightpot collector can have such an education, isn't such an issue compared to "how a noble lady who never stepped out from Wei's mansion (except to attend Grand Princess's parties) can headbutt like a bandit or a docklands' tavern pro?", where did she "learned" to fight like that, on the streets?
This drama is about this: we must suspend our disbelief about everything irrational and absurd we see in the basics of these characters and follow the "inner rationale" of such a plot.
And, as I am still watching it till now, feeling entertained and amused, it means the plotline serves that inner logic and rationality, it doesn't require from me to switch off my brain, the brain still remains fully engaged... to be entertained.
The Emperor?
Are you talking about a character who's played by each and every woman in his sorrounding? His mother, sister, wife, concubine... Every emperor probably wished to be recorded as smth special... This one wanted to punish his bro and would actually like to root him out from his mom's heart (as many siblings desire), but has no guts, so he's asking around for help, as the FL smartly broke out

The two actors actually make a great couple in this drama. She is obviously doing great, hard and meticulous job in the double role, but the male actor shows he knows how to occupy the space and perform the role and I don't think his character is just a decoration. For now, his character followed "his Wei Rao's" lead (and had pretty good reasons to do so), so it indeed looked like a "decoration", but once the truth is out and she has no reasons to lie to him anymore there only her and not two WRs, there's a space to see more of HIM.
Frankly, I've thought I'd drop this drama, once met my 1/3 watched criteria to make an evalution, but I am still too invested...
Lets see if this drama can reach 1/2 with us enjoying as we do now 🤞

I totally agree with you on that!
The basic storyline is actually totally irrational, but no matter how any story can be irrational, if it respects its inner "rationale", we are all happy to suspend our disbelief, we are all in and the comedy of its inherent absurdity (like the "street fight" during a solemn ritual) will be our greatest payoff!
I also enjoy reading the comments here, they help me to expand my view on significant moments. In particular, I've noticed many people who still haven't completely suspended their disbelief find "unconvincing" A'Chou WR could have had such an education, skills and understanding of the world (with just a knowledge gathered here and their from poor scholars, retired brothel women etc) but nobody asked how a lady who "never stepped out from the Wei mansion except to attend Grand Princess's parties) knows how to fight as she were a frequent guest and a pro of docklands taverns after midnight. She can, bc it is aimed to entertain us, not to elevate us (although the drama actually reserved us a few elevating moments, too, I've liked the scene on the city walls...)

I'd add one:
She (his WR) trembles like a candle flame when asked to meet her "mother" and returns with a stomach condition flaring up. No way she can be comfortable in Consort Li's presence like the other one.
Or maybe two:
She is prone to understand other people's motivations and compromise, to find solutions, to agree, to stand for other people and to fulfill obligations she agreed upon.

I think will see more of the romance starting from ep 12.
It's difficult to start a relationship of that kind on lies. Once he is certain there are TWO WRs and she can stop lying there are not, it will be easier.

No, bc there will be no switch, just an attempted one.
LZ knows personally both girls and can perfectly distinguish who is who in a split of a second. HIS Wei Rao is terrorised at the very thought of Consort Li, her stomachache immediately starts to flare, no way HIS WR would act so comfortably in the company of her "mom". And he'll immediately catch they've abducted HIS girl because they've rushed to meet him OUTSIDE the Consort's premises to prevent him to barge in.
Jun Dai trying to pretend to be Achou is highly unlikely, she is unable to do so, too infantile for that, beside being a lunatic who thinks her personality is better to fit in any circumstance

I think I've laughed yesterday the most, the absurdity of the chest scene, the headbutt and so on... cought me totally by surprise, I've cracked so loudly I think the whole town heard me laughing.
Today was different, I was more somehow more prepared: the solemnity of the ritual interrupted by the same guy LH - when I saw him and the chubby Lu boy screamed: "close the door", I've said: here we go again, probably double down, there are more people on the spot to "give their contribute" 😂😂😂

I was just commenting, they are way smarter than Consort Li and can figure out why the two girls cannot be swapped.
The fight was hilarious.

She was indeed smart to know her time was up, but she wasn't "running away", she actually expected to be called in the palace ("the guest I expected had arrived", she said in the carriage). That means she wanted to "be caught": Qi guy (who knows she isn't the girl from Wei's house from the start, but roots for her) will anyways tell her husband she was escorted to the palace and he will know she wasn't actually leaving him, his house, Bitao etc but her final "farewell".
Consort Li - eager to play a mother she never was - is less smart than her own mother, not to mention Wei grandma, who immediately understood why the two girls cannot be swapped. The entire swap idea or plan exists only in her spoilt, infantile, psychic daughter's brain, feasible only if LZ agrees and he has thousand and one reason not to make it feasible. Besides, LZ knows both girls, he is able to distinguish their characters in a split of a second.

Zhou Fu woke up one day saying: "today I am so bored, maybe it'll pass if I play mother". Of a psycho infant, preferably

What exactly in that preview you see as "unnecessarily stretched"?

Her function, from the narrative pov, was to make the audience expect (and fear) the swap, that's why this "swap moment" could have been procrastinated, as to raise and keep warm such an expectation while telling other things.
Once the swap moment materialise (and the viewers' expectation is fulfilled), her character isn't functional any more for the context and this "swap moment expectation" cannot be simply exchanged with the expectation of "the moment in which he will realise the swap " - that would cause a drop in viewers' attention indeed. That's why I expect he'll realise immediately, after all, he already knows both women and is perfectly able to distinguish their characters.
She may be used later in other scenarios (eg. a revenge against both the ML and the FL) but not in a scenario in which she could step in to substitute A'Chou (unless in an unlikely case of his amnesia, but for such a subplot, the authors first need to create a tangible romance between the protagonists)...

His spy at the Lu residence saw the letter she left in ML's cuscion before returning to the Wei family for a ritual banquet after the wedding, telling in the letter how the Weis actually abducted and swapped her with other Wei Rao in order to trick the Lus with another girl. The spy (who was later killed by HL's dogs) read the letter leaving it inside the cuscion (FL burnt that letter after she successfully returned to the Lu residence) but told its content to HL, that's how HL got to know her identity.
She wrote that letter as a lifesaver device, in case Weis tried to harm her when she went to their residence.