AleksandraSucur

Oh, that would certainly double the evidence. I didn't think that much, I've thought the emperor's edict was enough whoever had drafted it + if it was presented by the authority of the highest scholar in the empire. But yes, maybe HM Xu held an office of that kind (imperial scribe) during the former emperor

Yes, FL's mom said that, but I've understood it as: "Pls. don't give away the edict, my father is on his way to the capital and with the edict, he'll stand up for prince Ding" (bc. her father has the authority to speak, he is not "a weak woman" as uncle said of her mom)

It will be shown for sure, bc the connection between ML's bro and Lishan people is smth important for the main political contention. My theory is that ML's brother discovered the smuggling case (selling weapons to the enemy in the war is high treason) and informed the former emperor who convoked him to the capital to report. Approaching the capital, he either heard the emperor died or was simply ambushed by Muyang's gang. Fearing the edict would be destroyed, he entrusted it either to FL's mom or FL's grandpa as they could come to the capital later clearing him from the accusation of abandoning the military post.

They are parvenus. A family of low ranking (civil) officials, climbed up in status after YL's father married her mom, whose family was top scholar and rich. In ep. 15 Ye Li describes the status of both families.
As far as I remember, A'Yao received the news of his brother from Duke Hua (who was wearing an armour), he served in Hua's army after the quarrel with his bro.

That trait is a foundation of her irresistible charme (on ML and on us, ofc.). After she realised how much A'Yao was heartbroken and suffered for the death of his bro, she somehow "forcefully" (ie. intentionally) "extracted the file" from her memory containing what she knew about the edict and then planned how to extort more info from her father.
PTSD erases and/or rescripts traumatic memories bc. the traumatised person cannot bear the sufference they've caused but they can be "extracted" later on, if there are sufficient external stimula and a conscious will, a determination to dominate the pain. It was obvious she was determined to do so already when she was on her way to the Ye mansion and later, when she confronted her uncle openly accusing the family of murder. An amazing thing was - when she failed to get a written confession after staging the ghost scene with step mother and her maid - she was still in control and continued to press him. The entire scene was incredible, so well done in details and so consistent with the behaviour of a person in her conditions.

Consort dowager Qin

No, she doesn't remember that part, at least not in a way it happened. Her brain rescripts traumatic things that happen to her.
But she remembers who has the edict, bc she staged the show to extort the confession from her father to whom he gave it, and at the second attempt, she succeeded.

Yeeee, glad to see you, babe ❤️❤️❤️

This last closer zoom over the Ye family makes me think that Ye Li started to develop her PTSD already in that madhouse. After witnessing how they've treated her mother and her maid in order to get the edict, ganging up with criminals and condemning an innocent person, anybody's brain would start to erase or rescript such memories. Besides, her PTSD compared to psichological and/or personality disorders of the Yes looks like a mild cold compared to a bubonic plague.
Starting from her father and his heavy dependent personality disorder (DPD), depression and psychosis, the superiority complex of the bully uncle, demential violent (passive-aggressive?) grandma, sociopath step mother... I am still figuring out the lecherous uncle... Half-bro looks ok, but he is still just a kid, while half-sister (step-sister?) is just plain dumb.
Surviving this insane flock is not an easy deal!
Does "Mo Li" actually stands for a Chinese abbreviation of DSM-5, lol? Bc. I somehow feel the original intention of the scriptwriter was to make us re-brouse a bit that manual 😅.

How can it be called healthy? If I'd manage to fall asleep on that rock, I'll have a headache for at least three days 😂😂😂

I don't think so, he is way too cold towards Muyang's son.
He might be Muyang's illegitimate son grown up maybe with consort's relatives - that would explain the surname

Yes, the consort dowager is a pure evil. We were slightly hinted there was some sort of sismance triangle when she, empress dowager and FL's mom were young: consort Qin looked envious of the friendship between ED and FL's mom, which goes back when the two were studying together at the Lishan and were still unmarried, hiding her jealousy and showing a fake concern when the ED talks about her or FL. For sure, she manipulated ED to believe Lishan scholars who were killed by Lu Chengfu were conspiring against her.
At this point, we do not know if she had other motives, bc of the number of stakes that were on the table at the time of the former emperor's death and why the emperor convoked ML's bro to the capital. My guess is: ML's bro discovered Muyang's gang was smuggling weapons to Cangbei (and/or a conspiracy against the emperor that somehow may connect to that treason - selling arms to the enemy during the war is treason) and wanted to report directly about it. Fearing he might be detained before he meets the emperor and the convokation edict might get destroyed (maybe the news of the emperor's death already reached him), he entrusted the edict to the FL's mom as she can show it before he gets convicted for abandoning his military station in the middle of the war. She failed in that mission bc. her husband stole the edict, probably trading it in change of the Ye's family security directly with the evil consort who is btw. a friend with his brother with whom he is at the odds. FL's uncle told FL he was absent from the capital at the time and that all that mess connected with FL's mom's death wouldn't have happened if he was in the capital. He said he was "roaming jianhu" at the time, but I don't believe him, he would have been more specific if he was truly sorry. Imo, the uncle could have been directly involved in consort's and Muyang gang's shady dealings.

Hi, so good to see you, and yes, I felt the same. Happy watching!

I agree with your latest arguments and there's certainly a bigger picture we do not know at this point of drama.
But based on WHAT WE KNOW till now, it's hard to believe ED was just a passive spectator, allowing Muyang to manipulate her. She has that snake, the consort dowager, always around, who evidently likes (and manages) to manipulate her, but the ED is not an illiterate fool, she was a Lishan student at her time, as well. Such an educated person - if she was truly a legitimate widow of the former emperor and his empress - would have thoroughly investigated the fire in which CP died and punished the responsibles, if not for other things, to preserve her own reputation and the legitimacy of succession of her son, removing suspicions it was all her own doing. We'll see if she had done that. 🙂

even in that case, the former emperor never changed the crown prince. The empress is not a ruler and can't act against the will of the ruler, whose edicts are laws even after he dies, and who clearly designated MJL's father to succeed him.
So, even if she was an empress at the moment of the emperor's death she violated the law (murdering a legitimate successor) and orchestrated the coup d'etat.
In real history, empress dowager Cixi orchestrated two coups d'etat every historian call with such a name, for minor things bc. they fit the definition: the first one, when she eliminated regency council which was supposed to assist her son (by edict of the former emperor) and the second when she put under the lifelong house arrest that same son of hers.

The definition of coup d'etat in Merriam Webster: "a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics; especially : the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group" (actually, this is a simplification of its scientifical definition but it gives the major traits - I am a political scientist, so you can trust me on this).
You've said: "There's no longer a crown prince", but the reason why there's no longer a legitimate successor is because one of the emperor's concubines killed him burning down his entire family and palace and then proclaimed herself empress dowager and installed her son. Assassination of a legitimate successor invalidates the legitimacy of the rule of the current king, who was - yes - a son of the emperor, but from a non-legitimate line, his mother was a consort/concubine and that mother killed a legitimate heir and successor.
There's no political philosophy or current in the world which doesn't consider such a rule as an usurpation. Li Shimin of Tang has also been considered "a usurper", despite being one of the most capable rulers in Chinese history

I think they killed Xiuwen bc he discovered Muyang's smuggling of weapons. Why else would the emperor asked him to come to the capital in the middle of the war?
Muyang gang was ready to starve to death Mo Yao, too, but Duke Hua (the one who never speaks in the court) interceded for him and praised him as a hero who bravely fought in the army he led, thus forcing them to release him.

Nope. The empress was the CP's mom - a woman who ordered Guo Jin's tree to be cut (after Lv Cheng, then Ly Buoyang) divined it spread negativity to the palace. She was only a concubine/consort, and even an unfavoured one after those "divinations". And it's understandable why the emperor avoided her place: it contained no shadows and was hot as an oven, bc. it was prohibited to plant another tree there

the fluffy stuff is probably the reason I've boycoted the rating, lol

This is not completely correct. We know the setting is inspired to Tang dynasty when the Confucian principles prioritized the legitimate eldest (living) son of the Empress. The rule of primogeniture (dizhangzi jicheng) from the legitimate line was broken twice: when Li Shimin murdered his elder brother (Xuanwu incident) and when Gaozong was designated as CP, after his elder brothers faught each other, causing chaos and rebellion. After that, the rule was broken only by Wu Zetian, when she removed her eldest son (two eldest were already dead) from the throne and put the younger one. But the removed emperor was selected CP according to the same rule, as an eldest legitimate son of an empress. Ofc., as she didn't care of Confucian rules and fought against them, she finally placed herself on the throne. But this rule was greatly observed in dynasties where Confucianism had greater influence

But even if we neglect these historical details, MJL's claim is legit if we observe the attitude of the dowager towards him. He must play a fool as not to appear interested in politics and ruling. The throne fears him. Beside, his dad was killed by the people who usurped the throne preventing him to legitimately ascend to it. What they've done was a coup-d'-etat and just for that reason, his ascension, as the only surviving son from the legitimate line, would restore the legitimacy of succession, broken by these people.