CasualCDfan

You didn't read my comment.

It's a waste imo

"women have their own mind, strong even with their small bodies, know what they are doing and do not need saviours"

This is bullshit. We all need saviors sometimes, especially women, as they are the weaker sex. Who do you think protects women's rights where they exist? The magic fairy? It's men.

The start of this drama is so bad. Why give so much screentime to the FL and SML's failed romance? First of all, they've never explained to us why she liked him (dude has the personality of a dead fish), or why they should've been a couple.

If you're thinking of watching it but the rating has you worried and you're wondering how bad it could really be—trust me, I've seen the whole thing. It's worse.

"The poison is because he knew that he can found other alternatives. He said if he can wait for 10 years, he can wait for another 10 years to find another cure."

That's still reckless. Logically, a King of an entire nation should never put himself in this position for one woman. But the point is to show how fiercely he loves Cang Cang, even to the point of recklessness. I do concede that he sometimes put duty first, but not always.

Love isn't always pure and easy. It's often messy and complicated. There's ALWAYS a power imbalance. The idea of pure, perfect love, where man and woman stand as equals in everything, is a fantasy.

I'm not saying that their love was the best. I agree it was mostly toxic. But there was something true and pure between them. But to reduce it to a "trauma bond" is an oversimplification. But yes, let's agree to disagree.

I respectfully disagree. Their love didn't just vanish because of the mess that developed later. But really, that love is what carried them through it all, even with Xiao Huan's lies (although well-intentioned) and Cangcang's gullibility. They both were imperfect, messy people who loved deeply and recklessly, and ended up paying for it with their lives.

I understand that's not everyone's cup of tea, but I actually love how they both fought for each other and their love at key moments throughout the story. I think dismissing it as just trauma bond doesn't do justice to their love. It was fierce love.

That said, it's a tragic and frustrating love story that didn't have to end in tragedy. The script fails them because it robs them of any chance to heal later on. After all, the writer seems to have a tragedy fetish.

I might have overstated it a little. But he did risk his life for her more than once—first with the poison, and later when she was kidnapped. Although Du Ting Xin's dissent stemmed from obsessive jealousy, she was right.

I get what you're saying, but love is usually seen as this deep emotion full of affection, attachment, and real care for someone else—person, animal, whatever.

The thing is, Cang Cang fell hard for Xiao Huan (Bai Chi Fan) way before everything turned messy and complicated. That connection started back in his childhood. So their bond wasn't just born from trauma—it was already there long before. Actually, it's that early love that lets them hold on to each other through all the pain and chaos afterward.

If Cang Cang didn't love Xiao Huan with everything she had, she would have killed him right there in the opening scene. And Xiao Huan? As a king, he loved her recklessly, irresponsibly, no question. Although Du Ting Xin was crazy, she was right to be concerned about Xiao Huan's love for Cang Cang. Because as a King, he shouldn't allow his love for one woman to put the entire empire at risk.

I'm putting this writer and director on my "Do Not Watch" list.

Makes sense. I checked out the screenwriter's previous work and they're not very good.

Wow! These writers should be banned.

It sucks. lol

Yeah, don't bother watching. It's a bad drama. lol

“If we’re going down, we’re taking the audience with us.” LOL

I feel like that's exactly what happened. The show's already a mess. At least give us the good ending. smh

Good decision.

Let me get this straight. They put the lead couple through absolute hell for the entire show, only to kill both of them in the end and leave their only child an orphan, when the source material has a perfectly happy ending?

I don’t understand this choice. It feels like the director hates the fans and is punishing us for not loving this disjointed mess of a story. I’m all for creative freedom, but since China already censors so much, maybe they should also rein in this weird obsession some directors have with forcing tragic endings. Either these people are creatively bankrupt, or they’re just petty. It’s exhausting.

Extremely dumb ending.

This is the worst historical drama of the year. The plot twists are ridiculous, the fight scenes, comical, and the villainess is cartoonish. How could anyone write this junk and not feel one ounce of shame? This level of trash should end a director's career.
On the bright side, the OST is beautiful.