Big_Red_1011

Thanks! Drama events are more plausible than the novel (unless it was just her & her squad). Hanging out on an edge of a cliff is a lot less dangerous than looting an enemy camp.

The one a bit similar to this one (but a bit lighter) is Are You the One. In the beginning ML pretends to be FL’s husband and they live in a small village like in this drama. In that drama FL almost died because of mysterious injuries, lost recent memories and confused ML for her husband. FL is rumored to be bandit leader’s concubine and ML is a local lord who’s trying to catch that person, so that’s why he plays along and becomes her husband while using her as bait. But it quickly escalates because FL is very smart & savvy, so instead of staying at home she starts helping her “lazy” husband by opening up a business, etc. And similarly to this drama, eventually there are war campaign(s) and things become more serious as heroes are dealing with empire-wide matters.

It’s going on very well, but they are releasing 1 episode per day now (except for 2 days), so it won’t be done until March 30 (per Netflix; unless Tencent/iQIYI do express package).

Does the novel elaborate on what sort of punishment ML had in mind for FL before everything went wrong at the end of Ep. 25?

Someone said there’s a 5 year gap in the novel (FL is 15-16 and ML is 20-21). In the drama FL is 18 (and maybe turned 19?) so that’s why we assume ML is around 23 if they want to maintain same age gap.

Even without knowing his motivations, this is one of those common drama situations where a character has lied/hidden the truth for so long, they try to find a perfect time to confess but — as we all know — there’s no perfect time.

ML is suffering consequences of his (in)actions & lies. FL is just trying her best to get him some meat 🥩 without knowing his true identity & status.
But, of course, if FL’s husband was a regular soldier there’s no way she’d been allowed to do stunts like that — she’s just too innocent to realize that.

What plot was different/better in the book?

That’s a very wise move considering how dramas often find ways to drop the ball at the end and give us an unsatisfying ending.

Yes, let’s be real, if she weren’t his wife, there’s no way a regular person could take a prisoner (lets alone a VIP hostage) and taunt opposing forces.

Yes, it’s one thing if a scene wasn’t filmed because actor/actress wasn’t comfortable with it, but cutting already filmed scenes is silly. Especially since marriage and birth rates are very low in China currently, so you’d think the government would be encouraging people to get, ahem, proactive 😉❤️‍🔥

Can’t wait for the IU drama! 🥰

But there are dramas that are slightly more explicit (both modern and historical/fantasy), so that’s what makes it even more confusing. For instance, When Destiny Brings the Demon had a lot of kissing and, ahem, “dual cultivation”, but then Love in the Clouds had some scene(s) cut in the final edit.

In one of interviews, leads mentioned 108 lashes so that’s still happening for sure.

Only Twinkling Watermelon 🍉 (9.2) and When Live Gives You Tangerines 🍊 (9.3; was 9.4 for the longest time) are higher rated dramas. Even if this settles at 9.1 eventually, it will be an amazing rating. Not that MDL ratings matter, of course. But even back in China it’s doing very well — became the first ever C-drama to surpass 10,000 Heat Index on iQIYI and 30,000 Heat Index on Tencent/WeTV.

Ugh… what the heck — why would they get divorced 😳. I’m sure it made sense in the novel but at the current pacing there’s probably just enough time for the (second) grand wedding.

We will find out in ep. 26, but I think they have to hit him for real. She’d notice if they were faking it.

Yeah, I can understand why they took that out.
But I do have to roll my eyes at how many intimate scenes gets removed even from modern dramas. There was one modern drama that had a pregnancy scare even though they never hinted/showed bedroom activities (only kissing) 🤣🙄

I have a little over an episode to watch, but it’s better than average I’d say (8.1 MDL seems fair). Lots of eye candy for female audience but main theme is dealing with aftermath of longterm relationship that ended (basically, finding courage to put yourself out there and try again).

“Can This Love Be Translated” was definitely better though (in my opinion). Go Youn Jung deserves an award for all the roles she played in the drama 🥰

Ohhh… that’s logical. Thanks for the info.

Fun aside: apparently in AYtO novel the couple had a child while they were fake-married and before FL regained her memories! I guess novel ML wasn’t as skilled at coming up with excuses for not sleeping with his “wife” 😁