Xiang

I think it’s normal considering that ZL’s fate depends on those very politics 😭he’s literally a gov employee

I love that about her character. it’s her son’s fault that FYK married in and she knows that it all comes down to women not being able to be responsible for their own fate.

I mean considering he kept losing his fights back then and the salt merchant industry is a mess which is why he's now leading the reforms as a minister, he probably would have had a hard time as jiuweijiao too 😭

this! I've seen complaints about this becoming a court politics drama, but the entire point is that he's playing with fire.

Agree, but I don't think it was completely no contact. They both wrote each other letters during the time skip, but I'm sure it was more comforting each other than detailing hardships.

the two characters in huchen mean tiger and minister. essentially it’s a very powerful sounding courtesy name granted by the emperor himself so everyone knows not to mess with ZL.

wow 27 is just as shocking though, he looks like a teen

civil officials and military officials have different levels but I remember YJX being somewhere in the 5th rank? he wasn’t scary because his rank was high but more so because his family had a lot of influence (his mother and father are a lot higher). ZL is now 4th rank which is above him.

today it went up to ep18 instead of 19, so maybe there will be episodes tmr after all

maybe from the script? it’s been said the iconic desert scene where FTY is waving at ZL in a red dress that he went off to war for 5 years.

right! I saw a script spoiler saying that later on FTY references that it’s been 7 years since ZL started his official career. given the 5 year time skip, that means the story before they reach the capital took 2 years.

wait what? it skips Monday the 17th?

they aren’t! I saw people explaining that women have to pin their hair up after a certain age, even when unmarried. since they meet again in the capital after the 5 year time skip, she’s still unmarried which is shown by the ribbon in her hair.

I think it’s so no one can use her against him. hopefully doesn’t mean they’ve broken it off.

I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say that since the screenwriter mentioned one of the themes was that ZL keeps losing things as he grows, he might have to do all the official stuff and loses his way but eventually gets back on track. he also retires from court by the end.

I feel like what makes it different is that it’s a zero to hero story with realistic characters and settings (they were actually filmed outside of hengdian)!

got expelled after fty’s death

they started calling him “ninth master” after he took over the token of Jiuweijiao “nine-tailed fox.” you can see in the flashback scene of him picking up the token that asen just called him “ling ge” before.

YJX was the one who made him spread rumors about the defamation but the original defamation was instigated by his sister right?

this, Fu Tingyun couldn’t care less about Yake’s husband lol