Kaihua

That VA is doing such a good job, I swear he is carrying half the chemistry and character appeal on his voice alone HAha

Agreed, and there are many more reasons why they were so important! The emotional buildup for a lot of things to come cannot be rushed or brushed over. It esp does a great job of building up the sense of war on the horizon, one still far enough away to live life normally for the most part - but the war WILL catch up to you someday. Some viewers just have all the plot and emotional signals go over their head I guess, and just assume they're watching fluff/slice of life just for the sake of it because they don't engage with media any deeper than surface level

Yeah no one can say the kiss scenes for Bai Shuo and Fan Yue weren't excellent 🤭, to the point where Bai Xi and Chongzhao's extremely chaste kiss was almost funny
you hit the nail on the head, the chemistry was good but the foundation was lacking smh

The cast is really beautiful! I started Pursuit of Jade, but I'll start GtoG too since you're having such a good time with it ☺️

when I saw the end title card my only words were "...Okay" 🫠

There's something frustrating about having to sit through dramatic events unfolding with characters you know are all going to die in the end - partially bc Chongzhao and Bai Xi had that aura of a doomed couple from the start and every other one of Fanyue's companions died, and partially bc I eventually came across a spoiler that everyone else dies. If I hadn't seen that spoiler, they would've almost tricked me near the end bc for a second it did seem a bit hopeful for our B couple. I've sat through plenty of shows that are predictable enough to expect what's going to happen, but are still great w the presentation and emotional investment in seeing how it all unfolds. But usually that's also bc they're not going to kill everyone off. I kept sitting there wondering what the point was if everyone was going to die while I watched, and the thematic message of the show didn't feel like a good payoff. Why did sacrifice have to be the main part of the point that love wins? Apparently love doesn't win, sacrifice does LOL
And we never really have a setup for Mo Li in the flashbacks besides "this is mo li, hes a shallow douche" so his cynicism and selfishness don't hit that hard. Idk how to explain it except that the point was Bai Shuo once hated the world and lost faith in people too, but her worldly experiences changed her (apparently by watching ppl die for a cause moreso than love but ok). Narratively speaking, it would have hit harder if they set things up so that the viewers see Mo Li was once like Bai Shuo, and hurt and jaded like Bai Shuo, thus it would be clear that Bai Shuo could have ended up like him if she had remained alone and never experienced love and good will along her journey. This would have hit harder and had more emotional payoff for the climax I think, and it would present a more clear contrast and reasoning to the opposed ideologies.
If I were maybe 10 years younger or newer to dramas I think I would have felt it was deeper and enjoyed it without feeling as much unfulfilled narrative potential but even then, it was hard from the start when this couple basically formed out of nowhere LOL, the only reason I could stay attached to these characters is bc of the actors so props to them
If the ending had everyone live I also would've ended this drama with more good feelings towards it but this does feel like a BSE (a bullsh- a bittersweet ending)
also, part of why it feels so bitter is because world peace was achieved not only at the cost of all the ppl they loved but also at the cost of their own dreams and identities so it lowkey felt like they kinda lost everything but sure, just throw Fan Yue back in now they can experience whatever they want (without all the people they wanted to experience it with)
so basically, hard agree 😂

I'm back for your thoughts!! I FINISHED.... 2x speed is such a god send, i wouldn't say the show has poor pacing but it is still watchable at 2x speed LOL

this is the most smooth brained comment i've ever seen on this site it's hilarious
there's only one person getting offended and hostile out of nowhere for completely projected and imaginary reasons, who is forcing their opinions while trying to silence others'.... I wonder who it is... I guess we'll never know!

Oh my mistake, I see it was only the first 2 episodes are free; I can only suggest finding somewhere on the internet like a drama aggregate site (make sure to use an adblock like ublock origin), or use a VPN on Viki to see if you can bypass their region lock

I'm dead set on finishing! Now that it's the weekend I'll have time to knockout the remaining 10 eps in a day hopefully

I think there's some chance he passes the imperial exam, if only for the sake of causing worse trouble and being even more of an embarrassment down the line! Who knows, maybe the household sponsoring him even gets him in with bribes LOLLL

I watched that a bit ago!! It was so cute
ruipeng is so good at characters that can be both soft and hard if that makes sense hahah
I think that show is a good contrast to how the romance starts in MM, because ruipeng very visibly falls for the mc pretty quickly, but it's completely believable and obvious compared to MM. CD had given the mc more moments to showcase her character strengths and her ideals from the start, and set up the ml's ideals as well so that it really makes sense when there's a spark of attraction

LOLLL I totally get it... I switched to another drama on and off but keep inevitably coming back to this because I do want to see where they go with the plot
Also, 29 episodes in
bai xi: i saw someone kill your mom, she said not to go back to lan ling
chongzhao: i must immediately go back to lan ling to confirm this with my shifu

shifu, ik you told me to stop investigating my parents death even when i found out it was demons but i found a witness
shifu: how much incriminating details did she witness, did she see m- i mean the culprit
let me help you
chongzhao: i trust you completely

You'll be more invested in the first half than the second half, but I have watched this show at least thrice and I'm actually on this page because I was trying to find where I can watch it for a fourth time LOL
I still listen to the OST even now (mostly Back in Time)

When I first watched it I was the same age as the child actors and it's funny to watch the show so many years later knowing how famous they became and what other projects they did later.

All of my motivations for continuing to watch the show having nothing to do with Bai Shuo tbh LOL all I can say is after she gets kicked out of Fanyue's ancestral/memorial hall, she chills out a bit and focuses more on cooperating and progressing the plot for everyone's sake. If you are interested in seeing where the plot goes, then the best thing I did for my experience was turning the speed anywhere up to 2x to get through various parts 😂😅 I'm only on episode 29 tho

In her defense, Fanyue purposefully gave her a temporary fix knowing that it would create a bad situation to test the limits of her good will - but if the governor had never been bitten, the situation would have progressed similarly anyway. Cold Spring Palace was monitoring the situation and pushing the pieces around to exacerbate the circumstances and turn the people on each other, so as long as the governor and his own family were alive, if it wasn't an accusation of hiding the cure, then it would've been somrthing else like an accusation that he has prioritized protecting himself and his family over everyone else.

What actually bothered me about her (Sorry for that long explanation) was how it felt like Bai Shuo thought herself the most pitiable person in the world and prioritized her own problems over everyone else's to the point of being inconsiderate of the fact that other people have their own suffering and their own urgencies to take care of, which is fine to set up for character growth but you can't show her being like that and also pretend that she was likable somewhere along the line to even have Fanyue fall for her when she's done basically nothing to showcase admirable qualities and hardly expresses much IDK

the stone clan arc is truly what it means to be stuck between a rock and a hard place

Yeeess okay! I'm excited to talk together!! (^_^)

Ao Ruipeng is so good at selling me on his feelings for fls but it feels like the show gave them to him out of nowhere, and tbh Bai Lu has never sold me enough on her feelings for mls by her own acting, whether in this or TTEOTM 😭 it doesn't help that I cannot figure out what couldve been so likable about Bai Shuo in the early eps since FY seemingly started liking her early on. In Coroners Diary the mc has a lot of likable qualities and has plenty of moments to demonstrate her character and core beliefs, so even tho Ao Rui Peng falls for her early on you can completely tell when, how and why and totally find it reasonable

congrats on finishing! how did you like it overall in the end? I've now watched 20 episodes and I'm really scratching my head at where the romantic feelings in this show are coming from. I think it does a fine job at pacing the plot development but maybe they did that at the cost of proper moments that demonstrate characters actually having some meaningful relationship development. The most we got was Tian Huo saying over and over to FY "you like her" since way too early on and it doesn't help that before Yi City I really don't see whats likable about Bai Shuo. I would understand if it were afterwards but even then it needed time to become what it was. Same with Tian Huo and her failship the show had no right to make me so upset over people who barely knew each other but I liked that character so much AAAGH

I want to love bai shuo and be invested in the main cp so bad, but im 9 episodes in and bai shuo exasperates me more each episode T_T i can't even believe fan yue would feel much at all for her at this point because i don't even know how other people find her likable instead of just tolerating her rn oml
it feels like she has double standards for things, like "chong zhao we have nothing to do with each other so this is none of your business" and then in the same episode gets mad at chong zhao for not telling her smth and says he should tell her everything from now on
it's things like that and how she seems kind of...inconsiderate... i really hope my first impression changes, i know some of her behaviour is obviously smth she will grow from later but oh my god...

If they included them living out the rest of their lives and dying of old age then it would imply rebirth when they return to the real world, which is banned in china because of what some people did after shows like scarlet heart... you can look it up, it's not my opinion it just is what it is

this part is opinion based, but going off of when they did show right up to when he was about to be violated and the context being explicitly that he was forced against his will, the viewer can pretty much piece together that's why he doesnt talk to the crown prince or really acknowledge his existence at all save for the disdain he has for the boy as the empress dowager's puppet. its pretty clear he feels disgust, BUT I would definitely not be opposed to more time dedicated to exploring the seriousness of the topic. I think it's important to keep asking for more acknowledgement that SA against men is just as real and important, so it's really nice to see there are other people who are passionate about it : ) I hope I was able to help you vent it out. I was also disappointed when I found out the novel ending was different (and better) and had to fill in the gaps of the drama ending with my imagination that it happened T_T Still not the worst changed ending, since to this day I am not over a certain drama literally changing a happy ending to one where they both die - seriously WHY???? I WASTED 50+ EPISODES