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His kissing has been top-notch since his first drama! Was hard to believe he was just a novice then😀 Also, he’s got the lips for it!

Word. 😍

True. He sits back crying into his wine and looking all mellow and forlorn while we have PWX scheming and using every opportunity he gets to cozy up to his girl lol!

Actually, that they seem more like siblings is what makes it believable for me. When you’ve been married for such a long time (20+ years) the dynamics does shift to one of familiarity and the fact that they did not have an emotionally healthy relationship makes it even more so. They are constantly bickering and nitpicking and fighting for petty reasons and trying to one-up the other with veiled word-play rather than say what they actually mean (with her being the initiator more often than not as that’s what their dynamics were like earlier too). There will be next to no chemistry (sexual or otherwise) and them being together in the same space is actually quite suffocating for me as a viewer (except when they are scheming together lol!) I think once the conversations happen and their guards are down and they treat each other with grace, it’ll be amazing!

Yup! They were together for emotional reasons in their first life which is why it was the main reason for their relationship breaking down. In this life, since they have already decided that they did not need any emotions between them, I think it became easier to look at things without taking them too personally. I am not saying there are no emotions involved but the fact that they had already decided to go their separate ways makes it easier to take a step back and see the flaws in themselves and each other and be honest about it! Love it!

Absolutely! She worked under her assumptions and prejudices and never took the time to listen or communicate with him in their first life and also in this one. And, as she genuinely did love him, it was easier to push him away emotionally when she thought he had hurt her by having feelings for ZhenZhen. Likewise, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was always enamored and a little in awe of her because she was a princess and he was a commoner. This would have led to him always deferring to her a lot and never actually articulating his thoughts and emotions to her. I am guessing he said what he said about going their separate ways in the heat of the moment perhaps hoping that they could come back to it when they were both calmer. I absolutely love the whole carriage scene as it is so so very realistic. You can see how he understood that keeping quiet was what led to all those misunderstandings in their first life which is why he made the conscious decision to go back and tell her how he was feeling (he actually said “this isn’t fair.” either referring to her making all the decisions AGAIN and him just going along with them or, to losing the relationship in this life as well). And he did it so well! He picked apart every little thing that stood between them intially and addressed them separately. And ofcourse, this would have blindsided her completely as she has never heard him speak in this way to her. Her reaction was brilliant!!!!! She looked stupefied. That instinctive “sorry” when she ran to him came from a place of shock and remorse at the thought that her actions had hurt him when all this while, she always thought that he was the heartless one. I like that THAT was the first thing she focused on cos she couldn’t imagine being a reason for HIS hurt. She also couldn’t yet comprehend that he did not want ZhenZhen like how she always thought he did and which also led to her turning to RongQing.

Growing up in the palace and always being on edge, I am sure her first instinct is to be rational, impersonal and calculating. Which is why she never placed any importance to emotions and had nowhere safe to express them. He was probably the first person she could actually be herself with and when she thought he had someone else in his heart too, I can’t imagine how hurt and heartbroken she must have felt. I just want to give them both a hug and tell them they are good for each other. I am glad they got this hard conversation started. I am eagerly waiting to see where they go from here 😊

Also, ZLH looks great in this scene!!! For once his lips look natural and not the bright red color that overpowers everything else 😂

🤭

I think the emperor was in on it cos I seem to remember an exchange between him and XH where XH alluded to it or so. And yes, I too think the emperor was shush cos XH would have proposed using it as a means to bait Wanning, who in the emperor’s eyes was the bigger fish to fry 😅

Hmmmm… Naughty Duke Su! 😬😬

But him not kissing her in that scene was true to his character I thought. She was still dealing with her baggage wrt the ex-husband and was drunk..and I like that Duke Su held back which imho amped up the attraction and sexual tension.

Lol!!! Numb legs after kissing!!! What was he doing?! 🤣🤣🤣 What a great miss for us viewers!!! Damn the director for not giving us what we actually want to see and going with some melodramatic idiocy 😑

They had long kisses?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🥺

I couldn’t enjoy 40.5 one bit cos I was still reeling from the end of 40. Tbh, I even thought Duke Su was dead and that Jiang Li was hallucinating him in red cos they never showed us his face! So I actually watched 40.5 thinking it’s a fever dream while Jiang Li was unconscious or something. I hate that there was so much whiplash! 😡😡

There seems to be a disconnect when he speaks because of the dubbing and it can be a bit jarring (he was dubbed in his earlier dramas as well and I didn’t feel it as much). Maybe his real voice was used in SoKP and I got used to it 😂

Yes! The actress is so damn pretty and I feel like she’s probably one of those who doesn’t need a lot of make-up to enhance her looks which also contributes to her looking so pretty and fresh in scenes where she’s dressed down.

It does seem that way, right? It also seems like he is plotting to do whatever he did in his first life and is feeling some remorse about it…definitely seems like he is part of some master plan regarding the empire

Rong Qing is sooooooooo mysterious!!!!!!!🤔🤔🤔🤔

So essentially we now have Xie Wei with fighting skills! Woo hooo!!!!

Lol it’s all so chaotic! One minute it’s all intense “Off with his head!” energy and the next, the funnies and bickering 🤣🤣🤣

Good luck! I just finished it yesterday and quite enjoyed it. 😀

I am predicting that the fan fiction writers will go really strong with that scene and write about what happens when Duke Su does lose that iron clad control of his😁😁 I can already imagine it - him with his hair down and collar bones out and those bedroom eyes, her having limited time with him and them having to be super quiet and quick so as not to alert the guards 🤣🤣 🔥🔥

Actually his ending in that is good - his character arc is shown really well

As much as I loved the series for all the nuanced characters and the wonderful acting and the beautiful shots, it left me feeling incomplete emotionally. I did not appreciate the last 15 odd minutes and the needless deaths of two of my favorite supporting characters and cannot imagine Xiao Heng being the same after that. Which is why the special episode fell flat for me - the happy moments gave me so much whiplash from that brutal battle scene. Also, why not show us Xiao Heng’s face when he’s riding in to meet with Jiang Li?? What’s written on his face at that moment? Is he happy to see her? Heartbroken for the loss of 2 people who were by his side forever? Relieved? Excited??? What?!?!!!!! 😫😫😫

I am glad Xue FangFei and Jiang Li’s dad had the talk about Jiang Li’s death and made space for him to grieve her loss. That was so well done. Shen YuRong did lose his marbles at the end. Such an unhinged character. Part of the blame lies with his mother yes but it goes to show that he is irredeemable cos he did not want to change even after having someone like Jiang Li by his side. He does not deserve her.

I do not know what Xue FangFei is like in the book but here it is evident that she grew up with people who love her and that is also what ultimately gives her so much courage. It makes me smile and gives me butterflies to think that she and Duke Su are together. He holds so much space for her and is always telling her to “live her life” and asking her about her future plans without any impositions. And she on the other hand healed something in him by telling him that she wouldn’t abandon him because that is basically what happened to him with his parents’ death and his grandfather isolating him. I love them as a couple. So much trust, faith and comfort. I enjoyed their banter and their reactions to said banter cos it shows us how secure they are about their feelings for each other.

All in all a very enjoyable watch and something that’s taken me out of my slump for costume Cdramas (a genre I love!) 😀

You see his playful side come out once in a while and it’s adorable 😂