SerenityShimikaBlack

lol historical ancient flirting is so much hotter than modern flirting cause there's always that added element of longing and passion that's repressed because of social etiquette.
I'd recommend:

cdrama:
Blossoms in Adversity
Love in Between
New Life Begins
Destined
Royal Rumours
Love Like the Galaxy
Maiden Holmes
Story of Kunning Palace
Autumn Ballad
Blooms of Ruyi Palace
The Story of Minglan
Sword and Brocade
Who rules the world
Under the Power
Lost Track of Time
Lost You Forever season 1 (season 2 is coming out soon I believe)

Not traditional historical, it's xianxia/fantasy but still also quite good
Love you Seven times
Till the end of the moon
Starry Love

Kdrama:
The Legend
Faith

He's delusional and still hoping for her love after everything he's done 😂😂😂
She's said he's disgusting like 3 times(?) now to SYR and he's just not willing to accept the consequences of his actions have severed any love she ever had for him completely

Lol the classic old villain laugh, it's so bad and cliche! Thankfully we're finally get smarter and more interesting villains here. It makes the FL's revenge so much sweeter to watch as it succeeds as well.

no worries just thought I'd say it cause that's a pretty big spoiler lol and I totally agree with you - the director and producer should be drawn and quartered for not showing us that kiss!

The end of ep 34 was hilarious - the princess never understood that love bought or forced isn't actually love. It's sad and pitiful that she genuinely loves SYR as seen by her willingness to give up Xue Zhao in exchange but I genuinely don't believe SYR loves her at all. He's totally using her lol.

SYR's face when JL/XFF was playing that song on the guzhen was so satisfying not only because of his torment/guilt/regret but also Wanning realises that no matter how hard she's tried to utterly steal him away from XFF, he still loves her and that stick between them is gonna be her downfall I reckon.

The best thing about this drama besides our Duke and A'Li is the fact that we're are actually given villains that are more well-rounded and thought out properly, not just cardboard cut outs! We get to finally see how victims become villains because of the CHOICES they make, not because they're just simply evil!

spoiler tag please, remember to use it!

in the novel XFF physically dies and her soul is transmigrated into Jiang Li's body so it's different from the drama - I do like the drama's version more though. Having XFF be able to appear as herself and shake up things is more satisfying and thrilling to watch.

added bonus we get to watch the impact of her appearance psychologically torment and frustrate all those villains who know she's XFF :)

I do love grey characters too. But I think the problem with SYR is that he CHOSE to murder her. That's what makes his actions so unforgivable. Yes he was under pressure from the princess and his mother and sister, but he had other choices if he had the brains and cunning to go through with them. Instead he just falls into the princess' trap and becomes her dog. So no matter how much abuse he suffers under the princess, I just feel like he deserves it as he made his own bed. From Jiang Li's perspective I agree as well, he utterly doesn't deserve any mercy. But I do admit, it's when he's suffering from the flashbacks and guilt/regret from the murder and seeing his past that I keep glimpsing the good in him. He looks so utterly helpless/guilt-ridden, which helps him look more like a victim of circumstances than an actual villain. Nonetheless I completely don't condone him getting away scot free cause he absolutely needs to pay up for what he's done. It's just cause he's useful that I feel killing him would maybe not be the most ideal choice from a governmental standing point. Like making him a eunuch or some permanent disfigurement I think would be a fitting punishment for what he's done, cause then he has to live with it. Death is too quick and easy as release for SYR. He deserves to be tormented more lol

Lol the side drama is all about him paying Situ to kill him, cause he wants to die. There's been a theory that this means maybe that he's gonna end up married to Situ and end up in the other kingdom... But I think the drama is might go the same route as they did in Kunning Palace for Zhang Zhe - he's gonna end up all alone for the rest of his life and just focus on his job as a scholar filled with regret (also his mother and sister are probably gonna die cause honestly they're too stupid to keep alive!). I'm also guessing he's gonna switch sides maybe to help take down the princess...
In the drama, he's also being played as a more complex character unlike in the novel where his evilness is so obvious. I can't say I would enjoy seeing him redeemed but I can see room for the redemption cause he's definitely not as much a power hungry man as he is in the book. Like the emperor would see him as a useful and necessary man to have around cause he's a genuinely 'good' official without the influence of the crazy princess of course.

Yes she's the princess of that country

in the book he dies, but here I'm not sure as the drama hasn't ended yet.

SYR wanted to swing around for fun not actually kill himself haha

Also their interactions in the mini series are based around him paying her to help kill him not anything romantic 🤣

Yeah and it wouldn't fit with the timeline either as we know SYR is in court most days. The mini series is just comedy so like the scene where he's 'hanging himself' isn't actually a suicide seen. SYR literally says I just wanted to swing around for fun haha. Completely doesn't fit the ton of the main show

Looks like the mini series not real spoilers :)

Yup that's the mini series! That channel's spoiler content is misleading :)

If it's the hanging scene and she saves him then yes that's the mini series episode 1. Haven't been able to watch the other episodes but I have watched the first episode on Youku

There seems to be a confusion between the mini series with Shen Yurong and Situ Siyue and upcoming spoilers. Just wanted to let everyone know that the scene in question between the two character is not a spoiler for the upcoming episodes it is from the mini series: https://kisskh.at/771475-jie-zhao-ba-qian-fu-ge

Sounds like that's a scene from the mini series they came out with for the two characters: https://kisskh.at/771475-jie-zhao-ba-qian-fu-ge
The current trailers that I can see on Youku don't show Situ appearing