Seiranekats

Timeline 1: Original plot, NH loved SYM, but was unable to follow his wishes due to the script, and hence the tragic ending. Both ended up time-travelling/reincarnated into the modern world NF/SXY.
Timeline2: NH/NF kept his memories, but SXY/SYM did not. In order to get SYM back her memories and the happy ending he wanted, NH/NF created a drama script of the original plot and chose SXY as the actress.
Timeline3: The timeline that NH/NF apparently created. Both entered the timeline, but somehow SXY kept her modern world memories, but NH/NF did not.

Timeline3 has a clause that NH/NF has to save SYM whenever she is in danger. If happy ending is not achieved, the timeline restarts from the beginning

One theory I saw on Douyin, so might be HUGE HUGE HUGE spoilers, read at your own discretion.

IMO, watch together with tomorrow's episodes, or the day after's.

The plot and episodes were good, it was just that the misunderstandings were rough to watch :(

I think it's because the emperor thinks NH caused the death of the empress(?) when he was a child.

they did.

the guard, named Geng, of Qilin

that's the role the actor of Wei Liang played in My Heroic Husband, hahaha

This drama follows a very fixed style of one arc for each couple. For Shou Hua and Yang Xi, their arc is from episode 11 to 19, and they are sidelined for other couples as of the latest episodes.

To understand their arc, you'll need to watch earlier episodes (specifically the previous few episodes). After that, they rarely appear, other than small mentions like the son-in-laws alliance or them helping out other siblings.

What plot was there? I fast forwarded it, meaning I merely read the subtitles and moved on. Her character provided nothing to the plot, didn't help solve things, and was only there as a love interest for XQA, because they had to decide on one female character from the novel.

Literally every other female characters in this show have had more chemistry with XQA than LA did. I even watched this show because of TXW, but stayed for Dylan. In the end, she didn't even meet up with XQA, so there wasn't even a proper closure.

I'll be honest, her character does not improve a lot. I skipped all of her scenes and her character does not bring much to the plot. This drama would have been near-perfect for me without her character.

Zhen Yu wants to revive his master Mo li (CZ), and so captures the two reincarnations of deities (BS/FY), but picked the wrong sibling (FL/CY)...

A theory I saw online, huge huge HUGE spoilers for future episodes, even if the theory is wrong

It's out now

I don't think it's an intentional pun, yes they have similar pronunciation, but all along they have been referring to her as pawn. XH smiled because the Emperor was willing to let him do what he wants, which is to protect her.

Youtube has the full season 1 uploaded, with eng subs, but not sure if it's region locked for you.

Yes, it's a direct sequel, even the first episode continues on from the last scene of season 1.

Really liked how there was no cliff-hanger in final episode, and it was a pretty epic way of ending the season :)

After watching all 36 episodes, here are my no-spoilers thoughts of the season.

Unlike some people, I really liked the first 10 episodes, especially the first 5-6, where it was humor between FX and the princes. Even though it was not very JOL-like, it was a nice transition back to the plot. Generally the first half was a 9.5/10 for me, but the second half was not to my liking, especially whenever the new YLR showed up, because I really like 2nd Prince's character, but I felt no connection between the two, those scenes really made me fast forward.

The dubbing was also quite bad in some scenes, especially when it was anguish, but it was still bearable I guess. Every character, even minor characters, and their humor especially, were really well-written. Last episode was my absolute favourite of the season, it really felt like peak JOL S1.

Overall, still really enjoyed the season, can't wait for season 3 :)

(PS: my next comment is gonna say what I like about the last episode, it's not a spoiler but just in case your viewing experience may be affected)

I don't think thats the Emperor?? It's a different person.

The Emperor is not given a name in the novel/drama. I saw from a post many years ago that he is just meant to represent the Emperor figure, hence there is no need for a name.

Just a FYI about the naming of the shop in ep 28, the reason why FX was expecting FSZ to come up with a good name is because FSZ mentioned "money is silver" and in mandarin, "silver shop" directly translates to Bank, which is exactly what FSZ intends to do.