Nope Not Here

I'm going to miss this show. Really thankful to the actors and entire production team for bringing the novel to life with such a great adaption!

Nameless maid send and afterwards killed by the Empress Dowager

For how much I've been crapping on Prince Duan as a character I want to commend Tang Xiao Tian for bringing him to life with such an incredible performance. Especially his descend into madness in ep 32 gave me the chills. What a great actor!

I'm only on episode 11 but I'm loving how convincing I find both leads in their roles. Tbh I don't know much about how others feel about their acting skills, but I don't see anyone but Fu Yixiao and Feng Suige.
The way Liqin carries herself overall in this makes her a really convincing female general. And I didn't realise Feng Suige's actor is the same guy from Hidden Love (only saw clips of that show so far).

I'm sorry I was watching the fight in ep 26, all invested and then Eunuch An came in swinging a sword and I just burst out laughing hahaha. Now that's one dedicated employee!

I keep rewinding the scenes of CZY mounting the horse, really majestic the way he does it haha

I love it whenever I realize that some lines are straight from the novel! It's like finding easter eggs. It's so nice to finally get an novel adaptation that actually sticks to it's source material!

Thanks a lot for letting me know! Relieved to hear that, now I can continue watching haha

Can anyone tell me if the love triangle takes up a lot of time? I hate love triangles with a passion, especially if the FL can't properly set boundaries. I've watched 8 episodes so far, but I'd rather not waste my time if I know I'm just gonna get annoyed.

Yep! Only between Wanyin and Xiaoho Dan

No worries, Prince Duan doesn't touch Wanyin in the drama like this. He bruises her wrist from gripping it too tightly, but doesn't molest her.

I think Prince Duan genuinely believed that he's the "chosen one" of the world, destined to lead the country. He thinks of himself as the smartest, always having the last laugh. He has no problem emotionally manipulating Xie Yonger bc he doesn't respect her as a person. He sees Yu Wanyin as the "best tool" to gain power and tries the same tactic on her as he did Xie Yonger.

Prince Duan makes my skin crawl. I'm so glad they left out the scene where he kisses/marks Wanyin's neck in the carriage bc that was disgusting of him to do. I hated that scene in the novel.

I'm only on episode 3 but I love the music they use when the FL's expression changes to her true colorrs. They picked the right music, ominous and sinister

Thank you for the explanation! Glad to hear that's doing well overall

anyone know how this show is being received in china?

Everything the FL wears is simply gorgeous! Especially that black and white one in episode 16, loving the fabrics

This exactly!

Yeah they've been following the novel pretty accurately so it really stood out to me that they changed such an important plot point for the FL.

I'm surprised they changed the fact that FL threatened Mei to go poison Consort Shu (and have her purposefully discovered and executed) to Mei choosing to do that herself. I suppose it was to make the FL less ruthless in this case (tho in the novel FL was still very affected since this was the first person she killed)? In the novel the FL wanted to make sure Mei's death was not linked to her directly so she could get rid of Mei without making Prince Duan suspicious and cover her tracks. FL being sent to the Cold Palace was their plan all along.