SpicyLime

Here's something interesting to think about. The more I ponder over it, the more I think CSS is the one who is lucky to have LBY. She would probably be the one missing out if she chose to actually marry Yuan Shen. The Empress most likely shipped OTP to make LBY happy. Actually, CSS was pretty bad with how she treated LBY in the beginning. She tried to break off their engagement several times prior to falling in love with him. At first she never took him into consideration before she did something. The Empress would asks CSS to deliver things over to LBY, just so that he would be able to see her. Like, if it was raining, she'd ask her to bring over some rain wear. CSS herself was not that thoughtful. This only changed after LBY literally got beaten for her due to the Emperor's scheming.

CSS constantly made mistakes when she entered the Palace, but she only felt that she could make these mistakes since she knew that LBY was her backer. This is also later confirmed by her brother. When LBY was around she made a lot of mistakes. He cleaned up all her messes. I guess you could argue that he forced her to enter the Palace against what she really wanted. But, later on she realizes that she doesn't hate the Palace life and actually enjoyes it. It's more like CSS just doesn't like to do anything out of her comfort zone and LBY forced her out of it. She constantly has these realizations, and LBY is always the one that is left waiting. The Empress missed LBY and wanted CSS to marry LBY. But, after LBY returns from his exile, again he is the one who initiated with CSS and is again waiting for her. Of course, she realizes that she still loves him and looks to be with him again. That's why when they meet up and reconcile, she is no longer angry and is the one to apologize to him.

So anyways, LBY made a mistake, but so did CSS and the Empress. Everyone got mad at him, but he is a good person and deserves a second chance.

The Empress Xuan only gets angry when it comes to those she really cares about like CSS and LBY. Part of the reason why her kids were able to get so out of control, was because she is too softhearted. When she really cares about someone she is the type to get angry. So, that should tell you how much she likes CSS and LBY. It wasn't just a betrayal between CSS and LBY, it was a betrayal to the Empress as well. She was upset for many years.

After she has time to reflect, Empress Xuan is the one to request that LBY should return to the Capital. She wants to see him before she passes away. The other reason is that she wants to see CSS and LBY get married. She never outright tells CSS that's what she wants, but it's obvious to everyone, except to CSS. CSS is always the last one to figure out her own feelings.

Yeah. But remember. He also lived a happy carefree life for like 8 years with a loving and honorable family. Sometimes he imagines how things would be if they were still alive =( CSS is that little bit of hope he has for normality. He is going to give it his all to treasure it.

You are sweeter. <3

If I recall, it happens soon after LBY's aunt passes away before the marraige. The wedding is about 10 days away. LBY had already resolved to carry out his revenge. He knew that they were going to be seperated, but he couldn't stop it. He had to get revenge. Later when he talks about it after returning from his exile, abandoning CSS was his biggest regret. If he could go back, he would've done things different.

When they were talking about the hypothethical of being seperated, CSS mentions that the heart is something that is easy to change, but can also be hard to change. Whatever CSS sets her heart to, she is willing to weather it all (in other words, she is a ride or die). LBY wants to do a blood oath so that they would be bound forever. CSS swears that if he doesn't forsake her, she won't forsake him and they both bite each other. 3 days before the wedding, he betrays the oath.

Another relevant post time skip spoiler:

LBY finds out that CSS's bite scar is about to disappear. The next time he meets her, he bites her again on the same spot. After some tearful begging from LBY, CSS can't keep up her air of indifference and breaks down crying. She admits defeat and has lost to LBY.

I told myself to wait too, but ended up starting to watch. When I found out about the exile for 5 years in a spoiler, I was like WTF. Then I started to read the novel to find out what happens. I was disappointed that CSS got engaged with Yuan Shen, but to a certain point, I was able to rationalize that it was due to CSS's situation. In the end, I really believe she never stopped loving LBY. I ended up putting all most of my hate towards Yuan Shen, since he is despicable, but both CSS and LBY have their own faults in the whole situation as well. When they reconcile, I truly feel that CSS only ever loved LBY and everything she did, like getting engaged to Yuan Shen, was also because of LBY. Yuan Shen only loved the virtuous, refined version of CSS but not all of her. LBY is the only one that loves CSS for everything that she is, both the good and the bad, which is the same on how she feels for LBY.

This scene is right after LBY takes his revenge. In the novel CSS was ready to die with LBY, but he pushes her off the horse and falls down the cliff. He doesn't want to drag her down with him. It's one of his biggest regrets. He gets rescued due to the begging of CSS and Third Prince. Third prince is actually the one who rescued LBY from drowining when he was a kid, not the Crown Prince.

The main reason that LBY was punished was partly due to the murder of the Ling family, but the other reason is that he took the military without permission to encircle them. This was a big no no and after much reluctance, the Emperor exiled him to the boarders.

1) why did ling buyi and shaoshang break off the engagement
-LBY and CSS made a promise that they wouldn't forsake each other (the bite mark).
-3 days before their wedding, LBY carries out his revenge against the Ling Family.
-As punishment, LBY is to be exiled for about 6 years (he only does 5 years and returns early).
-When asked if he still wants to marry CSS in front of the Emperor, he says no and instantly regrets it, since CSS was hiding behind a curtain and was listening. CSS was willing to be with him until the end.
-LBY tries to take back his words, but CSS feeling betrayed asks to break off the engagement.
-Engagement is broken off and LBY is exiled.

2) Why did shaoshang accept yuan shen proposal and will she get married with yuan shen
-She wanted to get married before the Empress passes away, which was the Empress's last dying wish. She didn't realize the Empress meant get married to LBY.
-She wanted to deny her feelings for LBY and move on from him.
-Thinking that LBY was suppose to return soon the following year, she started to take steps to avoid him in the future. I think she was fooling herself, that she could marry someone else and have a happy life without LBY. Ironically, the reason she wants to marry someone else is because of LBY, since she actually still loves him and is worried about what would happen if she saw him again. She keeps convincing herself that she doesn't love him anymore.
-She does not love Yuan Shen. CSS asked several other people aside from him to marry her, but Yuan Shen was the only one who was willing. Someone used the term dirty shirt. That's exactly Yuan Shen.
-They do not get married and are only engaged for a short time before LBY returns from his exile and wins CSS back.

3) did all the above happen due to the 5yrs separation?
-They get seperated before the exile.
-She gets engaged around the 5th year of the seperation, but LBY returns soon after.

I didn't read carefully for most parts that were side characters. I didn't even know Lou Yao's brother died. There are so many names to keep track of, I didn't even try.

Do YS and CSS actually get engaged?
Yes. They are engaged around the 5th year that LBY is exiled. I made a more detail post on why she agreed to Yuan Shen proposal in the post below.

https://kisskh.at/729363-love-like-the-galaxy-part-2#comment-10827663

Did LBY call off the wedding during the 5 year skip?
LBY technically broke off the engagement first, but CSS officially broke it off.

The setup:
They were engaged for about a year. He resolved to get his revenge a month before the wedding. Deep down inside, he knew that they would be seperated. He starts putting his plan into motion about 10 days before the wedding. 3 days before the wedding, he massacres the Ling Family.

LBY in front of the Emperor and Empress asks to call off the wedding first. But that's not what he really wanted. He was just trying to protect CSS and was sort of in an unstable state. CSS was hiding behind the curtains when LBY said he didn't want to marry CSS anymore. He instantly regrets it. He tries to take it back, but it's too late. CSS requests that the engagement is called off and the Emperor finally reluctantly agrees to do so. LBY is to be exiled for about 6 years. However, he returns a year earlier than expected. It's key that he returns early, since CSS started to make plans to avoid having to see him when he returns a year later. A part of her plan was to get married before he returned. CSS herself doesn't realize how much she still loves LBY, but probably subconsciously knew she had to avoid him, or else her feelings would be revealed. She denied her feelings the whole time he was in exile. Spoiler: She always loved him and doesn't want to marry anyone else but him.

Yes. It was all for CSS. No one gets to bully her. CSS feels personally responsible for his punishment. If she listened to him and clued him in to the bullying, it probably would not have gotten out of hand as it did. She literally asks to be punished on LBY's behalf and asked for leniency, but all of it was denied since the Emperor had a plan.

Actually up into this point CSS refused to talk to LBY and was treating him pretty poorly, when all he wanted to do was protect her, by having his men follow her. CSS wanted to solve all her problems herself but always brought in more trouble and LBY was essentially cleaning up her messes. He got pissed since she really could've gotten hurt or died when she was pushed into the pool. It's not normal for most people to know how to swim in the Capital. Remember, even LBY almost died as a child but was luckily saved. He called off his men like she asked and she still refuses to tell him anything. He's giving her everything, but she still refuses to give him any sincerity (trust) in return. LBY now indifferent and serious says, since you "hate the Palace (LBY) so much, I release you from this bondage."

After recollecting, all of the things that she was upset at LBY for, she realized they were all blessing. She hated the Palace at first, but loves the people like the Empress. She was provided the best education for that time. She lived a life in the Palace that most people could only dream of.

"[She] never hated him, how could she..."

Ironically, I read the novel, since I didn't want to wait for the drama to air their episodes. I usually don't follow ongoing series and just watch them once it completely airs. As a series on it's own, it's done well, but I am more critical of the scenes since I did read the novel. As with any novel, it always adds insights to the thoughts and feelings of the characters I'm so invested in. I have to keep reminding myself to be more open minded, since this is an 'adaptation' of a novel. I usually do the reverse and read scenes in the novel after finishing the series. But I can't do that here.

I'm glad you are enjoying the show so far and I hope it meets your expectations.

You can read the spoiler post below for what goes down in the novel. The drama might change it a little bit.

https://kisskh.at/729363-love-like-the-galaxy-part-2#comment-10742087

I have the exact same assumption that you do. Probably CSS does the good old uno reverse and turned a bad siutation into a favorable one. She will probably get praised for it.

I think the only good person that dies is Empress Xuan. She passes away from her illness. She is surrounded by her loved ones and CSS plays the flute for her and she passes away peacefully.

It's a common theme of the story. The good people are walked over by the evil people. But, when the evil people go to far, the good people put them in their place.

It's hard to say until we get to the end. Generally I am satisfied with most adaptions. Usually they start to go downhill towards the ending. It's a common pattern in C-dramas. It's hard for me to understand.

It's going off the rails with certain events that didn't happen in the novel. Some of the scenes were also rearranged chronologically. So it's not totally off the rails.

-CSS does not have a flashback scene in episode 27, until later in the novel, where she realizes how well LBY treats her and how bad she has been neglecting him (the flashback should happen in episode 33).
-CSS actually cries when LBY admonishes Third Princess, where LBY says he won't marry anyone else but CSS. She is touched.
-The tiger tally episode didn't happen.
-CSS does not accept the marraige, but wants to break it off at her first visit to the Palace alone.
-Yuan Shen has been shown a lot more. Probably to help set him up for later in the drama.
-CSS is dumbed down and more flip floppy in the drama.
-The intimate scene in episode 36 never happened. At this point in the story, LBY and CSS are actually in a cold war. CSS is upset at LBY for having people secretly following her and reporting everything to him. She actually refuses to talk with him, outside of putting on a show for others.

Those are just some examples.

I got you. Many people don't even watch opening and ending sequences to avoid spoilers. In the original ending they don't get married. In the original novel ending, there is a scene where CSS tells LBY she finally understands what the wire around his wrist is. It represents her (CSS). When they are seperated it reminds him her and gives him some warmth. They share a kiss. The end.

Yes and no. Some of the scenes are really well done in the drama. The narrative was changed in others which I don't agree with but it's fine. The novel I think has better pacing and makes more sense in some aspects. The characters are fairly consistent in the novel but, in the drama CSS is a little too flip floppy for my liking.

Correct. When she found out his plan, she mentioned if she met him sooner (I think she said like a couple years or something along those lines), she would've been able to figure out his plan right away. At this point, they've only been engaged for about a year. After they reconnect, they could read each other's mind without speaking words, just through looks and feelings. This is what ultimately gives CSS the ability to forgive him. She knows and feels everything that he knows and feels - all the pain, suffering, sorrow, loneliness, regret, hope, happiness and love. She understands and accepts all of him.