JJJ

I think it deserves way higher. I haven't been watching C-dramas lately because I can't get through the first several episodes and just fluff romance without enough plot doesn't do much for me anymore. But this drama grabbed my attention right away.

I am not surprised with the rating though because although people claim they love enemies to lovers trope, what they usually mean is misunderstanding/rivalry to lovers trope. This drama however is straight-up enemies first, with no positive feelings involved. If you can accept that and see the perspectives of all characters involved, then this drama would be IT.

Seems like a rape case based on preview clips I saw... and it seems like he was trying to use that case as another bait too to get something.

Oof guess the way Pei Yan handled a * case in the future would disappoint Jiang Ci a lot.

Still around 24000 at its peak, saw comments saying 2 dramas ended yesterday so seems like everyone tuned in to those first. It should rise today but let's see. I do see more positive posts though.

Yup, I watched tons of their joint interviews back then and the variety shows they went on together, they are just really great together and seem to have such similar acting philosophy. I haven't watched xianxia in a long time, but TSL back then really dragged me back in, I was surprised. And they just did such a good job. She is really good at bouncing off the other person she is with, so it creates great chemistry.

https://kisskh.at/681035-yi-lu-chao-yang It is not an idol type drama though; it leans toward realism so might not be to everyone's taste.

Yup, acting really is the main ingredient for ship chemistry. One can sell visual and height difference to push a ship but that won't last forever. Their actings were able to bridge the differences in making their characters seem impossible to ship irl.

She was paired with Wang Yang in another drama and he is 20+ years older than her. Cnetz ate up that ship though because their acting was so good it made the ship believable. That drama hit like #1 rating back when it aired too (last year).

Laughed when Wei Zhao said to Jiang Ci that she can't change anyone or anything. If he only foresees the future. 😂

Starting to see him in a new light + he is starting to be different too. 😂

Seeing the previews for episode 11-12, main ship will probably start to sail heh. I have seen ppl not being able to jump into this drama due to the enemies aspect so maybe the slow romance starting will get them into this drama.

Yay and thank you. 😊

iQiyi's subs are not great (they probably used AI or something especially since this drama is not produced by them so probably won't make an effort for the subs), I have seen screenshots/clips from WeTV and their subs seem better. I would suggest other sites for the subs tbh.

Jiang Ci has an inkling at this point that Wei Zhao is XWX but she doesn't really have any evidence at this point.

Episode 10: Wei Zhao's sword dance. 😔 And Jiang Ci being the only one to realize it was a grieving dance. Cui Liang once again standing up for Jiang Ci against Pei Yan... adore him.

The turning point for Jiang Ci though... aka feeling bad for a man LMAO. And seeing that there are so many who are willing to die for him aka he must be doing something meaningful.

HAH, Wei Zhao definitely got emotional with Jiang Ci's speech. He was probably questioning over and over again regarding his decisions and all his kins dying.

Not everyone and their moms looking for the Yan sisters now, Jiang Ci really not getting a break.

1) Wei Zhao would be a potential suspect of the killing of Teng Rui. However, Wei Zhao planned ahead by throwing himself and Jiang Ci into the water (after she grabbed him/called for help) since it was the perfect opportunity (and no, Jiang Ci had no idea, legit thought he couldn't swim so saved him). He then pretended he couldn't swim which means he did be ruled out as someone who can sneak into through the sewer system aka needs to know how to swim.

2) Wei Zhao also made Jiang Ci into his witness (aka they met a bit during the birthday banquet) so again, Wei Zhao had alibi during the birthday banquet so he couldn't have done something to Teng Rui (in the eyes of others).

3) Tong Min did not lie, there /was/ a big wind at the back of the house, but he was led away by the other general (who was Wei Zhao's plant due to gambling debt he owed, though he himself also had no idea, just followed orders aka lead Tong Min away). This then makes the back of the house seem suspicious and that is where the lake is aka sewer system.

4) She dropped the seeds to put a mark on Wei Zhao (the seeds leave shade/mark that is hard to wash off). She probably knew he did try something again so left marks/a letter to be able to identify Wei Zhao in case she does get killed.

In historical dramas, characters usually have several names. There is birth name, nickname, official court name, etc. Cui Liang is the doctor (played by Gao Han) and the name Ziming is probably his baby/nickname or something (since Pei Yan uses it and they seem to have known each other for a long time).

Episode 9: Phenomenal acting by Li Landi during the interrogation scene.

Also glad Jiang Ci called out Wei Zhao regarding his actions toward her. Wei Zhao said Liang people were cruel, but what he is doing to her currently is no different (like she said).

Some people tried to claim Jiang Ci had it coming (like Wei Zhao) because she foiled his plans when A) Jiang Ci only revealed the truth based on the information she knows, meaning if Teng Rui was dead, there did a war between Wei state and Liang state which would cause regular citizens to die. B) She does not know what he is trying to accomplish so she is not the one "foiling" his plans with the intention to lead more deaths on his side. C) Had it not been Jiang Ci, there would be others hindering his plans one way or another. Wei Zhao is not the only player in this "game", his plans will be foiled here and there, no plans are perfect especially when it comes to people/states/wars. There is Pei Yan, there is General Lu, there are all these court officials who will protect Liang state and go against him.

Jiang Ci again (as of now) is just a regular girl who has been asking to be let go. But again, she has been prevented from that over and over again with the threat that her master would be hurt. She is someone with no resources while both Pei Yang and Wei Zhao got connection to imperial court, are court officials, and an army behind them. Wei Zhao should have killed her from the beginning if he wasn't going to let her go (and the other 3227843 chances with 100% rate he had but he never did at the end). He can't turn this on Jiang Ci when again, Jiang Ci is NOT his political opponent in this. She is currently "serving" Pei Yan and she lives in Liang state so of course she will try to stop a war.

Fascinating to see the subtle fractures in Jiang Ci's and Pei Yan's relationship based on their different ideologies. They had a convo about power and Pei Yan believes it is the natural order of things for those in power to crush the weak. So, the weak just has to get stronger to not let themselves be oppressed. You can tell Jiang Ci disagreed with that based on her expression.

Because in society, there will always be those who are "weak". It shouldn't be that the "weak" should all become stronger so other strong people won't beat them down. Let's use martial arts as an analogy. In these types of genres, the main characters or those in power usually know martial arts. Then there are also those who don't know martial arts for a variety of reasons; no talent for it, didn't grow up in an environment to develop that, just want to live a regular life, etc. So those with power should be the one to understand the weight of their power and not use it against those who doesn't have the ability to defend themselves.

Then there is also Pei Yan's view of keeping Jiang Ci in his residence for "safety" (aka a cage) while Jiang Ci doesn't want that kind of life. Also ironic that Pei Yan would use Jiang Ci as a bait multiple times (as he is in control so probably believes everything will be alright at the end of it) while he is worried/dislike it when Jiang Ci "put herself at risk" for her own personal cause (fighting for others like her/"the weak"). Just very interesting and subtle storytelling, I love it.

Most servants/aids won't go out of their way to say something like that because it is not their place regardless of how close they are to the master they are serving unless the master asks them for suggestions. In addition, there is already a competition going on to decide this in a "fair" way (and between high rank court officials approved by the king) so a servant even more so won't try to give their own input with daring to switch out the elixir. Especially if the other person found out it was fake, then the servant would put their own life at risk with the other person's wrath. A normal servant would not expect their master/prince to go out of their way to save them from a court official either if something goes wrong so a typical servant would just keep their mouth shut to protect their own lives.

Teng Rui is a separate thing where Pei Yan is housing him in order to protect him for the peace negotiation, but Wei Zhao knows Teng Rui has a separate identity and knows something about Prince Qi dying + what happened to Yue Luo.

Pei Yan warned the third prince ahead of time that he might have a spy by his side so try to lure him out. One of Wei Zhao's man (with good intention) said to A-Li to make sure the elixir doesn't fall to Pei Yan's hands no matter what. As the go game was going on, the third prince walked out with A-Li and was sighing that he is going to lose (forgot his exact words). A-Li took this chance to tell third prince to switch the elixir with a fake (so even if Pei Yan won, the elixir would have been fake while the third prince can keep the real one) which ended up exposing A-Li as a spy for suggesting this in the first place. Wei Zhao noticed something was off and Pei Yan won the go game and took the fake elixir (which he knew was fake and it didn't matter since his mother already has a real one so he would have been able to save Jiang Ci either way but delayed it to again use her as a bait). Wei Zhao then realized A-Li exposed his connection to the assassin by making this move, his other men warned A-Li, and then A-Li decided to end himself so that Pei Yan won't be able to figure out more or use him to identify the assassin.