Alice_01

I see...Thank you!

Are there any novel readers here? With the way this cdrama is progressing, which ep do you think they will get married? I don't want to catch up with the latest eps yet and wait for their married life era...Especially with the daughter, I hope we will get more scenes of FL x their daughter cause this is something not usually seen in cdrama last time I saw a drama like that was in The Sword and Brocade ( highly recommended ^^)

Hmm I am only 4 eps in so I can't say much about her chemi with ML but the one with Chai jing is really giving ><
Honestly, ML so far from the eps I watched doesn't seem to have much of a presence and his supposedly "cold military official" demeanor didn't get me sold either...Hopefully the future eps will give us more of him and their love story.

Before I went back to catching up with the eps today I scrolled through X and apparently Chai jing x Zhuang hanyan cp ranked 1 on the Chinese side, surpassing the actual cp lmao
I guess I am not the only one who catched on Chai jing's feelings and their deep bond ><
https://x.com/yuenings/status/1902513085153472716/photo/1

Maybe I have read too many Cnovels/manhua but back then it was quite normal (or on the very least it's not a rare plot) to 1. Have a sister marry the husband of her sister if she dies, especially if they had children left behind because they think that only a step mother with blood relation to the kids would treat them well plus that way the 2 families can keep their familial connection and relying on one another in the future.
2. It also isn't rare case for a man if high ranked to marry a Di (legimate daugter) as main wife and also bringing her own Shu (illigimate) sister as his concubine, because when the main wife is pregnant and can't perform her duties, the husband sleeping with her shu sister instead of another unkown woman was less of a threat to the wife.
So by now after reading and watching all sorts of crazy plots from the ancient times this doesn't phase me in the least lol Though I do guess that from a modern person's perspective these all sound wild af...

Btw I am currently on the 4th ep and the air around FL and Chai jing is really giving yuri vibes >< At least one-sided by Chai jing for sure lol The way she smiled when FL said she doesn't want to get married and how she has become her shadow and is ready to throw her life away to protect her...But with how these cdrama usually go and knowing the top is FL x ML I am sure Chai jing will sooner or later have smth tragic happen to her while protecting the FL and scriptwriters will get her out of the picture...Also based on ep 4 I can already tell they might fight or strain their relationship the more FL starts to care about the ML...They even almost already had a fight after the house burning incident...Things are clearly changing. And after FL loses her "blade"/shadow guard she will have to become one herself I guess...
Cannot wait to watch the rest eps >< But I was also not planning to catch up lmao

Just started this, currently on ep2 and omg the vibes are so dark in here...It seems even darker than The Double honestly! Cannot wait to see our FL working as an underdog until she rises to power!
I am interested to see how many things are hidden in the Zhuang fam...I am sure the concubine is definitely not as nice and kind as she tried to show herself as...From the fact alone that she talked in front of her maids like that and delayed their salaries supposedly cause of FL was a way of making the maids hate on her and making them gang up on MC and blame her for it! Kinda getting them to do all the dirty work while the concubine can keep her kind persona and give the medicine after the maids serve the pain... If anything her birth mother seems the most reliable to me here...Though utterly broken and mentally distraught as she is after all these years in that house (it could also be just a front for protection who knows)
As for the ML his introduction was kinda mild for me he was not all that scary...More like trying to show a cold front but didn't convince me enough ><

You're welcome^^

Hm...Personally I think the whole swift of their relationship was done well in this one! ML finds out since ep8 and he ever since you can see subtly treat her differently and the FL also starts having some questionable and conflicting thoughts ever since the eraly 20+ eps so I didn't find the build up problematic >< I also liked their subtle moments before officially engage and I found their chemi nice!

around 27-28 i think

The way the rating keeps going down in this one lol
Truly an unseasoned and overcooked kdrama this was... It had a big budget, beautiful actors and sceneries with sports cars and still it could not propel this drama to the level of others that share the same tropes. It's just too badly written/directed beyond saving...

Same here! I still have them in my playlist even after months of watching this ><

Honestly the summary may seem a bit much but you can proceed with this freely in my opinion! They are not blood-related and FL grew up separately since she was a young child before re-joining the family! So ML & FL didn't grow up together as siblings and if I remember correctly ML learned about FL's true identity around ep7-8.

1. There is a 2nd ML, but it's not really a love triangle since he was always rejected by FL
2. Mostly ML does get jealous at times and a little bit for FL too but nothing serious and more playful/subtle type.
3. It's a happy ending and quite satisfying one.
4. ML and FL get together around ep 32 and there are 3-4 kiss scenes if I remember correctly until the finale but they are quite short ones no stimmy kisses :)

Hmm...Idk personally i loved most of the songs here and didn't find them that irritating like i did in MM for example lol I don't think they overused them too much but each their own I guess.

Actually in the drama version they won't date! He is just used as catalyst and to cause jealousy for ML >< This won't last long as far as I remember and then our Xi Chi will confess!

No it's a happy ending for all of our friends! It's just that the way they filmed the final ep kinda hit hard emotionally...Hmm it just made you think about life? Something like that 🤣 You will get it when you watch it yourself ^^

Right...They did A man so dirty...There was really no need for that to happen and it came out of nowhere...I suppose scriptwritters "needed" that extra emotional sad scene sigh...

Oh but that's not the case here at all though this love squere situation ends around ep 8-9 and from then on the slow burn romance between the leads starts! And for your question they are both sort of in denial at first about their feelings but in Uni they will both feel jealous cause of third parties and ML will confess!

The ending was a satisfying one for most characters and ofc the leads using almost half ep to show it to us and we avoided the 5min happy ending curse lol
As for the Princess Rongyang she died by taking her own life/getting slashed with a sword in the last ep after her plan failed but the emperor still granted her an honorary death and title........Yep our wise emperor indeed.......And put all the blame on the marquis who helped her by killing him with 1 thousand cuts and punishing his clan. That's about it....I hate the fact that the princess still had her honor in history left behind as a benevolent Princess even tho she caused so much pain and suffering...