Alicetcfwl

Yes, but i meant it wasn't like right now - they wouldn't necessarily go against each other openly as what Duke Xue just did with the coming of age ceremony. They kept eachother in check cuz Yan are in charge of military and Xue are the empress dowager family, so two of the strongest families. But cuz of the marriage Xue couldn't openly go against Yan, also even if he divorced his wife and had his out of wed son, without DingFei dying, that son would still be considered second child, which i think might be the reason Duke of Xue waited for Dingfei to die before divorcing his wife and bringing his lover and kid. If Dingfei was alive, that'd mean future duke of Xue would be him and not his second born son, meaning half of his wealth would be left to a descendant of the Yan family or so i think.

Well yes, as the whole world thinks Dingfei is dead, it doesnt go through their logical thinking to assume maybe XW is Dingfei. They probably hardly even guess his intentions and only know he is dangerous at this point.

That is right, also they didnt really have such a complicated relationship at that time imho. It was more like the Empress was scared of how a young XW was so intelligent at 7 years old, and she was afraid he would influence her son so yeah, when the time came and the rebellion came, she threatened Dingfei with his mom and sent him in place of the crown prince at that time. Not like Duke Xue really loved his Yan wife tho. So might have been a cooperation between both brother and sister in order to bring the power of the Yan family down.

No worries 🤣

They will be exiled, and demoted to citizens. We shall meet Yan Lin later on in the story.

Well, i dont think she is allowed to, but she is a Xue so figures. As for the Emperor, he seems to have his own schemes to see through and i wonder how that is going to get resolved.

Touché 🤣🤣🤣

Oh please, as if you'd retain your sanity having watched 300 kids being murdered infront of your very eyes. Do you expect him to be a heavenly god of some sort, devoid of worldly desires and cold hearted when these tragedies happen infront of him? Infront of a 7 years old kid? Any normal person will get some kind of mental issues, let alone a kid. Also, there is a fine line between reality and novels/dramas, dont blurr it and confuse both. We are talking about a fictional character, not a real person. Zhang Zhe is a good guy, righteous, and straightforward, but he cannot protect himself cuz of his straightforwardness, let alone anyone else. He is his Emperor's official before he is Zhang Zhe. If the Emperor says JXN should die, he can only obey, his moral compass wont let him save her entirely and disobey the decree. That kind of person, who only follows his inner beliefs, and cannot step over his morals aint a fit for JXN. She, on the other hand, is ready to do anything and everything for her goal. You tell me, how is their relationship going to last? He will forever compromise and keep his disapproval inside bottled up, or is she gonna change her ways and cease to do her schemes so she is a good person, never to do anything that may seem morally wrong to him, even if its to save their lives? Intresting point you bring there, but for me its inconsistent with the way their characters are written and presented.

Well, if he is an Emperor i think the "he's a good/bad ruler" is not really proper. If he is an emperor he is a gray person by default. Some of his decisions will be good for the empire but bad for the royals and/or normal citizens and vice versa. So, the emperor here has to use and control directly and indirectly to make sure his empire prospers. Overall, I'd say the emperor's position in this drama doesnt disappoint.

He knew, he was just waiting for XW to say it himself. No matter if he knows or not, he cannot prove it unless XW comfirms it. The scene was done pretty well, everything was flowing seemlessly. The subtile change in his uncle's face, the way he finally said everything that was stuck in his throat, then we have XW asking about his mom, him crying while kneeling and bowing. It was perfection for me.

XW to his ancestors: "ancestors of the Yan family, the younger generation is here".
He did confirm he is Dingfei infront of his ancestors' slates and his uncle.

Its after the coming of age ceremony. They get exiled at arpund the same time as in the last life. He gets exiled with the rest of the family. We meet him later on in the story, and if i remember correctly he is in the military (not 100 percent sure. Might have confused that part).

Duke of Xue

They still end up beaten down by Xue family, but at least they are alive and only get demoted to citizens and exiled.

True lol. She only sees ZZ and is blind to others feelings 🤣🤣🤣 XW has to reprimand her a lot till she figures it out 🤣🤣

For a second tho, i thought the emperor himself fell for jiang Xuening. The way he looked at her was hilarious i was like "oh, not the emperor being whipped for our FL as well" at the end of episode 11 🤣🤣🤣🤣 but as you said, even the emperor can see his feelings. Only our FL cannot see them yet 🤣🤣🤣

She cannot see it yet anyways, so he probably thought he's safe even if he shows it. Reprimanding her was obviously more important than hiding his feelings. 🤣🤣🤣

Apperantly yes, but I think the current Duke may not really be his father. There is a whole conspiracy there and for me its too early to try and guess with not much clues 🤣😅

Yep, its apperant from her reaction to receiving the jade - she was angry and kinda scared at the same time. Also, if you look closely at Xie Wei, he also brings two indicators that he is forced to appear - first is him making a fist (showing powerlessness), then his face when he is infront of Pingnan - he subtly presses his lips together. No way it was due to his own willingness. Also during the dementia nonesense, he did cry "Dingfei will go, Mom" or something of the sort. I imagine the Empress threatened him with his mom. This is all my own deductions tho, they may be wrong.

He did call himself dingfei in his dementia. Meaning his father is a Xue and his mother is a Yan. As to if Duke of Xue is really his father, or there is some kind of mistery involved we shall see i think pretty soon.