ArtemisPrime

I believe his decision was motivated by both political reasons and a desire to be on the same wavelength with his wife. The time skip was done to show us that this wasn't an immediate decision. He did not just pack up an leave for Jinling because his wife said so. It took about two years of observing court politics for him to arrive at the same conclusion as Lanxiang(and his grandfather if I might add)

This drama does a good job with "Show don't tell" for the most part so we don't need to see a scene of him contemplating the aftermath of the Emperor's death to know why he decided to quit his position.

Well, they're somewhat correct because after Xuande, came Yingzong (who is currently the crown prince in the drama) and it was during his time that the Mongols invaded and the Tumu Crisis happened and it nearly shattered the Ming Dynasty.

They lost a lot of generals during the crisis and even after regaining his throne, Yingzong purged a lot of officials and their families for aiding his brother, Jingtai even though they helped stabilise the empire during his captivity.

Resigning your position and getting as far away from the capital as you can was a tested and trusted method of getting the Emperor to almost forget you exist in imperial China. You can NEVER gain enough power or leverage to protect your self from the king's wrath when it comes (unless you're planning to fight a civil war which you must win btw).
In some situations, even if the Emperor doesn't want to kill you, the court officials would force his hand to do so because they'll think you're a danger to the realm.

Yeah, I think they merged Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji into one character in this drama. The Emperor has Gaochi's appearance but has martial abilities like Zhanji. And the incident where the loyalists of the Prince of Han tried to kill the Crown Prince or stop him from reaching his father's deathbed in time happened to Zhanji irl

In Episode 38 Lanxiang immediately refused to buy a house in the capital because she heard from Xiulai that two eunuchs - Wang Yi and Gao were also buying property and adopting sons so she staged her play to warn Jinqi about fickle Emperors who were too beholden to eunuchs. The details in this show are so amazing!

We almost didn't get that kiss. TSY said they initially filmed one kiss scene which was when Jinqi kissed her on the cheek by the carriage just before riding off to war. They added today's scene during filming and it wasn't even in the script. I wonder if the romance was restrained because the show is airing on CCTV

Apparently the consummation scene wasn't even in the script. It got added in later while filming and that's probably why it feels so out of place

The Crown Prince favoured a Eunuch named Wang Yi who was rapidly gaining power. Jinqi overheard the Eunuchs expressing their concern about Wang Yi's influence on the Crown Prince and connected the dots to what Lanxiang was trying to tell him in her play.

It's great that he resigned immediately because the real life counterpart of Wang Yi- a Eunuch named Wang Zhen became extremely powerful after the Crown Prince became the Emperor and his decisions caused a huge crisis that led to the kidnap of the Emperor by the Mongols and almost led to the destruction of the Ming Dynasty.

I love how the real wedding took place at that graveside. What a fantastic episode!

There are at least 3 different cdrama subreddits so it might not be the one you're referring to

They're both aware of Jinqi's tactics. Grandpa knows that Prince Han was trying to rebel after the failed attempt at killing the new Emperor at the Marquis wedding when he was the Crown Prince. He also knows Prince Han would make another attempt at rebelling at the Capital.

He's very angry at Jinqi for using his siblings to throw off the Emperor's suspicion because they'll definitely be caught in the crossfire when the rebellion begins.

With respect to taking the job at the capital, He understands that Jinqi can't really refuse the job but can't help being angry about the situation because he basically destroyed his career and reputation to keep his family safe from the old Emperor but they were being dragged into court politics again and it doesn't helped that Jinqi had already committed treason by helping the deposed crown prince escape to another country which puts the entire family in great danger if discovered.

Yes, they're so many details. Tong Hua is such an excellent story teller. The scriptwriting is amazing!

Not to keep Prince Han from rebelling but to show the new Emperor that he's loyal. The Lin family supported the deposed Emperor so the new Emperor would not trust him completely even though Jinqi saved him.

By marrying Lanxiang, he avoids tying himself to any faction in court through his marriage. The Emperor would see him as a man who doesn't have any great ambitions or ulterior motives and would be less suspicious of him.

I think bringing his siblings to the capital also shows the Emperor that he's not planning to rebel since he's putting them in a position where they can be easily used against him. Potential rebels usually send their loved ones far away.

I think LJQ would probably rationalize it by thinking that because she spent a lot of time working in his study as a maid, she probably read his collection of books. She also studied under Master Lu who was the Tanhua in his cohort and also had a bookstore.

Her mother's last instructions were for her to live. Seeking revenge (it's basically Impossible for her to succeed btw since it's the Emperor who killed her family) would be disobeying those instructions and would make her an unfilial daughter

I think it was made very clear from the first few episodes that romance was going to take a backseat in this drama.It's supposed to be primarily about the female lead and her relationships with other women and how the decisions of the men have shaped their lives.

This is what female centric cdramas used to be like before things changed after COVID and we had deluge of romance dramas that were incorrectly (IMO) termed female centric.

There's no requirement for male centric dramas to have romance...in fact the female lead is often a pretty vase in most of them so I dunno understand why people always want romance to be front and centre in female centric dramas.

Maybe this is the story's way of addressing his trauma from being a cuckold in his first marriage. He thinks she's is angry with him because she has feelings for Scholar Han just like Zhao Xingtang held a grudge because of her feelings for Qian Shaoze.

Not Madam Qin talking about bringing unreliable people into the household when she brought in an unfaithful loanshark and nearly brought in a spoilt brat from a treasonous family. The call is coming from inside the house!

A corrupt Princess or Consort or maybe even the Empress

She may have started developing feelings for him after she finds him at that dock because of the music choices used in that scene. The OST that plays at that moment is the same song that played at the military camp scene which is the moment Jinqi realised he had fallen for her. But unlike the military camp scene, the OST was quite muted and the music didn't swell... maybe it's an indication that feelings might develop but wouldn't grow.