Deci16

So you’ve only seen her in A Dream Within a Dream, and based on that one role you’ve concluded she can only do romantic comedy? 🤔
That doesn’t quite add up. It’s hard to accurately judge an actor’s range from just one drama, especially when she has proven herself across many genres and character types.

I’m not sure you can judge her range after just a few episodes of your first Li Yitong drama. Her versatility is well-established. In Royal Nirvana, she matched Luo Jin beat for beat with her emotional nuance and precise delivery. She has portrayed an impressive variety of roles, each distinct and believable, and it’s widely recognized in the industry that she’s a highly skilled actress. If you explore more of her works, you’ll see how much depth and nuance she brings to each character.

The song you’re looking for is actually part of Love and Pavillion OST which might be the reason why you had a hard time finding it. It’s called 焚爱 (Burning Love) by 杨丞琳 (Rainie Yang). This song was used in episode 12 during the rescue. https://youtu.be/xEwqy7Nc3-o?si=srvnecEiNe5GbKc3

So far, my favorites have been 卿卿 (Beloved) and 梦境 (Dreamscape). Dreamscape is already available on Spotify, but Beloved hasn’t been uploaded yet. But the entire OST in general is really good.

I don’t think Yuechu is going to show up in this series. For that to happen, Gong Jun would need to reprise his role and make a guest appearance, and unless the production team has been exceptionally discreet and managed to avoid all paparazzi exposure, there haven’t been any credible reports or sightings suggesting his return to the Fox Spirit Matchmaker universe. That’s actually the whole reason the character Rumu exists. In the original manhua, it was Yuechu who helped Fu Gui and Qing Tong escape the manor. Rumu seems to be filling that narrative role now.

Qing Tong didn’t betray Fu Gui out of malice. If she had truly intended to harm him, she could have used the full dose of poison Madam Yin provided. Instead, she gave him only a trace, just enough to fool Madam Yin and then took the lethal portion herself, forcing Madam Yin to surrender the antidote and save him.

Madam Yin’s spies were everywhere. The proof? She learned Fu Gui had been poisoned before Qing Tong could utter a word. Any attempt to warn him would have sealed her younger brother’s fate.

And let’s not forget, Fu Gui once urged Qing Tong to chase her own dreams after gaining a human form. She refused to drag him into deeper danger or ask more of him after all he’d already sacrificed so much for her. This was the only path left, one that she can control and protected both the man who saved her and the family she loves.

With the little power she had, Qing Tong chose to risk her life so her brother and Fu Gui could keep theirs. She never planned to survive beyond saving them.

Thank you for this, I’ve been looking for 卿卿.

I believe you.

What we do know from the original manhua is that neither Fu Gui nor Qing Tong are shown to die a tragic early death. The story does not explicitly state how Fu Gui’s life ends after the events involving the Black Fox, which has led to two main fan interpretations:

1. He dies later from the aftermath of the Black Fox confrontation, and is then reincarnated.
2. He survives that conflict and lives out a full human lifespan, eventually passing away from old age and later reincarnating—while Qing Tong continues her eternal search for him.

Because the canon leaves this open-ended, many readers view their conclusion as one of the gentlest and most hopeful pairings in the entire Fox Spirit Matchmaker timeline. If the show follows the manhua’s spirit, this could be the only storyline in the trilogy with a truly peaceful ending.

He was watching A Journey to Love on his phone in episode 1.

The fan chant you're referring to is, “一米二三大长腿，牛奶皮肤心形嘴.” It’s a compliment often used by his real fans to describe LYN physical features. The first part, “一米二三大长腿,” translates to “1.23-meter-long legs” this is an exaggerated way to praise how tall he is. “牛奶皮肤” means “milk-like skin,” referring to smooth, fair complexion. “心形嘴” translates to “heart-shaped lips,” a term used to describe the shape of his lips.

Fun fact, on the opening night of his concert tour, Li Yi Tong sent him a bouquet of flowers with this exact phrase written on the card. She addressed it to “刘Ber” or Liu Ber (a nickname she has given him) and signed it with her real name, “李雪” (Li Xue).

I’ve never seen an actor so deeply enamored with a script and a role. LYN keeps coming back to how deeply A Dream Within A Dream affected him. Recently on his livestream, he joked that it “ruined him for life” because now every script he reads feels like a letdown. ADWAD set the bar so high, it became his gold standard. And honestly, I couldn’t be happier knowing that my own love for this show has been echoed by both of its leads.

Always glad to discuss ADWAD.

You’re absolutely right. We as the audience get Nan Heng’s hidden feelings, his motives, and the private conversations that never reach Yimeng. She doesn’t have that luxury. And I agree with you, Nan Heng isn’t helping himself. By leaning into his ruthless image and keeping up the facade instead of being transparent with her, he only reinforces her worst fears and leaves her with no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I’d also add that some of the frustration with Yimeng will probably linger for a few more episodes, but there’s a reason for it. She’s beginning to recognize her own feelings for Nan Heng, and that terrifies her even more. Now it’s not just about protecting her family and herself, it’s also about what it would mean if she gave in to those feelings. She isn’t truly from this world, and at any moment she could disappear. If that happened after she let herself love him, imagine how devastating it would be for him. That fear of hurting him becomes another wall she builds around herself.

And yes, I completely agree with you on Yiting. Whether she was trying to force the situation or just create the appearance of something happening, it was still a violation of Nan Heng’s consent and agency. It’s frustrating how this trope keeps getting brushed aside in period dramas, especially when the victim is the ML. Yiting’s selfishness set off the entire disaster, and her refusal to show any remorse only makes it worse.

In the end, it’s Nan Heng’s secrecy, Yiting’s selfishness, and Yimeng’s limited perspective that collided to create this mess. But ironically, it also brings the story one step closer to the turning point we’ve all waited for.

Song Yi Meng’s reaction makes complete sense. She walked in on her sister unconscious in bed, half-dressed, with Nan Heng beside her in the same state. What else could she possibly think? Regardless of what the audience knows, the image in front of her looks exactly like he took advantage of her sister. It isn’t fair to expect her to assume the best when every part of her lived experience with him has pointed to the worst.

Nan Heng has never earned her trust openly or honestly. Up to this point, he has lied to, manipulated, and hurt her. The moments of kindness he shows are almost always hidden from her view, while his cruelty is what she experiences firsthand. So when she stumbles across that scene it confirms her deepest fears…The script’s tragic course is inevitable despite every other change around her.

She is just reacting to the evidence she has, not the privileged knowledge the audience gets.

From Song Yi Meng’s perspective, the picture is very different. In the original story, Nan Heng destroys everything she loves, he kills her family, cheats with her sister, humiliates her, and tortures her.

In the current timeline, he has still threatened her, tortured her, lied to her, manipulated her, and even tried to kill her. The rare good deeds he shows are usually hidden from her. The audience may see them, but she rarely does. When she does catch a glimpse, she thanks him and even ask him to be honest so others won’t misunderstand him. But later, he follows it with another betrayal that shatters her already fragile trust for him.

During her hunger strike, Song Yi Meng admits she understands that his schemes are born from the abuse he suffered under his father. Her guarded empathy is an indicator of her growth.

But the bigger issue for her is that the “iconic scenes” continue to play out as written. If the script still points to her family’s massacre and her own demise, clinging to it isn’t stubbornness, it is purely for survival. Other characters may have changed in smaller ways, but the most crucial outcomes haven’t shifted enough for her to gamble her entire family’s safety on hope alone.

It’s also worth remembering that she had the chance to guarantee her and her family’s survival by selling Nan Heng out to the emperor, but she didn’t. If she were rigid, selfish, or uncaring, she would have taken that way out. Instead, she chose compassion, even at greater personal risk. That refusal shows both moral strength and additional character growth.

So she isn’t just “refusing to believe the male lead.” She’s refusing to stake her family’s lives on a man who has given her far more reasons to fear him than to trust him. If Nan Heng truly wants her faith, he has to earn it, openly, honestly, and consistently, in ways she can actually see and rely on. Until then, her caution and her boundaries aren’t annoying; they are rational, and they are the very markers of her growth.

Same here, I didn’t vibe with Nan Heng’s early cruelty.

No spoilers. After eps 5–6 he’s written with more nuance. It isn’t a cheap “actually he’s nice” flip; there’s real tragedy underneath, and his growth feels gradual and earned, so the payoff is worth it.

Just don’t let his backstory eclipse the FL. A lot of viewers forget what she goes through and end up hating on her; her firm boundaries are there for good reasons. What worked for me is that she holds her ground, protecting her heart and her people, but slowly lets go of fear and chooses love on her own terms.

It really depends on why you aren’t vibing with the series yet. If it’s just “not my cup of tea” after two episodes, that’s totally fair, but if you’re open to giving it more time, the consensus is that it definitely changes later. The story builds momentum around episode 5–6.

Totally agree, dubbing over Li Yitong is a huge miss. Her voice is part of her artistry, silky, precise, emotionally rich. Chinese audiences see her delivery as the gold standard for a reason. In Fox Spirit Matchmaker (Sword and Beloved), the dub sounds unnatural and risks dulling the impact of her performance. Really hope it doesn’t pull focus, because when you’ve got Li Yitong, you give her voice full range the space it deserves.

Sorry, I don’t bother reading responses from someone who openly admit they won’t read anything that challenges their own perspective.

If you can’t be bothered to consider another viewpoint, then there’s no point debating. Come back when you’re actually interested in dialogue and not just shouting your take into the void.