DefyingDestiny

It was true at the time but the only way for her to keep control of her company presently or to keep it afloat was the merger. If Xincheng kept struggling Donyang board would have kept asking for control or to sell it.
Her honest fear is that he is too powerful and the gap between is too much, making all her thoughts and actions look pitiful. She thought the gap her closed when she handled the Wei Wei incident so coldly but reality in form of Zeng Di slapped her. Now she has to admit the grandfather can se them clearly.
The frustration he has for her stems from her idealistic expectations and lack of compromise in a changing environment. She is slow to see things he anticipates immediately and he is patient because she's his gf transitioning into management.
He has been alone in their relationship, balancing her audition as his future wife masquerading as growing Xincheng. He honestly wouldn't care about Xincheng but she cares and now he has to bend over backwards to protect it. But on his chess board of moving pieces to keep Donyang and get his grandfather's approval for their relationship Xincheng would be easily sacrificed.
He knows this and she knows this and that fact scared the two of them. Love for him is suitability and for her he should be ready to lose for her.
Translation- Him :"If selling out Xincheng makes you fit the role, Xincheng would disappear!"
Her: "If protecting Xincheng would make you lose control of Donyang, you should lose Donyang!"

On Ep 7
The Princess loves Xuening so much as a bestie, I imagine she had similar feelings in the 1st life but because it was tainted by her initial attraction to her as a "man", it probably made her hate and bully Xuening instead.

Ji Xing is heartbroken because after the Wei Wei incident should thought she had matured and was seeing the world from Han Ting's vantage point. She felt like the gap between them wasn't as wide as the grandfather was making it but that she couldn't see or understand any of the moves and counter moves everyone was making around her and even her attempt to lash out was squashed before she could report herself.
They told her in business terms that she is completely out of her depth and her reliance on Han Ting is the only thing keeping her afloat.
So when she asked him "Do you love me?" "What am I to you? A pet?"; she was asking how invested he was in her. If she puts her life, her business and her friends and employees in his hands will he baby her forward or is it just a passing hobby?

They tied his hands and blinded his eyes but he still manages to screw everyone over. 👑
The Emperor in "Blossoms in Adversity" is the same. I've never wanted the heroes to lose more than I did watching BIA, so the Emperor would die

I agree with this sentiment. After the wonderful work they did throughout the story it shouldn't have had an ambiguous ending. It they wanted it to be sad they should have boldly done it and the same goes for the happy ending. But there is a discussion explaining the ending according to "The Art of War" that convinced me that it was a decisive happy ending. Although I was easily convinced tbh, as the storytelling style in my opinion, in terms of screenplay and direction, didn't fit with the option of ambiguous ending and sad ending.

I recently finished watching TPR and I'm now rewatching SOKP. At the risk of starting a fan war I might post my thoughts on the 3 in the discussion.
The Double comment section is pretty safe but I would hate to instigate a war and down rating The Double.

The experience for me watching The Double is like nothing I have ever felt. I had 4 of the author's books multiple times and even reread The rebirth of an Ill Fated Consort and The marriage of a Di Daughter side by side to analyse the differences.
To be able to not only pull off a credible adaptation but over exceed my expectations.. I was watching every episode wondering what woupd happen next, what they would change, what they would keep and I was impressed and satisfied with every single decision.
Imagine giving so much screentime to a villain the novel fl disdained and ignored and as a fan of the novel I was relishing it (Novel SYR barely has a personality); Changing the ending story arcs of JRY and Consort Ji and I'm applauding it.
It's completely outstanding what they did with this show.👏👏👏👏👏

I had read the novel before watching and already had a playlist with the songs they used in the guqin competition.
I've also read your discussion piece already.

I'm waiting for Netflix to finish airing it to binge rewatch. It's beautiful and brilliant.
I am as excited to see the villains again as I am to rewatch the leads love story unfold. How many shows can you say that about.
The storytelling is so exquisite and deliberate that I'm even looking forward to rewatching my least favourite scene: the cgi guqin scene, to better understand the message.
My rating is a 9.5 because I only give a 10 rating to shows that only remain perfect at rewatch but I have an increased enjoyment seeing everything again. I'm expecting to update my rating soon❤️❤️❤️❤️

I'm in Ep 4 and seeing JXN trying to make Matron Su kick her out but failing to understand the reason they would have disliked her so much in the 1st life was her unwillingness to admit she was ignorant and an unearned arrogance. Now that she is openingly poor in her foundation (in line with their expectations considering her background) and readily apologising when she makes a mistake, Matron Su and the Princess only feel more protective of her.
I liked this aspect of this story where a different attitude to the same situation creates different outcomes.

I'm rewatching this and I feel my 8.5 rating is too conservative. This show was was wonderful. It lost points for the fight choreography for me but apart from that it suits my exact taste!

In the novel, he kills her too. He sends an order to assassinate her, immediately the assassins attack him. The last thing both of them do is to send an order to kill each other because they believe the other is breaking their truce and killing them.

But it was a different view for PWX. At first he believed he loved QZZ and felt strange for developing feelings for Li Rong. At the time of the separation, he must have felt relieved that he could be true to his feelings for ZZ, only to come to realise too late that he never had feelings for ZZ and loved his wife. He knew he was the guilty party for their separation but between her newly revealed feelings for SRQ and feelings of being in over his head with his new lifestyle of being the right hand man of the Emperor, he could only stand "vigil" over his dead marriage as he watched SRQ live his life.

He never lets her know he is thinking of her and all she ever gets after the separation is coldness in private and opposition in public. They were separated
and she hoped the 2 of them could find their happiness separately. She believed he was keeping himself untainted for QZZ. She wondered why he never got a concubine to have children and his fight to make ZZ child crown prince would have given her the wrong answer.

Chp 123- 126.

They were separated in the 1st life and she had no reason to believe or care that he still had any feelings for her. They were enemies in court and allies by marriage. Their relationship was very complex and sad in their 1st life which is why their 2nd chance love is so beautiful.

To be fair, you were displaying bot-like behaviour 🤣😅🤣. I saw you responding to a million comments 😃.
But seriously, the haters and the lovers of this show feel equally strong about driving the narrative. I'm happy to have it end with a mid rating but some people desperately want it to be a low rating, so you might need to keep up the good fight Twinty. Sprinkle the comment section with positivity.
Jiā Yóu🤗

🤣😅 Why does Xu Kai feel shorter to me? He could definitely pull off the purple clad youth and his performances are more consistent than DW's but Dylan's morally grey characters are much more delicious than Xu Kai's because XK tends to become too sweet and innocent during his sweet arcs like in SAF.
If he can bring the vibe of Han Ting, it would be perfect.

Yep that novel but I'm fielding Dylan Wang as my Xie Jing Xing. Xu Kai lacks the height although he has the right vibe.

Even though they don't explore his arc enough, the scene after he talks to the prosecuted Xie Langqie, he tells LR, that only a dying man can tell you how he died and then you can figure out how to avoid it. This shows you he is very introspective about his past life experiences.
The fact that they were young and life got away from them in the 1st life was what I really wanted to see from this story. I love 2nd chance dramas where people make up for their regrets from the past. I didn't get enough 1st life-2nd life contrasting from this story and it's a real shame.

I got you. I'm saying the same thing. Drama SRQ was poorly presented. I think it failed both in script and the actor's portrayal.