DefyingDestiny

🫣 no, not a lawyer but I love the legalese 😅

She was living with another man for almost 20 years; they were separated; the premise being he was in love with another woman.

She seems to have asked for a divorce and he refused and chose to stay separated. She chose to move on with her "childhood sweetheart" rather than staying celebate and alone to satisfy the "optics" of a political marriage!
I don't think you can "cheat" in a separation, however if you do explore other relationships, it is typically a sign you are closing the possibility of reconciliation.

He never gave up power. He knows how to get it and knows it would be faster and easier to do it with the power and might of the "grand princess". As her consort he would always have access to power and because he is smart he would always be able to "climb up" by himself. Both of them did that and died betrayed by the person the let get in between their marriage. It would be INSANE to live the exact same way especially for him that spent his whole adult life pining for his wife that chose a eunuch over him.

Also go over all the dramas with the "Grand Princess" character and remember their husbands- they were all "house husband"/hen-pecked type- Love Like The Galaxy Story Of Minglan, Royal Rumours. To live with an overly pampered powerful royal lady you would need to be very accommodating and self effacing; and these men are often chosen so they have those qualities or "rules" are enforced.

He's also having an ambiguous relationship with a girl he would never be able to marry; being self- righteous and turning a blind eye to the corruptions of their way of life and living his life as a waste.... apart from that he's alright!?! 🤨

He Yan 1.0 wil die like usual; she would agree to marry and end her military carrier much like it happened in the novel. Its just that she and 2.0 would have met and impacted each other’s lives; possibly 2.0 would have even helped convinced her to marry well the way 2.0 wasn't able to and 1.0 would advise 2.0 to reconcile with her family that love her. Best case s 2.0 secretly came to visit blind 1.0 and witnesses her murder. 2.0 journey to become a general is her stubbornness and desire to honour 1.0 and find justice for her

I was hoping they make them different people. Let's say Heyan 2.0 goes missing after attempted 💀 and washes up with Heyan 1.0. Heyan 1.0 takes her under her wings- as a girl(maidservant, evryone assumes more) for 1-2yrs, where 2.0 becomes her confidant and learns everything about 1.0(her secret, war stories, school stories). 2.0 gives 1.0 her military stuff and diary when she goes to get married. 1.0 goes back home and everything happens again like the book when she is reborn because she no longer feels like her old self but after her abduction, she tries to find 2.0 but finds she was "blind and died". It looks suspicious so she tries to investigate but the He family try to kill her. She fakes her death and escapes into the army in "drag" and decides to relive her mentor and confidant's life experiences for a chance to be a credible witness and live up to her name.

Physically the ml would probably be stronger but he would be hard pressed to win a battle with her because she learnt how to win in fights: if she had to be faster, meaner, more cunning or cute, she would take every option to win. He Yan was epic with strategy and game (war/fight) play.
With He Yan when she meets a stronger opp she becomes more lethal; mentally she goes "kill them faster, before they beat me". Since she would always win, you can never say someone was "stronger" than her because she was better.

It's the SML from Legend of Shen Li😍

Also Li Rong and Pei Weixuan didn't get together for love. Their start bares similar origins with PW and SYR: for power and politics. LR and PWX chose to love each other and lost that love early whil PW and SYR chose to destroy each other to feed their obsession and greed.

But that's exactly the comparison. They are the angels and devil versions of each other. Toxic vs Non-toxic; Insane vs Sane versions.
Li Rong, at the mention that HER husband had someone else in his heart backed off while Wanning.... well she did ALOT of wild ass crazy things to steal a married man. Pei watched bothLi Rong And Zhen zhen with other men and never went beserk like SYR.
I just find their parallels interesting: given similar backstory and experiences they end making sane vs insane choices

Doesn't the relationship between Princess Li Rong and Pei Weixuan feel like a parallel universe Princess Wanning and Shen Yu Rong.
If PW hadn't been sent for political marriage that destroyed
her sanity; would she be like Li Rong.
If SYR didn't marry XFF before coming to the capital like Pei Weixuan didn't marry Zhen zhen; he wouldn't have had to sacrifice her and destroy his sanity.
If PW was forced to marry SYR instead of being married away would their story play out like LiRong and Pei Weixuan, where Su Rongqing/Li Chuan = Xiao Heng

https://youtube.com/shorts/RGzwNpKfQKw?si=SCGFwriY8D9hfWwh

Did anybody see this😂😂😂

I want to suggest two dramas that they go back but they don't get to absolve themselves of the choices and outcomes of their first life but it would be a big spoiler🫣

QOT was at the end of the day a poorly handled script and the second chance (how did they fall in love, why did they break up, what made them regret it, how did they fix their regrets, why are they meant for each other) "love story" was placed on the back burner for corporate drama which ended up being so inane and embarrassing.
However from the time Hae In's elder brother died, she knew she would head the family as a way to atone as her responsibility. So in her own way the fate of their world rested on her shoulders.

I just wrote a long diatribe on QOT and deleted it. I agree with everything you said but so far, with TPR the princess is well adjusted into palace relationships where interest is more important than any other consideration. She believes everyone from her world live by these codes and so PWX is the only anomaly and so she judges his betrayal harsher than anybody else. With SRQ she doesn't honestly feel he was wrong to kill her because he must avenge his clan and rebuild. She isn't blinded, it's just her belief system and it appears she and PWX clashed in their previous life because of this: she feels nobles and commoners are fundamentally different while he thinks all people have the same consideration: greed for power or love

There is a novel link in the Recent Discussions segment. That's were I got it from as well.

The fl of QOT and TPR are powerful women whose lives affect the fate of the"world"; they cannot afford to give everything for love and that is why the love they feel/felt for the ml is precious to them. It's the first and only time they allowed themselves something with no greater benefits and that is also why they got disappointed when they find that the love from this "sweet simple man" is not as "pure" as they thought.
I haven't finished reading the novel but I like that the ML recognises that he had access to a side of her that is very hidden and gets to review his actions in the past that got him exiled from that place. I didn't get thatsort of self examination in QOT, the whole show felt like a wasted opportunity.

I started reading the novel and I comment that earlier. It's giving me everything I expected from Queen of Tears

Check the Recent Discussions- The ending explained according to art of war

I never thought of it this way or knew of this phenomenon or "code".
I deduced my meaning of the ending by the flow of storytelling (death of JiJi and insurmantable enemy odds) as a slightly ambiguous sad ending and then the extra episode as a way it take back and make it a happy endingto satisfy XueXiao fans. However, that SE seemed too abrupt and poorly handled as the screenwriters had been impeccable in handling the storytelling and adaptation, that even if it was a sad ending I found it hard to believe they would present it so poorly.
However, considering your point that once he killed the general the army would surrender (the rules they had followed earlier during the palace rebellion) it makes more sense.
The screenwriter wanted to convey the lost in battlefield and presumed dead that was the final plot of the novel: the hopelessness of waiting and surrealism of his return when there was no news for years. This explains why Wen Ji and Lu Ji had to die and why it looks like dreamscape.
Thank you, I finally get it