Deirdre19

Yes, even though it means no more Jeremy Tsui for the rest of the year, I feel the same. He can do so much more, but he needs good writing and a decent FL (who can act).
It seems to be the fate of some good actors to end up with shitty scripts while high-profile dramas are given to ridiculous traffic-actors who cannot act and need fake abs.

I've started Pledge of Allegiance. It seems quite good, but it isn't the same lighthearted genre. Be careful when you go on the MDL page, some people posted heavy spoilers without masking them.

He does exist in the book, he is a qin player in a music venue that the girls visit. When the Crown Prince hears that Hua Luili booked him to play for her he organises a raid on the venue and has him arrested. After briefly being imprisoned next to General Awa he is now on his way to work in a quarry as a prisoner. Not sure how his story will continue as I'm still reading and have just arrived at chapter 40 (of 145).

Yes, Xiao Duo was a wonderful grey character, but the way they "cleaned him up" for Unchained Love destroyed the who drama.
It's so ridiculous when everyone in a drama is afraid of the ML but there's nothing to justify why.

I understood from some comments further down that they only released half of the 40 episodes that were originally filmed. So this would allow for a 2nd season...
It may, however, be a misinterpretation, so don't take my word for it.

Hm... admittedly Yun Han is pretty, but he looks a bit too much like a girl himself to appeal to this girl.

That's only half-correct, she wants to be remembered as a sickly beauty (it's not so apparent in the drama, but in the novel beauty is very important to Hua Liuli). The notion is supposed to be romantic.
There is a similar idea in European romanticism, Alexandre Dumas "Lady of Camellias" and the whole craze around Keats (a sickly poet himself, who died aged 26) can be seen as examples.

He is the Chinese wolverine... 😂

I have yet to watch the last three episodes. I want to watch them and at the same time I don't.
If I watch them then that means this will be over... 😭😭😭

It really depends. I've read quite a few novels that were made into dramas, there are those that follow the novel really closely with minor changes (like Eternal Love of Dream), those that were adapted, without changing their character (like Word of Honor) and those that were horribly mutilated and lost their essence (like Unchained Love).
While original authors can be quite creative to create some unique characters, screen-writers seem to have a tendency to re-use the same old tropes (love triangles, obessive SFL, moronic maid) for everything.
In my view Royal Rumour is quite a good adaptation because it keeps the character and tone of the novel. They toned down the CP's poison tongue a bit and gave him a cat (in the novel he only dreams that he had a white cat that someone wants to steal when he starts getting jealous over HL). They also changed/deleted some of the other princes , turning the 5th Prince of the novel into the 3rd Prince (which in the novel is the CP) and made him a painter of cute animal sketches (in the novel he thinks he's a painter but his pictures are really bad). In the novel Pei JiHuai doesn't work for the CP but is a Dali Temple investigator with a hilarious superior who keeps worrying about getting bald while staring at Pei JiHuai's full head of hair.
In the novel the Emperor is scared of HL's mother and when the CP tells him about his intention to marry HL he tells him if ever he had a disagreement with his mother-in-law he should "run fast".
There are hundreds of wonderful little details which they could have used to give us a few more episodes. I haven't even read a third of the novel yet, and the plot is more or less on the same level as episode 18 so I'm really wondering what else is still to come in the novel.
I have to read faster...

That's another option for the on-off red eyes... I also saw some footage that he had a leg injury, but I don't know on which series that happened.

He's a Taurus, so it is kind of natural. If I had my way he would be contractually obliged to only ever wear red/burgundy/maroon in historicals and xianxia.

It's not in all the scenes and there are some scenes when the Empress Dowager has just the same red eyes.
I think some of the actors were probably allergic to the make-up they used.

I'm probably way older than you... For me it's a life-long passion. So who knows, there may be a moment in your life when you pick it up again.
This novel is really delightful to read. I did a machine translation and am now editing it while reading. It keeps the brain-cells from dying 🤣

There is Ye Ye Xiang Jian Bu Shi Jun, but I think it hasn't been subbed yet.

My translation tool gives me: "godfather No, he just passed out" which seems to make sense in the context.

Hmmh, I'm slowly reading the novel and he was just introduced two chapters ago... I cannot say that he is a very nice person there. Rather a bit full of himself and manipulative. No connection with the CP whatsoever, on the contrary: CP perceived him as a love-rival and had him arrested in a bout of jealousy. It'll be interesting to see how his story progresses...

I have to say that I really didn't like this cliff-hanger ending, especially since nobody seems to know if and when there will be the 2nd part.
The "ending" confirms, however, my gut feeling about Lord Han, so not too surprise to see he really is a treacherous lying b*stard who will to anything to get rid of the competition on his way to the throne.

My comment referred to the premise, not the plot.

China is very small and there are only a few inhabitants, so it's normal to meet the same people again and again throughout your life... 😂😂😂

This is a supposedly romantic trope even in modern dramas, but I find it rather lame and I really hate it!