DramaFan739

Especially that nasty Crown Princess. I want that smug smile wiped off her face. I hope Wei Rao, does to her exactly what she did to her sister. We knew that Wei cousin was no good, look who her mother was. I did not fall for that sweet innocent act of hers. Any guess as to what WR did to the Crown Prince? I can only imagine, snip-snip🤣🤣

With Tencent Video I only pay once for express. That has been my experience.

I did feel a little salty towards her as well after the divorce. But I think some of her hard-headedness is because she realized that her marriage was forced, and she wants them both to choose each other freely without coercion, guilt, or duty. Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn't feel that way, and they both now have bigger targets on their backs.

I wish I had known this. Tencent is different. Once you pay for express, you get access to the extra daily episode on their app, and when they have the express blackout, I don't have to pay again. Thanks for the heads up.

I paid for an early access package on Youku when the show first started airing. I thought early access gave the payer an additional episode daily, i.e. if they are only airing one episode a day, those who paid for early access would get two episodes. Is this not how early access works on Youku??

And this is where they lose me, oftentimes! I understand that many of the reasons these platforms slow down the release schedule just when viewers are fully invested in a drama are financially motivated. They want to stretch out the drama to entice subscribers to extend their memberships and sell VIP and Express packages. However, they also need to understand that this is how you lose momentum and viewers.

When dramas start spoon-feeding us episodes, I end up starting another drama to fill the gap, get hooked on that one, and sometimes never return to finish the first. I already have several unfinished dramas because of this.

This makes so much sense now!

Good theory! I'm still trying to figure out the significance of Lu Zhuo going after the bandits in the mountains and showing them pictures of the Wei family servants involved in the kidnapping. Did Aunt Guo Yu Feng meet with the bandits, and could this be how they eventually expose her involvement?

Was Aunt Guo Yu Feng in on the plot from the beginning, or was she brought in to clean up the mess after Aunt Heng'e botched the job? What was her motive for supporting the switch? Did she hate Lady Li, too?

From Episode 15, it appears that Yu Feng has to share her husband with other concubines and is unhappy with her home life. So, what exactly did she stand to gain by switching the two children? Was she bored, and was this just something to occupy her time? Was she manipulating Heng'e all along, and was she the one who came up with this vicious plot?

I have so many questions about Guo Yu Feng's involvement, especially what she stood to gain from all of this. I suspect there's much more to her story than we've been shown so far.

I'm going to hold off on condemning Bitao for now. Hear me out. Sometimes things aren't always what they seem, especially in this drama! I think A-Chou anticipated this countermove from her Aunt Heng'e and planned accordingly. Perhaps Bitao's apparent betrayal is part of a larger strategy to uncover Heng'e's accomplice within the household. As A-Chou said in Episode 15, the Aunt couldn't have pulled off the "switcheroo" by herself.

After all, A-Chou freed Bitao from slavery and elevated Bitao and her family to positions they could only have dreamed of, something the Wei family never did during all those years Bitao served under that shrew and endured her abuse and torture.

If Bitao's sole reason for betraying A-Chou is to protect the lives of her family, why would she betray someone who has both the power and the intelligence to protect them? Bitao has seen A-Chou's capabilities firsthand, especially when the Wei family has already proven that they don't protect their own servants. So, common sense would suggest that Bitao should be doing everything she can to ensure that A-Chou is recognized as the real Wei Rao and the legitimate daughter of the Wei family. Her betrayal makes no sense to me after all they've been through.

Or perhaps Bitao really did betray A-Chou, even after everything A-Chou did to protect her, stand up for her, and elevate her family. Anyone who could betray someone like A-Chou after all the kindness and trust shown toward them truly deserves a place in hell.

But I want to see how the next two episodes play out before I'm convinced that Bitao really did betray her mistress. This show has become quite adept at misdirection, and sometimes you really do have to wait and see what truly happened.

Is it possible that the Wei grandmother suspected Wei Rao might be an impostor since she was kidnapped at the age of two and remained missing for an entire year? Could that be why she kept her out of the public eye, to the point that many people didn't even know what Wei Rao looked like?

Could Grandma have suspected all along that she was a fake? Did she know about her daughter's pregnancy and simply hide the fact that she knew? Could she have discovered the plot and realized that her daughter had switched the two girls?

So many unanswered questions, so many possibilities! I can't wait for the next episodes. This show has me getting up at 4 a.m. just to watch the new episodes. OBSESSED!

She could have gone away during her pregnancy, perhaps under the pretense of visiting a distant relative or staying at one of the family's rural residences. They could have paid off servants and midwives to keep the pregnancy and birth a secret. She could then have kept the child hidden, maybe planning to "adopt" her own daughter later. Her brother's death and Wei Rao's mother abandoning her to become the Emperor's concubine probably presented the right opportunity to switch the two girls. This is entirely possible, especially for a wealthy family with the resources to conceal something like this.

This is just my theory after watching Episodes 13–14. I believe the child's skeleton found in the barrel in Episode 1 belongs to the real 2-year-old A-Chou.

My suspicion is that 1st Aunt (Yu Feng) found out about the kidnapping and sent her people to the mountain for proof of the child's death. They discovered A-Chou's frozen body, which the First Aunt (Yu Feng) kept as proof, or perhaps insurance, that the child was indeed dead.

I believe Heng'e blamed Wei Rao's mother for her twin brother's death and wanted revenge. Her plan may have been to make it appear that her niece had been kidnapped and gone missing when her actual intention was to have the child killed.

Perhaps Heng'e later did one of two things: either she found another child who resembled her missing niece and claimed she found her missing niece, making the vicious, murderous Wei Rao we met in Episode 1 a true impostor, or the Aunt had a child out of wedlock and passed that child off as her missing niece. If the latter is true, the two look-alikes would actually be first cousins, not twin sisters. Children of twins can sometimes bear a striking resemblance to one another.

Something Yu Feng said in Episode 13 continues to resonate with me. Toward the end of the episode, she told the Wei Rao/Jun Dai character that if there was anyone she could count on, it was her Aunt Heng'e. That statement alone makes me believe that Aunt Heng'e is actually the shrew's biological mother. We now know, after Episode 14, that A-Chou is the real Wei Rao, the legitimate daughter of the Wei family, who was brought up as a commoner. What a fate!

That's my theory for now. I'm curious to see whether the upcoming episodes confirm any of my suspicions.

As a viewer, I can only go by what was actually shown or explained in the episode. At no point was it established through dialogue or a scene after the incident that he had taken an antidote. That was an omission on the writer's part, so I think my question was perfectly reasonable.

I am still perplexed by Episode 7: When A-Chou meets face to face with Wei Rao's dumb male cousin Huo Jue, how come he didn't pass out from the incense fumes like she did? He was in the room longer than she was?

Their relationship started exactly as you said. She was already having "extracurricular activities" and lost a pregnancy, before she even married the ML. She had no intention of trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

I don't have a problem with people disagreeing with my opinion. That's what discussions about dramas are for. My issue was never with disagreement. It was with assumptions about my motives.

If my comment about watching this drama while waiting for Blossoms of Power came across as dismissive, I can understand why some people may have interpreted it that way. But it was also the truth. At that point in the story, I didn't think this drama was as strong as Blossoms of Power. That's my opinion as a viewer, and I'm entitled to it just as you're entitled to yours.

My criticism has always been about the way the FL is written and the overall storytelling. I understand that she's young and has experienced trauma. My criticism wasn't that her actions had no explanation. It was that, by Episode 16, I personally hadn't seen enough growth in her judgment to find her character progression satisfying. That's simply where we see the character differently.

I think we've both explained our viewpoints, and that's okay. We don't have to agree.

So let me be perfectly clear.

I'm not here to promote fan wars. I'm here because I enjoy watching dramas. When I like something, I say so. When I have issues with something, I say that too. Comparing one drama to another is my opinion and entirely my choice as a viewer.

My criticism has never been about the actress. It's about the character as written. By Episode 16, I personally had not seen the level of character growth I was hoping for. That's a critique of the writing, not the performer. Disliking a character's decisions at a particular point in the story isn't the same as being against the character. In fact, I wanted to see her succeed. That's why I was frustrated by the choices she was making.

I also never told anyone to watch one drama over another. I simply explained what separates the two for me. Mentioning Blossoms of Power wasn't an attempt to promote it. It was simply an example of what I personally find engaging. You're the one bringing up actors' names. I didn't mention a single actor. My comment was about the characters and the storytelling.

If later episodes change my opinion, I'll gladly say so. In fact, another commenter mentioned that Episode 17 provided more context, and it did. I'm now on Episode 22, and my opinion is still evolving. But my initial comment was based on what I had watched through Episode 16. It was simply a summary of where I was at that point in the story.

Different viewers connect with the same story in different ways. We don't have to agree, and that's okay. That doesn't make either opinion invalid.

I just finished Episode 16. I'm mostly confused and very disappointed right now.

This show is becoming very predictable, with a female lead who can't tell her enemies from her friends. Instead of keeping stuff to herself until she can figure out who to trust, she tells Prince Qi her childhood sweetheart that she doesn't trust the husband who has saved her time and time again. The man who saved her mother twice, is the man who killed her mother. WTFFF. We knew the best friend was going to kill her mother. We knew the mother was going to die. We been knew that the Dad was either switched or is under some mind altering medicine or spell. We KNOW her childhood crush is going to betray her... and the list goes on.

Seventeen episodes in, and the FL still hasn't wised up.

I can also tell a lot of scenes were cut because some of the transitions were so abrupt, with only minor flashback explanations, some of which made no sense. How did you get from A to D, sir?

There is no way I would watch more than 28 episodes of this drama. Just no.

I'm only watching this while I wait for Blossoms of Flower to air new episodes. Now that is a show that keeps you interested, with smart characters.

Correction: I accidentally wrote Blossoms of Flower in my original post. I meant Blossoms of Power. Never said I was perfect. 😂

You are absolutely correct, the show should have ended at episode 35. Very disappointing and lazy ending. It didn't disappoint me too much because I dropped it for a couple of weeks and went on to other new dramas. I got tired of being spoon fed episodes every two days at the end. I am going to stop watching dramas in real time and wait till all episodes have aired to binge. With these long breaks between new episodes, I get frustrated and move on to other dramas.

She deserved a better exit than what she received. It was disrespectful dying at the hand of that B. Her love didn't even get to see her as a woman. I hope she is still alive and they faked her death.