Frost_edelweiss

yes, that's why it should be officially corrected.

Steven Zhang/Zhang Xin Cheng is a close friend of Wang You Shuo, close enough to have been i the bunch of friends who staged a surprise birthday party visit for WYS on his October 8 birthday.
He is a friend of Liang Jie too since 2020 at least.
She is low key also because of the trouble of her failed relationship and subsequent betrothal breakup from another actor, so she does not post many pictures.
And yes, I believe she knows and is friends with Ireine Song/ Song Yiren, since the post I stumbled on was addressed to her.
There are social circles in c-ent that don't get overly publicized, but many actors and actresses of course have come across each other on sets, in Hengdian and other filming cities, and become acquaintances and friends.
Also, many actors and actresses get acquainted and friends in variety shows, which happen all the time. Liang Jie has been a guest on some of those, in ep 19 of Hello Saturday this year (around May20 if I am not mistaken) ; Ireine Song was also a guest of Hello Saturday, although I am not sure it was in ep. 19 too. I did not watch that episode anyway, and finding back episodes is not easy even in "raw".

😊

Liang Jie has played in many dramas, even though many remember her as "Qu XiaoTan" in the series Eternal Love 1-2-3. She has had many successful roles in different dramas, ranging from wuxia (Handsome Siblings with Chen Zheyuan, Side Story of Fox Volant : an adaptation from Jin Yong novel, Jin Yong being ultra famous for The Legend of Condor Heroes, that has had many many drama adaptations - I like the 2017 one), fantasy historical (Time Flies and You Are Here), modern romance (Mr Honesty, Hi Venus: that one is excellent, one of the best in its category in 2022), gender swap romance (The Day of Becoming You), mysteries... She is a very excellent actress, currently tackling the very demanding role of "Song Ran" in The White Olive Tree, a much anticipated war drama that should air sometime late in 2024 or in 2025 if things take 2 years as they often do, between shooting and release...
She is one of a big handful actresses I have been following since I first came across her dramas (the others are Bai Lu, Tan Songyun, Xing Fei, Yang Zi, Yang Mi, Zhao Liying, Zhao Lusi, in alphabetical order, and this is not exhaustive, there are other lesser, emerging stars I keep on my radar.)

Perhaps the direct link in the Tidbits (Discussion above) to that episode will help you.

I think it should have had a bigger budget too. Nevertheless, knowing it didn't actually makes me more respectful for work done and dedication of team, writer, and cast. Some actors are prevented from having their S+ production aired (Chen Zheyuan: 2 dramas in limbo) and still do very well in the low budget ones they end up in, gaining followers, which is only right. Now Wang Youshuo and Song Yiren are not exactly in that situation, but here they did well with scarce funding.

So to me: 8.5 is right, and I almost feel stingy, since I am not avaricious with 9 and 10s. But I will not let those who use sarcasm have a ball taking up what made me not go to 9. Anyway, I am not a paid reviewer and rater, so I just log in how I feel about it, taking everything into account...

And I am not regretting my time writing the companion piece "Tidbits" above, where in I have put a direct link to episode 27 on Viki, in waiting that indexing gets corrected and future audience find it without having to go hunting far and wide, or find it strangely titled "full sequel" on the Mango page of YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzOksvTTMgQ&list=PL0PsHrQxhYwS7vqDmwtKp_4rY6rjMI_F4&index=27) frustratingly behind "members only content" shield...

Coming back briefly to express my thoughts. THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A GLITCH IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE FILING WORK TO DECLARE THE LENGTH OF THIS DRAMA. IT CLEARLY HAS NOT 26 BUT 27 FULL EPISODES.

EPISODE 27 is not an alternate "happy end" put together to satisfy grieving fans of the show. It was clearly meant as part of it and filmed together with it.

The drama is not an adaptation of a sad story that had to get an alternate, happy or ambiguous end (like The Forbidden Flower, where discussion while airing led to the strange, but interesting, epilogue "with three different endings" that audience might choose own interpretation from) . The Inextricable Destiny does not adapt a pre-existing novel ; it is an independent writing for screen purpose and did not need to end tragically at episode 26 when many audience felt something was off stopping there. There was not an "additional episode" coined and put together because of that. Episode 27 was meant to be from the start.

It is not just a supplementary "26.5" episode as some sites added it.

I am trying to start correcting the indexing on an indexing site, so those who look to stream the drama may find it complete on sites that use this indexing; it may take some time, and I somehow wonder why those who knew and had access to preview before (already commenting on what was in that episode here over a week ago...) did not take action too.

Viki did so already, indexing it as 27 episodes now. You can find a direct link to it in the Tidbits (see Discussion above) page about production. Since they are getting franchise from original platforms, this is indeed official acknowledgement by original platform that the drama was meant to be 27 episodes. I hope the other indexing sites and places like MDL will also correct the number from 26 to 27 (just like they finally stopped having "Love Like The Galaxy" in two parts when it was one whole.)

As I stated before, it was due to Liang Jie's comment on her social media page that I was coincidentally checking (for other reasons) that I decided to give this one a try, and did not regret it, even writing the companion piece that you can look up in Discussion section above ("Tidbits"). Although it was acknowledged as low budget (so low that marketing was not done properly : no building anticipation, no ads, it almost fell unexpectedly from the skies to screens!), it did gain enough attention not only from me but for millions who watched it and kept it among the10 most watched shows until Sunday when drama vlogger Marcus reported as he does usually the status of the most popular web and tv dramas, logging its results as #8 web series by Nov5, 2023, which is rather good for such an unexpected one!

As for ratings, I just checked again that it is 9.2 on Viki, 8.6 on imDB. Even if it is not the groundbreaking masterpiece of the year, it is quite honorable and an interesting watch. No need for sarcasm about tears or low budget. (In fact, while there are many high budget S+ dramas on my personal fave list, there are also a good handful of low budget ones, warts and all, like The Imperial Coroner, Hidden Love - although we all know that the latter ought to have had a normal good budget, and was saved almost single handedly by FL calling in favors and friends to save it from a runaway director! This latter one's production story was epic...)

VIKI did the right thing to correct it to 27 EPISODES

this epilogue or rather EPISODE 27 is fully necessary to end the show. I will tell why in a longer comment.

yes this was indeed episode 27.

Before I turn off computer for some other needed things, hoping to be back for the live stream, I just wanted to point out some nice videos of our lead couple :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuZl-KeERCA (the post on Weibo was already reported here in comments, but this comes with easy subtitles)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3LfL7ty8LI (the editing here 12 days ago is very sweet, they play their CP daringly well. And the comments put emphasis on how well this drama was received despite it indeed had very little, almost no ads to help it, even not a big budget to start with. It is indeed still among the 10 most watched ones of the weeks past, so it is good news for the actors and crew. A few minutes ago, Marcus Here! had it as #8 in the reported ranking, not bad with all the big name dramas crowding the sphere! )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUohyyCr7gs (this hasn't got Englis subs yet, but the beginning is funny starting with a joke : "Niangzi" "Ahah?" -- that's a quote from this song: Temptation of Wolf 郎的誘惑 by the old group Phoenix Legend 鳳凰傳奇 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUohyyCr7gs ( Zhao Lusi also used in a commercial live stream, as a wink of encouragement to her former co-star Chen Zheyuan, whose drama The Princess and the Werewolf was airing at the time).

Well, I came to watch this one because CZY's present co-star, Liang Jie (also one actress I appreciate a lot) mentioned she was going to watch it on her Weibo. Liang Jie is not wont to do recoms for others' dramas, so I was curious. Did not regret it.

But the picture of the white dog and rabbit intrigue me as I am not an old time fan of either Song Yiren or Wang Youshuo. I know he has a Devon Rex cat (although don't know its name?) but have they got other pets? I noticed the fan pages for Wang Youshuo sport that self same white dog likeness : what's the reason? Asking the real fans here who know... *
Care to share some anecdotes so we know more about them, now we appreciated their drama together ?

Yes... That's another era. lol.

I do disagree and have also watched hundreds of dramas... (254 logged to date, and many more before I started logging and since, because I am .... very lazy).

The story was not confusing to me. Maybe you were tired or don't like actor/actress/character/story but why watch on if you feel that way?
There are some actors/actresses/stories I avoid; if I strayed to watch a drama with such, I just wouldn't go on, wouldn't even mention it.

It is not my duty to warn others off a drama they might like, by posing as an expert who knows what is good or bad.

If I feel enough amused by the straying off center, I might, at times, contribute a satirical review vaunting the adfest and tropes festival. But that is work, and I am known to be ........ very lazy.

Besides I am not paid to do reviews or to gun down a drama, or to justify it against every dissenter. Or even to share any of my views.

As you say, life goes on.

Classics. Am looking into an old novel about a "13th Sister" if that rings a bell with you? But that's very literary. ... Probably just one of the stories that the writer(s) drew from to build this new one.

That's also why I contributed the Tidbits with characters directory... (in Discussion section above this Comments one)

If you watched too fast, you might indeed miss something. And there was the trouble with some subtitles. I did go back to the drama on the YT version with Chinese subtitles to check a few things once in a while.

That does not count as messy editing, but messy subtitling? Well, all who tried Mango know this is not their forte, despite it has improved from total gobbledygook, where you needed to turn off English if you didn't want your eyes to bleed and was already cognizant enough with putonghua to understand the spoken part.

Viki is much better, but they don't do double subtitling so it is not easy to spot when they err, as can happen too. But much less than machine translation, so watching on Viki is a smoother experience, where rewinding a bit is enough most of the time, when something seems to have gone too fast.

You point out that dialogues were indeed important.

The speed of Chinese speech is often faster than subtitles can translate, so that also is a factor. This was not Chinese opera where experienced audience know enough the conventional mime and makeup to know what is going on without having to read subtitles and listen to weird screeching songs and stenographic style speech... (I do like Chinese opera too, warts and all, and this one sometimes made me reminded of the epic Generals of the Yang Family! In first part, and last battle scenes).

I don't think Rong Yu had much love for the 6 year old girl who was sent 10 years away on a wild mountain for health reasons. He just was following the path set by his family : since he had been made aware that he was betrothed to Jiuling in childhood, and had no other woman in his immediate circle that he liked enough to dispute his duty, he would just dutifully do the best he could to protect his wife to be. He knew of her and probably had also seen paintings of her, since that was how Chinese people used to do before photography. He might have seen her from his curtained carriage, when he traveled from his mansion to Astrology Hall.

Being betrothed to the General's daughter meant he was already part of the Hè family. So he owed respect to his father in law and the rest of the family ; and the best way to respect them and the deal was to make sure Jiuling was not going to be in trouble despite her wildcat manners ; therefore, he willingly paid to compensate for her misdeeds, without even mentioning it before minister Li brought the matter up for discussion in court. Rong Yu took responsibility.

As for love, he was touched by her unselfish protection of strangers (a stall owner who had been bullied by a gang, himself when he was traveling incognito for an inspection) and by her respect of privacy for those she looked to be worthy of her care. He cared back for her, in the menstrual pad moment, and seeing her in pain but not showing it much outside that evening, he admired and loved her courage.

He was misled by her words and letters to him, believing she also had a growing sentiment for him. When he told her he had loved her for a long time, he meant that he had grown to love her more than a traditionally imposed fiancée, but also for herself, getting to know her.

I don't think this was messy and choppy editing, but a choice to emphasize how the misunderstanding between the two grew to be, that he loved her and became heartbroken when he realized she did not love him back... yet.

Some like a linear development, some like flashbacks. There are not many flashbacks in the drama (just a few others to show why the prince had come to appreciate her.
But there, it was much less credible that the prince would really fall in love with Jiuling. )

In the end, Jiuling made it plain to Yinxiao that she had come to realize that he did not love her as a person, but the idea of possessing her. Same as when Rong Yu made clear to ChuChu that her infatuation with the Seer was just about herself, and that only Jiuling could stand by him in thick or thin, as she did. These two parallel scenes are very interesting and that also does not support the idea that it was "messy editing".

Of course, there are chopped off heads, so there, I will grant you that there was something very chopped...

Finished watching the satisfying end (EPISODE 27) that the production decided to add to this c-drama. And I have also made my final edits to the Tidbits (illustrated background info and characters directory) here : https://kisskh.at/discussions/xiang-si-gu-li-jin-xiang-si/120505-tidbits-about-2023-costume-drama-the-inextricable-destiny

I also added two recommendations for other dramas, since this one made me think back to those different, but somehow kindred spirit stories. Someone of course had added LLTG, which I agree is appropriate (I'd have added it, i it was not already there). One of my recoms stems from the similarity I commented early on here, between the names of Runyu and Rong Yu.

I could have added "One and Only" too, with its complicated feudal family ties, flamboyant battles, tender loving care for each other, despite the odds of the yǒu yuán wú fèn (有缘无分) contrary destiny, and very tragic end ; it does have a happy end of sorts if you consider OaO to be only one half of a duology, with Forever and Ever resolving all conflicts. Here too there is a similarity in names between Princess Cui Shi Yi and the drama dubber Shiyi in the two linked dramas, although it is made clear from the start that it is no coincidence.

I agree. And Xiao Rong'er was cute.
I have made final edits to the Tidbits too.
Wishing this drama all the best. It is 8.7 on imDB and 9 on Viki now ; I almost feel stingy with the 8.5 I added here on MDL ! :-)

Yes, perhaps production thought it would be too cliché. But that's what audience wanted anyway. I don't mind tragic endings, like in One and Only, but was quite satisfied that they decided to air ep.27 here.

😊