Frost_edelweiss

Aug 5 edit -- I first assumed she was Princess Yuchang, the known granddaughter of Lord Ruyang. She was the one who faked drowning at Lantern Festival in episode 6 and vowed to become a nun after Lord Ruyang renounced attempting to break off Shaoshang and Ling Buyi's engagement.
The Crown Princess had hinted to CSS that her husband had had another love, without getting further and dropping names, but she seemed resentful about the fact that she had entered into marriage with a man who had no feelings for her, only as a pawn in the political game.
YetI found it a bit strange that the Crown Prince who was thus branded as 'having been in love', if it was with Yuchang, and knowing he always was partial to family members and old acquaintances, did not seem that concerned about her since the drama started. Puzzling.
Also Yuchang kept leeching onto Zisheng after having been thoroughly rejected in episode 5 and until episode 23 when she came barging in at Shiyilang's residence (together with Crown Prince, so... maybe? still, maybe not) where the general had set up Shaoshang to be alone with him.
Her fainting at the banquet where the emperor accepted to stand with Ling Buyi for the proposal, episode 24, was marked by a very funny remark from the emperor.

Now I thinl it is more likely it was "Madam Qu Ling, Liang Shang", the lady appearing in episode 36 at the banquet (about 30min04 into the episode), as the two exchange longing and regretful stares. She appears to be married to the man sitting, frowning, beside her. But I don't know what will happen to her or what role she will play in upcoming episodes. The phrase pronounced by 5th Princess (sitting behind the Crown Prince couple) is revealing "it is a menage a trois"...

Any new numbers up, now ?

I was ROFL ! Same as Angel39 🤣🤣🤣 Could reply, "It's therapy to loosen stiff facial muscles and relax those in the neck and back", plus have an alibi for dancing with glee!

The end of this episode felt like a person-size game of chess out of Alice in Wonderland, at times. I was almost hearing the evil aunt hollerig "Off with her head" before opposing forces stepped in big time and defeated her 😁

So satisfying having that one out of the way, and the other under house arrest.

Same. Why did not she use that possibility, did not she like to be kissed ?

I feel that bit is somewhat shakily thought and written, i.e. unlikely, although well performed and filmed, as always.
Puzzled for the reasons you stated. + was it a scheme by the devious Crown Princess to holler at crucial moment that the seals had been replaced by fake ones made by CSS, because NiaoNiao probably had stolen the real ones for LBY ? Killing two birds in one throw... Indeed I have some awful suspicions about this Crown Princess. The Crown Prince is just a wimp and a fool, easily manipuated by those around him. Indeed he ought to have stepped down, for his own good, despite his Empress mother's misgivings.

Same feelings. What was her business with suggesting to sneak those seals out of the palace to a lesser defended place, anyway? Is she colluding with forces to take down her own husband, what's in it for her ? Revenge because the poor guy appreciated the conceited and stupid "princess" turned nun ?

Do you mean it's already 3.998 billion views ??? Mind boggling !😮

oh, okay, so its far from mark yet 🙄

Let's hope for more with ep 33-34 in a short while 😊
Where did that 4 billion views number come from, btw?

Yet she was a direct victim of the smaller scale hunting lodge battle, where she saw Miao being captured and taken away to a horrendous death, her aunt and herself being targeted to be wiped out, and she was a witness of the Hua county massacre aftermath, including listening to and comforting victims of rape and severe injuries and worse, dying soldiers and civilians. She also spent time grieving for the young girl she could not save , probably more than once if we hear correctly what LBY said in the carriage after the beheading of Xiao. So, she was not that shielded from war witnessing trauma, and she experienced direct other kinds of trauma for many years. She does have some empathy, or would not have grieved so much for the Hua county victims.
I think she would be more nuanced about taking people at face value on first meeting if she was granted access to more information such as when her parents (too belatedly) told her about LBY's troubled past and mentally unstable mother.
Without this necessary knowledge she is reduced to trusting her instincts : instantly liking QiQi and Lou Yao's sister in law, the Empress, the Crown Princess, Lou Yao, &,with some misgivings, LBY who is decidedly too mysterious.
Likewise her gut instinct is to strongly dislike or hate Yuan Shanjian, the Wang Lady, "princess" Yuchang, Luo Li, the 3rd and 5th princesses., who have targeted her and her family, and/or acted and talked with malevolence. (That unforgivable dropping her off in the rain, on the street, and the constant badmouthing her from YSJ makes me wonder how on Earth she could accept him as a suitor in the future).

I saw this interview on WeTV among the BTS, Trailers, Previews and Highlights and thought it was a very candid and mature view of a "dangerous" character Wu Lei plays to a T.

Yes, one of several humor-filled MVs that made my day too when I first saw them. The best moment in that one is the gleeful expression of ZLS with the caption "mission accomplished"! !🤣🤣🤣🤣

About some other things, I thought the salty cucumber bit was somewhat "dropping from the skies." And what was this dialogue when CSS claimed she had grown the Western Regions cucumber herself : was she suddenly turning farmer's daughter or like The Story of Xing Fu's plant-growing loving husband ??? Very strange. I assumed it was to force the porridge spoonfeeding scene that is a staple of romance dramas. Had already checked with amusement the variation on the piggyback female carrying, and the ointment on injury "necessary ingredients". That CSS said the cucumber could come in sweet or sour tastes too was funny. Still. How did that cucumber land in the closed palace so handily ?
Also we hear Lady Luo and her maid are afraid of the harshness of the Western Region, but are presented with knowledge that the Empress is from there. As a peace tribute, I assume. Does this Western Region play an increasing role from now on? What would its modern day equivalent province be ? Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia deserts with oases, Xinjiang?

I also think CSS was moved by what the Crown Princess told her about the Crown Prince had saved LBY's life when he was thrown to drown in a lake, in the royal siblings' childhood. LBY never confirmed, and his cryptic warning about not to take all she sees and hears at face value is puzzling but not enough. The saving life mention must have influenced CSS to believe the Crown Prince was worthy of a few words of comfort from her, not only as being her revered Empress' son, who had not expressed disapproval at her or at LBY at the proposal and later on.
Was she being cleverly manipulated then by the Crown Princess / Empress & Crown Prince's party? She is so young, has only sketchy information about the past, and will of course see everything from a naive point of view where there are "bad guys" who hurt her and "good guys" who appear kind to her and to LBY in the past.
Revenge is a rather in-the-moment reaction for her, best when she can expose her enemies without threatening their lives and limbs (the falling chandelier was not necessarily going to knock out the princess or set her dress on fire, CSS had just planned that this would expose the red dress, as a tit-for-tat for the Princess malevolently blowing incense in her eyes.)
CSS was appalled by He Zhaojun's beheading her husband and enemy and had no idea that LBY was seeking ruthless revenge too.

So. How many did tune in again? (incl me 😁)

Episodes

Perhaps, to be more precise, he is nicknamed the 11th child (son) because raised among the imperial brats by the doting emperor/empress who favor him because of his talents as "pillar of the state".
There are not 10 princes born before him . Same for the princesses : the rank is actually the order of birth among the children.
But the First princess (that we don't see) was the title of the emperor's sister, maybe an explanation to hearing about a 5th princess and a 5th prince simultaneously ? Does the emperor have 10 chidren or 9 then ? We really could use a genealogy chart ! 😁

Ling Buyi (凌不疑) is the general's official name. Buyi has a meaning as was pointed out in part 1 comments : "不疑 is from poetry called 《苏武诗四首》 in Western Han Dynasty by Su Wu (苏武). The original poetry sentence is 结发为夫妻，恩爱两不疑。 It means ‘Tie a knot of the hairs and get married as husband and wife, there is no doubt about the love for both.’ !😁 不疑 means ‘No doubts’ or ‘Trust’. So it has a very romantic meaning hidden in this name."

Zisheng (子晟) is not a nickname; but a "courtesy name" (sometimes called "style name" although style names were more for the imperial people) , it's something very Chinese which can sometimes become a public name, like for some historical figures, poets etc.

Shiyilang 十一 郎 is more of a nickname since LBY is not officially the 11th prince or son of the emperor (who has 10 children).

Shaoshang's given name has a wonderful meaning since 少商 is the 7th string of the ancient zither called guqin. Her brother Shaogong 少宫 is named for the sixth string of the instrument !

NiaoNiao (嫋嫋) sounds like a nickname, but could be a new courtesy name (some ladies did get courtesy names, although it was more a male thing) bestowed on her when she reached coming of age (don't know when in Han dynasty, for women, the commenter did write 15 for women, 20 for men), where childhood pet names are swapped for more adult ones; since it means "slender and graceful" it sounds like an adult intimate name. It would also explain why she wore such a big jade inscribed with it. The commenter in part 1 explained "was once used in a ‘Fu’ called 《吴都赋》in Jin Dynasty. The sentence in the Fu is ‘蔼蔼翠幄, 嫋嫋素女’. The 嫋嫋 here describes a beautiful lady with a light and slim body. These word groups are also often used in other ancient poetries with different meanings."
Without the woman key 女 , the broken jade spelled 弱弱 (as in 虚弱 = weak) so it was not surprising that LBY found this name puzzling when they emerged from the Yanhui tower incident in episode 22 of part 1.

Even as of today, children often have pet names and nicknames and their actual name is not definitive since they can change their given names after reaching the official adult age. I know a number of persons who opted to change their identity this way... (Amused to hear their moms sometime address them with the old outdated given name.)
Shiyi 十一 = 11 : lang 郎 = son (linglang 令郎, "your son", old word) - interestingly that "lang" is also part of the dated term "langjun" 郎君 (darling, love) that I sometimes jokingly throw at my husband since I'm more from the "airen" 爱人than "laogong" 老公 generation; publicly he's my "zhangfu" 丈夫 and I'm his "furen" 夫人. Chinese language is so wonderful with various addresses and terms of endearment... I'm still discovering some new ones to me through the dramas 🤣