Frost_edelweiss

next one, fear not, she is the healthiest fish in the pond!

adding one, since I'm still up!

with you, 😁 !

Although I agree that tragic or realistic final end is not a reason to downvote a drama, I don't agree with your claims about xenophobic or colonizer mentality, because there are indeed many people in China who get tired of repeated somber ends to dramas which they hope will lift them out of their own bad mood for any reason.

I agree with your last paragraph, but I think that it is up to audience to like or not a more realistic and complex drama, like this one, or The Tale of Rose, or Angels Fall Sometimes, in other genres.

It is not our place to scold audiences here or there with over-the-top accusations that they "want to westernize the cultural production of a country where >>> etc.
In China, families don't mourn tepidly their passed ones as if death was 'just a matter of fact', not touching sensibility, nor are they indifferent to injustice and death of others. It's rather in western countries that the sense of family weakens to the point that elders dying alone or in sometimes abusive retirement homes is just something ordinary and no need to feel bad about it. Or that young girls can get beaten, raped, knifed or torched to death not raising eyebrows more than cats who get run over by a vehicle.

It would be a welcome change, yes.
He shouldn't be forever stuck and typecast as the tragic, expendable, character. Unless he wants to. But that'd be a pity.
His songs are almost always lit, even though I read... did he need a vocal chords surgery, recently? I can't fathom how he could belt out for hours in live stream and talk non stop around his recent 5 drama OSTs, which are all good, including the surprising change of style one for FOF.

mmm, yeah, many like that yes these days : Rose riding her bike into the sunset, etc. Or worse ones like The Double which needed a 1/4 saving episode bonus to make sure people did not find it ending like an AJTL copy (mind you, I liked the finality of the ending in AJTL, despite half wishing the riders in the end were not figments of imagination from sun stroke hit lady).
Dramas get stingy on weddings, and if there is one, the qipao gets ruined by bratty sister in law, and the spouses are... mmm... awfully imperfect like in Our Days --- which I am halfway through with: TSOPG took up too much of my attention to focus on much more, and I am unsure of when I'll get back to the two others, that I left technically on hold. The many spoilers about bad end are not very incentive for me: as long as it is undecided, it is more exciting for me to watch on.
Even hard fluff short Embrace In The Dark Night (6 on Douban!!) deprived audience of a proper wedding.
But I don't mind open endings too much if they remain logical.

our HE... 💕

Good old series, yes 😄

You sure need a vacation in some quiet place then.
Time to splurge on hotel and a temporary change of scenes for real, instead of on Black Friday or Singles Days special offers to fund drama platforms ?

To answer your question and frustration : allegory for diseases like asbestos cancer or other cancer that can be the results of being exposed to such substances? Or congenital genetic disease that can lay dormant but flares up from stress or other situation?

I agree.

your loss, it's a very good one, but not candy floss snatched from kids.

"valar morghulis"... We were spared here from a graphic and bloody agony, or riding into the wild with bereft soulmate left livid and unable to move on. DW will explore the world for 40 years, next - ending is less somber than some other ones, probably. But if you needed fluffy pink candy floss, yes, that wasn't it.

My happier take on end: after sleeping with her and offering breakfast, he slipped his ring on her finger as a commitment to stay with her until end, not just the ring stay... they went to the mountains after the exhibition while he prepared their convoy with the guiding star, and after she entrusted the guild to one who also had known anguish and picked herself up bravely to face reality, knowing how to distinguish truth from lies. She held his hand while he passed on later, perhaps at the foot of the mountain where they should have looked at stars together. She continued on her travels.
OK, it's less bittersweet then ?

I am a determined optimist when there is even just an atom of hope, although a pessimist about how things will really go, so just stoic and looking at the bright side if nothing else works: imagination is great so as not to get submerged in fruitless sorrow and guilt like Zhuohua almost did.
But as they say in high valyrian : "Valar morghulis "

Ah yes, a nice way to solve it. And after all, that was LYN's own suggestion.
The speech given by DW/SMZ before she moved on was rather good, so the last episode still had something to chew on, instead of pink candy floss.

You've got some hard classics in mind lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS5Z6eadmcs
But it could just as well be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2RnxZnubCM

Ummm. That's your hypothesis. No picture show him leave, although he does not attend the exhibition, where Duanwu relinquishes her newly won appointment, to make herself free to move on. You might as well, as I do, imagine they went on together to see the mountains, after she entrusted the jewelry guild to a surprise choice, and imagine YZJ passed up there while she held his hand, before she continued, exploring the world for 40 more years as he wished her to do. The ring of his that she wore at the exhibition may not be a sinister farewell gift, but a private commitment ring; we don't se how she got it.

It's tragic, but not AJTL or One and Only flamboyant > Logical<
The Pearl Girl will go on, but not down with the Titanic ;)
And no, the aliens did not come to abduct YZJ, nor did he ride out to die in the wild, nor were we inflicted visions of terminal agony.
They did sleep together, although no naked shoulders were shown, so it is up to us to imagine a new generation adding to DW's professional success.

Since the drama was rather realist, there is little hope for a new take with reincarnation in the future like in Forever and Ever. It ends when and where it does.
It is more like (same director and outlook, maybe less humor) Love Like The Galaxy : serious portrayal of the reality in those dynasties where maturity came early and life had to be enjoyed when it could, endured when it should, and friendships valued and accepted when possible, but enemies might not always be simple to spot, redeeming themselves was not often the case. Justice is served, but also forgiveness and new start for one who seemed beyond hope.

It was a complex and interesting story with a clear goal, not a fluffy fairy tale.

The drama does entice to look up artefacts, travel roads, information about details, including the 8 treasures "longevity porridge"... for us to go on, to warm hearts and weary bones. You can have a look at my "companion piece" in discussions, for some more info, in addition to the nice reviews penned by some of the many who liked it enough to award it 10 here, like https://kisskh.at/profile/itsariaselenecruz/reviews/406134

I just had one bowl of such to pick me up, no need to wait till January, it's already the season for "zhou". <> recipe in the companion piece here : https://kisskh.at/discussions/zhu-lian-yu-mu/131556-the-story-of-pearl-girl-companion-piece

Su Muzhe played by Liu Yuning? That'd be a novel twist on the drama!! 🤣🤣
Otherwise, the comment, except dismissive toned title, was not too off.

Since Xu Nanying is in prison, the case against YZJ was pretty much moot, then. Not a major implausibility for him to leave hiding once he was recovered and enemies were beleaguered.