Good Grief

Now I know why Qing Shuang is listed quite high on the cast list. Even long before the drama started, when the cast and credits on MDL weren't as much as they are now, her name was already on the list.

damn 😲
That child actor has great future

Novel is different from the drama, the adaptation is less an adaptation and leaning more towards an original story. So, everyone can just speculate, form theories from the released episodes and get surprised at the end of the day by the reveals as anyone else, whether they have read the novel or not.

Just to clarify something about the stroke‑count discussion:

In Chinese, there’s no alphabet like A–Z, so names can’t be sorted alphabetically the way we do in Western languages.

Sorting by the number of strokes in a surname is actually one of the traditional and neutral ways to organize Chinese names — it plays a similar role to alphabetical order, even though it’s not an alphabet.

So when people say it’s ‘basically alphabetical’, they mean it’s the Chinese equivalent of a fair, standardized sorting system. It’s not random or unusual in that cultural context.

Agree with this, there are even characters with the same name but playing different roles with different status. They could use different name, but don't know why decide to use that particularly same name😅 . I started to think drama and novel as 2 different beings instead of confusing myself 😂 As long as I love both, why not 😁

Indeed kind of new novel. Even the objective different 😂
At first I thought at least I could know some characters bad or good from novel, for example Muyang - bad, Murong - good, Duke Hua - good. But, since they change Mo Wuyou from Princess to Mo Xiuyao's nephew then change Qin Zheng from Yeli's friend to Consort Dowager. Oh, better to consider drama as a new script rather than confused myself. Both are good in their own way

I'm always just amazed how fast a character recovers from stabbing and gunshot wounds!🤔

Didn't mean to compare, just note how it differs

- Lishan Academy. It is an academy open by Ye Li’s maternal family led by Yeli’s maternal grandfather. In drama Ye Li live in Lishan academy and have some close senior there while in novel, after her mother passed away 8 years ago Ye Li still live in Ye family. No close senior but Xu family (Ye Li’s two maternal uncles and five cousins) as her big supporter. Drama not include a bunch of Xu Family, maybe change it to her 3rd paternal uncle which is not in novel. Drama has mystery element about Lishan Academy and maybe all are died already while in middle part of novel, as Prince Ding conflicted with Emperor and Lishan has differnet goals with Emperor, Lishan Academy being burned but no one killed. Xu family move to Li City (root of new dynasty established by Mo Xiu Yao) before Emperor could catch them and build new Lishan Academy there.

- Revenge plot. In drama, seems like both Ye Li and Mo Xiu Yao have deep grudge, trauma and revenge agenda. Ye Li bacause of the fall of Lishan academy and how Lishan Academy being bad treated. Mo Xiu Yao with imperial order (which later burned and cannot made as evidence) make his brother & father lost the battle, labeled as traitor then executed. While in novel, I don't think so Ye Li had such deep grudge because Lishan Academy still stand good although had to lowkey open outside capital. At beginning Ye Li basically only punish everyone who want to take advantage of her. About Mo Xiu Yao, in novel he didn't know his brother and father being betrayed until much later. There is suspicion but no clue. So at beginning, Mo Xiu Yao only hate Emperor because after all his family did to guard country, fight against enemies until his brother & father die at war and he become disabled but Emperor still suspect him, scheming for his downfall to take his military power (Prince Ding mansion hold great military power afraid by many countries and Emperor eye Mo Family army). Only later part of novel when he knew Emperor's army are one of the parties that make Ye Li fall from cliff then also know about betrayal, Mo Xiu Yao take action, patiently strategize for revenge plot

- Theme. In drama it still too early to judge where the plot will take us, but there is mystery in it with hallucination, trauma. There are palace politics and revenge. Heavier in romance and more main lead focus. While in novel, I would say war take quite big part, then with its politics, war strategy, military power. There are at least 4 different countries with each own strength fighting over territory & power, also many more parties with each own story. So like it or not, the focus divide between main lead and others (though others have interesting story too so no boring moment)

- Empress Dowager & Emperor. In drama, Emperor much younger, struggling to get his own power over Empress Dowager and how not become puppet Emperor. In novel, Emperor much older, already has Empress, Noble Consorts and Consorts. Prince Li is Emperor's younger brother from same mother & father. Previously, Empress Dowager indeed very powerful, but now Emperor can overshadow her and ask her to enjoy her golden time. She cunning enough to secretly support Prince Li in order to make Emperor and Prince Li fighting over throne.

- Qin Zhen. If I'm not mistaken, Qin Zhen is Consort Dowager in drama, suspicious and seems like has her own bad agenda. While in novel Qin Zhen is one of Ye Li's friend, bethroted with Ye Li's 2nd cousin since childhood and stand with Xu family in difficult time. Later they get married. She is no villain and not a major character throughout novel

- Mo Wuyou. In drama, Mo Wuyou is Mo Xiu Yao's nephew. Together with his mother live in Prince Ding Mansion. While in novel, Wuyou is birth name of Princess Changle. Princess Changle is Emperor and Empress Hua's daughter. Empress is Duke Hua's daughter so later they stand on different side. Emperor maliciouslly 'gift' Changle to old king of neighboring country. Ye Li help free her and take her to Li City, since then she change her name to Mo Wuyou. Mo Xiu Yao's sister in law has no child in novel and choose to live quietly in temple after her husband death

Oh thanks so much! And yep, I'm a proud naturalized American. We moved to the U.S. from the UK in the 80s though, so I feel a lot more American than British at this point :) Although still somewhat proud to be British. If the bloody country wasn't in such a mess :)

And btw, just saw this on your bio "My list is not complete because I can't remember everything I have watched since 2012" -- Same! I started watching Asian dramas before I moved to Thailand in 2002. Can't remember HALF the ones I've seen :)

I do agree! I don't like that whitey-whiter-than-white veneers too. But idk, I had my teeth fixed, it's not perfect, but not crooked either, just regular yellow-ish teeth. I think people either don't care or just overdo it...

The thing is that in my country (Brazil) it kinda means that you have basic personal hygiene, and of course it's a class marker, even though in the past decade fixing teeth has become a lot cheaper than it once was. Fixing it it's part of what we consider teeth healthcare, so...

Ah then you understand coding more than I do :)

I think it's because the site was set up a long time ago, when the owners didn't think that idiots would actually rate episodes they haven't watched :)

It's difficult (and can be expensive and time-consuming) to have a site redesigned, as even a minor change can affect many other things on the site, sometimes negatively.

Heck, I added one tiny line of code to one of my websites last week so that my articles would embed better on X and Facebook, and then suddenly I couldn't upload ANY visuals to the site after that until I figured out the line of code, given to me by a highly-qualified IT guy, was the problem :)

As the episode ratings don't really affect anything important, the owners have probably decided to leave it, rather than to chance a change breaking something else :)

So much is happening yet so little at the same time. the pacing is fast and at the same time very slow.

"Yuan Niang" meaning is eldest daughter..maidservants cant call their masters by name but by their status in the family..