Hikari Hana

Queen Baili is bad bad, but I feel Xiao Yuanyi is complicated bad. I don't know if it makes sense, but that's how I feel about Shaoshang's mom. There are many instances when her eyes show concern and sad when it comes to Shaoshang (when Shaoshang is about to depart to Hu city, she looks at Shaoshang's carriage with mixed emotions in her eyes. She also quickly depart to Hu City after she finds out about the attack). If she doesn't care about Shaoshang, then all of these actions don't make sense. But, like I said, she's kind of complicated. Too proud and too stubborn.

The Rebel Princess came into my mind when I'm thinking about historical romance that gives similar vibes to this drama. I don't remember if it's slow burn, but I do remember that it takes a while for the FL and ML to meet.

I'm sorry you feel this way about Shaoshang.

But if we look from Shaoshang's point of view, it's understandable that she feels unlucky. Unlike most kids, she was abandoned by her parents right after she was born. Growing up, she was bullied by her relatives and peers. She didn't even get proper education unlike normal kids around her age. And then her parents came back but her mom favors her cousin and constantly belittles her. When she finally met someone that she thought can have another life with, she has to break her own engagement because other people made a sacrifice for the country and she has to pay for it (and I'm not condemning the He clan for seeking marriage with Lou family, but as Ling Buyi said to He Zhaojun, Shaoshang doesn't owe her so she shouldn't be condemned if she doesn't want to break the engagement). Shaoshang, the sensible and mature that she is, understands He Zhaojun's pain and the sacrifices made by the He family to save the people, that's why she breaks the engagement. But at that moment, she couldn't help lamenting her "luck" because every time she thought her life is finally getting better, things turns south, hence the "cry".

I'm worse. I'm hoping to get new episodes every day.

You're right. I see myself in both in Yuanyi and Shaoshang, and that's why I couldn't help coming out from the shadow and commenting here, because both sides feel personal to me.

It's understandable. Even sometimes I found it hard to tolerate my dad, let alone Shaoshang who has grown apart from her mother for so long. But I'm lucky compared to Shaoshang, where my dad never abandon me, so I learned to tolerate his temper and method. Shaoshang is different. She's been abandoned, being bullied because of that, and is always in fight-or-flight mode. Her mom is practically a stranger for 15 years with blood ties with Shaoshang, that's why Shaoshang keeps giving her mom chances to show it, but alas, Yuanyi is way too stubborn, and prideful to show her affection openly. Yuanyi is interesting, a character where I can't fully hate her, and yet I can't fully like her but still in my mind all the time.

I've been a silent lurker on this site for years. But today I decided to share my thoughts regarding Yuanyi. As a daughter of a now retired military officer, I can see why she behaves the way she is. My dad is all about control. He wants to control everything in perfect order because that's what army life is about. Especially when they're a higher rank officer, they're all about giving the command and expecting their subordinates (and us, their children) to follow orders with no questions. Yes, it's very frustrating especially when we know the order doesn't make sense. That's why we can see Yuanyi is all about pushing her command for Shaoshang to follow. That's her way of dealing with matters that she knows how. I'm not saying it's okay because it's not. I know how damaging it is when a parent is too controlling. Instead of making things better, Yuanyi's ways have shown to be pushing Shaoshang further away from her, that even a piece of good advice (as we can see in episode 15/16), Shaoshang doesn't even want to ponder about it even a little.

The problem with Yuanyi is that she doesn't know how to play pull-and-push with her daughter. She's too impatient and wants to see the result asap (probably overcompensating all those missing years), and thus, pushing her method way too hard and it backfires badly. I guess, it's a learning curve for both Yuanyi and Shaoshang.