Jocketoool

The difference is more nuanced than just a plot armor. The 7th prince keeps provoking Hu Jinsi for no reason, Hu is forced to launch the coup out of desperation. But after the killing of Shuiqiu, a well respected political giant, everyone (even Hu’s wife who’s recorded scolding him at home saying that Shuiqiu’s the last person he should consider killing) thinks he’s gone too far. Hu becomes morally isolated. So when Qian Hongchu goes mad in the court and slits the throat of that weasel He Chengxun, everyone including Hu himself agrees that it’s a reasonable reaction. I don’t think Hongchu acts arrogant in any way, on the contrary, killing He in front of Hu is kind of saving his face, let He take all the blame instead of antagonizing Hu openly. Also Hongchu is far more popular and revered in the military and bureaucracy than the 7th prince, Hu doesn’t have the confidence to be confrontational. Moreover, during Hongchu’s visit to Hu, he balances the art of carrot and stick brilliantly. He warns Hu what he’s done to Shuiqiu is unforgivable, but at the same time he recognizes Hu’s contribution. Hu now knows he and his family are safe (it’s the reason he replaces the 7th prince in the first place, he feels his position and life is threatened), not only would he not rebel again, but also is he grateful and indebted to Hongchu’s grace.

Because Qian highly praises Shuiqiu’s contribution to the kingdom, which makes Hu’s execution of him an injustice, or even treason depending how the new king would handle this, he knows he’s in big trouble now

He was still serving his duty in Chang’an, Yunqing met him briefly during next year’s Shangyuan/Lantern festival, it looked like they were still platonic and unclear if she would stay with him, as we know, a calamity (An Lushan rebellion) was coming to Chang’an that year, it wouldn’t end well for them if they stayed there.

1, many really HATED the changes made to the novel, rating one star just for that reason and making all the sensationalizing reviews/videos saying it ruined the book, driving away regular audience. 2, the book is an one hour read, overstretching it to 35 episodes undermines the sense of urgency and desperation, the first half of the show is too slow and not hooking audiences enough. 3, one actor is in the midst of a huge scandal, many would rate low or refuse to watch. 4, no hot guys in the male lead, the key demographics of drama watchers are females. 5, the latter half and the ending spoilers are too sad and depressing, many are quitting to avoid suffering. 6, the costumes are hyper historically accurate to Tang dynasty, but regular audiences aren’t used to seeing that, some even think it looks weird or ugly. 7, some are nitpicking that the lighting looks bad or the set looks fake, the climate and the environment don’t look right, and the lychee farm for some reason didn’t use real lychee trees, some Cantonese people took it as offensive and stereotyping.

Douban scores are getting more and more emotional and biased these days, many give low score simply bc Li Shande becomes a widower in the show (his wife is alive in the book and pretty integral to the story), then comes all the “how dare you change the book”, “are you trying to write other romantic interests to fill in the gap”, “misogyny” accusations, or they just hate certain actors. This drama definitely deserves somewhere over 7.5 despite its flaws, 6.9 is too unfair.

Basically she was academically disastrous, only got 179/750 on Gaokao (college entrance exam), but she ended up getting into a top drama school through a program tailored for ethnic Mongolians, the one condition in return was that she must work at a designated job after graduation. However, she broke the agreement and studied abroad. What’s even more suspicious is that the special program was only implemented twice in history, once when her mother was applying for college, another in her year. June is the month for Gaokao, an extremely competitive exam that decides thousands of students’ future and social mobility, people are furious when someone works around that.

Bad news for you, her career might be over now… turns out, she’s a nepobaby (in the worst way), the show is affected negatively too

Some major changes to the novel pissed off book fans, also the novel is too short to be adapted into a 35 episode series, so the pacing feels dragged