JoyTheFineOne

He said he has never seen someone as brave and formidable as she is in his two lives. He meant the first half of his life in the modern world (12-15 years} and the following half in the imperial palace in the novel (15 years}.

The parallel of him watching his grandmother be murdered just the way his father (Dan) once watched his own grandmother (the former Empress Dowager) be murdered in cold blood. It's really a generational trauma type shi.

She did risk their lives by carrying them out earlier, but since she managed to bring them back safely, what would be the sense in killing them thereafter? There's a difference between dying under enemy fire and dying by your master's orders due to no fault of yours.
Going out was indeed, risky but there are always things worth doing despite the risks. The scholars needed her there, Wang Zhao's mother needed her there, and even she herself needed to be there in order to grieve properly and let go without guilt.

It was fake even before she bowed down. He would never kill the people she cares about just to punish her, when that was exactly the same kind of tactic his stepmother used back then. And for someone as emphatic as Wanyin, he knows that'll be torture. Even if he wanted to punish the guards, he would do it behind her back, like during the fire incident.
He did lose control tho, but not to the extent where he didn't know what kind of impact his actions would have on her; he was, at least, sane enough to send her away first before losing total control.

I would absolutely love to see that rubbed in Duan's face, but most likely he just go "NO ONE CAN CONTROL MY FATE" and then proceed to misuse his protagonist halo😭

She probably has, but to immediately jump to the conclusion that he's been here 15 years? Not likely.
Plus he supposedly an actor, so it's not strange that he can make fake things look real and he also didn't often show that side of himself to her, until very recently.

In a month...?

There is: kisskh

It wasn't neutralized. He's still heavily poisoned. The only one that was neutralized is the Qiang poison; the other one that he had been ingesting for so many years that is causing the migraines is still very much in his blood stream... It's only advantage is that it may help to counteract other lesser poisons.

The only person who's title is similar to an Empress in the harem is Dan's stepmother, the Empress Dowager, she's the leader of the harem (normally, the reiging empress should be the leader of the harem, but Dan has no legal wife) and the one who promoted Yonger and Wanyin to Concubines earlier on.
Dan is an 'incompetent, tyrannical' emperor, so naturally his Concubines don't like him. Compared to him, they prefer his 'virtuous and capable' younger brother, Bo. Living with a tyrant is always a risk and with Duan's capabilities, he was bound to usurp the throne sooner or later and then as his Concubines, they won't have any good ending, so naturally they're seeking to secure their future by siding with Duan earlier on and aiding him to accumulate merit. This way, even if he takes power in the future, he would not harm them.
It also doesn't hurt that he's supposed handsome and charming.

That was the current crown prince. In that scene, we see ED getting dressed for the banquet with the envoys.

Do you still think of them as 2D characters? If they are, does this mean the author created all the characters in that world? They number in the millions. Or that he drew every scenary and location? That world is not the current world we live in, but it is a dimension all on its own; it is as real as ours. At best it is a world where certain people exist to fill a role in a novel; the world itself expands independently of the authors wishes and the people living on it have freewill, also independent of the author's wishes... That makes them real people. Even the so-called 2D characters can be nudged in a different direction from their set roles.
So it's not strange that a character in the world of a novel can comprehend the existence of a world different from their own. How do we know anyways that the world Dan and Wanyin live in is the 'real' one? Perhaps it is also based on a novel in which they are not the main characters? It's all about perception.

That was after the explosion and the ceremony ended

She wasn't actually. Didn't No. 2 say something like "No 1 and No 3 are absent. Does this mean they're both at the ceremony?"

Thanks so much for this!! I use an android.

What do you mean the youngest daughter of the Xu family is No.5??😳 She's a literal infant, is she not? Who is Li Na??? Is that supposed to be her second/real name?? What Gu Power sect???!!
What TH is going on exactly?!?!
Who's 7 and 8 then?

I thought No. 1 sounded very similar to Huaiqing tho. Remember No 1's non-emphatic logical tone when No. 6 told them he just killed that Earl – "killing an early is a felony. You should have reported him instead. I can't help you" 😭😂
Now compare it to her reaction when Xu Cijiu went to beg for Qi An– "he injured a superior so badly?? that's attempted murder.😒"
Usually, the average person would focus first on the injustice that led to the action, and perhaps express some outrage(for example: "what a bastard!! How could he do something as inhumane as trafficking kids?😤" Or "that silver gong totally had it coming! I'm so sorry the poor boy has to be published for defending an helpless woman. How can I make it so that's not the case?". You'd notice this is how other characters reacted in those two situations),
instead of passing judgement for, or stating
the legal implications of the resulting actions. She chose to plead for Qi An, not because she felt empathy for him or the women he protected, or because she believed he was in the right. Rather it was for a more logical reason – she still had use of him and it'd be such a shame for a talent such as him to die just like that when whatever she was planning with the Supervisor had not come to fruition.
🤧

We've also not seen No. 1 in person. What do you know about their dressing and actions?🤨

She didn't make it worse actually; quite the opposite in fact. She was able to secure his release without raising suspicion from her father. Had the Grand Princess requested his release instead, the emperor would have looked on both of them with suspicion – a powerful and ambitious princess teaming up with an ace from the Guardians' tower? And what a coincidence that the incident happened in time to be used as an excuse to secure his release. What are the odds?
But Stupid Lin An? Naive, innocent Lin An who wears her heart on her sleeve? Who doesn't even know the definition of a 'kept man' but called him such simply because the staff in her mansion told her to do so? The emperor wouldn't even feel threatened.
Also, we can't exactly say Qi An has done "nothing wrong". It's a military organisation. If they set a precedent where a subordinate was praised for almost killing his superior, that's bound to back fire in some way in the future. Other subordinates might take it as a licence to do same, provided they somehow believe they have a righteous cause –unfortunately, most of the time righteousness and morality are subjective.
Even in the modern world, if you break the law for a 'just' reason (say you stole to save a sick child, or killed someone due to immense provocation, or mistakenly due to overuse of force in self defence), the most the law can do is to mitigate punishment. It's very unlikely that you'd be praised or even completely convicted. The law is the law and very rarely does it bend for anyone.

What scene was that? I don't recall seeing such a thing.