L13

Is there a protagonist or main couple, or is the screentime split evenly between different plotlines? Ensemble dramas tend to bore me, but I'm a fan of some of the cast and 'love in the big city' style romance in general, so I'm debating if I should start this...

I'm LOVING our main couple. Their mutual attraction is getting harder and harder to ignore, but they both have bigger fish to fry at the moment. I loved the tension running through the chess piece conversation and I can't wait for the moment the choice between love and revenge becomes untenable for one or both of them.

That said, I hated that the courtesan character had to die. It felt a bit like the show killed her off because while she was completely devoted to Xue Zhao, and thus a worthy love interest, she was 'sullied' by having sex for money and could never be with him even after his return from the dead (as she herself told Jiang Li). So making her his tragic backstory was the most convenient solution.

She wasn’t worried so much as she was furious that he was expressing guilt/care forJiang Li’s feelings in front of her when he told Jiang Li to shoot without fear.

Obviously the Jiangs aren't going to go up to him and accuse him of being inappropriate with Jiang Li, whom they don't even care about, but the stepmother at least should be starting to put two and two together. Being afraid of someone doesn't mean you can't see what they're doing.

How are people in the Jiang family hearing that Duke Su accompanied Jiang Li to the Jiang manor with half of his servants processing with her, took her out for tea in the city, praised her virtue, taught her archery, voted for her in the exam, saved her from Princess Wanning's bullying, strolled around the imperial palace with her in the middle of the night, etc. AND NOT ASKING WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON THERE? She uses him as an excuse/alibi all the time!

When granny went, "Jiang Li, my dear, you can be honest with me. What's going on between you and... Mr Zhou?" I wanted to claw my eyes out. I thought the old hag and the stepmother were supposed to be smart?

Seriously, the special attention he pays to Jiang Li should be obvious by now.

I think the CGI fireballs and levitation were overkill, personally… but the drama is quite campy, so I just roll with it.

He was flirting so hard in that scene, it was hilarious.

"Duke Su? Have I committed any crime?"

"I'm tired of people asking me this question."

This was such a cunty entrance lmao. I love how sassy Duke Su is. Wang Xingyue is really breathing life into the role. I like that he's not afraid to exaggerate Duke Su's suaveness to the point of camp at times; this drama is a very maximalist production in every department, so there's no point in holding back.

She was clearly lying IMO.

I mean, this grandma may like Jiang Li, but she's clearly pursuing a policy of neutrality in the Jiang household, which takes precedence over her personal feelings. She lets her daughter-in-law run the household however she wants despite knowing exactly what Madam Ji is like. When Madam Ji refused to let her see her grandson (Bingji, I think), she was like, "Using children to settle scores? Pathetic!" but didn't react otherwise. So letting them send Jiang Li to a monastery is in keeping with what we've seen from her so far, kind of.

I pity him too because it looked like he had no choice but to get rid of XFF to save his family, and the princess is a proper psychopath who keeps threatening and humiliating him. He doesn't seem to be attracted to her in the least, so if she's forcing him to have sex with her (which isn't clarified one way or the other in the drama), that's straight-up rape.

All that said, what he did to XFF was still cowardly and wrong, and a better person would have found another way out of that situation. Plus, I can guess based on all the other cdramas I've watched that he's only going to get worse from here as his self-pity and paranoia drive him to new lows.

You guys do realise "second male lead" means "male character with the second-most screentime" and not "a man who's in love with the heroine," right?

She was famous as the most talented woman in the capital... that doesn't happen when no one knows what you look like. She probably didn't get married off at 15 either. Plus, young noblewomen in ancient China usually had their coming-of-age ceremony either at 15 or after they got engaged, which her upright and famous father would have wanted to give her for sure.

But really, someone who was famous as the most talented young lady in the capital, and was also the daughter of a duke, would NEVER be totally unknown to high society.

Dropping this show out of nowhere when the casting makes zero sense and I've spent the last 3 years wondering if the whole production is real, cancelled, or just a figment of my imagination is also very cdrama of them.

The thing is, apparently in the original novel Xue Fangfei possesses Jiang Li's body or something. Since they've taken out the supernatural elements in the drama adaptation and she gets to keep her own body and appearance, some of the original plot points don't quite work, like for example no one realising JL is XFF, or the Shen family not exposing her on the spot. It's true that noble women didn't go out a whole lot in ancient China, but they did attend parties and social gatherings just like Jiang Ruoyao's coming-of-age ceremony (ji li), so at least some of the other nobles in attendance should have known what XFF looked like.

That said, overall I think the change makes the story better, so I can easily ignore these minor plot holes. Otherwise, XFF would be romancing Duke Su while inhabiting the body of a teenager and while that's not outrageous, I like it better when they're around the same age. Plus, Duke Su recognised her immediately in the drama because he'd seen her before (though he'd only glimpsed her from afar when she lifted her veil). Also I'm just kind of tired of stupid face/body swap stories to be honest... It's giving 8-minute episodes.

Bodyguard romance with cheating and shirtless Rain scenes? Finally... a reason to live...

Thank you, ~25 is exactly what I was thinking based on context clues… and thank God they didn’t keep the body switch element! That would have been icky.

lol if you remember the details, please tell me how old XFF is supposed to be in the novel because I asked this question earlier and there seems to be some confusion about it. Is she 20 years old or older?

Nah, I'm here for the romance. Having someone who's worth sacrificing your most treasured possession for is a good thing! She chose poorly the first time around, but that doesn't mean loving with one's whole heart is bad or stupid, so I hope she'll come around. She'll be truly healed when she can love again without fear of loss or betrayal, not when she destroys her enemies.

Right, I really don't think it makes sense that she was shipped off to her in-laws at 15, both because she had enough time to gain recognition for her accomplishments before marriage and because her father is apparently a super-duper principled scholar-official and Confucius says women should get married at 20... but apparently that's what the novel implies? Although it seems they may have aged up the characters in the drama? I guess I'll just imagine XFF and Duke Su to be in their mid-20s because the plot makes more sense that way (and the actors don't look super young either).