MadelineMaureen

I will do my best. I'll leave this thread open in a tab so I can just refresh and come back to it.

I'm still going back and re-editing my comment...because i'm bored waiting for the express and can find the flashbacks quickly because of the aspect ratio change anytime one happens.

I hope not...that would be so annoying. For all we know the shot wasn't in focus or some other technical issues came up.

So that would have been in one of the flashbacks....I think we did see this in an episode.....hum...hold on checking notes. There was at least one flash back kiss in episode six, but I think that was a beach/river scene.

Looks like I didn't note any other kisses except for episodes, 6(flashback), 9(drugged kiss), 23(2 peck kisses, and first real kiss), 26(secret courtyard kiss), 28(medicine kiss), 32(no notes just that they kiss), 34(married kiss/bed scene)
Episode 9 also has a flashback kiss after the drugged kiss. but again standing

I have a short hand when keeping track of the episodes but sometimes I forget to annotate them in writing. So I might have seen the flashback kiss and not remember to note it after the episode.

They have yet to address this by episode 35. We, as an audience, are still under then impression that Yu Jin mistakenly killed her with an arrow, based off of the shocked surprise on his face when she turns around. (some speculate that someone else shot the arrow that killed her)

Jiang Si never brought it up to him, but because of the amount of times he has saved her in her current life it was very much glossed over.
They haven't extended the flashbacks to include anyone else's POV. Maybe we'll get some in one of the final episodes. But we have no clue what Yu Jin was up to after Jiang Si is forced off the cliff by the Princess Royal.

We can assume that he believes she is dead, but we only see him for a few short moments holding a bow in the throne room and looking shocked. We only heard about Yu Qi being killed from her friends (the Nanwu spy network) They either weren't aware that he was a Prince or they knowingly kept it from her.

We have no knowledge of what was going on with Cui Ming Yue in the alternate future either. Did she in fact marry Yu Jin? We don't know. Did she get killed by Jiang Si in revenge for the death of her brother...we don't know.

As the events that triggered her families deaths were either not known to her at the time, or something that didn't stick out in the moment in her first life we only see her remember in "real time" when past events get closer to repeating. As the character wasn't as calculating prior to her life in Nanwu, she wouldn't have read into some things as much as her present day self would and does.

I can tell who is watching Tencent vs who is watching iQiYi anytime some comments about one character.
Tencent: Grand Princess
iQiYi: Royal Princess

I happened to be hydrating myself at that moment. I seriously regret that choice. The involuntary snort that came out of me....pain, so much pain. Also took me like 5 minutes to clean off my laptop and stop choking, and then I ended up seeing the line delivered again and laughed AGAIN.

There have been only a few villains or grey characters that I actually felt some sympathy for. Didn't even think I would for some and then the actor/actress did such a good job that I was like...well damn...someone must be cutting onions.
That is not the case with Cui Ming Yue...every time they reply her karma I have a smile on my face...honestly, kind of worried about what that says about me as a person....I will feel the same once her mother gets hers.

But there are a few that have actual redemption in my eyes, and were put in situations that
made them sympathetic, still don't really forgive them their sins, but the fact that they realized what they did wrong and genuinely felt guilt about their actions...yeah a little teary tear slipped out.

I say wait until tomorrow and check in again. See what people are saying about the ending. I will say production has gotten better in these final arch or penultimate arch. But the frustration of certain characters over staying their welcome is very much felt when unable to binge watch through it.

Oh my frustration with the Emperor's ignorance is going to be a peak levels I see.

I really feel like they put a lot of their production budget into the final arch. As the editing hasn't been as choppy and the lighting and establishing shots have been more intentional lately. Hopefully we get the final 5 episodes tonight and hopefully they have English subs when released.

I haven't seen that clip. I know that there have been a few productions recently with a horse kiss of some kind, but they weren't one that popped up. Do you have a link?

Her father's concubine paid a "Taoist Priest" who was actually a convicted thief to lie about the head wife's new child(FL). FL's Grandfather died the night she was born under strange circumstances(this has not been clarified, but the Grandmother was poisoned with mushrooms and was said to have presented similarly to the Grandfather's symptoms before his death.)
The FL knows that her "step-mother" is behind both the recent issue and the one 17 years prior.

The head wife I believe was also the biological mother to the elder sister who was married to the ML & who was poisoned to death.

The younger brother is the son of the concubine, I don't know how old he is, but I wouldn't be surprised if the concubine was pregnant with him at the time of FL's birth. They wouldn't have known it was a daughter until after the head wife gave birth.

I just happen to read her as her age. there is nothing wrong with seeing a 37 year old woman as a 37 year old woman. we had seen the son(half brother) & knew he was young than FL so when the half Sister showed up I first thought she was an aunt or other wife in the family for a second. then she opened her mouth and acted like a child so I had to rewind & double check the name title thing. then every time show popped up on screen I couldn't unknown her to be 37. (she was 37 at the time of shooting, FL & ML were I believe 30 or 29 at the time of filming)

im not talking about the FL Chen Du Ling. She looks fine. She obviously doesn't look 17 but her character's life was rougher. im talking about the half sister who is trying to kill her/ruin her looks with small pox.

I thought she was her brother's mother and the sister of her mother....she look 37 to me that's why it's in issue for me.

I looked up her age BECAUSE she looks older than everyone else to me, I thought at one point she was the sister of the stepmother and the mother of the the half brother. It took me a second to realize she is the daughter and half sister. There is playing younger and then their is playing 2 decades younger. It works for a few episodes or maybe flashbacks, but for a sustained age....not as much.

I am so sorry but I cannot take a 37 year old woman pouting about seriously in the least. Like my guy.....how old is the character you're playing? Will we have some kind of giant time jump to make your casting age make sense? I'm not trying to be a bitch but why is a 37 year old woman playing an unmarried daughter in a scholar family? Her character can't be more than what...20?

So edit/add on.....
Looks like FL didn't fall far from her Mother's tree.....turns out they have a lot more in common than I thought.

Okay I'm 8 minutes into episode 2 and I am so damn confused right now. FL's mother has no more family...She is married into the FL's family aka FL's grandmother should hold the most power in the house. FL's father is the current head of the household and yet is too chicken shit to contradict his crippled(translation's word not mine) wife who has no heirs....what in the actually hell is this?
She has no sons, she has no family, she has no functioning legs.....in what realm would this woman have retained any kind of power within this household? She's cackling at her daughter about how FL could seek protection from her when she(the mother) can't even protect herself...and yet EVERYONE listens to her over her husband....is she besties with an Empress or something?

I need the Emperor's eunuch to do his job and narc on the Princess Royal already. Be the little birdie you are and whisper in his ear all the terrible and horrible things her and her daughter had been getting up to over the years. Once the Emperor finds out what his daughter has been keeping secret for years....oh it's on like Donkey Kong.