PeachBlossomGoddess

It is a very passionate love story that goes through many dark and even abusive moments. They have a time of happiness together and then the drama ends due to censorship. In the book they both die tragically. My opinion is that if the drama aired in full (16 more episodes) they would have all died as they did in the book.

Yeah this was definitely a much better executed production with truly top notch actors. My only issue is both Lingxi and Jiuchen are the too good to be true kind of characters. I kind of prefer the darker and more flawed Ye Hua and Bai Qian characters that have a bit of a mean side. But that is just a small thing, so so happy with both shows.

Yeah me too, it is the upcoming one I really want to watch. I think I figured out what happened to all these shows. Advertising has not recovered in China so the streaming platforms are all losing too much money. They are delaying new shows and raising membership prices and hoping later ads also recover. iQiyi just announced a new extra expensive Diamond VIP they are just waiting for the low price and free memberships to roll off before launching their exclusive shows (which this one is). I understand they can't keep losing 10bn yuan a year so I don't mind paying more but I wish they would not hold up the shows. In the meantime they are launching a bunch of crap - all the junk that should have never aired.

This Duke Yuan is a real ass.

So far I also have the impression Yuqi's acting in this is not on par with Yunxi's. He keeps eyeing her very heatedly but she just avoids his gaze. At some point she needs to make eye contact, which she doesn't and that just makes her seem like she is not that into him or the chemistry is just off. I just can't figure out if she is just trying to behave like a bashful young girl or if it is just bad directing and acting. I am only at 8 so maybe it gets better later.

Cou;dn't agree more. If you read the book, you can take it as an open ending. I wrote about it in my review ending spoiler.

I love it, I have to stop myself from rewatching it and I am still cyber stalking Chen Kun.

My understanding is that AOL is a happy ending but tbh, I dropped it after watching 10 episodes. It is more me not the show that many people loved. I can't watch anything where the FL is too naive/stupid, I dropped Pillow Book for the same reason - same director, I really hate the way he likes to make young women look stupid. I will never watch his shows again but I am a biased opinion on this.

One of the female characters was raped. Not one of the two leads.

He is the younger of the two small boys that were playing together in the ending scene of NIF. Obviously Xiao Tingsheng was the older boy. They didn't just grow up they grew old. :)

I guess that is better than Dec 31... The preview looks great.

If you watched Royal Nirvana, I always feel that writer "stole" Prince Qi from NIF's story. It takes place around the same period and the royal family also has Xiao surname. And it is a story about a emperor is jealous of his crown prince who is supported by his maternal uncle, a powerful general (sound like Lin Xie?) whose son (sound like Lin Shu?) is close to his cousin the crown prince... I just wish Hai Yin had written the story instead because that writer really mucked it up. But as you point out a lot of NIF sequel worthy content to be explored hope the original writer acts on it soon before other people steal it from her.

It is his son and heir, who is already an old man. This drama skips a generation.

It is actually a bittersweet ending - they get quite a bit of quality time together.

I skimmed the book but I am not gonna read it all. Actually to me Shangguan Tao is a much more interesting but darker character in the book, he just got whitewashed for the drama. In any case, they need to step up the storyline it is 48 or 50 episodes it gotta be more than them making eyes at each other the whole time...

It is a beautiful story but the drama execution was poor. Lusi's acting blew up in the second half - she can only do comedy. It is still a good drama, you just have to FF the second couple/middle parts.

Simple is great as long as it is well executed. I only watched 8 so far but the issue is this hasn't hooked me and I am kind of bored with my other dramas but still don't feel pulled into watching the other 8. I rather surf the net. Luo Yunxi is doing great but so far Yuqi is one dimensional. I am more her fan than Yunxi's as I detested AOL so I say this reluctantly.

Hmmm... we shall see.... I am still neutral on the story but lately new dramas have been very mediocre (including the first 8 of this). I am a simple person - I watch a bunch of things at ths same time and the one that I binge is the one that may have an x-factor Sadly so far I am not that into anything. on my list. This one is ok but I must admit I was hoping for more...

I know Yuqi looks stunning in red but in the beginning she shouldn't be in it so much it makes her look older when she is actually supposed to be a very young girl. Took me awhile to figure out why she seems so naive. The acting is good but the story is not gripping enough to make me chase.

Very interesting, thanks for this - it plugs some holes and the writer's intended ending phrase is wickedly good but would have locked S2 into the introduction of someone else as the titular character. I have mixed feelings about that because where they left things now, there are many other explosive directions they can take this in. I hope this spat doesn't prevent or delay a S2 though.