PeachBlossomGoddess

Gu A'Bao is Wenxi's alias in the palace. A'Bao is also CP childhood nickname. 5th prince once told her that the name may save her life. I think it may have hurt her instead because it enraged him and reinforced his belief that there is a mastermind behind her. Someone that knows him well. I am also thinking 5th prince is a bit of a suspicious character.
As for why he let her stay I think there was more that transpired between them that they haven’t shown us yet. That and he also probably wanted to kiss her again.

Uhm...why relieved? How do you know this does not happen after CP dies or something?

I hope so and to @Kim MC point there has to be some point to all this. All the characters are becoming dark and CP is turning into his abusive father. I would settle for an ok end with some small victory for the good guys at this point forget about happy ending.

It won't last. This writer is seriously disturbed.
If there is any consolation to Amazon's slow upload - your holidays won't be ruined.

I also like the exploration of the father-son relationship I think it is very well done. But for it to end with the father pushing the son to kill himself is just yuck and makes the whole thing pointless. Even if everyone dies, it shouldn't be they killed themselves. I don't know why suicide endings are so popular in c-dramas - it is never logically convincing or popular with audiences. If that is how they end this they better put serious mental health warnings on this - like don't watch this if you suffer from depression or have a difficult relationship with your father. Not to mention I think the ratings will tank regardless of how well executed everything else is. It will be another ROP but worse because it is relentlessly depressing.

Ah, that would make more sense that something got lost.

I am still watching ROP and its good although I have heard the ending is bad. You may be safer with the Legends. Pillow Book hasn't aired but my guess is that it will end well.

Ni Ni is also in Rise of Phoenixes. You could also try the Legends but you need to fast forward a lot of fillers. You may also consider waiting for Pillow Book which is expected next month.

"She is mine". And holds her hand the same way he did the first time they "met" in the beginning. What a dunce he must be if he doesn't already know the she is by now.

Ep40:

Wikipedia describes all the characters as from Northern Qi which was a much earlier and short lived dynasty surrounded by enemies. I don't think however that this story is striving for much historical accuracy.

Yeah at this rate when they finally kill him off I am going to be so relieved I may have to pop champagne. Sadists.

YM is super lazy she just mouths her lines bc she knows its gonna be dubbed. Then she makes a movie and she finds she is so rusty she can only squeak!
LOL my friends are all perfectly bilingual they are super hard to please and make fun of me because my Chinese is the worst. But ignorance is bliss, I am more easily entertained :).
Hear you on Longest Day - I thought of it as edu-drama and I watched it very slowly... I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Don't get me wrong, I think Ni Ni is one of the best c-drama actresses and she is overall awesome (so far) in this show. But one of the key elements of her relationship with NIng Yi is they can go toe to toe and he doesn't always win. This is where she falls down. She is not innately an intense, ruthless or complex person whereas Chen Kun is. And she has light brown eyes, she seems a mild personality in real life. Contrast that with Yang Mi who is a very mediocre actress IMHO - yet she has this screen presence, vitality and intensity that is undeniable and it carries her. Maybe it is her eyes that are fierce and flash - if you put her toe to toe with anyone she can hold her own even though she can't act as well. Its not obvious with Ni Ni unless she is challenging or clashing with Ning Yi/Chen Kun. But in all those scenes she comes across as weak. With all the other characters this is not that obvious. All that said, I am a huge fan of Ni Ni.

I tried to get my friends who live in Beijing to watch Longest Day in Changan with me when they were visiting me this summer. They bailed after 3 episodes because they were bothered by the variation in the accents. I think the variation in that show was much more obvious than ROP where it is very subtle and you have to listen hard. I regularly meet people from all over China for work and I can hear Chengdu, Shanghai, GZ, Fujian, Wuhan etc so the dubbing was odd and the natural recording always is better for me.

Interesting. My friend told me the book is sad and boring so I didn't read it and didn't understand that CP had that much power but if that is the case then emperor is less of a deranged and paranoid lunatic. In terms of the drama itself, I know its still playing out but for me anyway, this part doesn't completely make that much sense. Yet (?) At this point though (and to your point of why you are angry at emperor), they are really in danger of going too far in terms of torturing CP. Some dramas overdo CGI, some overdo slow-mo action scenes... this drama is in high danger now of overdoing the sadness and the scheaming. Its too much and now to the point it don't make sense and is getting repetitive in terms of torturing the CP. Next stop = boring. I am a happy person I resent being made to cry for no reason.. I still like this for many many reasons but I have no words to encourage anyone getting off the bus here because I get it why they would. This show is losing momentum for me for the first time.

How does making Zhao empress stop the investigation? You mean the empress is above the law even though the emperor is not? What stops the investigation on Zhao is scapegoating WX - that is independent of whether he promotes Zhao. This is the only logic hole I am trying to point out. Agreed on all the rest.

NP - its just a minority, speculative and probably ultimately incorrect theory. Btw book readers are adamant that he doesn't know her. If I were adapting or rewriting it however, I would have done it this way or at least teased viewers with this possibility.

From memory, the two words were 貞(loyal, true, incorruptible, chaste) and 繆 (false, erroneous). In the context of his teacher, the second character implies he was complicit in the student revolt either through negligence, incompetence or outright deception. The emperor argued that if Lu Ying was not the instigator then the teacher must be to blame even if indirectly.. That is why shifu killed himself - to take responsibility. Of course CP was not going to allow his teacher to be disgraced like that so he could not save Lu Ying's family. This was my read but as a result of laziness and neglect, I am not as well versed in the deeper meanings in Chinese characters and literature as many other viewers so I am happy to be corrected in this.

He can stop the investigation on Zhao without promoting her. It just seems extreme paranoia against CP and puts Qi equally eligible to be CP. I know the plot is still unfolding but so far it seems a flimsy and poorly reasoned development in the plot.

What the emperor did is in character for him - he is utilitarian and is willing to bide his time when dealing with his enemies. What I don't understand is how promoting Zhao balances power against Gu other than it makesr Qi and 5th prince elgible to succeed him? It feels like he is once more actually balancing power against CP? I do think letting Gu Fengen go was a mistake on CP part and validates some of the father's criticism of the son.

Nope