PeachBlossomGoddess

Yes my thoughts are more along these lines. Even his act of "atonement" is innately selfish. But I guess it takes a selfish person to dump his family for the good life.

I don't know I have to think about it... I mean he abandoned GPY in life and then abandons him again when they reunite by killing himself...👀

You are right - Butterfly Lovers!!!

Yean and then his ex does the same. Its like a geriatric version of Romeo and Juliet.👀🤦🏻‍♀️☠

I can't believe LWT became a monk and then killed himself. It just seems out of character.

War scenes shouldn't be a censorship hot button. They are just expensive to shoot and probably not worth the expense in a business centric plot. Historical figures are an issue, especially if they were controversial and are potentially glorified by the narrative.

Thx for your thoughts - I will finish over the weekend I think bc tonight is our office xmas party.

I am less troubled by Li Qin's reaction to GPY - I feel that was well foreshadowed from the start. My comments are regarding his business decisions, which don't make sense. In fact I don't like the whole salt arc. It was stacked for GPY to "win" anyway so I will just yawn when he does - I haven't finished yet but I think I can safely say that is the foregone conclusion.

Everyone is saying the same thing - Rui Lin doesn't want a salt monopoly. Everyone including LWT gets it. Except Li Qin. Who has till date been a smart character that lacks killer business instincts. He suddenly got dumb, blinded by sibling rivalry. Nonetheless, his actions make no sense after Rui Lin pretty much spells it out to him that he is stacked to lose. RL is the decision maker and his decision was made long ago. He is just staging a play to validate his decision but the outcome is already decided.

I probably won't be able to finish until this weekend but it seems to me its going downhill fast at the reveal.

Well I may have issues with the portrayal but I think Yu'er is well written. And none of the other female characters are guilty of boring tropes either. But its a male centric plot indeed. I am fine with that. Its realistic for the period setting.

Very fair but initially that seemed to be not the case with Ms Su.

😆😆😆

Yes she was but the imho the decline was inevitable - she just accelerated it.

Hmmm… she didn’t make a big impression on me either way.

The moment I knew she was aiming at Cixi I knew it was a lost cause. Bc that lady had a long and evil life.

Maybe they will kill her off spectacularly! She seems the type that goes down in flames! 😈💥⚡

Seems she is just a plot device at this point.

The acting is great. So good that it papers over the fact that the character makes no sense.

We were told she is out for revenge against Cixi and was therefore helping the rebels ferment dissent. But at this point, the rebellion is over. Why is she spending money to rescue them? She just seems to pop up randomly whenever we need someone to make some trouble for both Gu and/or LWT. But if she has an end game, its not clear what it is or how her actions contribute towards that end. Not to mention at a time when paying the troops was such a strain on the national coffers, she seems to be coming out of her ears with enough money to satisfy their back pay.