PeachBlossomGoddess

Lol yes I found him A-ok with her praying to Guanyin for
him strange as well. But those were really turbulent times and I guess the Manchus were also a foreign power. I don’t love this period of history so
I don’t know it that well either.

The leader was a preacher who proclaimed himself to be the brother of Jesus Christ. I kid you not. Truth is stranger than fiction! They weren't all Christians, in fact it was more anti-Manchu than anything else - they were just discontented with the widespread corruption and famine wanted to upend the prevailing social order at the time. It was full of contradictions bc the leader was anti-establishment and yet promoted followers into princes seemingly on a whim or just his say so. I don't understand the rebellion that well either it always struck me as rather incoherent. Nonetheless it lasted 14 years and they controlled large swarths of Southern China. This drama takes place towards the end of it - the leader/Jesus bro should die in the next year or two and then it ends.

I haven't even looked but I have been expecting Cixi to show up so I am guessing this has to be her.

Yes I believe that is Cixi. She was only 26 when Xianfeng emperor died, which is now time in the drama.

I could be wrong but I believe Cixi empress has entered the stage.

Yes, ep 26.

I am not an expert on tea but I believe this is set in Anhui which is famous for Huangshan Maofeng (a green tea) and Keemun black tea. At the time, they should have been making Songluo style Anhui pan-fried green tea. In fact this the tea was shipped all over the world is is what was destroyed by the peasant American colony during The Boston Tea Party. 🤡🤦🏻‍♀️😂 Oolong and jasmine originate from southern provinces like Fujian and Guangdong.

It was a very sad scene. He had a dream. One that was never going to happen no matter how much time he had left. Yet he was still hanging on.

I am doomed for sure. I can't tell left from right.

Nepotism.

He was just in STOTD3.

Well that is kind of subjective. I thought Demon Hunter's Romance ending was perfect. The very mediocre screenwriter (who did not write the novel) was sore loser who bad mouthed the drama after her silly happy ending was rightly overruled by the production team. The novel is a webnovel that is still incomplete.
In any case, I keep annual ranking lists going back to 2019 - you can take a look under my profile. But since I like lots of dramas that have open or sad endings, you may not consider them good endings.
https://kisskh.at/list/3kP8rN84

A few - Ripe Town, Under the Microscope, Riverside Code and Fearless Blood.

Lol... no I didn't but I am very dyslexic. I am also not familiar with the significance of that.

"Somehow in the drama I think they will end it with having the ML be solidly in love with Yu'Er."
Somehow that won't surprise me. But from what I gathered from videos and book reviews, in the original novel its not so straightforward. Which is what actually made it such a a good book. But nowadays audiences want everything to be so black and white when in real life its complicated. But from writer interviews etc that I saw online, what I surmised is that Gu Pingyuan and Bai Yimei were each others first true love. But they lived in chaotic times and events conspired against them but they both ended up with people they were content with. But these kinds of complex entanglements are difficult to adapt and not popular with wide audiences.

I was initially thought it was strange to cast her in a guest role but I think Bai Yimei is a really complex and interesting role and I am glad she took it.

Yeah its too bad year end is a super busy time for me or else I would actually try to read or skim the novel.

Yes that's what I was told also. According to my friend who read the novel, she never loved the general and really bad stuff happens to her. But she thinks they won't go there in the adaptation.

This is set in Qing dynasty, one of the more judgemental and oppressive periods in Chinese history as far as women were concerned. She was held hostage by rebels and stayed with their general for some time. No one would believe she is still chaste. To make matters worse, she and anyone who shields her is now a traitor to Qing. Even if Gu Pingyuan is ok with her reputational issues, the rebels have been ousted from their hometown by the Qing troops. Which makes anyone linked with her a traitor to Qing for saving a rebel leader. She had no choice but to defect to the rebels and flee to Hebei and she ran into Ms Su who helped her. She made a decision that sets Gu Pingyuan free and allows both he and her ailing father to live out the rest of his life in the village instead of on the run from Qing forces. Of course it helps that that she fell for the general. But regardless, this is her best and only option. To be honest, this part feels a bit of a stretch to me and I have reason to believe this is not really the case in the novel.

Actually Bai Yimei did what she had to do. Of course it doesn't hurt that she empathises with the general, feels responsible for his life and is attracted to him.