Saffy88

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-widens-abuse-crackdown-as-new-caged-woman-case-emerges
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/as-anger-grows-over-chained-woman-chinas-jiangsu-province-to-investigate

What is more problematic for me is why the author chose to write the charcters like that. Plus YL is not the only one who commits sexual assault. What was the point of the sexual violence - or was the author just out to shock/tittilate? Mostly comes across as gratuitous assault.

They get away with a lot in webnovels - probably there's just so much out there even the CCP's censorship machinery can't cope. The degradation of women in pop culture seems out of place in a modern world, but on the other hand in real life things like women being kept in cages are still happening in China.

IKR? I find myself wishing for a second part too, as long as they stay on track and don't implode as cdramas tend to do.

He forced her to cry out and moan and apparently got turned on by her fake moans and at one point tried to force her to give him an aborted blowjob. The author seems determined to plumb some murky depths. She also had YL raping JXN in the first life. But then rape/sexual assault is a very common trope in Chinese web novels usually glossed over by accidental/forced aphrodisiac ingestion......

The whole backstory is still unfolding so I don't think you missed anything up to ep 15. The marriage between the 2 families was probably a marriage of convenience and Duke Xue had no affection whatsoever for his wife. The Empress probably felt the same and looked down on XW's mother and by extension XW. Therefore it was a no brainer for her to force XW to be sacrificed for her son. After that incident and XW's mother's death, naturally the 2 families became enemies. Whether or not the Empress or her brother feel any guilt is debatable but they are determined to bury the incident as it would be a major scandal and the Yan family would demand justice.

I think there will be more than just a passionate kiss - for a preview there's a BTS floating around on YT of ZLH and BL doing 22 takes of an upcoming kiss scene.
Plus they are in bed when they have to pretend to be lovers - in the novel XW is rather depraved in that incident and am curious as to how they will portray it in the drama. In the photo gallery there's also a still of them with their kids - so HE.

Ah XW - what can I say? For me, he's the best bit of this drama and am really enjoying ZLH's portrayal of a dark, slightly demented (when it snows), damaged character. He's an anti-hero but JXN is not a nu xia/heroine either. He really is her best match.

Exactly! Why are they toying with us?

IQIYI really is playing around with the schedule. Now if only they would change it back to 2 eps a day every day…..

She finds herself reawakening back when she was 18. Reincarnation per se is not a favoured topic by the powers that be in China, hence they had to have an interlude where the author of the story wants to rewrite a different ending for her character and perhaps dreams about it when she falls asleep.

In the original timeline/life, JXN was portrayed as typical ambitious vixen-like character who went thru life playing with the affections of the men around her and using them to get what she thought would be the pinnacle of life: being the Empress. In doing so she directly/indirectly hurts them, destroys their families, etc etc, generally bringing chaos and destruction in her quest for power. She also pays the ultimate price for her ruthless ambition.

In her second life, with memories of how she died, she wants to make up for these mistakes, stay away from the court and pursuit of power, and survive. The men that were in her life previously are still around her and that includes Yan Lin, her childhood sweetheart, with whom she now draws clear boundaries of sibling affection. Then there is Zhang Zhe, the only one she was in love with previously, and at this stage in the drama, she still cherishes hopes of being together with him. As for Shen Jie, her husband and Emperor in the previous life, she doesn’t snatch him from her sister this time round, so he’s not one of her lovers.

This brings us to Xie Wei, with whom she did not have a close relationship previously, seeing him mainly as the sinister leader of the rebellion that led to her demise. Thus she never knew that he had feelings for her, as they never had the chance to explore that possibility. However in this life, she finds herself embarking on that journey with him and they go from enemies to lovers, changing their fates completely.

Only 18 more eps for us to see the rise and fall of JXN-ZZ relationship and the deepening of JXN-XW relationship plus the takedown of all the nasty villains. Is that really enough? I find myself wishing for a second part like LYF.

😆 yes shouldn't be gender-biased

There's a lot of tension and frisson between them already and it's quite clear XW has her on his mind.

Saturday can't come soon enough

Yes. He was the only one she was in love with then.

Different shades of love certainly. With YL more platonic, sibling affection. ZZ first love/crush. SJ is no longer an option as she does not snatch him from her sister this time round. So the endgame is XW.

Too right. Some dramas which were so hyped turned out to be so disappointing. Had to temper my expectations going into SOKP, but so far, surprise surprise it's delivering. A delicious and delectable year-end pressie.

Iqiyi is just winding us up to prep us for yet another express package

Am happy that BL has gotten a pretty worthy script in which her character can think and execute things logically amidst the chaos of her second life, and generally hold her own and face off against a very domineering mastermind ML. Especially when compared to some of her other dramas released this year.........