ShortCircuit

Like I'm seriously unhappy about the editing. Pieces of their talk on the river shore, okay, why not show them THEN? So we'd know he did give her the freaking swords.

Pieces of her going back to find General He dead - WHY? Show us her going back in the regular timeline, what's the use of showing her all tear-eyed about it and we don't have a clue what's eating at her? Did they lose the great editor of the previous 28 or so episodes?!

Pieces of the second pairing - like, did QianQian freaking TELEPORT on FOOT!! to the border of the city?! HOW? And didn't anybody think to even follow her before she met up by miracle with ChangYu??

Is this the same as in the novel? Is the novel so slap-dashy at this point?! Like WHYYYYYY

Don't freaking mess it up now in the last quarter!!!!

I knew she'd be the daughter of his father's killer or something, turns out the rebelling prince whitheld the grain for the army and blamed it on her father, bla bla bla, why did the same prince think her father STILL was the great traitor? In the time since, has he come to believe his own lie? Or is he just reinforcing it because of habit?

I am not happy with the weakness of the rebelling army either. They come, 50k strong, and get wiped out by Xie Zheng's 800?! ('cause he already lost some of his original thousand in the fracass with the Sui generals). But they also conquer Lucheng and then... vaporise?! Didn't they hold it? Who's going to take it back from them?! Like... PLOT MAKE SENSE ALREADY!!!!

Not happy about the leaked eps either. I just hope that means the express comes faster.

*not a happy kitten at this moment*

After 30th (I'm behind, life got in the way).

I'm not really happy with the editing these past two eps. Kind of choppy and the plot isn't particularly clear (not that hard to follow, but it was way better before these two). I hope they go back to normal in the future eps.

Though her backstory went precisely as I thought it would go, LOL. I mean, what'a trope if not used.I just hope no more tropes follow it.

Also, SHOW US the freaking master-of-war Wu'an Hou FIGHTING for once, dammit. She gets her fighting moments and all, but not him. Why, drama team? Don't lose the ball in front of the goal, dammit!

I'll set a guess for the 27th because on the 28th Love Beyond the Grave starts. Maybe they'll plan it so the most hype goes before another anticipated drama drops. (Dunno how much of a hype LBTG has, but there might be some).

There is a novel they're following. It's not a satire to anything, LOL. It's the way tropes work.

Cute lil' Bao'er being a genius and having photographic memory at the age of six. I feel so inferior. Then again, I never had to survive Ancient China war (or learn to read/write Chinese characters). You win some, you lose some.

One day QianQian's defiance is going to take her one step too far with the man. And LOL @Idiot-Dad-Sui, saying that Qi Min became a madman after the fire and there enters his own son, completely oblivious LOL. These guys have to be either too stupid with their madness, or just naturally stupid with things just under their eyesight's reach LOL. So Sui-Dad's son just happened to be at the Eastern Palace at the same time the Crown Princess decided it was high time to play with fire, and the Eldest Imperial Grandson happened to "die", yet somehow Sui-the-Older (RIP) suddenly changed his whole personality and also got burned enough he's unrecognisable? Are they like seriously stupid? Or do they have suspicions but no proof they played the old switcharoo in that palace fire?

If Zhao Xun survived and knows the secret, he's not the only one who knows. Why did they wait for so long?!

Our couple is being fairly modern. What with her claiming to go find herself and him letting her leave because he loves her, I expected someone to start singing Let It Go or Golden or some other animated movie anthem LOL. Though he keeps cutting himself because of reasons - Yan Zheng, come clean!! Are you a masochist?! Do you just like cutting and keep finding reasons to do it?! Get this man a shrink! If he keeps bleeding himself like this, he'll put Chinese Ancient Medicine to shame and go over to Medieval Europe's lancing LOL, and he'll never regain enough strength to give us the massive battle showdown we already deserve. (I hope they do a great Lucheng battle, it's clear that's where one of the climaxes is pointing at).

Also, let me know - didn't the whole Pig Butcher Brigade just defect from the army?! Like, who let them go officially?! (And did Mandi get better so fast?)

Oh well, at least she got a godfather (though Yi Fu does NOT mean that LOL). Why didn't Lao Tao think to adopt ChangNing too?! (And I LOVE that he not so subtly hinted she's going to be someone VVIP in the future - yeah, future empress, we know she and Bao'er are written in the stars LOL and also "explained" away her frail body. Sneaky.)

I just want to see Mr. Zhao and ChangNing go back to Lin'an. Mrs. Zhao deserves that.

I'm late to the party...

So... First scene. There goes a man who never had to wash his clothes himself. Going to a smithy to forge new swords dressed in a fine white silk shirt... I mean, it's already very hot in there. Clothing is definitely optional. Let's be more brave.

Second scene - there goes a frugal man who maybe sometimes had to patch his own shoes. I swear he has zero luck - first she pities him, then she's worried, then he's outed (AGAIN), it's a game of she-loves-me-she-loves-me-not with the two of them. I hope he gets enough petals.

Also. It's still very early in the spring. Not a lot of sitting water around but somehow mosquitoes abound. Particularly around ChangYu. I bet those mosquitoes also wear noble titles. Or something.

If you're interested, you can only give it a try, right :)?

Anyway - be warned. This is split into a past (3-33) and a present (1-2, 33-50) timeline. The set-up phase takes until around ep 15-17 to start building the backround, so it might look like it's silly in the first few eps (the "school" phase). It all has meaning though. All the characters are important, even those who seem to randomly appear and go away.

Despite the FX (it was a web drama, though they had a good budget for this kind of drama, it was obviously not enough compared to the S+ dramas of the day), if you're inclined to look past those, it might catch you with the actual plot and its extremely lovable characters (or the extremely loathful ones, LOL).

Another warning - this IS danmei. That is, a Chinese BL story. Despite being heavily censored, it doesn't really completely block off the actual relationship. You could take it as a great bromance, since they removed the heavier hints, but... if you don't want to take it as just that, it's kind of pretty obvious LOL.

I do hope you give it a chance and enjoy it. It's one of the best stories in cdramaland :) (and the novel it's based on is one of the best danmei stories, too).

To give you a general hint of what the story is actually about, there are some fan-made trailers (no spoilers) that to me at least look better than the official one :D (subs on)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ldvydu34Is

Have fun!

There's no question though, unless it's "how did it top the charts". It topped the charts (for so long) because it really is that good. And it's strength didn't sit in the CGI or makeup or other things, but in the strength of the story and characters.

Dramas you've listed had good budgets and were mainstream at the time of their airing. TU is a danmei live adaptation, immediately expected to be censored, maybe beyond all recognition, to its original audience (fans of the novel). It was censored, but the power of the story shines through. So it did have a lot of success.

It is quite different from same-era dramas that were using well-known actors, and TBH, it's also still different from current era dramas that are being produced and aired.

And it also topped the charts because watchers liked it and felt it had merit. Good enough to have a huge impact on Tencent Video itself (because it wasn't like what it became today). It still has an impact even now, eight years later.

Notice I didn't even mention HOW the plot goes yet. And I repeat, the plot and characters are the best part of TU.

Many people are still visiting this section, myself included, but most won't involve themselves into a separate discussion, particularly with someone who's making comparisons on why the drama is bad before even watching it. Not every drama is for everyone. Maybe this one isn't for you, for your own reasons. It's truly not that important why, you just don't like it and it'll be enough. A lot of watchers though - they DID and still like it. If you have more questions or need more info, ask them - there will very probably be someone replying.

He never thought further than an excuse to touch her again (and not get instantly slapped).

Nah, this reinforces it, he got his brains from the dad side of the family.

Thanks for the new info :)

Wait what... So the brother (WY) is a traitor, and she commits suicide then leaves her son in the care of her traitor brother?!

Like... Was she dropped on her head as a child one time too many?! Why would she trust the traitor with her son when the traitor knew she was aware of the secret, did she think he'd be merciful on her orphaned child?! After killing her husband, her kid's father?!

Anyway, what I took from his confession to his old tutor is that HE believes she killed herself out of devotion to his father. He might suspect something's afoot, giving he tested WY and WY failed the test, but so far maybe he hasn't linked it to his mother's death. Maybe he will in the future. Right now though, he was certain he wouldn't marry because he didn't want something like what happened to his parents to happen to his own family.

XZ might be the only clear-headed man in that family. Good thing he found a straight-thinking woman to have kids with, their family name has a chance to survive.

He's so sweet. I can understand why he wouldn't want to marry before and why he tried to keep her at bay a bit. His mother was so devoted to his dad she killed herself because she couldn't bear to be without him. He's afraid he'd act the same if anything happened to ChangYu, or worse, SHE'd act the same as his mother if anything happened to him.

But now all secrets are out and he's doing his best at grovelling LOL, she already forgave him. I don't think she cares as much as she says about the rank difference, she knows HIM. She doesn't know the Marquis, but it turns out in private he's still the same Yan Zheng.

Lao Tao comes in handy to build that bridge to not caring about their different social status for them. Though I expect her real family will count too, in the end. Even if they'd turn out to be Xie enemies. He doesn't care about that, he's all ready to basically go back to Lin'an and be a matrilocal husband again, LOL.

GongSun ya sneaky lil' fox! She fell for it and immediately found him out, LOL, he doesn't have a bit of luck in his life.

I'm glad Mandi is alive, who the freak is that little soldier? Why did he attack Mandi at that time? Will he be someone with a story in this?

I'm not so happy Sui the younger got out, BUT the next time the Pig Butcher Squad meets him they have carte blanche to do whatever they want to him. He should be afraid. Very afraid.

After the high of yesterday's ep, this was just the quiet settling of accounts I didn't know I needed. I didn't want heroics and protestations of regret or anything - they way they settled it and continue to talk it over is just right. Keep at it guys!! Jiayou!

ETA His proposal though. His sincerity shining on his face. The way he relaxed later when it was pretty clear she didn't really held a grudge anymore. Those little smiles.

Yeah the boy's gone.

Yes. This is how you solve it. Talk it out. Less slapping (she's allowed one because at least the frustration with his secrets. No more).

The guys are so green the spring came just because of them.

Recklessness only matters if you lose. Luck is also pretty huge in a battle - we waltz over it because we'd like to pretend things can be controlled and all. In reality, even a stupid bout of luck could change the fate of a whole army.

It all worked out - not without some effort and a LOT of luck - so all's well, technically.

I'd still bet he gets his ass handed to him though, for all the unspoken truths he owes her.

We did see him fight in an army formation though - before he ended up in Lin'an. It's not like we didn't get to admire him in his armour at all. And at that time it was a lot more dramatic what with all that snow and blood on it and the snow flakes falling in slow motion.

It's my one disappointment with the battle scene, the winter has passed and no more snow... At least they had amazing fire shots, too.

He only planned it all though. Even if he didn't do everything with his own hands, he set it all up and his generals are good enough to execute it without him supervising their every move.

They'd all be on her side anyway.

You forget he didn't just happen to be wounded and end up in a random town. He and his forces were ambushed by "friendly" soldiers, his bodyguards killed and if wasn't for the providential cdrama cliff over a river, we wouldn't be watching the drama at all. He couldn't just go back to the rest of his army - he didn't know if there weren't any more traps in the way. his wounds healed at a normal (non wuxia) pace, he thought he had discovered a thread of mystery around the Fan girls, and when the not-so-secret assassins appeared, he didn't know immediately they weren't for him.

He needed to stay for a while and see what moves in the water before acting again.

Mr Zhao can fix it when they meet again.

I think it's a bot account. They're writing the same comments supposedly praising another actress, no matter what the drama. It's sad, really.