SilverStream

He's certainly not a damsel in distress or a wimp and I'm surprised you got that vibe. He saves Li Peiyi multiple times, both as a child and as an adult. He defends himself using his outsized brain (and his trusty compass). The smarts on him are phenomenal. Just because he can't fight with his fists doesn't mean he's helpless.

He's a green flag ML who breaks every male stereotype out there. If he really was considered a 'wimp', his character wouldn't have been consistently in the Top 3 on VLinkage for most of the show.

XY has an amazing talent. How many actors can take a mild-mannered geek and turn him into a cool male lead?

Enjoyed this immensely. I love the fact that Xiao Huaijin is a gentle, calm hero. Sword-wielding armoured female leads have become quite common, but intellectual, quiet male leads are so RARE.

Also, the overall message of the cases (law vs justice, inequality, discrimination, etc) was done really well. It wasn't in your face or preachy, just displayed as matter-of-fact.

Wrote a review: https://kisskh.at/profile/SilverStream/review/543090

He'd already spent 2 weeks with barely any food or sleep in order to get her out of confinement. Then he was probably riding an adrenalin high before the body blow.

I also think that, once she came to her senses, Peiyi recognized he was right. Her dumping him is all about noble idiocy--"everyone around me dies"--and she thought it better to push him away. Her supposed anger at the foiled revenge was what she used as an excuse.

God, yes, I forgot about that! He was already exhausted.

Thank you! Hope you liked the show as well. I can't recommend it enough.

I haven't seen that, so I wouldn't know. This kind of reaction is new and a little surprising to me.

Also, to blame the screenwriters makes no sense. They wrote the characters exactly right--she's bold and reckless, he's rational and restrained. They complement each other, so if they constantly acted in unison, THAT would have been bad writing.

If a male character in a show had just agreed to marry the FL, then gone behind her back to enact his long-standing revenge (even if it was to protect her), and then dumped her when she tried to stop him from throwing away his life, the entire audience would have bashed him into the ground.

It's always the person doing the right thing who faces the greatest resistance. Also, I think the actress's supporters are a little over zealous.

Scary how much of this show's audience are so bloodthirsty.

Sadly, role reversals don't seem to be acceptable to the majority. Kudos to the screenwriters and the actors for taking on these roles and breaking stereotypes.

Well said!

If she wanted to die, she didn't need to take him down with her, which, as her fiancé, would have happened. I don't get people who are criticising the ML. He saved her life multiple times, and this time was no exception. His entire raison d'être has been to save her life!

I don't think it's bad screen writing, however. She's in a haze and doesn't know what she's doing, and it will probably reverse in the coming episodes. My issue is that stories reward patience, and people seem to have none. Recognise that Huaijin was right, and wait patiently for her blue haze to dissipate. Don't just dump on the ML until you've seen it to the end.

Thank you, yes! Some of the reactions to Huaijin are beyond understanding.

I think she's not thinking clearly, but this came so soon after accepting his proposal, that it totally feels like she used him. He got her out of confinement, after all. That was all she needed.

And, to be frank, now it feels like she's been using him in some way or the other since the beginning. And he's saved her so many times, it's really time now for her to repay the favour.

At least this drama is drawing strong loyalties. Thinking about it logically, the ML did the right thing.

Killing the Right Chancellor would have never cleared the Prince of Duan's name. In fact, the story would have been that Li Peiyi went on a killing spree just like her father. That was the end of her life, whether in reality or in principle. If, by some miracle, she survived physically, she would be a murderer in her own right. The hypocrisy of a murderer as an investigator? Overlooked by so many.

To let her kill in a moment of madness, that could never have been the logical, sane Huaijin's way. He's deeply in love, but not blind.

Don't get me wrong, I am loving XHJ. He's a brilliant mind, logical, calm, reliable, with quiet strength and secure in his own masculinity. It's rare to see such a well-constructed male character in any kind of entertainment. They're either overly macho, or stupid in love. XHJ is neither.

XHJ is intellectual, cerebral, gets woozy at the sight of blood and gore, can't fight (though he can defend himself quite credibly) and has no political power or status. Yet, romance-chasers who usually adore the complete opposite kind of character are in love with Thai Orange Tea. This is a testament to WXY's portrayal of him.

Duke Su was a powerful, flamboyant character whose aura was defined in the show itself. XHJ is restrained and quiet and has none of the physical prowess of a typical male character in CDrama, and he's still getting the love. WXY has really strong screen presence. Some sort of super personal magnetism. He doesn't need a dominant role to generate dominant engagement.