Skibbies

No worries. :D I actually just straight up use wikipedia for this drama, cos almost all the major characters are real people. The ministers rise through rank, dark green is 8~9, green is rank 6~7, red is 4~5, purple is 3+. The chancellors are all purple and get to sit in the little room to discuss politics. Edited in the colours of their robes, but I might be wrong!

Most notable people that I think you have down but I'll mention anyways:
Fan Zhong Yan, the guy that Empress studied under when she was younger, keeps getting demoted because he opposes the Emperor on certain decisions (e.g. oppose demoting previous Empress), strategist for battle against Xia in 1040~42, heads political reform in 1043, Purple (? I can't remember lmao)
Han Qi - the kid Emperor met in ep 2?, trusted advisor, strategist for battle against Xia in 1040~42, heads political reform in 1043. Green in ep 3, Red later, Purple in early ep 30s.
Yan Shu - Emperor's teacher, he's the guy that talked Emperor from seeing his birth mother in ep 1. he tends to pop up when Emperor needs guidance or his trusted advisors aren't around, Can't remember earlier but Purple in ep 20s
Ou Yang Xiu - The guy that caught Yan Shu's eyes during exams in ep 3, didn't get no.1 because he wrote some suggestive poems LOL, He's a very well known author & poet, the kind that appears in chinese textbooks and required for recitation. ...I can't remember what colour he is XD He was out of the capital for awhile for siding with Fan Zhong Yan in early episodes (before 20).
Lv Yi Jian - Chancellor for most of first half of the drama. He has a lot of problems (e.g. corruption) but it's a decent minister, almost an antagonist. He was demoted and sick for quite a bit. Purple.
Xia Song - IDK why he has so many scenes, his political achievements were mostly before this drama's period. The most notable thing in drama's period should have been he headed battles against Xia but he sure didn't in this drama?? He's used more like an example of problems amongst ministers, sort of antagonist. Oh and also because Madame Jia keeps popping up I guess. After watching ep 33, I realised he's tied with some plot point & a minor historical note. Red I think, then Purple in early ep 30s.

Other ministers:
Fu Bi - went to Liao on diplomatic mission in 1042, heads the political reform in 1043. Red, Purple in early ep 30s.
Su Shun Qin/Su Zi Mei - No one use his actual name goddamit, the second one is his courtesy name and what you hear in the drama. Passed the exam a year after Ouyang Xiu. Works with Han Qi in the Han Lin academy (?), where Liang Huai Ji was working as a kid for quite a bit. His wife is Empress' close childhood friend. He's like the only guy in Green that pops up really often. Red in early ep 30s.
Wang Gong Chen - the guy that end up being no. 1 in the same year as Ou Yang Xiu. He married a well known minister's (Xue Gui, died right after Empress Dowager) 3rd daughter, then later his 5th daughter. Ou Yang Xiu married Xue Gui's 4th daughter. so they are brothers in law but he made fun of Wang Gong Chen when he remarried. Purple in early ep 30s. wait why is he purple? Oh, his role is head of the agency for monitoring the ministers (the agency could look for small things like not bowing properly, or could be issues with private lives, or ministers colluding with each other etc)
Bao Zheng - I haven't seen him yet but he's very well known as Justice Bao (there's multiple dramas about him)

There's bunch of other chancellors, I remember like three, but they keep changing and not too notable in the drama so it's hard to track them. There's also bunch more notable ministers and poets that might appear later but it's more easter eggs. There's one that already popped up though.
Si Ma Guang - opposed political reform in Song Shenzong period (two emperors after Song Renzong), notable for compiling a chronicle of Chinese History "Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government". In drama, he saved Huaiji when Huaiji was almost punished for breaking a glass bowl or something? I think he's Green.

LOL, I think the drama helps a little by putting up their name plate every time, at least a little. Description is probably too long, and the drama jumps through time and they change position like every other scene. e.g. We've seen multiple ministers leave and then come back to the capital.

As for the couple you noted, I was confused for a bit too, it's Xia Song (he appears more later) & Jia...I don't know how they translated her title. It's Consort Zhang's teacher/trusted advisor, I only realised who she was when they mentioned Zhang Bihan.

she's a child in ep 25, about 3 to 4 years old (1041?), I think she might be stuck as a kid for awhile since political reform happens in 1043 and that's probably major focus in the drama (I think it's the most notable thing the emperor does during his reign).

Both were real people. Maoze was close with the Empress enough that he was recalled by the Empress to return to the palace after Emperor died, so at the very least she considers him useful and trustworthy. Huaiji was close enough that he was sent to serve the princess when she was married off (or he just happened to be picked, who knows), and he (along with others) was seen playing and drinking with the princess. So the relationship was real to an extent.

adult huirou (there's a baby, toddler, child, younger teen, older teen + adult huirou XD) is rumoured to appear in ep 40. She's a toddler in ep 20 (1039), and historically she marries when she's 19 (1057), which looks like after consort zhang dies (1054) mhm, but that's rumoured to be ep 50 sooo mhm? They might fudge up the timeline a little though.

Um, this one is pretty kind and good, if anything, main character can't be overly dark. I think it's just writer failed at reconciling the novel AND history but still wanted to keep both.

mhmm you know I never thought gu niang was more equal in status but I guess comparatively it could be. Either way, I think in Song, it's 小娘子 'xiao niang zi' and 郎君 'lang jun' instead of gong zi (can't remember if they used this in the drama mhm)

Do check out Steven's other dramas My Huckleberry Friends & Young Blood, I loved them both a lot.

The baby is the princess from the novel yeah, adult Huairou is rumour to appear in ep 40. The story is about Song Renzong, so what you are watching IS the meat of the story.

I find the beginning slow, but it does get better. It's not just the pacing though, it's the editing that makes the story rather decentralised, it loses focus and sometimes tensions are dispelled, maybe it's trying to setup multiple relationships and hint at multiple characters, but I genuinely feel like there's better way to do that, the drama is very flat for the most part. The director excel at doing long shot and presumbly setting up atmosphere (I've seen him done it before and have loved those shots), but mostly I feel like it's wasting them away, maybe it's just me losing patience with him.

For the record, Minglan is more interesting because it introduces conflict rather early and had a strong novel base that could hold the slice of life pacing. Conflicts here just kind of simmer and dissipate so far. Historical dramas focused on emperors don't have to be this way, because I've been rewatching whole bunch of them lately, none of them are as long as this by the way, and most are far better at drumming up tension, but that's why those are classics I guess. The costumes are gorgeous though, and I'm interested in all the notable figures that's popping up left and right.

I find it better than Le Coup actually, that one had too much of will they won't they and the archetype was much more commonly found in dramas compared to this. PYHOMS is more slice of life than this, so there's more fluff and cute, but it had one of the most annoying second lead I've ever seen.

This one have some issues, and have a nosedive with one particular arc, but overall I found it pretty funny, and I liked almost all the cast. I don't care for the deviations other have mentioned, mostly because it could have been handled better, but I'll note that the drama does improve on novel with side character characterisations somewhat (where some of the additional time have been spent on), as cdramas often do. You could just....try an episode or two and decide for yourself, honestly.

He did! I think he was more buzzed than drunk? I think it was from behind the scene? Oops I still haven't finish those.

It's national mourning day today for all those that passed away due to COVID-19, so they cancelled all public entertainment (so no dramas or variety shows on TV) Tomorrow will also be only one episode due to scheduling. It should resume regularly on the 6th?

I explained what I understood from the situation as someone asked, it's true that it's difficult to know what of it true, and it's especially chaotic with so many other parties involved (antis, maybe other actors' teams, people who know half the story), it's why I typed so much out, to give context. Regardless, I hope Xiao Zhan weather this out, I was going to peek at Douluo Dalu after all.

????? i got what the weibo narrative is currently saying, I've tried to verify it as far as I could, have you? All chinese are well aware of what sites are blocked, and some know why they might be, ao3 have never been blocked, it doesn't operate in China so it doesn't need to comply to Chinese laws. What you are saying applies to Google (and only google).

wyb and xz real people shippers wrote some explicit fic of them two, dumped it on lofter (think tumblr), linked the ao3 version which has the explicit content. some xz fans got mad, reported lofter, and reported ao3. Lofter got some fics and tags (?) nuked, and some writers were spooked and deleted lots of fics. Since ao3 is not a chinese site but it DOES feature explicit content, it was subsequently blocked. AO3 have never been blocked before, so this essentially drew ire from anyone who is in ANY fandom, since a lot of people use the site (there's lot of people that just disapprove the behaviour too).

It really doesn't help that some xz fans didn't seem to think there's anything wrong with what they did, there's other parties involved (like weibo disabled comments for related topics and blocked one of the ao3 tags that was discussing this. it's unclear if it's xz's terrible PR team behind it or weibo being awful as usual). SO now the entire fandom space is downvoting his work and such. (it's common for antis to downvote someone else's work in a flame war, except this time it's half the young cnetizens) There's some people that's trying to boycott stuff he endorse so that XZ will lose his endorsement and stuff. I strongly disapprove of this, but I get the anger and I understand why other people will retaliate this way.

I have no idea why xz fans didn't just ignore the goddamn fic, and if they couldn't, start a fan war, the rps fans and actor fans have been flaming each other since the drama started. Reporting sites because you are pissed about fandom drama is over the top and unfair, so you end up with this. I don't really have issues with XZ but some of his fans are facepalming, and there's little backfiring from overzealous marketing too. To be fair, other idols/popular actors have had similar problems, just never to the extent of this, because usually it's contained in the idol fandom space.

yeah mostly. i mean haters don't generally dig up writer's weibo to yell at them, especially a fairly decent drama. He does read other comments not on his weibo (as shown in Joy of Life where there's more criticisms) but Young Blood's overall reception is pretty good, the negatives are about plot twists being forced and some logic issues + ending complaints.

That's awesome :D Hope you have fun with the drama!

Eh I think he needs it, he's incredibly lonely in the world and Wan'er understands him. As for her family, he needs them too since CPP and Emperor all have their own agendas. I don't ship the otp like most people, but I do get the logic behind it.

Yeah viki is more likely to pick well known actors dramas or contemporary romance since those have big audience and modern dramas are easier to translate. Joy of Life drew some audience for this drama (JoL was really popular so that helped), and so will Douluodalu once it release.