TaliaToo

When JL/XFF speaks directly to each of her enemies, you know things are going down! She did the same with StepMonster, the horrible minister whom she stabbed, even her "father."

I just told you. There is no romance in this drama at all.

The Malay subtitles are very clear about what SYR wanted.

Because SYR wants to be a husband again. LOL. YSJ does NOT like SYR. I think he knows (or suspect) JL's real identity. He's the smartest of the Ye clan, after all.

They already explained this to their audience (LOL):
INSTANCE #5
When he was half-naked at the waterfall, she said to him, "My life is yours." (This time, she didn't mean it like the first time when she offered to be his pawn. She meant it--MY LIFE is yours.) She forcefully made sure he understood here.
He did and replied (paraphrasing because I can't remember exact words): "That's all good but before I take it, don't you have other things to achieve? I can take you after." SHE SMILED. Remember, she always smiled after these little subtext.
Here, they are telling us the viewers that the romance is coming, but revenge must be served first.

Finally, our two leads are shown playing a game of chess. Remember, everything is an act. Even the emperor's decree could be an act. The trap is for Wanning. Did SYR know? We shall see.

THE ABOVE are instances of their flirting.

The concerns of there being not enough romance. Here is some of the dialogue between the couple. Duke Su has already marked her as his :). Judge for yourself:

1) At the bridge, they were wearing couple clothes (haha). He put a flower on her head. "Is the flower steady?" (Are we a couple?) She replied, "Steadied." And put a flower in his bun to confirm.

2) After being nearly raped, he gave her a whistle and told her with intent, fan under her chin so she wouldn't miss the point: "I do not want, before the game is done, for my Qi (chess piece/wife wordplay) to be taken." She smiled because she is smart and gets the wordplay.

3) Later, she said to him, "I can't pay you back all these favors."
He replied, "Don't pay me back then (DEBT is very important in Chinese culture. He's saying What's mine is yours).
She said, "But you'll lose a lot (because then she's going to keep on asking for favors)."
He responded, "I can afford to lose (because what is mine is yours)."
Again, she smiled.

4) Latest episode, she countered his earlier story with the story of The Substitute Wife. She was informing him of a new play she intended to act out. You girls can figure out this story yourself. Girl will be manipulating even the emperor at this point, LOL.
Notice that she was now lifting his chin with his fan, with intent in her eyes.
Discussing the ending, the Duke proposed a new ending, "How about becoming lovebirds?"
JL replied, "We'll have to wait and see."
And pushed him out of the room.

ACTUALLY, now that I think about it, there are SIX instances they talked about being a couple. I'm too lazy to type the other two, haha.

I will write down the references in a new post, if you like.

No. SYR has been realizing how brilliant his ex- was (is) and that he had been blind. "But it's too late now, baby, it's just too late....Something has died inside and now I can't just fake it"....bwahahaha.

Overall. I've been telling everyone here in their quest for romance that the dialogue is everything. They have been bantering about being a couple for 5 or 6 episodes now. This is the fourth reference.

Exactly. And now it’s SYR’s turn. JL has proposed a new play. But SYR and Wanning also has a play. It’s going to be a game of Chicken Chess. May the best tan win! 😂

It’s all a play within a play. It’s all a game of Go. Who will win?

If you check out the previews, I think he is going to pretend to take a blade saving JL on purpose to gain her trust. Princess Wanning approves. Sooooo.

Lolololol

Besides the reply below, the duke gave her an alternate reply, teasing her that “they” could be “lovebirds.” He didn’t mean SYR. 😝 and JL knew it. She smiled and pushed him out the room. Fourth mention from him of them being a couple.

Did you notice JL has started the play/story she told Duke Su to watch? Our JL is very intelligent. She can nudge people to do things, even the Emperor.

She has a plan about SYR. You can tell she knows what the Emperor's next step might be. OTOH, Duke Su wants to change the story when she complains that he just likes bloodbaths. He said, as an alternate ending, "Maybe it won't be a substitute bride, maybe there will be lovebirds at the end." It's a tease for the audience. Will SYR act out her revenge and torture this scholar or..............Dun dun dun!

At the end of Episode 26, when he lifted her chin with his fan and said, "I don't want, before the game has ended, to have someone take my Qi (chess piece and wife has the same sound)." She smiled here too :).

He needed those chicken wings to come up with a plan! Without them, he was going to have a hard time, so that's why JL had to sit by the tree waiting for so long, darnit. Chicken or duck? Chicken or duck? If Su had been able to use that riddle, all of King Chen's army would have been defeated!