Are you talking about Duke Xu backstory? This is a very commun plot in my historical c-dramas, some just use it…
Fang Fei would not be as funny as Shao Shang and Duke Su would never be interested in Shao Shang's savvy but uneducated innocence. Fang Fei would eat all the Princesses of LLTG for breakfast and Ling Bu Yi would kill everybody by the 20th episode, LMAO. But all four would jump off the cliff just for fun.
watch the extra ep, the ML doesn't die, he lives happily with the FML, though his subordinates do die
I do agree about the subs dying. I always end my rewatching at Episode 40 around the 33 minute nark, right at the wedding. They kiss and fade out. The end.
ZHAO LU SI. Yes, she deserves to have every letter of her name capitalized. Ridiculous people appear here to try…
And she's like Madonna, striving to look different in every drama, and every time she does so, they all swarmed around to criticize her looks and makeup. Sometimes I wonder if they ever find pleasure in anything except criticizing others.