The Secretive Plotter

1 i wont say anything much honestly, but be prepared cause there definitely will be some deaths. But yeah i do hope they don't die too...

2 as far as i remember, the exams are already over and they hadn't passed it cause of the unfairness. So he reached out to them secretly. I guess they just sitting back for now, waiting for xiahou dan to slowly put them in official positions emm atleast i think thats what happens in the donghua where he holds secret meetings with them to plan their future actions.

I think you got the timelines confused, there's three stories/timelines here that changed through transmigrations. The first story or novel is where our female lead, consort yu wan yin is the main character and xie yong-er or concubine xie was a canon fodder in it. This is the story where the scholars die, as it was mentioned. The empress used her power to make sure people who were serving her pass the exams, but these scholars didn't pass it, cause the exams were rigged. These scholars managed to reveal the fact that the exams were unfair and cause of this, they died. So in that novel, xie yong-er transmigrates which is the second story. She managed to change the story line as mentioned in the very first episode, prince duan(xiahou bo) fell in love with her and she managed to survive. In this storyline, xie yong-er made sure the scholars survived as she told prince duan about them, prince duan approached the scholars first and used them for his own success. So when xie yong-er tells yu wan yin how they died in the actual story, she means the first story where the empress' people probably kill them. So in this storyline, Xiahou dan(our male lead) was assassinated at the end and prince duan sieged power. This story or novel was the novel our female lead Yu wan yin was reading at the very beginning of the drama. Later yu wan yin transmigrates into it (male lead also transmigrates into the novel) and so she mentions how she has the bigger script cause to her, even xie yong-er is a 2d character in the novel she read. But since she didn't read the whole novel or rather just skimmed through it, she doesn't know the names of the scholars, and that is why they made Xie yong er drink just to get the information. So the current story or drama we are watching is the third timeline or story. If there is still something confusing, let me know.

Are you stupid or did you really not get the plot man? It's so obviously telling about the near death experience where many people see flashbacks of their past, and here they relived the past, redoing things they regretted. This was an amazing take on this actually, even on episode 3 or 4 I already figured this wasn't some superpower stuff but more about psychology and how human brain responds. So do you want me to take your hand and guide you through the plot for your thick brain to understand.

And here I thought it was an improved version... I really hope to see a better version with suits and vests-

Amazing acting! I usually feel awkward in many dramas, like the flow seem unusual but I have loved every role I've seen Lee Do Hyun acting. I really wish to see him working in more action dramas as main roles, though I loved the romance ones too! I also really hope to see him in sweet home season 2 please >~<