Tikkitumble

Correct. Wait and see.

yeah yeah lady, have some cheese with your whine. Apparently more ppl support my idea than your fanaticism for XZ. Whatever

Lady, you like the folks above, need some reading comprehension. The message was directed towards how to boost the speed of the sequel and anyone rational would think that two top billing BUSIEST actors in the show should get cut if they don't add to the plot. ZRY shouldn't be an exception EXCEPT he is because he's the ML. There are additional side characters but they actually DO add to the plot, and won't hinder the progress of the drama because they're NOT as busy as everyone else.

@Snail that arrived - it's a valid suspicion. If you didn't know what the reason was for the delay, your thoughts would obv draw the conclusion that it's scheduling conflicts. And who, out of the lineup, would have the most scheduling conflicts, but could easily be replaced? LQ and XZ. I stated my reasons why and I said removing these two can speed things up, if needed to give production a speed booster.

Petty, poor, self-centered and unfortunate soul that you are, will not be able to withstand thoughts opposite of yours. I won't waste effort typing to your kind. Please, enjoy your fanaticism. Living in lala land appeals more to you than reality, I know. My condolences

@shrimpy @tigermom Bruh, feeling better? Your verbal diarrhea on this topic and spewage of disgust on those who are voicing plausible reasons and solutions for the delays betrays your fan-atic behavior.

Please go to therapy.

For those who aren't aware of why this series keep getting delayed over and over, it's very feasible that it's because it's hard to coordinate every actors' schedule together (ZRY is not an exception, but he is the main character - you can't cut out main actor and expect success with a drama), but other top in-demand actors like LQ and XZ can be excised from the drama without issues thereby speeding things along. You took that and spread it as some sort of hate for the actors...I think that speaks more to your fanaticism than it does the rest of the folks here.

You can still buy decent (cheap) clothes even if there's not a lot of budget. They didn't have to find her clothes that were so frumpy. For example, webdrama Go Princess Go, where the main actress literally got clothes from taobao and the entire drama was shot under 100k budget. Her clothes and everyone in that drama had decent looking costumes. Bad personal stylist is more like it.

Pros
- Adorable, believable leads and supporting characters.
- Very loving, sweet and progressive relationship between leads and supports
- NO misunderstandings, no 3rd parties, no drawn out process related to the relationship. All is revealed very quickly or turn tropes on its head by asking logical questions.
- Love the girl power aspect of this drama. Rare to see women being pushed to an executive role so progressively and yet, done so well. The supporting actress being the logical rational minded one in the relationship was a breath of fresh air. And she was definitely cool. Shen Yue also worked her way up from being a lowly executive assistant to a full fledged author. It's the best display of supportive gesture towards women in general.
- Xiao Wu Di looks hawt in ancient garb. Pity they didn't let him have more scenes in that costume. He looked more filled out in costume than modern wear which shows his thin frame. Plus he has a pretty face; the long hair makes him look even prettier.

Cons:
- The budget for clothes. Like wtheck is going on. I know they're saving a ton of money with the actors/actresses already, so what's up with the wardrobe? The main actress is wearing clothes that look like they're designed to be one size fit all. Mind you, this is NOT the only drama which displays such poor outfits, but dang they did Shen Yue dirty here. Even the support didn't have a ton of worthwhile clothes.
- The deity - WTHeck. He can conjure an imaginary man from thin air and give it flesh and blood, but he can't bring back the dead? Like if it's the creator who created the request, it'd make sense that it's the creator who should be brought back.
- The side couple. Omg, I was afraid of a love triangle, but was pleasantly surprised when there was none. The side couple has stayed a side couple. What a rarity. However, this side couple, while different and cute, does absolutely nothing for the storyline except drag it along. Y'know those 15 minute webdramas? I feel like they could've done that for this couple and it wouldn't make a difference. A fun premise and relationship would work out great prob IRL, but on TV it's a diff story.
- They really milked the drama. So much unnecessary time spent on frivolous things like someone getting tea, coffee or whatever, that adds nothing to the storyline. I skipped through so many of these scenes that I think the main storyline can be told in a matter of 8-10 episodes, if I'm being generous. I think even the writers/directors themselves know that they don't have enough material to be enticing, so they have to add a lot of time-wasting scenes.

See, I think if YM was portrayed by someone with more gravitas, it might make his character more compelling. But YM seemed mostly one-dimensional in the drama, and his only purpose was to be YanDan's support, which is great in essence and in theory and even on paper, but television is a different medium to portray this kind of man. MLs who are too passive and seem to showcase no other ambition/goal other than to be with their lovers, are not interesting to watch, which is what we see very recent dramas such as: Lost Track of Time and Love Like The Galaxy.

Unpop opinion:

I don't care if they replace Li Qin or Xiao Zhan in the 2nd season. Li Qin is the blandest female lead in the entire show, with probably the least amount of air time. The support characters outshine her, like Duo Duo and heck, even the emperor and Li Sisi have more personality than her. It's like her role is to be a glorified vase; a cute loyal vase, but still rather dull. Duo Duo has to be my fav though as she's just fun in general and unexpectedly unpredictable.

Xiao Zhan has barely any screen time and when he does appear onscreen, it's just to portray a rather one-dimensional patriot. Anyone can take on this role and do it even better (not to say he's bad but we can all admit he wasn't doing his best as support here, which even he has admitted.)

So if we need to remove these two hot stars from the lineup to get the show moving faster, I'm all for it

Hmm. I think her crying is for a multitude of reasons - the first and foremost, it's relief. All the plotting, revenge, pain, fear -all over with MZ's death. And next is that in this life, he was actually considerate of her before he died. He could've r@ped her. He could've killed her. He could've taken her to the grave with him. He could've hurt her unimaginably. But he chose none of that. He died with dignity and hurt no one. It's a pitiful death. MC was devastated. So it's worthy of her tears.

Well looks like some comments didn't really age well. If he really only cared about her as an object, like you surmised, then he would've already killed her. He didn't. It's his form of destructive love, even if you don't think so.

No offense taken

Good characters make such boring drama. I like my drama with conflict and intrigue. IRL (which discerning viewers will understand), guys like MC are the ideal partners, but I don't watch drama for perfect men! I watch dramas for flawed men, not faultless to a tee! As viewers, I think emotional payout from character growth and progression is what we want to see. We saw that in MZ and while MC also had some growth, the pacing was off. He wasn't really convincing and we barely got to see him "grow." The director prob saw more potential in MZ and thus, the extra screen time

Yang Zi wasn't that different from her role in Ashes of Love, sad to say. And she had more to work with in terms of emotional creativity in AoL. I don't think she was the best fit for the Lotus spirit, if I'm being honest. Her chemistry with CY was still fiyah though, but acting-wise, they could've used someone else and it wouldn't have made too big of an impact.

Honestly, Cheng Yi hard carried the drama on his own. It was tailor-made for him. His smexy poses and 3 different identities (high lord, human and psychotic dad) was the draw and has the biggest impact to the show.

Yang Zi made good support character, and she displayed smoldering chemistry with Cheng Yi, but as far as impact goes, like she said, she's just a lotus spirit. She's a great catalyst for what happens to everyone, but on her own, she doesn't make too big of a splash. So it's not too ridiculous in my mind to say she's playing support. An effective buttress, but support nevertheless.

It's very rare in Cdramas when I don't see the 2ML as someone I ship, but this drama made that happen lol. They managed to make YuMo so lackluster that I can't even imagine him and YanDan together. First off, they chose the wrong actor; Ray Chang doesn't have the charisma of a strong 2ML - I think they wrote him this way intentionally, but even if they wrote him better, I still can't see him as a charming 2ML I ship. Sorry to say, he just doesn't have the looks or talent onscreen.

I actually do like majority of the other supporting leads though (minus the turtle...he was just annoying.) The women they selected for support were all really pretty and can act!

Storyline-wise, man, Cdramas really need to step up their game with endings. They rushed this so bad and definitely did YuMo no justice. As much as I don't feel anything for him, look at how much he's sacrificed for YanDan. There's no guarantee that what you invest is what you'll receive in return, and being good to someone shouldn't require anything in exchange, but let's be honest, if you continuously put in effort but get no returns, that makes your efforts feel mighty unworthy. YanDan never even gave him a chance to tell her how he felt or even told him how she felt. And the ending was a slap in the face to his role (a mentor to YD and YY's kid?!) How much more whipped does he need to be...! It's just not fair.

I actually appreciate the original non-ending, ending more. Where YD and YY both dies so they wouldn't be an eyesore for YM lol. And technically they'll be protecting each other for life in death and don't have to deal with all the heavenly/devil shenanigans again. I felt exhausted watching them deal with these responsibilities.

That brings me to actually respect this drama for its message: upholding responsibilities/greater love is more important than loving each other. But having to sacrifice oneself for the sake of greater good, sounds like an awful way to live. That's prob why they all die off, so they don't have to deal with endless responsibilities lol.

So it's okay for MC to stab LAR in a fit of rage, but somehow MZ killing people equates to horrendously terrible...? Let's be fair. Killing people is never okay (in modern times), but in the past, life was worthless. They were only people of their times. Does that excuse what he did, no, he's still an awful partner, but I can appreciate him as a character in that he's cunning, colorful and has some honor code, however thin it is.

Whenever it's s good plot and I find that it's not novel-based, I am always worried about plot holes. And, unfortunately, as much as I like the overall drama here, there are some glaring issues that ruins the drama for me.

1) LAR will never be queen, therefore her and MC will never be official - she's his SiL and her reputation is tarnished from being with MZ. Plus, she's infertile. Officials and the Emperor will never allow this to fly.

2) We never get to see MZ hear what LAR mentioned in her sleep. We can make assumptions, but it misses the mark in making it a satisfying ending.

3) I never understood why MZ loved her other than the fact she didn't love him. I can understand him wanting her validation, just like he wanted validation from his father, but there's no true feeling of love for her other talents. So, where's the love coming from?

4) MZ created his own redemption in the current life, but the plot would've made our heart ache more if we only witnessed his remorse in the previous life after LAR's death. THAT would actually help explain why he loves her so possessively in this current life (some remnant regret from his past life carrying over.) On the other hand, seeing how he treated Xiao Yian when she was 100% fully devoted to him, maybe he didn't have remorse in his previous life at all for LAR's death.

5) It is obvious that MZ doesn't deserve LAR. By every measurable metric, MC is a much better partner. However, when watching a drama, if a villain is multifaceted and is sympathetic to the viewers to an extent, they can very well be the focal point in a drama and easy for viewers to ship the antagonist with the main character. Case in point: Legend of Zhen Huan. Wow, they've created the first ever villainous female support role who stole the entire drama. We all knew she needed to die, but her character created so much chaos and color to the series and her death was so pitiful, that after her death, she left a vacuum that even the main actress couldn't fill. MuZe did that here. MC literally just felt like a little kid compared to MuZe who is a proactive man. MC "grew up" more near the end, when he took initiative to coax LAR to tell him the truth. And then taking action after to get her back and keep her family out of harm's way. But his actions were allowed because his family loves him. He barely struggled (excuse me, finally accepting the throne is a HUGE struggle cus y'know, he likes plants more than ppl.) MZ was right - MC didn't really earn his way to the throne, he was just passed the throne because daddy loved him more. Yes, he deserves some credit for always trying to do the right thing, but how often did he do that...it's not like MZ didn't try either. According to him, he was once passionate and valiant about doing the right thing, but his dad trampled his efforts. In the end, if you struggle constantly over and over again, and never win, you learn to give up. So he is a pitiful villain. And Jing Chao made him so colorful and sympathetic, that I find it hard to hate him. This guy deserves a redemption arc lol, maybe a reset for him so he can be like MC lol. Anyways, if LXR who tried to murder LAR and her mother, got sympathy from LAR, why shouldn't MZ, who we see is loyal and faithful to his real family (mother and brother) when influential outsiders are removed from the equation? If we remove his ruthlessness and bad outside influences, he makes a very good male lead material. Heck, even MC was manipulated into stabbing LAR...so, how's that for main male lead? My point being, if MC and MZ switched roles, I want to see how well MC does. You are a product of your environment and MZ touched upon that when he yelled at his dad. I absolutely think MZ makes a better male lead because we can understand his struggle and his reasons for doing so (extreme and unnecessary as they may be.) Whereas with MC, he's basically like a puppy, sweet, gullible, supportive and naive. When he became crown prince, he was much better...but we don't see his struggles or how he maintains his good guy persona, so we don't sympathize

It's sad really. You can tell how much Xing Fei loved Muze in the past. She remembers all his habits. And understands the way he operates. I can't help but think/hope there was a reason why Muze took in a mistress in the past life. We might get a glimpse into his regrets after Xing Fei dies in the past, and find the reason why he was unfaithful.

Same. I think Muze is freaking hot. He's intimidating, intelligent, ruthless, manipulative, evil and cunning. In the past, he wasn't able to fully appreciate or respect Xing Fei (because she wasn't able to do anything for him), but in this current life, she has shown herself to be his equal, even if he doesn't know it yet. Unfortunately by the the time it takes him to fully understand his own feelings, she will have already plotted his death and demise.

It's tragic really, but understandable. Since he barely put in any effort in the past to be with her, I'm sure we'll be seeing his past catch up to him now. And he will be angry, oh so angry. He would put the whole world before her feet if only she would be with him... except she won't. And she knows he won't give everything either. But he doesn't know that she knows. And he doesn't understand why she would say no either. Plus with his daddy rejection issues, I'm sure her rejection of him only serves to make him want her more. It's just delicious emotional payout. I pity him and know when we see him put in so much effort, that we will be won over. Except we will all be reminded that he killed her entire family in the other life...and when he turns vengeful, we will understand why she didn't pick him. All of these are just my speculations, but things usually tend to fall into these tropes.

I'm looking forward to eventually seeing Muze's redemption, because the story is sympathetic to his plight.

Loved the series from the beginning, but the ending….sigh, I wished there was more (I’m talking about the actual ending).

I didn’t like how she returned to the real world and he came up to her for an autograph, but she didn’t chase after him! What’s up with that!