SD1D Enthusiast

Hmm? This wasn't really a case of childhood sweetheart trope though. More of a "I love you" and "I love you" changed to "I love you but cue noble idiocy and refusal to resolve misgivings via communication trope"

I think people have asked the cast about this and wondered the same thing, because iirc it was mentioned the ZZ thing will stop at ep 20. So they definitely changed it in the drama and tried to make the pacing make more sense ig. Some lines between characters were apparently switched around too. We'll see how they adapt it!

Yeah I think the author did a good job making both of them pretty interesting and developed love interests so it wouldn't look too strange no matter who she chose, but the voting results changing near the end do explain why I thought her giving up on ZZ after clearly loving him for hundreds of chapters and going with XW near the end was so abrupt and out of no where. It's likely the drama will change the pacing of that to make it less abrupt.

for this, you had to pay to vote, so it was a smart financial decision at least. LOL fans of the drama who like zhang zhe are crying in the comments, "my CP was broken by a rich man!"

I've been going on douyin to see cnetz comments on this drama and have to say that cnetz are funny as hell sometimes.

I also learned an interesting thing: the web novel was being written and posted in real time, and it had the readers do paid voting on who they wanted the ML to be. It's 253 chapters. For a good almost 200 chapters, the FL loved Zhang Zhe, but then the Xie Wei fans took the lead in voting and the tide turned, author changed the ML. I was scratching my head so hard reading parts of the novel because for so long her and ZZ's moments had insanely romantic prose to it and wondering why author would write it like that if they weren't end couple, but now it makes sense.

So many viewers lamenting that if they were around back then they would have voted differently or would have made FL empress with her own harem of handsome men + the princess lmao.

the curse of the 2nd male lead is that they're forever alone lol, so no

yes, for the main couple

Her henchman who she introduced to Yan Lin spied on the family after he got their trust and fabricated evidence that let Xue family slaughter the Yan family. Also, when Yan Lin survived and came to her, she basically ditched him for the prince.

Yeah, same, I can't stand rape committing or condoning MLs and this is rather disappointing to me bc they portrayed the ML here as sort of a feminist. How can you turn a blind eye knowing that's happening to her repeatedly?

I agree the actor is really good and he's what initially drew me in, he speaks with his eyes. I only really fell down the rabbit hole after going through parts of the novel though because some sections about him, felt like the author was writing straight up shakespearean romantic tragedy.

I am not going to argue with someone who isn't engaging in good faith discussion. Google it if you're confused.

I clearly said emotional affair.

Seems like you don't understand what a trigger warning is. It's put there to kindly give warnings to people who may have ptsd or trauma related to the subject matter so they can choose to avoid the content if they want.

Also, "bro before ho?" Huh? I think saving a woman from being raped is basic humanity.

I think he did if you look at the last life. He basically willingly involved himself in an emotional love affair with the empress, aka the emperor's woman. That is major taboo that would get him killed in an instant if found out by others. It's basically blasphemy and he was playing with fire when he went against his principles and broke the rules to help her.

Even in the second life, it's pretty apparant from how he handled his career. He didn't take the imperial examination which was the traditional way to get fame, but went in through an unorthodox way. Once an official, he refused to listen to custom and join any party of the court. He also showed no fear going against the empress dowager. This is pretty significant when you consider he's not from a noble family and has no noble ties. Any poor scholar from the common people would be full of fear and reverence of nobles and especially the royal family, but his actions show that he doesn't hold them in reverence at all. For a man of his time, that was the height of rebelliousness and makes him dangerous to others because he is an unsheathed knife that can't be controlled.

I'm so annoyed with myself because I'm always out here clamouring for dark MLs who are cunning and evil because I love my dark power couples, but something about Zhang Zhe has just totally won me over and I'm annoyed because I hate having second lead syndrome lol. I blame the author for writing their romance like a shakespearean tragedy and WXY for playing him with such gravity.

Maybe it's also because on the surface ZZ is a just and good man, but underneath he has quite a dangerous, rebellious and stubborn side to him?

Trigger warning for SA below:

He def had some sort of feelings for her since he did give her the knife not to kill her but so that she could use it to protect herself against Yan Lin. But here's what pisses me off. He KNEW that mf Yan Lin was repeatedly getting drunk and going in to RAPE the FL and he didn't stop it, he didn't try to stop Yan Lin himself. No, he just gave her a knife and expected her to protect herself from getting raped at night from a drunk man bigger and stronger than her.

I loved seeing the rain scene interaction between the empress and ZZ Minister in the past life; there are a lot of layers to unravel there. You may have noticed that the FL did not like him when she was the empress at first, in fact, she was openly hostile against him and mocked him because he had criticized her henchman (the annoying and corrupt guy who helped cause Yan Lin's family's downfall) in front of the court and in turn criticized her. He had made himself her enemy by doing so, and so she mocked him.

But he didn't rise to the bait and that both frustrated and intrigued her. That's why when he turns to leave in the rain, she straight up steps on his official robes and restrains him. She wanted to make him look at her in the eye. The fact that even that doesn't stop him, and he instead tears off his own official court uniform is a BIG thing. Those robes are sacred. And he is a minister who is technically still a servant of the court. In essence, it shows how Zhang Zhe actually has quite a rebellious and stubborn streak to him that makes him want to defy convention.

That is the start of FL looking at him differently. Not just because he upright, but because of that fierce rebelliousness and him refusing to back down.

"I also have something to say to the empress. You must know that people are greedy for their own benefits and seek the skin of tigers, but they don't know that a tiger is born with a vicious nature and does not change due to circumstances. If you seek skin from a tiger today, you will be eaten by a tiger tomorrow. . Empress, take care of yourself."

Like DAMN. Man threatened her. He basically told her, be careful with me, if you try to take my skin off, I will swallow you whole. It's kind of ironic in the end because he actually did save later, and yet she did fall for him and willingly went to death because of him, so who was really the tiger in the end?

I love the rain scene so much and the juxtaposition with the last life was so good

And just like in LYF I am having major second lead syndrome, this year is cursed for me!

Yes. It makes sense if you take into account how his mother divorced his father in previous eps and the suspicious timing of his half sister's birth too.

np, good luck with the mtl 🙏