Hi Xiang! Always love to read your sharing, lots of valuable info. 🤩. I enjoyed the tea culture clip notes…
That is a beautiful song!
You always have the best music taste.
If we are four scholars, you would wield the flute and feelings of encouragement and details. I would utilise the guqin and play chess. Megumi is the poet who decides calligraphy. And Pytheos is the painter who finds all sorts of inks (and visual media to make us crack up)~
I reckon ML will be given two opportunities to showcase shameless cunning: During amnesia and when he is in full possession of himself. Otherwise how will they maximise Gulinazha giving the same in return? XD
This is unofficially Yanxi Palace Season 2 in a completely different setting. If you close your eyes, you can envision which suitor is which consort fighting for the FL Emperor's favour.
The Directors know the short drama actors can carry the scenes and help make these first four episodes maximally engaging. If you watch Blood River, you can see that the leads had the least amount of time in the first two episodes while other cast members stepped to the fore.
The leads for this drama will be saved as the best for last, and the tension plus chemistry for these leads will be built over at least 20 episodes. The ML will be given time to showcase his ability to be shamelessly helpless and cunning, while the FL dominates. I am curious how they will have the FL in first half of drama versus second half of drama.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 💯 agreed! This production team and director has known past works that were good. Hence…
They have the biggest pressure to deliver everything as a solid notable package because of their reputations, and the biggest pressure will come from their efforts for the leads. So far they have me guessing about the leads, but there's definitely tantalising teasers of the push-pull happening in certain scenes :D
I have confidence the team can do it, given how picky and seasoned viewers can be for "Winter Begonia", "Story of Yanxi Palace" and certain short dramas.
Which drama was filmed first? Glory or The Unclouded Soul?I cannot as in literally mentally cannot like 2 FLs…
If you like a veteran creative team with individual skills responsible for successful longform dramas such as 'Story of Yanxi Palace" and short dramas such as "Dominion and Devotion" and "Fortune Writer", this is the drama to watch. There's gender reversal tropes, killer dialogue, and a supporting cast of talented leading actors and actresses from short dramas to bolster our FL and ML. Tension is slow-build, but sparks of chemistry is already apparent.
I'm going to quote from an earlier post below.
[ With them at the helm, storyboarding and editing of the first four episodes have been fun, compacted with precision, and well-paced. Zhang Zhi Wei's dramas include themes of female empowerment, so he's right at home here. Guo Hao is capable with micro-details (such as when Shang Xi Rui in Winter Begonia charms certain women with his demonstration of understanding certain gestures). The dialogue is never wasted, and killer lines are unforgettable. Relationships and events allowing for individual characters to unfold are nicely-structured and help develop the main plot line, always advancing.
Between the matriarchal tycoon family and suitors ahoy for our Rong Shanbao, the social commentary and humour is also delicately barbed. Refreshing to see how men can be as scheming and political as women, when it comes to social status attainments in role reversals. There are multiple different types of power imbalance systems being indirectly revealed here. Choreography for the physical fights has been highly-engaging. ]
What a fantastic way to close out 2025 for Luo Yunxi!
Azure did an amazing translation about Tang Lici's character here from a Douban article, cementing why Tang Lici is a unique timeless C-drama hero well-portrayed by Luo Yunxi, who is one of China's finest living cultural ambassadors: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24608278
~*~*~*~*~
kwanto's been just as amazing with collating and updating the data successes of SLY, and I attribute all the details in this section to kwanto:
As of 2 December, #4 on Maoyan’s annual chart after garnering more than 1.8 billion views within 39 days of broadcasting makes “Whispers of Fate” the fastest-moving entry of 2025 to move up the Maoyan chart. As of 6 December, exceeded 4.9 billion views on MangoTV’s front-end broadcast statistics. According to CSM data, 2.838 billion views were reached across all platforms. Despite newly-completing airing, not long after "Whispers of Fate" received nomination for CPOP 2026 (only other two dramas within these 3 years to be recognised and nominated were “Joy of Life” and “Till The End Of The Moon”).
[ Datawin awarded top crown for SLY as top 1 effective views for marital art drama in 2025 and top 1 average per episode views for marital art drama in 2025. Just image if SLY airs without competition like Till the end of the moon in 2023, instead of head to head with 5 other traffic actor drama airing the same time. The above CVB rating also confirmed that SLY is top 3 in term of viewership from Satellite TV views in 2025, the only costume drama on the top 3.]
Knew SLY would be fantastic, even before CVB confirmed on Christmas Day: 收视喜报｜电视剧《#水龙吟# 》首播收视1.6亿人次
~*~*~*~*~*~
Dramfun29212 shared this excellent summary of the three categories on kwanto's thread:
{ Since WoF was broadcast on all #1,2,3 and most crucially it performed very well on all 3 channel categories, the holistic measure of WoF performance seems to be CSM's (TAM) report: ---> CSM (TAM) reports WoF "total viewing hours" = 384 mil vs. 225 mil for last year's top drama Joy of Life 2. ["total viewing hours" metric calculated by CSM is unfortunately not very intuitive to the layman...] }
And for the currently-airing new drama "The Truth Within", kwanto also shared a weibo review by a forensic doctor about how realistic and technical Luo Yunxi has been, in this drama: https://weibo.com/7563543395/5249180608234345
I have nothing to say about the drama. That is rare.Still waiting how it build up.
The creative team is a stellar powerhouse of veterans who know their genres and strengths, and they are primarily responsible for what you are seeing. The supporting cast is studded with leading actors and actresses from short dramas.
The actor for Yan Bailuo is pretty good at commanding scenes given his filmography in short dramas. The directors can see that, and he will have chemistry with whoever he focuses on.
Anyone who likes harem politics and has watched the likes of "Yanxi Palace" and/or "Empress of China" will enjoy this. It's wonderfully refreshing to watch suitors with different personalities as consorts-in-waiting flock to a FL as emperor (and the FL as "emperor" has royal brothers also available for finding husbands). Curious about the evolution of the family dynamics in this main matriarchal family. The humour is hilariously part of the tropes being given a new take in gender role-reversals. There are sad personal stories, which I'm curious to know more about.
The Directors are also masterful at having different roles carry different scenes, knowing when to give each character their moments to shine. Skilful building of tension and chemistry between the leads is already hinting at something surprisingly good to come, and I believe it is going to be awesome (but not before we have self-doubts and at least one significant conflict leading to the leads cementing things). There's also at least one upcoming director and screenwriter in the creative team not listed on this MDL site, and I'm interested to see how this stellar creative team continues to balance everyone's strengths :)
任亚南 is another up-and-coming screenwriter in the team, while 马诗歌 is another up-and-coming director.
If anyone is wondering about the various crew members in a stellar powerhouse of a creative team and what to note about the drama outlines and the cast, I created a short summary here: https://kisskh.at/772283-ming-men-shi-jia#comment-24642016
Also today, Datawin awarded top crown for SLY as top 1 effective views for marital art drama in 2025 and top 1…
SLY will definitely be much bigger than TTEOM in the long run. Besides, as long as we helpfully and truthfully answer new viewers about this drama being heroism-focused and any "romance" is easily perceived as one-sided, they'll go in without being misled.
And if new viewers want to understand the classical literature underpinning this drama for the xuanhuan beliefs and wuxia elements which are strong especially based on Confucianism interwoven with Buddhism and Taoism, I'm happy to share my explanation: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24569086
Also today, Datawin awarded top crown for SLY as top 1 effective views for marital art drama in 2025 and top 1…
SLY is a very uniquely strong creation for a C-drama, and it would pull in mandarin speakers of older generations as well. Decades from now, it will always resonate as a timeless classic. What a great way to close out 2025 for SLY!
Hi Xiang! Always love to read your sharing, lots of valuable info. 🤩. I enjoyed the tea culture clip notes…
When we look at the different suitors, the two more-obviously unscrupulous suitors will be easier to handle than Yan Bailuo. He's similar to the consort who you think will never give you trouble, but usually twists the knife in the back of the emperor... unless he is truly in love and truly noble.
His portrayal pulling at the heartstrings is too perfect. Valiant, self-sacrificial, hesitant, and nobly ceding his self-arrogance in words- I'll be surprised if there is no twist for him by the screenwriters.
When he realises Lu Jianglai becomes a true competitor, that might be when something happens. Meanwhile, get ready for the self-doubts from Lu Jianglai and disagreements between our leads, because the tension to build chemistry must be prolonged for another 10 episodes at least :p
Hi Xiang! Always love to read your sharing, lots of valuable info. 🤩. I enjoyed the tea culture clip notes…
You're clearly more awake then me. I am sipping tea and enjoying the laughs of this drama, because it rightfully doesn't take itself as seriously as Yanxi Palace for these episodes. Screenwriters are very good, to know how to tweak characterisations for different types of plots and settings.
Directors know how to adjust details and camerawork for different roles to carry different scenes.
Hi Xiang! Always love to read your sharing, lots of valuable info. 🤩. I enjoyed the tea culture clip notes…
I was replying to Pytheos above about another screenwriter for this drama.
If we close our eyes (since we are all quite experienced with C-dramas), we can see the characterisations of the different consorts in the different suitors. This could be an unofficial Yanxi Palace season 2 in a totally different setting with totally different characters, which is awesome. Sadly, there never was a second season of Yanxi Palace, only a spin-off focusing on Wei Yingluo's daughter.
Hi Xiang! Always love to read your sharing, lots of valuable info. 🤩. I enjoyed the tea culture clip notes…
You and your puns 😘😘😘 And when you are such an amazing person, no matter how many times I might splutter, it would never put a strain on our relationship :p
2 
7 
1 
3 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
Here is 仙剑奇侠传《水龙吟·余情幽梦》: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a3PjMmWlOM
You always have the best music taste.
If we are four scholars, you would wield the flute and feelings of encouragement and details. I would utilise the guqin and play chess. Megumi is the poet who decides calligraphy. And Pytheos is the painter who finds all sorts of inks (and visual media to make us crack up)~
The Directors know the short drama actors can carry the scenes and help make these first four episodes maximally engaging. If you watch Blood River, you can see that the leads had the least amount of time in the first two episodes while other cast members stepped to the fore.
The leads for this drama will be saved as the best for last, and the tension plus chemistry for these leads will be built over at least 20 episodes. The ML will be given time to showcase his ability to be shamelessly helpless and cunning, while the FL dominates. I am curious how they will have the FL in first half of drama versus second half of drama.
I have confidence the team can do it, given how picky and seasoned viewers can be for "Winter Begonia", "Story of Yanxi Palace" and certain short dramas.
I'm going to quote from an earlier post below.
[ With them at the helm, storyboarding and editing of the first four episodes have been fun, compacted with precision, and well-paced. Zhang Zhi Wei's dramas include themes of female empowerment, so he's right at home here. Guo Hao is capable with micro-details (such as when Shang Xi Rui in Winter Begonia charms certain women with his demonstration of understanding certain gestures). The dialogue is never wasted, and killer lines are unforgettable. Relationships and events allowing for individual characters to unfold are nicely-structured and help develop the main plot line, always advancing.
Between the matriarchal tycoon family and suitors ahoy for our Rong Shanbao, the social commentary and humour is also delicately barbed. Refreshing to see how men can be as scheming and political as women, when it comes to social status attainments in role reversals. There are multiple different types of power imbalance systems being indirectly revealed here. Choreography for the physical fights has been highly-engaging. ]
https://kisskh.at/772283-ming-men-shi-jia#comment-24642016
The title of this drama is very meaningful, as shared by nolatoo here: https://kisskh.at/772283-ming-men-shi-jia#comment-24643630
Azure did an amazing translation about Tang Lici's character here from a Douban article, cementing why Tang Lici is a unique timeless C-drama hero well-portrayed by Luo Yunxi, who is one of China's finest living cultural ambassadors: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24608278
~*~*~*~*~
kwanto's been just as amazing with collating and updating the data successes of SLY, and I attribute all the details in this section to kwanto:
As of 2 December, #4 on Maoyan’s annual chart after garnering more than 1.8 billion views within 39 days of broadcasting makes “Whispers of Fate” the fastest-moving entry of 2025 to move up the Maoyan chart. As of 6 December, exceeded 4.9 billion views on MangoTV’s front-end broadcast statistics. According to CSM data, 2.838 billion views were reached across all platforms. Despite newly-completing airing, not long after "Whispers of Fate" received nomination for CPOP 2026 (only other two dramas within these 3 years to be recognised and nominated were “Joy of Life” and “Till The End Of The Moon”).
Quoting from kwanto's latest post yesterday: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24642922
[ Datawin awarded top crown for SLY as top 1 effective views for marital art drama in 2025 and top 1 average per episode views for marital art drama in 2025. Just image if SLY airs without competition like Till the end of the moon in 2023, instead of head to head with 5 other traffic actor drama airing the same time. The above CVB rating also confirmed that SLY is top 3 in term of viewership from Satellite TV views in 2025, the only costume drama on the top 3.]
Knew SLY would be fantastic, even before CVB confirmed on Christmas Day: 收视喜报｜电视剧《#水龙吟# 》首播收视1.6亿人次
~*~*~*~*~*~
Dramfun29212 shared this excellent summary of the three categories on kwanto's thread:
{ Since WoF was broadcast on all #1,2,3 and most crucially it performed very well on all 3 channel categories, the holistic measure of WoF performance seems to be CSM's (TAM) report: ---> CSM (TAM) reports WoF "total viewing hours" = 384 mil vs. 225 mil for last year's top drama Joy of Life 2.
["total viewing hours" metric calculated by CSM is unfortunately not very intuitive to the layman...] }
https://kisskh.at/discussions/755725-shui-long-yin/146888-shui-long-yin-whispers-of-fate-3weeks-post-svip-finale-achievements?pid=3450306&page=1#p3450306
~*~*~*~*~*~
And for the currently-airing new drama "The Truth Within", kwanto also shared a weibo review by a forensic doctor about how realistic and technical Luo Yunxi has been, in this drama:
https://weibo.com/7563543395/5249180608234345
I don't know how many people here have watched the likes of "Yanxi Palace" or other good palace politics dramas, so I've shared details in two posts: https://kisskh.at/772283-ming-men-shi-jia#comment-24652318
The Directors are also masterful at having different roles carry different scenes, knowing when to give each character their moments to shine. Skilful building of tension and chemistry between the leads is already hinting at something surprisingly good to come, and I believe it is going to be awesome (but not before we have self-doubts and at least one significant conflict leading to the leads cementing things). There's also at least one upcoming director and screenwriter in the creative team not listed on this MDL site, and I'm interested to see how this stellar creative team continues to balance everyone's strengths :)
任亚南 is another up-and-coming screenwriter in the team, while 马诗歌 is another up-and-coming director.
If anyone is wondering about the various crew members in a stellar powerhouse of a creative team and what to note about the drama outlines and the cast, I created a short summary here: https://kisskh.at/772283-ming-men-shi-jia#comment-24642016
And if new viewers want to understand the classical literature underpinning this drama for the xuanhuan beliefs and wuxia elements which are strong especially based on Confucianism interwoven with Buddhism and Taoism, I'm happy to share my explanation: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24569086
His portrayal pulling at the heartstrings is too perfect. Valiant, self-sacrificial, hesitant, and nobly ceding his self-arrogance in words- I'll be surprised if there is no twist for him by the screenwriters.
When he realises Lu Jianglai becomes a true competitor, that might be when something happens. Meanwhile, get ready for the self-doubts from Lu Jianglai and disagreements between our leads, because the tension to build chemistry must be prolonged for another 10 episodes at least :p
Directors know how to adjust details and camerawork for different roles to carry different scenes.
*can you give me one cup of your tea*
╱|、
(˚ˎ 。7
|、˜〵
じしˍ,)ノ
If we close our eyes (since we are all quite experienced with C-dramas), we can see the characterisations of the different consorts in the different suitors. This could be an unofficial Yanxi Palace season 2 in a totally different setting with totally different characters, which is awesome. Sadly, there never was a second season of Yanxi Palace, only a spin-off focusing on Wei Yingluo's daughter.
Pytheos and I are sharing tea above XD