Xiang83

Get a seatbelt and a ton of water. The screenwriters are going to up the pacing as the drama progresses.

This drama will age well. 10 years from now, it will be one of the first few historical cdramas coming to mind, if one is asked to suggest a strong FL.

We have 12 episodes left, and the scriptwriters are going at breakneck speed to wrap up loose ends, still tightly maintaining control. And it looks like the fires will ignite in Jinxiu as well, for the next two episodes.

The Emperor has just realised that the woman he kept trying to defeat kept him alive. He lost his son, in trying to shape him in the only ways he believed were best for creating an Emperor.

Those two emotional blows were likely what made him decide to let Murong Zhong go. Did the Emperor have someone record down what Murong Zhong confessed about Murong Yao?

Physician Ling Feng being asked to save him, by the wife he indirectly killed truly burns. Feng Pingcheng grew up in poverty and a refugee camp, and it is understandable that he came to believe in the need to fight and seize power. Whatever regret he feels now, he still wants Suige to take the throne and he believes a general amnesty will suffice.

Many messes happen because of decisions made when we don't have the pieces. This happens everyday. This drama nicely encapsulates all the messy grey shades of humans and decisions.

His world came crashing down on him, the moment he stared carefully at the four females in black who had come with his son and killed two innocent men, who refused to heed his orders except for one look from his son. Superb acting.

At least Murong Yao finally got the disciplining he deserved. That said, you can see how conflicted Murong Yao felt. Zuo Ye deserves a big role in another drama.

If there's one parent I feel the most for at this point, it is Murong Yao's father. The actors as fathers in this drama are giving superb portrayals that elicit specific emotions, whether it is PM Zhuang, Feng Pingcheng, or Murong Zhong. Also, kudos to Zuo Ye interacting with the actor who plays his father.

At the end of the novel, Xiyang dies after betraying Xia Jingshi once and then betraying him + Yixiao + her brother as a second time, then comes to her senses for Xia Jingshi honouring a promise to never abandon her and hence takes a mortal wound for him. The screenwriters have kept certain traits and events from the novel, but altered the timeline and/or the cause of the incident. The ending for drama-Xiyang might be different. However, she is about to do something monumentally stupid that might get her killed, which aligns with her novel motivations of driven to desperation from Xia Jingshi's constant rejection plus irrational jealousy of Yixiao... which is what got her killed.

This comment summarising details about drama-Xiyang versus novel-Xiyang might help you: https://kisskh.at/768987-wan-xin-ji#comment-23761606

The writers have definitely maintained certain elements and fundamental traits of the main characters who are in the novel. If they retain an event, they alter the cause and/or timeline of the event. The motivations and issues of novel-Xiyang are still maintained, only changing certain events.

And while the drama is quite different from the novel, it is clear to me that the writers have preserved certain elements and traits and events from the novel, even if there is at least 70% difference of plot at this point. Otherwise novel readers would object. I am not objecting on almost everything because of how vastly improved many details have been when used for this drama, plus what has been retained about Fu Yixiao and Feng Suige and other characters as constant balancing efforts. For example, what is in episode 2 (what Feng Suige does to enemy general Fu Yixiao) is also in the novel, only different in certain details.

Sorry about the delay. My notifications got weird ie delayed or zero when this site gave me issues 2 days back. This is where I believe drama-XJS results in a very divided audience due to two main issues:

1) Adaption from novel
2) Emoting limitations of an actor who visually fits the part but is not adequate at micro-expressing.

Xia Jingshi is supposed to at least be in charge of the military power, which is also from the novel. This also matches the drama.

I had wondered how XJS would find a way to escape and return to Jinxiu, but the scriptwriters made it such that XIyang is still going to Jinxiu (as per the novel) but in a different manner and for a different reason in the drama. Drama-XJS isn't completely heartless and cruel and always strategic, which a lot of viewers on this page overlook due to understandably lambasting him over the choices he made about sacrificing citizens and shooting Yixiao. In a flashback of an earlier episode, XJS told Yixiao to leave during battle when he appeared injured but she refused to leave and let him die. When XJS gave Xiyang the option to leave, I believe he had decided he would find a way.

I don't believe the directors and writers are trying to give XJS a redemption arc. I believe they will present everyone on respective platters, because they have already shown that they handle certain tropes like amnesia well. The writers have definitely maintained certain elements and traits of the main characters who are in the novel. If they retain an event, they alter the cause and/or timeline of the event.

Drama-Xiyang has finally caught up to novel-Xiyang, in what is about to be the most stupid decision likely getting her justifiably killed by XJS. The woman is a sheltered naive princess used to getting what she wants without rejection. She wants XJS to love her because she is is not in love with him but her idea of what she wants him to be for her. He constantly refuses her obsession in words and actions. Her desperation for his love and irrational jealousy of Yixiao is her undoing, both in the drama and novel. When she dresses up like Yixiao (same hairstyle and dress) and vilifies Yixiao, XJS finally snaps and strikes her (this part is not in the novel). This drives her to decide to align with Xia Jingyan.

Also, I don't think Xia Jingyan will fall in love with Xiyang in the drama, even if she aligns herself with him. In the novel, that character is cruel and capricious and only wants to deny his brother XJS any good fortune, and he tricks her while nearly killing her by getting Yixiao to accidentally stab her through the chest. If Xiyang marries him, she is likely to suffer. If the screenwriters fundamentally change this character, I'm going to be very surprised because how are they going to justify this loathsome chap who gets maids beaten to death on a whim?

Ruyan the dancer is going to play a vital part in the drama later, when Yixiao needs to find Feng Suige, if I am not wrong. The Storm Alliance will likely also be shown in the drama, because Feng Suige cannot make a strategic attempt to save Xiyang without backup of some sort.

Murong Yao may play a part in whether Feng Suige takes the throne and/or how the rebellion by XJS in Jinxiu Kingdom turns out. I have not figured out the rationale for the death camp warriors which XJS allowed Murong Yao to use. Did XJS agree to take part in a plan to also get rid of Feng Suige, whom XJS sees as a threat to Jinxiu? We therefore need to have things wrapped up in Susha plus Jinxiu, so two parallel plots are needed.

I don't think Murong Yao is badly-written or incoherent, because he comes across as a mixture of petty, childish and partially understandable but not justified in his stance towards Feng Suige. Murong Yao is a loose cannon, where his only loyalty is to his father. People are very varied.

The writers (to me) have tried to give characters different shades of grey.
And while the drama is quite different from the novel, it is clear to me that the writers have preserved certain elements and traits and events from the novel, even if there is at least 70% difference of plot at this point. Otherwise novel readers would object. I am not objecting because of how vastly improved many details have been when used for this drama, plus what has been retained about Fu Yixiao and Feng Suige and other characters as constant balancing efforts.

ETA: The Empress Dowager of Jinxiu is two-faced in the novel. I believe she will be the same here, only she wants to preserve her position as Empress Dowager in the drama. It will therefore make sense for this character to pit both half-brothers against each other. As to whether XJS will seek to find out the truth behind the deaths of his mother and father ie the late Emperor, that is only in the novel for now but not yet known if it will be a motivation for drama-Xia Jingshi.

As to how it is possible for Feng Suige and Xia Jingshi to come to a truce, if both of them take the thrones of their own kingdoms? It will require Ning Fei who will be at the Storm Alliance to tell Yixiao certain things about Xia Jingshi so that she can talk to him and persuade him into a truce between both kingdoms with terms he can agree to. And if Xia Jingshi loves her as much as indicated in the novel and if this factor matches the drama, then he will agree. But first, XJS will definitely have to fight Feng Suige and survive, when Feng Suige goes to save Xiyang.
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Xia Jingshi already told Xiyang he would never love her, and he is steadfast about that plus his love for Fu Yixiao (this steadfastness is also in the novel). Xiyang and her father never gave Xia Jingshi any choice in this marriage. Xiyang also makes a very fatal blunder of wrongly badmouthing Fu Yixiao who protected Xia Jingshi for years to the point of risking her life, while dressing up like Fu Yixiao and with the same hairstyle to try to make Xia Jingshi love her (this is in the drama for the next episode, but not in the novel). Yixiao would never do that.

With such behaviour, Xiyang just confirmed for Xia Jingshi why he can never love her. He saves her once in a not-unique way, and she decides he must love her and only her. She has never been rejected and always gotten her way as a princess, and she expects him to give in to her. This is exactly the selfishness and naivety that enables her stupid decisions in the novel, and it looks like she'll die as well (only via a different incident and by a different person).

Just as people in Susha Kingdom are aware that Feng Suige protects them with his military achievements, the people of Jinxiu Kingdom are aware that Xia Jingshi keeps them safe from enemies such as Susha Kingdom. Empress Dowager who calls Xia Jingshi a bastard behind his back told Xia Jingshi that because of him, at Pingling City multiple attempts to invade by Susha Kingdom were foiled. XJS seizing the throne would only be celebrated by his citizens who wouldn't know that once upon a time, he was willing to sacrifice 300,000 of them to kill Feng Suige.

If XJS took the throne of Jinxiu Kingdom, is he worse than Xia Jingyan, who takes any official's wife he wants for his bed and has no issues having a maid beaten to death simply to show his brother who is boss? At least XJS has a record for protecting his kingdom. Xia Jingyan has basically been leeching off XJS all these years and wants to kill XJS at some point.

Novel-Xiyang's desperation to get the love of XJS and irrationally persistent jealousy of Fu Yixiao resulted in her making decisions to preserve what she wanted to believe until she couldn't, and that is what eventually led to her death after she realises the wrong she has done and wants to make up for it.

Be it the drama or novel, the reason why men like Feng Suige and Xia Jingshi fall in love with Fu Yixiao is because they want a woman who can stand alongside them, fight with them, and protect them. That is why Xiyang doesn't get it, because she has never considered what love truly is. If she allies herself with Xia Jingyan (as per what is shown for the next two episodes in previews), Xia Jingshi will be justified in killing her.

In her naivety, Xiyang has never actually considered her husband's intellect, as to why he can command so many troops and successfully fend off Susha Kingdom's attacks. In the novel, Feng Suige fears Xia Jingshi's intellect, because Xia Jingshi is known as the God of War of Jinxiu. Xia Jingshi actually helped Feng Suige with a significant problem and the two princes reach a certain state of amicableness before chapter 25 but this drama cannot follow the novel for many reasons, otherwise there is no drama.

I don't see how drama-Xiyang is going to avoid getting herself killed by Xia Jingshi who is stealthily and steadily building his trap for destroying Xia Jingyan.

Xiyang grew up sheltered and never had to fight for her life or suffer, hence one would question whether she actually understands empathy and different viewpoints because she is very emotionally immature. She is scolding her brother about objecting to her marriage to XJS, without listening to what her brother had to say. She is going on about what she wants and being respected for it. Then why can't she respect what Xia Jingshi wants? He has already said he can give her the status and privileges that come with her position as Princess of Zhennan, but he cannot love her and he cannot help her with her obsession.

Yixiao had to survive and suffered muchly, so she developed brains and ruthlessness yet remembered to retain compassion. Xiyang goes to see Yixiao, but has never shown any inclination to understand Yixiao. Yixiao exerts more effort to truly understand Feng Suige in a short time than Xiyang has ever attempted in all her years with her brother. That's the fundamental difference between the two women.

Between these two women, it's not surprising why everyone chooses Yixiao.

And despite seeing how Xia Jingyan treats Xia Jingshi plus has a maid beaten to death for his whims, all her claims about love for Xia Jingshi flies out the window when Xia Jingshi rejects her and objects to her vilifying Yixiao while she is playing dress-up and same hairstyle like Yixiao which is creepy. And aligning herself with Xia Jingyan, due to being jilted? That's not even potential girlfriend material. She doesn't love Xia Jingshi, only her idea of what she wants him to be for her.

Why do you label this an illogical romance? Genuinely curious.

What makes you unable to get into this drama? Genuinely curious.

I remember her as Kwang Lu in Ashes of Love, where she has feelings for Luo Yunxi's character (and she was my favourite female character there).

She thought that with the Empress dead, she could be his bae. His most trusted companion. Rihanna to his Drake- Whoops, wrong reference. Yes, something about a sunset. In her own warped way, she loves him. Then she finds out after 15 years of efforts that he doesn't trust her at all, plus realises he most likely had no intention of making her son the emperor because he never showed any inclination in shaping Chengyang or having a hand in his upbringing. She can see how capable Feng Suige is.

I don't think Daddy Zhuang told her about wanting to see Feng Pingchang suffer before dying, otherwise she might not be as cooperative with his plans because she is the Empress, and could stuff up his plans majorly if she doesn't cooperate.

Take the pill, for example. Only he and his nephew know about it.

I just want to get the Second Prince to be happy with his Gege again. Minus all the scheming nutjobs who won't leave them alone. They deserve to continue their sweet brotherly love, which is very enjoyable onscreen.

The Zhuang brain malfunctions whenever they are emotionally riled up.

Empress Zhuang: You still love that woman and don't trust me enough to tell me about your terminal illness, so I am stuffing a rice dumpling in your mouth to kill you!

Prime Minister Zhuang: My son only paid for a house and slightly overstepped his boundaries but didn't do anything, so he didn't deserve to die for treason!

At this point, I have no idea how the Second Prince grew up normal and sweet and sunny while raised by these people.

Thanks, I'll go check it out. Spy-espionage thriller "The Guardians" is currently my top drama of this year.

I don't think the screenwriters or directors want any viewer to sympathise for any characters. They present the different angles mirroring certain characteristics of characters in the novel while changing the events/incidents, and we pick what we want.

Xiyang grew up sheltered and never had to fight for her life or suffer, hence one would question whether she actually understands empathy and different viewpoints because she is very emotionally immature. She is scolding her brother about objecting to her marriage to XJS, without listening to what her brother had to say.

Yixiao had to survive and suffered muchly, so she developed brains and ruthlessness yet remembered to retain compassion. Xiyang goes to see Yixiao, but has never shown any inclination to understand Yixiao. Yixiao exerts more effort to truly understand Feng Suige in a short time than Xiyang has ever attempted in all her years with her brother. That's the fundamental difference between the two women.

Between these two women, it's not surprising why everyone chooses Yixiao.

And despite seeing how Xia Jingyan treats Xia Jingshi plus has a maid beaten to death for his whims, all her claims about love for Xia Jingshi flies out the window when Xia Jingshi rejects her and objects to her vilifying Yixiao while she is playing dressup like Yixiao. And aligning herself with Xia Jingyan, due to being jilted? That's not potential girlfriend material. She doesn't love him, only her idea of what she wants him to be for her.

Her father really sucked at bringing up children. Maybe it's a good thing he didn't interfere with the Second Prince's upbringing, otherwise that kid would be emotionally screwed by now. I like that Second Prince who is very sweet but wouldn't survive court politics.

No. The screenwriters kept Feng Suige's ruthlessness and finetuned it, and they wrote a drama-version Feng Suige which I muchly prefer over the novel version.