Xiang83

It is quite possible that elderly Zhuang had planned the downfall and demise of the late Empress well, to enable his own daughter to replace her. There's a scene in one of the recent episodes, whereby Feng Suige tells Yixiao not to kill Prime Minister Zhuang or his mother's name will never be cleared. I also remember Feng Suige once said people such as the maid of the late Empress died, and evidence was destroyed.

Did the Emperor make any attempts to uncover the truth? We don't know. He definitely has certain ideas about how to prepare Feng Suige to be Emperor, but not all those ideas are correct. His silence is likely part of protecting Feng Suige but also part of a warped idea believing that toughening Feng Suige in a certain manner growing up is the only way to properly prepare Feng Suige to take over. I am sure this Emperor can be ruthless with himself when it comes to the crunch. After all, what did he go through to become Emperor?

Prime Minister Zhuang hates the Emperor for a son's death, but the reason why is not yet clear.

Murong Yao strikes me as not quite having a very clear vision of how to achieve what he wants. Sure, he's allied himself with Prime Minister Zhuang for his own beliefs of petty revenge perceived wrongly but if his father goes against Prime Minister Zhuang, Murong Yao is likely to alter his stance. Murong Yao may have an idea of what an Emperor should be, but we have yet to see if he approves of the Prime Minister's Grandson being Emperor. He doesn't even strike me as respectful of Prime Minister Zhuang so to a large extent, he is a loose cannon ultimately based on what happens to his father and his father's well-being.

The Storm Alliance was founded by Feng Suige's mother. At one point in one of the pre-release trailers, we see Feng Suige being stabbed through the back by a sword, and Yixiao desperately rushing to the place where he was dumped into a prepared pit for burial.

In order to rightfully retrieve the throne which his father meant for him to have all along and since he is her son, people of the Storm Alliance will be willing to save Feng Suige. If we take elder physician Ling's words at face value, these people should also be willing to help Feng Suige become Emperor. If the late Empress had left any orders to the Storm Alliance about her son and any of these people wanted to keep an eye on Feng Suige, they might have infiltrated the court under the pretext of being one of Prime Minister Zhuang's people or Elder Murong's people.

I presume our tender-hearted Second Prince will not want to be a puppet Emperor at some point because this Prime Minister Zhuang and this Empress cannot help themselves, and the Second Prince finds out how evil they are. Given the scenes of sibling love and respect within the first ten episodes, the Second Prince is willing to help his older brother and brotherly love will be necessary to help Feng Suige take the throne, along with people of the Storm Alliance and Elder Murong who is opposed to Prime Minister Zhuang.

Speculation about certain scenes in a pre-release trailer plus the interesting detail in a conversation between two characters at the end of episode 20, pertaining to the late Empress of Susha Kingdom:

I am aware that there are spoiler speculations for the drama floating around weibo, x and other mediums pertaining to what happens with XJS and Xiyang after they enter Jinxiu Kingdom. A lot of these videos are wrong because they didn't understand the correct context of the scenes that are indeed for future episodes and not yet aired.

One example is the slapping scene. A lot of these speculation videos missed out the fact that in this scene, Xiyang is wearing a specific dress and hairstyle whereby she imitates Yixiao. She is desperate to get the love of XJS in the novel and the drama, but this scene is only for the drama and never in the novel. My version of spoilers is very different for what happens to drama XJS and Xiyang in Jinxiu Kingdom before episode 19 aired, partially due to understanding the novel plus drama differences and because of awareness of certain scenes:

https://kisskh.at/768987-wan-xin-ji#comment-23740534

Tormented and humiliated by his brother is one matter. Having to suffer pain from the poison that he needs a monthly antidote to is another matter. Drama-Xiyang doesn't realise that by trying to mimic Yixiao, she gives the greatest pain to the biggest wound of XJS: Her existence is the reminder that he was never given a choice in the matter of marriage to her, and her getup reminds him of how he is permanently separated from Yixiao whom he loves so much that he wants to give Yixiao his mother's jade bangle.

In the novel, the Empress Dowager of Jinxiu is responsible for the deaths of Xia Jingshi's parents and denying Xia Jingshi the throne, which was her late husband's wish.

In the novel, there is no indication that Xiyang has sex with anyone. Xia Jingshi does not touch her. At one point, the Emperor made Yixiao accidentally stab Xiyang through the chest with a sword by shoving Xiyang at Yixiao.

Novel-Xiyang did not fall in love with the younger brother of XJS and does not have a kid. Because the Emperor looks 7/10 like XJS, Xiyang is drawn to the Emperor while XJS constantly treats her with civil respect and is blunt about being unable to love her. That said, Xiyang rejects every physical advance made on her by the Emperor.

In the novel, the Emperor pretends to be a good person and takes advantage of Xiyang's naivety about life and overwhelmingly stupid jealousy of Fu Yixiao, and tells Xiyang a ridiculous story about Ning Fei and Fu Yixiao which she then tells XJS. XJS doesn't believe Xiyang because in the novel at the beginning, Yixiao is deeply in love with XJS to the point that she once offered herself as a concubine or slave or maid to XJS and was also willing to die to stop XJS going to Susha Kingdom to marry Xiyang as per the imperial decree that XJS accepted.

Where novel-Xiyang and drama-Xiyang are similar at this point is the naivety about life and jealousy of Yixiao. Drama-Xiyang is better then novel-Xiyang at this point, because novel-Xiyang betrayed Xia Jingshi a first time and the second time novel-Xiyang does something equally stupid after that, it could have gotten her own brother plus Yixiao plus XJS killed because they had to break out of an encirclement. This happens because Yixiao and Suige travelled to Jingxiu Kingdom after hearing about Weiran and XJS being badly injured plus wanting to send Ling Xueying back. During that journey, they learn about XJS being targeted by the Emperor and want to help XJS.

What leads to all this is Xiyang's overwhelming jealousy of Yixiao combined with desperation to get the love of XJS resulting in very stupid emotional decisions. Why all this sounds alien is because novel-XJS is 98% different from drama-XJS. Just like novel-XJS, drama-XJS is firmly verbal about being unable to love Xiyang and for now, is civilly respectful to Xiyang.

But the drama will have at least one change fundamental to Xiyang that makes XJS snap, resulting in XJS slapping Xiyang.

And in episode 22, since the Emperor Dowager verbally forbade her son from any intentions towards Xiyang, that horrible psychopath who always does the opposite of what he is told by authority is now going to focus on Xiyang. How he will focus? Well, that's going to involve at least one instance of physical cruelty. In the novel, this Emperor wants to take away whatever good things or fortune which XJS has. In this drama, the writers may keep that motive but change the ideas which this Emperor embarks upon.

In this drama, the stylists have done a mostly-great job with the male characters for costumes and wigs and much of the makeup. The directors and screenwriter understand the source material and the need for the changes because their scenes and plots have a very natural progression and the pacing is tightly-controlled with no filler scenes, plus the lines between all characters (primary or secondary) sound natural and engaging because the dialogues are very carefully planned. On top of that, Li Qin has been encouraging and helpful with Chen Zheyuan when acting with him.

I have never finished a drama that Chen Zheyuan is in, because he appeared bland or over-acts to me. But in this drama, he's been able to fully bring out a range of emoting with the right crew and co-stars, helped by a very good script. He shines brightly, and I'd say he portrays all the best aspects of novel-Feng Suige. He'll be acting with Wu Jinyan in another drama, and I believe he does better with actresses older than him.

Novel-Xiyang did not fall in love with the younger brother of XJS. Because the Emperor looks 7/10 like XJS, Xiyang is drawn to the Emperor while XJS constantly treats her with civil respect and is blunt about being unable to love her.

The Emperor pretends to be a good person and takes advantage of Xiyang's naivety about life and overwhelmingly stupid jealousy of Fu Yixiao, and tells Xiyang a ridiculous story about Ning Fei and Fu Yixiao which she then tells XJS. XJS doesn't believe Xiyang because in the novel at the beginning, Yixiao is deeply in love with XJS to the point that she once offered herself as a concubine or slave or maid to XJS and was also willing to die to stop XJS going to Susha Kingdom to marry Xiyang as per the imperial decree that XJS accepted.

Where novel-Xiyang and drama-Xiyang are similar at this point is the naivety about life and jealousy of Yixiao. Drama-Xiyang is better then novel-Xiyang at this point, because novel-Xiyang betrayed Xia Jingshi a first time and the second time novel-Xiyang does something equally stupid after that, it could have gotten her own brother plus Yixiao plus XJS killed because they had to break out of an encirclement. This happens because Yixiao and Suige travelled to Jingxiu Kingdom after hearing about Weiran and XJS being badly injured plus wanting to send Ling Xueying back. During that journey, they learn about XJS being targeted by the Emperor and want to help XJS.

What leads to all this is Xiyang's overwhelming jealousy of Yixiao combined with desperation to get the love of XJS resulting in very stupid emotional decisions. Why all this sounds alien is because novel-XJS is 98% different from drama-XJS. Just like novel-XJS, drama-XJS is firmly verbal about being unable to love Xiyang and for now, is civilly respectful to Xiyang.

But the drama will have at least one change fundamental to Xiyang that makes XJS snap, resulting in XJS slapping Xiyang.

Try to join in sometime within the next 3 days. This section is a lot of fun and discussions are generally civil and/or humorous.

For those who simply want to enjoy seeing our three leads interacting before/while taking a photo in an episode in the drama, this segment has no spoilers if you don't understand mandarin: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5219882368769715

Jiang Shu Ying and Wu Jinyan are in this not-yet-released IQiyi Light On series: https://kisskh.at/776041-thos-flowers

I want more quality female-centric dramas, regardless of the era. We need some dynamic ladies tag-teaming and getting the spotlight they deserve.

You can see my comment to nightdivine just above this comment of yours. The Screenwriters and Directors have displayed strong understanding of the novel plus necessary changes in adaptation for the drama, so I believe they might be able to pull it off.

https://kisskh.at/768987-wan-xin-ji#comment-23757246

It's currently still a speculation, but I believe the screenwriters put certain scenes in earlier episodes for that reason. For the drama ending to match the novel ending if the details fall into place, I put certain details under spoilers here:

https://kisskh.at/discussions/768987-wan-xin-ji/145636-novel-versus-drama-differences?pid=3407420&page=2#p3407420

I think he will be the key that allows Feng Suige to become Emperor, if the ending of this drama matches the novel. After seeing how evil his grandfather and mother truly are as rulers, if the second prince holds true to his values and loves his older brother which is what was shown multiple times in the drama, he may secretly communicate with his older brother and co-operate in a plan for Feng Suige to become emperor because he thinks his mother and grandfather are too evil.

Considering how useless his brother is as a ruler (which Xia Jingyan's biological mother the Dowager Empress pointed out), Xia Jingshi knows he must return to Jinxiu Kingdom otherwise without him, Susha Kingdom might succeed in invading and conquering Jinxiu. The Empress Dowager in episode 20 told Xia Jingshi if not for him in charge at Pingling, multiple incursions from Susha Kingdom would have succeeded.

Losing his military power would also mean he would be at the mercy of his brother who would have a good reason to stop giving a monthly antidote before he is ready to act on a permanent solution, be at the mercy of assassins from any political faction or kingdom, and at the mercy of whatever happens in Susha Kingdom. Xia Jingshi cannot remain in Susha Kingdom for multiple reasons.

And as to my total thoughts on XJS at this point, here is what I add: Before this comment, I made one comment elsewhere along the lines of, "He is at the mercy of his younger brother and step-mother, and he is finding a way to survive and overcome that. He did tell Xiyang she could leave him, when they were at the border. He also told Xiyang he would never love her, and all he could give is the status accorded as the wife of the Prince of Zhennan. The death camp he maintained doesn't mean he is excused, nor his decision to sacrifice his own citizens in battle. It's a question of how unacceptable his ruthlessness is."

Yixiao couldn't accept it, understandably. Willing to sacrifice so many of his own citizens is unacceptable. As to the death camp, I don't know if he was going to use that death camp against his own brother who is poisoning him and wants to kill him one day, which Xia Jingshi knows very well.

If he made Xiao Weiran, Ning Fei and Yixiao loyal to him by lying to them about the death camp (ie if he didn't really rescue them from the death camp but lied to them because he saw they were the most capable and likely to be most useful to him), then that is unacceptable.

All this does not mean Xia Jingshi is heartless or without honour. Even if he isn't heartless and he has honour in certain aspects, he would still be unacceptable to me based on the one fact of the many citizens he wanted to sacrifice and not because he shot Yixiao or wanted to harm Feng Suige.

Susha Kingdom is not innocent. XJS is needed by JInxiu Kingdom because it is a fact that his brother is incompetent. Being needed by Jinxiu Kingdom and his own goals are two separate matters, given his choices about a death camp and at one point willing to sacrifice his citizens. The Empress Dowager already praised XJS repelling multiple attempted incursions by Susha Kingdom at Pingling City. XJS wanting Feng Suige dead is justified, but his previous thwarted method is not.

Drama-Xiyang is better than novel-Xiyang at this point. Drama-Xiyang is actually true in mentality to novel-Xiyang. Novel-Xiyang's naivety and selfishness gets XJS captured and badly-tortured by his evil younger brother, and even after knowing how evil the Emperor is and the circumstances of Yixiao + Suige + XJS in in the tight position of needing to break through and survive, Xiyang still frees the Emperor they captured who therefore gets a second chance to take XJS and kill him and everyone else. XJS proposes a swap between Xiyang for XJS. XJS kept his promise of never abandoning Xiyang, even if he didn't love her and also made this very clear. After finally realising something pertaining to XJS, Xiyang sacrifices herself for XJS and is mortally wounded.

In the novel, Feng Suige and Yixiao back XJS to be the Emperor. Here, if that is to happen in such circumstances in the drama, I only see one possible path to do so if the plot is to be legit. The screenwriters already wrote XJS for the first 16 episodes until he is almost a totally-different person from novel-XJS, and I get why they did it. Doesn't mean I am not annoyed with them sacrificing the most-noble character in the novel so everyone else gets better portrayals and better relationships including Feng Suige's father.

Before I commented to you, I made one comment elsewhere along the lines of, "He is at the mercy of his younger brother and step-mother, and he is finding a way to survive and overcome that. He did tell Xiyang she could leave him, when they were at the border. He also told Xiyang he would never love her, and all he could give is the status accorded as the wife of the Prince of Zhennan. The death camp he maintained doesn't mean he is excused, nor his decision to sacrifice his own citizens in battle. It's a question of how unacceptable his ruthlessness is."

Yixiao couldn't accept it, understandably. Willing to sacrifice so many of his own citizens is unacceptable. As to the death camp, I don't know if he was going to use that death camp against his own brother who is poisoning him and wants to kill him one day, which Xia Jingshi knows very well.

If he made Xiao Weiran, Ning Fei and Yixiao loyal to him by lying to them about the death camp (ie if he didn't really rescue them from the death camp but lied to them because he saw they were the most capable and likely to be most useful to him), then that is unacceptable.

All this does not mean Xia Jingshi is heartless or without honour. Even if he isn't heartless and he has honour in certain aspects, he would still be unacceptable to me based on the one fact of the many citizens he wanted to sacrifice and not because he shot Yixiao or wanted to harm Feng Suige.

Susha Kingdom is not innocent. XJS is needed by JInxiu Kingdom because it is a fact that his brother is incompetent. Being needed by Jinxiu Kingdom and his own goals are two separate matters, given his choices about a death camp and at one point willing to sacrifice his citizens. The Empress Dowager already praised XJS repelling multiple attempted incursions by Susha Kingdom at Pingling City. XJS wanting Feng Suige dead is justified, but his previous thwarted method is not.

Drama-Xiyang is better than novel-Xiyang at this point. Drama-Xiyang is actually true in mentality to novel-Xiyang. Novel-Xiyang's naivety and selfishness gets XJS captured and badly-tortured by his evil younger brother, and even after knowing how evil the Emperor is and the circumstances of Yixiao + Suige + XJS in in the tight position of needing to break through and survive, Xiyang still frees the Emperor they captured who therefore gets a second chance to take XJS and kill him and everyone else. XJS proposes a swap between Xiyang for XJS. XJS kept his promise of never abandoning Xiyang, even if he didn't love her and also made this very clear. After finally realising something pertaining to XJS, Xiyang sacrifices herself for XJS and is mortally wounded.

In the novel, Feng Suige and Yixiao back XJS to be the Emperor. Here, if that is to happen in such circumstances in the drama, I only see one possible path to do so if the plot is to be legit. The screenwriters already wrote XJS for the first 16 episodes until he is almost a totally-different person from novel-XJS, and I get why they did it. Doesn't mean I am not annoyed with them sacrificing the most-noble character in the novel so everyone else gets better portrayals and better relationships including Feng Suige's father.

Considering how useless his brother is as a ruler (which Xia Jingyan's biological mother the Dowager Empress pointed out), Xia Jingshi knows he must return to Jinxiu Kingdom otherwise without him, Susha Kingdom might succeed in invading and conquering Jinxiu. The Empress Dowager in episode 20 told Xia Jingshi if not for him in charge at Pingling, multiple incursions from Susha Kingdom would have succeeded.

Losing his military power would also mean he would be at the mercy of his brother who would have a good reason to stop giving a monthly antidote before he is ready to act on a permanent solution, be at the mercy of assassins from any political faction or kingdom, and at the mercy of whatever happens in Susha Kingdom. Xia Jingshi cannot remain in Susha Kingdom for multiple reasons.

No, I didn't forget, which is why I also said in my initial comment, "The death camp he maintained doesn't mean he is excused, nor his decision to sacrifice his own citizens in battle. It's a question of how unacceptable his ruthlessness is."

Yixiao couldn't accept it, understandably. Willing to sacrifice so many of his own citizens is unacceptable. As to the death camp, I don't know if he was going to use that death camp against his own brother who is poisoning him and wants to kill him one day, which Xia Jingshi knows very well.

If he made Xiao Weiran, Ning Fei and Yixiao loyal to him by lying to them about the death camp (ie if he didn't really rescue them from the death camp but lied to them because he saw they were the most capable and likely to be most useful to him), then that is unacceptable.

All this does not mean Xia Jingshi is heartless or without honour. Even if he isn't heartless and he has honour in certain aspects, he would still be unacceptable to me based on the one fact of the many citizens he wanted to sacrifice and not because he shot Yixiao.

In the novel, Xia Jingshi was justified in shooting Yixiao but in the drama, he's justified only if one agrees with his reasoning which in my case, is a no.

IQiyi Light On is for crime and mystery, IQiyi Love On is for romance. "Beloved" and "The Bad Kids" from the Light On series is recommended. Top-notch acting and plot.

We also deviated into Ah lam gor's voice and his other dramas, so the threads didn't stay on point XD He did a funny interview where Sandra Ng was the hostess.

IQiyi's Light On series are dramas of mostly 16 episodes each, focusing on crime and mystery, with the human psychology interest varying depending on the drama. There's at least 4 good dramas. Not Sci-fi.

I am finishing Time Raiders being the first season of DMBJ, which the author greatly contributed to its creation and is making future seasons with the same cast, to cover several of his books.

I remember watching at least one Justice Bao drama series while growing up as a kid. As to age, no need to guess. You can find a few of us going gaga over Chi lam in two threads in TJOL XD

https://kisskh.at/768985-fu-shan-hai#comment-23682152

https://kisskh.at/768985-fu-shan-hai#comment-23683014

I think drama-XJS pities her. When he isn't tormented by his love for Yixiao or effects of poison or considerations of other issues, his reaction to her is not hostile. He understandably became hostile when Xiyang tried to strip him and become intimate with him, despite Xiyang knowing XJS has no feelings for her and is in love with Yixiao. But that was very brief, because he moved away from her and resumed being coldly distant.

What is the justification for Xiyang doing this to a man she claims to love, while knowing he was forced to marry her and he doesn't love her?