Jadie

Ikr… I’m so relieved YL didn’t tell him her nickname (which is Zhuo Ying). She looked totally uncomfortable the whole time with FW

🤣

I love these little actions that come from sincere heart

During my watch of today’s episodes, I wasn’t feeling as excited as previous episodes, as they’re quite uneventful.
HOWEVER, on finishing, I feel much better, because all those seemingly “boring” talks help XD to finally acknowledge his feeling for YL. He knows he loves her. For YL, nearly the same; she realizes she has feeling for him. I feel like starting next episode it is a new phase. Each of them has to reflect on what to do with their own feeling for the other. They can’t freely confess to each other like other couples. Considering the drama genre is romance, I appreciate the show gave us these two episodes (they’re not filler in my personal opinion), I very much look forward to future episodes.
Scenes I like:
- In YL’s memory, her mother gave her the pendant and wished for her to find her one true love
- The talk between the young prince YW LX and XD in ep12
- XD calling YL by her name, not “your Highness “
- YL reciting the poem to XD on the bridge and afterwards

Hehe… She misunderstood him being the one bringing those etiquette trainers, was angry and wanted to annoy him. Hope he can explain to her in next episode

For the 1st/ Yes. The pear tree scene is a beautiful and heartbreaking metaphor. He was telling her his secret there.
For the 2nd/ Technically she’s the late emperor’s woman. In the case of BYL, she even received the official consort title, therefore there was no way for BYL to freely leave the palace and find a new husband. If FW is an understanding and kind emperor, he might find a way to release BYL but of course we can guess he’s not going to do so. A new emperor taking in the previous one’s woman or the wife of his relatives is not common and encouraged, but it’s not something unprecedented in previous dynasties.

Yes in the novel

BYL is her regular name when she grows up. Zhuo Ying is the name given to her when she was born and little. The latter name only her family and her close ones know. This is historical Chinese naming culture I think (from reading Chinese literature). In the book, later she also tells XD this name

Am I the only one thinking thats BYL was waiting hours for XD, even under the rain, was actually because she looked forward to seeing him ? I wouldn’t say she was missing him, but I also don’t believe that she was worried about being scolded/ punished by him

Yes agreed. It’s getting dark for sure because of the revenge plot line, their secret and forbidden love, their struggle to be free, and not to mention XD’s secret of being fake eunuch, which will put him in grave danger if exposed. That’s why I’m loving all these early comedic, seemingly light-hearted moments (much thanks to adorable BYL)

Up till now, BYL has comforted XD/tried to make him happy 3 times: 1/ at tea garden, 2/ at the pear tree, 3/ on their way to the mausoleum. I like that she did these out of her kindness, not because she has romantic interest in him (yet). It’s about time he start giving her some sweetness in return.
P/S : Her 3rd try was quite fun. He is actually unhappy because of her, but she thought it was because he felt misunderstood by all the people. She tried too hard but failed to lift up his mood. Her saying “it’s so hard to coax him” is hilarious.

Even though the show makes a few changes, but the 2 major story lines are the same up till now. Imho, these changes are good, they bring more depth to the main characters and to the story.
1st story line is XD’s revenge for his brother’s death. In the book, this was told very briefly and he had been done with it before meeting BYL; this story line just served to explain to readers why XD had to enter the palace and why he had to become the person he is now. The show I think will unfold this story line in much more depth based on the trailers.
Second story line is XD & BYL’s love of course. BYL is after all the emperor’s woman and she must return to the emperor. There’re heavy angsts coming for sure. How they fought to be together is a huge spoiler. But I can tell you, in the novel, they stay true to their hearts and have a sweet happy ending.

Haha so true

from the book, except for her birth mom, no one in the family including her father cared a bit for her. She was not badly/ violently mistreated, but the family had always looked down on her, tricked her and used her. XD on learning about her childhood thought that she must have a such a big heart to grow up into a kind and bright cheerful girl she is now, and not turning into some mean and selfish one. I saw the character Bu Yin Ge (her sis by the legitimate wife) in the cast list, so maybe later episodes will show more details of her family. I don’t know if the show would include this plot, but in the book XD made a visit to her family and played a trick on that family to take revenge for BYL’s sake, which I found very sweet of him to do so

He looked hurt and unhappy all the way to the mausoleum. Then on reaching there, she couldn’t wait to see him off. Poor guy must be feeling hurt again, whereas she is totally clueless 😅

To my understanding of the novel, XD’s main reason was he wanted to break away from the empress’s control. It’s very clear in novel and drama that XD saw through the empress’s thirst for power, her being nice to him is not sincere, she is also using him, just like he’s taking advantage of her. He especially hated her touching him. If she ever got to be the Regent, she would be more powerful than now making things more difficult for him. As long as it’s not the empress Rong An in power, it really doesn’t make much difference to XD whether the little prince be crowned with FW as Regent/ or FW becoming Emperor. To XD, in either case, FW is easy to handle and manipulate.

Love love love the pear tree scene, so beautiful in many different ways

Agreed. I also like that she kinda has a sense of humor, which makes their interactions so far very enjoyable. Before meeting her, I guess everything around him must have been all about heavy, serious business

In the novel, XD character is 7yrs older than BYL

- He suspiciously asked what her true intention in comforting him was, and she shamelessly replied she of course was ingratiating herself with him (which I believe is not completely true)
- When in panic she pulled him down to hide from the garden keeper, she then urged him to go out as she wanted to know the feeling of having backup/ cover for her misdeed. She even patted him a few times on his legs :-)
- In the end she happily said having backup was nice indeed, he cracked a little but genuine smile on hearing that, which was cute