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Her behavior in reaction to the pervert was probably not work appropriate (which she admits later) but it was satisfying. It also gave us a clear indicator of who she really is outside of work. After the timeskip she didnt act inappropriate towards him till he identified himself as the “pervert.” Up to that point she was just embarrassed and trying to remove herself from the situation. The fact she can relax and be more herself around him and less “work her” is an early indicator they are a good fit. You’ll learn in next few episodes she has a hard time admitting negative emotions to those she loves. Anger or outrage sure, but the things that make her sad or hurt her, she really struggles to express.

Totally your call to drop something that doesn't appeal to you. I personally thought it was pretty badass that after the emotional and personal hits our FL took, she stood up and challenged the ML’s immature and self centered behavior. He’s not a bad guy but the way he was acting (hiding with courtesans the days immediately after his wedding) was damaging to more than just himself. And he respects the FL for it. The first 6-8 episodes are great as they navigate the changes their marriage made in both their lives which leads to becoming friends. When the FL does go too far later with her schedules for his studying, she listens when the ML demonstrates why its too far. They are good are doing that for each other: listening to the others perspective and finding a compromise that makes them both happy.

I would love a second season with an adult romance!

Keep watching. She has some very cool moments coming up. I will say the following arcs dont have her as much as I would like, but she’s still there and doing big things.

It perfectly communicates how skeevy and pretentious he is?

Yeah. I like the glimpse of her as the happy free spirited mother she was. Makes me question if part of her distance all these years was feeling like she didn't have the right to connect with SY until she’d gained enough to prove that her leaving to achieve her ambitions was worth it. So rich husband means she’s made it good. And now she cant understand why he doesn’t see it that way.

If its going the romantic route, SY is super serious and the story takes place in the past. He might be too serious to pursue romantic feelings while still in high school and/or because of their family dynamic. If they are going the best brothers born from different wombs route, than a lot of this gets reframed as possessive sibling love. Which would feel a little bit like we were baited. But the whole family dynamic is so well done, I think Id still love it despite my disappointment for the romance that could have been.

My imagination has now gone wild picturing Li Duo as the future author of addicted heroine-basing the story on her brothers. Whether they are two lonely codependent boys who rely on each other possessively for the sense of family security they lack or two boys falling in love amidst a complex family dynamic, wont change my amusement if they end this show with her becoming a BL web novelist ten years later.

I actually dont think SY is being dumb. He doesn’t know everything WB and the girl know. The girl gave him a semi plausible reason for why he got beat up. Both WB and the girl are at different points actively keeping him in the dark. As of the end of episode 12 he at least finally knows WB’s side of things with the girl being the cousin’s GF. He’s not happy about the leaning close to her. Aside from their initial fight (which seems to be their way-fight and think about reasons later) SY hasn't done anything other than take information in and be a relatively stand up guy. Im looking forward to SY’s cleverness finding the truth soon. Cause you know WB is the worst at explaining…anything. He’s adorable but he’s also the dumb communicator.

Oh dont jinx us

Its actually GJ mother’s brother. Yea, they are cousins.

If felt to me kind of realistic that they werent always perfect at handling every situation. With our understanding of GJ’s resources and connections, this made sense to me. If he had more of the network he had in the novel I would have expected the diversions you describe.

They didnt. LY is good at making money. So every time they give away one fortune they build another. If you mean in wangdu they explain it pretty well in the drama. Having that money wasnt helping them, it actually painted a target on their back, it could help their new home survive the civil war, and donating it meant GJ could leverage a job that would allow him to climb the ranks politically and work for the people who he and LY had just seen were suffering excruciatingly due to war, famine and floods.

They didnt explain fully. Basically being an emperor is a very physically taxing job (long hours and high stress) and he had years of injuries from various battles including the civil war that won him the throne. Hes just a worn out man who could live a long time if he could take it easy. But he cant so he keeps getting sicker because he never really recovers.

He had to get evidence that was irrefutable of LZS’s crimes or risk losing the other twelve provinces loyalty.

?? The emperor didnt expect to die before General Zhou came back to be emperor and LY came back with the evidence proving LZS’s crimes. Getting GJ demoted and getting out of the capitol was the counter measure to allow him and LY to be mobile and use their financial resources dynamically. No one, including our would be idiot emperor Fan Yu, anticipated anyone killing the Zhou family like that. Even so they had QW and their own guards so they should have been safe from all but the emperor. LZS just successfully bought off the imperial guard. I do agree some of this could have been better written but its all rational.

The preparation was try to go faster than they could catch them and race to get to their contacts who could help save the army from starving to death. And they did a pretty good job. LZS just had a small private army from embezzling all the funds that should have been used to creat the yellow river dam.

Yes. It has lots of twists and turns but the primary couple stay devoted and have a happy ending. One fan favorite secondary character has a half tragic ending because they end up romantically alone. They are still surrounded by friends and loved one.

Picture trying to hold together 13 provinces all with their own independent army that they could use to start another civil war at any moment. Also picture being an emperor who chooses to follow the law instead of killing people just cause he doesnt like them. That kind of thing also starts civil wars. One of the owners of those 13 provinces offers to stand his army down, swear fealty to you, and give you access to his very rich provinces resources to help you rebuild after the last civil war. All he asks is to be the tutor of the heir to the empire. You know he probably did shady stuff to gain power during the civil war, but you dont have proof. Instead this would-be-tutor has a reputation for killing the commissioners family who definitely did bad stuff and “saving” everyone in that province. And LZS’s act of turning over his power just to be a tutor (even a high level one) has gained him the reputation of a righteous honorable man. If you reject him or do anything to him without undeniable proof he broke the law, the other twelve provinces will never stay loyal and always distrust the emperor believing he “framed” LZS for power. Emperor had to make him tutor for peace. The worst he could do to him after the crown prince’s fall from grace is demote him elsewhere. There was no proof he was responsible for the crown princes illegal actions. So our smart emperor sent LY (after her fake death) on the mission of finding proof of LZS’s crimes and LZS had no idea she was doing it. Sadly emperor Fan died before LY could bring the evidence back to him. He wasnt dumb. And he did plan for the future. His biggest mistake was trusting his son’s character too much and too long before realizing FY could never be a good emperor.

Yeah. The drama itself has twists and turns but the ending is straightforward and complete.