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In the novel, the emperor is the villain. He's actually an imposter, he's Yan Li's father who took the place of the old emperor during the rebellion 20 years ago we saw in flack backs, when he supposedly died. So he is the villain who killed FL's family, ML's father and Consort Jin and framed Prince Jin. He's a fake emperor, and murdered people to cover up his secret. Eventually ML and FL defeat him and become emperor and empress. Atleast, that's what happened in the novel.

No unfortunately, after his father kicked him Yan Chi just walked out

Going by the novel he's not, he was used by Yan Zhe, the blind prince introduced today. But he was manipulated, in the novel he was a good guy who genuinely thought FL's father was trying to protect prince jin, he had no idea about what was really going on, he just thought he was doing the right thing.

Yeh in the novel he becomes emperor but not sure how will go in the drama but probably one of the options you said.

She was kidnapped by the villain prince, using someone from the Feng family (nephew of noble consort, so I believe his cousin technically). He then pretended to 'save' her and wanted to be intimate with her to take her as his concubine, ruin her reputation and hurt Yan Chi. She was saved by Yan Chi, as she was awake the whole time and left clues. As for ML and his father, he wanted his father to relinquish control of the army, as he knew the emperor was suspicious/didn't trust him. But his father wanted to destroy the enemy invaders before relinquishing control. We learn from tomorrow' preview his father is dead, likely killed by the emperor.

Yeh it was the emperor because he refused to hand over control of the army pretty much, pretty much he didn't trust ML's father.

Ikr, I love how quickly Yan Li and Yue Ning resolved their problem so quick. So refreshing.

In the novel it's explained better but still not really explained that well. After the rebellion 20 years ago, the emperor's face was badly scarred and burned, so they rescued the emperor based on his sword, not knowing it's a fake emperor. In the novel the empress does know the truth and its hinted the empress dowager knows, but have no choice but to keep it a secret. As for the CP he was too young to remember his father's face. I'm not sure if the drama will follow this route, but yeh in the novel the empress knows but keeps its a secret. Honestly the explanations not that great on how it was kept a secret in the novel. Looking forward to seeing how they explain it in the show.

Current emperor is an imposter novel wise, but in the novel current crown prince is the son of the original emperor, so technically the throne is rightfully his. Yan Chi is not crown prince because his father isn't emperor and he wasn't appointment by the emperor as crown prince. The current CP is the empress's son.

Ngl I felt so far Yan Chi had been carrying the romance (not in a bad way btw no hate to Qin Wan) but I felt like Yan chi's character was more romantic, but damn that speech by Qin Wan when she's like till death do us part, and for the whole episodes 29-30 where she pretty much already acts like Yan Chi's her husband and says its him or no one else pretty much, so so romantic.

Yeh that's the one thing not sure how it will work out. Because in the novel also, after the rebellion when the emperor was rescued (fake emperor we know) his face was badly burned and scarred, so they couldn't recognize him, just saw the emperor's sword and figured it was him. But in the flashbacks for the show, the emperor's face was not burnt, so they should recognize he was a fake. But idk, hopefully they explain it later if they do follow the novel.

Thank god Yan Li confront Yue Ning on her noble idiocy moment of marrying Yan Zhe. At least they didn't do would other dramas do and make the misunderstanding go on for ages, Yan Li confront Yue Ning and Yue Ning told him her true feelings. Nice to see and hopefully stops at that.

Based on the previews of episode 31-32, my god here we go, everything's about to get even better, things are heating up now

Schedule still the same, but iqiyi will release the last 4 episodes early on the 27th for vip subscribers, so on the 27th we will get the 33-34 episodes like scheduled but also episodes 35-38 for vip subscribers as an express package.

No problem 😊

Yeh for sure I agree, way too complicated to fit in the remaining episodes, as long we get a good punishment for the villains that feel satisfying and happy ending for ML and FL and those close to them, I'll be happy.

Yeh I agree, there's quite a lot in the novel, where after they find out the truth, the emperor plans to kill ML on their wedding night and imprisons FL in the palace, ML saves FL and they escape to the north and his army. He becomes king of the North, meanwhile empress and CP have escaped the capital and rebelled. Then barbarians invade, they all help fight the barbarians even though they don't need to but for the good of the people, then the other villain prince, betrays them after they helped him fight invaders on order form the emperor. After betraying them, ML kills that prince as revenge for his dead soldiers due to the betrayal, and then he officially rebels and quickly takes over the capital. That's how it ends, as for how much they will include, theres quite a lot so I'm unsure which route the show will take.

Just a couple add ons from the last comment, the emperor tried to a assassinate Lord Rui and Yan Chi not because they are next in line, but he sees them as a threat to him due to their military power. In truth the CP is actually next inline, he's the legitimate son of the real emperor who died. The imposter emperor who takes his place eventually deposes the CP, he never had any intention to really make him emperor. The empress knows this and knows the emperor's real identity, that's why she wants the CP to become crown prince so bad, so he can reclaim what's rightfully his. Consort Jin figured out the truth and the emperor killed her, Fl father also figured out the truth based on a dagger and hid that dagger, which the ML and FL later find which exposes the real identity of the emperor. There is another prince in the novel Yan Zhe yet to be introduced. But yeh one thing not made clear in the show atleast not yet, but is in the novel, the CP is the actual son of the real emperor not the imposter. So the throne is rightfully his. But in the novel he gives the throne up after rebelling, and willing lets ML become emperor. Yan Zhe is both a villain and good guy. He wants to expose the emperor and get revenge because the emperor killed his mother to cover up his crimes. But to do this he killed many innocents. He was the one that manipulated Li Muyun to report Shen Yi as a way to test if the emperor was an imposter. By the emperor killing the whole Shen family, he confirmed the truth about the emperor. So he wants revenge and is an eventual ally of the ML and FL but his methods caused the death of the Shen family and many more. Eventually, he poisons the emperor with the same poison that he used to kill his mother, and dies together with him in a fire. Atleast in the novel.

I agree for sure, I prefer longer dramas. Especially dramas like this I mean the novel is over 2000 chapters so would be so nice if they made it longer, but idk I guess the streaming services prefer shorter dramas now.

I can't say for costume in particular, but the big streaming services in China such as iqiyi, Youku and Tencent etc, have stated they are trying to reduce the size of cdramas. They don't want longer cdramas like 40 eps, they want to reduce the size. I can't remember which in particular, but one of them and maybe others released a statement saying going forward they are trying to limit the overall size of cdramas. So that's atleast one of the reasons we're seeing less 40 episodes now. Also with regulations and stuff episodes/scenes are often cut also.