ibisfeather

He is really not a talker is he? Very compartmentalized too.

Dimples Sui YangQing -- shot with an arrow as he fell off a cliff into the river and YZ also searched the banks for 10 miles downstream. Pretty sure Prince Changxin's second son is dead. Pretending he had kissed ChangYu -- creep. He deserved it.

totally noble idiocy, but combined with that weird line --" I want her to stay as wild as grass" -- he underestimates her bec of her lack of sophistication.

Which bird gives that long feather? In the opening credits I thought they were snakes or sea creatures..

WHERE WINDS MEET -- oohh, now I get why the politics trips so casually off the lips of our characters -- the era itself is part of a popular game, the aforesaid.

So our battles to come are fought in mountains and forests in the northwest of china (where now Beijing is situated.

But in this era, which is more or less the northern Song or maybe slightly before that (938????), the northwest was a border area, apparently portrayed in the game as a 'bridge' between pastoral peoples and agricultural peoples.

Talking fictional history is always dicey, since there are hordes of sensitive real historians and citizens out there for whom the real history is precious and held dear.

I may talk dicily later, but for now the 'map room' in the yamen of Lin'an and the sixteen prefectures are familiar territory for gamers, but not so much for the rest of us.

Thanks! I see why it was a poem for an emergency.

I finally found the 7-step poem again, in ep4. YZ teaches it to CY in despair after trying to get her to memorize so much data. She didnt use it in court yet, so I am waiting. Maybe for an excellent mdl riffer.

the 7-step poem:
Pods burned to cook peas,
Peas weep in the pot,
Both born from the same root,
Why torment each other?

Or maybe it was introduced just to give ChangYu a chance to do that wild beans and beanstalks riff on the theme. Evem YZ had to admit she wasnt (in a doubtful tone) absolutely wrong...

There are probably some good recaps somewhere -- you have so many questions.
1. Briefly, the 'treasure map' was a lie, ignore it.
2. The death of their parents is not because they were on opposite sides of the conflict; if anything the fact that she learned from her Dad to admire the Marquis is a dead giveaway.
3. Uncle Wei Chancellor needed to cover up his own guilt in the actions of 16yrs ago, thus many murders of his ex-retainers.
4. QiMin is the heir to a prince under the previous Emperor -- those 200,000 dan of grain are him betraying Dayin now (maybe) by helping out the Prince of ChangXin who is the enemy.
5. General He, prefect of Lin'an, map central, is the one hope for resolving the factional struggle (maybe).
6. The idiot son of Chancellor Wei who has suddenly got command of the Marquis' army arrested General He bec, well you can see why.

ep15
I guess JuiHeng/YZ is holding back from baby-making at some psychological level because he wouldnt want a child of his to wait for a father who never came home from battle?
Or maybe he would rather be legally married (ie under his real name) if he were to make an heir?

The village is a separate interlude from his political life, but it isnt a simple private vs public divide because a man like the Marquis is a public figure even in 'private' life.

I am very doubtful of Qi Shu's presentation of individual happiness vs. the needs of the state -- for the same reasons. She, in particular as a woman, is bound to be objectified as a way of cementing political relations.

Has anyone else noticed how breathy the soundtrack is? Especially for Xie Zheng since every movement hurts, but also because his reactions are incarnated as breath since he is not a chatty person.

Wasnt the pig a puppet, like the falcon?

JUST WAIT!!!!

The supporting and guest character lists were such a mystery to start with. Now I see that the village arc will end soon, since most of those actors are 'guest' roles. The battlefield/palace plot will be more central, with the Academy for light moments -- my guess, anyways. Those actors are the supporting actors.
I really hope the little gang thatChangYu tamed gets to tag along to battle, but they are all on the 'guest' list. Sigh.
I guess for charm we will have the Bloodguard Brotherhood, Xie Wu and Qi?
The lack of Ning on the lists is dire. And the puppet falcon -- please keep flying!

A true hit show is always something of a mystery -- the combination of various factors. Here you have a really stellar production and a director with a poet's eye. It is just a heroic fantasy, truly unalloyed. It has a certain simplicity, and the freshness comes from the writing, pacing and acting. The one thing I would draw your attention to is the exactitude of the ratios of humor to pathos and to romance. The script and directing have a classic balance to them. A very very difficult thing to produce.

Poor ZLH, even in the fictional world he cant get a break!

You should get the novel readers to spill; I only repeat what they have said -- the son was conceived during an encounter which was not consensual for either (?) and not well-lit. She doesnt know what he looks like, and she ran off from the palace, a crime, carrying an imperial heir, an accidental crime.

The Demon Lord look ,up from under his brows!!!!

ep12-13
two thoughts:
beans -- what happened to that little poem for emergencies, 'in case of emergency pull this chain'? There must be a legal situation coming up in the future where ChangYu will use that poem. And what was the 'meaning'. Although the word 'meaning' comes trippingly off the lips of the over-educated for who grass...something.. spring elicits a little lyrical observation out of nowhere.

literacy -- an insuperable obstacle to their life together. She cannot read or write well. Their relationship only works when they are in her territory. In his she would be lost.
He is teaching Ning to write. Has he been teaching ChangYu too? Poetry is a bridge between their worlds?

9.1 crrazy!

If only Guo Dali had told who hired him! So many malevolent forces! We are wandering around in the dark here!