Luv Peony

it makes more sense in the novel w/ XFF becoming JL. XFF being under the radar largely b/c she's no longer XFF but a new face/family. Easier for XFF to hide in between the layers of complexity to get to her revenge goal without attracting too much attention. JL is basically the black sheep and no one sees her as a threat.

yes, more tragic and gives SH a mysterious edge in his cold surface and demeanor.

it most likely can't pass censorship so this and a lot of details have to be rewritten to fit the narrative.

in the drama, it's waaaay too obvious to SH that JL is XFF. there's no guessing or surprise.

Su Heng was the only one who pointed out to his assistances that JL is disappointed that she missed (pertaining to the princess arrow) when she actually hit the red eye on the target. His sarcasm and mockery is pretty funny in the novel. He's such a character!

In the novel, it's Ji Heng. Don't know why the drama change it to Su Heng. His story/family background: his mother was raped/murdered in the palace only to be disposed in front of their doorstep. Her death remain a mystery and tormant to SH’s father. His father went mad in pursuit of justice and the truth. SH’s grandfather tried to sweep it under the rug, as to not ruffle any feathers since she was last seen/on the premises of the royal palace and also b/c of the way sshe died (she was not clothed properly/rape). SH father did not care and went out on all means to investigate. SH’s father was ambushed and heavily poisoned/injured in pursuit of the truth. Due to the poison, SH seeked out the poison doctor (her background is an abandon princess on the run from a tribe in the northern area. Her expertise is practice in poison). SH saves her and offer protection from her uncle’s family (who stole the throne and murdered her family) in exchange she cure/help the father. However, the father in a coma/poison state for a year before he succumbed to poison.
SH’s father discovered a scandal at the same time and the murderer had no choice but to silence him despite their deep ties. As SH grew older, he started to investigate and found out the truth. He started to plot to bring the murderer within his power to extract his revenge.

SH’s father and mother were childhood sweetheart. However, due to the change in the mother’s family (didn’t say much in the novel except that the family committed a crime, the men were exiled, the women were to be on the records as a courtesan), the Su elder general (SH’s grandfather) and the family’s elderly branch objected to their marriage. Besides fallen to being a courtesan, she was not the legitimate daughter, but the concubine’s daughter. SH’s father did not care, went against the family and bought out the mother’s courtesan contract and married her. SH’s mother is beautiful and clever in her own way. Her given name means red leaf (hung ye), which is why SH always adorn red, a reminder of his mother’s death and his vow to avenge her.

i'm just relaying the novel details to fans. lol

apologies!

in the novel: yes, the older brother fancies young boys. he takes in orphans under the disguise of saving them from the hunger/streets. once taken to his private study room, he poison them and turn them into mutes. the older brother was arranged to marry the princess royale to help secure the Li family support to work for the prince royale (excluded in drama). The princess royale at one point thought she was pregnant with Shen's kid (phantom pregnancy caused by Jiang Li's scheming) and wanted to marry Shen but she was forced by her brother (not the king) to marry the older Li brother. So both side finds out each other's secrets and out of despair and petty, air out their dirty laundry in court when it was time to do the retrial for Xue Fang Fei's death. it was a very satisfying read on the demise of the Li fraction and the downfall of the princess royale and Shen YuRong.

The Li Brothers:
Older brother is a pedophile that fancies young boys. This will for sure be excluded in the drama lol.

in the novel, she's alive.

you could watch it with subtitles on Kiss Asian.

happy, main leads gets married and has a daugther.

imperial exam from the novel:
The guys and girls each held separate exam.
the novel focuses more on the girls' exam more in terms of details b/c is display Jiang Li's thirst to prove herself to everyone that she's more than what the eye sees. Taking 1st place is supposed to help secure her position in the Jiang family. the drama takes all that attention from her quest and divided the categories in a group competition.

The result for the guys: 1st: Ye ShiJie 2nd: Li Jian 3rd: Zhou YanBong

The result for the girls: by categories; total of 6: 1st: Jiang Li took all 6 first place making her the ultimate scholar title. It is rare for anyone to place 1st place in all categories (e.g. literature, bow/horse riding, guqin/music, etc). The wager is to win 1st place in all categories or who bags the 1st place spot the most.
The bet is only between Meng JinHung and Jiang Li. The final wager is that the loser must kneel and apologize to the winner in front of the guy's academy. Doing so will affect the girl's reputation and may compromise any promised suitors for marriage. Citizens caught wind of it and started a gambling wager to see who wins. Due to the girls' political background, the court and officials also is aware of the ongoing bet. At this point, this internal bet has taken off and the pressure is on.

Su Heng put his bet on Jiang Li without any doubt. The city was backing Meng JinHung in the beginning but ended up betting on Jiang Li towards 1/2 way.

Due to Jiang Li's limited education while she was at the monastary and her meek nature, no one thinks she will be be able to get 1st place in any of the category, let alone 6. No one in their mind will ever link her to the deceased Xue Fun Fang.

Jiang 4th sister is known for her talented literature and what she is proud of. She believe this is the only thing that let her shine separately from the Jiang family legitimate daughters. She lost this category to Jiang Li.

Jiang 3rd sister is known for her guqin music. She has a private expensive tutor that taught her since young. She's over confident in this category and gloats to Jiang Li, but Jiang Li got 1st place.

Meng JinHung was desperate and nervous after the 3rd round. Her father also gave her more pressure by scolding and slapped her for being useless against a country bumpkin.

Final category; bow and horseriding: Meng JinHung used underhand means to scare Jiang Li's horse. Meng JinHung accidently (more like Jiang Li's steering and intention) shot her arrow at the princess and injured her shoulder. Meng JinHung was taken away on the spot and confined at the Princess' Manor. The princess was planning to torture her but the fear alone rendered Meng JinHung delusional and turn her crazy. The princess felt that she don't get much satisfaction torturing a crazy person who can't think straight so she released her. Princess is known to be cruel and sadistic. Meng JinHung was released back to the Meng family. Meng family also lose face and was punished by the daughter's actions by the Li family. The Li family abandoned the Meng family after this incident. Meng JinHung had to quietly leave town to be confide to the country side estate due to her crazy delulu paranoia.

Jiang Li later announced through her made in front of the guy's academy that the bet was made in light of a joke and everyone do not need to take it seriously. This leaves Jiang Li a forgiving reputation and raised her higher in the society of female peers.

Xue Fong Fei is talented scholar and guqin artist. The imperial exams is nothing to her.

Shen YuRong do not have any role as an official in the novel. He is an up and coming favorite 1st place scholar of the king. Due to his mourning state, he was not officially serving the court. This is also the excuse he uses to stall being married to the princess. SYR only loves himself, no one else. His future is the only thing he cares about. He is only her underground lover due to her princess background and his state of a widower.

If notYang Chou Yue, another actress with a soft innocent girly look. Her character is not supposed to wear revenge on her face. she’s suppose to be gullible in nature that it fools everyone in undermining her. WJY looks too clever to pull off the joker face.

The princess is entitled and spoil rotten in the novel due to her brother’s growing powers and ambitions for the throne. Princess and the prince are the king’s 1/2 siblings. The princess pretty much gets what’s she wants 95% of the time. She is also the fav of the consort.

Yes, all her evil doings get exposed. She also committed adultery as well. The miscarriaged baby belongs to her adulterer aka cousin who at one point abandoned her and married someone else. She got back at him by tricking the cousin into thinkingshe would eloped with him only to kill him off to silence him. So after all that was exposed, She’s force fed poison by the elder jiang lady’s maids. Due to JSR dirty shameful deeds, they had to kill her and tell society she died of illness. So JSR used jiang li as a scapegoat to cover up the unwanted baby. Oh yeah, she also secretly caused the demise of the first Mrs death. She tampered with her medication. So her death is too easy and simple and simply doesn't justified all her evil doings.

that's his features, he's supposed to be very vixen like alluring. Besides always wearing red, he has a very vixen charisma. he's seductive and likes everything pretty and detailed.

the king is still young and is growing. he's learning the ways of balancing court. due that, needs to plot and plan things so that no party gets too much power that it tips the scale and threaten his authority as king. Su Heng is a joker card where he's not supposed to have any sides, not even the king. He has a deep plot that included the king as well to get what he wants (in the novel). He see himself as an audience watching a show/play and don't emerge in anyone's business. He has a secret agenda himself. He slowly pay attention to Jiang Li out of curiosity to see what she will do. After a while, he falls for her.

back then, divorce doesn't make the husband look bad. if there is a legit reason, the divorce always is in favor of the men. divorcing your legal wife who is a beauty and a scholor is frown upon on esp for someone in politics make it very obvious his intent with climbing the society ladder to authority and power. in the novel, FL and her first husband married for love. FL actually have to lose herself in order to make this relationship work.

after having a little taste of success at winning the 1st scholar position, he caught the attention of the princess. the princess was the main person who plot and kills FL and her family off. The husband knows about it but also did nothing about it.

Not sure how the drama is going to end the characters, but in the novel, not too much of a pay back to the Jiang family for how they treat Jiang Li. Jiang Li is disconnected to the Jiang family b/c she doesn't see them as family. Jiang stayed in the family to help the real Jiang Li clear her name get back at the stepmother.