maryxiah

Although they've butchered Leo's character, I am happy that he's smiling a lot more here than in Ashes and he gets the girl, so that's that. I am seriously holding on just for that teensy bit of happiness he has with Yukee's character here.

I haven't noticed much of Ting Wei but since he's mainly second lead or supporting roles, naturally he'd have a tragic end. I'd certainly keep watch of his future projects.

I think Yukee looks better laughing or acting cute than she is crying. I tried watching some of her previous roles and she was more animated in those dramas than here and I just don't understand why they wouldn't use her strength and instead focus on making her cry so much. Ugh.

I think it's mainly because the main and only villain in Pillow Book is so laughable that there's no sense of threat over their lives, just mundane lives of celestial beings, kind of opposite of Eternal Love where villains are popping out here and there. Also, viewers find the mortal realm draggy because the male main lead seems kind of childish and the second lead actually steals the scene in mortal realm. I don't think it's a show that you should watch while airing because some of the plots can be flat. But I enjoyed it a lot as a whole, the OTP is so sweet and doesn't make me angry the way this drama do, lol.

The reason Xue Zhi believed Tou didn't love her is because he didn't try hard to clear the misunderstanding, he simply said he was innocent and that she should have trusted him with no proper explanations. And when Liu Li died and he came to ask for her corpse, he still didn't try to clear the misunderstanding. From Xue Zhi's pov, he had many opportunities to explain yet he didn't, the only explanation is he didn't really care or love her anymore.

As for the silver and labor help, Tou claimed he was there on behalf of Imperial Advisor house, so again, she had the impression he didn't love her anymore but was simply being courteous for their old time sake and for second dad's sake.

On one conversation she said to Mu Yuan, "Some people are strange. They don't love you, but they refuse to give you up." As in Tou didn't love her anymore, but why was he always lingering around?

Only when she found out he almost died for her that she realized the extent of his love for her and by now she refused to be parted from him anymore, which is about the one thing I really love about her.

The Pillow Book novel is better than Three Miles of Peach Blossoms novel imho. Although, the drama leaves a lot to be desired, I think they did really well with the adaptation, they even have better CGI than Eternal Love. I enjoyed Pillow Book a lot, drama and book.

I was screaming when Tou rejected Xue Zhi again by telling her he didn't love her anymore cuz he was preparing to die saving his dad. !@#$%^&*

WHAT THE FREAK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? WHAT THE FREAK ARE YOU THINKING? STOP WASTING MY FREAKING TIME WITH THIS BULLSHIT!

Man, I was lit on fire last night.

I honestly am here for Leo/Run Yu, but they ruined Shang Guan Tou for me, though I should have known better because of the source material. Don't get me wrong, I still love Tou like Xue Zhi, but I dislike him as a character. I'd say none of them has actual character development, except Shang Guan dad and Xue Zhi (maybe just teensy bit).

"This couple has cried more than they ever smile."
Ugh! I was promised sugar and this is def not what I signed up for.

I think we all expected Mu Yuan to turn dark, but something in line with his personality rather than just turn completely evil, so I don't really feel the pretense is a big revelation. I suspect I will cry a river for him later, I'm only up to episode 34, so right now I'm only feeling pain over that, "What about me?" He's honestly a victim of circumstances in this and a tragic character, a reminisce of Run Yu tbh, I like him a lot but I understand his character's arc. At least in his last life he was Xue Zhi's true love. Maybe next life, although his next life in Love in Between seems to have a sad ending/love too. Bah.

I watched episodes 33/4 on Dramasq. If you're watching from mobile, try download 第一影视 apps, they have tons of mainland drama there. No subs for both though.

Ugh, bed/confrontation scene is so beautifully heartbreaking. "Why couldn't you see me? What about me? What about my pain?"

Or "And the Winner is OVERPROTECTIVE love"

I could do this all day.

LOL I think we all did.

So sorry for spoiling you. Shang Guan dad is the only character in the entire drama that actually has character growth and proper redemption! So sad to see him go. He was a bad lover but a great dad to Tou and Zheng. He tried to the best of his abilities to protect them and even advised them before his death to live well. *cries

"His concern and protection for his son convinces me every time I saw him."
He literally quaked in fear every time Tou was in the presence of both princes because he feared for his life, knowing Tou is a headstrong guy and could offend both princes! *cries again

I understand what you're saying, the misunderstanding lasted for way too long and it felt like it's taken half of the plot, which is true. But episode 34-39 basically deals with other issue concerning the OTP, although equally frustrating.

Maybe they should have ended with Xue Zhi's death from the internal energy poisoning and then they wake up in Ashes of Love realm where Run Yu realizes he has fallen for Liu Ying and tries to pursue her.

Frustrating wouldn't even begin to describe how I feel. I want to flip the table in anger lol. I do love the OTP and the leads, but I'm starting to resent them. Kind of like a love hate relationship.

"Can someone explain how SGT dad died? Was the Prince framing SGT dad? "
Shang Guan dad was framed by Lord Lu (Shang Guan Zheng's husband) of plotting rebellion with the martial arts sects. It's capital punishment for him and his whole clan, although due to the crown prince's interference, the punishment only reduced to him and his whole clan spared, hence Tou didn't have to die. The proof of his rebellion/treason is the missing weapons of Hall of Flames found in his house and the fact that he saved Xue Zhi and Mu Yuan from military punishment.

"Did SGT sister commit suicide cause she couldn't live with the fact that her husband the Prince got her father killed?"
I haven't gotten to that part yet but apparently yes.

"Why does the Prince blame SGT for his wife's suicide? When his own schemes got his father in law killed? Why does the Prince want to kill SGT so bad? And why did the Crown Prince save SGT after he fell off the cliff?"
Because Lord Lu believed Tou's opposition forced him to kill his father-in-law and turned his wife against him, which resulted in both her and their baby's death. The crown prince is a kind prince who's indebted to the Imperial Advisors and genuinely like Tou so he's been helping Tou to uncover his brother's evil plan and sort of save his brother in the process.

"Why is muyuan working for that Prince?"
Also haven't gotten to that part, but from my understanding, it was to keep Xue Zhi safe from Lord Lu by working closely under him.

"he becomes indecisive, rash, and lost - he's a total mess"
I contributed that to the death of his father and the prospect of losing Xue Zhi so soon after his father. Although, at this point, I'm not expecting much from Tou anymore.

They should rename this "The Winner of the Push and Pull Game is Love".

They reconciled by episodes 34 but she's dying soon after the reconciliation. *rolls eyes Poor writing is an understatement.

OMG! I can't accept Shang Guan dad's death, it is the one death in this drama that pains me to the core. I wish Shang Guan dad's soul rest in piece after this.

I wish I have the time to binge-watch all remaining episodes in one go, alas, they were released on my Sunday night so I had to stop at episode 34. All I can say is good riddance that stupid misunderstanding is finally over, a waste of my 9-10 hours of time and energy. I wish I can fast forward like everyone else and skip all the boring stuff, but at this point, I just want to finish it properly because, despite all the flaws and exasperating plot, I really did like this drama a lot. I feel like I owe it to myself to see it through, I've spoiled myself silly so I know what to expect, but I hope I won't be spitting blood by the end of this road.

Right now at episode 34, a couple of things really moved me despite the plot. One is the sacrifice/death of Shang Guan dad and the things leading up to his eventual death, omg, my eyes are still swelling from crying over Shang Guan dad. Unexpectedly, this is the one character I could relate to the most, I cried for most of his remainder scenes and I bawled my eyes out when he died, I basically mourned for him like I was Shang Guan Zheng/Tou. Everything that Shang Guan dad did, up to the point of his death, was to protect his children fiercely and fearlessly. And his last words, "Tou er, live well." *wails The scenes where Tou was protesting like a child in front of Shang Guan dad wanting to surrender to Lord Lu and save him, and crying out in front of Shang Guan dad's corpse reminded me a lot of Run Yu when his mother died, which really brought back the same kind of pain I felt back then. I think they made a point to recreate those scenes to stir up the same kind of reaction, knowing most fans are watching because of Ashes of Love. Nicely done tbh.

Second, the confrontation scene between Mu Yuan and Xue Zhi the night she found out the truth. Xue Zhi was visibly hurt and confused, while Mu Yuan was clearly terrified at the prospect of losing Xue Zhi forever, but their conversation felt loving and heartfelt. Mu Yuan was there right from the start, he cared and loved for Xue Zhi their whole lives, he never hurt her, he sacrificed himself so much for her sake, it pained me so much when he asked why she could only see and feel Tou's pain but never his. Mu Yuan did everything right, only he buried his love too deep that Xue Zhi never saw him as a man. Xue Zhi mentioned it herself, if she hadn't met Tou, she might have fallen for Mu Yuan over time. Love/destiny is never about how much you love a person or how much you're willing to sacrifice for this love, but it's all about fate and timing. Second dad said it best, once you miss out on a person/thing, you can never go back. Mu Yuan missed out on his chance to win Xue Zhi over before Tou. It's nobody's fault but simply isn't written in his stars. The monk at the Enlightenment Temple said to Mu Yuan, "Is it your knots that you want to entangle? Or this miss (Xue Zhi)?" This clearly hinted Mu Yuan isn't fated for Xue Zhi. This is one of the reasons why I don't enjoy love triangle, even if it's clear which is the OTP, no one comes out of it unscathed.

My only grievance with the drama right now is how they butchered the OTP. I don't really care if Xue Zhi never gets to be the badass girl she should have been with Lotus Wing, I don't care about Tou achieving great martial arts and defeat all enemies, I only care about the OTP joining hands together against the world. Instead, they choose to torture the leads (and me) with separation for unnecessary dramas, which they could have filled with plenty of other potentials. Why? They claim this to be different from the novel, but Tou is behaving exactly like novel Tou by hiding things from Xue Zhi to spare her the pain and pushing her away, exactly the reason I disliked novel Tou. It's fine to show they're inexperienced to handle things as first-time lovers but they need to grow up! They don't seem to! Although to be fair, Xue Zhi is handling this a lot better than Tou. Aside from the misunderstanding and her low self-esteem (thinking Tou doesn't love her anymore), she's willing to go through everything to be with him, disregarding the fact that she has blood debt, she is the master of Hall of Flames, she is a walking death target, she STILL fights to be with him because she loves him and two are better than one! Ugh, why is Tou's thick skull isn't able to process this information after 33 episodes?! I can't even count how many times EVERY character tells him the same thing. *smack smack smack Tou's beautiful head

Ugh, if I don't honestly love this OTP from the start, I wouldn't even bother finishing this.

Hahaha. Ghostly face is the new in?