mukkanna

Based on CP's face when he heard that it was Anle Abode in episode 1, he knew what they were and thought they might be a bad thing. He just didn't know Anle was in charge of them.

Di Jinyan was 4 when he "died." When the novel starts he's 15 and just come of age. By this point in the novel, he'd be 16 or 17. Assuming the ages are similar in the drama, he's probably supposed to be somewhere between 16 and 19 in the drama.

FL always feels like she owes SML for hiding her, protecting her, and being her staunch and dauntless ally for 10 years. Is romantic love the only thing someone can risk their lives for? If that's so, then ML might be getting together with the kid he raised soon :P

Kidding aside, you can tell when she hurts ML that she's hurting herself just as much. She rides in SML's carriage to bring the souls home because she can't bear to face ML after using him for her revenge. If she didn't have some kind of feelings for him, she wouldn't care if she hurt him.

Probably the strongest evidence is that FL jumped off a cliff after ML and then spent several days panicking over him. Reminder: this is a battle-tested woman who faces off against the emperor with nothing but determination, and who as a child stared at a man who was killing her entire family and then told him off. If she didn't love ML, she could have just shrugged as he sailed over the cliff and then went off on her merry way to get revenge on the rest of his family. Instead, she nearly threw away 10 years of work and determination just for a chance to save him. For all she knew when she jumped, she was just accompanying him to die at the bottom of the cliff.

To be honest, the trailers sort of suck so I can see why you'd hesitate.

In my opinion, this is actually very good. But you do need to pay attention to the acting, because things aren't always what they seem. You'll see hints, but no confirmation until episodes later.

ML isn't flashy. But he's extremely capable. A lot of people think he's dull, passive, boring...which he is, until he isn't. Then you realize that as long as you operate within his boundaries, he'll let you do whatever you want; he's still in control, so he doesn't really care what anyone thinks. But step over his line in the sand, and you'll soon find out why he's a capable (and ruthless) emperor's treasured heir. Han Ye is shaping up to be one of my most favorite characters in C-drama, next to Mei Changsu, Jiang Xiao Yu, and Wen Kexing (yes, I have a favorite type, and that's: super-smart manipulator who may at times be morally gray but has an underlying kind heart).

As far as childhood sweethearts, it's really not that trope. Unless the trope is about how one's family slaughtered the other one's family...

Other than the first episode, I actually liked the whole story. Other than cutting out a certain character's whining "woe is me" scenes, which take up about 2 episodes.

Story: I love it. But I love angst and people with brains doing things that actually make sense from where they're standing.
Acting: ML and FL are great. But you have to be good at deciphering layered and nuanced emotions. They're often smiling but sad, or suspicious but act like nothing's amiss, or saying one thing but meaning the complete opposite. If you only get the emotion the character is intending to project to others, you're going to end up confused.
Chemistry: They look great together and their relationship develops very believably. Even though they're technically enemies and their goals don't align a lot of the time, they trust each other a lot. It'd be a model relationship if one of them wasn't trying to get revenge on the other one's family.
Friendship: Actually there's just a lot of side couples. FL has a BFF/partner in crime, but no other friendships stand out to me. ML has a great relationship with his ward.

In the drama, I think the details are left to the imagination.

In the novel:
The minister wanted to find some dirt on Wen Shuo, and so went digging at the orphanage Han Ye "found" him at. Novel Wen Shuo still frequently visits the orphanage as a teenager (he thinks "in secret" but in reality, Han Ye knew all along and had been sending guards to watch over him when he made his "secret" visits). He found out the lady who had raised him had once worked in the right minister's house. The right minister was Han Ye's teacher and advisor. Add in the timing and Wen Shuo's age, and the secret was out.

The minister came to the East Palace to confront Han Ye with the evidence he'd found on Wen Shuo and blackmail him into covering up his crimes. When Han Ye refused and he found out Han Ye had just delayed him to allow Wen Shuo to complete an investigation, he ran from the East Palace. The minister's bodyguard killed Han Ye's guards. Han Ye gave chase shortly after (I assume he went to get a sword since he doesn't walk around armed in his own home).

The minister rode his carriage (at breakneck speed) accompanied by his bodyguard, and Han Ye chased him on foot, so he only caught up when the minister got out and tried to run into the palace to report to the emperor.
Han Ye probably only intended to threaten him, arrest him, etc...but then he started to tell the audience Wen Shuo's secret, so Han Ye beheaded him at the palace gate.

Once I catch up on today's episodes I'll see if I can figure out how the drama handled it :)

In the drama, left minister explained to Mo Bei that he'd done some digging and found secrets on Wen Shuo.

In the novel, Wen Shuo was helping Yuan Qin to investigate her family's case, drew the wrong kind of attention. Left minister went to go find some dirt, ended up finding some really good dirt...and decided to go blackmail Han Ye with it at the East Palace. Han Ye played along, delayed the left minister while Wen Shuo was searching a residence until Wen Shuo found conclusive evidence of his corruption and framing of loyal ministers. Then when the left minister's bodyguard delivered the news that Wen Shuo had found evidence, the left minister suddenly realized Han Ye had tricked him and rushed out to report to the emperor. This is why Han Ye ended up killing him in the street.

I'm pretty sure Han Ye knew about Anle Abode, given his alarm when they arrived. He just didn't know what their leader looked like.

Nepotism :D

That's why character analyses are fun :) We all approach characters (just like in real life we approach people) from the background of our own experiences. Our interpretations of characters, like in life, are colored by other things and can't be 100% objective.

For Han Ye, I think he's always considering the greater good, but at the same time he's willing to take some losses. In the novel I think it's more clear how he's willing to risk harm to others--even allies--if he thinks the cause is good enough. But he'll still do his best to limit damage. Back then, he recruited allies to commit treason with him, risking their lives as well as his own to save the kid. Had things gone south, he would have caused everyone's deaths. Now, he's protecting those allies (and the kid) by committing murder. In the drama there's no mention that the left minister was aware of these allies, and the only threat is to Han Ye and the Di family. Maybe this is another example of whitewashing, now that I think of it...

DZY already knew Di Shengtian is alive because supposedly she helped her and Han Ye at the bottom of the cliff.

But not kidding when I say this woman mostly just sits on Fuling Mountain drinking tea and playing chess.

Novel spoilers:

Mo Shuang was sent by her brother to seek a political marriage with Han Ye. She and a Dongqian prince (who was there to seek marriage with one of the Han princesses) die in a very suspicious fire. North Qin and Dongqian point fingers at Jing and both countries start a war to avenge their prince/princess. So for Jing, it was a two-front war.

We find out later that this was the North Qin king's plot all along, and Mo Shuang's death was faked. She's essentially forced to take up a new identity in her kingdom because she's supposedly dead.

If there was no romance, we wouldn't have a plot though?

I don't think so. I think he only told LMX that Wen Shuo had something that could help him get out of prison. Maybe it's a "the walls have ears" sort of thing? Or possibly because he doesn't know what situation Wen Shuo is in or if there's evidence that needs to be cleaned up. He knows LMX can be trusted with the Di family's secrets, but he doesn't want his father's people involved in the investigation.

At the end of everything, the first step in finding the helpful thing that Wen Shuo has would be to find Wen Shuo himself. Han Ye is sending LMX to go search for him, and LMX will soon realize he's missing if he doesn't know already.

Possibly this is an attempt to whitewash novel DZY for China censorship. In the novel, DZY fully intended to lead an army in rebellion and remove Han Zhongyuan from the throne, as she believed him to be unworthy. This intent now seems to have been pushed on LMX.

That being said, LMX has a point. The emperor is paranoid, and after some months or years when people have forgotten about the humiliation he's currently suffering at Di Ziyuan's hands, he'll probably try to kill off the remainder of the Di family. Especially if any parts of the Di family army seem to be assembling!

The only way that DZY can get out with her life at this point is to do exactly what she's proposing: leave the capitol, never leave Jingnan again, and probably she would need to live in seclusion and never dip a single toe into politics or power again. And that might still not be enough to calm Han Zhongyuan's fears.

My take is: LMX knows his time is short, and he wants to make sure DZY is safe before he dies. Since he can't trust Han Zhongyuan to not try to kill her, the only things he can do are (1) take out Han Zhongyuan or (2) make DZY so powerful and well protected that he can't touch her.

In the novel it was only half white, and she cut off the white part later (after it grew out, I guess?)

Haha they're probably still all in shock.

What I'm wondering is: did HY send Jili to get LMX? And if so, was it somehow his plan to get LMX at the scene? Was this part of his plan to get Wen Shuo rescued? Does Jili know Wen Shuo is missing?

HY clearly met with the minister indoors; with HY's martial arts, how did the guy manage to get outdoors? With what he was saying, why not just "vanish" him? Why confront him in the street at all?

Waiting to see if there's a brilliant plan here, or if this is an example of poor adaptation of novel events :)

I agree, saving the kid was definitely an act of compassion, and not an example of ruthlessness! :) But to clarify, what I was trying to say is that at the core of Han Ye's character, his decisiveness, determination, and willingness to go in 100% on a plan has never changed.

You're right, today's act, which is murder outside a court of law, is definitely NOT in line with the Han Ye we've been presented for 20 episodes, who's until now seemed governed by the rule of law. But it IS in line with the Han Ye of 10 years ago, who we now know committed treason (for good cause, but treason nonetheless). This is when we as the audience realize that (1) he's always been willing to operate outside the law if he thinks the cause is good enough and (2) he probably has the biggest balls in the entire country to be raising the enemy family's heir under the very nose of his paranoid father. It's now a short hop and skip to today's Han Ye, who dares to cut down one of the most powerful officials in court in the street.

I also don't mean that he's a gambler in that he gambles carelessly; on the contrary, he's a person who calculates everything, weighs pros and cons, and acts decisively. But if his plans fail, then he stands to lose everything he was trying to achieve. That's what I mean by saying that he's gambling everything.

One thing that particularly strikes me about Han Ye's brand of ruthlessness, though, is that it's rooted in his kindness. He's never ruthless in pursuit of power, wealth, or even love. His ruthlessness seems reserved for when he's doing things for others.

If you haven't picked up on this, I'm the kind of person who would totally argue with the author :) I agree with you, they'd be more realistic with some actual flaws. But I also think the screenwriters would get so much criticism from novel fans that I can see why they haven't really changed things much. There are already lots of complaints about how characters got ruined in the drama! The only flaws the original novel writer left Han Ye and Anle were the ones that were completely necessary to have a plot at all...

His other siblings were introduced very early on in the book, and I suspect will not appear at all in the drama at this point. Han Yun (the 13th prince) was never even mentioned until the later stages, after where we are currently in the drama. But I think you're right that he's been excluded as well.

I don't think it appeared from nowhere...it just wasn't apparent to viewers.

Han Ye, as a child, planned and carried out what amounted to high treason, plotted to bring a criminal's son into the East Palace, and then over the next 10 years proceeded to raise an enemy of the Han family with the same advantages as a prince of the kingdom. This isn't the act of someone who's afraid to die or who can't stomach gambling everything to achieve their aims. 10 years later, he's still not afraid to gamble everything to achieve his aim.

I think both the novel and the drama intended this event to be a shocker: the gentle and righteous prince who always seemed above the fray was actually someone who could cut officials down in the street!

Han Ye in the novel actually doesn't really have any flaws to speak of, unless you count his inability to consider himself in any of his calculations... Anle's main flaw (her inability to be honest with herself about her feelings) has been completely preserved. I was actually wondering whether the drama would add some flaws to both of them, but other than Han Ye's weakness to alcohol there doesn't seem to be much yet?

That facade is what let him hide what he's been hiding for 10 years... He fooled viewers the same way he fooled everyone in the story.

Might be good to mark this as a spoiler? :)