mukkanna

ML has always been very popular with women and is also the crown prince, so there were always lots of women chasing him. He's polite with them but he never expresses any interest. ML always considers FL's best interest and feelings. If he ever takes a concubine it would probably be because FL made him do it.



SPOILER:
The one concubine we know of in the book: he thanked her for her years of concern for him (to put her plotting, misdeeds, and multiple attempts at murdering FL in an extremely nice way), expressed compassion and understanding for her position back then, told her he was forever grateful for the suffering she had endured in the FL's place, and then asked her to forget the past and make a new life for herself elsewhere. ML's personality is very hard to hate. Basically, he's nice to everyone but when it comes to protecting FL, he can be ruthless.

ML has one "concubine" assigned by the emperor during the book, but he treats her with the minimal courtesy required to not be rude. ML and FL both have other people who are in love with them, but neither of them really pay attention to any of them. If you don't mind spoilers, I posted some rough translations of some excerpts focusing on their relationship in the "discussions" section.

ML has one "concubine" assigned by the emperor during the book, but he treats her with the minimal courtesy required to not be rude. ML and FL both have other people who are in love with them, but neither of them really pay attention to any of them. If you don't mind spoilers, I posted some rough translations of some excerpts focusing on their relationship in the "discussions" section.

Why did you post just to say this, though? Adding negativity so passersby who are on the fence about watching the drama decide not to? Discussion about a drama is helpful if it's civil, and I'll sometimes even watch dramas so I can see for myself which position is more likely correct. You guys aren't being civil, just going around calling people stupid and dismissing opinions without any actual discussion as to why you think Ren Min's acting is good.

Zhang Ping (the character Song Wei Long is playing) is neurodivergent. I've never seen Song Wei Long in anything else, but his acting is on-point here. You can tell Zhang Ping doesn't act like a normal person by the way he reacts to other people, and how they (especially his friends) actually just sort of expect him to be like that--awkward, weird, outside the norm, focusing on things any "normal" person would have moved on from already, while missing many social cues the rest of us pick up on. He (Zhang Ping) meets a lot of criteria for Asperger syndrome, actually. If Song Wei Long isn't on the autism spectrum, then he's doing a good job portraying someone who is!

Episode 10: FL shows she cares about ML more than she does about others
Episode 11: FL realizes she wants to spend the rest of her life with ML. From this point she doesn't even consider others.
Episode 13: First kiss
Episode 15: Confessions
Episode 16: I'd consider them a couple at this point
No breakups other than a brief episode of separation (partially planned, and not from any misunderstandings), with the separation being resolved in about 30 minutes.

I actually also had issues with the plot and characterizations, and thought everyone was 2-D at the beginning. That starts to change about halfway through. I think it's the editing at fault...I can't imagine this was initially meant to be 22 episodes.

Ye Xi is very naive at the beginning (but she's basically been living on a mountain alone with zero social interaction due to being a ginseng previously, so to me that's understandable). She is initially unable to learn from previous mistakes because of her amnesia. But she learns to be suspicious of others' intentions (you've probably already started seeing this if you're over halfway through), starts tricking others herself, gets her bloody revenge against some with her own two hands, and eventually proceeds to the point where she'll kill anyone (even the ones who are kind to her personally) to defend Bai Yue. When you compare her character in the last few episodes to what we see in the beginning, she's really changed a lot.

As for the Prince Regent, I agree he's very 2-dimensional. He's a guy who's pinned all his dreams on her and has obsessively done everything to climb to power for her alone. This wouldn't be as annoying if he weren't so obsessive he wants to kill all the other men in her life, including the ones who haven't tricked her. Ironically, the one exception seems to be that he has a (very small) soft spot for Bai Yue. It's a little sad to be him, since FL basically tricks him repeatedly and then chooses Bai Yue 100% of the time, but he can't even be mad at her and just tries harder to get rid of or kill Bai Yue, who he actually seems to like and respect. Bai Yue actually doesn't seem to mind the attempts to kill him too much, but Ye Xi's take on point that is a bit different.

I think she has the most character development out of anyone. She's almost an entirely different person by the time we reach the final episodes.

Not sure there's anything misogynistic about that. I've actually never met anyone who thought their ideal type was someone who wears trashy clothes and is a bad partner and parent. I also refused to date people who I thought couldn't dress appropriately, pull their weight in a relationship, or help me parent any future children.

For someone in the entertainment industry who's often traveling and working odd hours, it's also good to have a parent who can be at home with kids and take care of the household. If I were him I'd also prefer a partner who could take care of all that stuff, since I'd be making enough money but wouldn't have as much time to run a household. Speaking as a parent of young children who also works full time and has odd hours. I wouldn't be so quick to judge.

People are panicking because Elon Musk laid off/fired a lot of the company, and others have also quit, so there's some concern that there's no one left who can actually manage Twitter. Many people are finding alternative platforms just in case. You could probably just get news about LOA from its Douban page. It's probably about the same level of trustworthiness as Twitter (low).

They get married and rule the country as emperor and empress at the end. They have a very healthy relationship. They both have (throughout the novel, actually) a lot of respect and admiration for each other. In the end they're together because they want to be, and not because of politics, money, or power; they both had opportunities to walk away from both their political responsibilities and each other, and their situation in the end is what they chose for themselves.

This is actually pretty hilarious. I think the production believes they're paid marketing accounts. I mean, are actual fans really so petty and dumb that they think Gong Jun was forced to put incense on the side because he's being bullied by Yang Mi and everyone else in the production? Also, are they really fans if they think Gong Jun wants his fans to cause controversy and negative publicity? I agree with production, it's really more likely they're paid marketing accounts or antis than anything else. I'd just ignore. Although I guess they do say that any publicity is good publicity...

Then I would say don't watch it.

Yes, she becomes empress and rules Dajing jointly with Han Ye in the end (she doesn't end up in the traditional "leader of the harem" role),

Yes, she becomes empress and rules Dajing jointly with Han Ye in the end (she doesn't end up in the traditional "leader of the harem" role),

Depends on what you hate about boy love dramas.

I'm not sure how much resemblance this story has to Romeo and Juliet...
the only similarities I can think of: their families are enemies, and they have positive feelings towards the other person. Romeo and Juliet have passionate love...but they barely know each other. Han Ye and Di Ziyuan respect and support each other even when they disagree, protect each other even though they're supposed to be enemies, and make sacrifices for the other without expecting anything in return. Romeo and Juliet are both immature and naïve, and their relationship ends in mutual tragedy. Han Ye and Di Ziyuan are the opposite, and in the end have a happy ending.

I would say Han Ye. Even as a kid and later a teen he was doing some very dangerous, potentially life-ending things for her, although he seems to think of those things as what anyone in his position should do. He's really not kidding when he says that in this life, he will protect Di Ziyuan!

Briefly: they admired each other as children, were impressed with each other as reacquainted adults, and then fell in love before the first book was halfway through, to the exclusion of pretty much everyone else. The barrier to their relationship for the rest of the novel is the enmity between their families (FL wants to take the throne as part of her revenge, which is hard to do if ML is still alive--he's a crown prince who's popular with the nobles, the army, and the citizens).

Well, given the recent track record in Chinese entertainment, I think we should just count our lucky stars if it airs before someone gets canceled...