noor1234

Her family got exiled. Unless drama springs them up as a surprise, they were exiled when FL first confronted prince jin during land evacuation episode.

No, at the end of Ep.31, what he is feeling is loss & irony that he will never be with her again. That's where he is at right now. King told him before sending him to Lingyan that he cannot be with FL & he has stood by that 'decree' (remember he chose to be sent back home instead of being killed before king ordered him to 'clean up' Lingyan). I think ML understood there & then that king was separating factions who could be a threat to his reign or power & FL + ML were one of those 'factions' plus, ML knows he cannot marry FL, since she wants power & he has none. Plus, he's going blind & only agreed to go with FL because his mission was complete - he had memorized all the registers & now could write in the confines of prison away from FL & CP etc.

And FL knows her 'beneficial marriage' will be discussed or arranged with or without her consent - it was discussed 3 times around Lord Lu & king (remember, once even king offered her to be married to ML but she refused because she wanted power to make her own decision without interference).

ML is in pain at end of Ep.31 because he knows FL didn't want to be married to Meng Jr. (he has no regret over his decision) & his own future is dark, he won't see her again, but he HAS underestimated FL big time too.

Well said.

I don't think Lord Lu was a good person. So many people did evil things around him & got away with it because he was in charge. His humanity was limited to Luling, his status as a eunuch & Luling's son whom he had adopted. He was a bad ruler.

King is better. All that he is doing is making sure none of his children kills him (!!!!!) & no one is powerful enough (like Lord Lu was) against him. As a king his decision to control Meng Jr. is masterful as is his ploy to control Shence Army (through another eunuch+scholar, Wenji).

As you can see in Ep.30-31, crown prince was now attempting a coup against dad as a way to save himself. Of course dad-king is never going to allow that.

I think this is where we see ML's ambition & drive for the first time - of doing something for greater good & making his life matter - FL has always treated him like a kept man who is gentle & besotted with her, she has never sen him as his own person with his own dreams. He already knows that king has told him to never see FL again - the other choice was drinking that 'poison' or become king's blade, FL acts like a kid & wants him to follow her back to capital, ML knows king will never accept him as princess' consort, he knows king wants to curtail / kill crown prince & will make things difficult for FL too. He also knows he is losing his eyesight & will be a burden on his family AND FL - his life is at the mercy of the king & FL can't save him either - she can hardly save herself. The best ML could do is reveal the corruption, bear king's wrath & hope that FL doesn't suffer any consequence of his decision.

I think he underestimated FL too but it is what it is. He wouldn't have turned a 'blind' eye to suffering on such a large scale & that too in his own hometown - & he did what king told him to do - which is his only chance of survival.

Ep. 30-31: Chunhua should've thanked Wenji for getting her kid back to her instead of the thankless behavior she showed - shirking with fear to boot - at him. She's just a former maid who faced almost certain death at the hands of either the 1st wife OR that prince of jin OR staff, because she's useless to this household after birth of the kid, & Wenji maneuvered to not only save her life, but to give her kid back to her AND she's been promoted to principal wife who has authority over her baby - i.e. kid who is the royal heir to the throne. He saved her from Lord Lu, helped her during the birth, then after birth he saved her too, now she owes the new 'mother of royal heir' life to this guy too. So a bit of gratitude would've been better.

It was 1st wife's own ego that led her to kill herself - she could've lived a life after divorce or demotion or even exile, but she chose to kill herself & be buried as the 'wife of a prince' & confucian ideal mumbo jumbo than bear the shame of being an outcast away from power.

It's weird to me when people (in C-dramas) take the moral high ground from a safe space & privilege provided by the less-than-moral actions of people. Wenji is a far more pitiable figure than Chunhua or even ML. Jin's 1st wife's family had sided with Lord Lu & king was eradicating Lord Lu's factions / supporters so Wenji just killed 2 birds with 1 stone - showed he could remove corrupt people & protect Chunhua & baby too - I think he thinks of himself as a surrogate father to Chunhua's baby. Chunhua should actually use Wenji to strengthen herself further instead of acting high & mighty - who is going to be her protector? That Prince of Jin?!

Yup.

👍

Kudos to the ML for taking this role.

Good grief!

E. 26-29: First of all, I think the king is right in getting the band that brought Lord Yu down & technically saved him - i.e. everyone who could be a threat to his reign if allowed to gain more power is weakened or sidelined or eliminated by king. That's why everyone (CP, FL, ML, Meng Jr., Wenji, Wei, etc.) has been split up so that no one can maneuver another coup or get strong enough to question king's authority.

I think in Ep. 29, FL has advised ML wrong. ML is in Lingnan on imperial order & even though FL doesn't know it, ML knows that he is not supposed to see FL again (he will be defying king's order if he does what FL wants him to do). FL wants to protect the alliances she has built, wants to save CP as well & wants to retain whatever leverage she has accumulated AND she wants the loverboy - but she can't have it both ways: ML's path is separate from hers & even though he accepted FL's plan & is going with her, BUT I hope he has set a plan in motion to eradicate corruption from Lingnan which will inevitably weaken CP & probably even get him killed. FL will mind it, & that's fine. Because she & ML cannot be together as things (& king) stands. ML understands this. the show seems to be headed towards a separation arc & that's fine too: what I've seen of FL, she will always go to save ML, so whether they are together or not, she'll think about him & his safety & want to be with him.

I felt bad for his family because they really didn't want him to leave Lingnan again.

Wenji was right to kill that general only because Shence Army was under Lord Yu's command & king has sent him - a scholar+eunuch - there to set the tone of whose the new boss - & since Wenji is there as king's lackey, he can't have dissent or ridicule & needs soldiers to follow his command. Hence, whoever offends him will have to be taught a lesson. Wenji's power comes from king, not personal accomplishment in some war, so he went OTT. I doubt these soldiers would respect or fear him in any other way.

It was interesting to see the difference between ML & Wenji looking at registers - Wenji marked Prince Jin's first wife's family for ruin / investigation simply to give Chunhua justice & better position, while ML looked at registers to root out corrupt administrative & military guy (Wenji's father & CP's military friend will be toast definitely).

I've really minded that Avenue X has given this drama a bad review on her YT channel, & there is little enthusiasm for this drama amongst netizens on social media. The drama IS dry because it doesn't have OTT screaming matches between women & ML is not a general / prince / martial arts macho guy doing grand battles, & I think that's part of the reason why this drama didn't get the kind of fans other dramas have gotten this year.

I don't think Wenji ever wanted to be a 'simple man' - he was born in an influential local family & was groomed for 'greatness' - he was the topper in that village school when he came to capital. And at that time he looked down on Chunhua's profession because he knew his dad would never accept a maid as his wife. But he came around to accepting Chunhua later on. He did not think of ML as his equal either, that's why Wenji had a hard time accepting his own descent / misfortune.

Wenji can be Lord Yu 2.0 but I think he is more humane than Lord Yu. I don't think killing the general in Shence Army was wrong because Wenji is a former scholar+now-eunuch who has been sent by king to 'tame' the Lord Yu's Shence Army. Wenji would've bene given a hard time if he didn't set the tone from day one who was subordinate & whose orders have to be followed. It also showed all army personnel to not underestimate him. I think he made the right call under the circumstances.

Of course the power may go to his head, but I still hope he & Chunhua have a better ending in the drama. I've on Ep.28 right now.

I don't think king is wrong in curtailing the people who can threaten his reign - that is what he is doing - he is shipping people off here and there who saved him because all these people's loyalty was to themselves & each other than to HIM - that's the important part. Crown Prince's coup wasn't about saving the king, it was about using the king (& a fake decree) to get rid of Lord Yu & his cronies. King knows it, & doesn't want all of these people (CP, FL, ML, Yang Si, Meng Jr., Wenji, Gen.-Marquis) to band together against him to get rid of him next!!!

I don't think ML is a simp - it's not that kind of drama. But he IS a kept man (house, clothes, job is all due to princess) who prefers working from behind the scenes than to be front & center, & ISN'T crown prince, or general or martial arts guy so is considered 'weak' by C-drama viewers who are used to seeing life & death battles & grand schemes from MLs in other dramas. I don't think he's a simp.

He could've been slow poisoned by Lord Lu's people / servant eunuchs through those incense bearers in the room, & once the servant got killed & Lord Lu removed, his health improved.

I hope the drama gives these 2 people a HE - whatever 'happy' will mean for them by the end of the drama!

Ep. 24-25: Very good episodes. Very good story arcs all coming together for redemption & revenge. It's pretty remarkable that all key people had equal screen-time & equal importance in the grand scheme of things & twists. Usually in dramas, only ML & FL get to shine in such cataclysmic episodes but here, everyone had their moment under the sun / moon.

I was not a fan of Wenji & Chunhua romance before, but the entire Ep.25, where he saves her, is there for the birth, their escape (which was brutal for the new mother because she had just given birth) & then the talk under a tree about having an ordinary future together - wishful thinking - makes me root for their HE, which I'm sure this drama will not give them. They deserve a HE after all that they have been through as individuals.

BGM & OST worked wonderfully too in these episodes. I am now avoiding seeing previews of future episodes to keep the suspense of what's to come.

The director of this drama is female & her last drama was Love Beyond the Grave which was an atrocious production especially in terms of romance & picturization of main leads (zero heat between Chen Feiyu & Dilruba) but here she excels not only in battle sequences, the head rolls but also in bringing out the humanity & love of the 4 main cast members & has shot the drama beautifully.

Of course, she'll try to grab the baby (to raise baby herself) & remove Chunhua / relegate her to some back quarters - Chunhua has had no time to strengthen her position because she's a former maid duped by her own family & raped by the guy who is now her husband. First wife will never accept a maid as a competitor in royal wifedom or allow second wife to have more power than her. She's the daughter of elite official & was aiming to marry crown prince, & now she has to suffer a former maid as a wife-competitor in royal household! If you remember she is a bossy woman & Prince Jin doesn't move a muscle without her approval (that's why he went 'hunting') so she calls the shots. Chunhua doesn't know or see what wife1 is up to yet.

I don't think men in this drama are tools. Everyone has his own backstory, arc & strategy. If you want to see real male tools, watch Where the Mask Ends, that has robotic male actors fawning over one God-like FL.

And yes, Meng Jr. was disgusting in that banquet scene but he DOES represent North Jing so has to throw his weight around in a foreign land.

I think she's the bargaining chip - if crown prince is bye bye, then the only other option is Prince Jin, because his second wife (Chunhua) carries the Huai line/ dynasty forward.