Vasuda

I prefer San Lang as well. I think taking a page out of the drama they both have a purpose BUT San Lang's is clear and Pei Yan's is... murky at best.

I potentially understand that Pei Yan's father was killed by the current emperor?
1) Is that Pei Yan's purpose - to get vengeance for his father?
2) OR does his mom want Pei Yan to become the emperor due to some imagined slight from their childhood and in turn is being forced unknowingly? (like you said puppet fighting for power)

I don't know, Pei Yan's parts almost seem redundant to me because I would like to see more of an emphasis on Wei Zhao and how he fights back the injustice to Yueluo. I would have loved it if Pei Yan was shown as a figure motivated to expose Wei Zhao, therefore the focus is still on Wei Zhao's story than going off on tangents about Pei Yan.

Pei Yan is the second male lead BUT his screen time is not matching that depiction. I am literally skipping parts of the drama that is solely focused on Pei Yan & his story.

Agreed! In the following episodes its going to be nerve wracking because of the the same situation you stated above. It's almost like Pei Yan sees her as the object he desires whereas Wei Zhao is slowly letting his guards down and letting another person close to him. I much more like Wei Zhao over Pei Yan but I know (after being a cdrama connoisseur for a while now) that the writers will through Pei Yan and Jiang Ci together later down the line, just to spite Wei Zhao.