peaches_and_cream

Just got to the part where he saw her at the lantern festival and wanted to thank you all for your input <3. I had a much better appreciation for the scene after hearing these pov's, and had so many butterflies in my stomach watching them! WL is the king of microexpressions.

I also noticed that when he rescued her from the fire he didn't linger around to get appreciation from her or her family (probably because at that point he really didn't want a relationship). But it must have taken him by surprise when she didn't use that as an excuse to see him later or connect to him via her family to show appreciation, as any other noble girl would have done.

:o I didn't catch that, I will have to pay close attention when I get to that part again! Thanks for mentioning!

I agree with your whole assessment. The scene at the lantern festival broke my heart when her mother didn't buy her anything. I'm just glad she has her brothers to back her up now, whereas I do feel very sad for YY too... she's all alone now. But that's no excuse for the mother to dote on YY and ignore SS. That is emotional manipulation.

Her lucidity when she tries to reason with her mother when the mother is being unreasonable blows my mind (especially the scene with the desk you've referenced and her post engagement to LBY talk).

Her mother reinforces SS's own insecurities and that breaks my heart. Every chance someone compliments SS, her mother either twists it to highlight how SS is not good or rebuffs it by saying the parents have failed her so clearly SS can't have any redeeming qualities on her own. Its super frustrating and I wonder if they will eventually work through this?

The last few episodes we got a glimpse of the mother actually giving some good advice and reflecting on her limitations... but if she is aware of it and is not fixing it - then the mother is not as upright as she thinks she is.

I think they wield power in different ways. Empress through an empathetic approach that is great as a role model, but its not having much success in curbing her kids. She is in a lot of scenes with the Emperor where they entertain important guests and you can tell publicly she plays quite an active role in supporting the Emperor. Where as Consort Yue seem to have not much interest in being involved in day to day matters of ruling, and her personality is firm but fair with her family. With strangers you can see she is quite ruthless if she doesn't like them. But even with the Consort's approach to parenting her kids are unruly too...

The Empress was married to the king as part of an arranged marriage and the Consort is his childhood sweetheart. - so the dynamic there is different for sure. I think he loves Consort Yue but he also has grown to care for and love the Empress in his own way. He treats them both well and there is an understanding and mutual respect between the three of them. I've noticed when he is venting about things the show has included both scenes with the Empress and the Consort .... which kind of signals he is honest with both of them in sharing his worries and burdens.

But the Empresse's character is sad to me because where as the Emperor has the best of both worlds, she only has a one dimensional relationship :(. And you can see she does what she is supposed to do and doesn't complain about how much pressure she is under to be a good Empress when she probably just wants a peaceful and simple life. Her life story seems like everything has happened to her without her control

I agree with everything you said. I even paused at the knifepoint scene with WuLu just to stare at them in disbelief at how good they looked together and had the same exact thought. I never expected to have a drama with them together tho so this just feels even more amazing. Plus there is a lot of side eyes staring in TLB when the MFL is trying to convince Wu Lei to fight the prince that Lusy is being forced to marry. He refuses but those moments also had some tension.

yes LOL .....🥲😂

<3 <3 <3

Oh yes the only way her dad reminded me of Lou Yao was the pastry scene which was super funny and how he lets his wife kind of take the lead on raising their kids (but I think that has more to do with him thinking of her as more cultured since he comes from a different background) . The second uncle is studious but I don’t think he can compare to Yuan and the dad has a military background but I think LBY is in a league of his own. But I totally see the symmatry you mean!

Oooo thanks for sharing :D

I also didn’t realize until just now the day SS was born her parents were called to help protect the Gu city! And to assist marquess Huo 😳😱

When LBY sent the granddad back to the Cheng family before he was banished he said it was to thank SS. I was trying to figure out how that was thanking her until I realized, her granduncle came and exposed the aunt which led to the aunt being sent away. It took me a while longer to realize LBY was picking up on what SS was doing (both in serving justice but also pushing forward her own agenda) by sending him clues, because he is so perceptive and intelligent (I only realized how intelligent he is based on the last few episodes).

So I think even early on they were helping each other (especially LBY who was being kind when he wasn't known for repaying favours). Theres also another line where right after he comes home his soldiers tell him there is a rumour about him being unfilial by not visiting his father and he shrugs if off saying thats a minor thing. So filiality just for the sake of it is definitely not important to him.

I might be overly misinterpreting but this drama is so fun to analyze as they add layers - haha!

:o I never thought about that! Wow … that’s definitely something to consider. I thought she didn’t want to be explicitly caught being unfilial so she sent a clue… but honestly that’s possible

I agree, I think her relationship with her mother is a very contentious one for me. When I watched the show for the first time I was also a bit frustrated with SS because she does come across as scheming (I did't realize the extent of the abuse she experienced and how young she was when I felt this way). Even then I thought of the mother as unreasonable and harsh.

But now rewatching its even harder :(. The mother is extremely unreasonable and stubborn and doesn't open up her mind to something that the Third Aunt and the Empress picked up on right away. That this is a good person that is desperate for love, attention and guidance. Its also extremely frustrating for me when the mother constantly puts down SS without offering her any kind of guidance to help her navigate all of her "inadequacies" as she points out. Her father also frustrates me because I think he needs to have a very honest talk with his wife about why her behaviour is harsh. He disagrees with his wife's treatment towards SS but does nothing about it.

I think if anything SS has been very kind towards her parents given that they abandoned her and left her to be mistreated for so long. When she tested the Emperor and Empress (by complaining about Wang Jin) and they actually listened to her - this point was driven even more home for me.

Yeah it's been really interesting rewatching (now with more context to frame the drama with the season two episodes). I think she may have never even thought marrying a wealthy person was an option available to her because like she was telling to QiQi, her mother didn't train her for military strategy to marry a general or with the etiquette to marry a nobleman. Plus with her pragmatic side maybe she thought even if she marries into wealth if she can't control her husband he may abuse her similar to how she was mistreated growing up.

I think thats why she wanted a husband who was easy to influence (like she was telling her third aunt) and why she agreed so quickly to Lou Yao once she realized he's a good person. She truly thought she couldn't do better and won't have any other options (with her self esteem being so low as well).

Hahaha! :D

ooo good question! My take on it was that it was a bit of a sarcastic comment, that was hinting at the opposite - at how she was not filial because she was willing to help them even more in implicating her granduncle to lead them right to the source of the embezzled money.

When one of his soldiers suggested she is looking to get on their good side to escape from the family, LBY said "Why would she, she already has her own plan to escape" - I think that has something to do with exposing the granduncle meant that he was angry (especially since the family couldn't help bail him out) and was willing to come and air all the dirty laundry of the family in front of her parents. Like how he did before he was exiled when he exposed the grandma for being negligent and the second aunt for using all the money the parents sent for her own use.I think that's what LBY meant in she was devising her own escape.

I could be totally off. Would love to hear some other thoughts on this.

Just realized while rewatching the show that her dad is a bit like Lou Yao. The first thing he did when returning home is to buy his wife her favourite pastries lol!!!

Also the first few episodes which shows how food insecure she was growing up and even being forced to starve really made me appreciate why she would have been even more put off by LBY trying to control what she ate.

😭❤️❤️❤️

Oh I love this assessment!!! You are so right, before even the show aired I kept hearing LBY falls for her at first sight so I tried to keep reconciling that with what I was seeing on the show. But they took a different take on it and he fell for her intelligence/personality first. I love how nuanced and delicately layered his feelings for her are, as you describe in your comment.

And its so special for SS whose had people all her life trying to correct her personality to find a man who appreciates her just as she is <3

Yes!!!! Very good points. Really appreciate these inputs. I am rewatching from the start right now so its really nice taking this into consideration as I watch their scenes.