sal_writes

yup. i still love the drama and also love the novel. The novel genuiely is great, theres a reason why fans are more overly critical with this drama, other dramas were also novel adaptations but legend of female general is actually a very well written novel with many holes covered for well. Its a lighthearted book but it also will make you feel passionately abt the charcters.

yeah lin shuang he was literally the greatest wingman and also the worst wingman for xiao jue. He was really funny which is why ppl were so outraged that cheng li su name was adopted over lin shuang he

ok lets talk. Novel readers talk to me bec i know ppl who havent read it, dont really care abt what happened in novel.
Im one of the person who has been loving the drama despite the changes. I treat the drama and novel separetly but also enjoy seeing some scenes come to life on screen. I was actually quite excited to see how the drama would deal and show us a identity reveal so early into the drama bec the actual reveal happened much later in the nivel. So far i think xiao jue is actually xiao jue and so is he yan.But ever since the identity reveal and misunderstanding thing happened, im very dissapointed. Listen, i kinda think xiao jue is GREEN flag.Ive literally read prisoner of beauty (which went so popular) and trust me the wei shao in the book was damn disgusting by 'modern standards' The drama modernized him which is why he survived the sure bashing a character like that would've recieved. And xiao jue is literally greener than any green forest.




In the novel, xiao jue does a sword fight to confirm he yans identity, and he asks why did you exchange identities, she says ive been he ru fei for as long as i can remember, there was no choice in exchanging identities. After he hears the story, the first thing he says to her is: Im sorry. He APOLOGIZES to her. Not for her pain,no he is apologizing for not recognizing her immidiately. He then hugs her after her heart is breaking because she thinks she cant have xiao jue anymore. Xiao jue is the kind of guy who once he has decided on he yan he will give her everything she wants and never allow her to suffer a single grievance, he literally says to her do as you please at one point in the novel. He wants her to stop putting up fronts, cry when she wants to cry. When song taotao confronts he yan for decieving her, he yans people pleasing tendency leads her to immediately saying sorry and yet xiao jue cant tolerate a single accusation against her and shoots song taotao a look. The novel was he yans story, the story of how her family wronged her and how she gains everything that was ever taken from her and xiao jue gives her half of that.



Same in the drama, the reason why i didnt mind the changes or gaf abt he yans height change or jiyang water city battle not being a naval one, some scenes being cut because i think the drama tried its best tos how the main events,altho the events are not happening exactly like novel (reborn life, new family arc to lianghzhou garrison training arc to flag event arc to sun ling magistrate arc to traitor in liangzhou arc to jiyang arc to rundu arc to hua youxian in jinling arc to back to shoujing arc, marriage, battles, HEA.) We still are getting these major arcs albeit with a different story line, and im v excited to see it play out.
I just feel that xiao jue is not one to say how can i believe in your one sided account when he said: I only believe what my wife says in jiyang when she was a 'fake wife'. Xiao jue is a cunning, shrewd and capable general, much more shrewd than he yan is, and he is not one to not believe in he yan. He also would never scream at her like that. He is very surly and cold yes but most of it stems fromhis unwillingness to interact with people, he has in general always been softhearted so this part in the drama genuiely frustrates me. despite the changed plots i thought i could finally get a 10/10 historical drama because while i love many historicals,none have been a 10/10 and this was gonna be it but this epsidoe made me knock down and give a minus 1

there were too many xiao jue lealousy scenes lmao. In novel she was married, she hears her exhusband and looks at him and omg xiao jue sulks soooo much, esp bec she was getting him a birthday gift then. There was also ppl who fell for her in jiyang city asking if she will come back and xiao jue is jelly. Oh and a chu xhao jealousy scene i think ppl might be talking abt that, he confesses while they (XJ and HY) are engaged and bursts in the room dragging her away

this is a little bit of the dramas fault bec they are trying to follow novel but the main part is diff. In novel he yan was held and drowned in a pond. She can go in water but she is scared of it still. The jiyang city is actually a water city and the whole battle was a naval battle, happened on water. She didnt fall in water, she went in the water willingly, after destroying enemy ships, she and xiao jue are swimming away and she freezes up bec she remembers drowning and so xiao jue helps her, giving her breathe and she passes out. She doesnt wake up in his arms, bec obvs xiao jue still has to eliminate the remaining enemies, she finds him and theyre fighting and suddenly a fire arm blows up and xiao jue is blasted away. She loses her mind, killing a path to where he went missisng and tries to find him. This is the first time she actually cries and its a shock for xiao jue. Then the whole thing with her master etc also happens.
Imo, i love both the novel scene and the drama scene, altho drama scene has some problems it doesnt take away the lovely chemistry they both have.

yan he: was comepeteing with xiao jue for 1st place so when xiao jue gave attention to he yan (hrf) he was jealous and would bully her
Linshuang he: the character merged with cheng li su was xiao jues bestfriend and also was much closer to he yan (hrf) than even xiao jue because he and he yan were both competing for last place lol
Yang mingzi: also bestfriend of xiao jue but after the battle xiao jue who has always struggled asking for help getting that kind of reply from minzi makes him cut off contact. There was no hua youxian falling in love with him arc . He was simply a governer who was feeling guilty towards xiao jue.
Xiao jue: XJ and HY/HRF acctually didnt have that many interactions. They had mostly secret interactions, xj staring down at her from a tree, catching he yan getting revenge on classmates that bullied her, seeing her from afar during a hunting game, and then he would sit and watch he yan practice which he yan thought meant he was mocking her because she was terrible. Literally these are the only interactions they have over the span of a year
He yan/hrf: not close to anyone. She would study with lin shuang he, yan he would bully her, no interaction with yang mingzi, and some interactions with xiao jue bec he yan had to maintain distance in case anyone finds out shes a girl

doesnt seem to be following nivel events chronologically because when he finds her identity they are already enagaged but im guessing after battle of rundu he will be fine with her. Because battle of rundu happened before they met hua youxian again and at that time xiao jue has figured his feelings out and is increasingly gentle to her, never getting mad at her and doting on her

unfortunately the drama passed over that moment very perfunctorily. I dont blame the drama its just that in novel she was genuinely contemplating suicide with no hope and xj gave her hope. In drama it seems like she was trying to escape that night but the assasin guard put the pot making her miscalcuate her steps and almost drowning where XJ assumes she was tryna suicide and gives hope. So that was a little dissapointing

no he dont know. hes kinda dumb in these matters. atp hes not fully in love with her like she is.Yes his heart is stirring but its only just started

yeah exactly, this book was literally a healing novel, yes shes a female general but its about how she never had a family and in the novel she gains a father and brother who love her, she gains xiao jue who will shower her with love, and always protect her no questions asked, she gets to reconnect with her old classmates in academy but unfortunately that guy is deleted so we will count cheng lisu and taotao as that part, she also gains her identity as a female general in the open and good comrades in army, she also gets to become sisters again with her biological sister and find out her mothers hidden love for her. In short its fully he yans story, she is flirty, cheerful, a people pleaser because shes been hurt and these people are healing her

in the novel she was never involved in his fathers conspiracy battle. so not here was no misunderstanding in the novel related to it

not really. like for 5 mins. bec XJ rlly hates lying and at that point he thought they had gotten all secrets out of the way but again obvs in the novel she was rebirthed so not telling him her identity was also bec it was so absurd. But like he mostly is mad that he who saved her was dared to harmed again and he was not there and shes thinking hes mad and its over bw them, but dw the resolution is quite good and ill keep that a secret for u

And also his answer to her:
XJ: Do you like the moon?
HY: Yes.
XJ: The moon is yours now.

esp considering that if we look at the era and how the ages in this era for charcters are usually 15 or 16 lol.

Its a bit hard to connect when he has seen the actual he ru feis mask come off in court, he would never think to connect the dots. But then theres moments when he simply connects the dot. Like one small clue (in the arc after jiyang city, she is in battle and uses her sword which is very exclusively feihong generals) and he finds out abt it smh and everything is suddenly clicking in place, hes having all these ephiphanys, memories of all the hints she gave. Atleast from what i remember thats what the scene was like in the book

idk i feel like maybe its been too long since they read the novel bec I read it earlier this year and i find that yes changes have been made, like a very imp character being deleted, he was every readers fav charcater and his lines and scenes are given to cheng lisu who litr only had like 2 percent role in the novel. And cheng lisu and song tao tao genuinely just dont like eachother but drama seems to be going in the route for making them a couple. These are the only 2 changes i find completely unnecassry but i can still appreciate that theyve done well with the whole censorship and drama epsiodes cut. Ofc it couldve easily been better but the rest are just haters

chu zhaos backstory has been completely changed. In novel his father was the 'uncle' in the drama. His mother was decieved by his father and he grew up in a brothel and the mother was really foolish and cruel to chu zhao. His mother would say things like if it hadnt been for you etc and then his fathers ppl come and kill his mother infront of him and take him back to chu mansion. In the drama it seems his mother is the chu mansions sister and chu zhao was born to some unknown man

literally in the same episode

they didnt turn anything into lighthearted. it was ALWAYS a lighthearted drama. The drama is based on a novel and author literally said:

While this book also has a rebirth theme, the writing style is a bit different from previous works, leaning more towards light-hearted and sweet themes (maybe?). There will be less intrigue and more emphasis on relationships (probably). Yan Yan is a cool little cutie, and as for uncle, he’s not really aloof; he’s just lazy and doesn’t want to talk to unfamiliar people.

You really dont understand who he yan is if all youre focusing on is that shes childish when she was a general. Her character arc is that she grew up a boy when she was a girl, she couldnt do boy stuff because she was actually a girl and she couldnt do girl stuff to avoid giving away her identity. Her family completely created a conflict in her, she was noone. It wasnt until they planned on marrying her to another girl that she was like wth ima run away and joins the army, there she can finally practice martial arts bec she likes it but she still has the contraint of boy identity on her. He yans arc is that she wants to be a female general. Instead of acting like sth to avoid giving away her identity. Dont forget she actually IS a girl and hasnt been able to show that and with this free spiritedness she can much more be chill, playful or do whatever she wants. Multiple times she says I want to be carefree and free of constraints. So she teases xiao jue which btw is actually her true personality. Is a general only supposed to be fierce and serious? She cant have a life outside of that?

you should seriously try reading the nivel. He yans characterization is the greatest Ive ever seen in a book. Theres reasons for why she is the way she is, why she thinks a certain way. Also he yan never recieved her title bec then he rufei came and reaped the rewards of her efforts upon her return. She was simply a common soldier that rose through ranks and became a general. She can employ strategies, fight and employ cunning in battles but politically her mind doesnt work that way. She has never interacted with the court or court individuals yet. But that doesnt mean shes dumb, as many other have already explained she is fully aware. Literally she even feels a little bad for chu zhao but signs in a what a shame way or in a 'oh well he made his bed' yknow? She simply doesnt insert herself in political struggles, thats more of xiao jue's things as is clear even more at the end of the novel where he yan stays home but xiao jue goes on to participate in the throne struggle