This was very cute, it contained lots of tropes but it also had lots of heart. Although Yi Huan was a touch too naïve, she was earnest in her desire to see the best for everyone. The ending though was completely abrupt and ruined the entire feel of the story. According to the scriptwriter, 100 minutes were cut because the broadcasting station had a hard limit of 90 episodes, so a lot of climax and ending got cut. The scriptwriter did post what happened in the ending as a story format on her weibo, but it's a paid content.
I would have loved to see it on screen. Basically, a month passes by after Yi Huan Ci Xuan leave the Forbidden City. There are schemes involved all around. The Grand dowager empress sends an army with her general, Abiqi, to annihilate the Pearl Valley and Yi Huan, but Jin Wang actually evacuated everyone beforehand and sets fire to the valley. When Yi Huan and Ci Xuan get back, they just see all the people gone and the valley on fire. They think the army was responsible. With no way to leave while surrounded by this many troops, Ci Xuan drugs Yi Huan with dairuomujisan, and pretends to Abiqi that she fell off the cliff. Abiqi then stabs Ci Xuan and throws him off the cliff. So heartbroken, Yi Huan searches for the body. Her dad and her other teachers show up and she sees him in a coffin, she faints, and when she wakes up Ci Xuan is buried. So with Ci Xuan presumed dead, and Yi Huan thinking that Kang Xi broke his promise , she swears to fulfill Ci Xuan’s dream of restoring Ming. She performs the marriage ceremony on Ci Xuan's grave. Then, she goes to the palace to confront Kang Xi.
On Kang Xi’s side, he sent Mo Sheng to watch over Yi Huan since she took so long to come back. Due to several details that I omitted during the burning of Pearl Valley and his own personal desires not to see Yi Huan and Kang Xi together, he helps the masters lie to Kang Xi with a bloody robe and says that is all that is left of Yi Huan. He spends 3 days in a daze, the first day he spent thinking that she was by his side, talking to him. The second day he spends dreaming, about her leaving, about her death. The third day he considered dying, but ultimately he persevered because of the interest he promised Yi Huan. In the last episode’s scene, where the grand dowager empress laments in front of Kang Xi's room, he leaves not because he was moved by her words. He is frustrated that she keeps bringing up his father’s and his grandfather’s history. He is frustrated that she doesn’t trust him because he has fallen in love, and that she keeps bringing up old history. He decides that since they want him to be a heartless emperor, he will be one. Because the person Kang Xi (Long xiao di) died with Yi Huan's death.
Three months later, Yi Huan sets up a lantern to meet Kang Xi. He goes to see her to try to explain what has happened, since he was not the one to send the army to Pearl Valley, but she will not listen to a word she says. Kang Xi gives her a sword and says that she can kill him. She tells Kang Xi that she won't kill him, but he can kill her. If not, when she returns in 3 years, she will take his life and his empire. There are a few clips of the confrontation on the scriptwriter's weibo (such as this clip https://weibo.com/tv/v/FeuL24ws2?fid=1034:53245d66b064884d849666bb2b3a1401).Kang Xi ultimately lets her go, and commits to gathering power and being strong enough to protect her. Because he realized from the grand dowager empress ordering the army, that he is not strong enough. With this confrontation, Yi Huan leaves with her teachers to Taiwan, and season two is set up.
If only that entire story was presented, this drama would have been beautiful. I hope that this gets shown in season 2, because a lot of the story will be missing without it. In the second season 3 years has passed, and everyone has grown up and the main conflict will be reducing the powers of the fiefs. I have high hopes for this drama, and hopefully, it won’t be shredded to pieces by the editing.
I would have loved to see it on screen. Basically, a month passes by after Yi Huan Ci Xuan leave the Forbidden City. There are schemes involved all around. The Grand dowager empress sends an army with her general, Abiqi, to annihilate the Pearl Valley and Yi Huan, but Jin Wang actually evacuated everyone beforehand and sets fire to the valley. When Yi Huan and Ci Xuan get back, they just see all the people gone and the valley on fire. They think the army was responsible. With no way to leave while surrounded by this many troops, Ci Xuan drugs Yi Huan with dairuomujisan, and pretends to Abiqi that she fell off the cliff. Abiqi then stabs Ci Xuan and throws him off the cliff. So heartbroken, Yi Huan searches for the body. Her dad and her other teachers show up and she sees him in a coffin, she faints, and when she wakes up Ci Xuan is buried. So with Ci Xuan presumed dead, and Yi Huan thinking that Kang Xi broke his promise , she swears to fulfill Ci Xuan’s dream of restoring Ming. She performs the marriage ceremony on Ci Xuan's grave. Then, she goes to the palace to confront Kang Xi.
On Kang Xi’s side, he sent Mo Sheng to watch over Yi Huan since she took so long to come back. Due to several details that I omitted during the burning of Pearl Valley and his own personal desires not to see Yi Huan and Kang Xi together, he helps the masters lie to Kang Xi with a bloody robe and says that is all that is left of Yi Huan. He spends 3 days in a daze, the first day he spent thinking that she was by his side, talking to him. The second day he spends dreaming, about her leaving, about her death. The third day he considered dying, but ultimately he persevered because of the interest he promised Yi Huan. In the last episode’s scene, where the grand dowager empress laments in front of Kang Xi's room, he leaves not because he was moved by her words. He is frustrated that she keeps bringing up his father’s and his grandfather’s history. He is frustrated that she doesn’t trust him because he has fallen in love, and that she keeps bringing up old history. He decides that since they want him to be a heartless emperor, he will be one. Because the person Kang Xi (Long xiao di) died with Yi Huan's death.
Three months later, Yi Huan sets up a lantern to meet Kang Xi. He goes to see her to try to explain what has happened, since he was not the one to send the army to Pearl Valley, but she will not listen to a word she says. Kang Xi gives her a sword and says that she can kill him. She tells Kang Xi that she won't kill him, but he can kill her. If not, when she returns in 3 years, she will take his life and his empire. There are a few clips of the confrontation on the scriptwriter's weibo (such as this clip https://weibo.com/tv/v/FeuL24ws2?fid=1034:53245d66b064884d849666bb2b3a1401).Kang Xi ultimately lets her go, and commits to gathering power and being strong enough to protect her. Because he realized from the grand dowager empress ordering the army, that he is not strong enough. With this confrontation, Yi Huan leaves with her teachers to Taiwan, and season two is set up.
If only that entire story was presented, this drama would have been beautiful. I hope that this gets shown in season 2, because a lot of the story will be missing without it. In the second season 3 years has passed, and everyone has grown up and the main conflict will be reducing the powers of the fiefs. I have high hopes for this drama, and hopefully, it won’t be shredded to pieces by the editing.