Lush

I also really hope Qianqian DOES NOT fall in love with Qi Min. No stockholm syndrome please. Let the villains be villains. They are irredeemable. I would be extremely disappointed with Qianqian if she falls for Qi Min.

I TOTALLY LOVE the relationship that transpires between Grand Tutor Tao and Changyu. The way Changyu becomes his adoptive daughter not due to her status or Xie Zheng's suggestion, but because she genuinely feels grateful and wants to take care of Grand Tutor Tao in his old days.. I'm crying

And the way Grand Tutor Tao's voice breaks and his teary eyes because he gains such a wonderful girl as his adoptive child, he just loves Changyu so much..

I adore how the Pig-slaughtering squad follows Changyu everywhere, including her "side quest" of rescuing Qianqian. They truly love her and respect her and will follow whatever path she chooses to take.

I also love Changyu chooses to take different path from Xie Zheng, especially after knowing that he can take care of himself due to his status as Marquis of Wu'an. Her convo with Grand Tutor Tao about the reality of war is really touching, and is a wake-up call, especially with the current situation of the world. Changyu just despises killing and war. She is not a bloodthirsty person. She cares for all the people in the world, Chongzou or Yanzhou, she cares for them all. Such a person with boundless heart, I just love her so much my Shayla

FIRST OF ALL,
I'm so glad the director is just pranking us and Man Di turns out to be okay, it's only false alarm guys and I think the whole squad might be surviving this and escape the curse of death.

Secondly, the convo between Xie Zheng and Changyu inside the tent was so sad, I feel my heart breaking with Changyu. The sadness and helplessness in her eyes truly make me feel sad too and tears are just flowing from my eyes. I feel like entering the drama and slapping Xie Zheng myself.

Fortunately they talk it out within one episode, and we can see how good Xie Zheng is at coaxing our simple-minded and kind-hearted Changyu. A part of me want her to be a bit angrier longer, but it would be dragging out this already too-short drama, because it seems like the third divorce is inevitable seeing from 31rd episode preview.

The director is probably too busy creating phenomenal fighting scenes that he outright ignores other characters XD Guess a perfect drama needs to have a bit of flaws too..
I actually rewatch it and mentally count the time of Changyu's fighting time just to reassure myself of how odd Xie Wu's "sitting there looking stunned" time..

YES!! Like every scene feels heavenly and you can't fathom how such superb drama can actually be made in this life..

I do feel it's kinda odd that Xie Wu is just there while Changyu singlehandedly trying so hard to defeat Shi Hu, but I'll take it as Xie Wu being busy with other enemies so he can't assist Changyu

The war scene is soooo CHEF'S KISS!
Amazing action from Tian Xiwei, no matter how brief the war is. But it was so amazing and mesmerizing and perfectly capture the horror of a war.
And we are in the front rows of witnessing a legendary general in the making. Pretty sure rumors about her will get heightened to unimaginable dramatic level LOL
and imagine you're one of the troops standing there, watching your marquis casually swoop your comrade who suddenly transform into such beautiful female. Woah, imagine the GOSSIP!!
Can't wait to see more of Tian Xiwei's war arc!!

Fan Changyu's actions give me second-hand embarrassment.. but I guess it is necessary for her to learn more about military discipline and consequences of her action..

according to jflee.com, wuxia tends to lean on the fantastical, supernatural, mystical end of martial arts. The fighters in wuxia movies specialize in weapons, both traditional and strange. Wuxia movies have ancient Chinese settings, and fighters are often warriors of the jianghu. Wuxia heroes are always seeking to improve their martial arts abilities and to test themselves against other opponents. After all, they are MARTIAL heroes. Their martial arts skills are an integral part of their identity. Because of this, there are rivalries between schools and sects and disputes are settled in duels and arranged fights. Which none of those elements are shown in PoJ. They do have exceptional martial arts, but not bordering on fantastical elements. None of the characters are from Jianghu.

On the other hand, Xie Zheng and Changyu’s story revolves around palace intrigue and power play in the palace, where there are multiple political factions who want to take absolute power, but set in a fictional empire called Da Yin.

are you for real? The hate she’s getting is ridiculous.

Chang Yu is even more emotionally intelligent than most of the characters in the drama. She may not be refined or well-educated, as she is only a naive village girl, but she IS strong, can protect herself, and smart enough to actually contribute A LOT for Da Yin, despite growing up sheltered in Lin’An. Her parents didn’t even let her slaughter pigs before their death. Girl was pampered. But she manages to show so much growth, strength, and resilience for someone with ZERO education and military training, and you say she is not a real strong FL?

I think PoJ is leaning more into historical fiction rather than wuxia

from my understanding of the dialogues, he was looking for Xie Zheng when he got accidentally conscripted, just like how the soldiers forcefully took Changyu (a wandering citizen) into forced labour for dam building. At that era they probably just took whoever they pass, especially if the people have questionable identity.

I grief the fact that starting tomorrow we’ll only be getting 1 episode per day 😭😭😭😭😭

But I think the censorship on this drama is really loose (which I really like too XD) because the bath scene Qi Min is shirtless, usually in other dramas they still have a layer on, same with Yan Zheng rescuing Changyu's scene when she is shirtless, it's usually isn't so bare, so I'm glad the censorship is getting more loose these days

Yes! I don't know if the writer writes another book after Pursuit of Jade, but man, I'd love to watch a grown-up version of Bao'er and Ning Niang! How they navigate the palace life after becoming emperor and empress with the help of Qianqian, Changyu, and Yan Zheng!

Yes!!! I'm so happy to see them reunited like this and how the gang really protective towards her despite her strength

So it's confirmed that Qianqian is truly a modern person who got transmigrated to the drama. Although I think it's a useless side quest, but I think it's fresh to see the main character isn't the transmigrated person, but instead, the girl best friend!

It's really warm to finally see Changyu and the Jin gang get reunited once again. I love their friendship!!!

On another note, I didn't expect Shisan Niang to care so much for Ning Niang, it actually warms my heart. I've grown to like her and hope that SYQ is still redeemable (no matte how angry I feel toward him rn for Lin'an Massacre) and hope he truly fall for Shisan niang and stop obsessing over our FCY

I really like how the director put so much care and build up Changyu's relationship with Lin'an people seriously. Because the viewers have grown fond of them, even the most annoying character like Kang Old Lady have really taken our sympathy in the end. Thus their massacre scenes have caused such heartbreak. I cried so much when Zhao Da Shu and the four henchmen were conscripted.. I cried so much more when the people were killed by SYQ.. Especially Wang Shu and Chef Li. They cared so much for FCY and Changning.. their deaths were so cruel, it was so sad. I didn't expect I would care so much for the villagers of female lead's story, and this isn't even half of the drama yet..