Kate

I know right! It's so smooth but they are also making it sure which moments are important for the story progression and changes in the emotions and motivations. I love it!

There were people looking for him at first, but he did not "show up", no one even knew he was there. Later they showed up like once or twice to look for him. But there is a small village they live in, and the city next to it where her shop is. Pretty sure they were mostly looking for him in the city, and he mostly stayed in the house. So it's not that weird he was not discovered.

I kind of like 2 episodes per day, the anticipation to watch a show, chatting with friends about it, sending each other screenshots as we wait adds to the fun for me 😅🤡

but it is unreal how good this show is 😭

I mean so far he is in a small village where people know about big figures in military and politics, but don't really know their faces. I'm not surprised no one recognized him.

Am I in love?
Maybe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Definitely yes.

Holy fuck this drama delivers EVERYTHING.
I am in love with the visual directing, the visuals of the actors and actresses, the acting, the fighting, the plot, the pacing, the romance, the pacing of the romance.

This is how you fucking do 40 episodes drama - you fucking take your time with thing, because you in fact have enough time. You do not have to rash it.

This drama also shows how important setting shots are. Give me a few shots of random things happening in the village, with neighbors, the landscape - all that makes the world building seem more real. It gives the sense of the story happening in a linear constant manner, rather than a plot points happening on cue when leads are on screen.

Anyway, I'm obsessed 🔥😭🔥

random reactions for ep 4 :)

Not gonna lie, I am 100% convinced ML would feel less tired and it would be easier for him to fight the gang without all the neighbors "helping" 😂 And also, FL's entrance! Holy shit is! That slow mo hit and the dude lying through the door!

"Can't you read the room?"
"Read what room?"
🤡😂🤡😂🤡

Okay when she was fixing his wound and then the said "thank you" when he said he stepped in to make sure the deed of the house is not taken, and she smiled, but then she started to tear up I cannot 😭 I LOVE THEM SO MUCH 😭😭😭

I want roleplaying to be their thing lol First she roleplayed proposal with a pig, now they roleplay the court case 😂 And not the little sister taking her role seriously and flogging FL for real 🤡

I like Xie Zheng's thinking. "Why not just kill him and get it over with?" Really efficient 🔥💯🔥

KFHLDSGNDSLGNDF THE WAY HE CAUGHT HER HEAD WHEN SHE FELL ASLEEP I CANNOT. They are so soft with each other, and the way he smiles when she acts all fun, cute and loveable. I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE ANGST TO DESTORY THAT HAPPINESS 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

"I'm willing to take you as my concubine" BITCH GET THE FUCK OFF MY SCREEN LIKE TOMORROW 🙂🔪🔪
But the way Fan Chang Yu was cooking in that scene. Just facts, no lies detected.

sdjhfjgdsbjj yaskr alrjaskrjdsktj sdlksdjfklasr ua that cheek is was so fun and cute and adorable, omgg I love them as a couple so much 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭SJFHSKDJ AND HE KISSED HER BACK! Can I love them more? This drama gonna kill me for sure.

Not the ex being annoying and trying to ruin the wedding... fuck off my dude, you had your chance.

"I'll ask you one last time" BITCH YOU ASKED ENOUGH, SHE SAID NO, KINDLY FUCK OFF 😂😂

She is already planning their future, all them kids they will have 🙂 Not blaming her.

I have to say, I love the pacing for the romance. It's not this huge insta love, it's a slow buildup. It started with caring and gratitude, moved to being concern about the other person and now we get the attraction showing up 🔥😭🔥

ep 3 thoughts

So episode 3 :)

First of all same girl. The only thing I'd expect Zhang Ling He to bring into the marriage is his beauty and hotness 🔥
And not him asking her to "dream big" in terms of the wish he can grant since he does/will be holding a lot of power when the truth about his identity comes out, and bish is like "10 pigs!" and then goes up to 200 😂

Minister of War gives villain aura, I clock him as villain 🤡 He delivers good screenshots tho. And also speaks with brain. Keeping Marqiuis of Wu’an's death as a secret does seem like a solid military strategy to keep the enemies in check.

We got one of the better CGI wolves I have ever seen in c-dramas. And the dude that helped her? Li - ain't bad looking himself 🔥 Love his dynamics with his guard. GREAT duo 😂

As for FL, I truly appreciate how balanced she is. She is neither his manly like warrior, not this delicate flower. She has this positive, cheerful and feminine aura while also clearly being strong and not feeling like she can be broken with a single slight touch. She just seems normal.

When Xie Zheng told Fan Chang Yu he can check her leg I was like: girl let him, he is a master of Chinese Traditional Medicine 😂😂😂😂 In a different life, but still 🤡

Comedic timing is still great. I like how the comedy does not seem overwhelming and does not take away from the serious scenes. It just lighten the mood.

Broken chopstick is Xie Zheng's weapon of choice and it reminds me of the pen from Weak Hero 😅 I appreciate how he knows he needs to keep a low profile, but still want to help Fan Chang Yu guard her house and keep it safe.

random reactions to ep 2 🤡

Episode 2, here we go!

First of all Fan Chang Yu and her little sister are such a cute duo. Why do I think baby girl gonna die at some point? I think it would be hard to carry the plot and hit all the marks with such a small child involved 😭

The difference of how the sisters eat and how much of a polite little prince like Xie Zheng eats I died 😂 He barely tasted the food and they were done. And the way they gave him more of their food coz he needs to recover 😭 but also his face when he found out what he is eating 🤡

The way she is still trying and failing so hard to be more girly and lady like in front of him I cannot 😂 It's great coz she is so bad at it 🔥

This drama is so beautiful. because they REALLY know how to use light and shadow to their advantage. How to use light and shadow to frame the scene and make it more vibrant, have more depth and definition etc.

Girl also smart, knowing when to play a victim and use her rather unfortunate situation to her advantage. I really dislike when characters play victim (even if they are) and act pitiful for real, but when they use it to their advantage and to make their situation better, I'm fine with it 🤡

Debt collector: if you won't give us the house we gonna cut this bitch up.
FL: wait!
FL: use this, it's sharp, can cut through anything.
I fucking cannot 😂😂😂😂

KJSDFHSDKGHDLSGDS OMFG THIS BITCH CAN FIGHT! The way she told her sis to turn around and count to 10 I was like FUCK YEAH! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
And also the comedic timing is so good!

I want someone to force me to marry Zhang Ling He too 😂

She is practicing talking to him... by talking to a small pig. She is pretending small pig is him 😂😂😂😂 SHE IS PROPOSING TO A SMALL PIG LOL SHE IS ROLEPLAYING A PROPOSAL WITH A FUCKING PIG AND HE CAN HEAR IT ALL THROUGH THE OPEN WINDOW 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

AND OMG HE SAID YES! 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I have so many thoughts after just one episode, omg 🤡

🌄 Starting with the visuals, because what the fuck is this masterpiece? It gives me everything I could ask for. Pretty, but not overwhelming angles? Checked. The variety of the shots - mixing from extreme close ups, close up, medium, full and wide shots? Checked. Motion shots to spice it up? Checked. Establishing shots that literally look like paintings? Checked. Dirty shots and over the shoulder shots nicely framing the scenes? Checked. Low angle, high angle, knee level, ground level - checked. Directing is so on point I want to cry. And then we have the editing that just brings out the beauty even more with the warm undertones coming through with the cold snowy setting. 😭

💄The styling? FUCK YEAH. Sure, her styling might be a bit (a lot) too pretty for a poor butcher girl, but who fucking cares. Let's just accept it the same way we accept newest samsungs for poor female leads in kdramas 😂 I just love her styling too much to care if it makes sense. Even the make up is so fucking on point. Not one person looks like a fucking ghost on the 10th anniversary of their death. ML injured and sick looks injured and sick - not just white last on the face bullshit.

🥰 Fan Chang Yu? LOVE HER. You know what I love? That she is neither this sweet, cut shy girl not this badass cold and strong warrior. She is strong both mentally and physically, but I just love how she tries to "act more lady like" in front of male lead - tiny little actions that feel a bit awkward since she is not used to acting this way. The way she switches her behavior is so funny, but also same girl, who wouldn't in front of Zhang Ling He 😂 I'd be on my best behavior too.

😎 Xie Zheng - it's fucking Ling He, of course his character is amazing. We don't know much about him, but that's kind of the point? Which I appreciate. Storytelling wise we are supposed to related and invest in FL as a character, and get curious and invest if figuring out male lead. That's a good balance. When both characters are easy to read and clearly set up from the start the show lacks the hook of interest, when both are mysterious, it might be hard to bet emotionally invested. So giving them different purpose storytelling wise is a smart choice.

😭 I need to talk about the last scene of episode 1 coz omfg masterpiece. Him hiding in the cold in the shadow. Ready to defend himself, ready to attack. And then the guard leaves, and she gets to him, and pushes away all the things blocking his view, and then that warm sunset light hits his face and he looks up, sees her and relaxes. From cold and warmth. Drops the weapon. Like, the way they are establishing her being his safe place and the source of warmth in his life from the start I want to cry and die, and dig a hole and RIP coz what the fuck 😭😭😭

🔥 I also like how they do not exaggerate how "bad" female lead's surrounding and life is. It's bad, not much luck, but I am glad that for every dick in her life, there are also nice people. Mrs. Chen who appreciated her work and was nice to her. Auntie Zhao and Doc Zhao are whole ass vibe.

🔪 I honestly dislike Song Yan more than his mother 🙂 He gives me "self-rightious, greater good" type of a weak ass bitch. If I'm wrong, I'm not sorry, that's the vibe he gives in episode one 🤡

ANYWAY I AM FUCKING IN LOVE, SOMEONE KILL ME 🙂😂🤡

I usually hate the "right before the ending" break up, but yes... here it made perfect sense plot wise and where the characters were. I was honestly surprised how much I liked the fact they separated for some time!

It had really fun beginning but completely lost its charm half way through 😭

THIS HE JUST HAD THE FIRST KISS BETWEEN THEM AND THEN GOT HIMSELF IN THE BED AND CASUALLY SAID "goodnight" AND WHEN TO FUCKING SLEEP? omfg I cannot 😂😂

Minato in glasses 🔥

Okay this becomes a bit confusing in terms of characterization. Wataru easier to read - he is in the confusion and slow acceptance era. His mind starts to wander places without him knowing. He slowly starts to consider.

But what the fuck is up with Minato 😂😂😂 On one had he became so casual about the kiss never mentioning it as kind of acting like it never happened, but also so much more pushy. First the apartment meeting, but then this like that just annoyed the fuck out of me when Wataru asked if he even thought about how his friend might have reacted hearing their are not just friends:

"I didn't. If he wants to distance himself because of that, I don;t care". Cool story bro, you can tell him you gay, but you ain't making that decision for Wataru. What if he cares?

Is it me or we did not meet said problematic ex, and this is the first time they mention her? 🙂😂

"Wataru cried"... did he? I saw no tears 😂

So from the preview... we gonna get reversed pinning and they will milk it for 5 episodes lol Now Minato is like - okay we are setting boundaries. Want to be just bros? Okay, as long as I can be forever with you. But Wataru now be like" okay but maybe I kind of want something more after all 😂

But instead of focusing on how he died, the story looks through the kaleidoscope of who he really was. < or rather who he was not 🤡

I did have fun but for the wrong reasons lol
For example I really liked how much of an asshole second male lead was 😂

Theory time: ML is the "dead" kid from the demon sect. Was adopted by the now dead other dude (the one that died at the beginning). Now he wants revenge on both demon sect for fucking him over AND the "righteous" sects for killing his basically "adoptive" father. There is also a lot of sus about the death of the aunt - I'd say she was forced to battle the dude and knew she would die. The current master/sect leader collaborated with demon sect to make it a win-win situation: the powerful aunt is out of the picture and the past leader of demon sect is out so the "new" guy can take over.

So after finished episode 5 I have to say it has it's ups and downs, but I'm hooked.

🔥 First of all, I really like female lead. I love that she is smart, kind, collected and also good at fighting. At times a little bit too stubborn, but that's good - nothing more boring than perfect character.
🔥 Male lead is a whole ass angst mystery. Also... he is so pretty. Also good at acting. What more could I wish for?
🔥This is a solid drama for screenshots.

While the plot was a bit... all over the place coz of pacing and editing issues at first, it gets better half way through episode 4. Episode 1 was great, episodes 2-3 were... questionable in that aspect, and 4th was improvement, so was 5th. That's when we actually get the set up sequences for specific scenes etc. Friend told me they had to cut 5 episodes, and you can feel it. I think they just went: fuck it, cut as much as we can from the beginning and set up, so then the plot starts to truly roll, we don't have to fuck it up there.

🤡 Still... the editing and structure of the scenes in episode 2-3 was really bad 🥲
🤡 The fucking inequality of quality of shots for ML and FL. They go full aesthetics for him and bare minimum for her.
🤡 The plot is rather basic, but fun. They picked all the storylines that usually work and are entertaining to watch.
🤡 There are moments when I question "why did you even bother?" like giving tea to a character who does not drinks it and gives it back coz someone asked to see them. Why even have tea there? Or a poisoning that had ZERO effect on anyone, no one cared, it was not dangerous and LITERALLY NOT ONE PERSON CARED 😂

I keep sending friends screenshots for like supporting and guest/bit roles saying: I know this face, don;'t know from where, but I know this face 🙂😂

Anyway, Cannot wait to see more 🔥 Theory in comment below.

the second couple was also adorable and cute. < by the end I actually liked 2nd couple more. There was just something so natural about how they interacted with each other.