Erudite

@Lilly: The author suggested that she is experiencing some postnatal syndrome when she wrote the original novella about 12 years ago. Recently she also wrote a novelization of the web drama series we watched, this is published at the same time as the BR drama. It seemed that as far as the original author concerned the drama version is now 'BR actual'.

For those unfamiliar, 7.3 on Douban is a pretty good score. So far this year, not many A-list C-drama can even reach 7. Some couldn't even reach 6.

Chang An is supposed to be from the Princess Taiping line. The King is son of the General Li the preamble in EP 1. Gong Zi took the surname because he has no father and became General Li's stepson.

Thanks Lilly. I am travelling and on mobile these few days. The bonus for 2 billion views will be posted next week.

@Sno: Actually the writer wrote the original novel you read and saw that the drama said people who critized the actions of Wan Mei as portrayed in the drama has a immature way of judging people.

Happy 28th Birthday Tong Tong, may you receive a double portion of happiness and blessings the next 365 days :D

The King in BR is partly based on the historical King in real life, who is fanatic about opera. Beside the author, 2 other women and 1 man share the screen credits - they actually rewritten most of the script.

@Lilly: I mentioned them because I read your watchlist ;)
Btw, every graduate in the Central Academy of Drama has to do a stage performance project, including our 'Chang An' otherwise they could not graduate.

@Lullina03:
Some of the King and Gong Zi's characteristics are based on real leaders who lived in that period of Interregnum. Eg There really was a king who continue pretending he was still blind after his eyes were healed to undermine his enemies.
The credits to these new adaptations should go to the screen writers not the novel.
Also, knowing my military history, the King's father is often credited as demonstrating the world's first known use of offensive gunpowder projective weaponry.
I think the thought of filming that might also have flashed through the producer's mind when he had to scale down drastically the big scene which in first draft of script noted '500 extras needed'.

Su Xiao Ding is primarily a stage actor of some fame. He was nominated for a China Gold Lion Best Stage Actor Award in 2014.
Two of his more famous classmates from Central Academy of Drama listed in kisskh are Ray Cheung and Jiang Kai Tong. Some of his other classmates also had roles in Water Margin (2011) and https://kisskh.at/7139-heroes-in-sui-and-tang-dynasties

@Lullina03: Up to Cha Ru's time shadows had higher status. In EP18, Liu Guang said there was a time when it was unnecessary to give shadow derogatory names. (We can also deduced that she had at least 12 shadows after the one she cared about died)
It was quite obvious from EP24 that the 1st glorious age of Gui Hua ended when Gong Zi's step-father occupied Gui Hua City and installed his mother as Magnate.
Note: The scenes of Cha Ru being acting Magnate before Cha Luo were deleted from the show.

@Skye: LOL, you should have written 'at the end of the series' :D
A more complete version of the song is also available at my fireworks comment below.
The name of the song is "One" (一)
Singer is Gary Chaw (Cao Ge)

The name of the song at ending of each episode is:
Fall Out Of Favor (失宠)
Singer: Li Yitong (lead actress of Bloody Romance)
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing

It is obvious that these thoughts must have crossed both their minds while they are sitting on the bed.
During that brief moment of silence:
Chang An is too shy to ask Wan Mei.
Wan Mei is too concern that she would hurt Chang An if they proceed (because of his "Heart Burner") :p
So she broke the silence by suggesting that Chang An should rest after his long journey.
PS: If there's a sequel, we know treatment for "Heart Burner" is available ;)

Coincidentally, actress Li Yitong (Wan Mei) wrote a poem just a few hours ago on her social media as a comment to the firework scene in EP30:
星河曙天，曲终人未散，心痛之下绝望之时，天光，尽

Translation:
Rivers of stars, light up the sky;
The song has ended, but people have not scattered;
In the midst of anguish and when all hope is gone;
Daylight, Ends

It's almost ready for release :)
1. The new original drama score of Ever Night was completed last month thru a special recording session with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
2. Most of the cast already had their dialogue recorded in their own voice in post-production.
3. Audition for additional cast is now on for the 2nd season of Ever Night: War of the Radiant Splendor for which filming will begin on November 2018.

Approx. 230 days after creation of title at MDL, # of Watchers: 245

@Karin:
If you enjoy Nirvana in Fire, there's hope that the adaptation of https://kisskh.at/29140-royal-nirvana will be closer to that genre. All the confirmed leads are on the B-list (including Li Yi Tong) but everyone there at least is a credible voice actor.
From the point of literature only: Ever Night and Royal Nirvana the among the best in their respective genres.

@Lullina03: Due to production running out of money, there were some last minutes changes - according to the script doctor, the original plan was to let Chang An lead a raid against his opponent, forcing a truce first.

To celebrate BR exceeding 1.9 billion episodes view count at Youku, I have decided to post this amateur behind scene live recording of how the firework scene at end of episode 30 is filmed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIYjJuDCf08 (720p, 48 secs)

Compare this with Episode 30 ending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95G5Na0gIbQ

As we can see by comparing the firework patterns in the sky, the release version which audience saw is close to a 'live recording' composed of a live fireworks display mixed with the three actors' performance in a single take.
Due to the limited budget and using fireworks under uncertain weather during winter nights, this sequence has to be done right the first time.

Obviously there's no background music while filming. The music and lyrics were composed the same way as other C-dramas - that is when the composers saw the rough cut of this sequence and draw inspiration to create their original music.
BR's directors would then edited the sequence to fit the flow of the music into the final release form we see.

@Karin: My tastes in dramas ranges across different genres much like everyone :)
For Wuxia/period dramas I am currently enjoying https://kisskh.at/17025-shaolin-wendao - but I am unsure whether it has English subs available. I know this drama will get an uncut release in Japan this month.
I tend to promote some underrated or lesser known dramas when I know the producers are passionate about their work.
Upcoming works I have been waiting eagerly for many months:
https://kisskh.at/27178-ever-night
https://kisskh.at/27915-first-sword-of-wudang