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Yes very insightful. that's totally his deal, expanded on in the source text. jovial and sentimental but not competent at governing.

In the novel he does die lmao. His evil crown kills him and it's totally cause he didnt handle his business properly and was passive about the bad forces in the court. Then Xiao Jue has to help the Not Evil Prince take over. (face palm)

if you consider that he had a malicious chancellor for years and apparently missed it. plus so easily misled about xiao jue's dad... he's not been established as one of the more competent emperors. 🤷‍♀️

yes poisoned

yep. if I recall she's not sure in the moment if it's just a pretense.

the novel is super super different but a funny bit is FL musing that whenever she sees the empress and consort hanging out together she imagines the emperor's hat growing more green 🤣 they just adore each other the most 😄

Actually so hyped that the drama is giving more screen time to celebrated wife-haver General Yan. More of him and their academy class, less Chu Zhao please.

Indeed! This makes it a private, sentimental secret between master and servant! Calculated to diffuse resentment.

Why does the emperor think he needs Dudu but not He Yan? This is made clear in the novel. Misogyny - he and the court CANNOT concieve of the idea that He Yan is actually a useful general who can protect the realm. It's like being super impressed that your dog or kid did a cool trick. Wow, she's a lady and she DID WAR. woooowww how impressive for her. Everybody clap! At this point the emperor thinks she is a very impressive lady. And he's open to the idea that she is a useful in battle as a capable lieutenant. But the promotions she is given are more about pleasing Chu Zhao and Xiao Jue. If they hadn't been advocatingfor her, she would not be a marquis. The novel is always very conscious of the ingrained misogyny in the culture and how it impacts He Yan and other women in all situations. (Later she actually proves her value and then yeah, she's seen that way. But at this point in the novel they have not seen her leading an army all on her own and winning big battles against the enemy. They don't know she is actually the famous Feihong General).

Xiao Jue giving her secret sword tutoring is from the novel and it didn't lessen her accomplishments. She earned everything from her own efforts. A. he helped her because her perseverance and her ethos impressed him and B. just because we have teachers through our lives, that doesn't erase what we learned and our success. It's just like she learned strategy from her Master. Think of it as wuxia logic. All heroes get elite instruction! In the novel, the reveal makes her realize that someone actually noticed and appreciated all her struggles and hard work back then. He had accompanied her all the way.

Xaio Jue using the "she's my beloved" excuse is pulled from the novel - and in the novel this was actually a strategic move. Because in the novel we get a lot more on the emperor's psychology and how key players use it to manipulate him. He hasn't accomplished much and he's too dependent on his chancellor. He isn't as awesome as his dad was. He has imposter syndrome LOL. He is very sentimental and likes the idea of making grand gestures (because it reminds him of his dad as a beneficient emperor). Xiao Jue read him correctly that he LOVES this idea of supporting a great romance and forgiving everything in celebration of loveeeee (in the novel he also gives then a marriage grant in the same scene). Another back-up is that the emperor NEEDS Xiao Jue and tying her in this way to him as his beloved means killing her for deceiving the emperor would mean making an enemy of his best general. Realistically, just basing this on He Yan's merits wasn't enough. Danger of it going wrong and her getting punishment/exile/prison. (in the novel that actually was her original plan, to pled forgiveness on merits, and Xiao Jue goes around her back and does this instead. Fully explains to her after why they needed to take this angle, because her way is too risky.)

In the novel He Yan teases him multiple times that he had a gay crush on her in their teens. He denies it but not too strongly (as in, he's not offended or insistent about it). I personally feel that in the novel it's intentionally left ambiguous. Maybe, yeah, teen Xiao Jue was a bit gay for the pure hearted worst student. He certainly acted out of character about He Yan back then, doing so many gestures and secret support. Ultimately, even if he did have a crush he's in denial about - he's only ever liked this a person. It doesn't really matter.

The novel is good, I definitely recommend it. Like many good chinese novels I've read, there are various well-developed side characters who are interesting in their own right and we get side stories about them. It's over 220 chapters, so there's time lol. (He Yan's rise is slower, which feels more believable.) I would say it is a novel primarily about He Yan. Her romance with Xiao Jue doesn't really kick off until half way thru. And we don't learn too much about him until then. He's present but doesn't get heavy page time until she establishes herself in his army. This is over 70 chapters in lol. So 60% about He Yan and her personal journey, 30% about her relation with Xiao Jue, 10% about the supporting cast? The evil prime minister and her evil brother are quite minor - the villians get little page time. Chu Zhao is not a real villain but one of the tragic minor characters of the novel, so he gets a subplot. But he's a better character than you see here in the drama. It's not a bad thing. All the minor characters were interesting in the novel. Her bros in the army get a bit more backstory and more personality too!

The wild thing is, when reading the novel I really enjoyed his character and his backstory in it was the kind of dark and tragic kind that's compelling. But then the drama made EVERTHING about him less dark and made him way more clingy and insistent about He Yan (instead of quietly yearning in the background). So now he's annoying and I can't even be excited for his screentime. 🤔🙄

What little we know of Fu Hao is so badass. I crave a drama all about her.

I knowwwww the novel is so cuuuuteeee. I love how she was so protective over him. He's attractive enough but with a low key introvert and nondescript personality, yet she likes him as he is!

There's not much plot in the novel (a novel I did like a lot! I just acknowledge there's little plot to it lol) so I'm not surprised it's more inspired by than faithful adaptation.

Because he's not as brave and valiant as He Yan is. As you say, he had many other choices and didn't take them. There's this little moment in the novel when someone... I can't recall who, but someone confronts him and makes him face himself for a brief moment and consciously acknowledge that he isn't just a victim who is now playing out a role that He Yan forced him into - he tells himself that he was forced to this, that he never wanted any of this, etc. But the truth is deep down he DOES want the famous general identity. He wants all those unearned merits and he let this all happen the way it did. Just most of the time he deceives himself.

Did they turn this into a detective drama?? The novel has investigating about 30% of the plot, 70% rom-com.

LMAO in both cases, in the novel I thought the SML guy was an interesting, dark character and he had some memorable moments... and then in the drama they make him annoying for some reason.