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of course the good guys win, Xiao Jue continues being a famous general, He Yan becames a famous warrior, and the evil chancellor is defeated :)

It was like in the 200s. Really late in the story. omg in the novel it takes soooooooo long before he just stops assuming everything she is doing is fake spy actions. he frustrated me so much lol. she spends the first half of the book thinking she's making progress in earning his esteem and trust, while he is interpreting everything she does in the worst way and seeing how nothing about her past and profile adds up. So first he has to stop guarding against her. (tbh at one point as I reader I even thought, fine I'm over this ship. If they don't ever get together and have an open ending, I'm fine with it. I like her and her friend group enough. I was DONE with him 😆 not as a character, I liked him, but I did start losing hope for the romance. though later it does all work out and I really enjoyed them.)

ok his deal in the novel: He's a total lackey for the evil chancellor, yes. Because of his messed up history. His dad used his mom and dumped her, she ends up in a brothel and it's a whole THING and the end kills the mom and takes him back into the house. Super awful. So chu zhao is an illegitimate son obsessed with obtaining power by any means and works to move up and get a powerful connection, to rise in officialdom. He achieves this position with the chancellor. So he's just gotta do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make it to the top. He thinks Xiao Jue will lose so he is on the other side. He doesn't have any lofty political beliefs or goals. It's all about picking the winning prince and becoming a top official.

[ NOVEL SPOILERS - NOVEL READERS BEWARE] You can worry less. I found him an interesting, unpredictable character in the novel. He's a threat to the country. But oddly enough, not ever to He Yan. I know why you're anxious, though. The dynamic in the novel was kinda wild because he's on Team Evil and the ML and his crew are forever watching him with narrow-eyes, like --look at that evil mastermind over there thinking up his evil schemes for evil !!-- While bro himself is thinking --yep another day of diobolical schemes, because I'm a bad person who's gonna win because good is dumb-- While the FL just stumbles into the room all heyyyyy buddy, YOU LOOK FRIEND SHAPED :D :D :D and actively decides hang out with a member of team evil, since he's been nice enough toward her. And ML and his crew are SO CONCERNED that FL will fall for the handsome villain's vile seductions and end up heartbroken, while said villain is thinking, YES I WILL SEDUCE HER TO THE DARKSIDE, TAKE THAT XIAO JUE !!!! And meanwhile my girl has friendzoned that man into oblivion. And now she has an evil friend. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (His fate ultimately is quite sad, but it's the consequences of his own choices and actions so I don't feel sorry for him. I'll say that in the case of He Yan, that's maybe his 1 redeeming scenario because he does inevitably respect and care for her, and in the end he never does turn that unrequited love to hate and I don't recall that he ever seriously betrays her. Though they're on opposite sides.)

Now he's all grown up and has his own plans, yes. He's now taking over and calling the shots.

Only for Love when initially airing was publishing multiple times per week. That's the standard for chinese dramas.

The brother wasn't scheming since a young age. It's the dad and uncles, the older family generation. The brother was weak and no one thought he'd be able to lead the family. If he hadn't gotten better, they would have let He Yan keep pretending to be male and taking his place.

i agree, his novel storyline was great and I wish we could keep it all in the drama. it felt "real" because many people are not completely heartless villians or pure heroes, many are complicated and have a mix of motivations. He ultimately experiences the consequences of his choices and his fate alone is deserved.

If you enjoy historical romance novels that are plotty, I'd definitely recommend you give it a try. English translation is done by lazygirltranslations (you can google it). It's not the most brilliant writing ever produced or anything but imo it's just as good as the average historical romance novel that gets published internationally. I really enjoyed it myself. It has more backstory to it and the protagonist is more centered in the narrative. (He Yan doesn't even reach the military camp until ch 30). It stood out to me because it was a rebirth novel but revenge isn't what the protagonist is thinking about all the time. And her personality was interesting because she feels both humble and very self-aware yet also extremely confident in her abilities. You believe that she's reached her lowest point and truly has to start her climb all over again. Yet she knows if she rose step by step the 1st time, she can do it again. Because the pacing is slower, the reader "feels" the main character earn their success. The way the novel slowly reveals glimpses of their teenage academy past (and how this reveals facets of Xiao Jue's personality and their connection) kept me engaged.

yeah, I expect the drama will feel that in order for him to be "allowed" to survive he has to be less complicit, less blood on his hands. So we probably will see his assistant have a less tragic fate. (even if she dies, it won't be like her fate in the novel. omg when u realize how long he knew it would end like this !!!!!!!! I felt a chill.)

not arguing against anything else in your perspective but FYI it's by a webnovel author who is super popular. So yes, MANY people have read it before. The translation to English started a long time ago and it's been available in chinese and machine-translate for years. When I started reading chinese web novels, it's one of the top non-danmei that was recommended to me.

His jealousy of Chu Zao didn't bother me in the novel because it's not irrational. He's correct that this IS a guy on the enemy side and he truly DOES start planning to seduce her away to Team Evil. and He Yan DOES seem to ignore the obvious by actually befriending him! Xiao Jue's is bestie & nephew also fear that He Yan is gonna be seduced by the handsome and charming villian, so there's some group-think going on. While naturally He Yan truly is under no illusions that gentleman Chu is a good & clean person - all the characters underestimate her because of her optimistic, cheerful persona.

this is meta-textual and [BIG NOVEL SPOILERS ] [COMMENTARY FOR NOVEL READERS ONLY] but when watching ep 10 I kept thinking that when the drama removed several minor characters, I'm really glad they didn't write out Chu Zhao's female assistant. It's just.... considering her fate in the novel and how he ultimately treats her as disposable in order to achieve his goals... it would be too tragic to me if the live adaption treated her as unnecessary. She was really too tragic for me in the story!!! 🥲 Saved and damned by the same person 🥲 I'm sure the drama is going to white wash Chu Zhao's character in the drama to make him less ruthless and driven for power, so the story will change. BUT I REMEMBER. So it makes me happy to see her on the screen and not forgotten.

now you have me curious, I'll have to check it out :)

oh TPR was 100% real time travel. They just added those remarks occasionally as an obvious censorship pass to say, "see it MIGHT be all a dream". wink, wink. It was very very thin and clearly just a manipulation around the rules. The way Story of Kunning Palace did it was "see, it's all a story! EVERYTHING IS FICTION" by adding a writer at the end. Also just a simple trick around the rules. [but yeah, in Summit of our Youth looks like coma and not time travel]

the way they got around it was they repeatedly made random remarks like --this might be nothing but a dream-- LMAO apparently that was enough to pass the censors. nice job writers!

yeah he was still in his "we're not friends" phase then in the novel. he totally DID leave her to stumble around blind a lot, to see what would happen. and he leaves her to get attacked too I think lol.

He's a notorious strict guy with a "clean" rep among officials and she's threatening to spread spicy rumors about him. 🤪 In the novel I recall she pulls out this threat a few times lmao. Now the context is that she thinks this threat would actually work because she remembers him as an uptight, image conscious teenager from their schooldays. In reality, we can assume he's no longer a teenager and isn't TRULY blackmailed by this. He wants any halfway excuse to let her stay in the army, because she's the most talented recruit.

[SPOILERS] In the novel he's more seriously suspicious of her longer - to the point that in this trip where she's faking being his nephew, I felt like in the novel at this point he's sorta caring what happens to FL (he did feel bad she was blinded) but also wouldn't lose much sleep if FL died. He figures out she's a girl way earlier in the drama and he's a tad warmer to her in the drama at this point. One amusing difference is that in the novel she has no idea the army she's joining is his. She just applies to the closest unit that's openly recruiting. When she hears it's Xiao Jue she literally spits out water and is like wtf THAT GUY?? The hardass, rigid perfectionist who hates mess and fun?? We used to operate forces on opposite sides of the country and that worked for me. :/ This is gonna make my rise thru the ranks and hiding my gender 50x harder. FML. And in the novel there are other trainers between commander and recruits so they directly interact way less in the portion of the book. Drama makes him more prominent in the early arc. The dynamic of He Yan being boyishly playful and cheerful, while he's quiet, stern, and judgmental is same in book and drama. Part of their whole vibe in the novel is that he keeps being kind to her secretly in ways she can't see. He is warm inside, cold outside. And he is putting on an act of distance while watching from afar.They just don't show enough in the drama to tell yet if they're gonna majorly shift the academy days dynamic from novel. In the novel, she is That Boy who all the other boys don't want to play with. She's scrawny and weak and a loser lol. She thinks of ML as the perfect, naturally talented and high status student who is so cool that he doesn't have to try. He doesn't have to impress anyone and doesn't have to study. He just "happens" to chill around as she is alone practicing her crap martial arts and failing at studying. Of course he actually has a secret soft spot for the academy loser and does a bunch of things to secretly help her. But he's too proud to admit it and fakes like he barely notices she's alive. The part of her sharing a sword pair with him and knowing his dad is totally drama-only canon. His dad still died and all that but it had nothing to do with her. (Because she had no connection to his dad's death and his demotion from the Emperor, there is way less reason for him to assume his former classmate turned general has been swapped. That great general now is less brilliant in battles but that's not super suspicious.) (1 more note on their novel dynamic - for at least the first 50% of the story, Xiao Jue's subordinate is convinced He Yan and Xiao Jue are ex-lovers. not CURRENT gay boyfriends but exes!)

nah, I love Dilraba but she was NOT a passing cross dresser in Long Ballad. Literally just as obvious as in Legend of Female General. In both cases, you need to pretend not to see it.

The only time I've seen a production where I could believe it was Maiden Holmes. The actress has sorta a more masculine passing face (slim cheeks and something about the shape of her nose & mouth) and she had a no makeup look. Dressed in high collars. She put on a more masculine voice than Dilraba did in Long Ballad.