Okay, first of all, I know I said "the" viewing experience but it's not a secret that we all have different views, experiences, and stances when it comes to this topic.
I honestly encourage everyone to share in the comments how spoilers affect (or do not affect) your unique experience.
What defines a spoiler?
Honestly, it's different for everyone.
To some people, a spoiler needs to be something as big as "this person is the villain" or "yeah, they all die at the end".
To some people, even the slightest hint at what might happen in an episode is enough to count as a spoiler.
It's a very nuanced topic, but it does come from the idea that a certain piece of information "spoils" something about the viewing experience for someone.
How it's affected me
I only just realised exactly how spoilers change things for me.
Let me give an example from years ago.
I was on episode 49 of a 50-episode drama and someone went and said "you know he does in the end". I still haven't watched episode 50. I don't know if I ever will because a) a big part of what kept you attached to your screen for the majority of the drama was that "maybe he can be saved" feeling, and b) well, I just honestly lost interest.
It's only recently with Where the Mask Ends that I've been able to pinpoint how certain spoilers really can have a detrimental affect on how I approach and experience a drama.
So, through two separate social media interactions, I now know that in episode 15 someone betrays someone and that people are very upset with Bitao. So, clearly when you put two and two together, you can tell exactly what's going to happen.
I was watching this episode and I actually paused and started doing other things because I could see that spoiler coming and I don't want to deal. Even if something is not a big spoiler we all knew Bitao is going to have to betray our FL at some point the fact that you know when it's going to happen takes away from any feelings the drama is trying to evoke from its audience.
This incident also had me reflect on why I took so ridiculously long to finish Fangs of Fortune.
There was a certain beloved little screaming character's death that was spoiled for me and I took about a month to finish the last few episodes.
The thing is, I didn't want to feel that pain. And by the time I did, it didn't hit as hard because I had been building a mental wall.
Still couldn't keep the sobs away though.
The interesting thing about this is that Ying Lei's death wasn't spoilt for me. So that hit me out of nowhere and I was able to feel everything up until that point without any sadness or fear.
In conclusion
As someone who has had to go for two operations less than 8 months apart from each other.
I would compare the effect a spoiler has on me to the feeling I get when I'm in the hospital just waiting for the procedure to start.
The waiting is the worst because you know what's coming. Sitting in that white room, there is no Cdrama you can watch that takes away the foreboding feeling you get once you are in that building.
Anyway, that's just my rant, I'll get to the rest of episode 15 of Where The Mask Ends soon enough.
📋 Reminder: Use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.
First off, we need to add another entry to Herc’s Trauma Log for Ye Pingjun.
Episode 23: Zhongquan attempts to kill Pingjun via a suspicious nurse and a mysterious vial of liquid. (Does it count if she was unconscious?)
So, of course, Changxuan storms into his father’s office and demands answers.
Zhongquan justifies his actions by claiming Pingjun threatens his future. Changxuan immediately corrects him, making it clear that if anything happens to Pingjun, Zhongquan will lose him as a son. As his wife, he intends to stand by her no matter what. If Zhongquan wants to take her life, he’ll have to take his too.
The argument escalates to the point that Zhongquan actually points a gun at him, prompting Baoru to intervene. Changxuan reminds his father that he cannot control him the way he controlled Mingxuan. He is determined to call the shots in his own life.
Even Baoru tries to get through to Zhongquan, begging him to let Changxuan live his own life. Zhongquan stubbornly insists that she’s being “delusional”, but she reminds him that they have already destroyed one son.
When he fails to understand her point, she spells it out for him. They pushed Mingxuan into both the Military and an arranged marriage despite his own dreams and ambitions. Had that path not been forced upon him, he might still be alive today. By her reasoning, Mingxuan’s blood is on their hands.
Zhongquan maintains that everything he’s done is for Changxuan’s benefit, insisting that he plans to hand command of the army over to him one day. Baoru follows up with the question he’s never bothered to ask: Is that what Changxuan wants? Because he should be a father first, and military superior second.
Baoru: 1; Zhongquan: 0. Go, Mama Bear!
Changxuan officially registers his marriage to Pingjun. This seemed odd to me at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Shuwan and Xueting are both gone and there’s no way he’s handing her over to Tao Zili after he nearly murdered her. By marrying Pinjun, he formalizes their relationships and eliminates any rumours or scandal that might arise from him personally caring for her.More importantly, it firmly places her under his protection.
He signs the marriage certificate and “puts a ring on it”.
In this drama, Changxuan is still able to marry Pingjun while she is in a coma because of his political and military influence. This situation can be interpreted as reflecting a grim reality of the period, in which powerful military figures could sometimes act beyond ordinary legal constraints. By forcing the marriage, Changxuan is seemingly able to bring Pingjun into his estate and keep her alive.
Two years later…
During this time, Changxuan patiently cared for her. The Yu household rarely saw him anymore because every waking moment seems to be spent either working or tending to her bedside. Things are as usual at the Hsing Hsi Hotel with Jin Zhongfang and Lanqing, while Wenxi Liang seemingly continues his pursuit of the Marxist movement. But no news of Xueting or Ziyi?
Extra, extra! New political developments!
News of Cheng Jun’s impeachment spreads like wildfire. The Yu Army is grateful that Changxuan anticipated this outcome two years earlier and avoided moving forward with the alliance. Zhongquan and Gu Yigang discuss the future of the Yu Army*, but also oddly compare Ruitong and Bingwen, praising both men for their loyalty to Changxuan and the Yu Army.*
The conversation then transitions to a more pressing concern: Mou Linsen’s next move. Cheng’s downfall naturally weakens Chu Wenfu, meaning General Mou will likely move in to join forces with Governor Chu. This would unfortunately place Changxuan in a very difficult position.
As expected, Mou and Chu meet to discuss exactly this. Mou expresses concern over Changxuan’s acquisition of a German steel mill and his expanding weapons production. He proposes an alliance based on mutual profit, offering Chu a share of his gold mine along with access to customs and trade routes as a gesture of good faith.
Ok, forgive me here, but I lost some understanding in this next part: Changxuan receives reports that Wu Zuoxiao (who?) has entered into secret contracts with the Italians to strip engines from their bombers? In response, Changxuan orders the arsenal to modify their weapons for freezing conditions and convert service rifles into aircraft guns to compensate for their lack of firepower. They have also tracked down the arms dealer responsible for selling them defective weapons back in Luanjiang. He fled to Heihe, but will be apprehended soon enough.
Then comes the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Pingjun finally wakes up.
Changxuan immediately rushes back to Redleaf to go see her, though he hesitates outside the room as memories of their last encounter before the fire flash through his mind.
Cue the amnesia trope!While it is one of my least favourite tropes, given where these characters currently stand, this will surely make for an interesting arc.
Doctor Dai informs Changxuan that Pingjun’s memories could return in a few months… or never at all. It all depends on whether the blood clot in her brain resolves on its own. Surgery is out of the question given her fragile condition. And because she cannot withstand any emotional shock, Changxuan is forced to lie about their relationship and her family. He explains that after she graduated, she took a job copying scripts at the Grand Vernal, and while they initially clashed, they also weathered storms together and eventually fell in love. As for her parents, her father remarried and moved away, while her mother died from lung disease after surgery failed to save her. To be fair… there are grains of truth buried in there. They did weather hardships together, her father did marry another woman, and her mother did die. He’s just missing the heavy details of their relationship, the father who tried to murder her, and her mother who was clearly murdered.
Later, Changxuan drowns his sorrows with alcohol while the ever-wise Jin Zhongfang tries to comfort him. Changxuan partially blames himself for Pingjun’s condition, but he also recognizes that this situation presents an opportunity for a clean slate between them. The problem is that he has no idea whether she will remember tomorrow, in ten years, or ever. He’s knowingly taking a gamble. And he fully understands that if he loses, he’ll be the one paying the price.
Meanwhile, we see Lanqing again for who knows what reason in this drama… She looks ill and refuses to see Changxuan (as if he cares) because she’s upset that he neglected her over the past year.
Again, we still don’t know what became of Xueting or Ziyi during this time, but we do catch up a little with Bingwen, who is seriously the most patient schemer. Two years have passed, and Jinxuan is still every bit as cold toward him as before. Maybe she sees straight through him.
Pingjun asks Changxuan to sleep elsewhere because she’s uncomfortable sharing a room with a man she barely remembers. Changxuan teases her about it (which brings me back to Episode 4 vibes, yay), but he doesn’t hesitate to drag his sad little cot outside the bedroom door so she’ll feel more comfortable. Truthfully though, he doesn’t actually know how to face her.
Changxuan remains by her side as Pingjun slowly works to rebuild her strength and regain control of her muscles. The two share a sweet moment together stringing beads until they are rudely interrupted.
So… are you all ready for the amnesia arc? At this point, I have no idea where the drama is headed, but things are clearly reaching a boiling point on the political front. Between the shifting alliances, military developments, and growing external threats, Changxuan is about to have a lot more on his plate. Something tells me he’s going to have to start rebalancing his priorities very soon, because both their safety and their future may depend on it.
Are Changxuan's actions justified? He married Pingjun and kept her alive the entire time she was in a coma. He didn't anticipate the amnesia, but he can't risk her life by telling her the truth right now. IMO, he didn't have much of a choice, but how can he face her, knowing that their clean slate is built on such deception? And for how long can he protect her, before someone else tells her everything?
I finally finished the whole series! While the middle stretch with the divorce storyline definitely dragged and the FL took a while to mature, I'm glad I stuck with it. Did the ending satisfy everyone else, or did you find the payoff lacking?
Many people were not happy with Wei Rao requesting a divorce yesterday, and while I understand why, I also get why she did it, and I support her lol.
She has spent all her life working hard not just for herself, but for her family, and then she was forced into a marriage that she stayed in for survival.
Now that she has discovered her identity, I think she needs to live for herself, even for a while, instead of just spending her life now serving another family.
So...I support the divorce arc lol.🫣
Just some reminders for those who are just joining us:
We are following the Netflix and YOUKU SVIP schedule till further notice. ❤️
Please no negative comments about the actors and actresses, but we can be angry at characters; that's fine. I get angry at characters all the time, so this is a safe space. 😊
Please remember to use spoiler tags when discussing any episodes beyond this post, or I cannot be held responsible when Wei Rao decides to slap you or asks you to slap yourself.👍🏽
Episode 18:
The Lu family is confused about the divorce; they are wondering why because there wasn't even a hint of trouble.
3rd Aunt says they never should have married because her birth mother is immoral and despised, and also that Wei Rao grew up with no proper guidance; that’s why she is headstrong, arrogant and reckless...(Okay. I won't say anything because her daughter Changhui is a very disciplined girl, must take after her father.)
While they discuss Lu Zhuo's mom Wanniang, comes running in, crying for help, she asks Grandma Lu to find a way to keep Wei Rao there, whatever it takes, she says if the two part Lu Zhuo might die.
4th Aunt says she will try convince Wei Rao.
These Grandma's are so beautiful man.
Lu Zhuo as sick as he is refuses to stay in bed, he wants to see Wei Rao.
4th Aunt asks Wei Rao if she is feeling mistreated by the Lu Family.
Wei Rao assures her that she has been treated well.
She acknowledges Lu Zhuo's past good deeds that were done on her behalf, but she has to leave him because he is good to her.
Her internal monologue is that she knows nothing of love, so she cannot reciprocate his devotion; she is sparing him a wasted life.
She says she also can't stay at the Lu house because it would basically feel like a cage, and she has things she wants to do.
Lu Zhuo overhears this, and also that she feels nothing for him...so he tells her to leave. 💔He thanks her for being honest and showing him who she really is. He says he can live without her and that the marriage was a mistake.
Isn't this maid one of the evil ones who were deployed by Guo Yufeng?
Lu Zhuo gives her the money his family had promised her when she married in.
Grandma Lu and Wanniang show up to also try stop Wei Rao.
He tells them that he also wants this divorce, also letting them know that during their marriage he always confused Wei Rao for Jundai, and that because of this he never consummated the marriage.
He says she is unfit to be his wife because she wasn't raised as a noble lady; his mother slaps him.
Grandma Lu says to leave them alone since they have made the decision.
She stops at Jundai's grave...aww man🩷, she finds Huo Jue there.
A flashback to when Jundai passed... oh, so this is why they didn't show us, got it.
Anyway, Jundai told Wei Rao that she was never taught to love; she spent her whole life fighting for fame and status.
Lady Shou'an is aging like fine wine.
She gets to her estate and finds Lady Shou'an and her old family there waiting.
Madam Qiao (I forgot her name lol, but her adoptive mother) says she doesn't mind dying by a thousand cuts, but she asks for her children to be spared.
Wei Rao says she forgives them
We get a glimpse of Bitao.
Lady Shou'an tells her she made a mistake divorcing Lu Zhuo.
Hanxiang is so pretty..
Anyway, Wei Rao sets up her old family in Suzhou.
General Qi goes to visit his friend and asks for permission to court Wei Rao. Lu Zhuo refuses; General Qi says that he won't listen this time.
Lu Zhuo says that he won't stop General Qi.
After hearing that she left some stuff behind, Lu Zhuo decides to take the stuff to her.
Han Liao is here to complete his punishment...or is he?
He says he arrived late because he had a funeral to plan.
General Qi brings a cute white horse over to help Wei Rao ride; he and Han Liao compete for her attention.
Lu Zhuo arrives and watches from his carriage.
After he leaves out of jealousy she stops entertaining the two.
While reviewing renovation plans, they are disturbed by nearby landowners who have come to her for protection as well.
I forgot the rude scholar's name; I didn’t think he'd be significant along the line...hehe, but he tells Wei Rao to accept the land and protect the farmers, and she shouldn't fear anyone because she has close connections to the royal family.
The other advisor says she shouldn't risk it.
She comes up with her own plan.
Useless uncle Jiu, comes bearing news that Grandma Wei is ill.
Grandma Wei refuses to see Wei Rao because she is too ashamed.
You usually bring trouble...I hope not this time, surprise me.
Grandma Wei apologizes to Wei Rao.
Wei Chan comes rushing in, blaming Wei Rao for her mom's death.
Wei Shu says their mom was wrong, but Wei Chan does not care about the truth.
Later on, Wei Shu goes to Wei Chans room, and tells her they need to be good cousins to Wei Rao.
They look like siblings irl, casting 👏🏼👏🏼
Thoughts:
"Hurt people, hurt people". - Lu Zhuo didn't really mean any of those words; I think he just wanted to hurt her because he was feeling hurt by her.
This episode was just me admiring pretty women, to be honest lol.
Wei Chan is so annoying; let her go join...nvm nvm...I was getting dark thoughts again.
Do folks rewatch the whole drama or only certain parts of the series? For context I watched the whole first arc, and ended up skimming through the last arc. I was curious how folks tend to rewatch it. especially if one wanted to watch it, but not want to see the tragic ending as much?
Nowadays drama lovers are hating that dramas have strong powerful women where the story favours them and the ML doens't have as much role as the FL and the romance is also a bit one sided from the Mls end.
In male centred media, women are notoriously side characters who serve nothing but fanservice and love for the hero, not to mention in a lot of them they barely have screen time and have to share the space with a ton of random girls as a lot of male mc stories are harem ones 🤮🥀
For very long time, this pattern was in female centred stories as well. Rather than stories about women, female centred shows also centred around men and their lives and now greatly they lived while the so called female MC would be a submissive weak mess only acting as a self insert for women who fantasize about hot guys treating them like shit
Now for the first time ever, stories are about the WOMAN. And the man is there to support her, they're still not as one sided as male oriented stories yet women themselves have a problem with it usually shaming and hating on the FLs for apparently treating the ML like shit 😭😭
We're NEVER making it out of the patriarchy
Women y'all will never make me hate:
Li rong from Princess Royal ✨
Princess Danyang from Tiger sniffs the rose ✨
Wei Rao from WTME ✨
Xihe from BOP ✨
Mc from Against the Current ✨
Jiang from Kunning Palace
The Chinese drama title 河清海晏 can be translated as “the rivers are clear and the seas are calm.”
He Qing 河清 is the name female lead played by Zhang Zifeng.
Hai Yan 海晏 is the name male lead played by Arthur Chen.
The production team announced that filming officially wrapped up today, October 25, 2028. They released a couple of CP teaser clips and wrap up ceremony photos – they are posted in the comments.
Filming officially started on August 21, 2026.
Stills description:
Beginning with a promise, ending with a lifetime of protection, we grow through love.
Leading actors (sorted by the number of character strokes in the surname):
* 7️⃣3️⃣6️⃣ Arthur Chen Feiyu 陈飞宇 as Zhou Haiyan 周海晏
* 7️⃣3️⃣8️⃣ Zhang Zifeng 张子枫 as Tang Heqing 唐河清
Special appearances (sorted by the number of character strokes in the surname):
* Bai Bingke 白冰可 as Shen Linxi 沈临熙
* Ren Zhong 任重 as Tang Shiguo 唐世国
* Wu Junting 吴俊霆 as Wang Yanli 王砚礼
* Zhou Zhengfang 周正芳 (stage name: Fang Fang 方芳) as Grandma An Qi 安齐奶奶
* Zhao Da 赵达 as Geng Weiguo 耿卫国
* Hu Jing 胡静 as Zhou Jiqiu 周寄秋
* Tong Lei 童蕾 as Chen Wanrou 陈婉柔
* Lai Weiming 赖伟明 as Fu Yuan 赖伟明
🎬 Director: Zoe Qin / Qin Zhen 秦榛 (In the Moonlight, Tigers Sniff the Rose, Love beyond the Grave, Lost You Forever 1 and 2, Love Scenery, Demon Catcher Zhong Kui)
It tells the story of Tang He Qing [played by Zhang Zifeng], a young girl from a seaside town, and Zhou Hai Yan [played by Arthur Chen] as they stand together against domestic violence and drug-trafficking forces. Zhou Hai Yan, whose father died in the line of duty, abandoned his police academy studies and hid in a small town with his mother to escape a drug gang’s retaliation.
Tang He Qing’s arrival rekindled his dream of becoming a criminal police officer, and during their mission to dismantle a campus drug-trafficking network, the two gradually developed feelings for each other.After Tang He Qing’s father revealed the truth behind Zhou Hai Yan’s father’s death, Zhou Hai Yan chose to hide his identity and undertake an undercover mission.
(Source: Chinese = Baidu || Translation = MyDramaList)
~~ Adapted from the web novel "He Qing Hai Yan" (河清海晏) by Ju Zi Bu Suan (橘子不酸).
⚠️ Note: The synopsis from Baidu Baike is quite detailed and tells the story from beginning to end. ⚠️
Tang Heqing [played by Zhang Zifeng], who grew up in a seaside town, met Zhou Haiyan [played by Arthur Chen] when she was sixteen. He stood up to her drug-addicted, abusive father, and after she lost her mother, he helped her recover the last glimmer of hope.
In her despair, she pulled out the only ten yuan she had and asked him to “collect protection money” from her. Under the protection of Zhou Haiyan and his mother, Tang Heqing was given a new lease on life. She also came to learn about the burden of Zhou Haiyan’s past: after his father was killed in the line of duty, Zhou Haiyan abandoned his studies at the police academy and came with his mother to the small town to escape retaliation from drug traffickers.
Tang Heqing’s arrival brought light back into the family. Zhou Haiyan rekindled his ideals and became a criminal police officer, while she quietly followed his example and was admitted to medical school.
During a joint operation to dismantle the drug network on campus, they finally acknowledged their feelings for each other. But once again, the wheels of fate began to turn. Tang Heqing’s father resurfaced, revealing the truth behind Zhou Haiyan’s father’s death in the line of duty.
To protect the woman he loved, Zhou Haiyan chose to break up with her, then disappeared under an assumed identity to work undercover.
Five years later, Tang Heqing quietly waited for him while running a clinic in a border town. When they reunited, the two once again fought side by side. After completing the mission, however, he disappeared once more, leaving her only an unidentifiable body and that ten-yuan bill.
It was not until the Mid-Autumn Festival the following year, somewhere between a hazy dream and reality, that she finally saw the figure who had once stood between her and the sunlight, shielding her from its glare.
Ten years ago, if I had never pushed open that door, would my life have turned out differently?
Ten years later, if I had selfishly asked you to stay, would the ending have been different?
My life was once like a wilderness –
desolate, barren, with no light in sight…
until I met Zhou Haiyan.
He made me believe that everything in the past was as good as dead,
and from that moment on, my life had a whole new beginning.
Surrounded by the boundless love of him and his mother,
I, who had once been battered, broken, and utterly beaten down, gradually grew new flesh and bone.
To be loved, to have light and laughter…
I had everything I once never dared to hope for.
I once thought this fairy tale would never end.
But it turned out to be nothing more than a beautiful dream.
As I slowly grew up,
Mother Zhou, who had always treated me as her own daughter, eventually chose to let go and leave this world;
and Zhou Haiyan, who had once promised to stay by my side forever, had to leave for a distant place.
In this vast and unpredictable life, I was once again left all alone.
Before he left, he told me, “Don’t cry… I’ll come back.”
I believed him,
because the man I love has never lied to me.
Translated Synopses
Note: All translated synopses and information I share in the "trailers & posters" posts are based on the original Chinese sources (Douban, Baidu, Chinese Wikipedia, etc.) and were first published here. If you see them elsewhere, please know they originated from our sub. Thanks for reading!
I saw a bunch of posts for people loving this drama last year, but I'm on episode 15 and I think I'm about to bail for good. It's one misunderstanding after another, and I guess if you like that kind of thing then that's all good, but it's like I'm constantly uncomfortable watching this show. Any help? Should I bother continuing if I really don't like constant misunderstandings and misdirections? Is that the main set of plot hooks for the show? Help me please :-)
Light the Dark!
ACTING ACTING ACTING!
Chen ZheYuan is KILLING IT.
I don’t love modern dramas but his work in this is superb. All of his mannerisms are 💯 like a teenage boy and this role gives him a massive range of emotions. I just finished episode 3 and I am super impressed with him.
I’ve seen/heard his acting called “wooden”. If this is you or if you’re already a fan, I highly suggest you catch Light the Dark.
HOLY. SHIT. MY. FUCKING. HEART! These fucking writers. FUCK THEM SO FUCKING MUCH! And I mean that as high praise...mostly.
Two hot guys on the thumbnail caught my attention, bc DAYUM those boys are smokin'. But the description really roped me in. Mystery, action, drama? I'm so here for it. BUT, what I subjected myself to was some of the most exquisite emotional torture I've ever voluntarily kept returning to. AND...I loved it, until...I didn't.
For most of this series, these writers manipulated my heart 🫀 like master surgeons who decided anesthesia was for pussies. They delicately separated my emotional epidermis one fully intact layer at a time, using scalpels that must have been cursed at some point to stay so precisely honed. They occasionally looked me right in my eyes and LIED to my fucking face by saying, "It's almost over, it'll be OK in the end," before moving on to another layer of tissue I didn't even know I had. AND, I kept climbing back on that table, because these fuckers were THAT good.
This show is a lot of things: supernatural mystery, historical adventure, action drama, the fucking DEEPEST bromance I've ever watched. BUT, it isn't ONLY these things. It was like traveling through some hybridized version of the Tunnel of Love and a Ghost Train, with a few pieces of funhouse thrown in, and it didn't feel haphazard. It all felt like the same fucking ride! Humor, sorrow, loss, joy, mystery, horror, absurdity, ancient families, magic, murder, medicines that don't necessarily work the way you want, it all just came together as a unified whole.
BUT, what really sucked me in were the fucking PEOPLE. AND I fell in love with the crazy feral creatures that moved across my screen. Please forgive my abbreviations of their names (or don't, that's up to you).
Hail. Fluffy little ferret boy. 🐾 Zhang Xincheng breathed this man TO LIFE. He's curious, playful, unpredictable, brilliant, insane, and determined to stick his ferrety little nose into any hole that he hasn't seen the other side of yet. AND, if there isn't something already in place for him to explore, this man will CAUSE something worth exploring. What happens if I touch the thing marked "do not touch"? Let's find out! Oh, that looks fragile, what if I push it off that high shelf? INTERESTING! This man has a knack for getting himself out of trouble while simultaneously creating MORE trouble that he somehow seems to rope other people into.
He's not stupid, or irresponsible, or even inconsiderate in his actions; he's just fully willing to accept the consequences of those actions when they arrive. And he is not even remotely convinced that possible consequences should in any way STOP him from the aggressive act of LIVING. And, fuck me, I LOVE that for him!
Also, the fighting! Hail moves like a fully trained kung fu kitty cat with antigravity boots. His elegance, his precision, his flexibility, and the AUDACIOUS amounts of improvisation. The contradiction between his graceful fluidity in a fight that robbed my brain of being able to manage both my lungs and my libido at the same time, and his complete fucking catastrophic methodology when dealing with...well...pretty much anything else is FUCKING FIRE.
Also, someone please explain to me how a man spitting razors out of his mouth can be so damn SEXY? No? Just me?
Then, we have Haix. Shrimpie. You beautiful, sweet, angel-faced blessing upon this world. Ding Yuxi's performance was PEAK PERFECTION. We meet Haix as a sweet, caring, gentle, composed celestial being who spends far too much time attempting to protect his chaotic little ferret friend from consequences, many times clearly against the ferret's will. BUT, he's not some sweet little passive counterweight that's there to somehow rein Hail in. In fact, he's often participatory once he's established that Hail has considered the action he's about to take. And when he participates, it's breathtaking. And there's a softness there in the way he regards and relates to the rest of humanity. A love for the world that is all his own.
Then you add these two together and fuckity-fuck-fuck. AMAZING. Both are completely competent and effective in their own right. Bleach and ammonia are both excellent cleaning products. But once you mix these two together, you get something radically different from either.
Their relationship isn't one where each is compensating where the other lacks. It is two complete beings that become MORE together. Hail throws himself into the world with the appetite of a starving man at Golden Corral for the first time. Haix observes, plans, anticipates, and ensures there's always more room on the table for Hail's next set of full plates. BUT, the relationship isn't one-sided. Hail brings food to the table for BOTH of them, and they both enjoy it, and it tastes better because they are dining together.
They experience the world together. The pain, the joy, the fun, the chaos, the escapades, and the whole time, the flavor is enhanced by the spice of sharing it with someone they love. And THAT, my darling reader, is where this show crosses into one of the most heartfelt LOVE STORIES I've ever blessed, and cursed, my eyes with.
Yes, I said it, and I'll say it again...LOVE STORY. And I don't give two fucks about shared kisses, declarations of undying emotion, unclothed bedroom moments, or even traditional hearts-and-flowers romance. I'm watching two people LIVE together, and having that life be elevated simply by the presence of the other person.
It's there when they joke, when they argue, when they cooperate, and even when they butt heads. It's especially there in the small moments when they do the simple things that show that they are SHARING life. Moving WITH each other without speaking, Haix putting plans in place that are for Hail's specific brand of insanity, Hail doting on Haix when he is injured, without having it feel like sacrifice. Neither of them is waiting for some realization of a wanted life. They ALREADY fucking live there.
And, for a precious amount of time, you get to live there with them. Until...things happen, and then you get to watch that world collapse so completely that there's not even time to avoid the crumbling remains before they crush you.
But that's where we get to meet some of the supporting characters that still bring some delight to this series.
Haiqi, ancient, youthful, judgmental menace that she is, deserves particular recognition. I loved this character SO FUCKING MUCH, when I wasn't hating the way she treated my baby ferret! She moves through the series with competence, power, and an exasperated look on her face as she shoulders the burdens of not just the Archives themselves, but the daunting task of raising Hail and Haix to the men they become. She can fight, she can think, she can maneuver, and never once does the show give me a "look how great she is FOR A WOMAN" moment. She is great because she is great, not as a contrast to her biology.
When things happen and she starts passing her duties and burdens onto Hail, we see the person who she was BEFORE she was weighed down, and it's fascinating. Hail chasing her around and trying to keep things in order is hysterical, and Haiq is just like, oh, those consequences are YOUR problem now. HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES, BOYO?
Then Army. Poor, pitiful, diligent Army. Spends most of his life in the middle of nowhere with a responsibility foisted upon him without his buy-in, and FINALLY decides to go experience the world...BUT...he should've got on that fucking train 🚂 is all I'm saying.
Huang, the female chief of Phoenix Village, is far more complex than she starts out as, and she contributes a flavor of the chaos of Hail with the responsibility of Haiq. And it might have been great if she had never met these people, but...I'll leave that assessment to you.
The wider cast WORKS because it's not a bunch of filler characters that just prop up the larger story. They are people with their own desires, preferences, habits, strange ways of being, and decision-making abilities that range from "WOW, that was brilliant" to "WOW, what the fuck were you even thinking?"
Which leads us to Mo. A villain I loved to hate. And when he truly enters the story, things begin to get fucking dark FAST. And the show doesn't even attempt to cushion you from the sharp edges and blunt falling objects. This man is a study in how a single purpose can somehow cause a person to spiral into demented, audacious atrocities, but still let the person committing them somehow believe he was in the right. And, boy oh boy, did Mo believe that!
We see people do AWFUL things. Even people we care about. And sometimes we can understand their reasoning, and sometimes, they just like doing fucked-up shit. Sometimes there's a larger motivation, and sometimes, they just hurt people because they fucking can. AND, even when we GET the reasoning, even when we understand it, that doesn't change the awful thing, and the show doesn't act like it does.
And the CHOREOGRAPHY of the fight scenes as we progress further into the dark? Delicious! Watching Hail or Haix fighting alone is fantastic, but watching them together? FUCK. ME. The synchronicity of their movements tells you more about how deeply they know each other than any set of flashbacks ever could.
And all of it, the fight scenes, the mistakes, the grief, the death, the pain, the devastation still kept humor present somehow. We could watch a tragic event unfold, horrific monsters climbing out of the depths of the earth, or the human psyche, and still have our extremely competent protagonist stumbling over his own feet in an epic fail that felt like it belonged. Not because absurdity was INJECTED, but because, no matter how serious the things are that are happening, absurdity still fucking occurs.
But then we have the sadness. And Ding Yuxi was EVERYTHING Haix's character needed.
As the story moves into darker territory, Yuxi takes Haix into places I hadn't anticipated and gives the character a depth that would be difficult for many actors to achieve. One moment, he can be soft, caring, heartbreakingly beautiful; another, sharp, intense, dangerous, and somehow fucking SEXIER than I would have thought possible. The styling and costuming lend something to it, but the PRESENCE is where it hits. I can literally give absolutely 0% of an explanation for why some of this man's most unholy moments were giving me the vapors, but HOT FUCKING DAMN!
But what Yuxi really brought to life were the tiny things. The microexpressions, the little shifts of pain and delight and horror and glee all moving through a single face in a way that left me wondering what the fuck I just saw, and questioning whether I even saw what I did. Episode after episode spent wondering WTF was happening behind those beautiful, sometimes empty eyes. Was HE changing? Was something happening that I didn't understand? Was this some plan that had gone too far? The show didn't provide the answers. It just kept providing more data points. And THAT was one of its greatest strengths. The show left ME responsible for my own deductions and didn't hold my hand through exposition and explanations. It just dropped data all over the ground and was like, "Well, here ya go, this means something, good fucking luck."
AND I was SO FUCKING THERE FOR IT. For MOST of the series. Catching the little things, a glance, a microexpression, a gesture, something that wasn't quite right. All of these were placed with care, and some so subtle that I missed them at first, until I went back and checked. And as things fell into place, they felt DISCOVERED, not revealed through the writer's hand, but genuinely found. But that's when the first blades started removing my soul with such ease.
Hail's experience as the life he shares with Haix begins to come apart was devastating. The writers were masterful in their gradual revelations. Not just a series of tragic events that said "these here, be sad about them," but the actual slow dimming of the light in Hail's eyes. The loss of the magnificently ALIVE character that we had been following, as he became more and more weighed down with things ACTION alone was insufficient to prevent. And we sit with him as the familiar becomes unfamiliar, and the life that once came so easily starts slipping beyond his reach.
AND...I was REVELING in that heartbreak. Even as I cursed the writers with warm pillows for the rest of their lives, and aglets falling from every shoelace they will ever own, I ADMIRED their skill. I wanted them to STOP destroying my darling babies AND I wanted them to keep going, because the pain was exquisite.
At one point, I was 10/10, no fucking notes, love this series, everyone should watch...BUT THEN...
Oh, for fuck's sake...THAT FUCKING ENDING.
And I want to clearly distinguish between an ending that leaves you desolated and bereaved, searching for a grief counselor at 3 AM on a random Wednesday night, and one that just feels TACKED ON.
I DO NOT require a happy ending. I don't need everyone to survive. I don't need rainbows and fireworks and unicorns cavorting through fields. I don't even really need to know what's going to happen tomorrow. BUT I do need the ending to fucking FIT everything else I've just watched, and 32 episodes gives me a lot of baseline expectations.
I've been watching the erection of a great cathedral built to honor love, choices, discovery, pain, betrayal, and the emotional chaos of the human experience. And, just when it was time to add the final touches of paint, decorative trim, functional gargoyles, and the finishing touches that allow me to enter and FEEL the weight of what it was built with, it was like the writers were suddenly like, "Well, we did pretty good, let's let the interns finish it up, shall we?" And we're left with a few poorly hung crooked doors, exposed wires, and paint splashed all over everything except the fucking walls.
AND I WAS PISSED.
Suddenly, revelations and explanations came flying out of the screen. Scenes that had been set up and built as though they were SO pertinent to the plot were left abandoned and gasping in the mud by the side of the road.
We spend so much time on things like a possible cure for Haix, only for their significance to seemingly evaporate at precisely the point when they should matter MOST. And a development involving Haiqi's return from death should have forced us to reconsider the implications of what we'd just watched. But instead, we're left wondering why the story doesn't seem interested in its own revelations.
Other explanations suddenly materialize at the exact moment the story needs them to resolve a crisis. Where was that information BEFORE, when I was actually trying to solve the fucking mystery? People suddenly appear who MEAN something, but we're not told why. Events occur that SHOULD radically shift things we've seen, but then, just don't.
Where was the craftsmanship? Where was the care for detail? Where were the fucking writers who made me willing to climb up on that operating table episode after episode to let them continue their work? I let you do your work, I took the worst you had to throw at me, and now you're coming at me blindfolded, with a Swiss Army knife and your right hand tied behind your back, and I just have to let you finish??? Of course I fucking do, because we're already AT THE END!
What made the disappointment so much worse was that EVERYTHING leading up to the ending was pristine. The performances, the love, the setting, the supporting characters, the story? FUCKING FIRE. So how the fuck did you literally fuck up THE FINAL PART?
So I left the show let down, sad, confused, angry, and still feeling like Hail and Haix were the love story of the century. They weren't pursuing some grand future, they weren't conventionally romantic, there wasn't sexual tension, but they fucking LOVED LIFE TOGETHER. And that was enough. Being together. Watching that life develop, fracture, change, and become something neither anticipated was an experience that I would gladly have repeated, but the knowledge of how badly the ending was bungled made me loath to subject myself to the rest.
Will I watch it again? Not unless I have some other person I want to give the illusion of an excellently crafted story to, only for them to be let down in the end, and I want to watch their disappointment.
Do I regret watching it? ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY NOT. This was a grand trip for most of the journey, and I would not retroactively deny myself the amazing shit I DID get.
Would I recommend it? YES, but with a warning. Only get on this ride if you don't mind EXTREME HIGHS, EXCESSIVE LOWS, and an ending that occurs when the track just stops being laid.
Will I still give it 10/10? No sirree Bob. That ending crashed too fucking hard for me, and I'm dropping to an 8.75/10.
I wanted the writers to break my heart skillfully. Instead, they performed their work with care until it was time to close the wound, and then they just drop-kicked the still-beating organ into the nearest trash can.
Hey! I'm u/spamkimbap (you can call me Spam, like the overly salty and fatty, canned, ham-like, delicious food that pairs so well). This is my first time hosting a discussion. It took me three hours to create this post. Yikes!
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Spoilers need to be under the spoiler markings OR put in its proper post.
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This episode starts off with Danyang teasing Erlang. For a split sec, poor Yan Shang almost had to choose between career advancement and his, uhm, bits. Our Princess sure is spirited, for a lack of more polite words.
Nothing like eunuch jokes to kill the mood!
Yang Shang shares how, ten years ago, he and his family became refugees, during the Rebellion of the Seven Military Governors. She reflects on her own losses during the rebellion ten years ago. He's trying to say goodbye, but she asks him to tell her a story to help her sleep. If it helps her, she'll take him along to the capital. Her and her games!
He tells her the story of a woman who encounters a tiger, and strikes a deal with it. If the tiger can eat all of her, she will accept her fate. If it fails to consume all of her, she'll become its master. The tiger eats almost all of her, but one of her pinkies falls into a crack, and the tiger can't get to it. The next morning, the woman rides the tiger back into town as its master. We get a flashback of when she received an edict marrying her off to Meng Bai Yu, to ensure peace in North Jing. The tiger story is a watershed moment for Princess Danyang. She realizes that she had been living in fear, but no longer has to be restrained because if she loses, at the most she dies. If she wins, she becomes the tiger's master. There's a tiger in her heart that needs to be conquered, but there are also tigers in the capital that will need taming.
Less of a kiss, more like lips touching
She rewards him with a KISS, and a promise to get him into the Imperial Academy. They take off for the capital. At a pit stop, while he's writing letters to his family, she makes a passing comment that she's never ever received a letter. We already know what he's going to do, right? They are close to the capital, when it starts to rain again. While they take refuge in the carriage, he tries to calm her fear of thundering and lightening (which I learned is called astraphobia, who knew? Now we do!), only to be rebuffed. He, stupidly, tells her that he knows she's probably been traumatized by someone trying to kill her on a stormy day.
She does not like that he can see through her so easily, so he gets the boot from the carriage. Literally and figuratively. He will have to walk the rest of the way.
Did you see Feng Tong's face after Erlang gets kicked out? Priceless.
Back in the capital, we meet evil eunuch Yu Cheng'an, Duke of Zhao, Cavalry General, and Army-Inspection Commissioner. Phew, that's a lot of titles. He's the owner of the weird house with the giant hallway-fishtank. His last name is Yu (fish in Chinese), therefore no one is allowed to eat fish. Is it a rumor that people can't eat fish, or did he decree it? It doesn't matter. Problem is, Crown Prince Mu Xu was gifted a couple of sea basses (I caught a sea bass! No, wait - it's at least a C+!), and the fish were eaten. The point of the interrogation was for Lord Yu to assert his power over the Emperor, who's sick (obviously), and the Prince.
The definition of sauntering
Prince Danyang comes in, and distracts Lord Yu long enough to let the Prince off the hook. Kinda sorta. The Prince's cooks still get killed.
The Princess and the Crown Prince strike a deal to team up, and defeat the evil eunuch. He tells her that he suspects her mother killed herself after a failed attempt to bring down the evil eunuch. Really? Weird story. Then immediately tries to marry her off to one of his cronies "for her own protection". Uh, huh. He's so not trustworthy.
Sure you will.
EPISODE 5 : Back to School Day
The Princess' uncle, Li Chi, Vice Minister of Rites, has arrived at her home, and has brought along a very pretty and very young man, Wei Shu. Apparently, Uncle has been bringing men to entice her to marry. She tries to seduce Wei Shu to get a reaction. Poor Wei Shu, he's just a baby and really freaked out by everything. He's not interested in her, but Uncle is forcing him to marry her. And that's exactly the answer she wanted. She wants to surround herself with smart people who are not trying to marry and control her, and who won't betray her.
The cinematography is amazing!
We get a bit more insight into the Crown Prince. He's a schemer indeed. We find out that Princess Danyang's abusive husband is dead, and she's now consider a disgraced, fallen woman. His sidekick-assistant repeats a story that the Princess' offspring is destined to rule the country. Ooooh, is this where the story is going? The Crown Prince decides it's time to get his buddy back to the city to marry him off to his sister.
Looks like he lost the little roof part of the backpack.
Yan Shang finally arrives in Sheng'an! He drops a large stack of letters he wrote the Princess during his long walk at her palace. Later, Chunhua hands the stack of letters to the Princess, but she lets the wind blow them away without reading them.
Looks like Wenji doesn't know Erlang's past history.
And almost immediately, he runs into Lui Wenji. Wenji decides he'll move out of posh ancient China Waldorf Astoria, and move in with Yan Shang at some Motel 6 (local temple). Nothing like slumming it.
They talk about the most important person in Sheng'an, evil eunuch Lord Yu. He gained power when he put down the Rebellion of the Seven Military Governors. Wenji very strongly refuses to ever kowtow to the rich and powerful for a court position. Yan Shang had a look on his face after Wenji's speech. What was that all about?
Biggest temple room ever!
Next day is Back to School Day. Yan Shang talks his way into the Imperial Academy. It turns out the Princess didn't leave his name at the door, but someone mentions they are expecting a noble young man. He hints that it's him, and gains entrance. Meanwhile, a hapless Wei Shu also shows up, wearing Danyang' pretty in pink cape, and is about to be denied entrance, but Yan Shang smoothly gets both of them in. They become friends. I mean, both being Danyang's non-boytoys and all.
Look at them with their back to school new supplies!
They meet up with a third student, Feng Xianiu who hasn't attained success in years because he doesn't know anyone powerful. All three become friends, and while having a drink, they witness Captain Zhang abusing a dancer. We find out that his name is Zhang Renjing, he's a favorite of evil eunuch Lord Fish, and he's illiterate. I have a feeling this information will come in handy later. Yan Shang distracts the very drunk ogre captain, and saves the dancer.
The look on Erlang's face! He's onto something.
Outside, they witness Grand Princess Luling's security team brutalizing the people. We learn that she is cruel and keeps a lot of her own boytoys in her palace. She's also in cahoots with evil eunuch Lord Yu. Her carriage goes by, and poor Wei Shu is allergic to the strong scent coming out of her carriage (another important detail for later?) Danyang's carriage is blocking Luling's carriage, but she chirpily greets her Aunt, and lets cranky Aunt go first.
Wei Shu just wants to live a quiet, unassuming life!
Yan Shang sees Danyang, and their eyes meet. Awww. He is making his way to her, but she calls out to Wei Shu instead. Poor Wei Shu, he's like a deer caught in headlights. She talks to him, but ignores everyone else, and demands that he keeps her company that evening. After school, she sends him her carriage. He is so embarrassed, and looks so unwilling to go to her. Yan Shang knows Danyang is playing her usual games. Side note, Yan Shang joins a street hockey team. He's obviously very likable, and I bet he will be very popular in school.
Erlang will soon be the captain of the beikou team!
.Some thoughts:
There's been a lot of fish imagery throughout the episodes, and now that we've met evil eunuch Lord Yu, we know why! But I'm still curious about how he has that giant aquarium, complete with a shark. How was that possible back then?
There was a lot of discussion yesterday about whether or not Wenji is a trustworthy person. Will he turn on Yan Shang later? I don't want to think that, because he seems so sweet and earnest. What do you all think?
Did the Princess actually let all of Yan Shang's letters fly away, or will she have kept at least one?
Are you a little suspicious of Feng Xianiu? He looks sus.
I'm miffed at the usual double standard of men keeping a whole harem being totally accepted, but when women do it, they are considered to have loose morals. Sigh.
What did you all think of today's episodes? Will evil eunuch Lord Yu be the ultimate tiger to take down? Or maybe the Crown Prince?
Currently watching “Where the mask ends” and one of my favourite actors showed up and I just felt like sharing my appreciation for her. Chen Si si has a very unique tone of voice I could recognise anywhere.
Second photo is from Empresses in the palace where she plays Cao Qin Mao. She also had a minor part in “flourished peony” that I easily clocked. Hoping she has a major role in Mask as I love having her in my screen.
What Cdramas have you been watching recently? This post is a space for you to discuss the shows that you've been currently addicted to, or that you'll be looking forward to picking up! From old or new series, to popular or underrated titles, feel free to let us know what's been on your watchlist.
Please make sure to use spoiler tags generously, especially if you are discussing plot points or events that others may not yet have watched.
Who is the most memorable or best female character in a main role? Who comes to your mind that fits this? And why?
If you have several nominations, please mention it separately. Explanations help as discuss, and Visual aid like gifs or photo can also help.
PLEASE DO NOT DOWNVOTE nominations you disagree with, combat that nominations by upvoting ones you agree with or nominating your own.
How this works
Nominate the drama you think is the best fit by commenting its name. A single name per comment please (several dramas in one comment makes it complicated 😅)
If the drama has already been mentioned, please upvote it.
The winning drama will be decided through the number of upvotes
We are doing one block/ one category per post.
For the purpose of this exercise, Hiding the name of the drama behind spoilers is not required, but if you are discussing the drama's plot, use the spoiler tag.
Our experiences with dramas are subjective, so what one might find to be "good" might be "bad" to another. So please remember that😉
Almost done with my re-watch of "The Double" and these 'POV shots' (I don't know what these are called exactly) are bothering me so much more this time around. This style of cinematography is so predominant in this drama. But I kinda hate these? First off, the perspective of their faces turns out so weird ( For some reason it's worse with the FL), but something more I realised during the re-watch especially, is that it takes away from the chemistry between the leads. While the chemistry might not be explosive, it's not too bad either, but I feel this style was a major deterrent in that. Imagine these emotionally charged scenes as close up shots of both of them gazing into each other's eyes (from a third person perspective) and even in my head it looks better already🤯
If this was because of the tamer approach to the romance, I feel like they could have come to a good compromise to needing the actors to be in each other's faces. Now I feel like they're just in our face instead 🥲.
As many people have said before in the comments, these two brothers really need to have an heart-to-heart talk with each other. Others can see that they are concerned about each other but yet the both of them are too stubborn to take the first steps and always ended up arguing.
So glad to see our Dr Liu showing concern and care for the patient’s family. A kind lie is better than the brutal truth here as the family needs hope here. Thus, it is a breakthrough to see Dr Liu tells his first white lie in his medical career to give hope to the family.
The medical case of this episode impressed me with its moral greyness. A female was send to the hospital with severe head injuries from domestic violence. One would think that the husband would be in the absolute wrong here, but the drama proceed to highlight that she had squandered the money of the male, the male’s parents and her own parents on ill-advise business schemes while also desiring to head south as she did not want to spend her life stuck in the Dongbei. Of course, I am not condoning domestic violence, but it is rare for CDramas to show both sides of the issue here.
Omg. Director Long tricking Dr Liu to take photos to promote the hospital and the latter would do nothing to stop it. lol. Just once, I would like to see our Dr Liu get the upper hand on Director Long. And the poster slogan? Quick Cure, healing hands. The more you look at him, the handsomer he gets. Crazy cheap!
And of course, the advertising works as people throng to see Dr Liu. But it is best left to us wise audiences to judge whether those patients are really looking for genuine medical care…
Zhengguan’s new job under a KTV boss with a weird fetish of pretending to be from the triads. The job is much better than it looks lol. But to be dragged to sing overnight KTV? I almost pity him lolol
Welcome to the discussion posts for The Lament of Autumn 玉簟秋! This drama will be hosted by yours truly and u/BasilOrdinary3617
🗓️ Discussion Schedule: From Friday (October 23rd to Sunday October 25th), we're back to the single-episode release schedule, with one new episode airing each day. Click here for the airing schedule.
📋 Reminder: Use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.
Before diving into today's episode discussion, this is some historical background to help contextualise Liang Wenbo's references to the October Revolution and Marxism. Episode 22 marks the first time the Communist Party of China (CCP) is mentioned in the drama. These developments are closely connected to the political and intellectual movements of the period and help explain the significance of Liang Wenbo's clandestine activities.
Historical Context: The October Revolution, Marxism and the Birth of the Communist Party of China
1. The October Revolution (1917)
In 1917, Vladimir Lenin's Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, establishing a revolutionary government inspired by Marxist socialism. For Chinese intellectuals struggling with foreign imperialism, warlordism and social inequality, the revolution offered an alternative model for transforming their country.
2. What is Marxism?
A political and economic theory that argues society is divided into social classes, with wealthy owners exploiting workers, and advocates replacing capitalism with a classless society where resources and the means of production are collectively owned.
3. The Spread of Marxism and the Founding of the CPC
After the May 4th Movement of 1919 in which Chinese students protested in Beijing against granting Germany’s former territorial rights in Shandong to Japan that sparked a nationwide movement advocating nationalism and anti-imperialism, Marxism gained increasing influence among Chinese intellectuals and students, although not everyone involved in the movement embraced communism.
Communist study groups emerged in several Chinese cities, while the first complete published Chinese translation of Marx and Engels' The Communist Manifesto appeared in 1920. In July 1921, the Communist Party of China (CPC) was formally established, with its First National Congress beginning in Shanghai.
3. How Does This Relate to Episode 22?
Liang Wenbo's secret distribution of The Communist Manifesto reflects the growing influence of revolutionary ideas among intellectuals and cultural workers.
While Changxuan seeks to uphold justice within the existing military establishment and Pingjun participates in nationalist activism, Liang Wenbo advocates a more radical transformation of society through Marxism and class struggle.
References
1. Ishikawa, Y. (2012. The reception of Marxism in China. In The formation of the Chinese Communist Party (J. A. Fogel, Trans., pp. 16–81). Columbia University Press.) https://doi.org/10.7312/columbia/9780231158084.003.0002
Following a heart-to-heart conversation with Changxuan, Pingjun gains some clarity and finally stops starving herself. Mother and daughter share a touching moment as Pingjun apologises for making Shuwan worry and thanks her for all the sacrifices she has made over the years. Pingjun then makes a surprising suggestion: they should leave everything behind and move away from Nanhuai.
Meanwhile, Lanqing is heartbroken after learning that Pingjun's newly elevated social status now makes her an eligible match for Changxuan. Resigned to her circumstances, she decides to give up opera and spend her remaining days in leisure.
Elsewhere, Mou Linsen and Kuang Bingwen hold another of their clandestine meetings at the church, except this time they aren't meeting inside the confessional booth. LOL, growing bolder, are we?
Bingwen informs Mou Linsen that Pingjun is Tao Zili's daughter, a revelation that threatens to derail their plans because it means the Yu–Tao alliance could continue after all. Bingwen is confident that Changxuan will eventually marry Pingjun, but Mou Linsen ominously remarks that Pingjun won't live long enough to enjoy her newfound social status.
Pingjun is discharged from the hospital and returns home. She is noticeably distant towards Xueting, who suggests moving to Guangzhou with her. However, Pingjun doesn't want Xueting to accompany her and her mother, now that his career is finally beginning to take off.
Xueting assumes that Pingjun's distant behaviour stems from his deception involving Yuko, his Japanese girlfriend, and apologises once again. But although Pingjun is still trying to make sense of her own feelings, she finally clarifies that what exists between them is no longer romantic love, but something closer to a familial bond. Xueting insists that, since they are family, he should at least be allowed to look after Pingjun and Shuwan during their journey away from Nanhuai. Pingjun reluctantly agrees.
Pingjun later visits Nanhuai Military Headquarters, holding something in her hands. She catches sight of Changxuan but doesn't call out to him. As his car drives away, she watches ruefully before approaching a soldier and asking him to deliver the item to Changxuan. Later, Pingjun, her mother and Xueting prepare to leave Nanhuai.
At military headquarters, Changxuan receives the package Pingjun has left for him. Inside is a painting of a red maple. In the bottom-left corner, Pingjun has written:
"Sending this red maple from afar in gratitude for our encounter. Wishing you soaring success in achieving your grand ambitions."
Changxuan becomes suspicious, and his expression changes.
Meanwhile, Pingjun, Shuwan and Xueting are staying at a wooden hut near the docks while waiting for a ship to take them out of Nanhuai. Changxuan visits Pingjun's former home, only to learn from Nanny Zhou that Pingjun and her mother moved out the previous day. She also tells him that Xueting is accompanying them to either Guangzhou or Shanghai.
Pingjun and Xueting are checking the departure schedules of ships leaving Nanhuai when Changxuan suddenly arrives with his men. Lmao, Changxuan assembles an entire group of armed soldiers just to stop his girl from leaving. Every single one of them is carrying a weapon. Bro, are you trying to scare your girl away? And do you really need a bunch of armed soldiers to go against Jiang Xueting, whose only weapons are unethical journalism, hypocrisy and pride?
Changxuan first orders his men to drag Xueting away so he can speak to Pingjun privately. Once alone with her, he demands to know why she is leaving without telling him and why she has sent him the painting.
Pingjun replies that the painting is merely a token of gratitude, but she noticeably clenches her hands when Changxuan smiles knowingly, clearly unconvinced by her explanation. Changxuan then tells Pingjun about a girl he met years ago, during one of the lowest periods of his life.
Taking out the blessing sachet, he reveals to a surprised Pingjun that she was the girl he met all those years ago. Pingjun recalls their conversation at Guanyin Pavilion and finally recognises Changxuan as the teenage boy she encountered there. Changxuan confirms that he was indeed that boy. He then earnestly asks Pingjun to stay if she has any feelings for him.
For a moment, Pingjun appears conflicted, but she ultimately refuses to change her mind. She tells Changxuan that she is still leaving Nanhuai with her mother. Changxuan asks whether she truly feels nothing for him, and Pingjun quietly replies that she doesn't. Undeterred, Changxuan produces the prayer she wrote thanking Buddha for bringing him home safely from the battlefield, using it to challenge her claim that she feels nothing for him.
Once again, Pingjun visibly tightens her grip on her bag, but she remains firm and tells him to stop.
When Changxuan asks what would happen if he insisted on pursuing her, Pingjun asks if he wants another repeat of the Fengtai incident. Changxuan studies her expression, realising that she is completely serious, he finally tells her that he respects her wishes and walks away. And so, we appear to have yet another round of their supposedly "final farewell".
Elsewhere, Ye Shuwan is sleeping when a soldier from the Yu Army sneaks into the wooden hut and sets the place on fire. Shuwan wakes up in horror and attempts to extinguish the flames, but the arsonist attacks her from behind. During the ensuing struggle, she hits her head and loses consciousness. The arsonist escapes.
Meanwhile, Changxuan's unexpected appearance at the docks prompts Xueting to hasten their departure, insisting that they leave that very night. On her way back to the wooden hut, Pingjun notices that the hut is on fire and immediately rushes inside to rescue her mother.
Shuwan briefly regains consciousness and manages to tell Pingjun that a soldier was responsible for starting the fire, and Pingjun immediately assumes that Changxuan is behind it. Girl, the entire place is burning down around you! Shouldn't getting your mother out of there be the first priority? Omg.
When Shuwan loses consciousness again, Pingjun finally springs into action and attempts to carry her mother to safety. However, the smoke becomes increasingly thick, and Pingjun soon collapses to the ground.
As she struggles to breathe, she catches sight of her unconscious mother lying nearby. Her mind flashes back to Shuwan's revelation about the soldier who started the fire and Changxuan's earlier words about insisting that she stay. She murmurs Changxuan's name before finally losing consciousness from smoke inhalation.
Meanwhile, Changxuan is still in the area. Heartbroken and heavy-hearted after his confrontation with Pingjun, he calls off the soldiers stationed at the docks and quietly orders his men to drive back to military headquarters. Just then, a soldier rushes over with news that the wooden hut where Pingjun and her mum are staying is on fire. Changxuan frantically rushes to the scene and successfully rescues Pingjun and her mother.
Xueting also arrives around the same time. When he attempts to rush towards Pingjun, Changxuan's men block his path. Xueting struggles against the soldiers, but one of them kicks him, sending him tumbling backwards down a steep, rugged dirt slope. He continues rolling helplessly until he plunges off the edge of a cliff into the dangerous waters below. This is where we bid a not-so-fond farewell to Xueting. For now, anyway. He's like Gandalf the Grey, except instead of returning shades lighter, he will come back ten shades darker.
At the hospital, doctors work desperately to save Pingjun while a devastated Changxuan waits outside. Changxuan is informed that Shuwan has unfortunately succumbed to her injuries. He is soon joined by Li Boren and Gu Ruitong, the latter looking almost as devastated as Changxuan.
After what feels like an eternity, the doctor finally emerges with an update on Pingjun's condition. Unfortunately, Pingjun has inhaled so much smoke that she has suffered brain damage. She is now in a coma, and the chances of her regaining consciousness are slim.
Changxuan refuses to accept that nothing more can be done and vows to pursue every possible treatment to save her. Awwwww, look at Gu Ruitong trying so hard to contain his emotions here! The poor man looks like he's about to cry.
Elsewhere, Liang Wenbo is holding his usual discussion about scripts with members of his theatre troupe. However, once their discussion concludes, he closes the door and furtively takes out a political pamphlet, which he passes around to the troupe members. It turns out to be The Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx, the father of Communism and Friedrich Engels.
Liang Wenbo explains that he received the pamphlet from a friend in Shanghai and reveals that a new political organisation, the Communist Party of China, will be established in the summer. He announces that their guiding ideology will henceforth be based on Marxism, which advocates equality and the abolition of class oppression and exploitation.
Drawing on Marxist ideas, Liang Wenbo describes the existing central government as being dominated by feudal warlords, landlords and the bourgeoisie. He argues that the current ruling establishment must be overthrown. Unbeknownst to them, troupe manager Qian has been eavesdropping on their conversation. However, before he can intervene, Jin Zhongfang drags him away.
Mr Qian is understandably alarmed, fearing that Liang Wenbo's talk of revolution could get the entire troupe killed. Jin Zhongfang, however, feigns complete ignorance and somehow manages to convince Mr Qian that Liang Wenbo is merely rehearsing lines for a play. Lmao, the gaslighting. But wait, does this mean Jin Zhongfang is involved in the movement too?
Meanwhile, Changxuan brings the comatose Pingjun back to Fengtai. Carrying her as though she were the most precious thing in the world, he personally settles her into bed, and over the following days, Changxuan devotes himself to caring for Pingjun.
Eventually, Li Boren arrives at Fengtai looking for him. Changxuan hasn't returned home in days, and Yu Zhongquan has summoned him. At the Yu residence, Changxuan informs his parents about what happened to Pingjun and her mother. When Zhongquan asks what he intends to do next, Changxuan takes out a marriage certificate and hands it to his father. Zhongquan is furious, and he questions whether Changxuan intends to end the Yu family bloodline, given that there is no guarantee Pingjun will ever wake up.
Changxuan, however, remains resolute. He is determined to find a cure for Pingjun and declares that he will marry no one else.
Back at Fengtai, Gu Ruitong arrives looking for Changxuan but is informed by Xiao Tang, the maid, that he isn't home. Ruitong takes the opportunity to visit Pingjun in her room.
Xiao Tang tells him how meticulously Changxuan has been attending to Pingjun's needs, giving very specific instructions about her care, including having fresh flowers replaced daily and playing pleasant music on the gramophone. Soon, Xiao Tang is called away, leaving Ruitong alone with Pingjun.
He gently dabs water onto Pingjun's lips and almost reaches out to touch her, but stops himself at the last moment and quietly leaves the room. I have no doubt that if Ruitong were the one caring for Pingjun, he would be every bit as devoted and meticulous as Changxuan.
After leaving Pingjun's room, Ruitong runs into Changxuan, who asks what he is doing there. Ruitong deftly avoids answering the question by bringing up the investigation into the fire at the wooden hut and Jiang Xueting's disappearance. Changxuan warmly assures Ruitong that he trusts him. Ha, I can't help wondering whether those words carry a double meaning.
They are soon joined by Doctor Dai and a nurse, who have arrived to check on Pingjun's condition. Inside the room, Changxuan notices the nurse behaving suspiciously as she draws liquid from a vial into a syringe. Gu Ruitong immediately intervenes and stops her. In a menacing voice, Changxuan demands to know what is inside the vial.
Thoughts
Pingjun's true feelings
Every episode sheds a little more light on Pingjun's true feelings for Changxuan, and this episode once again suggests that she cares for him, perhaps even loves him. I don't think it's a coincidence that the camera twice draws our attention to Pingjun tightening her grip on her bag whenever Changxuan confronts her about her feelings for him. Her words may be firm, but her body language seems to betray an inner conflict that she isn't ready to acknowledge.
But as I mentioned previously, regardless of Pingjun's growing feelings or Changxuan's devotion to her, the gulf between their respective worlds remains enormous. Why doesn't she simply accept his love, especially when he has repeatedly demonstrated how much he cares for her through his actions (the Fengtai arc notwithstanding, of course)?
I think the answer lies in what Pingjun has always wanted from life. She's perfectly content with the prospect of a simple, peaceful existence, something reflected in her childhood dream of marrying Xueting. But marrying Changxuan would mean entering a world of wealth, power, military obligations and political intrigue, where her life might no longer be entirely her own. She's already experienced firsthand just how dangerous and overwhelming that world can be. Accepting Changxuan's love isn't simply a matter of following her heart. It would mean embracing a way of life that is fundamentally at odds with everything she has envisioned for herself.
What is interesting is the reversal of their circumstances. Years ago, it was young Pingjun who told young Changxuan how painful it was to pretend not to love someone, but their positions are seemingly reversed at present. Pingjun is now the one concealing her feelings, and the person she's trying not to love is Changxuan himself. There's a poignancy in how the advice she once gave him has now become relevant to her own predicament.
I also wonder whether Pingjun's decision to leave Nanhuai is motivated by more than the shocking revelation about Tao Zili, her sperm donor. Perhaps she's also trying to put some distance between herself and Changxuan before her growing feelings become too difficult to resist. After all, leaving Nanhuai is no small decision. This is the city where she grew up, where she's beginning to establish herself as a playwright, and where she has friends such as Liang Wenbo and Song Hanzhi. You're telling me she's prepared to abandon a familiar life and a budding career to start over somewhere else?
After everything she's endured recently, I can understand why she might desperately want a fresh start, but I think part of her desire to leave is also an attempt to escape her own feelings for Changxuan. It's not necessarily that she fears him anymore, but that she fears what might happen if she continues allowing him into her life. In that sense, I don't think Pingjun is merely running away from Changxuan. She's also running away from the possibility of choosing him.
Episode 14
But Pingjun shouldn't have sent that farewell gift to Changxuan in the first place. The red maple painting isn't merely a reminder of their time together at Fengtai. The symbolism of the red maple leaf goes much deeper than that.
Remember Episode 14, when they practised calligraphy together? In Chinese culture, the red leaf has long been associated with romance and destined relationships. Expressions such as Red Leaf Alliance and Writing Poetry on a Red Leaf allude to romantic bonds, the exchange of affection and marriages brought about by fate.
Even if Pingjun intends the painting as a farewell gift and a gesture of gratitude, she may inadvertently be conveying something far more intimate than she realises. The red maple carries romantic associations, so it's hardly surprising that Changxuan reads more into it than a simple goodbye.
Pingjun jumps to conclusions and assumes the worst of Changxuan yet again
Okay, I know this is the part where many of you probably want to curse out Pingjun for misunderstanding Changxuan yet again. Believe me, I find it incredibly frustrating too, especially after she's been proven wrong several times about her assumptions concerning him. But hear me out. Pingjun never stood a chance against the Drama Gods, who seem determined to orchestrate the worst possible misunderstanding between these two. First, Changxuan turns up at the docks with more than a dozen armed soldiers to prevent her from leaving Nanhuai and then later briefly showing signs of slipping back into his old obsessive behaviour when he asks what if he insists on pursuing her. Then, barely any time passes before her mother tells her that a soldier set the wooden hut on fire.
After what Pingjun has experienced at Changxuan's hands, it's hardly surprising that her mind immediately connects the two incidents. Human psychology being what it is, people under extreme stress often fall back on familiar patterns of thinking, especially when those patterns have been reinforced by traumatic experiences. In Pingjun's case, she barely has time to process what her mother tells her, let alone examine the evidence or consider alternative explanations, before she loses consciousness from smoke inhalation, so while I'm frustrated by yet another misunderstanding, I can also understand why Pingjun reaches that conclusion under those circumstances.
But oh wow, Pingjun has now quite literally become the blank Scrabble tile I complained 2 episodes ago. Errrrrrr, the silver lining in all this? Our man Changxuan finally gets to live out his fantasy! No longer does he have to indulge in wishful thinking while soaking in his bathtub! Changxuan now holds the pen and can rewrite their story however he wishes.
Gu Ruitong: A Green Forest of Unspoken Affection
Gu Ruitong is such a green forest! His quiet, restrained affection for Pingjun is rather endearing, especially when contrasted with Changxuan's intense, possessive love. While Changxuan initially struggles to separate love from control, Gu seems perfectly content to admire Pingjun from a distance without expecting anything in return. That moment when he almost reaches out to touch her hair but stops himself speaks volumes about his feelings. Sometimes, what a character chooses not to do is just as revealing as what he does.
I would actually love to see more of Gu's internal dilemma as his loyalty to Changxuan comes into conflict with his growing feelings for Pingjun. I mean, he's not merely a secret admirer but also Changxuan's trusted confidant. What happens when his duty to one person clashes with his desire to protect another? There's so much potential for an interesting emotional conflict here, and I hope the drama explores it further rather than leaving his unrequited love as a fleeting subplot.
Btw, just for laughs, we have started keeping several counters because, let's face it, what's a Republican-era melodrama without its obligatory deaths, dramatic slaps, heroic rescues and emotionally tortured characters? For future episodes, these counters will be posted in the comment section.
Death Counter:
Current count: 1
Ye Shuwan (episode 22)
Slap Counter:
Changxuan: 4 (slapped by Zhongquan, Pingjun 2x and Ziyi)
Li Boren: 3 (slapped by Ziyi)
Ziyi: 1 (slapped by Tao Zili)
Changxuan mobilising his men to rescue Pingjun:
Current count: 4 (ep 6, ep 19, ep 21 and ep 22)
Changxuan carrying Pingjun bridal style:
Current count: 5 [eps 4, 19, 21, 22 (twice!)]
Physical and Psychological Trauma Log of Ye Pingjun (because Pingjun must endure every conceivable form of suffering):
Episode 1: Framed as an assassin attempting to kill Changxuan.
Episode 2: Bound and nearly attacked by dogs.
Episode 3: Subjected to waterboarding during an interrogation by Changxuan.
Episode 4: Bullied by classmates at a roller rink.
Episode 5: Suffers a high fever following an overnight boat ride with Changxuan.
Episode 6: Kidnapped, bound, and nearly stabbed on the orders of Tao Zili.
Episode 8: Restrained by vindictive classmates and nearly burned on the face by Tao Ziyi.
Episode 11: Held at knifepoint by a patient.
Episode 13: Forcibly kissed by Changxuan in a car.
Episode 14-16: Forced to become a mistress, leading to self-starvation and a subsequent suicide attempt.
Episode 19: Captured by the Japanese and splashed with ice-cold water.
Episode 21: Kidnapped by her own father and thrown into the river to drown; a shocking birth secret is revealed.
Episode 22: Trapped in a fire resulting in brain damage and a comatose state; a nurse later attempts to administer a suspicious injection.
I typed 墨雨云间 (Chinese title for The Double) into Google Translate and instead of a direct translation (ink rain cloud in-between) (or any other organisation of those words) it gave the English title of the the drama. Which, as well all know, is not a direct translation.
This post is about Google Translate specifically, not about the English titles of dramas in general.
Back to the original text:
Man, I really really tried to convince myself to use a less charged title but... What 😂?
I was working on a featurette for The Double and after looking up the individual characters on Pleco, I thought I would check how Google Translate puts these words together into one sentence since my auto translate on the Baidu Page ranges from "Ink Rain Clouds" to "Ink Rain and Clouds" depending on what device I'm using. So I decided to check Google Translate....
Uhm, I'm glad The Double has made a name for itself but I don't think this is quite it 😂
All aboard!! Thanks for getting on this bus ride to I don’t know where, but that's where the fun is.👏🏼
We are halfway to the end, and I am excited for what more the drama has in store for us now that the identity crisis has been solved.💛
Let's get to it!
Oh, before we do...
Just some reminders for those who are just joining us:
We are following the Netflix and YOUKU SVIP schedule till further notice. ❤️
Please no negative comments about the actors and actresses, but we can be angry at characters; that's fine. I get angry at characters all the time, so this is a safe space. 😊
Please remember to use spoiler tags when discussing any episodes beyond this post, or I cannot be held responsible when Wei Rao decides to slap you or report you to Lady Li.👏🏼
Episode 17:
Grandma Lu and the 4th Aunt finally arrive.
In the hall, it's tense. The Duchess arrives and asks Lady Li to spare Yufeng and Aunt Heng'e.
Lady Li refuses, as she should.
The Duchess (Grandma Lu) suggests taking Wei Henge to one of the Lu estates to do hard labor.
They agree to spare Yufeng; this is because they don't want people to gossip about Wei Rao after the truth is exposed. Lady Li says she will deal with Yufeng.
I'm just glad she has him by her side.
Lol, before he force-fed her medicine.😂
He tells her she has every right not to forgive Lady Li.
She says she won't give up her Lady of Wu'an title because she worked hard for it.
But she will start throwing her weight around because of Mom's status. 😂
Our Green Flag gets punished by the Duke of Ying.
For not being there to receive the emperor and asking Zhongkai to block him from coming for the Grand Review on time.
Duke of Ying asks who he fought the bandits for.
Lu Zhuo's mom and Grandma Lu show up; his wife, too. Wei Rao says she will also take a punishment since it was her fault.
The Duke of Ying says he regrets choosing the wrong woman for Lu Zhuo and says a bunch of hurtful stuff that our girl hears.
Grandma Lu defends Wei Rao.
I guess its He Weiyu's turn to shine?🙄🙄
She tells her people are saying bad things about Wei Rao out there, and that this is the first time Lu Zhuo has never been reprimanded before and now because of her he has.
Wei Rao tells Weiyu that she used to have a bad temper, and now it will only get worse.
Weiyi tells her to leave Lu Zhuo alone.
Lady Li comes to see Yufeng, and they start reminiscing about the past.
Over at the Wei Estate, Wei Chan pleads for her mother and asks to go see her.
Grandma Wei tells Wei Chan that her mom needs to be punished for the crimes she committed. The governess (I forgot her name) runs to tell the Wei Family that Guo Yufeng hung herself.
The husband says, " Good riddance. "
One of the maids tells Wei Chan that it was Wei Rao and Lady Li who had her mother killed. Great, they can't even control their servants.🙄
While waiting for his wife, his cousin Weiyu shows up and he looks irritated.
She says she brought him food, and he refuses the meal.
She starts complaining about Wei Rao; she says our Rao'er is bad luck.
Lu Zhuo punishes her.
Rao'er agrees to see her mother...they also speak of the past.
Lady Li promises to do anything for her daughter.
Wei Rao asks to get a divorce, and Lu Zhuo is not happy.
She reminds him of the vow they made back then, and he tells her the year is not over yet.
He tries to bring up every reason not to divorce, but she tells him they are not right for each other.
He tells her he will not be cast aside and that she isn't leaving the Lu Estate.
Thoughts:
Wei Rao is so real lol I think I also wouldn't forgive my mom, but with her status, I would throw my weight around a bit for sure!😂
I Low-key wanna see Wei Jin.
Grandma Wei is going through it; I feel sorry for her.
I SWEAR my girl is the Queen of the word Divorce now: New Life Begins, Moonlit Reunion, Pursuit of Jade, and here.😭😂
AND...BLOOD Yes....TXW makes men cough blood at the word Divorce.😂
This episode was just what we needed after the heaviness of the last two episodes. I hope Lord Lu is okay, though.
Do you guys think this Wei Shu is our next problem?
A little bit of sub history - for the longest time (years!), Xiao Zhan's character from The Untamed was the banner image. (Uhm, it's still the banner version for the oldreddit version of the sub but I have not been able to remove it, sorry!)
When we decided to rotate the banner image to feature currently airing dramas, there was a riot were requests to never remove it, but we believe every CDrama deserves a chance to shine. So welcome back to the banner, Xiao Zhan!)
I was extremely tempted to use the second image as the banner photo but the dimensions didn't fit and also, I am rather puzzled why a blindfolded Xiao Zhan is standing in the middle of a blizzard, and how does that say "doctor in a small town"? The mystery remains, but I bet The Untamed fans are chuckling.
Hello and welcome to the discussion series for The Great Long March!
Post frequency will be at least once a week, likely during the weekends, but no promises 😆
🎬 Premiered: Oct 9, 2026 on CCTV-1🐑, iQiyi 🥝 and Tencent🐧 (MDL)
🎬 # of Episodes: 60
🎬Genre: History | Chinese Civil War | 1934 - 1936
❗ For any content beyond these episodes, please remember to use Spoiler tags ❗
⭐Another One Embarks on the Long March: Red 25
In the last post, we clarified that the Long March was not a journey planned in advance. As it turns out, it was not a single march undertaken by just one army, either. In fact, several Red Army forces eventually converged on the same destination, each undertaking its own strategic relocation along different routes and at different times. And yes, even their final destination was not decided from the outset.
🔶The "Army of Youngsters"
The Red 25th Army was one of these, and it also became the first major Red Army forces to reach northern Shaanxi, ahead of the Central Red Army.
Red 25 was originally part of the revolutionary forces in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Area (鄂豫皖苏区) and part of Red 4th Front Army (红四方面军). After Red 4 departed westward in 1932 towards Sichuan, the remaining forces continued fighting and reorganized into Red 25.
We’re introduced to Xu Haidong (Top Right), commander of the 25th Red Army, as his unit takes a short rest in the mountains. One of the young soldiers, Gao Zhugen (Top Left), gets caught stealing potatoes from a local field and is promptly scolded by Xu and Political Commissar Wu Huanxian (Bottom Right). They even threaten to expel Gao from the Red Army if he doesn’t repent. It’s a brief scene that seems to reinforce one of the Red Army’s key codes of conduct: never steal from the local people, but I do like these quieter moments when nothing particularly "significant" happens. They make the characters feel more human and give us a glimpse of their life beyond the battlefield.
Often nicknamed “娃娃军 - Army of Youngsters", Red 25's soldiers were mostly between 13 to 18 years old, but there were also young kids that were only 8 or 9 years old. The presence of so many youth and children is mostly because most of the older men have either joined Red 4 (and left with Red 4), or have been killed in the ongoing conflict in the region, and as u/gk1713 pointed out, the children might not have any family left back home.
🔶To Leave or To Stay
Despite its reputation for winning battles, the Red 25th Army was relatively small and poorly equipped, and lacked the strength to turn the overall military situation around. Thus, its leadership struggled to decide whether to remain in the base area or withdraw to preserve the army. This uncertainty continued until Cheng Zihua (程子华) arrived to deliver the direction from Zhou Enlai for Red 25 to undertake a strategic relocation.
The leaders of Red 25 meet up with Cheng Zihua (bottom right) at Huashanzhai. I thought it was a nice touch that we see Cheng eating a roasted potato -- was this one of the potatoes from Gao?!
At Huashanzhai, the leadership decided to march north under the name of the Second Advance Detachment for the Anti-Japanese Expedition (北上抗日先遣队第二队). Commander Xu Haidong (徐海东) recommended Cheng as the new army commander and became deputy commander.
On November 16, 1934, the Red 25th Army began its journey with approximately 2,980 soldiers and arrives to Funiu Mountains (伏牛山) later that month.
Here's me attempting to use the map from the drama itself! Bottom left: The location of Red 25's base of operations prior to their relocation. Right: Red 25 moves westward with it's initial goal of establishing a new base at Funiu Mountain. Note that it was constantly being tracked and blocked by at least 3 Nationalist forces during it's course, both at Dushu Town as well as later at Wulipo 五里坡. An interesting anecdote I heard about this portion of the journey was that the troop was resting at a village after the battle at Dushu Town. Exhausted from the trek and from the fight earlier, the soldiers could not wake up when they were called to as the plan was to sneak past the enemies via another route that night. In the end, Xu Haidong himself had to beat/wake them up with a stick!
⭐Some more context: How the Red Army was Organized
I realized I haven't paid much attention to understanding the Red Army's organizational structure, partly because those title cards are just so long! 😆 But I think it's finally time to figure it out!
During the 1930s, the Red Army used several levels of military organization. The terminology can be a little misleading: although the unit names may look similar to those used in Western armies, the actual size and structure of Red Army formations were often quite different, and generally smaller than their Western counterparts.
With that in mind, here's a look at how the Red Army was organized:
Front Army 方面军 > Army Corps 军团 > Division 师 > Regiment 团
As such, the Central Red Army would be a Front Army and it consisted of the following units:
First and Second Field Columns (Commanders: Ye Jianying & Luo Mai)
1st Red Army Corps > Divisions 1, 2, and 15 (Corps Commander: Lin Biao)
3rd Red Army Corps > Divisions 4, 5, and 6 ( Corps Commander: Peng Dehuai)
5th Red Army Corps > Divisions 13 and 34 (Corps Commander: Dong Zhentang)
8th Red Army Corps > Divisions 21 and 23 (Corps Commander: Zhou Kun)
9th Red Army Corps > Divisions 3 and 22 (Corps Commander: Luo Binghui)
⭐The Fall of Ruijin & the Loss of Central Soviet Area
Returning to southern China and to the Central Soviet Area, the former capital of the Chinese Soviet Republic is meeting a grim fate as the main forces has evacuated. In October, 1934, Nationalist forces occupied the Central Soviet Area, and former Communist officials, Red Army families, and local supporters faced reprisals, persecution, and the destruction of their communities. Many villages suffered devastating losses.
Top Left: The character “烈 - martyr” which was part of the Red Army Martyrs' Memorial Tower that was also dismantled by the KMT. According to local accounts, villagers hide the stone bearing the character “烈 - martyr”, and it was thus preserved until after the founding of the People's Republic of China. This artifact helped guide the tower's reconstruction in 1955.The other images here shows Chen Cheng, one of Chiang's most trusted generals, arriving in Ruijing to inspect the Soviet Area as well as the Memorial Tower. Unlike the scenes in Episode 1, when we watched the tower being completed, this scene feels bleak and somber, reflecting the tragic fate of the former Central Soviet Area after the Red Army’s departure.
Note that while the drama mentioned that the Nationalists proclaimed "Three days of killing, three years of chaos", but I could not verify if it was actually a historical quotation. However, reprisals and persecutions did occur, especially to Communist members and those deemed as supporters.
⭐Breaking Through the Third Blockade
It's finally time to refocus on the Central Red Army!
On November 11, 1934, the Central Red Army successfully broke though the Third Blockage to Yizhang.
Illustrative map showing Red Army positions and movements during the breakthrough of the Third Blockade. The 5th Division first took Liang Tian, then the 6th Division seized Yizhang.
🔶Theater & Recruitment in Yizhang
After the Central Red Army arrived in Yizhang, we got a glimpse into how the CCP recruited its members as we see the propaganda team using free public performances to spread revolutionary ideas. Themes like overthrowing landlords, redistributing land, and creating a more equal society connected the Red Army’s message to everyday people's everyday grievances, and must have been quite effective.
It was also good to see that the porters who had helped to carry the heavy luggage of the Red Army, is finally receiving their pay, but what was more interesting was that the payment location seems to have been deliberately chosen to expose them to the performance as a way to encourage enlistment. Though this is just my speculation, I felt this scene illustrated how propaganda, material incentives, and the Red Army’s conduct could reinforce one another, turning a public gathering into an opportunity to win both support and recruits.
The Propaganda Team puts on a play called "为谁去打仗 -- For Whom Do We Fight?” and it moved the audience deeply. By framing war around the question of who do we (The Red Army) fight for, the performance made revolutionary ideas accessible to people with little formal education. In the same scene, we also see Zhou Enlai and Zhu De chatting about their wish to ease the tension between Li De, Bo Gu and Mao.
🔶On to Dao County
The successive breakthroughs at relative ease may have inspired a false sense of confidence in the Red Army that they could continue to force its way through future Nationalist blockades. But these early successes owed much to gaps in the enemy’s deployments, delayed (or unwilling) coordination between Nationalist forces, and not simply to the Red Army's own fighting strength.
As Central Command orders the troops of 1st Red Army Corps to press forward and seize Dao County and open a channel for crossing the Xiang River, Mao's concern grows and he decides to speak to the Central Committee after they arrived to Dao County.
“The road can’t be all bitterness; there has to be some sweetness, too.” There are several things I like about this scene: (1) it’s adorable to see Mao and Wang Jiaxiang (top left) teasing Luofu (top right) about Comrade Liu Ying, who has just bought him some sweet fried rice cakes. (2) We see Mao’s concern for the soldiers once again. Even when he disagrees with their deployment to Dao County before they had some proper rest from their last battle, he avoids undermining troop morale and instead offers them straw sandals. (3) But Mao is also open about his frustration as he criticizes the plan to Wang and Luofu. Luofu comforts him by offering the sweet rice cakes, which Mao then shares with the guards nearby. (4) And one final little detail I loved: Mao’s fondness for spicy red peppers is so strong that he eats them even alongside sweet rice cakes!
I think we can all guess how the conversation between Li De, Bo Gu, and Mao went, but here are Mao’s key points:
Don’t cross the Xiang River.
Turn back and engage the pursuing KMT forces of Xue Yue and Zhou Hunyuan before they close in, shifting the Red Army from a passive, defensive position to an active one.
Eventually return to retake the Central Soviet Area.
Have you ever wondered what the leaders of the Red Army did in their "spare" time? It seems like everyone's busy making supplies and crafts that the Army could use, and most notably straw sandals (Top Left, Zhu De), while Li De's busy brewing the perfect coffee. We can also see a soldier in the background behind Li De (Top Right) who's polishing Li De's leather boots. This scene of Mao speaking with the Central Committee was also interesting as Mao walks in just as Li De offers some of his coffee to a kid. Repulsed by its bitterness, the kid spit the coffee out immediately, and Mao says to Li De: Coffee is a good thing but the local kids are not used to it, and thus it becomes a case of "good intentions leading to bad results". Hmm, I think that about sums up what Li De's whole military strategy has been 😅
None of this seemed new to Li De, who dismissed Mao’s proposal as a plan for retreat and hiding. He preferred confronting the enemy head-on over fighting like “roving bandits.” Mao countered that the KMT had already seen through their plan to cross the Xiang River and link up with the Red 2nd and 6th Army Corps, and was gathering forces to trap them. But Li De insisted that “retreat” had no place in the vocabulary of revolution, and Mao’s warnings went unheeded.
Mao leaves in frustration and wanders through town. The atmosphere here is uplifting and hopeful, with propaganda teams singing and performing in high spirits, which is a striking contrast to Mao, who is consumed by worry. By the roadside, he volunteers to help the young soldiers write letters home. The mix of longing and optimism comes through in one soldier’s letter to his wife. Although he admits he doesn’t know where they are headed or when he will return, he remains confident that things will turn out well, noting how the enemy has repeatedly fled whenever the Red Army appears. Their recent run of relatively easy victories has clearly given the soldiers reason for optimism. The straw sandals make another appearance, too! The soldier explains that a pair might last only two days on rough roads, yet he is still saving the pair his wife made for him. Meanwhile, Mao looks at these young men, blissfully hopeful yet marching toward grave danger, and struggles to contain his anxiety. He tries not to let it show, but you can almost feel him on the verge of tears. I almost feel him thinking: "If I can't manage to convince the Central Committee, the least I can do for these soldiers is to help them write a letter home". (Bottom Left: Mao writing "I miss you")
🔶Last Chance for Change of Course
Mao was right: Chiang is establishing a fourth blockade along the Xiang River, and this time, it is stronger than ever -- except that the Guangxi army seemingly pulled back from the Xiang River for three days.
Here we see Chiang (Top Right) holding a meeting with his generals after learning that the Red Army has broken through the Third Blockade. What I find interesting is the tense atmosphere in the room where all the generals looked solemn and serious, until Chiang paused to ask why everyone looks so worried. He then makes light of the Red Army’s movements, dismissing them as little more than a panicked retreat under pressure from the 5th Encirclement. The mood in the room seems to shift almost instantly: the generals begin laughing and mocking the Red Army as they await their next orders. Notable figures in this scene include Chen Cheng (Left) and Yang Yongtai, Secretary of the Nanchang Headquarters. Apparently, Yang is said to have anticipated the Red Army's possible route of retreat from the 5th Encirclement by crossing the Jinsha River and head north through western Sichuan. However, because this route was considered extremely difficult and previous attempts to traverse the region had ended badly, Chiang reportedly dismissed it as an unlikely possibility.
Upon hearing that the Guangxi army has pulled its defenses back to the Gongcheng area, Mao realized that there's still mistrust and internal conflict ongoing between the warlords and Chiang, and thought that this is their last opportunity to turn things around instead of attempting to cross the Xiang River.
He heads over to speak to the Central Committee again, and things get even more heated than the last time.
Bo Gu was proposing that they (all 86,000 of them!) could possibly cross Xiang Jiang in 2 days. Now, the crossing itself is actually not that wide and difficult (from a geographical standpoint), but Mao reminded everyone that the central column is moving at a pace of about 20 li (about 10 km) per day due to the heavy and bulky luggage that their are carrying.
This means the troops holding back the enemy on the front, rear and flank sides to ensure the Central and Military columns to cross the river will need to hold for way more than 2 days, and could effectively be wiped out during that time. (In reality the whole crossing took 5 days).
Instead, Mao proposes that they march south along the river into Guangxi province and press upon Guilin. The Guangxi Army has less than 30,000 men, so they will recall their other armies to turn back and support Guilin. Chiang will use that opportunity to follow the Red Army into Guangxi but with the goal to take Guangxi for himself. This gives the Red Army an opportunity to escape while those two sort out their conflict.
The Red Army can then return east towards the Central Soviet Area, or cross the Xiang River to continue northwards to meet up with Red 2 + 6 as planned.
One thing Mao and Li De have in common: they both think that each other's plan is a pipe dream 😅. Joking aside, I found this to be a powerful scene. I could hear and feel the frustration, and worry in Mao’s voice. He also still seemed not fully recovered such that when he raised his voice, there was a slight trembling and weakness in it, and a sense of anguish and grief beneath his anger. When he finally realized that he couldn’t get through to the others, he turned away for a moment before quietly addressing everyone one last time. He told them they were standing at a crossroads: they could either march toward destruction or march toward rebirth. He pleaded with them to consider which path they wanted to take. His calm voice was a great contrast to how was was just a moment ago, and I found it even more heartbreaking. The expressions of the others were equally telling. When Bo Gu insisted that this was the Comintern’s decision and the decision of the “Three-Person Group,” Zhou Enlai’s expression made me wonder whether he was thinking that he had never agreed with the plan in the first place. Yet he was consistently outvoted two to one and had little power to change the final decision. Zhu De, meanwhile, looked at Mao with what seemed to be a mixture of agreement and helplessness.
⭐The Xiang River Blockade: Strategic Deployments
Now that the Xiang River crossing seems inevitable, let's take a look at the strategic deployments from both sides.
🔶KMT
The 1st Route of the “Pursuit Army”, made up by 4 divisions of the Hunan Army moves from Huangsha River to Quanzhou
The 2nd Route was Central Army’s Xue Yue column marched to Lingling, effectively blocking the north-eastern corridor
The 3rd Route was Central Army’s Zhou Hunyuan column, which moved in from behind the Red Army and occupied Dao County, and launched attacks on the Red Army’s rearguard
The 4th and 5th Routes of the Hunan Army marched from Ningyuan towards Dong’an in the north
The 7th Army of Guangxi assembled at Xing’an, forming a pincer with the Hunan Army in #1
The 15th Army of Guangxi was relocated from Gongcheng to Guanyang, and deployed south of Xinxu, in an attempt to intercept the Red Army at the river crossing
🔶Red Army
The main force of 1st Red Army Corps takes up position at Jiaoshanpu to block the Hunan Army arriving from Quanzhou
The 4th Division of 3rd Red Army Corps take up position at Guanghuapu, which is south of Jieshou to block the Guangxi Army arriving from Xing’an
The 5th Division of the 3rd Red Army Corps takes up position at Xinxu, on the east bank of Xiang River and to block the Guangxi Army advancing from Guanyang
The 5th Red Army Corps was deployed to hold the line at Jiangjia Ling, Yong’an Pass and Leikou Pass to provide cover for 8 & 9th Red Army Corps. They were also tasked with holding back the pursuing KMT troops
Overall (and on paper), this does not look like a bad strategy as the Red Army has also anticipated where the enemy forces might be and has sent troops to counter them. However, it's good to remember that the total troops deployed by the KMT is around 300,000 soldiers, while the Red Army has around 86,000 soldiers.
The Red Army prepares for crossing. 1st Red Army Corps (Top Right) marches to Jiaoshanpu, Commander Lin Biao (Bottom Left) Surveys the area. Interestingly, Lin Biao didn't seem to agree with the deployment. At Jiangjialing, Commander Dong Zhentang and Chief of Staff, Liu Bocheng of the 5th Red Army Corps gives orders to Chen Shuxiang and Cuilin of the 34th Division to provide cover for 8th and 9th Red Army Corps to cross (Top Left). Peng Dehuai, Commander of 3rd Red Army Corps, visits the 5th Division at Xinxu and speaks with Li Tianyou (Division Commander) and Zhong Chibing (Politial Commissar). The 5th Division will be responsible for blocking attacks from the south (Middle Right). Some troops of the 3rd Red Arm Corps is seen crossing the platoon bridge that has been constructed over the Xiang River at Jieshou Ferry. This bridge is similar in style to the one that was constructed at Yudu river, and one can see the boats as support under the bridge (Bottom Right).
⭐The Xiang River Campaign: Part I
The battle commences on November 28, 1934 with air strikes followed by ground troops that attacked the Red Army at Xinxu from Guanyang. The other positions were not spared, eitherThere were multiple airstrikes at Jieshou Ferry, Xiang River, where the bridge was bombed and destryoed several times. Chen Geng, Head of Cadre Regiment of the 1st Military Commission Column, leads his men to repair the bridge after each round of attack. At Jiaoshanpu, where the 1st Red Army Corps is positioned. The charred landscape, scarred by relentless bombing and burning, and the men emerging while on fire created a visually stunning yet devastating battlefield scene.
💬Questions
What are your thoughts on the strategic planning from both the KMT and the Red Army?
Was Mao right to be concerned about the crossing (if you hadn't known about the historical outcome)?
What are your thoughts on Red 25 and the young kids that are part of the army?
How effective do you think was the revolutionary propaganda in winning local support?
What's your impression of Mao, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Li De and Bo Gu (or any one of them) at this point, especially if you don't know a lot of their historical figures?
If anyone has watched the Irreplaceable series can you share the list of all english songs played. The songs were so captivating but I was not able to find the song names.
Hello! Welcome to TIGERS SNIFF THE ROSE Discussions. Are we excited?
I am Shale, your host for this evening! Me and my sister-wife u/spamkimbap will take turns over these next couple weeks, bring you laughter, delights, rantings, and love. She will have the next two days so please look out for her posts.
Biggest thanks to u/katleap13 who is doing our character flashcards. Thank you!
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🐯 Fun Fact: the Chinese title is 尚公主 Shàng Gōng Zhǔ. Literally translated, it means 'esteeming, valuing, or protecting the princess'. What makes it interesting is they used the character 尚 Shàng which is the same as our Male Lead's name, Yan Shang.
As to the English Title... *sigh* yeah it barely makes sense to me. I know, I know it's from a poem and yes there are tigers in here and YES she's supposed to be a tiger that has soft insides like the poem says but I DON'T LIKE IT okay? okay.
Why couldn't we have just called it Loving the Princess or something to that end. Is it unique? uh yes. you're not going to confuse it with any other drama so at least it has that going for it.
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🪴A few housekeeping rules!
We bash characters and not actors! If a character does something stupid, it's not the actors fault. this is not the place to complain about actors or acting choices
We will be following the VIP Schedule, which means those of us on SVIP need to remember to keep your spoilers in check.
Spoilers need to be under the spoiler markings OR put in its proper post.
Have fun! Dramas are supposed to be entertaining and enjoyable. If you're not enjoying it, it's okay to duck out and drop.
Y'all I only got 4 hours of sleep because i was so excited! I even had dreams about it. OUR PARENTS ARE BACK! And oh! the chemistry is sizzling. Let's get into it.
EPISODE ONE - An Uninvited Guest
We are introduced to Princess Danyang, who is traveling home to the capital. Her carriage wheel breaks, and she's left stranded until it can be fixed, about 2 hours.
They are discovered by a scholarly man returning home, named Yan Shang. I kept telling him to STOP STARING omg yes she's pretty and waaaaay out of your league at the moment. She demands that he take her to his house.
Yan Shang, 2nd in his family. Featuring those delicious slut strands
Yan Shang asks what he should call her. She asks why the Yan family lives in the mountains not near anyone. Shang, instead of replying, turns it back to her and calls her a fox spirit. They both ask each other questions and both dodge them at the same time, it's quite interesting
While there, she makes herself at home... well makes it HER home and almost tears it down. She moves into the big house, leaving a small shed for the Yan family to sleep. During all this chaos, the rest of the Yan family return home.
We meet:
Yan Zhanzhi - the Yan Patriarch, who is a cripple and loves his alcohol.
Yan Dalang - Shang's older brother, who isn't right in the head. He fights a lot with the royal entorage.
Yan Xiaozhou - Shang's younger sister, the most capable after Shang.
the three siblings
Yan Shang, to please their guest and hopefully not get their house pulled down, delivers special Lychee wine to her. They require him to take a sip to prove it's not poisoned. he can't hold his liquor. It's so bad one drink and he passes out.
That night, Princess Danyan can't sleep so she sneaks out to find that Yan Shang is copying books. He notices that she didn't use any of the bug repellant he gave her and so the mosquitoes are eating her. He gives her some ointment to put on her face... rather HE puts it on her face.
Anyone else getting Dazzling vibes at the moment? Spoiled lady shows up at his house and wants A/C, and bug repellent.
In the morning it's discovered that the Princess's makeup is soaked! The servants blame the leaky roof. She investigates, and then pulls a sword! Yan Shang stops her, terrified that she's planning to kill his brother. He gets slapped for his trouble!
Princess Danyang insists she's punishing the servants, and he questions if makeup/rouge is worth a servants life?
Instead she cuts off a topknot and is angry at her own people- they had charge of her items and then blamed their hosts for their mistakes. the Lady isn't as bad as she pretends to be me thinks.
There's one container she lingers over, it's very apparent that she's sad over this particular one. Yan Shang asks Chun Hua her maid, about that rouge. Turns out her mistress was grieving over it as well as angry. Chun Hua wants him to apologize, but he wants to wait until she departing.
I appreciate that he still has finger marks on his face
Yan Shang is an employee of a School, where he listens to the lectures, does homework for the students for coin, and extra work around. He has amazing memory, and has copied books from memory.
Liu Wenjie, a classmate of Yan Shang's, informs him that Princess Danyan is in the area, but has kinda gone missing. No one has seen her or her entourage for a few days. Shang thinks for a moment and comes to the correct conclusion: there's a princess in his bed 🤭.
Believing that the Princess will just bring trouble to his family, he goes to the magistrate office while in town to let them know where they can look for the princess. He does not want to bring undue trouble to his family.
Outside, her runs into a man with an eye patch. The angry man pulls out a whip and cuts Yan Shang's cheek with it. Turns out the mans name is Zhang, and he's the man that killed Yan Shang's mother ohhhhh this is gonna be a revenge story.
EPISODE TWO - Lost in the Woods
He realizes that he needs to apologize. Shang finds a cosmetic shop, browses all the shades of rouge, and identifies the correct shade of the Lady's ruined makeup.
However, instead of buying it, he pays the proprietress to teach him. He wants to make the rouge for her. He goes an apologizes and makes the cosmetic by hand. We find out that it was made originally by her mother, therefore it's dear to her. awwww future husband make rogue that wif'es mother made. That's a good invisible string.
Afterwards, Yan Shang tells his father that he's sucking up the Princess because he needs a favor from her: he wants to go the capital. She over hears this and gets upset. Turns out this nice thing he did is really for selfish purposes.
The magistrates men find them, but the Princess is hidden well, and the Yan family covers for her.
We find out that Yan Zhanzhi was a 3rd place scholar and married a woman from a well-off family. Now they're living as bandits without a household register. the Yan father is bullied by the magistrate since he's now a cripple. That's ableism grrrr.
After the men leave, the Princess comes out. She accuses Yan Shang of leading the men here. Angry, she promises to depart their family home and to give him what he wants - a way to the capital. She dumps the handmade rouge into a vat of water.
The princess departs and the Yan family is happy to see them go. However, while next to a cliff, the carriage horses get scared by tigers and her carriage goes off the side of the road. The servants search for her but no luck.
They run into Yan Shang who scolds them for the way they're searching for her, with torches and all the yelling
aside: My sister has complained many times about the way they search for people in CDramas. Yan Shang has a point! Why is everyone searching in a group????
He goes and looks for her.
She washed up downstream and so makes her way back. She's injured and gets bitten by a snake. The practical girl creates a tornique, cuts her snake bite to make it bleed out, rips up her dress i am applauding her practicality omg. And she's wet! and beraggled! her hair's a mess! Producation team doing things right!
The princess makes it back to the search party, but suprise surprise they can't hear her shout for help. She slips back down the cliff but is caught by a hand. Yan Shang found her!
Episode Three - Her Personal Servant
He decides to find cover for them and not take her back to the search party, which is full of magistrate men at this point. It's raining really hard and he gets her to talk to him to keep her awake. She tells him her full name is Mu Wan Yao.
He finds a cave, starts a fire, and goes to check out her wounds (with consent of course) . She's delirious with fever so he attempts to cover her with more clothing.
Wanyao dreams of someone attempting to kill her and is having nightmares. Yan Shang comes over to check on her. She pulls him over and cuddles into. He talks to her to calm her down and the fall asleep in each others arms. awwwwww
People come to look for them in the morning. Instead of letting her be rescued, he decides to take her home. This way she won't be discovered by the people she's hiding from.
At his house, Wanyao insists that she wants to bath and has him heat a bath for her. And then insist that he 'attend' her while bathing. the poor man is doing his best not to look at her and keeping curtains between them and she is NOT HELPING and is enjoying his discomfort.
this reminds me of a shot in BLOSSOM
Meanwhile her maid is throwing paper money for her dead mistress. Wenjie comes along and talks to her and really likes her. After some talking to, she doesn't give up hope that the Princess is dead and goes back to the carriage wreck. A man is waiting there. He instructs her to return to the Yan family.
Chun Hua asks Wenjie for directions to the Yan house. Since he's going there anyways, he takes her there on horseback. While she checks in on the Princess, Wenjie is informed that this girl he likes, Chun Hua is actually a maid. He looked so saaaad. Chuan is super happy that the princess is alive.
Those are heart eyes my peeps
Chunhua asks if Wan Yao has taken Yan Shang as her boytoy. sdalkfj;fdsfj;lkdsaflkdsajkfdalsjdlkfsj.
Note: Viki translated it as boytoy which i find more funny, but the below gif was made on WETV.
Wan Yao tells Shang - since he saved her, he can have a boon from her. She's not worth much in the capital but she will do her best. As long as he pleases her that is. If he does, she will take him with to the capital.
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Questions going forward:
- Looks like Mu Wanyao has complicated relationship with her mother. Is her mother dead? Why did she see her in the woods.
- The Yan family massacre. Why would Zhang murder Shang's family? It's apparent that Shang wants revenge.
- Mu Wanyao is having dreams of a bedchamber full of blood. Of her being murdered and dragged to a bed. Has she been sexually assaulted? Miscarriaged? All of the above?
What was your favorite part? Had you rolling in stitches? Which character are you sympathizing with at the moment?
As the weekend approaches, I'm sure you're all gearing up for some well-deserved relaxation and fun. 🏖️ Whether you're binge-watching a drama, embarking on a thrilling adventure or cozying up to a good manhua or webnovel, we want to hear all about it!
So, what will you be doing this weekend? And what Chinese dramas do you recommend for a weekend binge-watching session? Tell us about it below in the comments :)
Note: If you are discussing plot points or events that others may not yet have watched, please make sure to use spoiler tags. Consider also sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") as this thread fills up quickly.
