Now that I’m reviewing Chinese dramas, I wanted to be able to type Chinese characters into my blog posts, but they were all coming out as question marks when I saved! 真烦人！
I did some research and got some confusing answers before finally getting it to work, so I wanted to log that in case you have trouble too. Ultimately it was the answer to this thread that helped me decipher what I needed to do. Below are step by step instructions following that answer.
I logged in to my webhost provider and thankfully they had quick and easy links, so I clicked on “phpMyAdmin”
That landed me on this page:
I thought I’d fiddle around with the Server Connection Collation dropdown and change it to one targeted for Simplified Chinese, but that didn’t seem to do anything. Instead I chose my site from the selection on the left panel, then clicked on the SQL tab:
Then in the box, I pasted the code from the help topic:
alter table wp_posts convert to character set utf8 collate utf8_general_ci;
alter table wp_links convert to character set utf8 collate utf8_general_ci;
alter table wp_comments convert to character set utf8 collate utf8_general_ci;
alter table wp_terms convert to character set utf8 collate utf8_general_ci;
After I clicked “Go” I got some green messages confirming the changes and then that SQL box was blank again. That was it! Once I returned to my blog and added Chinese characters, now they display correctly and don’t get reverted to a mess of ??????s lol.
I started watching this, then lost interest at episode 10 and picked it up again after watching all of Eternal Love and Eternal Love of Dream. The main actress is the same so I wanted to see more of what she would be like in another role. I found the development slow and unconvincing at first, but the pacing got better after I returned to it. Also, it had some pretty wild fight scenes that I still reference to this day (the twirling bed scene, the bedroom fight scene, and the water fight scene). Apparently the water fight scene was so taxing that Ethan Juan even passed out a few times filming it.
Listen to the OST on Spotify (it’s close but my fav by just a little is Chuang 窗=window, because it’s got a unique sound, though Ao Hong Chen 傲红尘/傲紅塵=proud mortal world is a nice soothing second… and the instrumental Yi Ai Nan Qiu 一爱难求/一愛難求=a love hard to ask for totally makes me think of the show)
Title in Chinese is simply Fu Yao 扶摇: Fu = to help or assist. Yao = to shake/sway/rock. So to help you sway? Or to assist you while something is shaking, kind of like to hold you steady? In this case it’s the main character’s name and I’m not sure it’s meant to mean much more than that.
It’s weird to me to see Zhan Beiye’s face, which is kind of pretty, versus the voice they use for him, which is hyper masculine. That sort of mismatch was jarring to me.
Whoa, I was watching Miss Truth and researching the historical figures, which led me down a rabbit hole to discover that Zhangsun Wuji was an actual person! I did not expect this show to have any basis in reality whatsoever. I mean, I think all they did was take his name since the real person was a politician and not a ruler.
star-crossed couple who can bring each other (or the world) danger by being together
jealous female love rival who thinks she deserves the male lead
main leads who need to stay away from and/or be mean to each other to protect each other
main lead’s mother who is of low status and gets bullied (in this case technically not low status, but she’s powerless)
side character who also falls in love with main lead, but can never be with them and ends up finding their own happiness with someone else
main leads who are able to trust each other innately and trick their enemies by seemingly fighting and losing trust or cutting the relationship
main lead who sacrifices him/herself to save the other
main lead is key to the destruction of the world
someone decides the only way to protect themselves and their loved ones is by gaining power (usually a throne)
childhood connection between the main leads
Show Summary:
There’s a prophecy about a girl with a five-colored rock who can bring destruction to the world. A mysterious man is supposed to go on a mission to find the girl an stop this from happening. Meanwhile, Fuyao is a naughty girl who lives on a mountain. She’s part of the servants who are treated as less than human. The mountain is home to disciples of the Xuan Yuan sect and she is friendly with the senior disciple brother, Yan Jingchen. He’s protective of her, but one of the disciple sisters Pei Yuan is jealous and arrogant so she bullies Fuyao.
As a servant class girl, Fuyao isn’t supposed to be allowed to learn martial arts and magic, but Jingchen has secretly taught her as they’ve grown up together. The leader of the servants is a man she calls Uncle Zhou. Apparently they are the Xuan You division (I don’t recall this at all). He scolds her a lot but cares for her deeply and she causes him a lot of worry. I guess at some point we learn her full name is Meng Fuyao. I don’t remember if that’s when we find out more about her identity later in the show.
She wants to sneak into a Xuan Yuan sect event, but Uncle Zhou catches her and makes her go down the mountain to buy wine. While down there, she gets into some trouble, runs into a Taiyuan kingdom prince who is being hunted down. The prince, Xuan Yuanming is captured by Qi Zhen’s (the prime minister) people.
Qi Zhen wants to usurp the throne but the dying king tells him that the Xuan bloodline is critical (and his bloodline can do some sort of water manipulation magic). Qi Zhen wants to figure out how to learn this magic so he can take the throne and not be disregarded as an illegitimate ruler. Somehow kidnapping the prince is supposed to help him?
Prince Yuanming needed medical care and ended up at a mysterious healer’s place. It’s either at the Xuan Yuan sect or just down the mountain. His name is Zong Yue and he is friends with Prince. We find out the prince is fake (so who is he? you’ll see…) and needs an herb to help show fake water power. Meanwhile, Fuyao also needs the herb to help her friend (or was it a pet?) who is sick. It’s not an easy plant to get and the two end up fighting up and down a cliff and in a pond. You can see that the prince (or whoever he really is) is a cheeky guy from their interaction. He is victorious and leaves her behind.
At Xuan Yuan sect, there’s a banquet where we find out Pei Yuan is Qi Zhen’s niece. Might that explain her arrogance and haughtiness? Fuyao is there to serve and sees Prince introduced as the heir apparent of Taiyuan, but she had seen the real one and realizes it’s not him. Prince knocks water out of her hand and makes her go with him to change. He pretends to be dumb and clueless in front of Qi Zhen but he’s very clever. Fuyao fights him again lol and they both know the other is not so simple.
Jingchen is the son of the Xuan Yuan sect leader and he is betrothed to Pei Yuan. She’s delighted but he’s not. He wants to be with Fuyao and vice versa. He’s too timid to say anything and directly refuse though; her family is too powerful. He wants both worlds and expects Fuyao to be his concubine, but she is not about that.
Pei Yuan is jealous and secretly signs up Fuyao for a dangerous competition that the sect was holding, basically expecting her to die in it. Everyone seems to think Fuyao won’t make it, but she gets through (with help). Towards the end, Prince had helped her and they got some special umbrella, but it failed and Fuyao fell into some water. Uncle Zhou had given her a staff since she didn’t have a sword (or any weapon really) and it triggers something in the bottom of the lake. She is transported somewhere and water figures attack her. She learns some sort of fighting there.
Somehow in her dreams she seems to get transported to that place to get trained, but she doesn’t remember when she wakes up. Ultimately, she learns some powerful fighting skills and could have won the competition but she was too nice to do that to Jingchen, who was the finalist with her. She gets accused of witchcraft for the fighting style she used and is locked up.
Uncle Zhou comes to save her and is crushed by a gate when they leave. He knows secrets about her and how there are 5 seals on her. This water fighting activated a seal. Once they start unsealing, I guess there’s no turning back. He urges her to run away and tells her to visit all 5 kingdoms. She’s got a quest now.
A lot of things happen in the escape and Prince ultimately helps Fuyao to Healer Zong’s place. Meanwhile Qi Zhen goes to seek out some evil lady who tells him how he can master the water power. It involves sacrificing Yuanming and obtaining a very precious bell. Fake Yuanming is actually Crown Prince of Tian Quan kingdom, Zhangsun Wuji and he is prepared for all this plotting by Qi Zhen. What is his purpose of pretending to be Yuanming? Does he want the throne too?
Wuji and Fuyao both end up leaving the mountain. Wuji is being hunted by Qi Zhen’s people. Before leaving, Fuyao goes to get revenge on Pei Yuan and she faints. One of the maids takes advantage of the situation and cuts Pei Yuan’s face; of course Fuyao is later blamed.
Qi Zhen needs the bell from Tiansha kingdom and trades it for land. Tiansha’s Prince Lie, Zhan Beiye, is sent to escort the item. Along the way, he runs into Fuyao and saves her. He then thinks she stole the bell from him and keeps her with his party. She saves him from drowning and a girl rushes over to give him CPR but he wakes up just in time to run away from her. She’s Yalan Zhu and she’s obsessed with him and follows him everywhere. Fuyao makes friends with her, but Beiye pretends to like Fuyao (well he kind of actually does) to get Yalan Zhu to leave him alone.
Pei Yuan marries Jingchen, but overhears her father-in-law telling Jingchen he can use poison on her when she is no longer useful. Yikes.
Wuji takes Mr. Zong to an abandoned home, which turns out to be where Mr. Zong’s family plaques are. He doesn’t want to face the hard fact of what happened to them (they were murdered). He is a descendant of Xuan and part of the Taiyuan royal bloodline. Maybe the last one left.
Beiye finds out Qi Zhen was in on stealing the bell and in cahoots with the king of Tiansha (who I guess is his brother?).
Xiao Qi, one of Fuyao’s friends, had left the mountain with her but they got separated. She follows markings to find him and ends up in a slave market. Pei Yuan set it up to try to kill her. She offers the slaves rewards for killing Fuyao. It’s a hot mess and Beiye, Yalan Zhu, Wuji all show up. Wuji blocks Fuyao’s sword when she went to attack Pei Yuan. This was all to protect her and it also made it seem like he was on Pei Yuan’s side. But he safely gets her away and hands her over to Beiye and Yalan Zhu.
They figure out that Xiao Qi is being kept prisoner at Qi Zhen’s. Yalan Zhu knows magic to make Fuyao look like someone else and she poses as Qi Zhen’s distant relative, Yuwen Zi. Qi Zhen wants to use her as a pawn in his power play by marrying her to the king. Fuyao and Beiye find the bell but there’s a trap so they can’t remove it yet.
Meanwhile, the king dies and Qi Zhen uses dark magic to get water power. It’s important for the Taiyuan royals to have this power so they can keep flooding at bay. Now that the king is dead, someone needs to stop water flowing from the sky. Qi Zhen shows up dramatically to show off his new power and the water stops. He is gleeful, but turns around to find it was Wuji behind him actually doing it and he never got the power.
To celebrate Wuji ascending the throne, they do a hunting trip. Pei Yuan suggests hunting slaves instead. My, she’s cruel. She uses Xiao Qi as bait for Fuyao and of course Fuyao has to go save him. Fuyao and Wuji end up fighting a crazy leaf monster in the woods, it’s that evil lady who told Qi Zhen how to get water power. He pretends to be saved by her when they emerge from the woods. He has to keep up his dopey king act for Qi Zhen.
Fuyao no longer needs to stay at the manor so she stages her death with a fire. Mr. Zong happens to be there sneaking around and helps her, but gets an arrow to the chest. He needs to deliver something to Wuji in the palace and shows her a secret tunnel to do it for him. Qi Zhen is searching for whoever set the fire and runs into the king’s (Wuji) room. He’s half naked on the bed and Qi Zhen won’t let up until a woman’s voice calls out and a hand slides onto Wuji’s chest. Fuyao was hiding there and pretends to be a lover. They do quite a bit of fighting here.
Wuji is looking for some magical dragon armor and goes to a chamber where there’s a hologram of it. Fuyao’s necklace is drawn to that and it seems to be where she can unlock another seal. Wuji knows about this? He bets her if she can get his necklace off him, he will help her. So now Fuyao returns to the Qi manor as Yuwen Zi pretending to have escaped the fire.
Yun Hen is Qi Zhen’s adoptive son but he really is just a loyal dog to Qi Zhen. When he interacts with Mr. Zong, who was brought along from the mountain, there’s a possible connection to Mr. Zong’s younger brother. Yun Hen notices Mr. Zong might be injured and suspects him.
Wuji pretends to be disinterested in court and has Qi Zhen decide things. Even selecting women for his harem seemed to be a power play by the fathers. Fuyao and a bunch of ladies show up and some of them fight for where to live. She doesn’t care and just wants to get that necklace. She sneaks in as a eunuch to when he’s about to bathe but he knows right away and messes with her. This is where they end up having an epic water fight scene. It makes no sense with the water being shallow or deep as needed, but hey whatever, it’s still cool.
Yun Hen finds out about his identity as son of Prince Wen Zi, who was framed by Qi Heng even though they were old friends. We then meet Qi Heng’s daughter Qi Yun, who has been running a restaurant because she loves cooking. She gets summoned back home but she doesn’t want to go. She likes her life outside.
Fuyao gets trapped in an abandoned part of the palace where there’s a crazy lady who turns into a white fox. Wuji has a little pet hamster he sends to go find her scent. He then goes to save her and has to get injured to bargain with the crazy lady. He’s definitely into Fuyao.
Wuji has to pretend to favor one of the ladies because of her dad. Fuyao realizes she likes him, but he lies and says he doesn’t like her. She prepares to leave but his loyal servant Jiang Feng explains Wuji cares for her but can’t show it and convinces her to stay. Wuji is so happy to see she didn’t leave. He’s holding a banquet and Pei Yuan is there with Jingchen. There are these mirror of truths where Pei Yuan sees it’s actually Fuyao.
She then captures Fuyao and tries to force Jingchen to kill her. He can’t/won’t and Pei Yuan goes to do it but her maid stabs her through the back. It’s madness, Pei Yuan, Jingchen, and the maid all end up dying. Fuyao is then saved by the crazy lady, who mistakes Fuyao for her daughter (who went missing as a child and might be dead).
Qi Zhen suspects Fuyao and summons her, then forces her to stab/kill the king (Wuji) to test her loyalty. It does not look good. But then Wuji shows up and it turns out Fuyao had sensed it was not really him, which is why she stabbed him.
Qi Yun eats with Mr. Zong and Yun Hen, telling a story about a boy she knew as a child. He was allergic to an ingredient she put in the soup. She thinks he’s Mr. Zong and wanted to test him. He does not show a reaction though and leaves, only to rush to his room and suppress the rash. She likes him but Yun Hen likes her.
Wuji creates a trap for a general who is loyal to Qi Heng and makes Qi Heng suspect him. The general gets captured.
Through some plotting and counterplotting, Fuyao (still as Yuwen Zi) is going to marry the king. Qi Zhen wants her to kill Wuji on the wedding day. Qi Zhen accuses Wuji (as Yuanming) of being fake byt bringing out the real one, but Wuji uses Fuyao to show off more water technique. Turns out it’s actually Yun Hen working behind the scenes. He’s turned against Qi Zhen but Qi Zhen doesn’t know it yet.
Qi Zhen eventually escapes and meets up with Yun Hen outside the city. He learns the truth and Yun Hen is unable to kill him. In the palace, Fuyao and Wuji are pretty beat after the fight. The crazy lady comes and I think Wuji realizes she’s actually his aunt. He tries to get her to accept the reality that her daughter is dead.
Fuyao passes out and Wuji takes her back to the place with the armor hologram and opens the next seal for her before leaving. He’s got a mission and needs to move on.
Fuyao eventually comes across a plague and a girl called Fo Lian who is treating them. Fo Lian then gets sick and asks Fuyao to go meet the king of Tianquan in her place. She is actually princess of Xuanji and needed to deliver a map. Plus, she is betrothed to the prince there and she doesn’t want to let him down. In the city, Fuyao sneaks in to a manor to look for a plant and runs into Wuji. He tells her he’s the prince’s aide.
Wuji has returned home to Tianquan and his father the emperor. His mission to screw with Tiayuan was a success. That kingdom is a mess now.
They go to the forest as one point so he can show her a god in the form of a deer. He’s very difficult to find. They cook some fish and he keeps the bones as a love token.
At the palace, Fuyao accidentally discovers the empress (Wuji’s mom) meeting with Zhang Sun Jie, Prince De, the emperor’s brother. They were actually in love and torn apart. She goes to meet the emperor as Fo Lian, but then the real Fo Lian shows up. Why did she turn and frame her like that? Fuyao gets taken away. The emperor secretly shows her what happens after she leaves. Wuji gets cozy with Fo Lian as they affirm their engagement. The emperor wants Fuyao to give up.
Wuji’s older brother Zhangsun Pingrong, Prince Yi, is not a good guy and captures Fuyao after the emperor lets her go. He is about to violate her and they get into a wild fight. Wuji barges in, his brother was basically castrated, Fuyao was poisoned. The emperor won’t help, so Wuji and Mr. Zong take Fuyao to a remote village to seek an antidote.
Wuji goes back to beg his dad to help. He locks up Fo Lian in a weird basement with no doors (she fell in and can’t climb out) to reflect. He wants her to cancel the engagement and admit to working with his brother. He cleverly manipulates them until finally he gets what he wants and the marriage is annulled. She admits she wanted to ruin Fuyao’s reputation and she already knew who she was. Fo Lian “decides to focus on her charity work.” (That’s the excuse they give the world.)
Fuyao wakes up in the village and her sense of justice leads her to stand up for the people. Somehow she ends up as the leader. The village has been bothered by bandits and they invite her out. She pretends to be on their side. She and Mr. Zong suspect they work for Prince Yi, so he investigates while she distracts them. He finds they have a lot of weapons. Later at night, Fuyao is getting drunk by herself. Wuji shows up to stop her. She thought he wouldn’t come and she’s been upset with him for lying to her. It’s a pretty touching scene. She has so much emotion she basically exhausts herself from crying and passes out.
At the village, there’s a guy Tie Cheng who is interested in her and he’s cute with his little fumbling around to talk to her.
The next day, she’s mad at him and he shows up to court where she’s presiding to report on her for stealing his heart and money haha. He even brings the fish bones as proof. She runs off and Tie Cheng takes her to a cool spot in the desert. Wuji chases and they fight and he kisses her aggressively. She doesn’t believe him about the marriage until he uses his necklace to show her visions of the truth. Turns out what the emperor showed her was his vision of what he wanted her to see. Wuji was never nice to Fo Lian, much less cozy with her.
Yalan Zhu returns and we catch up on her and Zhan Beiye’s story. She had chased after him, lost him in the desert, and had a bunch of other drama. Wuji figures out she is from the Qiongye tribe, which retreated to the mountains. Her dad is their leader. He somehow was involved with the conflict that caused the rift back in the day and Yalan Zhu tries to kill him but Fuyao gets in the way. Yalan Zhu and Wuji come to a temporary truce.
Wuji gets word the emperor is ill and possibly dying, he knows it’s a trap but he still has to rush back. He decides to do the dangerous option cutting through the desert (of no return). Before he leaves, Tie Cheng is becoming Wuji’s disciple and agrees to take care of his master’s wife aka Fuyao. Lol.
Prince Yi attacks the village (more like remote city) Fuyao is at and they have to be clever in how they defend, with traps and tricks. Eventually, Xiao Qi digs a tunnel out and he and Yalan Zhu go to get reinforcements from two places. Fuyao sends Yuanbao, the hamster, to go find Wuji. He was lost in the desert after being attacked and nobody knows what happened. He had passed out after a fight and was slowly starting to petrify. It’s not known as the desert of no return for nothing.
Fuyao gets into pretty dire straits after pretending to surrender so she could kill the bad guys. The townspeople think she’s a traitor and won’t let her in the gates, so she’s stuck outside with the enemy forces. Just as she’s about to kill herself, Zhan Beiye returns and destroys the enemy. Fuyao is taken to his camp but just wants to go save Wuji. She has a vision of him in the desert but she’s too weak. Beiye has to enter her subconscious to guide her out so she’s not stuck in a coma forever. They’re in a desert together avoiding danger. Eventually the evil lady shows up and tries to get Fuyao to turn to her side, but she won’t. The evil lady decides to save her for another day and Fuyao and Beiye wake up.
Over in Tianquan kingdom, everybody assumes Wuji is dead. Prince Yi tries to find the body and finds one that he wants to burn. They claim to want to prevent others from getting infected by the petrifying poison that killed him. The emperor of Tianquan is such a wily guy. He’s been forcing the empress to take “medicine” that is really a slow poison or at least toxic. Every move he makes seems to be to mess with people and stir up trouble. He seems to like watching chaos unfold. Prince De finds out about the poison the empress has been taking and he promises to take her away now that her son is dead and there’s nothing to keep her tethered to the emperor, who had forced her to marry him.
Oh yeah, while Beiye was gone all this time, he had gone in the desert and became leader of some tribe that was his mother’s. They show up to help with some of the fighting and eventually on a journey through a forest. The forest is super dangerous, with quicksand and flesh-eating ants and illusions. Fuyao sees Wuji and he wants her forget about the world and run off with him, which cues her in that it’s not really him. It’s that evil lady again.
Fuyao passes out again and wakes up with… Wuji tending to her. This time it’s real! Now Beiye is in a coma from the evil lady’s attack and they need the bell to save him. Both Yalan Zhu and Fuyao end up going to try to steal it from Tiansha’s king (Beiye’s brother). They are caught but still escape only to find the bell was a fake.
Wuji and Fuyao go to a magical cave that is supposed to give omens for Prince Yi becoming the new crown prince. That’s how Wuji had become crown prince before, by defeating the challenge. Prince Yi is luring Wuji out to use him to get through the challenge (because he knows he can’t do it himself). Wuji shows up as expected and he and Fuyao get separated and encounter themselves. Wuji is able to figure it out and defeat his, but Fuyao needs help. Prince Yi shows up to try to push them into a portal of doom, but he almost gets sucked in.
Somehow Prince Yi’s blood contains the antidote for Fuyao’s poison (which I forgot about all this time). They save him, exit the cave and everybody except Prince Yi and his people are happy. In the cave it turns out another seal was broken, so that’s the third one so far. At this point Wuji is aware of his conflicting destiny with Fuyao – he’s supposed to destroy her so she can’t unlock evil once all her seals are broken.
Yalan Zhu uses a special power from her tribe to save Beiye because she’s so devoted to him. It makes her blind. She doesn’t want anyone to know so she avoids them, then eventually sneaks away. They ultimately track her down and fight to get her back from the evil lady (or her disciple, can’t remember if the lady was there). At this point, Beiye seems to be open to accepting Yalan Zhu into his heart instead of running from her. I think this is the only time this ploy has worked… all the other shows have the characters trying so hard but never gaining the love of their intended (usually because their heart is already with someone else… whose heart is with someone else).
All this time, Beiye’s mother has basically been held a hostage by his brother to keep him at bay. He was never interested in the throne, but is starting to see how his lack of power put those he cares about in danger. Plus he eventually gets to see her briefly and learns that he was supposed to inherit the throne. So he decides to strive to rule Tiansha. Thankfully he’s got those desert warriors on his side.
The Tiansha king is holding a competition to replace his general (who was actually killed by Fuyao and Beiye when they were sneaking in to visit Beiye’s mom). A bunch of people sign up and assassins are sent after them as the first part of the competition. Somehow Fuyao, Mr. Zong, and Qi Yun all enter and pass the first level. They have to fight each other to get a sack before the rope holding it up breaks. Fuyao is posing as Wuji’s bodyguard and eventually wins and gets the sack before it falls into fire. It’s actually Beiye’s mom. Man that king is terrible.
Qi Yun had come to try to get Mr. Zong to go cure her dad. He’s super mad and isn’t blaming her for his crimes, but also won’t be nice because of that. Yun Hen eventually makes his way there following her. Mr. Zong ends up finding where Qi Zhen is and gets knocked out. Yun Hen shows up and they both get tied up. Qi Zhen wants Yun Hen to kill his own brother, but he won’t. They fight and Qi Yun blocks an attack for Mr. Zong, hoping her dad will give up his vendetta. He doesn’t, but she had somehow transferred the dragon armor that was keeping her alive to Mr. Zong’s body and it protects him. Qi Zhen sees all his hopes fall apart and kills himself. Wuji shows up and has life-saving berry for Qi Yun. She still needs special medical care though, so he goes off with her.
Fuyao is attacked on the streets by Tai Yan, evil lady’s disciple. She is Wuji disciple sister; he had gone to train in the same place as a child or something like that.
Wuji starts getting pulled away to other realm by his master. He’s supposed to find the girl with the 5-colored rock but he pretends he’s still looking. His master punishes him with some very painful torture.
Beiye pulls together enough support through the desert fighters and with Wuji/Fuyao’s help, defeats the Tiansha soldiers to take the throne. His mother is now free and they have some quality time together discussing his future and getting married. Yalan Zhu overhears and thinks he still likes Fuyao, but she leaves before she hears him explain that he did like Fuyao and she’s great, but Yalan Zhu is the girl for him. She gets kidnapped as she’s leaving.
There’s kind of a random funny situation now with the kidnapper, who is actually Beiye’s quirky master who is vetting Yalan Zhu. She’s sassy and he’s weird and they have some interactions there are bemusing. He tries to put her through lessons to make her a “proper” wife. They bicker a lot and then Beiye shows up to express his devotion to her. They win him over and while he pretends to be cranky, he’s secretly pleased and uses his magic to restore her vision before they leave.
Fuyao and Wuji head off to Xuanji kingdom, where there seem to be issues with with the food supply and mintage. They end up guests at a wedding (I guess it was common to welcome any stranger to show up) and the family offers them a place to stay. At night, Wuji is tortured again and Fuyao finds him writhing so she uses her inner force to help him. She can’t be disturbed during the process, which is right when guards come to slaughter the family. They don’t want anyone knowing there may be a problem with the volcano, which powers the coin production.
When it’s just the bride left, Fuyao finally comes out to kill the guards. The bride has lost her mind though and bites Fuyao, screaming and asking why she didn’t come earlier. Fuyao is shaken and Wuji has to stop her from hurting herself. She wails until she passes out in the torrential rain.
Fuyao poses as Mr. Zong to go with Wuji meet the queen of Xuanji. My gosh, this pair has so many identities. The queen has been ill and Fuyao figures out it’s some sort of poison. Things in this kingdom are starting to feel familiar to her and trigger memories. This might be where she’s from.
Fo Lian is here and descending into evil. She became a disciple to evil lady, both of them using each other towards their own goals. There’s also an older sister, the eldest princess, who falls for Fuyao as Mr. Zong.
The queen has been keeping a secret assassin for years, keeping him only by threatening to never tell him what happened to his wife and daughter. She wants to keep him by her side because she loves him. She also has been hiding the fact that she doesn’t have the right power to keep the volcano going. Only one person per generation in their bloodlines gets it and it wasn’t her, so she never should have gotten the throne. She had a twin sister and the family didn’t know which of them had it, so they waited for the sister to have kids but then they had them on the same day! So it’s unclear what happened to the phoenix power.
Fo Lian frames Fuyao for killing the eldest princess. The queen’s assassin, Yu Heng, was actually her twin sisters lover and Wuji tells him that Fuyao is his daughter. The queen does some tricks to convince him otherwise and he fights Fuyao and Wuji. Fuyao bleeds onto a giant seal on the ground and it activates a reaction so a phoenix appears. Yu Heng finally believes Fuyao is his daughter, she has regained her childhood memories. Fuyao’s mom hid her to try to protect her and was killed. Fuyao was supposed to be as well, but she was dumped in a creek and found by Uncle Zhou. She grew up being able to bloom lotuses and had met Wuji as a child. She emerged from a lotus and is the harbinger of destruction once her seals are removed.
The queen is crazy and still trying to maintain control but only the true heir can activate the phoenix, so the people are convinced and recognize Fuyao as the rightful queen. The queen, her aunt, ends up dying, crazy eyes and all.
Mr. Zong has been in a remote village with Qi Yun, who has slowly recovered and learned medicine herself. She likes helping the villagers. Mr. Zong goes to attend Fuyao’s coronation and Qi Yun stays behind to wait for him. Zhen Beiye and Yalan Zhu show up too.
They receive word Prince De gathered troops to attack, so Wuji and Fuyao head over. The emperor has Wuji promise to kill Prince De himself. He always knew about the affair. Fuyao and the empress are both kidnapped and put together in a chamber where nobody can hear them. The emperor shows up and talks about his childhood with Prince De, who was always more beloved. He learned he got the throne because his father didn’t want his brother to suffer that curse. So then he did that to Wuji and now he wants him to kill his own birth father (without knowing it, of course).
The emperor wants one of the women Wuji loves to die due to the other. Between Fuyao or the empress, it would cause Wuji immense pain. That’s so sadist. He’s really wrecking Wuji in all sorts of ways. Fuyao grabs the poison and takes it. The empress tried to get it but wasn’t fast enough. She leaves and is taken wherever she wants to go. Someone saves Fuyao and it’s Uncle Zhou. He didn’t die, it was an illusion he wanted her to see. He’s actually one of the most powerful magical beings in the world. He lifts another seal from her and then transfers all his power to her.
Wuji fights and captures Prince De. The emperor orders him executed, but the empress shows up and Wuji lets them talk. Prince De is happy to die so Wuji will look like a hero. He stabs himself. The emperor is pleased when he finds out his brother is dead. Wuji finally finds out Prince De is his dad and the emperor has been plotting this all along. What a terrible thing. The emperor is dying and Wuji goes back to confront him. He has all sorts of emotions for this man who raised him, taught him, betrayed him… talk about complex emotions.
Meanwhile, Wuji still needs to bring Fuyao to the mountain where the elders are. They’re trying to suppress the evil rock that will be released when Fuyao’s sealed are all removed but they don’t have enough power. She needs to be destroyed soon. Wuji shows up to his master without Fuyao and makes him angry. Wuji asks to go through a punishment that comes with a huge reward if he can survive. Maybe he can save Fuyao this way… he gets tortured. Tai Yan (his disciple sister) tries to save him but he won’t go, he’d rather die for Fuyao.
Fuyao has been waiting for him while hidden away and goes to look for him. Her friends meet up with her to help: Xiao Qi, Mr. Zong, Zhan Beiye, and Yalan Zhu. They have to fight disciples on a suspension bridge and Xiao Qi falls off, sacrificing himself so the others can forge on. Evil lady shows up, lots of fighting and she eventually breaks the final seal (did we already have 4 already? I lost track).
The evil is unleashed from Fuyao and she goes crazy, disappearing with Wuji to where the lava rock is. He keeps trying to bring her to her senses and original Fuyao breaks through here and there before truly killing him. He gets stabbed pretty terribly though. She eventually is able to stab herself and both of them lie on the ground dying and talking. It’s a very drawn-out scene. They then pass out, or die?
Then they are running around the palace having fun and happily together. Is this an afterlife? Did they recover? We aren’t really sure, so it can be whatever you please.
You know, sometimes things don’t go your way, but in the process of fixing it and to make up for it, you end up getting more (or a better deal). Of course, it’s all about perspective whether that’s worth it, but for me I’ve had a couple of those situations lately where I feel pretty good about the whole thing.
First was my fridge, which broke not long after I moved in. One day, I went to get some leftovers to find that they had started to ferment — it was that warm in the fridge! Gross. Strangely enough, it wasn’t that the cooling had stopped entirely; in fact, the bottom part of the fridge was nearly frozen. Thankfully, I had a home warranty so I put in a service order for that and my oven, which had also broken. At first, the technician said he thought it was a fan issue, so he wrote up his report and left saying that they’d be in touch to schedule something once the part was received.
I waited for a long time and approved an email ordering a part, but then didn’t hear anything. When I finally followed up, I learned that for whatever reason, they decided to replace my fridge entirely! Perhaps it wasn’t a fan issue, or the hassle of trying to fix that wasn’t worth it. Whatever the case, I paid just $75 for the visit and got my oven fixed and eventually, a brand new fridge installed. I was pretty happy with that outcome since I didn’t particularly like the fridge that was there.
The old fridge had a very dirty ice dispenser, the doors weren’t magnetic, and they were not aligned. The only thing I don’t like about the new one is the water dispenser area, which 1) isn’t tall enough and 2) the light has to manually be turned on instead of automatically whenever in use.
Left, old fridge (doors were crooked). Right, new fridge.
Second thing was my car, which got scraped when I was parked at the bank. I was almost too lazy to call in a claim, but I figured I might as well see what I could get from it since it was the other party’s insurance anyway. The damage was just surface scratches on my rear bumper, which isn’t super obvious. I was offered $663 that I happily pocketed. I don’t plan on fixing the bumper since I want replace this car as soon as I can anyway.
Barely any scratches, happy to get the money.
Third is my washer dryer set, which I received damaged. There was a small dent on the dryer so I got $150 back, which I was more than happy with. The washer was taken away because it either had not been manufactured properly or it got quite damaged on the way. I called in to get a replacement and was assured that while they wouldn’t have time to reach out to me, but my request would get processed. I waited two months with no response and finally called in only to find they had incorrectly closed my case!
So finally, with a new request processed, they sent me my replacement washer. I’d been living here for over four months with no washer and they only refunded me another $150 for the inconvenience. I wanted way more but I was also too lazy to argue. Overall, still not a bad deal since I don’t need to wash my clothes very often, though it has been a hassle.
Fourth were my sunglasses, which I broke one day when they dropped on my tiled floor. I was hoping I could use some warranty coverage to replace them for a decent price, but the offer that Sunglasses Hut has to replace broken ones within a year of purchase only applies if you are registered with their club. Sadly, I hadn’t set up an account. So I went directly to the Ray Ban website instead and put in a request. They offered to repair them for about $78, which I figured was decent and certainly better than having to buy a new pair. So I paid the fee, mailed in my sunglasses, and waited.
Two months went by without a peep and when I went to check on my request, it had disappeared. I put in a new one to ask about my old one and they finally got back to me on my original request, saying they couldn’t repair it and offered me $300 off an order. I took advantage of that opportunity too get an additional pair of sunglasses and it only cost me another $25. All in all, I ended up getting two brand new pairs of sunglasses for a total cost about $60 less than what it would have cost had I bought them on my own. I basically got the second pair at half off and I’m good with that.
Got a replacement of the original I had, plus another in a different color.
In each of these scenarios, I ended up happy with the result and getting more out of it than I otherwise would have.
After watching Princess Weiyoung, I read that this was a spin-off/sequel to that story, so I decided to watch it next. However, I found there was almost no overlap at all it really was just set in about the same time period and in a competing dynasty. The Chinese titles do have the same first two characters, but that’s about it. The disappointment from that aside, I did enjoy the show itself and felt much happier about the relationship. There were also some great battle scenes.
Listen to the OST on Spotify (my fav song is Ying 影=shadow)
Title in Chinese is Jin Xiu Nan Ge 锦绣南歌: Jin Xiu together is meant to mean beautiful/splendid, but separately, Jin = brocade and Xiu = embroider. Nan = south and Ge = song. So beautiful song of the the south?
I rated this one an 8/10. I liked the cast and costumes, but not the palace sets, which felt dark and unwelcoming.
I really liked Lige as the assassin, she got such cool costumes and moves! Later on when she mellowed out, her character became less compelling.
It was interesting to see how they dealt with a character to who was already married and fell in love. Still, they kept it pretty simple with him never actually loving the other woman. What a drama it would be if he had to contend with feelings for both!
It was refreshing to see the Princess Consort NOT be the jealous other woman. In fact, the relationship between her and Lige was very affectionate.
They had a parental couple actually close and showing affection for each other, which was really nice to see. The Shen family overall had such a strong bond and they were a really functional family, except for that pesky cousin.
jealous female love rival who thinks she deserves the male lead
male love rival who fights to win the female lead
side character who also falls in love with main lead, but can never be with them and ends up finding their own happiness with someone else
main lead who needs to do something completely against their character to accomplish a larger goal; in the mean time they alienate their loved ones and have a falling out
main lead who sacrifices him/herself to save the other
swap daughters for marriage
arranged marriage that turns out to be with the person they fell in love with in a different context
main female dresses as a man and another woman falls in love with her
Show Summary:
Assassins are after Prince Peng Cheng (Liu Yikang), 4th brother to the emperor. He has a reputation for being a bad ruler. Shen Lige is part of the group training to kill him at a dance performance. When she’s practicing dancing (at a brothel?), there’s a mysterious man upstairs who is actually the prince, but she doesn’t know.
Later, at the performance, the assassins are unsuccessful and an arrow is blocked by the prince’s younger brother, Prince Jing Ling (Liu Yixuan). The prime minister Lu Yuan leads the effort to capture the assassins. Pretty much all the assassins are killed and they capture Lige’s disciple sister, A’Nu, who commits suicide to avoid capture. Lige has to watch in horror and keep silent where she’s hiding with her senior disciple brother Chen Shaoxun. She only has a bracelet that A’Nu had as a keepsake of her best friend and dear “sister.”
Lige and her senior disciple brother escape. Wearing the bracelet while hiding out, she is found and the bracelet is recognized. It was the only thing A’Nu had as a child to identify her and now someone from her family’s household sees it. Through some assumptions and misunderstandings, she gets recognized as the Shen family’s long lost daughter and she takes on this identity to seek revenge for her assassin sister and brotherhood. She vows to get Lu Yuan.
In the Shen household, there is a younger cousin, Shen Leqing, who has enjoyed years of being the young mistress in the manor. She’s not happy about being displaced now that the “real” daughter is back. She starts to wreak havoc for Lige. There’s also an older brother Shen Zhi and younger brother Shen Feng.
In her hunt, she follows Lu Yuan to the waterfront one night and hides on a boat, where she runs into a man also observing Lu Yuan. She’s so focused on watching her prey that she barely notices the man next to her. Their interaction amuses and intrigues him. He’s also investigating corruption by Lu Yuan. Her attempt to capture/kill Lu Yuan fails and she is saved by Prince Jing Ling.
Prince Peng Cheng becomes engaged to the daughter of Shen family. Marriages were all pretty much arranged blindly, so they never meet or have a clue who the other is. Shen Leqing wanted to be the one to marry him (she’s been obsessed with him since childhood), but with the real daughter back, Lige is the one who will marry the prince. Lige’s assassin instinct leads her to think of it as an opportunity to get close and kill him, which was her original mission.
She runs into the mysterious man on the boat again and they keep getting in and out of trouble together. They start to develop a bond and make appointments to meet on the boat. She cutely calls him “old man” since he’s a bit older than her. Eventually she starts calling him “4th older brother” because he’s the 4th brother in his family. This is an affectionate nickname and sort of establishes an oppa relationship. Since they’re both after Lu Yuan, they start working together. Neither knows the identity of the other yet.
We eventually find out about the alliance between the Grand Consort (I believe she’s Prince Jing Ling’s mother and Prince Peng Cheng’s step-mother) and Lu Yuan. They’re the corrupt forces in the government.
Prince Peng Cheng already has a Princess Consort (Xie Yunzhi), who is a gentle soul but there is no love between them. She is a good artist and often paints in her palace.
Shen Leqing starts working with Lu Yuan and poisons the bracelet that Lige wears. Prince Jing Ling gets the antidote from Lu Yuan only after promising to go to the dark side.
The Shen dad and older brother get framed for Lu Yuan’s crimes and Lige is heartbroken that her new family might be beheaded. They finally get enough proof of Lu Yuan’s corruption to bring him down, but he implicates Prince Jing Ling to drag him down with him, so ultimately they both escape death (their punishments are tied together?).
Drunk one night, Prince Peng Cheng wants to come clean and tell Lige who he is but she stops him. She doesn’t want to know (because she knows she will be married off soon and won’t get to see him again). He has patiently listened to her say all sorts of bad things about him without knowing it was him. He’s not actually corrupt, but has had to lay low to accomplish his goals and some of his actions can be misconstrued.
Lige goes into the palace prior to the wedding and spends some time there, befriending the Princess Consort, her future sister wife. Eventually Lige helps the Princess Consort find fulfillment in teaching children. That’s supposed to be her happy ending since she and Prince Peng Cheng don’t have more than a cordial relationship.
There are a few close calls prior to the wedding where Prince Peng Cheng nearly visits and sees Lige (and consequently she nearly axes him). He has no interest in this random woman he’s marrying (because he doesn’t know who she really is!). However, something always interrupts or takes him away, so they make it to the wedding night never meeting.
Meanwhile, Shen Leqing has weaseled her way into the palace as a maid to wreak more havoc. She just won’t go away!
The night of the wedding, Lige pierces her new husband with a poisoned knife only to look up and realize it was the man she fell in love with. She’s conflicted and shocked. Thus ensues some madness while they try to cover up the assassination attempt and get him much-needed medical attention. Lige gets Prince Peng Cheng to her senior disciple brother, who runs an apothecary in town with a younger disciple brother. The young disciple brother is super cute and great at inventing weaponry.
There have been some mysterious clues about who their master is and why he wants to murder Prince Peng Cheng. He has taken in all sorts of orphan children to train them exclusively for this assassination for years. But Lige trusts that the man she loves isn’t evil even if he’s Prince Peng Cheng. Lige and her senior disciple brother start suspecting their master. They manage to save Prince Peng Cheng but still need the antidote from their master.
Shen Leqing finds the dagger in the bridal chamber and gets Lige in trouble for an assassination attempt. The Shen family gets implicated again, this time the mother is imprisoned too. Lige tries to save them by explaining her real identity, that she’s not actually their daughter, but they have embraced her and recognize her regardless.
Well it turns out through other clues, they find out that Lige is actually the real Shen daughter. A’Nu only had the bracelet for other reasons, but Lige was kidnapped by her father’s subordinate who felt betrayed. That man, Xu Lin, was the evil master behind the assassins. The Shen dad had to keep the city gates closed to Xu Lin’s soldiers to save the city and they all thought Xu Lin died. He barely escaped, kidnapped Lige, then spent years planning revenge.
At the Shen family beheading, Lige suddenly dies of poison and she blames Lu Yuan. The execution is postponed to figure out what happened. The Shen mom has started to go insane. Turns out Lige didn’t actually die, but she’s stuck in a coma/vegetative/weird frozen state. She is taken to her senior disciple brother’s apothecary and hidden there. Prince Peng Cheng does all sorts of cute/sentimental/romantic things to try to stir a reaction from her.
Shen Leqing finds out her cousin didn’t actually die and goes to kill her. Lige snaps out of it in time to fight. They run off and end up (of course) on a cliff. Shen Leqing eventually falls off, supposedly to her death.
Prince Peng Cheng had to go off to war so now the Grand Consort is creating problems at the palace to try to get rid of him. She and Lu Yuan are plotting to get him killed in the war. The Shen dad gets captured as part of the war.
Shen Zhi (Lige’s older brother) and Wang Zijin, his love interest, are both part of the war effort and while stuck protecting a city, Prince Peng Cheng holds a wedding for them.
Prince Peng Cheng and Lige find themselves in a confusing cave system at some point. It’s inhabited by some local tribe and they are hassling a girl. They save Mei Qi, the girl, who develops a crush on Lige dressed as a man. Lige tells Mei Qi her name is Shen Feng (her younger brother’s name). Mei Qi helps them exit the cave system and then they have to evade Lu Yuan’s men.
Lige carefully plots a rescue plan for her dad and is able to bring him out of the camp. Meanwhile, Prince Peng Cheng has faked his death and Lu Yuan happily takes the corpse back to the palace to deliver the news. Prince Jing Ling is devastated, he has always been on his brother’s side even as he had to pretend to betray him.
Prince Peng Cheng eventually returns from war to catch Lu Yuan and the Grand Consort. They sentence Lu Yuan to death and banishes the Grand Consort from the palace to go be a Buddhist (I think).
Throughout the show, Prince Jing Ling would go to a remote place in the forest and randomly encounter a girl who developed a crush on him. She became his confidante and neither knew who the other was. It turns out she is Lu Wan, the younger sister of Lu Yuan, and eventually ends up staying with the Grand Consort in her banishment.
Lige and Prince Peng Cheng finally get a romantic night to consummate their marriage. The boat they met on (which is owned by the Prince, of course), is their happy place where they had many dates and beautiful memories.
Shen Leqing (not surprisingly) hadn’t died and comes back to trick the Shen mom into unknowingly luring the Shen dad and older brother into a trap where they get killed! 🙁 This girl is evil, how could she do that to the people who raised her? Poor Wang Zijin is super faithful and is determined to be a good daughter-in-law to the Shen family. She embraces her widowship in such an honorable way.
Mei Qi makes her way to the capital seeking the person she thought was Shen Feng. She’s disappointed to find it’s actually Lige, but meets the real Shen Feng and they butt heads but you know they’re going to get together.
All sorts of crazy drama is happening with Xue Qiu, Lu Yuan’s loyal servant. He pretends to cooperate, then testifies that Prince Peng Cheng was behind all the problems. He only tells the truth later when threatened with Lu Wan’s life. He is at least super loyal to Lu Yuan and want to protect his master’s sister.
Prince Peng Cheng falls ill — it was the Grand Consort, who only ever pretended remorse. She used Lu Wan to get at the prince. Prince Peng Cheng is drugged when visiting her and she makes it look like he killed her. He was too weak to get away from her. Prince Jing Ling comes in just in time to see his brother hovering over his mother with a knife. The Grand Consort wanted her son to turn against his dear brother. What a cruel woman.
We then learn that there’s a true mastermind behind the assassination attempts of Prince Peng Cheng and it’s Wang Zijin’s dad! He was devastated that his two sons died and blames Prince Peng Cheng. He was the one who plotted the terrible death of the Shen father and son. Zijin is so heartbroken to learn this that she kills herself to pay for her father’s sins. (What happened to him?)
At the end, the emperor gives an edict to Prince Peng Cheng that Lige needs to die after all the problems. He hides the truth from her and kneels for hours trying to get the emperor to see him, all in vain. He’s planning on taking her away to that cottage they escaped to at one point. They have some romantic time together, then Lige finds out about the edict and quietly commits suicide. He finds her on a swing where they had sweet memories.
Years later, Shen Feng and Mei Qi are married and have a kid. Prince Peng Cheng continues to strive for the betterment of the country. Lige’s wish for him was to prioritize the good of the country. There’s a retreat home they had spent time in that he fills with memories of her. He seems to have some delusion of her being around and it’s so bittersweet.
Wow I’m halfway through my 30’s already. Whenever I see 40, it feels distant and old but man I’m closer to that then anything in my 20’s now. I’ve been watching all these Chinese dramas and whenever I see an actor in their early 20’s, they feel like a baby to me.
As always, I took time off for my birthday and spent it relaxing. I had a massage scheduled in the afternoon, which I went to after spending the morning watching one of my dramas. I then spent the next 3 hours putzing around getting food, lol. I got some groceries at Ranch 99 and saw a cake that looked good, so I bought it. Sadly, it was not to taste, so I’ve frozen it to chip at slowly.
I then ordered Blue Bird Sushi — the BEST vegan sushi I’ve ever had. I got two rolls and two bowls of ramen to go, then went to cha for tea to get boba (two drinks as well). Finally, on my way home I went to get two orders of the potato julienne dish that I really love (tu dou si).
I then spent the night pigging out slowly and watching more of my drama. It was the ideal way for me to spend the day and I only wish I could have eaten more, lol. Nowadays my appetite has shrunk and my mind wants more than my body can handle.
Now that my body is slowing down and breaking down, I really need to focus on treating it better. I’ve never had very healthy habits and I tend to be lazy, but I found a really cool app (FitOn) that will hopefully help me be just a little bit more active. I’m looking forward to a year during which we can finally see friends again and travel for leisure without feeling irresponsible. Maybe I’ll finally make it to Catalina after years of talking about it!
Once upon a time, I used to have a really great signature gift that I could give people for a variety of occasions: birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, thank yous, baby showers… and then they went out of business.
They were Yuzen box, a subscription box that curated high-quality, eco-friendly products. Everything they did was so gorgeous and well-thought out. Each box included a good mix of skincare, beauty, and bath products, along with the occasional snacks. They also had a men’s version ever so briefly, so I could truly gift to anyone on my list.
The interior box is a nice cardboard perfect for reusing!
Now that they’re gone, I struggle to think of a gift that I can so easily pull out of my back pocket to send to people. The closest go-to I have might be Bucky Balls, but I’m still looking for something more classy.
The woman I bought my house from shared with me a very unique tea flavor that I’d never seen before. I don’t know if they’re uncommon in stores, but they’re special enough for her to use as her signature gift when she travels. It also helps they’re so light, so it’s any gift to pack. Perhaps I should also select a favorite tea that I can send to people.
Or perhaps I should finally learn some pottery so I can make silly little things to give to people. Maybe a tiny dipping bowl or a jewelry tray or a mini jug for pour sauce or oil? That would be cool, though I’d have to actually find a place to learn and start making that stuff! It would be cooler than random store-bought stuff, right?
Alternatively, I was talking to a coworker about this and she suggested food. I do make a pretty mean vegan chocolate chip cookie, but man am I lazy. If I had to do that all the time I wouldn’t be motivated. I can only bring myself to do that like twice a year.
Alas, for now I will continue to ponder this issue and keep my eye out for something interesting that catches my eye. I might peruse the online fair trade markets I’ve gotten some fun items from, like GlobeIn or The Little Market. But I certainly won’t compromise until I find something that really hits the mark for me.
I consider this to be the first official show I watched once I decided I wanted a dose of Chinese period dramas set in imperial times. I technically saw Yanxi Palace on Netflix first, but that one is only 6 episodes so it’s really just a short story. Meanwhile, The Princess Weiyoung is 54 episodes and the first time I learned that Chinese dramas all seem to be done in 1 season with 45-60 episodes. Some are shorter with 30-ish episodes, but a lot seem to be around the 50 mark.
Listen to the OST on Spotify (close one, but my fav song is Tian Ruo You Qing 天若有情=if the heavens had feelings, with Lai Sheng 来生=afterlife right behind it)
Title in Chinese is Jin Xiu Wei Yang 锦绣未央: Jin Xiu together is meant to mean beautiful/splendid, but separately, Jin = brocade and Xiu = embroider. Wei Yang is the main character’s name. Wei can mean “not” and Yang can mean “center,” so beautiful person who is not the center? I have no idea what the intended meaning is, it could just be as simple as beautiful Wei Yang (as a name) and that’s it.
I rated this one a 9/10. Definitely a strong one to start with. It had great actors, characters, costumes, sets, etc. Later on it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the main leads are a real life couple. It makes it cute that they got to work together.
Overall I came out feeling there were too many sad times where Xin’er/Weiyoung and Tuoba Jun had to be mean to each other and suppress their emotions for each other. It was painful to have to watch that over and over again, with very few instances where they really got to be happy and together. Even the ending was so bittersweet, with such a sad underlying tone to it. One of themes that came through in this one that I started to see a lot is sacrificing yourself for the greater cause (usually the good of the country). I wish the personal relationships wouldn’t have to suffer so much to accomplish those goals.
When it comes to Weiyoung’s character, I really liked how she’s very clever and was able to defend herself against those who were trying to harm her. I know it’s not feasible for them to be prepared for everything, but boy do I hate it when the leads get trampled over. That was not the case here, where most of the struggles may have seemed to be doomed, but there was a longer play that would bring them out of it.
The two sisters as very different types of antagonists was an interesting contrast. Changle, the older sister is the one who seems to have it all but really has the most to lose. Changru, the younger sister (actually cousin) is the one who seems demure and innocent but actually has a darker heart than just about anybody. I think they were both well-cast, though Changle’s evil plotting “I’m so furious” face was generally too exaggerated. Speaking of exaggerated things, I found Tuoba Jun’s shivering and suffering scenes to be overdone too.
Of course so much of the misunderstandings and struggles between the sisters are due to the attention of the men in their lives. Weiyoung gets unwanted attention from Tuoba Yu and yet somehow she’s to blame. Tuoba Jun was never into Changle, but she can’t accept that reality and blinds herself into thinking she deserves him. And she blames Weiyoung too. Typical, lol.
I was moderately interested in the real people that some of these characters are loosely related to. There’s a real Tuoba family from Northern Wei with Tuoba Jun, Tuoba Yu, etc. This was back in the 400s A.D. Some of the storyline actually follows reality a little bit, with the order in which the throne switched hands being accurate and a bit about how it all went down having a dose of truth too! Man, life was wild back then.
jealous female love rival who thinks she deserves the male lead
male love rival who fights to win the female lead
main leads who need to stay away from and/or be mean to each other to protect each other
main lead’s mother who is of low status and gets bullied
side character who also falls in love with main lead, but can never be with them and ends up finding their own happiness with someone else
main lead who needs to do something completely against their character to accomplish a larger goal; in the mean time they alienate their loved ones and have a falling out
main leads who are able to trust each other innately and trick their enemies by seemingly fighting and losing trust or cutting the relationship
main lead who sacrifices him/herself to save the other
Show Summary:
Our female lead Feng Xin’er is the princess of the Northern Liang dynasty. Her mother dies in childbirth and a fortune teller says she will have an important future. She grows up vivacious and likes to sneak out dressed as a man with her bodyguard and best friend, Jun Tao. She has a very loving relationship with her father (the King) and grandmother (the Queen Dowager), though her father has been away for a long time in the Northern Wei dynasty (kept as a hostage in Northern Wei, to keep the peace). When he is allowed to return to celebrate his mother’s birthday, Xin’er is very excited and goes out to town to get lanterns. She runs into some trouble and is helped out by a mysterious man who turns out to be Tuoba Jun.
On the night of the birthday banquet, the King’s entire family is ambushed and he is framed as a rebel. In reality, Chiyun Nan, a (very young) general for Northern Wei was greedy and wanted that area and its natural resources for himself. The King is murdered while his daughter and mother watch horrified, hidden away. The women escape with Jun Tao and her father (the head of the royal guards) protecting them but the Queen Dowager stays behind to slow down the troops since she’s old and can’t run very fast and she doesn’t want to hinder the princess’s escape.
Xin’er gets separated from them when they create a diversion so the enemies will think Jun Tao is the princess. She is discovered and saved by Li Weiyoung, the daughter of the Prime Minister and a concubine. Weiyoung was raised in the country, sent away from the family due to her low status and birth date being considered unlucky. She grew up being bullied but she is kind and gentle. The two become fast friends.
Weiyoung’s grandmother wanted her back and sent people to go retrieve her from the countryside to return to the Li Manor. The Prime Minister’s wife didn’t want that to happen, so she sent people to attack Weiyoung. Weiyoung dies protecting Xin’er during the attack and asks her to care for her birth mother, the 7th concubine. Xin’er then decides to take on the identity of Weiyoung so she can repay her friend and also seek revenge. The Prime Minister’s wife is from the Chiyun family and she is the aunt of the general who killed Xin’er’s family.
The Li grandmother’s people show up and take Xin’er (now Weiyoung) back to the Li Manor. Since nobody in the family knew what she looked like, that was easy enough. Along the way, there is another plot to kill Weiyoung and she is saved from a fire by Tuoba Jun, who happens to be staying at the same inn that night. They’re still strangers at this point and neither knows who the other is.
At the Li Manor, Weiyoung meets the Prime Minister’s wife Chiyun Rou, the older half sister Li Changle (Chiyun Rou’s child), the younger female cousin Li Changru, and the younger adopted male cousin Li Minde. The family keeps making excuses to not let Weiyoung see “her” mother the 7th concubine, who is hidden away in one of the courtyards that nobody is allowed to visit.
I’ll try to write more details later… quick synopsis for now: Weiyoung gets framed for being unlucky and is eventually thrown off a mountain, then saved by Tuoba Jun. During her recovery, they bond and fall for each other. Li Minde finds a way to discount Weiyoung’s “cursed” presence and she is brought back to the manor. Weiyoung eventually meets Tuoba Jun officially and thinks he’s her enemy once she learns his identify. She is later is betrayed by Changru once Tuoba Yu (Tuoba Jun’s young uncle) shows interest in Weiyoung (because Changru is in love with him), has multiple struggles with Changle trying to destroy her (because Changle feels like Tuoba Jun should be hers due to the childhood engagement between the two), then is framed for killing Tuoba Jun’s mother the Empress. Along the way she nearly dies a few times, saves Tuoba Jun a few times, gets framed again and again, loses her status, then gets acquitted and given the title Lady Anping. Her servant girl gets killed by Changru when she overhears Changru’s evil plans.
Tuoba Yu forces Tuoba Jun to marry Changle and Tuoba Jun has to pretend to be protective of Changle while keeping her at bay and actually trying to keep Weiyoung from danger. It’s a hot mess and the lovebirds often have to be pretty cruel to each other in public. But they do sneak in some date time. Minde finds out he’s actually the prince of Rou Ran, a neighboring country. Tuoba Yu eventually ascends the throne, Tuoba Jun is poisoned and driven out of town, and Weiyoung promises to marry Tuoba Yu.
As a side story, Minde meets and falls in love with Tuoba Di, a princess. He returns to his country to resume his rightful place and comes back eventually. She almost dies during some attack, but I believe she makes it and they become a couple.
Weiyoung was with the emperor when he died and he secretly told her about passages under the palace, so she finds a way to get the message out, which Tuoba Jun and Minde eventually use to return on the wedding day to overthrow Tuoba Yu. Tuoba Yu and Changru die, but Tuoba Jun is still poisoned and now Weiyoung gets poisoned too. There is only one antidote pill, which they give to Weiyoung. Tuoba Jun lies to her and says he took one too.
They ascend the throne and rule together. Later she finds out his health is declining and they enjoy their final years together. It’s such a sad scene to me, the heartbreak of her knowing he’s dying and trying to cherish every moment. It’s interesting that they did not go crazy trying to seek more antidote somehow. They have a son, who she mentors as the next great leader of the country after Tuoba Jun dies peacefully next to her. I think I was streaming tears at this point, thinking of the future she faced being alone raising her kid to rule the country, carrying on the hopes that her husband had.
I’ve been on an extended hiatus and what better day to come back than on a day to celebrate my favorite animals? I’ve been on a crazy binge-watching spree of Chinese dramas so I hardly want to spend my time doing much else, but for my feline friends it’s worth it.
Plus, I’m a little inspired because I watched alllllllllllllll these shows and I want to write down my thoughts on them before my opinions all fade away after a few months. In a short (less than) 2 months, I’ve managed to blast my way through 9 — count’em — 9?!! series. Other than the first one being a short 6-episode one, the rest have all been about 50-60 episodes each. As I’ve learned, these seem to be the standard for Chinese shows; they’re billed as 1 season, but really they could have been 3.
We’ll table that for now though, I’ll start drafting up posts about the shows I’ve watched and hopefully don’t lose the motivation and momentum I have to get them actually posted. 😛
Today I just wanted to pop back in after soooooooooo long away and share some pics of my favorite kitties. There are currently 3 in my life: Smokey who lives with me, Missy who lives with my parents, and Zephyr who lives with my bestie.
Smokey loves my Moon Pod.She also loves crinkly things.Missy has these big eyes and a gaze that is half timid, half curious.Before my mom took her, she also loved the Moon Pod.Zephyr is so flat when she falls asleep, and her toes are always curled lol.She’s a snuggle monster.
It’s 4 weeks into quarantine and we are now halfway through my initial prediction a month ago. When the first whisperings of a coronavirus shutdown emerged, I expected it to be at least 6-8 weeks. I knew the rosy expectations of 2 weeks were not realistic. At this stage, I wonder how much longer it will ultimately extend – another 4-6 weeks, perhaps?
While I know a lot of people are feeling it, I’m perfectly happy to continue like this for a couple more weeks. It hasn’t really changed the rhythm of my life much since I’m a homebody anyway. However, as summer hits I’m sure I’ll start itching to be outside more, especially since my current place doesn’t get much direct sunlight.
I remember back in the first days of March, I braced myself for the “social distancing” that I knew would come. It’s like watching the swell of a wave approach in slow motion. All the signs were there, with other countries at slightly more progressive stages along the curve. Our own comeuppance was inevitable.
Friday, March 13th was the last day of complete freedom I experienced. That night, I had a massage with my favorite masseur. As I was leaving, my phone slipped off the counter and cracked. “No big deal,” I thought, “I’ll get it fixed or replaced this weekend.”
I checked Apple Store appointments but didn’t book any since I wasn’t sure what time I’d have free. “I’ll decide during the day,” I figured. The next day, I drove down to San Diego to meet up with some friends and go house hunting. Bestie is in the market and was looking for a place to move when our lease is up at the end of June.
We toured three homes and then went to get lunch. There were 10 of us total and that was the time when they were telling us to limit the size of gatherings. Ours was just within recommendations. As lunch was wrapping up, I decided to look up a local store to visit to get my phone fixed while my friends went to go charge the car or return to their place to nap.
One of my favs!
To my surprise, all the appointments were gone. “They can’t all be that busy, can they?” I wondered. Well, I kept digging and found out that all stores now listed “special store hours” as closed. Little did I know that the day before, Apple had announced the closure of retail stores effective the first day that I needed them. Just my luck.
So instead I went back to the condo we were meeting at and we watched TV, played an extensive board game, and grabbed dinner at a local pizza place that was quite empty. I figured I was already there with plans to stay overnight, so might as well go through with it and begin my quarantine the next day.
On Sunday, I mentally started to distance myself in earnest. I left for home, stopping along the way for a few errands. The digital signs on the freeway all said “COVID-19, less is more, avoid gatherings” and so I did. At the grocery store, I was able to get some food and supplies for the cat, but water, toilet paper, paper towels, pasta, canned goods, and flour were pretty much gone.
Nothing but LaCroix.
The lady in front of me had her essentials all figured out!
Work had told us we would come in on Mondays and be remote the rest of the time, so Monday we worked a normal day. On my way home, I decided to pick up food from 2 restaurants so I’d be better prepared for the next day and also to support the businesses. At this point, they had put up signs and restaurants were only allowing seating at every other table. I opted for takeout.
On Tuesday, I worked a remote day much like every Friday that we already do remote. It felt pretty natural. My parents had just moved to a new place nearby, so I went to check out the house for the first time and see my mom briefly. My dad was on his way back when I left, and Orange County had already told non-essential businesses to send their workers home. Our company president scheduled an in-person meeting on Thursday, but I knew that by then, we wouldn’t be allowed to meet physically.
That night, Bestie was feeling like a rebel, so he wanted to go get dinner with Terminator and his girlfriend. I was a little reluctant, given I had already mentally transitioned to a state of quarantine, but I figured it was our last night of freedom. That’s when orders were coming down to stop doing dine-in. We took advantage of the smaller crowds to go eat at a place that usually has an hour+ waitlist. We got seated within 15 minutes!
Wednesday the 18th found us with time and motivation to work out! I haven’t really done anything since we left Equinox during the Ross/Trump scandal. Since we weren’t supposed to congregate, Bestie and I decided to go do a nice beach workout. People would pass by, but we didn’t have to get close to anyone. I can’t recall if the 6-foot guideline had been mentioned at that point.
Got my work station groove going.
On Thursday, we did our meeting digitally as I predicted. We only went out to pick up groceries and dinner. It rained a bit but was still sunny, producing a nice rainbow in the early evening. By Friday, I wrapped up the week as a normally do, working from home anyway.
Olive bar had to be closed.
As the weekend rolled around, I decided to go visit Panda and the cats. I was careful not to interact with any other people other than picking up food. My apartment complex shut down all amenities, including the pool and rec room. They no longer accepted packages in person, so deliveries were left in parcel pending if there was room, or on the floor of the package room if there was not.
I hadn’t quite grasped the full brunt of what I was supposed to do – limit my movement to my local neighborhood, so I actually drove around looking at neighborhoods and homes (from the street). Along the way, I saw a ton of people at the beach — more than I thought was safe, given the distancing we were supposed to be observing. I was even going to try going up to a park I always meant to visit, but it was too crowded when I drove by. I didn’t want to risk passing by so many people. Instead I checked out the area by half a dozen homes of interest and enjoyed a gorgeous day in the sun.
What a view! This is the kind of neighborhood I want to be in.
When I went to get lunch at Blaze Pizza at the outlets, they had blocked off all but one entrance and they had a security guard checking to ensure you were going to pick up food from one of the restaurants only. Later at a Whole Foods, they offered gloves and sanitized all carts/baskets before handing them to us.
Guarding Blaze?
That first week saw massive changes for me. It started with reducing activities and ultimately became minimizing movement to “flatten the curve” as they kept telling us. At first we could eat out with restrictions, but by the end of it we were only picking up food and doing essential grocery shopping. Since then it’s been much of the same for me. More to come on what has been happening since week 1! Stayed tuned.
I was just getting into my car leaving work and I checked my phone to see that text message from Bestie.
“Uh oh,” I thought to myself, “what bad news could it be?” I thought it might have to do with work — perhaps something he couldn’t change that we had hoped for.
Instead I opened up my phone to see he had sent a picture of my tupperware.
“Ok, maybe he broke it while washing the dishes?” I pondered.
I looked a little closer to find that it seemed fine, and then it hit me: he had eaten all the cookies inside it! LOL I almost died laughing. You see, earlier that day I had brought a batch of cookies to work. I was practicing baking them for a housewarming this weekend. As soon as Bestie confirmed they were vegan, he went to town on them and consumed 5 during a short 2-3 minute conversation. I shouldn’t be surprised, but it still amazes me how quickly he can make food disappear.
Later in the morning, we had a staff meeting where he gently ate one or two more. He went home before me and returned to find the remaining cookies on the counter. Next thing you know, they were gone too and he was texting me to apologize as he collapsed into a food coma.
His version of what happened when he got home is even funnier! First, he had already overeaten when he got back so he really should have resisted. But when he noticed there were more cookies, he went to just snack on one. And then a second one. By then, he was kind of ashamed but was still stuffing his face as he wiped the crumbs from the counter and sent me the picture. I can imagine him looking around to make sure nobody was around as he hid the evidence of his snacking. He then used his shirt as a makeshift basket to shovel the remaining cookies into and stumbled into bed still scarfing them down. So there he lay, eating the rest of the cookies in bed before passing out. Lol, it makes me chuckle every time I think about it.
All in all he consumed over a dozen cookies that day. I bet his belly paid for it!
My philosophy is simple: things change. Therefore, we are all on a lifelong journey of discovery. We should be flexible, questioning, learning, adapting, and growing. Always.
little fat notebook pays homage to Mead's "fat lil' notebooks" that I use to write down any thoughts that strike me throughout the day. I keep one by my side at all times. After all, inspiration waits for no one.
