[Mainland Chinese Drama 2018] The Rise of Phoenixes 凰权·弈天下

[Diaroadic]

On 1/22/2019 at 7:09 PM, yshtola said:

The Dayue arc had the opposite problem, being very long with very little happening. For me it felt kinda like the entire arc was one big conversation, while the actual.... action happened off-screen.

@yshtola I guess I'm unclear that you meant by 'the actual...action.'  

[Vals Stor]

Spoiler

 

Hello! New here and also a kind of newbie at cdramas

 

I just finished tRoF (i already 've heard about the novel), and im kinda still influenced by everything in the show (i got very much into the story i guess).

 

So, here are my few points:

 

First of all, i loved the character of Ning Yi as much as i loved Chen Kun as NY. The only time that confused me in a very bad way- guess its mostly director's fault and less the actor's- was about the end, where we can see Ning Yi acting as if he 's lost his mind.

Ok, the man is an idealist, he was constantly in shock while he was trying to avenge the losses, the injustice, by avoiding harming innocent people but inevitably they were harmed-as it happens in life, its natural for someone with such values and ideas for a perfect world, to experience the reality shock, but i found his reactions a bit weird.

 

Especially during the scene in the royal bedroom, where the couple meets, we can hear him talking about his dream empire, about justice etc, and next moment he talks about how much he wants ZW and all her lifetimes. He speaks nonsense at that time, or it was so bad montage that ruined the scene performance.

A man who has been isolated for 8 years, then struggles for revenge, for justice, for all he values, mostly for protecting his loved ones (ok, mostly for keeping ZW alive), that kind of man has gone through a lot and still struggles to escape his fate but most important to escape the previous emperor's profile which always haunts him. NY, cant accept life losses, yet people die as very wisely his teacher said at the end. But all this reality shock, can excuse the fact that we see a total different person only in one episode. People dont change like that (even if we accept that kind of weird change).

Spoiler

 

Then it was the rushed ending: i think that its most dramas prefer tragic endings to shock audience and thats all. Its ok but when its rushed it ruins the whole story. Killing ZW at the end (from the point of direction and script), was like deleting everything that NY did the whole time since he was 8 (when he promised he will do everything to keep the infant-that time-alive): to keep ZW alive.

There was no catharsis, not nothing. Just a typical closure at the end, with him at the stairs, (reminded me of Princess Wei young ending), and that was so cheap for an epic drama like TROF. It was soapy, rushed, empty of emotions, just some words before ending titles.

 

 

Last but not least,  a love like that, went through so much blood, fights, plots, death, and only a single funny kiss under the sea? Really?

 

We hardly watched some half-of -a -hug moments, ok thats nice too, it keeps the audience begging for more, but its silly for adults to not have even a night together (im not counting the final bedroom scene where nothing seemed to happen with all that sadness surrounding the couple).

 70 episodes are a looooot for a couple, and when you want to develop the relationship (which happened to some point), you ve got to develop  the body language too, the expressions, the caresses, otherwise we re not talking for a couple but for two people who are so very close to each other and thats all.

 

I ll come back for more -my head is full of phoenixes darkness right now so i cant put my thoughts in order- lol!

 

Happy to be here and nice to meet you all!

 

[MLM]

Hi I’m new to the forum.  I just finished series with so many questions like the little wool satche that NY had that ended up in FZ hands what is the meaning of the little purse? 

 

[Omolola Lahoma Nichole]

On 2/15/2019 at 5:53 PM, skibbies said:

Sex is rarely shown on Chinese TV. I think it was implied in that scene since they seem sort of content after passage of time shot. But it's debateable. As for Helian Zheng, she volunteered to lead the army for him partially to avoid consummating their marriage, I'm pretty sure (The Queen tried to pressure her for babies before she got married and she looked pretty uncomfortable.) There wasn't enough time (or room in her heart) for their relationship to grow, and Helian Zheng didn't want to pressure her. Until she tried to leave, at which point he was just angry and frustrated and trying to get her to stay.

 

Unlikely, because the story looks pretty done, and the team don't seem the type to milk the story. Unless it's just a vastly different one, but it didn't do well commercially so uh. The OTP could potentially work together in a different project since they seems to get along really well. Ni ni could use the help.

 

There's lots of rumours about his sexuality and who knows? Does it matter? He self admitted is pretty bad at English, but I presume he knows simple stuff to get by since his kid study in NA.

Yea that is what I've come to learn. I was very disaapointed it felt like a tease the entire time and that kiss underwater seemed oddly placed. Like the town just got bombed and they kiss for the first time? Weird

 

I recently found a video of him speaking english on a game show. It was ok but you can tell he isn't fluent at all. I wonder about his sexuality because I have a huge crush on him lol. 

[GiaGia]

1 hour ago, Omolola Lahoma Nichole said:

Yea that is what I've come to learn. I was very disaapointed it felt like a tease the entire time and that kiss underwater seemed oddly placed. Like the town just got bombed and they kiss for the first time? Weird

 

I recently found a video of him speaking english on a game show. It was ok but you can tell he isn't fluent at all. I wonder about his sexuality because I have a huge crush on him lol. 

I read he have a son. I don't think he was ever marry?? He is pretty good at keeping his private life VERY private too. So, I am not sure?? But he is a fantastic actor!!!! You should watch him in Hua Mulan with Zhao Wei, he is great in there too. The movie was good.

[Neil Bohrs]

I think Chen Kun is in love with Ni Ni for several reasons. One was his essay on Ni Ni’s role as Azi in the movie “Wukong”. Another was a clip of him and Ni Ni on the ship during filming. He was talking to her when she looked away and seemed a little uncomfortable. This did not look like a scene from the series. Not long after he posted on Weibo that there was a little girl who said he was a little old for her. He added a  picture of himself with caption on there saying he was a little heartbroken. In September 2018,  he posted that he was in Nanjing and that he liked the city and he liked the people here (Ni Ni lives there). He later removed the quotes from the post, but someone posted a picture of his original post and quite humorously added this quote from TROP,  “There is no one more awkward than you in the entire world.”  In January, he posted that he was oddly nervous and liked it.  2 weeks later posted that when he is nervous, he stutters and that he stuttered 3 times that day. 2 days later he posted that an actress wanted to get coffee at his work, but that he happened to be away at a meeting when she got there. He said that maybe coffee was more important than seeing him. We later learn that this actress was Ni Ni. 

 

Lol. I think there are plenty of evidences that he likes Ni Ni, but there are fewer evidences that Ni Ni likes him. But they were holding hands and seemed to have eyes only for each other on the Happy Camp show, so who knows.

[tendrilsofwind]

On 2/24/2019 at 1:40 PM, MLM said:

Hi I’m new to the forum.  I just finished series with so many questions like the little wool satche that NY had that ended up in FZ hands what is the meaning of the little purse? 

 

 

In ancient China a lot of people would carry around these little fragrance satchels. They are usually exchanged between lovers to signify their affections for each other because the satchels are considered intimate/personal belongings. I think Zhiwei inadvertently grabbed it from Ning Yi when they were in that dark room and in the confusion it seemed like Ning Yi was the one who gave it to her. She later carries it within her robes, which is a bold thing to do considering how significant the item is. It kind of counts as her accepting his affections for her. That's why Ning Yi is kind of shocked when he finds out she still had it, but since he inadvertently gave it to her, neither of them can be certain of what kind of relationship they are in.

 

 

1 hour ago, Neil Bohrs said:

I think Chen Kun is in love with Ni Ni for several reasons. One was his essay on Ni Ni’s role as Azi in the movie “Wukong”. Another was a clip of him and Ni Ni on the ship during filming. He was talking to her when she looked away and seemed a little uncomfortable. This did not look like a scene from the series. Not long after he posted on Weibo that there was a little girl who said he was a little old for her. He added a  picture of himself with caption on there saying he was a little heartbroken. In September 2018,  he posted that he was in Nanjing and that he liked the city and he liked the people here (Ni Ni lives there). He later removed the quotes from the post, but someone posted a picture of his original post and quite humorously added this quote from TROP,  “There is no one more awkward than you in the entire world.”  In January, he posted that he was oddly nervous and liked it.  2 weeks later posted that when he is nervous, he stutters and that he stuttered 3 times that day. 2 days later he posted that an actress wanted to get coffee at his work, but that he happened to be away at a meeting when she got there. He said that maybe coffee was more important than seeing him. We later learn that this actress was Ni Ni. 

 

Lol. I think there are plenty of evidences that he likes Ni Ni, but there are fewer evidences that Ni Ni likes him. But they were holding hands and seemed to have eyes only for each other on the Happy Camp show, so who knows.

Oh wow you really compiled an entire timeline loool I admire your dedication.

There are a lot of behind the scenes pictures too. I really want to ship them, but it's so dangerous to ship real people. We should probably stick to the characters instead to avoid infringing upon their personal lives.

[Neil Bohrs]

You can read it all by browsing through his Weibo account. 

[Vals Stor]

On 2/25/2019 at 11:22 PM, Neil Bohrs said:

I think Chen Kun is in love with Ni Ni for several reasons. One was his essay on Ni Ni’s role as Azi in the movie “Wukong”. Another was a clip of him and Ni Ni on the ship during filming. He was talking to her when she looked away and seemed a little uncomfortable. This did not look like a scene from the series. Not long after he posted on Weibo that there was a little girl who said he was a little old for her. He added a  picture of himself with caption on there saying he was a little heartbroken. In September 2018,  he posted that he was in Nanjing and that he liked the city and he liked the people here (Ni Ni lives there). He later removed the quotes from the post, but someone posted a picture of his original post and quite humorously added this quote from TROP,  “There is no one more awkward than you in the entire world.”  In January, he posted that he was oddly nervous and liked it.  2 weeks later posted that when he is nervous, he stutters and that he stuttered 3 times that day. 2 days later he posted that an actress wanted to get coffee at his work, but that he happened to be away at a meeting when she got there. He said that maybe coffee was more important than seeing him. We later learn that this actress was Ni Ni. 

 

Lol. I think there are plenty of evidences that he likes Ni Ni, but there are fewer evidences that Ni Ni likes him. But they were holding hands and seemed to have eyes only for each other on the Happy Camp show, so who knows.

 

There are lots of bts clips where you can see their intimate moments (i ve run into one when he is holding her tightly and whispering stuff)

Oh my! Im still in the mood of RoTP and i dont seem to get out of it !

 

Back to the drama, i think there were more kissing scenes - ive heard director's comments in bts clips about kissing- but i guess they didnt want to give extra time to the couple, maybe they wanted to focus on the political side of the story, or there might be due to restrictions. Netflix may give a director's cut video later, dont know, but they usually do

[Diaroadic]

On 2/27/2019 at 7:50 AM, Vals Stor said:

 

Lol. I think there are plenty of evidences that he likes Ni Ni, but there are fewer evidences that Ni Ni likes him. But they were holding hands and seemed to have eyes only for each other on the Happy Camp show, so who knows.

It looks to me that they like each other, which is great for their audience - their chemistry is phenomenal. The bts videos show quite a few instances of Ni Ni raining kisses on CK's face or snuggling up to him. There's one long embrace where she seems emotional and he is holding her and whispering advice, also the interview where she's moved to tears speaking of the depth of NY's and FZ's love. CK's weibo posts seem like banter; he's notoriously private about his personal life. 

[Diaroadic]

On 2/25/2019 at 6:24 PM, tendrilsofwind said:

Hi I’m new to the forum.  I just finished series with so many questions like the little wool satche that NY had that ended up in FZ hands what is the meaning of the little purse? 

The blogger thefeastandthefast clarified the wool sachet exchange in a way that makes sense of that scene, as follows: 

    She grabs the wool sachet, he looks at it for a sec then pushes it into her hand towards her chest - finally an acknowledgement of his feelings for her. This is reinforced when Zhiwei uses the sachet during court to talk about intermarriage as one solution to the Dayue problem. And in the beginning, NY uses Gu Yan'swife's sachet as way to reach him emotionally.

    So the gifting of these sachets seem to carry the meaning of emotional sincerity. It was as if she was asking do you mean this? Or are you just playing around?

 

 

 

 

[MLM]

The wool pouch: so then the question remains who gave Ning Yi the pouch to begin with.  Also the scene on the bridge, where she is leaving the capital and Ning yi grabs her face I read that as “no choice” situation for both of them. I think they both realize that she has to go, because to stay would be th3 end of zw and his focus has always been for her to stay alive.  

[Diaroadic]

These pouches seem to belong to women - mothers, wives - who give them to their husbands and/or sons. My impression is that the wool pouch belonged to NY's mother -XY observes that NY always had it with him. There's also the scene built around a letter Ning Qi receives in a pouch belonging to his mother.

[KS Willis]

On 3/3/2019 at 11:27 AM, Diaroadic said:

These pouches seem to belong to women - mothers, wives - who give them to their husbands and/or sons. My impression is that the wool pouch belonged to NY's mother -XY observes that NY always had it with him. There's also the scene built around a letter Ning Qi receives in a pouch belonging to his mother.

 

I agree with you on that one. That scene is simple and wonderful for all the obvious reasons. I particularly  enjoyed " aren't  you tired? I'm  so tired" NingYi  is right on point,   tired of the intrigue, the struggle, the threats  to both of them. Between the neck nuzzling and that purring male voice I could envision something beyond napping lol. Chen Kun 's voice as NingYi  has a quality that could melt stainless steel. A calm, controlled, lovely male rumble ( sounds like it is coming from other side of the bed)

 

I was wondering if anyone else thinks the little ceramic creature FengZhiwei  buys and gives to Ning Yi  is the Maneki Neco or " the black beckoning cat"?   said to beckon  a person to safety from a storm.

 

As a western viewer I have enjoyed educating myself through RotP,  I learn new things everytime I watch it. 

[KS Willis]

On 2/15/2019 at 6:53 PM, skibbies said:

Sex is rarely shown on Chinese TV. I think it was implied in that scene since they seem sort of content after passage of time shot. But it's debateable.

LAs for Helian Zheng, she volunteered to lead the army for him partially to avoid consummating their marriage, I'm pretty sure (The Queen tried to pressure her for babies before she got married and she looked pretty uncomfortable.) There wasn't enough time (or room in her heart) for their relationship to grow, and Helian Zheng didn't want to pressure her. Until she tried to leave, at which point he was just angry and frustrated and trying to get her to stay.

 

Unlikely, because the story looks pretty done, and the team don't seem the type to milk the story. Unless it's just a vastly different one, but it didn't do well commercially so uh. The OTP could potentially work together in a different project since they seems to get along really well. 

I agree that the bedroom scene could have been edited better and I'm  sure some great stuff ended up on the cutting room floor. Yes they doooo seem content (satisfied?) And there are a few other romantic cues that led me to believe they made love. Body language: First: the very comfortable and intimate physical closeness. Second: Ning Yi  has his neck back in an exposed and vulnerable  position which, in the romance world, indicates complete trust, willing submission, etc. Third: their lovemaking would or could setup the arc to provide the conflict and resolution of Ning Yi's overarching thematic question posed by GuYan, " between the empire and an infant who would you choose?"

 

 

On the subject of Helian Zheng,  it was made crystal clear to him that their relationship would be platonic, FengZhiwei is in love with NY and that's  it. HZ becomes a pawn for FW's brother and fuled by his own male ego loses his life. Sad 

 

 

My thoughts as far as a second season,

Netflix would be smart to get that set up ASAP since there seems to be a rising tide of interest in Cdrama in NA, people want more and RotP  is the top of the crop as a vehicle that is able to " crossover" to western audiences. 

A second season would have to center around the overarching theme of uniting the empire.

Second, resolve NingYi 's personal conflict stated early on, "who are you?" "Between the empire and an infant, who would you choose?" Actually since  FengZhiwei  has a similar conflict due to (jmo) she is pregnant with NY's child, but must assume her role as empress

Secondary  storylines that should be completed: GuNanyi  and GuYan connection.  The outcome of Headmaster Xin Ziyan's dilemma.  The outcome of NingQi's treachery. The education of the youngest prince and of course the death of the Emperor Daddy. I think there are loads  of other unresolved issues that could fuel a second season.  Assembling the remaining cast would be tough but if I were Netflix I would be working hard on the logistics and the negotiations, cracking the whip on the writers  to get a storyline and more hammered out.

[skibbies]

22 hours ago, KS Willis said:

Netflix would be smart to get that set up ASAP since there seems to be a rising tide of interest in Cdrama in NA, people want more and RotP  is the top of the crop as a vehicle that is able to " crossover" to western audiences. 

I wish Netflix would come up with Netflix exclusive tier or something. Because unlike what its Netflix Original title implied, afaik, netflix had no place in producing the drama, at all. It licensed for worldwide exclusive release and subtitled it, that's it. It's not out of realm of possibility for it to actually invest and produce a sequel, like it funds some anime projects at the moment. The thing is, I don't think the cdrama market is as big as its anime market, it's also incredibly new to the market considering it started licensing cdrama in...last 2 years? and its catalogue is still around 20 or so, which is way below its kdrama selection.

 

Netflix also has zero presence in China, which would be cdrama's biggest market, and it seems little silly for Netflix to invest in a drama and lose out on 80% of the market. Its original anime only works because they are anime specifically targeted towards the international audience, all of them have been scifi and mature, without fanservice (and netflix is actually available in Japan). As someone who's a fan of scifi anime that like a lot of the concepts of these anime, most of them have been mediocre in executions. There's only been one that created lot of buzz and well received, and it's from a very well known director with distinctive style adapting from a manga by a legendary mangaka. So I'm just not optimistic.

 

The big investor is Croton Media (yknow, the one that uploaded all the bts and documentary) which have produced lots of other cdramas, of varying quality. There's four other production companies involved but I only know Chen Kun (and his best friend Zhou Xun)'s K. Pictures. Various supporting characters are tied to K. Pictures, but neither the directors nor the writers are tied to any production companies.

[KS Willis]

On 3/19/2019 at 5:12 PM, skibbies said:

I wish Netflix would come up with Netflix exclusive tier or something. Because unlike what its Netflix Original title implied, afaik, netflix had no place in producing the drama, at all. It licensed for worldwide exclusive release and subtitled it, that's it. It's not out of realm of possibility for it to actually invest and produce a sequel, like it funds some anime projects at the moment. The thing is, I don't think the cdrama market is as big as its anime market, it's also incredibly new to the market considering it started licensing cdrama in...last 2 years? and its catalogue is still around 20 or so, which is way below its kdrama selection.

 

Netflix also has zero presence in China, which would be cdrama's biggest market, and it seems little silly for Netflix to invest in a drama and lose out on 80% of the market. Its original anime only works because they are anime specifically targeted towards the international audience, all of them have been scifi and mature, without fanservice (and netflix is actually available in Japan). As someone who's a fan of scifi anime that like a lot of the concepts of these anime, most of them have been mediocre in executions. There's only been one that created lot of buzz and well received, and it's from a very well known director with distinctive style adapting from a manga by a legendary mangaka. So I'm just not optimistic.

 

The big investor is Croton Media (yknow, the one that uploaded all the bts and documentary) which have produced lots of other cdramas, of varying quality. There's four other production companies involved but I only know Chen Kun (and his best friend Zhou Xun)'s K. Pictures. Various supporting characters are tied to K. Pictures, but neither the directors nor the writers are tied to any production companies.

 

 

Thank you very much for enlightening me, I had assumed Netflix was a big player in production, bad me.

I had a chance to binge Croton's Eternal Love, and JMO although nicely done will never become the crossover vehicle for the NA market that Croton is seeking for many reasons, especially the acting, the dubbing, sound quality, the depth of fantasy, I found it difficult to suspend reality and fall into the story. That surprised me since I'm a longstanding fantasy  adventure fan, getting ready to say goodby to GoTs and not soon enough,lol. I'm  motivated to send a pro RotP comment to Croton Media  and hope enough people do the same. 

 

Back to RotP.  The Emperor  tells NingYi  that if his name is in the golden box he will be attacked,  NingYi  responds that he will also become a weapon to be used. Was this what his father had planned  all along?  NingYi  is crushed.  Later when NingYi  asks XinZiyan

" what am I  to you?", he answers "one hundred birds are not as good as one osprey." I found this equal in cruelty to the Emperor 's plan for NY and was taken aback by Headmaster. Does anyone else sense that XinZiyan's motivations are not as clear cut and altruistic as he first presents?

 

 

 

[Vals Stor]

2 hours ago, KS Willis said:

 

 

Thank you very much for enlightening me, I had assumed Netflix was a big player in production, bad me.

I had a chance to binge Croton's Eternal Love, and JMO although nicely done will never become the crossover vehicle for the NA market that Croton is seeking for many reasons, especially the acting, the dubbing, sound quality, the depth of fantasy, I found it difficult to suspend reality and fall into the story. That surprised me since I'm a longstanding fantasy  adventure fan, getting ready to say goodby to GoTs and not soon enough,lol. I'm  motivated to send a pro RotP comment to Croton Media  and hope enough people do the same. 

 

Back to RotP.  The Emperor  tells NingYi  that if his name is in the golden box he will be attacked,  NingYi  responds that he will also become a weapon to be used. Was this what his father had planned  all along?  NingYi  is crushed.  Later when NingYi  asks XinZiyan

" what am I  to you?", he answers "one hundred birds are not as good as one osprey." I found this equal in cruelty to the Emperor 's plan for NY and was taken aback by Headmaster. Does anyone else sense that XinZiyan's motivations are not as clear cut and altruistic as he first presents?

 

 

 

 

Xin Zyian gave his promise to Ning Yi's brother, to make Ning Yi an Emperor, plus Xin Zyian has his own ambitions too and its quite fitted to be ambitious since he is such a clever man.

We also see him talking to himself on some point (i think in later episodes), where he 's wondering about his own dreams and ambitions.

After all, its a great achievement for a royal councilor to prepare the next emperor. There's a lot of stuff to be completed and side stories left untold and most important, the couple. There's a comment of the scriptwriter which leaves an open door to the ending with the phrase: "Zhiwei's body wasnt found, so we may think that she's not actually dead", which also happened in the original novel. 

So i think there's strong possibility to have a second season.

 

As for the Emperor himself, i think that he always uses Ning Yi to unveil others intentions, or to confront without exposing himself, or to do the "dirty work" instead of him (not that he doesnt love him-on the contrary, Ning Yi is the son of the woman he was so in love with, and he feels a special bond between them, i also think that Ning Yi reminds him of his younger self)

 

<I strongly believe that season 2 is on its way. TroP is getting higher on ranking (both in douban and imbd), though they didnt buy views, blogging, no marketing at all-we can hardly find any officially translated interview of the cast and crew).

Especially in the west, fans are increasing tremendously, so its very possible. 

[skibbies]

9 hours ago, KS Willis said:

I had a chance to binge Croton's Eternal Love, and JMO although nicely done will never become the crossover vehicle for the NA market that Croton is seeking for many reasons, especially the acting, the dubbing, sound quality, the depth of fantasy, I found it difficult to suspend reality and fall into the story. That surprised me since I'm a longstanding fantasy  adventure fan, getting ready to say goodby to GoTs and not soon enough,lol. I'm  motivated to send a pro RotP comment to Croton Media  and hope enough people do the same. 

That drama to my knowledge is mostly a romance drama is the thing? I hold them to a way different standard to what I hold RoTP to be. But as of now, it has much bigger audience than RoTP, because it's easier to get into.

 

I never watched it because the original web novel plagiarised and the author was unapologetic about it. I'm actually actively annoyed that it, along with several other dramas that had plagiarising source are amongst the more popular cdramas that international audience Princess Weiyoung was the worst offender, I think Princess Agent was pretty bad too and it super sucks because they both feature badass female protag. There's other plagiarism claims thrown around, some were due to tropes within subgenre, some I never actually looked too closely into. 

 

For fantasy epic (?), be on the lookout for Novoland which has finished filming and due to broadcasted this year. But the government seem pulling an even tighter reign on historical/costume dramas this year, even if they are web dramas so WHO KNOWS. Tribes & Empire (2017) is set in the same world but about different people (and different period of time I think), but the reviews say it suffered from pacing problems, char development and other writing issue, one of those everything is pretty great EXCEPT for the writing. *facepalm*

 

Ever Night which is fantasy adventure was pretty well received iirc, from both adaptation and storytelling wise. I'm still at the beginning though. Ashes of Love which more similar Eternal Love since it's a romance and a xianxia was pretty good, somewhat cliche story, but incredibly well executed, its issue is there's some padding out with supporting characters during latter half of the drama.

 

As for Croton Media, it'll be nice if they invest in another drama like this, how well a drama end up being seem like luck of draw at times. I haven't watched enough of their dramas to say what would be a good focus, though I don't think RoTP is the best choice. It doesn't cast a wide enough net, long historical dramas isn't that accessible, and it's a deeply flawed drama.

 

9 hours ago, KS Willis said:

Back to RotP.  The Emperor  tells NingYi  that if his name is in the golden box he will be attacked,  NingYi  responds that he will also become a weapon to be used. Was this what his father had planned  all along?  NingYi  is crushed.  Later when NingYi  asks XinZiyan

" what am I  to you?", he answers "one hundred birds are not as good as one osprey." I found this equal in cruelty to the Emperor 's plan for NY and was taken aback by Headmaster. Does anyone else sense that XinZiyan's motivations are not as clear cut and altruistic as he first presents?

To the emperor, Ning Yi is first a subject then his son. As a prince, he has responsibilities, just like the emperor have responsibilities (such as sacrificing your son when it comes to it). It's pretty tragic but also something that's standard fare for royalties. Their relationship is one of the best parts of the drama.

 

As for Xin Ziyan, he never came across as altruistic to me. To me he was extremely goal oriented and focused, to the point of willing to sacrifice other people, or himself for it. Anyways, he would be honoured as councillor to the emperor, and he would have proven that he could do something, to leave a legacy behind so there's some benefits to him doing all this. He came to care about Ning Yi and wanted to help his friend achieve his ambition later of course.

[Hazeykun]

Can anyone explain what the headmasters last saying meant to Ning yi? I'm guessing there friendship is done? Which is a huge downer!