[Mainland Chinese Drama 2018] Story of Yan Xi’s Palace 延禧攻略

[kyoko22]

2 hours ago, Far^away said:

 

Yes, a bit more obvious but in a roundabout way. Haha... 

 

QL is finally aware on YL’s existence during their first face-to-face meeting in Changchun Gong when YL was debating with Empress about previous emperor who buried his concubine as a companion. His first impression undoubtedly wasn’t good, she was criticizing the previous emperor and one does not do that to your own ancestor. When he finally connected the dots, that she was the same maid who glibbed her way out during their encounter at the blessed tree. He was more than annoyed but he couldn’t punish her because of the empress. Her views, her choice of words appalled him then and her rebellious streak continues to put him off.

 

Until that time when YL purposely ran into him with a bowl of water. As viewers we knew she did that to save the Empress but for him, she did it to seduce and make him to notice her more. He even complained to the Empress, who doesn’t have any other choice but to just laugh at his words because she knew that wasn’t true.

 

During this scene (bold paragraph), if you realise, Emperor described Yinglou as a beauty.

 

"She clearly ran into my embrance on purpose earlier. It means what i said before was true. That palace maid is relying on her little bit of beauty, to lure the dragon for her own advancement"

 

Well, Yinglou did ran into him on purpose but our Emperor is so full of himself. Hahaha.

 

Okay, what i'm trying to say here, though he hasn't fall for her yet but he already noticed that Yinglou is beautiful from early on. 

 

Her pretty face plus her wit and clever mind definitely make Emperor intrigued and fascinated with her more. 

 

[ChloeR]

I agree Yingluo’s beauty is not explicitly stated in the drama but I think her beauty is one of her strong points. 

 

The scene where @kyoko22 described and the one part when Qianlong was drunk. He also said Yingluo has 1/3 of beauty and the rest is slyness. 

 

And then, there was also a scene in the earlier parts of the drama when dr.leaf first saw yingluo. He was staring at her until Qianlong interrupted him. 

 

 

 

[Far^away]

3 hours ago, ChloeR said:

I agree Yingluo’s beauty is not explicitly stated in the drama but I think her beauty is one of her strong points. 

 

The scene where @kyoko22 described and the one part when Qianlong was drunk. He also said Yingluo has 1/3 of beauty and the rest is slyness. 

 

And then, there was also a scene in the earlier parts of the drama when dr.leaf first saw yingluo. He was staring at her until Qianlong interrupted him. 

 

 

Before that he even said it sober, in front of YL to boot!

 

 

For some reason I like this scene the most because it was a straightforward face off between the two. QL asked YL why she approached Fuheng but since she doesn't answer, he assumed the worse, which is her wanting to climb the social ladder. But she also shoot him an important question, on why he detested her so much and if it was because she is not respectful enough.

 

He answered, but not after pausing and giving this stare. He answered, but after hesitating. It made me wonder if he actually doesn't understand why he detested her so much other than because of what he assumed of her.

 

 

and this scene is important because of this final question. If you wanted to climb the social ladder, why don't you approach me instead? I could give you everything.

 

 

 

As we all knew, she refused saying she does not dare to associate herself with someone with a higher status. Her refusal gave off two different point.

 

1) She doesn't want to be his woman.

2) She proved that QL's assumption of her is wrong. She doesn't approach Fuheng for advancement.

 

And that's why QL was so mad he kicked the screen so hard that even Li Yu is surprised.

[lyserose]

4 hours ago, ChloeR said:

I agree Yingluo’s beauty is not explicitly stated in the drama but I think her beauty is one of her strong points. 

 

The scene where @kyoko22 described and the one part when Qianlong was drunk. He also said Yingluo has 1/3 of beauty and the rest is slyness. 

 

And then, there was also a scene in the earlier parts of the drama when dr.leaf first saw yingluo. He was staring at her until Qianlong interrupted him. 

And if I may add.... in episode 26 when QL confronted YL regarding Fuheng after she helped him changing his clothes.... he said  "Stop pretending. I have seen through your beautiful face from the start".  YL only looked up directly at him after he uttered the word "beautiful". Perhaps, she never thought QL could view her that way.

 

Also, Consort Qing in episode 1 did mentioned that YL is pretty in which Consort Shu rebuffed by saying that her beauty is pointless since she is just a slave (Lol. How ironic that the servant girl ended up outranked her). Empress Dowager also pointed on YL's look, saying granting the title Da-ying is too compromising of her beauty and sharp wit.

 

Anyway, I spent the few days checking the novel link (in chinese) and reading with the help of google translate. The last famous line of YL to Step Empress "You know you loved him but why do you have to tell him? The one who speaks first is the loser" is nowhere can be found in novel?

 

And not sure if the google translate misled me in any way, but QL did confessed he loves YL to Empress Dowager when he defended her over tricking the Dowager to believe that Chen Bi is the reincarnation of He An. YL herself overheard it. And YL did confessed to QL that she loves him when she said she wants to carry his baby. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Far^away]

33 minutes ago, lyserose said:

And if I may add.... in episode 26 when QL confronted YL regarding Fuheng after she helped him changing his clothes.... he said  "Stop pretending. I have seen through your beautiful face from the start".  YL only looked up directly at him after he uttered the word "beautiful". Perhaps, she never thought QL could view her that way.

 

Also, Consort Qing in episode 1 did mentioned that YL is pretty in which Consort Shu rebuffed by saying that her beauty is pointless since she is just a slave (Lol. How ironic that the servant girl ended up outranked her). Empress Dowager also pointed on YL's look, saying granting the title Da-ying is too compromising of her beauty and sharp wit.

 

 

We had almost the same thoughts! *highfive*  

 

About the bolded part I remember laughing out loud when Empress Dowager said something along the line “She is to serve me, not you.” when QL refused YL wish. 

 

EmpressD, if you only knew! 

 

As for the novel, since I did not know how to read Chinese, I can’t answer the question. However, I read somewhere that few things had been changed to make the drama more dramatic without changing the outcome so much. I’ll drop the link if I found it again. 

 

 

 

[ChloeR]

Lool thank you guys! I totally missed those parts haha Yingluo is a total package then. Beautiful, intelligent, loyal, and hella good at giving births. Qianlong is a lucky man indeed. 

 

Regarding your question @lyserose, I dont think the infamous line was in the novel but in the drama instead because I guess the drama is trying to make Qianlongs Character a lil more complex and realistic. As an emperor, he cant let people know his weakness (Yingluo) so he cant openly tells her that he loves her. (Although, by overly favoring her is kinda the same thing lol so I dont understand their refusal to say they love one another) The drama also portrayed Yingluo a lot stronger in comparison to the novel. Hence, she wont be the one to say “i love you” to Qianlong first. 

 

 

On the other hand, I want to ask how you guys would describe Qianlongs personality before empress fuca’s death, after marrying Yingluo, and after the 10 yrs skip. I feel like they couldve done a lot with that 10 yrs because that is where Qianlong and Yingluo relationship truly develops but they went ahead and do the time skip *rolls eyes*

[kyoko22]

 @ChloeR

I would like to describe in two situation 1) before fall for Yinglou

2) after fall for Yinglou

 

Before he fell for Yinglou, I will say he is a serious Emperor. Yes, sometimes he doted to his wives but will all those wives, he still felt lonely. All his wives were just his bed companion, nobody really understand him and he has no one to talk to when he faced problem when he governed the country. He and Empress Fuca loves each other but Empress didn't understand him and she just got restricted with all the rules that an empress must follow. I still remember when Emperor went to Fuca's place and had a dinner there. He invited Fuca to sit and eat together but Fuca refused, saying that the rule said she must stand and serve him.

 

After Yinglou, slowly we can see that after all, Emperor is also a human. He got jealous, being petty, being childish... And the most important is, Yinglou didn't treat him like an emperor like other wives. Yinglou treat him like a normal person. She yelled at him, she pouted, shw sulked. At the same time, sh2 listened to his problem (when Empress still in coma, when Fuheng wanted to go to the war), she tried to cheer him ( she taught him how to dance), she accompanied him to eat.

 

But what I like about this drama is their romance only started after Empress Fuca died. I just can't stomach just how sad the Empress will feel if Yinglou becomes a concubine while Empress still alive. Yes, Emperor did attract to Yinglou while Empress still alive but he no longer entertained the idea after Yinglou rejected him in Ep 37.

[vanbari]

8 hours ago, lyserose said:

And if I may add.... in episode 26 when QL confronted YL regarding Fuheng after she helped him changing his clothes.... he said  "Stop pretending. I have seen through your beautiful face from the start".  YL only looked up directly at him after he uttered the word "beautiful". Perhaps, she never thought QL could view her that way.

 

Also, Consort Qing in episode 1 did mentioned that YL is pretty in which Consort Shu rebuffed by saying that her beauty is pointless since she is just a slave (Lol. How ironic that the servant girl ended up outranked her). Empress Dowager also pointed on YL's look, saying granting the title Da-ying is too compromising of her beauty and sharp wit.

 

Anyway, I spent the few days checking the novel link (in chinese) and reading with the help of google translate. The last famous line of YL to Step Empress "You know you loved him but why do you have to tell him? The one who speaks first is the loser" is nowhere can be found in novel?

 

And not sure if the google translate misled me in any way, but QL did confessed he loves YL to Empress Dowager when he defended her over tricking the Dowager to believe that Chen Bi is the reincarnation of He An. YL herself overheard it. And YL did confessed to QL that she loves him when she said she wants to carry his baby. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

In the novel, the last meeting between Step Empress and YL was shorten and Empress did not ask the question. So the lost of the infamous line. 

 

YL only told QL that "Women will only bear child  for the one she love." So did not explicitly confessed. 

[lyserose]

8 hours ago, vanbari said:

In the novel, the last meeting between Step Empress and YL was shorten and Empress did not ask the question. So the lost of the infamous line. 

 

YL only told QL that "Women will only bear child  for the one she love." So did not explicitly confessed. 

Thanks for the clarification. I can't read Chinese, so I was indeed misled by our dear friend "google translate" with her direct translation. LOL.

 

15 hours ago, ChloeR said:

On the other hand, I want to ask how you guys would describe Qianlongs personality before empress fuca’s death, after marrying Yingluo, and after the 10 yrs skip. I feel like they couldve done a lot with that 10 yrs because that is where Qianlong and Yingluo relationship truly develops but they went ahead and do the time skip *rolls eyes*

I find that before Fuca's death, QL is less attentive to his women including towards Fuca. While he certainly loves Fuca, he does not understand her and vice versa. For the reason that none of his women including his beloved Fuca understands him, QL never developed any "companionship" with anyone of them. They attended to him and he pampered them but never shared his personal burden with them.

 

Fuca's death and the discovery of her personal struggle certainly put some changes on QL's treatment (at least only) towards the women he loves. Because he loves YL, so he cares to understand her. Also, because YL sees him as a man and her husband before him as an emperor, thus they see each other as person. Because of that, he only shares that bond with YL that is companionship. I remember YL told QL in episode 33 that Fuca is willing to share his burden if only he allowed her to but QL so far, only ever confided to YL. Watching the progression of their relationship, nothing that YL did after that ever surprised him. They can read each other's mind  even when they had a big fall out (ie QL's strategy to get YL to return after 3 years, YL's plan of outing Chen Bi's evil motive) except ofc, some judgement affected by the sense of insecurity.

 

I am totally fine with the time skip because that reconciliation between QL and YL is just a matter of assurance.  They have always and already understand each other a long time ago, the big argument and fall out shake things up a little but one word of assurance basically put everything back together.  QL and YL relationship has always been action-driven, so the presence of words actually made it stronger.

 

 

[jadore1]

To me our Yingluo is beautiful, and cute and pretty and irresistible lolll   I love her  looks, how she acts and her thinking and strategy planning is priceless. From the first scene , first episode she captured my imagination and admiration and as i mentioned before, i watched all 70 episodes in Chinese and prayed daily for eng subs since i am not Chinese origin.  I thank the whole team of this drama for doing such a stellar job , and i thank the director for finding this actress who not once disappointed me ...  even when uneducated child from the country , she never carried that dumb look other dramas  sometimes make " innocents"  look .   So i pick our Yinglou as my 2018 Woman of the Year  

 

p.s. i had to go back to ep 26 - at 36 min  and i wonder how significant is it to ask for  Yingluo to dress him...which surprised her and she clearly stated that its the eunuchs job...i know now that QL was looking to have a show down with her regarding Fuheng ,  and as mentioned above , that scene is one i too have tried to understand.. is it this one , is it that one lol......  But i still laugh when she called him a nuisance when she was hiding under the curtain...so between these two i never know...his love for her is so different that he has to always push her , tap her , pinch her face so much ...and he did not see himself being different with her ..but the others did . 

[kyoko22]

I watched several episodes of Ruyi and I understand why Yanxi is so famous compare to Ruyi. In Yanxi, we have Yinglou who is strong MC and totally focus on revenge. She did fall in love but love or man is not her priority. While for Ruyi, she entered the palace because of a man and love. Her life just revolved around this man. For Yinglou, if she was wronged once, she will repay the wrong tenfold. For Ruyi, she kept become the victim and too soft the get her revenge.

 

Another thing, though QL in Yanxi is more likable compare to QL in Ruyi. In Ruyi, the emperor was potrayed as a cruel husband who just know how to spread his sperm around. He is lustful and downright jerk. In Yanxi, the only time QL slapped his concubine when Jia Pin tried to frame Yinglou and Fuheng in ep 46. While in Ruyi, QL slapped Ruyi twice, both because of misunderstanding. So, QL in Ruyi is so hateful. 

[minnieboogie]

Firstly i want to thank for all for your theory, i really liked it

 

Please someone explain this, when YL accompanied QL eat, why De Sheng take out the meals and then QL asked him to take in that meals? Is it because De Sheng afraid YL with eat it all? LOL

 

Sorry if someone already asked it, i just reached read until page 20, i can't refrain to ask this. I'll continue read again, thankyou

[nnnju]

31 minutes ago, minnieboogie said:

Firstly i want to thank for all for your theory, i really liked it

 

Please someone explain this, when YL accompanied QL eat, why De Sheng take out the meals and then QL asked him to take in that meals? Is it because De Sheng afraid YL with eat it all? LOL

 

Sorry if someone already asked it, i just reached read until page 20, i can't refrain to ask this. I'll continue read again, thankyou

Not that reason Lol. A lot of people has the misunderstanding about the life of emperors. They simply think they could do anything they want but actually on the contrary, they live with most rules. One of the most important rules is that since childhood they were taught not to show favor to anything, no favorite food, no favorite hobby, no favorite woman, etw. If an emperor shows his favor, it is an invitation to schemes, either to harm him or to purposely flatter him, both are deadly. Therefore when an emperor eats, he should just taste each dish a bit, then the servants will take the tasted dish away even if he likes it a lot. Of course, there were a lot emperors breaking rules but the rules were always there. 

[Cedric Ong]

The drama is going places. They are going to dub it in japanese (which is beyond being merely subbed) and show in Japan in feb 2019. Abit funny to hear the trailer in japanese.

https://www.weibo.com/tv/v/H9tFTyOdW?fid=1034:4322588827261638

 

 

 

[kyoko22]

1 hour ago, Cedric Ong said:

The drama is going places. They are going to dub it in japanese (which is beyond being merely subbed) and show in Japan in feb 2019. Abit funny to hear the trailer in japanese.

https://www.weibo.com/tv/v/H9tFTyOdW?fid=1034:4322588827261638

 

 

 

Hahaha. It was like watching Yanxi Palace with anime voice. So weird.

 

[Far^away]

13 hours ago, jadore1 said:

But i still laugh when she called him a nuisance when she was hiding under the curtain...

 

This scene is such a powerful scene where QL told the empress how he learnt the hard way that he cannot love, he can only ‘favours’.

 

I can’t believe that they did not utilise this scene fully since YL is behind the curtain, listening to his each and every word... 

 

i can think of so many possibilities...

 

made me wonder if there were related scene to this but didn’t survive the chopping board. *sigh*

[lyserose]

4 hours ago, Cedric Ong said:

The drama is going places. They are going to dub it in japanese (which is beyond being merely subbed) and show in Japan in feb 2019. Abit funny to hear the trailer in japanese.

https://www.weibo.com/tv/v/H9tFTyOdW?fid=1034:4322588827261638

 

 

 

Ever since it was announced as "The Most Googled Show on Earth 2018" and now full english subs available on several streaming platforms, I noticed twitter is on fire again. I have so much fun reading so many live tweets now that the drama being enjoyed by broader audiences. Read that HBO is interested to pick up the show. 

 

I think apart from WJY, Nie Yuan won an award at 5th Actor of China Awards... If not mistaken he never won any acting award before. If true, so happy for him. Wouldn't love Yanxi so much if not for him wonderfully breathing life to Qianlong. 

 

[leeemyis]

^so true. If Yu Zheng cast a different actor to play Qian Long, it might feel different but thankfully, we had Nie Yuan as Emperor. He's a great actor and very talented. He deserves the award and the compliments. I've mentioned before but will repeat myself once again because I love the actor that plays emperor. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't like Yanxi this much. He makes Emperor lovely and likable. Congrats to him for winning that award. 

 

 

[kyoko22]

11 minutes ago, leeemyis said:

^so true. If Yu Zheng cast a different actor to play Qian Long, it might feel different but thankfully, we had Nie Yuan as Emperor. He's a great actor and very talented. He deserves the award and the compliments. I've mentioned before but will repeat myself once again because I love the actor that plays emperor. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't like Yanxi this much. He makes Emperor lovely and likable. Congrats to him for winning that award. 

 

 

Agree. And Nie Yuan's real voice is suitable for Emperor's character. In Ruyi, Wallace voice was dubbed. Yes, that voice is suitable for an emperor but it is totally clash with Wallace's face. 

[jadore1]

Nie Yuan is perfect for our YL , and their speech /vocals/voice is so pleasing to me ....i just clicked on the Japanese ...and nahhh , i prefer their voice and reading subs .... for me, the charm of this drama is their distinct enunciations , the Chinese language that  i feel like i learned so many words from this drama  .   If i ever read history books and do not see picture of these two LOLLLLLLL as real i would be surprised .  I know,  i know, Yan Xi's Place left a very good impression on me  and moved on my list of my favourite and truly loved Chinese dramas to #2. 

 

My favourite Fuheng line is from the ep  47 @ 23 min  ..."since you obtained her , you should cherish her.. or else,  you will make me regret even more ..why i didn't persist to fight for her until the very end".... that is so cool and so honest .