[Current Mainland WebDrama 2019] The Legend of Hao Lan / Beauty Hao Lan 皓镧传

[-jade-]

6 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

I guess I'm odd in that I find Ying Yiren more intriguing because I want to know what he's truly capable of.

Oh no. You are not odd  While I love LBW and HL too, I'm really piqued to find out what 's in store for this hostage prince. Also, while I started off really looking forward to HL+BW pairing, mainly because of Yanxi, and still loving this pairing (till now), I'm being drawn toward HL+YR for their fresher chemistry. When YR tells HL (ep 17)  'never to look for me again', I truly felt a squeeze in my heart . 

 

Can't wait to see YR out of the underground and back in the palace as the king. 

[kyoko22]

Spoiler

Before this drama start airing, by reading the history of LBW in Wiki, I thought he is a super jerk guy who is willing to let go his concubine for the sake of power. I'm so ready for the lack of romance between him and HL.

Man... how wrong I was. He loves HL so much. He didn't let HL go to marry YR. It was due misunderstanding and somw dirty trick from YR. During the 8 years transition between Zhao and Qin, it is LBW who left gold so HL and son can survive. He is the one who plan so that HL and son can come to Qin asap. The prince? He pretty much enjoy being the prince in Qin with his new concubine. He somehow forget about HL who is struggling with her son at Zhao. A very gentleman indeed. With how LBW loves HL and HL to LBW, I doubt Lao Ai will be a real lover to HL. Maybe, some smokescreen to cover the affair between HL and LBW. 

 

[lyserose]

I still couldn't like Yinren because even after returning to Qin, he is still useless as ever. He tried to pull the Mei Changsu's card but nope, I don't see any Mei Changsu in him. Yes, I know he is a hostage prince and in a precarious position in the state of Zhao but I would expect him to play more roles (even discreetly to at least give me the impression that his mild demenour is just to mask his true potential) but whenever Haolan faces dangers, he really couldn't come up with anything. He could even barely save himself. 

 

That's why I prefer Lu Bu Wei. He is smart and resourceful. Yes, he may be a jerk in the ways that he broke his many promises to Haolan but a smart guy is better than a useless guy. At this rate, I am rooting for him to snatch everything that he worked so hard for.  

 

Regarding love... Well episode 43-44 dropped little hints to where Haolan's heart truly resides. I am still rooting for LBW and HL although I know they are not the end game. Though they couldn't match their Yanxi's chemistry, I still feel that WJY has stronger chemistry with NY than with MZJ. As I said before, the stronger Yanxi's chemistry has got a lot to do with the more solid writing there. 

 

Regarding Lao Ai... I just have a feeling that Haolan will eventually follow the same path as both Zhao's Queen and Lady Hanyang. It's as if the conducts of both queens secretly sneaking men into their palaces giving us inkling of how Haolan would be once she holds that position. And both queens actually did loved their husbands but somehow their idealism on love failed them, thus turning to lust over love. But then again, idk how they will dress up this scandalous side lol. 

[kyoko22]

@lyserose After ep 25, we can safely said that LBW truly love HL. And he lost his love once. When YR died, I doubt he will allow HL to take any male pet. And from the early episode, the drama shows how HL loves LBW. Even during 8 years separation, anytime LBW's name was mentioned, there will be some response from her. Now, LBW has power,  nothing can prevent him to have her for himself again. So, I don't see any reason for HL to disappointed again resulting to keep a male pet. Lao Ai is there. We don't know yet what is his role will be but I doubt it a lover to HL

[lyserose]

@kyoko22 On one hand, I appreciate they highlight on the deep love LBW has for HL... but on another hand, I am quite dissapointed over the deviation from history. I was actually hoping to see how the relationship, love and conflict between them will play out if only LBW actually "gifted" (though reluctantly) Haolan to YR as in history. And ofc, the presence of Lao Ai whom again given by LBW. They are turning LBW too much into Fuheng (sans the ambition). I guess I was hoping more on the message of how materials glory is not everything and how over-ambition and greed will lead to one's downfall. 

 

While LBW is more expressive of his love, I think in between LBW and YR, Haolan still love LBW more. It was obvious from her reaction when she met each man for the first time after 8 years.

 

And isn't LBW is set to marry Bailing?  

 

Oh, and I pity Lord Anguo/Yuan Chun Wang. He only tenured as a king for 2eps. Lol... At least YCW gets his wish fulfilled, albeit a short glory. 

 

 

[kyoko22]

@lyserose yes, the writer present the story as LBW even wants power but at the end he wants power to protect HL. It is YR the writer potray to be greedy, who will use any women and discard them at whim for the sake of power. He used Princess Ya's love. He married Silu to please Mrs Huayang, he said he love HL, but kinda forget her for 8 years.

The writer totally flip the story so the villain in the history becomes a hero. And those 3 trailers totally misleading. I thought at the end HL hates LBW so much 

 

As for Bailing,  I think the king bestowed the marriage (with the help of princess Ya and YR). Well, we don't know whether the marriage will on or not since the ep has not air yet.

 

Lorn Anguo? Hahaha. At last he became a king. Even just for 3 days... 

[insertusernamehere]

Yay a discussion thread on Hao Lan!

I discovered this drama recently, wanting to see more of the Yanxi cast (couldn't finish Yanxi because I was harem-ed out, but it was a great drama!) in a different setting. I got SUPER hooked and binged this over the weekend. I'm caught up with Hao Lan's storyline until ep 44 (**but skimmed any scene without Hao Lan, will need to go back and rewatch properly haha), so let me know if you folks have any questions about spoilers!

 

As for thoughts, I have SO MANY!

 

First off, this is a really feminist drama. The women in the show are constantly smarter than the men, and do not hesitate to use their brains and beauty for survival and desires. Even a "bad" character like Princess Ya has real moments of connecting with Hao Lan on the basis of being a woman in a shitty era. Hao Lan constantly asserts her own will in her decision, and always maintains a balanced view on gender equality. To her, being a strong woman doesn't mean you have to lose your femininity or deny real physical differences between male and female. I just love all the discussions between the characters, male and female, about gender roles and the restrictions that women suffer in that era. In a future episode, Hao Lan said (I paraphrased): "The only I decided to love the most is myself. So whether it's Yiren, or Lu Bu Wei, if a man doesn't treat me right, I'd leave." That self-esteem and self-respect! This, in contrast with all the other women in the drama who let themselves ruin their lives for terrible men, is ever the more amazing. Not to say that one shouldn't go all in for love, but a lot of these men really, really didn't deserve it. 

 

Second, both male leads in this drama are SO flawed (I mean, everyone in this drama is, but considering they're the "main" roles, I find it fascinating that they're so many shades of grey - as in, they're not "good guys" or "bad guys". They are both just men, sometimes terrible, most of the time decent enough, and all the time fight for what they want and are conflicted about it). I think everyone is on the Hao Lan - Lu Bu Wei ship, and it is a very compelling romance, but for some reason I really eat up the Hao Lan - Yiren romance. He's so swoony! And a total puppy for her! Their scenes have that classic fresh romance feel

Spoiler

(if you're not yet at those eps, they are further down the line, around mid-20s eps)

and I have this stupid smile on my face when I watch their scenes, only to become even giddier to find out later that Yiren is no less manipulative and cunning than Lu Bu Wei, even if in a different way. He at times manipulated her (very few!), and at others completely forgot his own selfish desires for her sake. He made certain political choices that he knew would hurt her feelings, and then turned around to abandon everything political just for her

Spoiler

though one might say that he was too late. Hao Lan is just as ruthless as any of the women and men in the drama; if you betray her, you're done.

 It's so fascinating! He's like a puppy who could transform into a wolf if needed.

 

If I have any complaint, it would be...people die so often in this drama  don't let yourself get attached to anyone but the three leads, I suppose! There's literally no law and order anywhere, anything and everything is based on hearsay LOL Almost makes me want to write a fantasy palace drama where the from-the-future character brings a recording device to record everything everyone ever says! Maybe it will reduce the number of deaths!

 

While I enjoy the dialogue, there is a lot of it and 63 eps is much longer than what I'm used to (Kdrama). If the drama follows history, there's nothing but more sadness awaits Hao Lan  I think the Lao Ai character will have a twist; this show has treated its characters in a very nuanced, complex way, and I believe they will do that for a character that had a big role in history. Remember too that history is written by the victor; lots of modern (&foreign) historians have debated what was written about Hao Lan's kid being Lu Bu Wei's (as in, it's not true and what was written in the history book was fake). I could totally imagine Lao Ai was completely different than what was written about him, so here's the writer's chance to re-imagine history.

 

P.S.: (not a spoiler but just discussing tangential details)

Spoiler

Bless the sub team but there are things you just can't translate these complicated dialogues with a lot of idioms to English at the scale and speed that they do and still have them make sense. So I switched to another site with sub in my native language, which is a language much closer to Chinese so things were translated much more smoothly, and since I could read some Chinese characters, I could verify the quality of the sub and thankfully it was very accurate.

 

[insertusernamehere]

20 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

Despite the seemingly dark edges, this show is rather a lot of fun. It's one that I find surprisingly enjoyable despite all the usual palace scheming and backstabbing especially among the ladies. Evidently it's unabashedly a palace melodrama through and through.

I agree with most of your post and wanted to discuss the specific interesting points you raised! The show is a lot of fun and I appreciate the lighter moments. I still think it's more than a palace drama if we think of palace dramas as featuring only/mainly the harem. I enjoyed learning about all the warring tactics and court politics, and how involved our female characters can be, which is a bit different from the usual harem drama where the women are mostly stuck battling each other in the inner palace.

 

20 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

There's no OTP for me at this stage although I like the three key conspirators. I suppose we're meant to think that HL could end up one way or another with either men although I'm rather inclined to think that her relationship with LBW has echoes of dysfunctionality in it. Make no mistake, he's an interesting anti-hero. He's a self-styled Machiavellian or at least he tries to convince himself and everyone around him that he is.

 

I guess I'm odd in that I find Ying Yiren more intriguing because I want to know what he's truly capable of. A crouching tiger hidden dragon as it were. 

 

Except for the sister, XY, the women are generally very bright. Even the bratty Princess.

I agree with everything! (pretty said the same thing in my previous post above). Love how the men are so dumb in contrast with how capable the women are. Like Princess Ya implied, they probably could run the country better than these men if they let them!

 

I'd be totally fine if Hao Lan ended up being like, both of these men SUCK I'd rather be alone. Or maybe Lao Ai would be her one true love? Seems unlikely since they set up Lu Bu Wei to be her soulmate, even if not her lifelong lover. Her relationship with Yiren will also be a bit dysfunctional. I think if you're involved in palace politics, there will never be a simple, straightforward relationship. Everyone in this drama has such a tragic life/love   

[therewillbeddl]

What I do like about this drama is the way they developed YR as a character, considering there is so little info about him historically. His sweet, kind and weakling facade when in reality he’s clever and manipulative when he wants to be. Mao Zijun portrays it so well that I can’t help but find his scenes with HL so sweet lol. 

Things will get more complicated in the last 15 eps for both YR-HL and LBW-HL. I think it’s clear that she loves LBW more but at this point it doesn’t matter anymore. They both don’t see eye to eye when it comes to what they want the most in life and all HL wants is a warm family with someone who cares for her, and LBW cannot give her that.

Also, the part in the trailer where HL says that she will never forgive him in this lifetime is believed to be directed toward YR for dying so soon, as many ppl think it parallels with him telling HL that he’d never forgive her if she died and left him behind (when she was giving birth). 

 

As for Lao Ai, Yu Zheng said that they will not follow history. It’ll be a one-sided love/obsession. 

Edited February 12, 2019 by therewillbeddl

[lyserose]

@kyoko22  I wouldn't really brand LBW and Zhao Ji (Haolan in this drama) as villains. It depends on how you view them. Plus most accounts are based on the record by Sima Qian who harbored great resentment towards LBW and Qin Shi Huang, thus some accounts of his could be discounted.

 

While some historical accounts are arguable and I do know that we are watching a drama and not a documentary, I would prefer if they stick to the consistent facts that are LBW reluctantly gave Zhao Ji to Yingren, thus speaks volume of how his desire for power surpass everything and the continuous affiliation between LBW and Zhao Ji, despite that he gifted her away and then, gave her an impostor eunuch to replace him.

 

1 hour ago, insertusernamehere said:

First off, this is a really feminist drama. The women in the show are constantly smarter than the men, and do not hesitate to use their brains and beauty for survival and desires. Even a "bad" character like Princess Ya has real moments of connecting with Hao Lan on the basis of being a woman in a shitty era. Hao Lan constantly asserts her own will in her decision, and always maintains a balanced view on gender equality. To her, being a strong woman doesn't mean you have to lose your femininity or deny real physical differences between male and female. I just love all the discussions between the characters, male and female, about gender roles and the restrictions that women suffer in that era. In a future episode, Hao Lan said (I paraphrased): "The only I decided to love the most is myself. So whether it's Yiren, or Lu Bu Wei, if a man doesn't treat me right, I'd leave." That self-esteem and self-respect! This, in contrast with all the other women in the drama who let themselves ruin their lives for terrible men, is ever the more amazing. Not to say that one shouldn't go all in for love, but a lot of these men really, really didn't deserve it. 

Having watched Yanxi, tbh, I don't really find Haolan as smart as Yingluo lol. While Yingluo is about survival, Haolan is driven by love. Half of her actions are anything but calculated. She is what I would consider only half-smart but fortunate. And to be fair, the reasons why the women in here appear so smart is because they made the men so stupid. The King of Zhao is useless, same goes to Lord Anguo which baffled me on how these men can become the head of a country, Haolan's dad is spineless, Prince Yao is pretty much the male version of his wife, General Gao is more of a brunt than a brain person. So, there you have it. Except for Lu Bu Wei and teeny bit of potential in Yingren, I would say the rest of the men have brains up there for decorations purpose only. Perhaps, I would appreciate the feminist aspect if only they made the male characters of compatible wits. It's similar to my feeling towards K-dramas where they always downgrade the female intellects just to make the male characters far superior and in here, it's the opposite.

 

1 hour ago, insertusernamehere said:

Second, both male leads in this drama are SO flawed (I mean, everyone in this drama is, but considering they're the "main" roles, I find it fascinating that they're so many shades of grey - as in, they're not "good guys" or "bad guys". They are both just men, sometimes terrible, most of the time decent enough, and all the time fight for what they want and are conflicted about it). I think everyone is on the Hao Lan - Lu Bu Wei ship, and it is a very compelling romance, but for some reason I really eat up the Hao Lan - Yiren romance. He's so swoony! And a total puppy for her! Their scenes have that classic fresh romance feel

If you read thru this thread and comment sections on most drama streaming portals.... Most are shippers of Hao Lan and Yingren. As for myself, I am still Team Lu Bu Wei all the way. Perhaps I am not the kind who like the puppy type but as always, it comes down to one's preference :-)

 

38 minutes ago, therewillbeddl said:

As for Lao Ai, Yu Zheng said that they will not follow history. It’ll be a one-sided love/obsession. 

Too bad. No matter how scandalous this would be, I still prefer they stick closer to history :-(. One of my biggest problems with this drama is that almost all men are infatuated of Haolan and almost all women are jealous of her, thus her endless tortures and sufferings. Sighs.

[therewillbeddl]

26 minutes ago, lyserose said:

Too bad. No matter how scandalous this would be, I still prefer they stick closer to history :-(. One of my biggest problems with this drama is that almost all men are infatuated of Haolan and almost all women are jealous of her, thus her endless tortures and sufferings. Sighs.

Personally I don’t think it’d be a good idea to include that scandalous aspect into this drama. Female lead will get slandered left and right by viewers and it’s not a good idea for both the actress and the drama as a whole if everyone ends up hating the main lead. People were already looking down on this drama in the beginning as many people do not like Zhao Ji. 

Tbh, I’m already satisfied by the history accuracy part of the drama. The fact that they accurately depicted the ongoing conflicts between Zhao and Qin and other states, especially the Battle of Changping, LBW’s methods to make YR crown prince, the years of suffering HL went through in Zhao with Ying Zheng and even not following Sima Qian’s illogical story about Qin Shihuang’s birth pleasantly surprised me. 

[lyserose]

6 minutes ago, therewillbeddl said:

Personally I don’t think it’d be a good idea to include that scandalous aspect into this drama. Female lead will get slandered left and right by viewers and it’s not a good idea for both the actress and the drama as a whole if everyone ends up hating the main lead. People were already looking down on this drama in the beginning as many people do not like Zhao Ji. 

Tbh, I’m already satisfied by the history accuracy part of the drama. The fact that they accurately depicted the ongoing conflicts between Zhao and Qin and other states, especially the Battle of Changping, LBW’s methods to make YR crown prince, the years of suffering HL went through in Zhao with Ying Zheng and even not following Sima Qian’s illogical story about Qin Shihuang’s birth pleasantly surprised me. 

I do understand the repercussion but at least, they could put a twist somewhere to paint Zhao Ji in a better light instead of that one-sided obsession or better off to omit out Lao Ai. LOL But again, there's always the risk when putting a spotlight on a scandalous character as Zhao Ji.

And I agree with you about the paternity of Qin Shi Huang. They made it clear that the child belongs to Yingren and not LBW's. 

[insertusernamehere]

@lyserose very good points! Re sticking closer to history, I don't know... If Sima Qian's records described Lao Ai's penis as being as large as an axle......... I'm inclined to believe that the story about her affairs with Lao AI is as embellished as the pregnancy story.

Oh interesting; I haven't read through all the pages but my impression on the sites I saw was that lots of people checked this drama out for the Yanxi OTP and thus were rooting for LBW. And haha Yiren is a puppy but a very cunning one! I'm fascinated and saddened by his doomed love for Hao Lan

Agree re the constant torture of Hao Lan by obsessed men and women. Princess Ya is a very compelling character but I really wish her storyline had wrapped up when it was supposed to...

As for the men being dumb, agree, some could be smarter to show true rivalry, but the feminism goes beyond smarts. I really like how all the women take actions to shape their own lives, whether they're terrible actions or not. They all have agency and it is a sight to see!

[lyserose]

@insertusernamehere Lol. Nobody could actually know what one has below the belt, right? That's why I said, some of Sima Qian's accounts could be discounted and especially that he is a historian of Han Dynasty which succeeded Qin Dynasty, thus he did quite a lot to smear Qin Shi Huang and his origin.

 

Idk how they are going to dress up Lao Ai but again, I still am not really fond of the one-sided obsession. I was hoping for a more creative motivation. 

 

Oh, and can I say how much I like the colour transition in this drama. Back in Zhao, most of them wear white but now that they are in Qin, the colour tone turns darker which reflected the darker sides of each characters now that the stakes are higher. 

 

[kyoko22]

@lyserose yes, villian is not the correct word. But when i read LBW history, my first impression is... what a jerk. Willing to let go his pregnant concubine for power. Before the drama start airing, when i watch the trailers, i think 'ahhh... they going to portray LBW as that jerk'. With Mao Zijun as Yingren who is handsome, calm, mysterious... a perfect husband and king. Who knows, the writer twist my early assumption between these two. YR showed his trueself at Qin. And as you said he is pretty useless. He can't even save himself, let alone Haolan.

 

Arghh... Am i too hard on YR? Yes, maybe i'm too hard in him coz I like LBW but YR is unlikeable after Qin Country saga. 

[joyblack4]

 Yiren is not useless,he is a brilliant man,it is not only LBW who comes out with a plan how they can survive in that palace,yiren also comes out with good ideas too,even ,they usually plan everything together in yiren hut,he looks very sad not interested in life at all from the beginning,not until LBW met him in prison ,he become an ambitious Prince ,it was LBW who was ambitious by using  HL beauy to attract yiren,then start  couching  him to become ambitious Prince,he fell in love with Hl the very first time he saw her in the street,even when king wanted to execute him for not marrying his daughter,he wasn't afraid to die,he stands firm on his words,it  was LBW who was scared to die .from the beginning LBW plan was to use HL beauty to achieve his embitiousness,he brought HL not because he was in love,he brought her to make use of her beauty to achieve his aim,he basically prepared her to dance for the king ,which almost get HL killed if not yiren who gave her the pill to swallow to prevent the fire  consuming her alive,by then LBW was helpless to save HL.HL open up her heart to LBW but LBW keep thinking of his next plan,three of them scheme together and use each other plus others to achieve what they want.

yiren left for eight years his wife and son is very bad but it was LBW scheme that create that situation,because he was jealous ,he didn't like the way he lost HL to yiren ,he comes out with plan for yiren to go back to his home town to become a king,the situation of scheming to become a king lead yiren to agreed to marry that lady,yiren did not left HL unprotected ,he left his personal bodyguard to her,when the battle was going on ,he was tie up as a hostage ,when HL went into labour ,he has to work against his home town to create a save enveroment for her and the baby.i am not here argue with anyone ,i am just mainly stating my own opinion  how i view and understand the story,i don't have to write too of grammar in my views ,i hope the little grammar i write can be understood.

[40somethingahjumma]

It was never my intention to start some kind of ship war which seems inevitable apparently when there's a love triangle at the forefront.  I try and steer clear of all of that in general. All I said was that I found YR more intriguing in these early days which had nothing to do with romance at all... although admittedly I'm not as far ahead in my viewing as many here. I have no idea which ship is the most popular in fandom... I'm not really on board on any and I don't think it matters much who Hao Lan ends up with as long as she continues to be the primary agent of that outcome. The men in this show are generally a mixed bag which is fine. Although the king frustrates me the most. They all have their moments even the worst of them. The complexity comes from the fact that they all play the game of survival in the manner that befits their personalities and background.

 

I also don't operate under the assumption that the most deserving should get the girl because that's a loaded term that comes with a set of criteria that we mightn't all share. I see that HL ends up marrying YR who wasn't entirely useless at the time when she was in something of a jam. I can't say I'm entirely surprised if YR ends up being largely a passive bystander because that's always been his default mode. A man can't change that much even if he loves a woman. LBW is different because he has always been a go-getter but his problem is that he does things and makes choices with no regard to how she might feel. That's always been the case. The men are set  up as stark contrasts and yet they both have a profound influence on her trajectory. That's the more important part. Who she loves more doesn't matter much in a drama like this. She's often swept up in events outside of her control even if she attempts to maintain some level of personal agency.

 

 

5 hours ago, insertusernamehere said:

 

 

First off, this is a really feminist drama. The women in the show are constantly smarter than the men, and do not hesitate to use their brains and beauty for survival and desires.

 

 

Yes and no I think. Yes in that the women are often smarter than many of the men and can play the game pretty well. But I also think that they are motivated by very different things. They don't really crave power per se... they are more keen on maintaining the status quo or as in the case of Princess Ya, and it's about earning the affections of a man. HL is a little radical in that she talks about freedom. Even if she's in love with LBW, she's never blind to his flaws and operates shrewdly within those parameters of their relationship. I like that about her most. She's always known that he loves her even if he pretends otherwise. But she hasn't let it completely dominate her life in the way it has for Princess Ya or XY. 

 

There's this great conversation. I think it was when the princes of Chu and Wei (I think) came to forge a marriage alliance with Zhao via the princess. She of course throws a fit, complaining that no one cares about her happiness and that women are used to solve problems created by men. I had some sympathy for that. But I also appreciated YR's answer (I think it was both him and LBW) about the fact that men serve in the army to fight these wars. She's lived a life of luxury and needs to step up when called upon. Marriage alliance are very much the done thing. The gist of it I think is that everyone... men and women... all play a part in resolving geopolitical issues.

 

As far as the romance is concerned, I myself think that she appreciates the two men for different reasons and what they contribute to her life. Neither one is the total package... and it takes two men perhaps to give her what she needs/wants  at various points in her life. I say this of course, not really knowing what's ahead.

Rather than see them as competitors, I think that YR and LBW are complementary gap fillers.  My opinion is that the three of them are in some kind of tacit but turbulent romance.  It's a C drama afterall.

 

I have to say though, I really enjoyed watching YR and HL contractual marriage at play in the early days. There was a lighter tone and it worked like a rom com. I particularly liked seeing him with his knowing smile and being very sweet to her. The quiet life in isolation with his books really suits him. He is a scholar at heart. I can imagine that being close to the seat of power isn't really his thing.

[lyserose]

Just to clarify.... Indeed Lu Bu Wei is manipulative right from the get go. Idk if there's anyone out there can say that he is a good man because he definitely is not. He bought Hao Lan with the sole intention to give her to the Zhao's king, thus attaining power and wealth thru his connection with her. But do bear in mind, Hao Lan also agreed to this arrangement initially, that is until she fell for LBW. 

 

Also, she was rescued from the sacrifice ritual not only for Yingren's hold breath pill, but because LBW gave her the fire resistance cloak, bribed those people who set the fire stage and presented the white deer to the King of Zhao. To say that he didn't save Haolan is not true. 

 

And tbf, I am not onto shipping war despite that I am on Team LBW. Everyone is free to ship whichever couple they like. I just feel like Yingren is too slow in showing his capability, thus not giving LBW much match as an opponent. Don't get me wrong, I am totally fine with bad men in dramas as long as they can give a good match, thus made the rivalry interesting just like the rivalry between 4th and 8th Prince in Bu Bu Jing Xin. Tbh  I wouldn't want them to make LBW into another Fuheng either. I just hope each character could bring in their A-games. I hope to see Yingren unleashing his true potential and become a worthy frenemy to LBW now that he is the King of Qin. 

 

Finally, let's be open and respect each and everyone's opinion and hope we can continue discussing this drama peacefully. 

[berryberry]

So, Yiren and Haolan get married, and then during those 8 years when they are apart, he marries another woman? I know it's just for power, but is it a genuine marriage (i.e. does he sleep with her, etc)? I've only watched up until episode 18, but so far I prefer the thought of Hao Lan and Yiren together, than her and Lu Bu Wei...not based off any intricate analysis of their characters, just on a superficial level..

 

I can't handle betrayal/cheating of a romantic kind when it comes to my OTPs, so if Yiren genuinely married another woman, or has loads of concubines he pays attention to I likely won't be able to keep watching.    I know that's really common in historical dramas though  It didn't bother me in Yanxi because her character seemed so unaffected by it, but as a general rule it does. But that's just me; I find it hard to deal with the emotion. 

[lyserose]

10 hours ago, Amy Joy Hendricks said:

So, Yiren and Haolan get married, and then during those 8 years when they are apart, he marries another woman? I know it's just for power, but is it a genuine marriage (i.e. does he sleep with her, etc)? I've only watched up until episode 18, but so far I prefer the thought of Hao Lan and Yiren together, than her and Lu Bu Wei...not based off any intricate analysis of their characters, just on a superficial level..

 

I can't handle betrayal/cheating of a romantic kind when it comes to my OTPs, so if Yiren genuinely married another woman, or has loads of concubines he pays attention to I likely won't be able to keep watching.    I know that's really common in historical dramas though  It didn't bother me in Yanxi because her character seemed so unaffected by it, but as a general rule it does. But that's just me; I find it hard to deal with the emotion. 

He married Siluo for political reason. He went with LBW's plan to get himself adopted by Lady Huayang since she is his father's primary consort, thus made him an heir apparent and has better chance for the throne. 

 

Lady Huayang wanted him to marry Siluo and he had to oblige. People those days married and reproduced not necessarily out of love especially the royals. Most are for political reasons. So, he shouldn't be considered as cheating. And he is not a monk. I doubt he can go abstinence within that long period of 8 years without his wife. So naturally he can sleep with her even when there's no love. And this marriage and a son with another woman is totally in line with actual historical facts of Yingren. 

 

Once Haolan reunited with him in Qin, you can see the difference of his treatments between the two wives. One he married out of love, another for power.