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Tbh I am not complaining about the gazillion of characters, maybe because it was less confusing now what I rewatched the first two episodes. I just tried to remember their faces and then did a research to remember their names and who they actually are :D And it's a plus that all of them seem interesting, I complain about too many supporting characters only when they are boring

But yeah I kind of enjoyed the first two eps, especially the second half of the second 

I didnt understand the part where Zhou Dingfeng and his son where chasing someone. Who are they and why are these two tracking them?

Just thought I'd add these to @PeachBlossomGoddess's very apt explanations:-

Princess Nihuang is not the Emperor's daughter. Her surname is 'Mu' not the imperial surname 'Xiao' which is carried by all the Emperor's offspring with the exception of Jingrui (that was an exceptional situation and circumstance which was explained in the drama itself).

Not all Princes and Princesses have to necessarily be offspring or descendants of the Emperor. In ancient China there are sometimes feudal territories which pledged their allegiance and loyalty to the Emperor (e.g. Joseon aka Old Korea) and the rulers/ kings of these feudal territories are not only allowed to keep their old titles but are also sometimes awarded high-ranking titles or positions by the Emperor as a show of favour from him. Nihuang's family, the House of Mu, is one such example. Yunnan is a major territory in the South which has ceded its allegiance to the Emperor (probably through being conquered in the past) but in order to maintain peace and not incite unrest and rebellion amongst the people of Yunnan, the Emperor bestowed a high-ranking title to Nihuang herself (Marquis-General of the First Rank). Nihuang's 'Princess' title comes from being the daughter of the former King of Yunnan and her younger brother, Mu Qing, who will eventually succeed her, has the title of 'Duke'.

This is also the reason why the Emperor was so keen to marry Nihuang off and keep her in the Capital. He fears that if she were to stay in her position in Yunnan, the people of Yunnan will no longer recognise the Emperor as their ruler but Nihuang instead. Nihuang's power and popularity in Southern Yunnan was becoming a threat to him. This was all explained in Ep2.

(Tidbit: If you listen carefully, you will also notice that Nihuang's princess title is pronounced/ addressed as 'junzhu' which is 'princess of the 3rd rank', a title normally given to either daughters of the Emperor's sons or to daughters of feudal kings. Emperor's daughters are normally addressed as 'gongzhu' which is either a princess of the 1st rank (from the Empress) or of the 2nd rank (from Emperor's consorts/ concubines)).

Yes, Su Zhe is plotting everything to make the royal court like he wants it to be. 

So I am very terrible with names and much better with faces. so I'm just going to share my screenshot reacts. Some of you have done such an amazing job recapping and explaining the first two episodes.  I've got nothing else to contribute.

Episode 1:

1. I knew this cast was amazing, but I never really payed attention to the minor supporting actors until this watch (the first time was too overwhelming for me).  Although he technically isn't a "minor" character, I just noticed that the Minister is played by Liu Yi Jun. I did not know who he was when I watched originally, but I've seen him in a lot more prominent, bigger roles in the past two years.  Pretty cool.  I could barely recognize him with that facial hair and costume getup.

2. Can we talk about this badass scene where the main character appears?

First of all, yes we all love monkey boy Fei Lu.  Second of all, check out that cape! Dude has got swag.  If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was pimping.  Especially with the way that guy just drowned. xD

Episode 2:

1. Poor Fei Lu just needs a friend.  Can someone please get him one?

2. Speaking of Fei Lu, I totally forgot about his slow mental growth. 

At first I was like, OMG they have a character with special needs.  Could he possibly be on the spectrum?  But he didn't show any signs as such and then I saw this comment... (sorry if it's a spoiler, it is sort of addressed in episode 2 cuz they said they "saved" him). So it looks like his mental state is the result of an experiment. :( Poor kid.

3. FINALLY, the unfavored prince appears.

4.  It's only the 2nd episode and we've already got evil, old men plotting to kill.

5. GRANNY IS THE BEST! Also, Fei Lu's reaction is literally me when any elderly person asks me why I haven't gotten married yet.

 Poia:

Please tell me there will be romance between the unfavored prince and the FBI lady!!!! 

I call her Cop Lady, but FBI lady sounds better lol 

 Kate:

"OH DUDE. Imagine love line between Princess Ni Huan and Xia Dong! That would be some good shit." random wild thoughts.

Just so you know, you RUINED me with this comment, and I'll mention it in my recap/reactions post, and you'll totally get the credit blame for it!!! XD

Okay, post incoming (though I feel this is useless after all your comments and remarks), I'll split it into 4 parts to not be overwhelming, cause it's too long!!

Notes, Reactions, and Recap

[*My Vocabulary: MCS=Mei ChangSu, (Dirty) Old Man=The Emperor of Da Liang, Princess=Mu Nihuang, gege=endearing "older brother", jiejie=endearing "older sister", qinggong=light body skill, Best Boy/Our Boy=Fei Liu, jianghu=pugilist world/world of martial artists/underworld, CP=Crown Prince, xiong=brother/comrade, often said among peers/friends.]

EPISODE 1, PART 1

- Can we take a moment to appreciate the amount of blood in this opening battle scene/flashback? Like blood (literally) flowing everywhere, just how a real battle aftermath should look! 

- Did his hand just slipped, or did his father left his hand? If the latter, did he really thought he had more chances of survival fallen down? I mean, he was a martial artist, but it's a long fall! 

- OMG omg is this Fei Liu?? Oh, no, it's just a random kid, an OBEDIENT kid just doing his job... 

- LIN CHEN, Young Master of Langya Hall, REMEMBER HIM!! See how impressed & proud Lin Chen is, his expression's saying: “the son-of-a-bitch did it, ha?” :)

- So, what did we learn from this scene, children? Someone (The protagonist) managed to make the 6^th prince of Northern Yan the Crown Prince! AND also, that our guys want the news of this impressive deed to spread out on Da Liang, more specifically, they want THE PRINCES of Da Liang to find out about it! Why? SPOILER: Well, refer to the father's last line on the flashback, “For the Chiyan army, live on!”, and the tag “Revenge”! :D

If you're not impressed on how much secret info these guys have stored out there, I don't know what would impress you!

- Minister Xu is the envoy that will probably spread the info about Northern Yan's Crown Prince, as noted above.

- OH, he doesn't even have time to do his job, a Da Liang prince hijacked his attention to learn the news up front! MINISTER ZHU, another name to note, under that prince's faction.

- And so it is: Xiao Jinghuan (that's his personal name), Fifth Prince (that's his order of birth). PRINCE YU (that's his official title). REMEMBER HIM, he's one of the 3-4 MAIN FACTIONS that fight for the throne!

I love how so many in this drama are so good at acting to be able to reflect so much meaning/emotions with minuscule micro-expressions! I mean look at him. He seems sober, impatient, and very self-pleased at the same time (in my opinion).

- So, Prince Yu was there under the (pretence of the) order of the Emperor after all, ha?

- EMPRESS YAN, adoptive mother of Prince Yu. Of course every consort is on someone's side/faction. Is anyone on the dirty old man's (the Emperor's, da!) side, I wonder? :D

- NOBLE CONSORT YUE, birth mother of the Crown Prince. Of course she would disagree with her jiejie. God, these ladies could use a subtler route!

- These royal pearls will get explained later. I don't remember details, but the more pearls, the mightiest/prestigious the prince!

- Oh, here we go, with this number of pearls, Prince Yu will now become a Prince of Second Rank! So it's not just prestige, but actual rank/hierarchy they confer. 

- Xiao Jingxuan (his personal name), CROWN PRINCE (he's the designated hair to the throne, da!) of the Eastern Palace (this is every Crown Prince's residence in the Imperial Palace. Sometimes in historical dramas they refer to the CP himself AS the Eastern Palace!). REMEMBER HIM, TOO, he's one of the other MAIN FACTIONS!

He looks kind of dense, definitely not as restrained as Prince Yu, and freaking TIRED of this shit. But be careful of a cornered cat they say, they become DANGEROUS!

- And indeed he's apparently trying to make some sort of move on his brother.

- Yeah, I already don't know who this minister-guy is that's speaking to Prince Yu, lol.

- “The Sixth Prince (of Northern Yan) personally went to Langya Hall (the information organization shown in the beginning) and received a silk pouch.”: That basically means he asked for their guidance (he hired their services), and he received it.

- Oh! :o A guy being murdered already (no idea who he is), and we're only in the 10^th minute of the 1^st episode! (Not counting the hundred of thousands of deaths off-screen before the drama started.) Yeah, politics in these times were a dangerous business [https://youtu.be/mSWvdojyy2M?t=36]!

- “A Divine Talent, to have him is to have the world.”: Guess WHO the Divine Talent is supposed to be? ;)

- Oh, so he was successfully baited!

- So the murdered guy was some servant? And this one is replacing him with shady intents?

- Just an assassination attempt? Boring. But Prince Yu apparently knows some martial arts! And how to regulate his qi or whatever the sealed-my-hand-so-the-poison-doesn't-spread thing he did is called.

- So that was the move Crown Prince was talking about? Or is there more?

- Zhuo Dingfeng, Master of TIANQUAN MANOR & his son: No idea who these guys are, and with whom they are, they are probably part of jianghu, not royal court, though?

- Is Lin Chen anxious, and tries to relieve his tension by practising his sword-work, when our protagonist's Big Stage is about to begin?

- Wait, instructions unclear. What if he chooses all the drawers with keys? And what about those without keys? And he will be given a quote before the answer, he will pay, and then receive the answer? Is there a money-back guarantee? Sounds like lame customer service as well. We need to call consumer rights protection on them! xD

- Oh, so he goes straight to the VIP section of Langya Hall. Which is right where our guys want him, anyway. ;)

- Oh, the good-old “Jianghu stays away from the business of the Royal Court”... that never happens! There's always an excuse.

And so it begins! Yes that's an actual silk pouch. And of course they didn't forget the detail of his hand being sliced. But what is the price he promised?

- So, is this the actual guy Crown Prince said? And not the assassin?

- XIE YU, Marquis of Ning. (REMEMBER HIM!) He's talking about the guy introduced before, that followed Prince Yu.

- So that guy (Zhuo Dingfeng, Tianquan Manor) was under the Crown Prince, and got whatever Prince Yu got from Langya Hall: A silk pouch with the same message.

- “The first on the Langya List of Talented Gentlemen (Edit: 'cause as @MusicalVeggies rightfully corrected, there's 5 of them!!!) (Langya Bang=the name of the drama in Chinese by the way, we'll talk about these lists later), Sir Mei (his last name) of Jiangzuo (a member of the Jiangzuo Alliance)”: I imagine everyone guessed who that is ('cough' Hu Ge 'cough').

- QIN BANRUO, Prince Yu's strategist (Pro Tip: REMEMBER HER!). So, he already seems smarter than the Crown Prince, he also gets to have a personal strategist? What does the CP get? I already feel sorry for the guy! :/

Banruo, we need you to enlighten us with your beauty!

- The first on the Langya List of Talented Gentlemen, Chief of the Jiangzuo Alliance, Mei Changsu (our protagonist). “Remotely reflected, cold as snow in manner, subtle fragrance drifts over the winding Ling River. Knowing the ways of the heroes of this world, supporting Jiangzuo is Sir Mei.”: Leaving his rumoured description here, to compare when he makes his appearance.

- They figured out that the Crown Prince will also know about this divine talent, and that they must hurry to secure his alliance before him.

- Crown Prince also wants to harm someone named Duke Qing, who's a(nother) right arm of Prince Yu. Their underlings Tianquan Manor's Zhuos (see above) are to take the task (of killing him I suppose).

- Shady businesses are about to be conducted, but the victim(s) is trying to escape into... guess where? Jiangzuo Alliance. They must be first in Langya List (Edit: ...of Martial Arts Sects!) for a reason. NOBODY messes with Jiangzuo Alliance!

Mei Changsu

- At long last, our protagonist is being introduced. He's rather impressive, don't you think? Also, where did that boy (our BEST baby boy!) come from, from inside the water, from the clouds? Doesn't matter, just goes to show his INHUMAN qinggong skill!

Everyone's a friend here!

- Nobody messes with our man, or our boy! :)

END OF EPISODE 1, PART 1