Review: Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace (如懿傳) (2018)

[phanero]

This drama was pretty good! Despite being the sequel to the Legend of Zhen Huan, it doesn’t follow all of the exact same story beats, which I appreciate. Instead, this was a more romantic and personal take on the harem drama narrative which I appreciated. The production value was also pretty high. Overall I would recommend this especially if you enjoyed Legend of Zhen Huan or other harem cdramas.

Spoilers, I guess.



Story

Ulanara Qingying was the niece of Yongzheng’s Empress and grew up with Prince Hongli. As they grew older they became sweethearts. Prince Hongli wanted to have Qingying as his main wife, but due to her aunt’s fall from grace, Yongzheng disallowed that, and only allowed her to be a concubine. Nonetheless, it was obvious that Qingying was Hongli’s favourite.

After Yongzheng died, Hongli ascended the throne (I will call him Qianlong from now on). Qingying also asked for a name change from the Empress Dowager (Zhen Huan), and from now on I will refer to her as Ruyi. Fuca Langhua was promoted to Empress, Gao Xiyua to High Consort, and Ruyi to Consort. In the beginnings, Empress Fuca and Consort Hui would work against Ruyi, knowing that she had backing from Qianlong. As time passed, another consort joined, Consort Jia, who would pull strings. It culminated in Ruyi being framed for the miscarriages of two royal babies and being sent to the Cold Palace, where Ruyi befriended the guard Ling Yunche. On the outside, Consort Yu helped sow doubt so that Qianlong would take one more look at the allegations. Eventually, Ruyi was cleared of wrongdoing. When she was released, she was a bit upset with Qianlong, but seeing that he still held love for her, she forgave him.

Afterwards, we saw the downfalls of Consort Hui and Empress Fuca. Consort Hui was behind several of the miscarriages (though Consort Jia also goaded her). Empress Fuca also had her share of evil deeds, plus she had also been suppressing Consort Hui and Ruyi’s ability to have children. Empress Fuca grew paranoid. She fell into water and was saved but was severely ill. On her deathbed, she got into a fight with Qianlong, who was unhappy with her, but she cursed that promoting Ruyi to Empress would not bring a better time than hers.

Nonetheless, Qianlong promoted Ruyi to Empress, and they were happy for a time. Ruyi’s next opponent was Consort Jia, who had been subtly pulling strings in the era of Empress Fuca. The issue was that now that she had no one’s strings to pull, it was obvious what she was doing. She had many sons, and that gave her power. Her eldest son, the fourth prince, was in direct competition with the fifth prince, who was Hailan’s son and Ruyi’s adoptive son. Consort Jia was growing aggressive in pushing her sons and trying to seize power. She also bribed other noble ladies to try to speak well of her sons. In the background was also the rise of Consort Ling who would be the future third empress. At the same time, she was also scheming against Consort Jia. Qianlong eventually grew tired of her political maneuvers and stripped Consort Jia of her titles and removing her sons from contention.

Now came the next era in which Consort Ling was Ruyi’s main opponent. Consort Ling was very aggressive in her rise to the top but she also wasn’t even a fun villain like Consort Jia was. But more on her later. She was the childhood sweetheart of Ling Yunche, who was now loyal to Empress Ruyi which also complicated things. Consort Ling inherited her cutthroat nature from her mother who only cared for power and riches. In one scenario, Qianlong and Ruyi caught her mother casting a curse on Ruyi. Consort Ling’s mother would have outed Consort Ling for all her other crimes as well if not for Consort Ling pushing all the blame on her mother. In any case, the association would have been a crime enough, and Qianlong demoted her, and removed her newborn from her care.

Over the years, Consort Ling worked her way back up and had many children. Yongqi was growing into a very upstanding prince and it was clear Qianlong quite liked him. The Princess Han Xiangjian was delivered to the palace and Qianlong fell madly in love with her although her heart still remained with her dead fiancé. Qianlong’s infatuation affected politics as Princess Xiangjian was from a small tribe and his larger political allies such as the Mongolian tribes saw him as not being respectful of their relationship. Of course the harem was in uproar as Qianlong was doing so much for a woman who didn’t want to be alive. Ruyi suffered the most. She had to convince Xiangjian to stay alive despite Xiangjian having no interest in doing so. But after hearing Qianlong rave about Xiangjian, Ruyi felt that Qianlong had forgotten their love that was supposed to be long and loving. Xiangjian stayed in the harem but it permanently changed the relationship between Ruyi and Qianlong.

In the upcoming years, Consort Ling was plotting again. She planted her seeds everywhere. She was responsible for many deaths including many royal children. She was also responsible for killing Yongqi and would have been on her way to kill Yongji as well. Consort Ling tried to frame Ruyi for an affair with Ling Yunche. This sowed the seed of distrust from Qianlong and he would grow enraged every time he thought of Ling Yunche, no matter how many times Ruyi insisted she was true to him.

In order to protect Ruyi, Hailan had no choice but to falsify an edict to put Ling Yunche to death. Ling Yunche accepted this, but Ruyi was upset about it and she grew distant from the world for a while. Then, Yongqi died and Ruyi was framed for it, by a woman who had been placed by Yongqi’s side by Consort Ling.

Consort Ling had organized for some courtesans to be with the Emperor which Ruyi found very inappropriate and she was to arrange Consort Ling to be executed. She got into a fight with Qianlong over this, and cut her hair over the argument. This signified that her marriage with her husband was over, which obviously was a curse to Qianlong. He sent her home and had her locked up.

Consort Ling was the most powerful in the harem at this time as royal high consort. However, Qianlong knew that things were up with her. For one, she had been collecting her children back under her care. However, she had been overheard teaching her son that he doesn’t always have to listen to his dad but he must listen to his mom, which obviously enraged Qianlong and he removed all her children from her care again.

Ruyi was all but officially stripped of her Empress title and powers. During this time she began to ail. However, she was working hard. She still needed to protect Yongji and to take down Consort Ling. In the end, Hailan and the Empress Dowager were able to take down Consort Ling with some damning testimonies from her servants. Consort Ling was locked up and fed poison every day. Qianlong returned Ruyi’s Empress powers to her. However, Ruyi did not accept them.

Qianlong came by to talk to Ruyi. When he asked her to come on a trip with him, she declined. She implied that their time was over. While Qianlong was away, Ruyi died peacefully. She wrote one letter to her son, wishing that he would be well, and would have his own autonomy.

When Ruyi passed, Qianlong stripped her of all her titles. Of course, this looks bad (but was mostly historically accurate). When questioned by his mom, Qianlong did seem a little bitter that Ruyi no longer wanted to be his empress. She had refused the Empress seal, she had torn up the painting of her and Qianlong. However, Qianlong also lamented on the fact that maybe Ruyi was not for the harem. She had always wanted them to live as husband and wife, not Emperor and Empress. Zhen Huan took this to mean that Qianlong was releasing her from duty so that she could be free and happy, which is a way more romantic and positive way of looking at things.

Post time skip, Yongyan (Consort Ling’s eldest son) was shown to be a quite able prince. However, his mother Consort Ling had turned into a madwoman. She was fed drugs every day, the same mushrooms she’d tried to get Yongji hooked on. However, Qianlong and Empress Dowager couldn’t let Yongyan ascend with such a mother, so they finally had her killed. Historically, Qianlong retired and handed over the throne to his son so he spent his last years not as an Emperor.

As an old man, he had kept the lock of hair that Ruyi had cut. He cut his hair too so that they would be together. A plant that he had gifted to Ruyi final flowered as he passed.

Sorry if any of these things are out of order. As you man know, this was an incredibly long drama but it was a fun ride. One of the main criticisms I’d heard from people was that the ending was weird and abrupt. However, it didn’t seem that way to me, possibly because I had spread out those episodes (due to being busy).

In the Legend of Zhen Huan, Zhen Huan grew disillusioned with love and romance early on in the show. She came back strong and cutthroat. However, this entire drama was about love for Ruyi. Her connection with Qianlong was only ever through love. Remember, she didn’t even really want to come to Hongli’s original concubine selection. But she did it because she liked him and he liked her. In their earlier years, Ruyi would suffer through anything Qianlong asked of her. She understood that he was under immense pressure as Emperor. She just wanted to have a sliver of his heart that was dedicated to her. She never grew jealous, as long as Qianlong remembered her.

Things changed over time as they grew. People naturally change as they grow older, but the inclusion of children changed things. Ruyi could suffer through betrayals, but she would not stand for innocent children being killed. And it angered her when Qianlong would not stand up for their children, would not see the injustice under their eyes.

The next straw was Xiangjian. Ruyi knew none of this was Xiangjian’s fault. Xiangjian didn’t even want to be there. But Qianlong treated Ruyi in such a dismissive way. He slapped Ruyi for her treatment of Xiangjian and that was big. Because now the man she loved the most in the world had raised his hand against her because he loved another woman more than her. Qianlong continued to strip away her powers and children due to his dissatisfaction with her, her inability to let things go as she used to.

By the time Ruyi cut her hair, she had had enough, she was never coming back to Qianlong again. She just spent the rest of her life trying to get justice for those who’d died. And she’d achieved that, but she was not coming back to Qianlong. She was tired and unhappy.

It is a very saddening tale, but I appreciate this show for putting it out in the world. I will admit the climax of the show was frustrating at times because it was obvious that she was being besmirched. Normally in harem dramas, this comes earlier and we see the satisfying end. Like in Zhen Huan, after her fall from grace she came back even more powerful. But Ruyi didn’t have the satisfying comeback. But overall it was still a well put-together show.

Production

Very nice production quality. I thought the costumes and sets were really beautiful, no notes.

My only one complaint would be that in Ruyi’s last months, when she was supposed to be very ill, she didn’t look that way. She coughed on occasion but she wasn’t pallid or grey, she just had her normal makeup. So it made her illness feel more sudden.

Otherwise the acting was mostly decent. There were some actresses who were weaker than others. But I think Zhou Xun and the main cast did an excellent job and really immersed me.

Characters

Ulanara Qingying/Ruyi/Consort Xian/Empress Nara

Qingying was a naïve girl who was just following her heart. She only entered the palace because of her love for Hongli, as well as her political duty to the Ulanara clan to continue their line of Empresses. When she married in and faced lesser treatment, she accepted it as long as she could provide emotional support to Qianlong, which she did. No matter what happened, Qianlong could come back to her and relax and recalibrate.

Her first big shock was when she was framed for miscarriages. She was so shocked because she did not see this coming and she did not have any defense. All she could say was that she hadn’t done it. Because Qianlong didn’t have enough to overturn the false accusations, he put Ruyi into the Cold Palace. Both he and Empress Dowager knew that Ruyi was framed but they had nothing to prove otherwise. They had hired Ling Yunche to look after her but that was all he could do. During this time, I think Ruyi grew a little disillusioned with Qianlong, for making her suffer for something she had not done. This was a common occurrence, where she’d ask her to take the small Ls to keep the peace in the harem. This was on a different scale though. But she forgave him because they were back together. But Ruyi began working, trying to uncover Empress Fuca and Consort Hui’s wrongdoings.

After they were gone, Ruyi ascended to Empress. She was wary of this. She never wanted power, she just wanted to be with Qianlong. But she did have a good sense of propriety. Specifically, because she cared for Qianlong, she worried for his politics and reputation too. So she was a very responsible Empress. But because she was his counterpart, she sometimes had to go against him, particularly with things to do with the harem. This probably made Qianlong see her in a different light. She was no longer the Qingying that he played with, now she was the Empress who had to keep him in check which he did not like.

Again, Ruyi could maybe have suffered through it if it were not for the children. She had always been more sympathetic to Qianlong’s children than other consorts. There was Yonghuang who died when Consort Jia upset him with information about his mother’s death, there was Yongzhang who fell ill when he tried to tell his father to calm down about Xiangjian. There was Jingsi and Yongjing who were both killed by Consort Ling’s doings. There was Consort Shu who died when Consort Ling upset her. There was Ling Yunche who was absolutely innocent. Ruyi was upset that Qianlong wouldn’t dig further into their deaths to avoid disrupting the peace.

When Ruyi cut her hair, she decided her relationship with Qianlong was over. She had always just wanted to be his wife, but a husband consults with and heeds the advice of his wife from time to time. Qianlong would not, and thus Ruyi felt she was done being Empress if she couldn’t do her job anymore. Even after all was said and done, and Consort Ling was locked up, Ruyi would not return to being Empress. She was past this part of her life and was ready to move on. She couldn’t go back to being the docile wife when she couldn’t even protect the people around her.

Ruyi was a romantic. From he beginning of the drama, she just wanted to be in a monogamous relationship with Hongli. The reason she was fine in the earlier years of marriage was because she didn’t care for power. She had a high enough position that she couldn’t be bullied that badly, and she just needed to be a safe place for Qianlong. But when she became Empress, that came with all the bullshit of responsibilities and maintaining peace among the harem. She didn’t want any of that. I mean even sharing the man you love with other people is wild and she tolerated that as part of his responsibility, as long as she could still be by his side and have a kindred spirit in him. But as Empress, they got to a point where their arguments were greater and Qianlong couldn’t handle that, and they drifted apart, no longer being able to respect each other.

Ruyi’s parting letter was only to her remaining son. She didn’t even write a letter to Qianlong. She already said her piece, that their time had passed. All she cared was for Yongji to live a good life. Note how Yongji did not climb up the political ladder, likely heeding his mother’s words to just live well.

Qianlong and Zhen Huan agreed that maybe Ruyi was not meant for the palace. Not for a romantic like her. People like Zhen Huan were different, they grew into the politics and had left love a long time ago. But for Ruyi it started and ended with love.

I can again see why people felt annoyed with Ruyi’s character because she refused to play dirty even when others were besmirching her name. Ruyi again naively believed that things would be okay as long as the truth came out. Hailan was the only one by her who would try to get her to realize that she sometimes had to make the hard decisions for survival. But it didn’t bother me too much because I think on the whole that her character story still made sense.

Qianlong/Hongli

Qianlong was Ruyi’s beau. They grew up as sweethearts and we saw they had a fun relationship as youngsters. Things changed when Hongli became of marriageable age, and he asked Ruyi to come to the consort selection, signifying that he liked her. Ruyi did show up in the end, which solidified their love, but politics came in the way and she was demoted to concubine despite being Qianlong’s favourite. He even spent his wedding night with Ruyi instead of Fuca Langhua who was his main wife.

When Ruyi was still consort, they had a mostly okay relationship. That was because Ruyi had fewer responsibilities. She just had to be a place for Qianlong to relax and rest. She didn’t have any other responsibilities of taking care of the harem. She didn’t meddle, she didn’t try to accumulate power. She just existed, waiting for the days when Qianlong would come to her.

But once a prince becomes Emperor, things change. Everyone is his subject. And because Ruyi was his close confident, he expected the most obedience from her, making her keep the peace for the larger things. He got in the habit of asking that of her, and we saw that he would ask her to tolerate it even after the most heinous of crimes had happened to her. But it started with the small things to protect her friends in the harem. When Ruyi returned from the Cold Palace, she was upset, but she forgave him because they were together, and she saw his care in assigning Ling Yunche to protect her.

But again, things changed when kids came into the mix. The issue with the harem was that it wasn’t solely for the Emperor’s pleasure. The harem was for the purpose of building political alliances too. The reason why Ruyi had to tolerate injustices was because Empress Fuca and Consort Hui were both from families of political significance, whereas Ruyi’s family had fallen from grace. Ruyi tolerated it, but it planted a seed of Ruyi feeling justice over the years. Over the years, Qianlong would prioritize peace in the harem, whereas Ruyi cared more for justice.

Ling Yunche became a sort spot for Qianlong. He suspected it once, and Wei Yanwan fanned the flames so that he would see it everywhere. And I don’t think he was even mad about Ruyi liking another person, I think it was the fact that Ruyi who was most loyal to Qianlong their entire lives, would betray him like that. Earlier, remember how Qianlong disapproved of A-ruo for turning her back on Ruyi. I think Qianlong feels strongly about subjects who turn on their masters and given he is the Emperor, he is the master to all. But especially to Ruyi whose heart he’s held in his hand all these years and he didn’t even know.

After the crimes of Wei Yanwan were revealed, Qianlong thought that things would go back to normal. Like before, he approached an already ailing Ruyi and once again acknowledged that she’d been wronged and asked her to let it be water under the bridge. He’s been saying this to her since the beginning of time. He doesn’t understand that to a woman in the harem, the harem is her whole life. He’s flipped Ruyi’s life upside down and asked her to pretend it never happened. And at the end of the drama, Ruyi wonders if she can really pretend it didn’t happen. Of course not, but the Emperor won’t acknowledge his faults.

As I said, I believed Qianlong bore some resentment to Ruyi for not wanting to be his Empress. Because that was her betraying her lifelong loyalty to him. When Wei Yanwan was outed, she mocked the Emperor, saying that no one in the whole harem truly loved him, except Ruyi. This angered him because it pointed out how wrong he was for having ever doubted Ruyi. It was so obvious to everyone that Ruyi was the only one who was ever true to him and he doubted her. But he doesn’t want to admit it. What Emperor wants to admit they’re wrong.

At the end of the drama, Qianlong cut his hair and put it together with the lock of Ruyi’s hair. But he’s going back to a time that cannot exist. Despite what Xiangjian said at Ruyi’s funeral, I can’t be sure that Ruyi wants to return to a time of love with her childhood sweetheart. She just wants to be free of the pain. But for Qianlong, he’s only now remembering the good times and he wants to go back now that he’s lost it. But perhaps the plant growing again is a sign that maybe they will have another chance.

Qianlong like all Emperors in harem dramas was absolutely gruelling to watch. But for Qianlong, I appreciated that he had a consistent brand of annoyingness which was that he always refused to act in worries that it would cause upheaval in the harem or in politics. Consort Hui for instance had a high ranking official for a dad so Qianlong brushed off all of her crimes. But in my opinion he was playing dumb. After she died, he said that he thought she just liked acting cute with him and whining for affection and never thought she was capable of crimes, but he just refused to see it because acknowledging it would mean he’d have to do something about it, which would affect his court.

Qianlong also refused to ever admit he was wrong. I just read this post about how the reason Wei Yanwan was able to rise was that she appealed to Qianlong’s narcissism. She was a palace maid with little education, and she claimed she got to where she was by Qianlong’s nurturing. So it was in his interest to see her succeed because it would mean that he had nurtured her into a good consort. There was another consort, Consort Mei (Bai Ruiji) who had also appealed to Qianlong’s narcissism a bit. While Gao Xiyue was talented at the pipa, Bai Ruiji required Qianlong’s added instruction, but Bai Ruiji knew that acting like she needed his help would appeal to his ego and ender her to him.

Qianlong, fuck you. But he’s also no different from most Emperors who looked down on women’s and family issues.

Fuca Langhua/Empress Xiaoxian

Langhua only fell into the role of Hongli’s main wife due to the downfall of the Ulanara family. She was aware of Gao Xiyue’s father’s political backing, as well as the history between Hongli and Qingying and was threatened by both of them. She combatted them both by initially giving them both a bangle that would stop them from having children.

As an Empress, she initially seemed peaceful. She was a decent administrator in my opinion. But I think her downfall from a narrative standpoint was the fact that her hands were not clean. I forget exactly her crimes because I’ve been watching this show for a long time. Other than trying to get into Zhao Yitai’s good books to help her with the Emperor, I think in general she was just enabling the miscarriages in the palace by turning a blind eye. And also not allowing Gao Xiyue and Ruyi to have children.

Langhua was also paranoid about kids. She had a daughter Jingse and a song Yonglian. She was especially strict with Yonglian because he was basically primed to be the Crown Prince, unless Yonghuang, whom the Emperor liked a lot, would take that place. However, she would punish Yonglian in a way that was detrimental to his health and he eventually succumbed to illness. Langhua later had another prince but I believe that baby was killed due to being exposed to illness.

Langhua’s paranoia about her crimes was getting to her and she fell into the water after hearing the other concubines gossiping about such crimes. On her deathbed, she got into a fight with Qianlong who revealed that he knew of her crimes. Langhua pleaded with Qianlong to make Consort Chun his next empress and not Ruyi, saying that he would not have a good time with Ruyi. I wonder why Langhua cared so much. Perhaps she worried that Ruyi would come after JIngse for what Langhua had done to Ruyi. I don’t believe Langhua had any basis for believing Ruyi would be a poor empress other than that she didn’t like her.

I think Langhua was a pretty normal Empress. She did what she had to do. She tried to stay out of crimes but her hands were not cleaned. She was threatened by her husband’s favourites and she herself was not his favourite. But she tried to be a good administrator and it kind of worked. Mostly because Qianlong didn’t care much for the truth and Langhua appeared to keep the peace.

In years after her death, Princess Jingse tried to rewrite history by painting her as an amazing Empress, but when Qianlong and Ruyi got into a fight, she mentioned that Qianlong was misremembering, that he was also unhappy with her. But Langhua had the misfortune of dying before more shit could hit the fan.

Gao Xiyue/Consort Hui

Gao Xiyue was the daughter of a high ranking official. She was promoted to high consort (guifei) when Qianlong was first delegating roles. Qianlong had noted that her title of Hui was ironic. Hui refers to wisdom, and Gao Xiyue did not really exhibit this trait. She was loud and exuberant and rash. But the Emperor tolerated it, he did appreciate her cuteness.

However, Gao Xiyue was one of the most outwardly evil consorts. She initially shared a manor with Hailan and would bully her. He went so far as to frame Hailan for stealing firewood. Qianlong came and settled the matter, asking Ruyi to take the L to cover up for Xiyue’s crimes. So it showed that Qianlong knew about Xiyue being a liar but because of her family history, he didn’t want to dig further.

I think Gao Xiyue was the main person to be responsible for the miscarriages of Consort Mei and Consort Yi. Though she was influenced by Consort Jia, Consort Hui was the one who did it, ordered the formulas and all that. There was one point when Consort Jia was pregnant and Consort Hui was plotting to poison her too. However, Consort Hui stopped and she had a moment of clarity. To her maid, she asked how she could have become this kind of person, who just hears of pregnancy and can only think of murder. She realized she’d become a monster, but she also knew it was the only way she could retain power, especially since she had no children of her own.

When Ruyi came out of the Cold Palace, she engineered some frightful rumours to scare the women (Langhua and Xiyue) who had wronged people. Gao Xiyue became so fearful and paranoid and succumbed to her own illness. At that time, it was pretty clear that the Emperor knew of her crimes. Officially, Gao Xiyue died a royal high consort.

When close to dying, Gao Xiyue had also started to turn on the Empress, revealing her crimes. After her death, Gao Xiyue’s maid was willing to help in taking down Empress Langhua.

I honestly thought Gao Xiyue would be the first consort to go because she was so not tactful. But she remained because her father was powerful. What surprise me however was the moment of lucidity when Gao Xiyue acknowledged that she’d become a monster. But she didn’t have the capacity to stop, not when she wanted to stay in power. Honestly she didn’t get the ending she deserved. She got to die a high royal consort without having to pay for her crimes. Yes she did die, but as we see from this show, maybe dying early before shit hits the fan is actually a blessing. She didn’t get to live to have children and see them be killed by other consorts. She didn’t get to live long enough to see the Emperor grow tired of her.

Su Lvyun/Consort Chun

Consort Chun was a kindly consort. She was ethnic Han so her power was always going to be limited. The one thing she had going for her was that she had a lot of children, including the third prince Yongzhang. However, Consort Chun was not much for politics.

When Ruyi went to the Cold Palace, she put Yonghuang in Consort Chun’s care. At first, things were fine because Consort Chun was kindly, but she started to put Yongzhang in front of the Emperor more than Yonghuang. Yonghuang understood that it was because Consort Chun wanted her own son to succeed. So their relationship wasn’t very good.

There was a time when the Emperor grew suspicious of his sons trying to usurp him. Yonghuang and Yongzhang had both grown to an age where they were starting to build families and careers. During the funeral for Empress Fuca, Yonghuang and Yongzhang did not act in a way that the Emperor took kindly to, and he removed them both from contention. Given they were both taken care of Consort Chun, he also admonished her for being a poor mother. The idea of Yongzhang possibly becoming Crown Prince had only been put in her brain a little earlier before and she didn’t even have the spoons to put the plan to action. Despite the brief divide between her and Ruyi, Ruyi accepted her back as a friend, but it was understood that Consort Chun and her kids now had limited political potential.

When Qianlong became infatuated with Xiangjian, Yongzhang tried to rein his dad back in but Qianlong grew angry with him. Consort Chun tried to plead for leniency but Qianlong grew angry with them both. Qianlong sort of calmed down and promoted Consort Chun, but both she and Yongzhang succumbed to illness anyway from the fiasco.

Consort Chun was a timid lady. She didn’t have high political ambition. When both Empress Fuca and Gao Xiyue were out of the picture, she was technically the most powerful as she had the most sons and was of the higher ranking consorts. I think she tested the waters but she didn’t have the spoons to know how to do it properly and it backfired. I think she was mostly content just coasting. Her downfall was Yongzhang’s inability to navigate his father’s anger, and she died because she also did not have the ability to solve the situation. I did feel bad for Consort Chun because she was mostly well meaning, just not well equipped for the cutthroat nature of the harem and the palace. She had the power of children to support her but if she didn’t, she probably would have been gone earlier.

Jin Yuyan/Consort Jia

Oh, Jin Yuyan, a very interesting character. From the beginning, she stayed in the shadows. The first time we saw her, she cozied up to Gao Xiyue, gazing by the sidelines as Gao Xiyue bullied Hailan. As time went on, we saw that Jin Yuyan would also hang by Empress Fuca, being her confidant away when the Empress couldn’t speak to Gao Xiyue on some things.

She had once gotten pregnant at the same time as the Empress, but had had an abortion so that her baby wouldn’t be in direct competition with that child. When she got pregnant with her first child, that was when her story began. Her baby was Qianlong’s first after he ascended the throne and was considered lucky. Jin Yuyan was said to be seductive, so she got pregnant a few more times, each time having a son. She ended up having three sons and was quite powerful because of that.

Jin Yuyan’s personal story was quite interesting. She was in love with the King of the Yu clan. However, she was offered to the Emperor as a concubine and thus couldn’t marry him. However, she spent her life trying to bring glory to the Yu clan due to her devotion to the King. She kept this a secret in the first part of her life when she was still without child. She’d hold on to old keepsakes and think of the King. It was really quite romantic. As her sons grew older, Jin Yuyan would instill in them loyalty to the King. But even Yongcheng as he grew older felt it was weird that his mom was so loyal to the Yu clan, even more so than to his father.

Jin Yuyan was actually the first big bad of the drama. Most of Gao Xiyue’s crimes were attributed to her as I guess she was goading Gao Xiyue. I mentioned this before, but she worked best in the shadows. When Gao Xiyue, Empress Fuca was out of the way, and Ruyi was Empress, her crimes became clearer because there wasn’t anyone of higher rank she could use to take the blame. Also things got tricker as her sons grew and she had to navigate their positions as well.

Yongcheng by all means was an equally smart son. Yongcheng and Yongqi were both well-liked by the Emperor. There was that time that Jin Yuyan engineered a rescue operation to make Yongcheng look good but later on Qianlong suspected that it wasn’t a true accident and he grew angry that his life had been put in danger. Jin Yuyan also bribed other noble ladies into putting in a good word with Yongcheng. One of the ladies had come to Qianlong with the bribe, saying that she felt uncomfortable taking the gift. Whenever she needed help, Jin Yuyan would write to the Yu clan for help but Qianlong also started to clue in to the fact that the Yu clan was possibly growing too strong. Jin Yuyan at one point wanted to transfer Yongcheng over to be Empress Fuca’s biological son so that he would have ‘di’ status and thus be a good candidate for the throne. This move was incredibly transparent and a bad move. She also suggested a very highborn lady to be Yongcheng’s betrothed, which Qianlong also saw right through.

At this point, Consort Ling was also starting to engineer Consort Jia’s downfall. Consort Ling had once been a palace maid in Consort Jia’s home where Consort Jia abused her mercilessly, so Consort Ling longed to see Consort Jia fall. She managed to frame Consort Jia for the death of Jingse. Qianlong removed all her statuses so that she was just a commoner. Qianlong allowed the marriage of Yongcheng to the highborn lady but removed him from contention and I believe had him adopted by an uncle. He also had Jin Yuyan’s other two sons to be taken care of Consorts Dowager (which usually meant they were out of contention).

A letter came from the Yu clan that disowned Consort Jia, saying that they didn’t even know her origin and that she might not be a noble lady at all. This struck me (and the characters in the story) as false, probably just an attempt by the Yu clan to distance themselves from the disgraced Jin Yuyan. If they truly did not know of her birth, they would not have presented her to be married to the Emperor. Ruyi took this letter to Jin Yuyan who by this time had grown very ill. She used it to force Jin Yuyan to admit to her crimes. She admitted to all of the ones she did, but there were some that she insisted she did not carry out, such as Jingse’s death (which was orchestrated by Consort Ling).

Consort Jia rose out of bed to do her makeup and she died dressed properly and with a smile on her face.

The reason why I enjoyed Consort Jia despite her crimes was that she was interesting. She was cutthroat but she wasn’t perfect. She had her strengths and weaknesses. We saw how effective she was when she had Empress Fuca and Consort Hui to hide behind. But she was pretty clumsy when she no longer had anyone to hide behind and her goals were clear. Her love and devotion to the King of the Yu clan was also a huge weakness. Her love to the King was as pure as Ruyi’s was to Qianlong, as Xiangjian’s was to her fiancé. But it’s tough when you’re married to another man. So Jin Yuyan poured her heart into being a good consort as a gift to her beloved. When she succeeded, she was happy. She had everything in life. But when she failed, she had nothing. No one cushioned her. Her beloved King forsook her. Even her son was upset with her for having her heart in the wrong place with unimportant things. He felt she should have tried to make things right with the Emperor instead of always writing to the Yu clan for help. I appreciated that Consort Jia was a character with strengths and weaknesses. She was smart but she also had stumbles, but she was fun to watch, much more so than Consort Ling who enrages me. They’re both evil but Consort Jia is way more fun to watch.

Keliyete Hailan/Consort Yu

Hailan our baby! Hailan was a very timid concubine. She shared a manor with Gao Xiyue and was constantly bullied. Ruyi was the only woman who was kind to her and for that, Hailan was very thankful. When Hailan was framed by Xiyue for stealing her firewood, Ruyi came to her rescue, though the experience still traumatized Hailan. And Hailan remained afraid of Qianlong, which he noted. She couldn’t even look him in the eye and it exasperated him a bit.

When Ruyi went to the Cold Palace, Hailan was very afraid. She ran to the Cold Palace after being bullied, and Ruyi pep talked her, telling her that she needed to find a way to survive because Ruyi couldn’t be there for her. After that, Hailan dressed herself up so that Qianlong would take notice of her. Eventually, she was with child. That child was born when Ruyi had left the Cold Palace, and was Yongqi, who was to be taken care of by Ruyi.

Afterwards, it was mostly smooth sailing and flying low for Hailan. Her goal in life was to survive. She did so by having a son, but she had no political ambitions. She just needed a son to protect herself and Ruyi. She also taught her son survival over everything, though he struggled to accept that at times given that he was a prince and destined for great things. Nonetheless, Hailan taught Yongqi to be smart and aware, kind and pleasant.

Ruyi and Hailan remained very good friends throughout their lives. Hailan was mostly safe as she stayed out of Qianlong’s eye, but for Ruyi that was not possible especially when she became Empress. Whenever Ruyi needed help, Hailan would help out.

One of the big differences between Ruyi and Hailan was that Hailan was far more willing to do the dirty work to survive. I believe Hailan had put a curse on Empress Fuca’s son so that he’d die as punishment for her crimes, whereas Ruyi was more sympathetic to children who were innocent. This came again in the Ling Yunche case when Hailan told Ruyi that the only way to prove her innocence would be to kill Ling Yunche. Ling Yunche at this point had already been castrated and become a eunuch, he was not living a good life. Hailan falsified an edict from Ruyi to have him killed in order to save Ruyi. Even Ling Yunche agreed to do so, but this fractured the relationship between Ruyi and Hailan. She understood why Hailan did it, but she didn’t like it and they didn’t see each other for a while.

When Ruyi was in trouble, Hailan was always there to help. She was upset when Yongqi didn’t tell her about Ruyi being framed. And when Ruyi was locked in, Hailan constantly asked to be able to see her.

Of course when Yongqi died, Hailan was upset. She and Ruyi worked to find the truth behind his death. I do admit it was a bit fishy that Hailan only noticed Hu Yunjiao’s suspicious behaviour after they both died, but I guess we chalk that up to hindsight being 20/20. Hailan did help Ruyi in uncovering Wei Yanwan’s crimes in the end.

I enjoyed Hailan as a character who was not ambitious. She didn’t even like the Emperor. She just had a baby out of necessity and then went back to minding her own business lol. But I admit that now that I’m writing things out, she is more of an accessory to Ruyi’s character, as a foil to Ruyi’s rigid personality. Still, I like Zhang Junning so I enjoyed her :P

Bai Ruiji/Consort Mei

One of the first truly annoying villains in this show. She was a musician who had higher political aspirations. Although she was not as skilled a pipa player as Gao Xiyue, she was still able to appeal to Qianlong. She understood that men needed their ego stroked and she allowed Qianlong to guide her in playing the pipa so that he would feel superior. Qianlong liked her so much that he gave her a title even though her rank was low.

Consort Mei and Consort Hui butted heads a lot. Given that I hated them both, I just wanted them both to lose lol. But Consort Mei gained an advantage when she grew pregnant. She grew very proud and arrogant. Her arrogance and lack of propriety was always very annoying.

Consort Hui was poisoning Consort Mei’s food as she was pregnant, and when she gave birth, the baby was deformed. Consort Mei was very saddened by this and never recovered. She longed for her child that she never even got to meet or hold. Thus, she was very upset when she believed Ruyi to be the murderer of her baby. After Ruyi was cleared of her crimes, Consort Mei was used by Consort Jia to get at Empress Fuca who was a party to the crimes, though in reality Consort Jia was not innocent either.

Consort Mei’s ending was a bit abrupt. She poisoned Consort Qing and owned up to it, seeming like she hoped she’d get caught and be executed. Upon her death, Ruyi came to speak with her and they had a good chat. It was surprisingly nice for how nasty of a person Consort Mei could be. But at that time, Consort Mei was just focused on her baby who she would finally be able to join in death.

Consort Mei was a good annoying character, but she lost all relevance very soon.

A-ruo/Consort Shen

A-ruo was Ruyi’s maid who’d joined her from Ruyi’s household when she entered Hongli’s household. However, A-ruo did not have the sense of propriety that Suoxin did. It came up that A-ruo’s father was an official. When it turned out that he was doing good work, A-ruo felt proud, and she started to elevate herself too. One time, Qianlong visited Ruyi and A-ruo was very dressed up, like a gege (princess/noble lady). Qianlong looked at her because she was so flamboyantly dressed, and A-ruo mistook it to be interest. Hence, A-ruo blamed Ruyi when Ruyi told her to be more proper as a palace maid.

Ruyi admitted that A-ruo was too wilful but she let her be. But low key she started to question herself and ask Suoxin whether she’d been too lenient with A-ruo. There was one time when A-ruo was arguing with someone else (possibly a consort, I forget) and all Ruyi did was tug on her arm to get her to stop talking, when Ruyi instead could have done anything more to get her to stop. I believe it was Gao Xiyue who publicly had Ruyi punished and Ruyi let it happened, which fostered the resentment from A-ruo to Ruyi.

Later on, A-ruo was helped out of the rain by Consort Jia and became part of the conspiracy with the Empress that would send Ruyi to the Cold Palace. A-ruo planted evidence of the poison that would cause miscarriages in Ruyi’s manor. Then she used her position as the maid who came from Ruyi’s household to say that she knew about Ruyi’s true nature.

Later on, Qianlong brought A-ruo into his harem and it was very fake. We could tell he was playing up the attraction because he was never like this with the women he truly liked. He also bestowed upon her a title. This made A-ruo even bolder, as she went around hitting people because she had the Emperor’s favour. However, behind closed doors, she was not a lover to Qianlong, but simply a servant. One time, A-ruo asked to have one night, btu Qianlong did not allow it. He despised A-ruo for betraying her mistress like that, and to him, she would always just be Ruyi’s maid.

Qianlong had only brought A-ruo into his harem to try to get more information over Ruyi’s framing. When A-ruo showed suspicious behaviour, Qianlong questioned it, and it reopened the case of Ruyi’s framing. After all had been uncovered, there was a bit meeting with Qianlong, Ruyi, and A-ruo where they laid everything out. A-ruo revealed that Qianlong never touched her, she also revealed all her crimes.

A-ruo was a woman who wanted power but didn’t know how to use it. She was not highborn so she didn’t understand propriety and misunderstood all the signals people were sending. However, Consort Jia who was the great manipulator, knew how to use A-ruo against Ruyi.

Yehenara Yihuan/Consort Shu

Yihuan was a lady who fell in love with Qianlong upon first sight, having seen him visit a temple in her area. The Empress Dowager helped her get an audience with the Emperor, and in return she was to represent the Empress Dowager’s interests. Yihuan’s love for the Emperor was true and Ruyi saw this.

There was one situation in which the Empress Dowager didn’t want her daughter being sent away to the Mongolian tribes. She asked Yihuan to represent her interests with the Emperor but Yihuan couldn’t even say a word in front of Qianlong because he was already so upset about the matter. The Empress Dowager was quite upset about this, realizing that she’d invested in a concubine who was for lack of a better word, kind of uselss to her.

Qianlong was wary of Yihuan being his mother’s people, so he gave her a concoction that he said was to help her with fertility, but actually prevented her from having children. Ruyi heard of this and felt very betrayed, especially since she knew how Yihuan truly did care for Qianlong. So Ruyi would sometimes subtly mention to Yihuan that taking too much medicine was not good. And once Yihuan stopped taking it, she instantly became pregnant.

Consort Ling began to poison Yihuan, and when her son was born, he was very weak. He was sent away to another family to be raised in hopes that his health would recover. This saddened Consort Shu greatly. Like Ruyi, all she wanted was to be with Qianlong and to have his child. And she basically had neither now. And the baby eventually died too, as he was very weak. When Yihuan found out about this, she was very upset and when Qianlong came to visit her, he could offer no affection or comfort. It was so uncomfortable because she was sobbing for their child and he couldn’t even comfort her at all, a woman who gave her all to him.

Later on, Consort Ling told Consort Shu that the medicine she had been taking was actually to stop her from having a baby. This ruined Consort Shu and she later burned herself.

Ruyi considered Yihuan to be an innocent life who was killed both by Qianlong’s skepticism towards true love, as well as Consort Ling’s scheming ways. I think Ruyi saw a lot of herself in Yihuan, both women who loved Qianlong truly.

Wei Yanwan/Consort Ling

Oh my god, possibly one of the most unlikeable villains ever. She wasn’t even fun to watch. I was constantly fast-forwarding through her scenes because she wasn’t even a fun villain.

Wei Yanwan was a palace maid who was childhood sweethearts with Ling Yunche. However, her mother was constantly belittling her and pushing her to provide for their family and her brother. Her mother fed her stories about how they used to be nobles, and were just temporarily disgraced, that kind of thing. Wanting to aim higher, Wei Yanwan broke it off with Ling Yunche and went to work in Consort Chun’s manor to work where he had caught Qianlong’s eye. Upon Hailan’s suggestion, Consort Chun moved Yanwan back to the garden department so that Qianlong wouldn’t see her again. Ling Yunche happened upon a crying Yanwan who was being bullied and pitied her and they rekindled things. Once while making a delivery to the Empress, Yanwan dropped a plant and Consort Jia said she’d take the servant to punish her. Consort Jia gave Yanwan a name reminiscent of Ruyi’s original name Qingying, and would regularly subject Yanwan to harsh tasks and cruel punishments. Taking pity on her, Eunuch Jinzhong offered Yanwan a chance with the Emperor. She managed to get his attention, and she became part of the harem, and that was her beginning in the harem.

She was low ranking for a while. The Emperor would visit her but she wouldn’t get pregnant. One time, she tried to trap Ling Yunche and give him aphrodisiac so that they’d have sex and she’d fall pregnant with a baby she could pose as the Emperor’s. Thankfully Ling Yunche did not let that happen and run away. Soon after joining the harem, Yanwan basically outed herself as uncultured and unable to impress the Emperor. So she remained low ranking for a while. She caught the Emperor’s eye again one time when he went on a trip. Yanwan said that she was sick and stayed back. However, she actually snuck off so that she could be a ‘masseuse’ to the Emperor when he was enjoying the baths.

Yanwan appealed to the Emperor’s ego. She would always paint herself as someone that was developed by Qianlong. So it was in Qianlong’s favour to see her succeed because it would mean he did a good thing, the right thing. I could barely see the chemistry between them two which kind of tracks. I remember when Yanwan was given a promotion only so that Qianlong could get Empress Dowager off of his back. He didn’t even do it because he liked Yanwan that much.

When Wei Yanwan was pregnant with her first child, things were looking up. It was a rule that consorts’ mothers could come into the palace to help them when they were pregnant. We met Wei Yanwan’s mom who was exactly as we thought. Power hungry, money hungry, tactless and egocentric. She walked around like she owned the place to the point that Yanwan was so embarrassed. And in private, her mom talked down to her, telling her that Yanwan would be nowhere without her mom. Her mom was tactless to the point that she was caught cursing Ruyi so that she’d die and that Yanwan could rise to be Empress. This was caught and Yanwan’s mother had no defense. She was going to out Yanwan too but Yanwan burst onto the scene and pushed all of the fault onto her mom.

Wei Yanwan gave birth to a daughter who was immediately transferred to Consort Ying’s care. Wei Yanwan was demoted to let that happen. Wei Yanwan was kind of in limbo but she orchestrated saving Princess Hejing’s son so that Princess Hejing would be her protector for the next little while. Wei Yanwan did have one thing going on for her which was that she had a lot of kids. So she kept having kids but Qianlong would give them away to other people to be raised.

Wei Yanwan schemed for Consort Jia to fall, though part of it was due to Consort Jia’s own political ambitions. Once she was gone, Wei Yanwan was the big dog of the harem (apart from Ruyi).

The next big scheme was probably to do with Ling Yunche. Well it was always bubbling. The annoying thing about Yanwan was that she broke up with Ling Yunche, but she still sought his validation. She still wanted him to like her. She enjoyed showing him how far she’d risen and seeing him still forlornly in love with her. However, on the evening of Jingse’s funeral, Consort Ling saw Ling Yunche pick up Ruyi’s hair accessory and realized he had feelings for Ruyi. This angered her immensely. In a scene many episodes later, they had a big fight where she said she couldn’t let Ling Yunche love Ruyi but Ling Yunche was very over Wei Yanwan by then.

Anyway, Consort Ling convinced another consort to seek out Ling Yunche’s wife who would point to an affair between Ling Yunche and Ruyi. This didn’t result in punishment for Ruyi and Ling Yunche, but it sowed the seeds of doubt in Qianlong. From then on, Consort Ling would just keep bringing him up (through her cronies) to anger Qianlong and force a wedge between him and Ruyi. When Qianlong had Ling Yunche castrated, Yanwan blamed it on Ruyi and Ruyi was like ??? YOU were the one who brought him into this mess!!!

When Ling Yunche was in prison, he asked Consort Ling for their engagement ring back. He later gave it to Hailan so that Ruyi could use it to take down Wei Yanwan. Despite her having pursued the high life, she continued to wear that ring and others recognized it. That would show that her feelings for Ling Yunche had never changed.

As Ruyi lost her power, Qianlong promoted Wei Yanwan to royal high consort so that she could manage the harem. She also slowly started to collect her kids back, though the seventh princess refused to go under her care. The seventh princess Jingyuan was raised by Consort Ying who was a representative of the Mongolian consorts. Consort Ying let it slip to Princess Hejing that Wei Yanwan was not a good mother because she was only looking to be the Empress. Princess Hejing had her own people tail Wei Yanwan and caught her telling her son Yongyan that he didn’t always have to listen to his father, and that the most important thing was for him to always listen to his mother and protect her. This obviously angered Qianlong and he removed all of Wei Yanwan’s children from her care again.

Qianlong fell ill, though it was manufactured through Jiang Yubin inducing symptoms in Qianlong and then treating them to trick Consort Ling and the Doctor Bao who was allied with her. Thinking that Qianglong was on his deathbed, Wei Yanwan snuck into his study to place an edict declaring Yongyan as the crown prince. However, Qianlong caught her. at this time, all the other evidence of her crimes came to light from Hailan and the Empress Dowager. I have to admit that this takedown wasn’t so satisfying because it was almost entirely testimony and very little material evidence. Most of it came from the maid who was exceedingly loyal to Yanwan, but Yanwan had tried to kill her.

Yanwan didn’t have her title stripped, but she was locked up. Every day she’d be fed a soup that had drugs in it, the same drugs she tried to poison Yongji with. When Qianlong decided to retire, he wanted to designate Yongyan but he couldn’t keep his unstable mother around, so he finally had Yanwan killed. I was mistaken as I thought Consort Ling became the third empress, but I looked up on Wikipedia and I think she just remained a noble consort for the remainder of her life.

Ok, so the thing about Yanwan is that she is very political ambitious, but it doesn’t feel sincere. We saw that her mom pushed her to achieve more for the family and of course she internalized that. But it never felt like she was doing anything for any reason. I guess deep down inside she wanted her family’s approval even though she’d never get it. She’d never be respected by her mother or her brother no matter how far she went. Her family would just keep asking for more and more.

Yanwan was not fun to watch as a villain because she was not smart. Jin Yuyan had her stumbles but for the most part she was good at what she was good at. Yanwan was not really good at anything. She just tried everything. There was that scheme where she orchestrated a riding accident to cripple Consort Jia’s second son, as well as what was supposed to be a dog attack on Yongji. Yanwan was trying to build hatred between these two women so they would tear each other apart, but the issue was that neither of them really worked as intended. Yes, Consort Jia blamed Ruyi for her son’s injury but Ling Yunche ruled it a riding accident. And the dog ended up attacking Jingsi instead of Yongji because the kids had wanted to switch clothes.

Yanwan’s relationship with Ling Yunche drove me up the wall because she didn’t want him but she wouldn’t let him go. She couldn’t accept that he could move on and like other people. Even when he got married she was so delighted at the thought that he still loved her. And she was so broken when she thought Ling Yunche liked the Empress, her enemy.

Yanwan had no friends, nobody she liked, which was also a reason why it was hard to take her seriously, because she had no sincere feelings. Everybody was just a tool. All the maids and eunuchs who worked for her eventually died. Ling Yunche whom she used to love died. I feel like she might sacrifice her kids too if it meant she would get ahead, though in this case she needs the sons to stay ahead.

Even before she became a villain, she was so hard to like. She flip-flopped on her decisions all the time and would never commit, and yet would show a pitiful face in front of Ling Yunche for his help but then dump him the next day. Terrible person. I get why she’s messed up but I really detest her T_T

Balin Meiruo/Consort Ying

Oh we’re getting to the cool characters. Consort Ying was a highborn Mongolian lady who soon became a favourite of the Emperor. She was fun-loving and cute, but she also understood propriety. She was allied with Ruyi and respected her as an empress. As Consort Ling consolidated power, Consort Ying remained loyal to Ruyi.

The thing about Consort Ying was that she knew she had political backing beyond the harem. Consort Ling only had as much power as she had due to the Emperor’s favour. He could strip her of her power any time she wanted. Consort Ying was backed by her family. The Emperor was to some degree beholden to the Mongolian clans as political allies. So Qianlong had to be careful of how he treated Consort Ying and the other Mongolian consorts to maintain a good relationship with the Mongolian allies.

In the dog attack that was orchestrated by Consort Ling, Consort Ying suffered a miscarriage and lost her daughter. As a result, after Consort Ling had her baby, also a daughter, that baby was given to Consort Ying to raise. She raised Princess Jingyuan as her own, and we saw that she treated the daughter as her own. She taught Jingyuan to see the evil misdeeds of Consort Ling.

Qianlong told Consort Ling that she could have Princess Jingyuan returned to her care if Jingyuan was ok with it. However, Consort Ling took Jingyuan by force and caused a fight. Jingyuan considered Consort Ying as her birth mother and didn’t want to be taken care of by Consort Ling who she saw as evil. Consort Ling who was higher ranked than Consort Ying tried to have Consort Ying punished, but Consort Ying knew she had immunity as a high ranking lady with lots of political backing and so no servant dared to seize her. Empress Dowager came across the argument. She reminded Jingyuan that she still had to call Consort Ling by her title even if she didn’t want her as a mother. When she asked Jingyuan who she wanted to go with, she said Consort Ying. Consort Ling protested, saying an adoptive mother would never be as good a mother as a biological mother. This struck a nerve with Empress Dowager, who was Qianlong’s adoptive mother. Anyway, Empress Dowager advised Consort Ying that a child’s mother is whomever they choose to go with. Basically everybody would recognize Consort Ying as Jingyuan’s mother since Jingyuan said so.

Anyway I just thought it was interesting that Consort Ying’s political backing gave her the confidence to stand up against Consort Ling. In fact, after that fight, Qianlong allowed all Mongolian consorts to not have to pay respects to Consort Ling. And of course I appreciated that she was loyal to Ruyi to the end :P

Princess Han Xiangjian/Consort Rong

Oh, Xiangjian. On her way to see the Emperor, her fiancé came after her, chasing her to come back but he was killed by an avalanche. She was presented to the Emperor where she presented a dance and he fell in love with her at first sight. However, Xiangjian presented a knife and tried to assassinate Qianlong as he was technically the cause of her fiancé dying. Qianlong forgave her and put her in basically an important manor in the harem, even though she was not part of the harem. Everybody was aware of the optics, including himself, because he intended for Xiangjian to be in his harem no matter what. It was wild because literally everyone including Xiangjian didn’t want her to be here. No one but Qianlong wanted her there.

Qianlong built a building in the style of her home, and invited people of her ethnic tribe to greet her, so that she’d feel more at home. This was a very bad move as he made himself look like he was favouring one tribe. Consort Ying as the Mongolian representative told him as much, even if she had to suffer punishment for it. The entire harem was upset over his infatuation. And Consort Chun and Yongzhang died as a result of angering the Emperor when trying to rein him back a bit.

As Qianlong raved about Xiangjian, Ruyi grew sad because it seemed like Qianlong no longer cared for their love. Qianlong claimed he wanted to have this for once in his life. He felt that he’d never been selfish (rolling my eyes) and that even the she didn’t want him, that made him want her even more. Qianlong then ordered Ruyi as Empress to convince Xiangjian not to commit suicide. Ruyi didn’t want to do this but Qianlong ordered her so she had to. Ruyi visited Xiangjian and they spoke of her fiancé. Xiangjian recognized that Ruyi must love Qianlong a lot to do this. Ruyi convinced Xiangjian to stay alive if only for the memory of her fiancé, and Xiangjian decided to do so. Xiangjian followed the Qing customs, dressing in their garb and following all of the proper rites.

But Xiangjian never grew an ounce of love for Qianlong and I respect that. Like Hailan, she was just coasting, only barely staying alive. She considered Ruyi a friend because they both knew the same kind of love, only Xiangjian later realized that she was the lucky one because her fiancé died before she could see his heart turn.

Xiangjian would defend Ruyi, especially since she was not afraid of the Emperor. When Ruyi had fallen from favour, Xiangjian would say that she deserved the best doctor, even before the Emperor said anything. She’d look in on Yongji.

I liked that Xiangjian remained true to her values. I low key expected her to be moved by the Emperor’s actions and to slowly fall in love with him but I’m glad that she did not change so easily.

Niuhuru Zhen Huan/Empress Dowager Xi

At the beginning of the drama, Zhen Huan was still beefing with Yongzheng’s Empress. But the Empress fell from grace due to missteps of the prince and was locked away forever. The Empress put all of her hopes in Ruyi. Zhen Huan gave the two an option, either for the aunt to die or the niece to die. Of course, both wanted to sacrifice themselves, but the aunt went ahead and killed herself, leaving Zhen Huan to be the Empress Dowager.

From the beginning, Empress Dowager didn’t want Qianlong to marry Ruyi. I forgot what the official reason was, but near the end of the drama, she reiterated that it was because their personalities wouldn’t mesh well in that environment. In my opinion, she didn’t dislike Ruyi, just that they were natural political enemies. But they retained an understanding, especially since Empress Dowager could see that Ruyi truly cared for Qianlong.

What made the Empress Dowager different from any other position in the show was that she cared for the Emperor but also the princes and princesses. She didn’t care about the consorts as much, they were lesser priorities. I especially found interesting that storyline of one princess having to be married to the Mongolian tribe and Empress Dowager and the Emperor having conflicting views of it. Empress Dowager already had one daughter who had been married far away, she didn’t want the other one to be married far away too. The Empress just lost her son, so Qianlong didn’t want to take her daughter away from her so soon. It was very much a family matter and everyone got caught up in the fight.

I think Qianlong inherited his need for peace from Empress Dowager. She too did not like a lot of upheaval. It was her who convinced Qianlong to put Ruyi in the Cold Palace that first time because there was too much going against Ruyi. It was kind of a copout but in the end, it was Qianlong who did it. But later on, when Qianlong was thinking of deposing Ruyi as an Empress, Empress Dowager warned him against doing it. I guess her reasoning was that most of her faults were of a marital nature and not necessarily of an administrative nature and she was still mostly a responsible administrator. Though in my opinion the bigger reason again is that Empress Dowager felt it would be a bad omen on Qianlong.

As Ruyi and Qianlong fell apart, Ruyi actually grew closer with Empress Dowager which I found interesting. Again, I didn’t think that Empress Dowager ever hated Ruyi. In fact, I think Empress Dowager saw that she was smart, just that she had motivations. But as Ruyi grew older and her motivations became more oriented towards protecting family, she and Empress Dowager started to be more on the same page.

As a plot device, I think Empress Dowager’s position was to keep both Qianlong and Ruyi in check. After all, Zhen Huan had done this song and dance already. She was supposed to give them perspective and I think she did, only that naturally her views would conflict with the Emperor’s. I still enjoyed the Empress Dowager. I liked that she acted consistently with her values.

Princess Hengti

Princess Hengti was one of Empress Dowager’s daughters, Qianlong’s sisters. She had not been married off yet so was able to visit her mother. Empress Dowager very much did not want her to be married off and fought hard against Qianlong to prevent that from happening.

Princess Hengchuo/Princess Duanshu

Princess Hengchuo was the other of Empress Dowager’s daughters. She had been married off to a faraway Mongolian clan and Empress Dowager always rued that she was so far away. What’s more was that Princess Hengchuo got caught up in a number of different political conflicts. After getting a divorce from one clan, she was married off into another, etc. Eventually, she was brought back with the help of Yongqi who suggested to his dad that it’d be a good gesture to keep his aunt in mind. However, when Hengchuo returned (pregnant), we could tell that her trust for her brother had already been broken. She greeted him as a subject first and no longer considered him a brother.

Now that I think about it, this was another representation of the misogyny of the time. Empress Dowager complained to the Emperor how girls had to married off far away for men’s political gains. Hengchuo was jerked this way and that and Qianlong barely wanted to bring her back.

Prince Yonghuang

Yonghuang was Qianlong’s first son, borne of a consort. That consort had died giving birth to a second baby, a daughter. She was killed by Empress Fuca. Without a mother, Yonghuang was just taken care of nannies. However, Empress Fuca purposely made sure he got bad care so that he wouldn’t come out on top over her own son. However, on a family celebration day, it was noted that Yonghuang was often sick, and that Jingse would not come when called. Yonghuang’s nanny said that Yonghuan wouldn’t listen and wear more clothes but they were shut down because it was a nanny’s job to make sure kids would do what was good for them. Anyway, Empress Fuca was called out by Empress Dowager for not taking proper care of the kids.

Through Suoxin, Ruyi found out that Yonghuang was being treated poorly. She had Suoxin smuggle food to Yonghuang (which A-ruo did not know about, and felt slighted about for being left out of the loop). Later, Gao Xiyue was without child and wanted to adopt Yonghuang so she’d have her own child, especially since she knew Qianlong liked Yonghuang. Qianlong allowed Yonghuang to choose his new mother, and he chose Ruyi, who had taken care of him even when no one was looking.

The early days with Yonghuang were sweet. His mother was his protector and showed him that the world could be full of love. As he grew older, however, he grew scheming. When he was placed in Consort Chun’s care, he realized that a mother would only care for her own son, and that Consort Chun would not care for him as much as Yongzhang. Consort Chun arranged a marriage for Yonghuang, but it was to a very humble lady. In a conversation that Hailan and Ruyi overheard of Yonghuang speaking with his consort, he said that he had to maintain relations with Ruyi for his own power, implying that he didn’t truly feel love for Ruyi. Hailan told Ruyi not to be upset, because that was just how all princes had to grow to be, but Ruyi was upset nonetheless.

It was planted in Qianlong’s mind that some of his sons were looking to his position and he hated those kinds of conversations. Thus during Empress Fuca’s funeral, when Yonghuang and Yongzhang were not crying, he took that as unfilial behaviour and took them both out of contention. Yonghuang started to grow ill.

Yonghuang bumped into Consort Jia one time and she ‘reluctantly’ revealed to him that it was Empress Fuca who killed his mother and sister. This frustrated him because she was already dead and he couldn’t exact revenge. He grew more and more ill, and on his deathbed he apologized to Ruyi for having schemed against her (i.e. only visiting her for power and not out of true filial piety). He also told Ruyi what Consort Jia told him, cluing her in to Consort Jia’s treachery.

To be honest, Yonghuang’s story line saddened me. We saw what a good relationship he had with his mother. However, Ruyi was banished to the cold palace and he was put in Consort Chun’s care. Even then, he considered her his mother and when she was released, he snuck out to greet her. So it was kind of a surprise when he’d turned into a scheming man. But the palace messes people up, and he knew that too, even as a kid.

Princess Jingse/Princess Hejing

Oh Jingse, you frustrating woman. She was a product of her birth though. As the remaining child between Qianlong and Empress Fuca, his first main wife, Qianlong doted on her. As a result, she was very spoiled and looked down on everyone. Qianlong allowed this to happen. When Qianlong finally decided to marry his own daughter into the Mongolian tribe instead of his sister, Consort Chun and Ruyi went to visit Jingse and she wouldn’t even look at any of them, seeing them as inferior. Anyway, Jingse had to be married off, because her father said so.

Jingse returned for her mother’s funeral. Knowing her mother’s hatred for Ruyi, she also did not like Ruyi. They were mostly able to stay out of each other’s way, until Wei Yanwan used Jingse. She saw Jingse’s son running around. She pushed him in the water and then rescued him so that Wei Yanwan would defend her, and she did, on a few occasions. They were friendly for a while. When Consort Ling convinced Consort Wan to copy the texts praising Empress Fuca, of course Jingse was very happy out that. As time passed, however, Jingse didn’t maintain the friendship. When Wei Yanwan did things that were wrong, Jingse wouldn’t side with her, unless she had her own reasons for doing so.

Near the end of the drama, Consort Ying had let slip to Princess Hejing that Consort Ling had aspirations to become Empress. This was alarming to Princess Hejing for two reasons. One was that the conversation arose as Consort Ying had said that Consort Ling was a bad mother because she was busy scheming. Princess Hejing bore no love for Ruyi, but she did care for her younger siblings. We saw that she shed tears for Yongqi at his funeral (which was how Consort Ying and Princess Hejing bumped into each other too). So it would be her concern if her younger siblings were not being taken care of. The other concern was that if Consort Ling became Empress, she would be Princess Hejing’s legal mother, which she probably didn’t want. She didn’t even particularly approve of Wei Yanwan, she just helped her out on some occasions. On that intel, Princess Hejing had her people follow Consort Ling, who overheard her telling her son that he could be unfilial to his father but not to his mother, which was obviously very damning.

Princess Hejing was annoying but I get it. She’s supposed to be a brat because she sees Ruyi as a threat to her mother. She is a filial child, though her highborn nature meant that she naturally saw some people as inferior (i.e. most people).

Prince Yongzhang

Yongzhang was Consort Chun’s oldest son. He wasn’t particularly smart or wise, and was taken out of contention when both he and Yonghuang were not crying during Empress Fuca’s funeral.

When Qianlong was obsessing over Princess Xiangjian, Yongzhang told him that people were saying bad things about him and tried to rein Qianlong in. Qianlong grew angry and punished Yongzhang, leading to his death and the death of his mother.

Prince Yongcheng

Yongcheng was Consort Jia’s eldest son. By all means he was pretty savvy. He thought it was weird that his mom was so hung up on the King of the Yu clan but he didn’t think as much of it at the beginning, more focused on building favour with his father. He was in direct competition with Yongqi but would act his superior as the older brother. It was mostly harmless.

During an outing, a wild horse had ambushed Qianlong, Yongcheng, and Yongqi. While Yongqi protected Qianlong with his body, Yongcheng arrived in time to shoot it. It was courageous, but later on, it became suspicious because of the timing. I think Yongchen mostly stayed out of his mother’s scheming. It was her who was trying to curry favour with the other noble ladies. And it was her idea to have Yongcheng transferred to Empress Fuca. If I remember correctly, Yongcheng didn’t even think changing moms was a good idea and he wanted to go back to the drawing board.

Nonetheless, because of his mom’s bold actions, Yongcheng suffered. Consort Jia kept saying she had to ask the King of the Yu clan for help and Yongchen finally snapped telling her that this was not the time to be thinking about that man.

He got the highborn marriage his mom wanted but he was moved out of contention. His mom was reduced to a commoner so his wife who was highborn didn’t even want to visit because why would she kneel to a commoner? Yongcheng’s two younger brothers were to be taken care of by Consorts Dowager.

I think basically Yongcheng realized he just had to start a new life now. He wasn’t the worst kid. Just had the misfortune of a scheming mother.

Prince Yongqi

Yongqi was Hailan’s biological son. Upon birth, he was to be taken care of by Ruyi, which was fine by them both. Ruyi always had trouble having children because of the bangle from Empress Fuca. So Hailan didn’t mind having her son protect them both.

Yongqi was a good kid. A little withdrawn, but otherwise very honest, sincere, hardworking. Ruyi gave him the usual education she would give a child, but Hailan taught him discreetness and flying under the radar. Like herself, she wanted Yongqi to fly under the radar and live as normally as possible. She reminded Yongqi that Yongji was the son of the Empress and would probably be first in line. Yongqi was a little down, thinking that all he worked for was for him to be a subject. Because a prince, he obviously had political ambitions.

Over the years, especially after Yongcheng was out of contention, Yongqi firmly became the favoured prince who did good work. To no one’s knowledge, Qianlong had actually put forth Yongqi as his successor. Seeing him as a major threat, Consort Ling placed a woman by his side who would slowly draw out illness in him and kill him. Unfortunately her plan worked as Yongqi grew very fond of Hu Yunjiao and made her his concubine. On the other hand, this was not a threat to Ruyi. She had said once before (I believe to Rongpei) that she didn’t mind if Yongqi because a good Emperor, and Yongji could just be a prince who enjoyed life. She knows the difficulties of being a ruler, and she knows Yongqi is good at it. She wouldn’t mind if Yongji could have the life that she wished Qianlong didn’t have, free from all the responsibilities.

Yongqi one day collapsed. On his deathbed, he pleaded with Qianlong to forgive Ruyi. After he died, Yunjiao put all the blame onto Ruyi which angered Qianlong who took out his anger on Ruyi. However later on upon discussion with Empress Dowager and Yuhu, they did mention that Yunjiao kind of came out of nowhere.

Yongqi was really a sad case. He really would have been a good Emperor who always took everything into account. He even had more of a human touch than Qianlong did. But his one crime was being a prince with a target on his back, as all princes do.

Prince Yongji

Yongji was Ruyi’s remaining biological son. He was her first biological child. Jingsi came after, but died after being scared by the dog attack that was meant for Yongji. And Yongjing died in childbirth.

Growing up, Yongji was not as smart as Yongqi which frustrated Qianlong. But Yongji was sincere and honest which Qianlong recognized. Still, he wished Yongji was smarter and stronger and more forceful, hoping to groom him to be an Emperor, as Qianlong himself cared a lot about ‘di’ children being of higher status. Consort Yu (the Ke’erqinbu lady) had orchestrated an assassination attempted on Yongji which shook him. However, when Yongji ran to Qianlong for comfort, Qianlong did not give him any. I think he was just upset that Yongji was so easily scared. When Qianlong and Ruyi fought, Yongji got scared and asked them not to fight, taking the blame for everything, but that just made them fight more because Qianlong wished his son wasn’t such a doormat.

When Qianlong and Ruyi’s fight persisted, he took Yongji out of his care and into Hailan’s. That still brought some comfort to Ruyi because she trusted Hailan.

Consort Ling planted servants by Yongji’s side. They spoke of Ruyi and Ling Yunche’s rumoured affair all day long. They also fed Yongji mushrooms that would give him hallucinations. So when Yongji saw Ruyi and Ling Yunche in the garden, he hallucinated them hugging which angered Qianlong further. However, when asked to recall, he couldn’t, which signified that it was a hallucination. He was also very upset with himself for putting his mother in more danger.

After Yongqi died and Hailan was busy with his funeral preparations, Yongji lived with his father. However, Ruyi still wasn’t at ease as Consort Ling could still get to Yongji (and she was). Instead, she asked Empress Dowager to take in Yongji. Only then was his eating habits revealed. Yongji had grown addicted to the mushrooms that kept being added to his food. That came out in the final takedown of Consort Ling.

Ruyi left a letter to Yongji upon her death, hoping that he would live well, and that if she could be so bold to have another wish, that he would be free and autonomous. In the end of the drama, Yongji was not mentioned all. Maybe he finally gained that free life his mom wanted for him.

Prince Yongyan

I believe Yongyan was the first child that Qianlong allowed Consort Ling to raise on her own. He didn’t come up until the end, when Consort Ling was overheard telling her son that he should always side with his mother over his father. After hearing news of that, Yongyan was moved to be raised by the Consorts Dowager. In later age, it appeared that he worked hard, and when Qianlong retired, he handed the reins to Yongyan. But before he could, he had to get rid of his mother because such a woman could not be the Empress Dowager.

Zhao Yitai

Zhao Yitai was one of Qianlong’s earlier eunuchs. Empress Fuca tried to gain favour with him in order to strengthen her relationship with Qianlong. I believe Zhao Yitai liked Sulian, but Sulian didn’t want to marry Zhao Yitai so Empress Fuca betrothed Lianxin to him instead. It was later revealed that Zhao Yitai was abusive. He was drugged into doing something improper to Consort Hui and was put to death, which both got rid of the corrupt Zhao Yitai and freed Lianxin from this marriage.

Li Yu

Li Yu was another eunuch of the Emperor’s. He had once been punished and Ruyi and Suoxin took care of his legs. As such, he became loyal to her and would help Qianlong and Ruyi’s relationship.

Li Yu had something of a crush on Suoxin. He’d give her gifts and she would politely decline. Later he understood that he was not a good marriage candidate for her, but he still wished her the best and gave her and Jiang Yubin a parcel of land as their wedding gift.

In later years, as JInzhong gained power, Li Yu was designated to other tasks away from the Emperor, which worsened Ruyi’s relationship with the Emperor.

Li Yu was a good bro though. Very kind and well meaning. I liked him a lot.

Jinzhong

Jinzhong was the eunuch who offered to help Wei Yanwan rise in the ranks. First he created an opportunity for her to be noticed. Afterwards, he’d help her in her schemes which involved everything from getting her an audience with the emperor, to murders. Li Yu caught on to his ways, but he also had limited capacity to stop him. When Wei Yanwan rose to noble consort, she had Jinzhong killed to cover up her crimes.

Yuhu

Yuhu was a momo, basically a palace maid who stayed in the palace into her older years. She was a trusted confidant of the Emperor and helped him investigate a lot of things. I think it helped that she was an older woman who wasn’t his mother, so she had a good perspective both in terms of the harem (other women) but also didn’t have ulterior motives as his mother did. I liked Yuhu, she was cool.

Suoxin

Suoxin!!! My girlie!!! She was Ruyi’s maid. She was softspoken and kind, and also attentive. Ruyi entrusted certain tasks to Suoxin over A-ruo as Suoxin understood propriety. In turn, Suoxin grew loyal to Ruyi. Suoxin was childhood friends with Jiang Yubin and it was clear that there were some good feelings between them. In turn, Suoxin was also very friendly with Li Yu but we could all see that she politely declined his romantic advances. Still, they remained friends and respectful of one another that I really appreciated.

In one scheme, Consort Jia accused Ruyi of having an affair with a visiting monk. Qianlong had Suoxin taken to the Justice Bureau for questioning (torture). Qianlong insisted it was the only way to have Ruyi’s innocence proven. Ruyi was very unhappy because Suoxin was crippled. She had Jiang Yubin nurse Suoxin back to health, and afterwards, immediately had them married so Suoxin would be taken away from this hellhole.

Their wedding was a happy day. I think weddings of commoners are one of the only times royals feel pure joy, for we can see nothing in their future but honest work and building a family together.

Suoxin came back briefly when Ruyi ascended to Empress status and wanted to teach Consort Jia a lesson that she is being watched.

Otherwise, Suoxin left the story, and we mostly knew her to be having a good life and family with Jiang Yubin.

Rongpei

Rongpei was Ruyi’s maid after Suoxin was married off. Ruyi had stumbled upon Rongpei who was standing up to eunuchs who were taking bribes. Ruyi appreciated Rongpei’s sense of justice. Rongpei became a close confidant for Ruyi, someone she could really bounce ideas off, who was smart and had a sense of propriety. In her last days, Rongpei was Ruyi’s sole companion with whom Ruyi shared her old memories.

Sulian

I believe Sulian was a maid that came from Empress Fuca’s household, and so Madame Fuca would also ask her to be more mindful of Empress Fuca’s surroundings and any threats to her position. If I recall correctly, Sulian was the maid that Zhao Yitai liked, but she very much did not want to be married to him. So instead Empress Fuca used Lianxin as a bribe.

Lianxin

Empress Fuca wanted to keep Zhao Yitai in her good books so she betrothed Lianxin to him. Lianxin very much did not want to be with him. She was heard crying and screaming in the nighttime, and she would come to work at the manor so that she’d be away from Zhao Yitai for as long as possible.

Ruyi offered to help Lianxin. They concocted a plan to get rid of Zhao Yitai. To be honest I’m a bit surprised nothing else came of that relationship between Ruyi and Lianxin. Later when Empress Fuca died, Lianxin offered to die together as penance. One way to interpret that is that Lianxin still resented Empress Fuca for betrothing her, but she remained loyal, so she allowed Empress Fuca to die but died along with her.

Jiang Yubin

Jiang Yubin was a doctor in the palace and Suoxin’s childhood friend turned husband. He remained Ruyi’s trusted doctor through all the years. It’s actually amazing how consistent a presence he was in their lives.

Ling Yunche

When Ruyi was first banished to the Cold Palace, Qianlong asked Yuhu to hire some guards to protect her. One of those guards was Ling Yunche, and he did his job well. When Ruyi was released, she offered to get him a better job, and that was the beginning of his career. Ling Yunche was childhood sweethearts with Wei Yanwan, and he was working hard so that her mom would be okay with their marriage.

First, Wei Yanwan broke up with him when she’d caught the Emperor’s eye the first time as she thought she had a shot. Then when Ling Yunche found her again in the garden department, he pitied her and asked Ruyi to help. Ruyi was suspicious but she helped her anyway, seeing as how Ling Yunche loved her so much. But after Wei Yanwan dumped him the second time, Ruyi told him that he can’t go back to her again, he has to think for himself.

Ling Yunche worked his way into the Emperor’s guard. Qianlong relied on him to carry out investigations and such, as did Ruyi. As for Wei Yanwan, she only ever appeared to him when she wanted him to see how well she was doing. It was important to her that Ling Yunche still had romantic feelings for her. However, over time, Ling Yunche was rid of his affections for Wei Yanwan and grew loyal to Ruyi.

Qianlong grew suspicious of this during Yongji’s assassination attempt when he fell on top of Ruyi. From then on, Wei Yanwan fanned the flames of the rumour. Ruyi had no defense other than that her feelings to Qianlong were true. How do you prove you’re not attracted to someone? Also this would not have been an issue if they were both male or both female.

Qianlong grew so paranoid that he had Ling Yunche castrated and assigned to Ruyi’s manor. Before, Qianlong had been very cold with Ruyi. After the placement, Qianlong came to Ruyi’s manor all sunny, and he tortured the two of them by having Ling Yunche personally serve them during their meal. It was so immature. After he was done with the charade, Qianlong had Ling Yunche transferred again to do menial tasks. It was during this time that Yongji hallucinated hugging between Ruyi and Ling Yunche.

Ling Yunche was thrown in prison. Wei Yanwan visited him where she tried to act the bigger person but Ling Yunche was beyond that now. He said that the Wei Yanwan he loved didn’t exist anymore, and asked for their engagement ring back.

Ruyi needed to prove Ling Yunche’s innocence but Hailan knew that the only thing that would clear her in Qianlong’s eyes would be to put Ling Yunche to death. So Hailan falsified an order from Ruyi. In prison, she discussed with Ling Yunche who understood the optics and was ok with dying for Ruyi. He clarified that his feelings for Ruyi were not romantic. He gave the engagement ring to Hailan to use when they needed to take Yanwan down, and he agreed to die, already so miserable in his death.

Ruyi was upset by Ling Yunche’s death. She understood why Hailan did it, but she still didn’t approve of it. And they didn’t talk for a while.

I think the relationship between Ruyi and Ling Yunche was as Ling Yunche said it was. You can admire someone without it being romantic, right?

Tian Laolao

Tian Laolao was a midwife that Consort Ling regularly paid off. She paid off Tian Laolao to mess with Ruyi’s pregnancy so that Yongjing would not survive. If I recall correct, she admitted to having a grudge against Ruyi for a previous birth that hadn’t gone well, and was put to death. Though obviously Ruyi felt this was suspicious as they had little to no relationship.

Hu Yunjiao

Hu Yunjiao was the alias of Tian Laolao’s daughter whom Consort Ling had recruited to carry out crimes for her. She told Hu Yunjiao that Ruyi was responsible for killing her mother, and that Hu Yunjiao now had a chance to take revenge. Hu Yunjiao was placed in Yongqi’s household, and she slowly endeared herself to him. Hailan said that Hu Yunjiao would not properly take care of him so that his old ills would return. At one point, Consort Ling gave her a poison to use on his knee injury and she decided not to use it when he had woken before she could act on it. However, I think his illness had already grown strong and he collapsed. Still, after his death, Hu Yunjiao blamed it all on Ruyi and then committed suicide so that no one could question anything. It was only after deep investigation that it was revealed that Hu Yunjiao was Tian Laolao’s daughter who had taken on another identity in order to enter the palace.

Themes

Love

This drama was supposed to be a love story for Ruyi. Well in the sense that it was about love. She maintained her love for Qianlong all these years, staying by his side. She just longed to be there for him. When she first learned of the concept of monogamy, she was intrigued and really liked it, but Qianlong told her to stop thinking that nonsense and she never brought it up again. Still, Ruyi remained loyal to Qianlong.

Things changed when they grew older though. She was loyal to Qianlong still, but she was also loyal to their children and their families. She was also loyal to Qianlong as an emperor which he did not see. As Consort, she could just be there for his happy times, but as Empress, she had to be his counterpart, his confidant, she had to push back against him and that ruined his image of her in his mind as the woman who was once just docile and submissive to him.

And through all the shit Qianlong put Ruyi through, he always just asked her to bear it. It was fine with the smaller things. It was maybe even fine when it was the bigger things, as long as it was just for Ruyi herself to bear. But Ruyi couldn’t bear it when it extended to other people. Suoxin who was crippled because of her. All the innocent children who were killed. The consorts who were killed. Why did she have to bear it? Why do people have to die? It came to a point where love was no longer the be all and end all. And Ruyi just sought freedom from her love that had spiraled into a monster.

Overall

Upon reading more posts about this drama, I started to see the faults that I had always noticed but hadn’t put to form LOL. But still, I was entertained by this drama. It wasn’t perfect, but it hit certain story beats that were fun for me.