A princess who doesn't sleep during the day meets a general who is to marry her and perhaps be the prince she needs.
Notable Actors/Actresses
Zheng Ye Cheng: Xue Yao
Hu Yi Xuan: Xu Chu Yue
Director:
Producer:
Chinese Title
離人心上
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[Ep15] Chu Yue sings a song that’s familiar to Xing Chen to call him out. She calls out a very worried Xue Yao instead. Grandma, who happens to be in the brothel to catch the princess, is distracted by her beautiful singing not knowing it’s the princess. The customers hate her song because it’s too sad. They start throwing stuff at her. Xue Yao blocks them all. He won’t allow any man to have lured thoughts about her. She smiles sweetly. He’s taking her back home but she suddenly refuses to. 
He kisses her nose through her blue veil thinking she’s running away again. No, uh she’s hiding her pig nose from you. She’s transformed into a pig because the prophecy didn’t come true. She pushes him off and escapes. But Chu Yue’s pig instincts take over and she ends up in Grandma’s room. Grandma accidentally sees her pig ears and faints over. Xue Yao didn’t see a thing but because he has to take care of grandma, he leaves Chu Yue in Xing Chen’s care. So she does manage to call out to Xing Chen. But he still avoids her in the morning.
Chu Yue has realized her feelings for Xue Yao. She’s ready to tell him everything. She takes his hand and plays with it as she tells him. He wants to take her hand off but she cutely takes his hand hostage and continues to tell him about her Birthday Rock. But he’s not listening. He’s too preoccupied with his own thoughts. He found out his brother was killed by the Emperor. The Emperor caught his brother and his beloved Consort Yun (Fei Xue) having a forbidden relationship. Therefore, his brother's murderer is the person Chu Yue treats like a father. They're star crossed lovers. Chu Yue was asking him a question but he wasn’t listening. He walks away dazed. Chu Yue thinks she's rejected.
The next morning, Xue Yao walks like the handsome man that he is towards Chu Yue. She brightens up again and throws herself at him. She thinks he's reciprocating her feelings. He tells her he’ll pick her up tomorrow when it’s her birthday. He’s not used to seeing her so happy. He wants to respond to her enthusiasm but he’s retraining himself. She asks him if that’s his answer to her question and he nods. There’s a deep misunderstanding brewing.
On the carriage back home, Xue Yao lifts her leg to remove the bell on her ankle. He says it's for prisoners. She refuses to. She’s willing to be his prisoner. Instead, she uses the keys to draw a circle in the centre of his palm. She then closes his palms and tells him that she’ll be there (within his grasp) and the key will be in her heart. Wow. So good at flirting. “I’m already this shameless, can’t you respond to me?” She asks him if he feels the same. He's hesitant on reciprocating her feelings. How did he not die of sweetness here? I’m a girl and I’m shy listening to this confession.
Su Nan Nan makes Luo Ji drunk to make him speak. She confirms that Xue Yao used Chu Yue. Su Nan Nan lectures Xue Yao. She takes Chu Yue out of his manor to spite Xue Yao. I like Su Nan Nan a lot more now. She can’t stand it when the strong takes advantage of the weak. She stands by justice even if it's against her love.
Grandma wakes up. She knows Chu Yue took care of her the whole time. She also heard everything in her sleep. She calls over Xue Yao to demand him to bring back her precious daughter-in-law. I guess Grandma forgot about the pig. Grandma purposely makes Xue Yao fret. But this piece of wood doesn’t know where to find her. He waits impatiently at the door to his manor instead. He waits for a long time. Just when he leaves, she’s back. They miss each other.
Xue Yao paces in his room. He’s waiting for Chu Yue to barge into his room like she always does. Instead it’s Tao Yao who knocks on his doors. She’s here to retrieve Chu Yue’s blankets. He asks Tao Yao if Chu Yue has any messages for him. Nope. Unhappy, he takes the blanket to Chu Yue. When he sees her, she’s about to hang her head.
When Xue Yao finds out that Chu Yue is choosing her new husband, he rushes over immediately. Xing Chen is helping her grade the men or more like he’s ruining everyone else’s chances. Every time Chu Yue approves of one, he finds a hidden fault in them. She wants to choose randomly to get this over with. Because no one can replace Xue Yao.
Xue Yao sees her being close to another man. He flings the man off immediately. The man is Xing Chen. She was telling him her reason for returning to the palace: she wants to investigate the Emperor. Xing Chen doesn't hear all of her explanation because a fight for Chu Yue ensues between the men.
The Emperor makes Chu Yue sleep in order to activate the Birthday Rock. Tao Yao alerts Xue Yao to save Chu Yue before she has a nightmare. Xue Yao finally remembers everything Chu Yue told him and starts believing her outrageous story.
[Ep23] Na Xi creates a commotion just to buy a hairpin. It turns out she bought it to unlock the anklet on Chu Yue. She also forgoes her ultra soft bed to sleep in Chu Yue's hard bed. However, when Na Xi spends the night there, she doesn't take Chu Yue's bed at all. I thought Na Xi was going to either be Xing Chen's or Xue Yao's new girl but it turns out she's Chu Yue's new man.
離人心上
Network: MangoTV
Year: 2020
Episodes: 35 (+ Epilogue)
Recap Grade: A
First Impression: 4/5
First Impression: 4/5
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Mini Recaps
[Ep1] The story opens with Xue Yao storytelling to a bunch of children. The children reveal that he has to tell 365 stories to his wife (Xu Chu Yue) in order to wake her up. Today is the last one. Thus, he starts his last story...
There was once a princess who can only sleep during the day. This princess is Xu Chu Yue. She’s committing suicide. Her “father” (the Emperor) is forcing her to marry. The Emperor is not her real father, she was adopted. She accidentally kicks off the stool and almost dies. That’s when her maid runs in with news that her marriage is annulled. She’s elated despite still half hanging onto her rope as she confirms her marriage is off. However, she’s upset later that it wasn’t the Emperor who cancelled it. It was her fiancé because he heard rumours of her sickness (related to her odd sleeping habits).
[Ep2] Xing Chen resorts to scaring Xue Yao from finalizing (i.e. consummating) the marriage with Chu Yue. He tells his brother-in-law, his sister is a curse that will shorten his life. Xue Yao sarcastically admits they’re a match made in heaven then because he too was said to be a curse.
[Ep3] Chu Yue escapes Xue Yao's manor by climbing over the wall. Before she reaches over, she's already caught by her husband. Xue Yao, however, allows her to continue climbing because there's no way she can get back down on the other side. He's right. She falls over. Su Nan Nan flies in to rescue her. Chu Yue thinks it's her saviour and snuggles into Su Nan Nan's chest. Chu Yue is embarrassed to realize her saviour is a girl but gets her female hero to let her stay in her carriage to dodge Xue Yao. Chu Yue doesn't escape very far because Su Nan Nan intends to return to Xue Yao's manor. She has a crush on him and she is out to get the princess who dares to marry her love. Chu Xue gulps and lies that she's only the princess's servant.
To prevent herself from sleeping, Chu Yue ties her hair up. Every time her head droops, her hair will pull her back. Still, she manages to sleep and dreams of being killed by night bandits. This is the reason she doesn’t sleep at night. Her nightmares will always come true. It's because her body absorbed a "Birthday Rock" of her late father's (a minister). Every time she decides to change her fate, she will undergo a transformation. Once she transforms twelve times, she will die.
As prophesied, the bandits do appear. She runs away from her dorm but stops at the stench of blood, sensing another person’s presence. Shortly after, the bandits appear to capture her alive. She technically hadn’t smelled the bandits who are after her but Xue Yao who’s also a bandit himself, He amusingly stares at her trying to (but failing to) save herself from the bandits. He coolly saves her with a few slow-mo spins. The night bandits mistaken Xue Yao as Xue Mu. Xue Mu should be dead though. The bandits fail to capture Chu Yue but they manage to poison her. Xue Yao sucks out poison from her neck. The Emperor arrives with his men and shoot arrows at Xue Yao thinking he’s the bandit. He could have escaped injury-free but the arrows were also aiming at Chu Yue too. Thus, he suffers an injury to protect her.
Xue Yao is in the palace to investigate his brother's (Xue Mu) death. He is a loved General, loved by everyone except the Emperor who is wary of his growing powers. Thus, the Emperor proposes his “daughter” to him. Once he becomes a princess’s husband, the Emperor can strip him of his military powers. Chu Yue is thus used in this exchange to control Xue Yao.
Xue Yao accepts the princess to be his bride. It’s better for him to work with than against the Emperor. On the day of the marriage, Chu Yue is still in her slumber after recovering from the poison. She has yet to know she’s to be married and she’s already married. Xu Xing Chen, the Emperor’s neglected son (and Chu Yue's “little brother"), sneaks into the carriage to try and wake her with her favourite romance novels. But she’s still sleeping soundly.
When the carriage arrives to Xue Yao’s manor, it’s Xing Chen who steps out of the wedding carriage. He wants to stop the wedding but Xue Yao forcefully takes his rightful (sleeping) bride out of the carriage. The two men fight for her veil that’s over her head. It’s Xue Yao who wins the sleeping beauty.
Xue Yao carries her to bed and roughly drops her there. He wasn’t rough on purpose, his arm is still injured from saving her the last time. He finally lifts the veil and recognizes her. Chu Yue is actually awake, she’s pretending to be asleep in order to avoid consummation. Then a petal drops on her nose and he (seductively) blows it away. She’s holding onto her breath for her dear life and feels a sneeze coming because he blew on her.
She manages to hold it in until after he leaves but after the sneeze she immediately turns into a mouse. Even her personality is taken over by a rodent’s innate desire. This is the punishment for changing her fate.
When Xue Yao finds Chu Yue the next morning, her buck tooth and ears have timely disappeared. He never got to see her mouse form. He drags her back to her room and roughly throws her onto the bed once more. He’s too rough and the bed frame collapses. He hovers over her to protect her. The frame drops onto him and he ends up kissing her. But a red sheath prevents the direct kiss.
With one fell swoop of his legs, he resets the frames and the bed is back to normal. Chu Yue admires him. He totally reminds me of Tang Qing Feng from Let's Shake It!. However, the next second he has his hand around her neck. She’s tied up. He questions her if she heard anything in the study room or if she recognizes him (the night he trespassed the palace). She tells him she heard nothing in the study room and recognizes no one from the bandits. She lies that she followed a “large small rat” to his study room because she can’t let such a ferocious little rodent nibble at his stuff. He calls her the mouse. It’s a sarcastic joke but he doesn’t know how accurate he is. Chu Yue’s interrogation is paused when the maids walk in and are wondrous at the mess these two newlyweds have created on the night of their wedding.
Xue Yao lifts Chu Yue's chin and warns her to be an obedient wife. As he's looking at her closely, he starts thinking she looks alright but before he can finish that thought, she blows spit at him. Heh. He needs her to pretend to be asleep in front of Xing Chen otherwise he’ll have to consummate with her. She is wholeheartedly against it. The next minute, she accepts it because she has no other choice under his manor. She fakes sleeping; Xue Yao pats her cheeks to make sure she’s doing her job properly. She is. She's got such a sweet smile. He’s proud. However, when Xing Chen is about to leave, she moves her hand to signal to him to save her but Xue Yao is quicker at intercepting. He holds her hand, interlocks with her fingers and folds her fingers down with the other hand. He looks the part of a caring husband to hide Chu Yue's cry for help. Heh.
It turns out it was Xing Chen who started the rumour of her deadly disease that's why her first fiancé cancelled the marriage. It doesn't seem like Xing Chen likes her (or at least not yet) but he does care about her. He's planned for many years to take her safely out of the palace but it's all gone to waste with her marriage. He doesn't trust Xue Yao to accept Chu Yue wholeheartedly because of the "Sheng Chen" (Birthday) rock. The rat was her tenth transformation. By the twelfth one, she won’t wake up again. She transforms according to the Chinese Zodiac. 2020 is also the year of the rat.
Chu Yue quickly returns to her room and tries to barricade herself in it. However, Xue Yao finds her. She cries for help but when she turns around, there is no help, there is only a dozen of his men guarding her. Chu Yue turns (cutely) obedient in an instant. She sweetly promises him she won't call for help nor will she run away. He doesn't trust her anymore. He ties a bell anklet to her so that he'll know where she is at all times.
Xue Yao makes her tell him what she knows about the bandits that night. They're his only hint to his brother. She honestly tells him she dreamed about their assassination and that's how she knew to run away before it happened. He’s had enough nonsense and walks out on her. Talking to her was not going to work so he resorts to scaring her. He's shooting an arrow to the apple on her head to force her to speak. She starts crying and asks him if he married her why is he treating her like this. He drops the bow, grandly walks to her, releases her, and carries her to his horse. He takes her horseback riding. He stops his horse and tells her that if her tears are dried, they can return. He admits to being absolutely weak to tears. Aw. Seeing him being nice to her, she starts believing he's a good guy. She tells him there was a saviour that night. She concealed the truth because the Emperor is after him and she doesn't want Xue Yao to capture him. Xue Yao starts trusting her.
Xue Yao reaches his hand to her and helps her off the horse. He spins her down and she finds his scent familiar. She gets uncomfortably close to him as she sniffs all over. It's a bloody smell. It's also the same smell that saved her that night. She's not turned off by his smell though. He's a General who's been in multiple wars. This smell is normal for him. If soldiers can't smell this, then that's an even chillier thought. He's touched by her understanding. She smiles and sweetly tells him "you're in charge of walking thousands of steps and I'm in charge of solving thousands of scrolls (books)." He smiles. Because of that, she smiles thinking he won't kill her today
[Ep4] Che Yue is at Xing Chen’s manor. Xue Yao retrieves her back. Although she obediently returns with Xue Yao, she’s already planning her next escape. In the carriage, Chu Yue complains about the hard seats and wonders why he's so stingy. He must have gotten a lot of rewards from her father. Hearing her complaints, he messes with her by quickly approaching her to offer his thigh. She's even quicker at backing away in the carriage. This carriage is so spacious to allow her to run around like this.
Chu Yue plans to run away in a few nights but she realizes Xue Yao has people spying on her. She's upset she doesn't have his trust. I wonder why. She barges into the bath to argue with him but she quickly turns around, shy that he's naked. I don't know what she was expecting barging into someone's washroom. Seeing that she's unwilling to look at him, he dares her to look. He even drags her into the bath but she's determined to not look at him. She misses the chance to see his injury that would have identified him as her saviour. Isn't Hu Yi Xuan lucky to fall into the bath with her leading men all the time? And these men are always her hot husbands.
Su Lord pays a visit to Xue manor. He's Su Nan Nan's father and the man who had a major part in the death of Xue Yao's brother. Therefore, no matter how much Su Nan Nan likes him, Xue Yao will not reciprocate. Su Lord and Chu Yue have a one-to-one talk. Su Lord wants to know Xue Yao's weakness. Chu Yue thinks Su Lord will be on her side so she starts spilling everything. But nothing she says is useful to Su Lord.
[Ep5] Xue Yao is cute. He loves his plants and even names each part like it's a human body. Chu Yue cuts off a small branch and he claims it's the shoulder of the plant. Finding it amusing, Chu Yue cuts off another part and it's the brain. Xue Yao freaks out.
Chu Yue accidentally slips and Xue Yao catches her once more with another slow-mo spin. He tells her during the spin she knocked one of his plant's brain juice. It's Chu Yue's turn to freak out, asking him where the brain juice is. He leaves her alone in his garden but she calls out to him saying she's scared. He stops in his tracks and stretches his arm to her. He really is weak to girls or just weak to her. She takes his hand thinking this might be her last night here. Feeling conscious about her hand, he interlocks a finger with her instead thinking that will keep their physical contact at a minimum.
The next night, she's planned her escape and wrote a letter to her father, the Emperor. Xue Yao finds out and thinks she betrayed him. He drags her to prison where she sees all his torture equipment. She tries to run away but he grabs her back, accidentally exposing her bare shoulder. He's burning with anger but he can't seem to punish her. Xing Chen arrives at the dungeon and quickly covers her up with his cloak. The royal eunuch also arrive and pulls Xue Yao aside to speak. The eunuch shows Xue Yao the letter she gave the Emperor. It's a letter of complaint of all the mean things he's done to her. There's nothing that indicates she's spying on him. The eunuch relays that the Emperor has zero intentions of permitting the divorce. Xue Yao feels guilty for suspecting her. Xing Chen takes her away but the eunuch warns him of the consequences for denying the Emperor's edict. Worried for him, Chu Yue obediently returns to Xue Yao and takes his hand. She apologizes to him and calls him her dear husband. Xue Yao is moved. He asks her if she really wants to be with a devil like him. She assures him that if the devil is him then she is willing to go to hell. With that, he takes off Xing Chen's cloak to put his own cloak on her instead. He then lifts her up. She asks him where they're going. He tells her, "Hell." Oouuuu. Where's that ~~ However, heaven/hell doesn't last long. She's planning another escape.
[Ep6] Chu Yue's next escape plan involves picking up her grandmother-in-law. The grandmother did not approve of this marriage that's why she left the manor to a temple to avoid seeing Chu Yue. Chu Yue has no intentions of seeing grandmother as well. She plans to leave in the middle of the journey. Chu Yue also makes up with Xing Chen (after leaving him in the dungeon). He uses this expensive ingredient to silence her anklet bell so that she can escape quietly. However, during the escape, her ex-fiance kidnaps her. He's Bei Ze Lord. He's upset that his fiancee was this pretty and normal (unlike the rumours). He's set on marrying her again and she pretends to play along with that.
Xue Yao was training. The whole time he was training, he's thinking about Chu Yue and the way she turned back to say bye to him before leaving to pick up his grandmother. That beautiful smile of hers is imprinted into his mind and heart. When he receives news of his beloved wife missing, he dashes to the scene to find her.
[Ep7] Xing Cheng is the hero who saves Chu Yue from Bei Ze Lord. However, she had imagined it was Xue Yao. Xing Chen isn't able to get her out of Bei Ze Lord's grasp immediately though. While she's trying to escape by herself, she falls over the window sill. This time, Xue Yao is really here to save her. He's hanging onto the window sill with his leg to keep her safe from the water. He claims he's saving her because of his family pride but Chu Yue can see his worried expression for her. Blood is oozing from his injured arm. Chu Yue doesn't want to owe him so she lets go of his hand. He jumps in the water after her. Xing Chen arrives with his raft to save her. Bei Ze Lord is shooting arrows at them so Xue Yao quickly pushes their raft to safety. Chu Yue won't leave him to die alone. She swims back to him. Running out of oxygen, he gives her some by kissing her. He then sinks deeper into the water. Chu Yue grabs hold of him. Xing Chen throws a buoy for her to latch on and pulls both of them to safety. Xue Yao isn't breathing. Chu Yue wants to give him CPR but Xing Chen won't let her. He takes the honours. Will he do it? Nope. Xue Yao spits water out right when Xing Chen was about to give him mouth-to-mouth CPR. Although he's breathing, he re-injured his shoulder. Xing Chen finds it suspicious his shoulder is injured the same place as the night bandit the Emperor is trying to capture.
Chu Yue hovers over Xue Yao's bed to tend to him for the night. The servant notes her complete change in attitude. Chu Yue quickly straightens up and clarifies she's perfectly normal. Xue Yao wakes up and asks her why she didn't leave. She thought he meant now in his room but he meant back in the water. He's worried about her but they end up blaming each other. Thus begins the cute bickering between the two.
Chu Yue sneaks around Xue Yao's training area and is caught by him. His men were training half naked and he orders them to wear their shirts at once. He doesn't like her peeking around when her men are half naked. She tells him she wasn't hiding, she was staring at them openly. He reminds her that she's his wife. She reminds him that she is his wife but he forced her to go onto his training field to be his aiming target. She blatantly shouts to the men to take off their clothes for her to admire. Her maid, Tao Yao, interrupts to save the scene and almost exposes Chu Yue's intentions. Chu Yue had wanted to test if Xue Yao likes her. Tao Yao tells her secretly, their testing of him is successful. She concludes that he really likes her because he was jealous. Chu Yue smiles brightly.
A letter arrives from Bei Ze Lord and it ruins the happiness between the newly weds. Xue Yao thinks Bei Ze Lord had violated Chu Yue.
[Ep8] Xing Chen discovers that Chu Yue is still innocent but he withholds that information from Xue Yao so that the two's relationship continues to drift apart. But that's not happening.
In a set of new clothes, Xue Yao visits Chu Yue's room. Chu Yue over-analyzes the situation of why he would wear new clothes in the middle of the night to visit her. He purposely tailored commoner clothes to not trigger her memories of the flamboyant Bei Ze Lord. He tells her he doesn't like other men bullying her. He promises to take responsibility of her because she is his wife despite all her shortcomings (to be precise he says she has 38000 shortcomings, ha). Her eyes grow wide as she angrily demands him to list them all. He takes on her challenge but he lifts her up instead to put her to bed. He takes off her shoe and covers a blanket over her. He then sits down next to her bed and tells her to sleep. She shyly asks him if he's worried she's afraid of men that's why he's guarding her. His answer is this: he's only been around other men and don't know how to comfort girls. Translation of his answer to her question: yes. She stares at him and sense warmth exuding from his back. Feeling safe and assured, her eyelids close. She falls asleep.
When Xue Yao wakes up in the middle of the night, he finds her uncomfortably close. He tries to remove her hand from his arm but that stirs her and her lips softly touch his nose. That soft kiss sends waves through his body as he sits back shocked at her touch. He pulls a blanket to cover her face to prevent himself from staring at her. The whole night he tries his best to control himself and yet he doesn't leave his spot until morning.
Chu Yue wakes up in the afternoon. It's the first time ever she's slept through the night without dreaming a single nightmare. Excited, she runs to Xue Yao, who is tending to his garden. She casually touches his thigh to ask him what he did to her at night. He's conscious of her touching him. She then grabs onto his arms when he doesn't answer her. She wants him to stop caring for his mere flowers. He tells her he never had a chance to see his flowers bloom because he was always at war. This year will the first time he gets to see it. Chu Yue brightly asks him if she can watch it bloom with him. His expressions aren't obvious, but he's obviously happy about that. It oddly makes sense that he, a brilliant warrior who's killed many, loves flowers. He who has seen human nature at its worse knows how to appreciate peaceful and beautiful things like flowers. She continues to chase him around asking him what he did to her last night. She notes that he's blushing but he (cutely) denies it. She follows him up the stairs but falls backward when he abruptly stops. He reaches out to catch her but he's not fast enough and she falls onto his servant, Bai Li Qi. Xue Yao doesn't seem quite happy about that.
Chu Yue doesn't give up asking Xue Yao about last night. She barges into his study room, telling him she has a question for him. Bai Li Qi is there so she's shy. Chu Yue assures her that Bai Li Qi is like family. She then quickly blurts out she would like to sleep with him. Xue Yao quickly orders Bai Li Qi to leave. Now. Ha. She wants to continue the conversation but she cutely crosses her arm to copy his crossed arms. She says that the way he's standing is intimidating her. Obediently, he uncrosses his arms and sits down. She shares with him that their night together will affect her attitude towards him from now on. Heh. He becomes very amused at this topic. She hovers into his personal space making him very conscious of her as he inches away. She wants to know what he did to make her sleep so well. She then taps all over his chest thinking he must have tapped one of her zones to allow her to sleep soundly. She's too close to him and he walks away from her. She chases him around the room until he has to put his palm to her face to stop her. She pouts and blows at the hand that was on her face. Before she leaves, she swirls around and points her finger at him demanding him to teach her the tapping zones. He's taken by surprise and nods obediently. After she leaves, he smiles and calls her a pighead. There was no tapping zone, she just kissed him, that's all.
Su Nan Nan thinks she has a chance to marry Xue Yao. She sets up a trap to lure him into her bathing room. There, he learns that the piece of evidence (the lingerie) Bei Ze Lord sent him probably wasn't Chu Yue's and therefore she might still be chaste.
About the Birthday Rock: The person who controls the rock can revive the dead. A cloaked man wants to revive a sleeping beauty therefore he needs to capture Chu Yue.
[Ep9] Chu Yue waits for Xue Yao to sleep in her room tonight. When he finally shows up, he's upset she lied about Bei Ze Lord. He doesn't like being lied to. The man just wants a simple married life. She thinks he touched other women (from his scent) and because of his attitude, she starts crying. Woefully, she tells him she only wants freedom – freedom to love someone. He turns her face to him and wipes her tears. He asks her why she's so afraid of him. With that, he leaves her room and tells her she has her freedom.
The next day, Xue Yao has gone far away to train to avoid her. Chu Yue learns from Tao Yao that the girl Xue Yao visited last night was only Su Nan Nan. Chu Yue doesn't feel threatened by her at all. His flowers start blooming so she takes them to visit Xue Yao. But she's dressed up like a male and the guards don't recognize her as Xue Yao's wife. It's only at night that he notices the flowers. He knows it's from Chu Yue and takes a horse to return to her immediately. Yaaay ~~ When he returns, she's punished by grandma-in-law. The grandma-in-law is accusing her of cheating with another man. Xue Yao carries her back to bed (after she fell off one meter from a window sill...). She wakes up and holds onto his hand to ask for Tao Yao. She can't sleep so she needs her maid. Xue Yao holds onto her hand and assures her she can sleep. Sleepily, she lets her eye close. He's summoned by grandma-in-law, and leaves her. Thus, Chu Yue has her prophetic dream. No one is dying this time. It's only Xue Yao being drugged and making out with another girl. That’s all.
[Ep10] Chu Yue grumpily runs back to the palace ditching Xue Yao. Xue Yao was taking the punishment for Chu Yue. He knelt an entire night. When he learns she returned to the palace, he immediately goes to pick her up. But they're both hostile towards each other. He doesn't know what she's mad at though. She's mad at him for something he'll do in the future, lol. When she doesn't take the hand he offered to take her home with, he forcefully throws her over his shoulder. She yells that she's going divorce him. He takes her dare and these two yell at all the reasons they're divorcing one another. Poor Tao Yao has to jot down every word of complaint they have for each other. They sign one of the divorce papers. At this time, a eunuch summons them to the Emperor. The Emperor thinks Chu Yue has dirt on Xue Yao but she doesn't. She accidentally drops the signed divorce letter. She quickly changes it to the unsigned one. Xue Yao is waiting for her outside. He asks her what she told the Emperor. She's shy about telling him she purposely hid their signed divorce letter because that would mean she doesn't want to divorce him.
Chu Yue returns to Xue Manor. When Xue Yao hears of this, he demands her to be summoned to his bath immediately. She walks in nonchalantly, blinks at him bathing, and quickly walks back. She wants him to come out of the bath but she honestly doesn't know what she's saying because then he'd be fully naked in front of her. Thus, she quickly runs to him with her back facing him so she doesn’t see him naked. He wants the divorce letter. He doesn't want her divorcing him (:. She mumbles that she will be able to use it within a month because he'll cheat on her for sure. If she thinks that way then she might as well run back to the palace now, Xue Yao tells her. Che Yue doesn't want to. She sweetly calls him her husband and starts scrubbing him his arm. He confronts her that she merely calls him 'husband' but never treated herself as his woman. Still smiling sweetly, she starts to massage him. He turns red and blushes at her skinship. She asks him what's wrong. He calls her dumb for not knowing. He then throws a towel at her and the next minute he's already gone from the bath. Aw.
Chu Yue learns Xue Yao took Grandma's punishment for her. She sneaks around the perimeter of his room to ask if he's okay. But he thought she was a thief and had a sword at her throat. He assures her he didn't kneel for her. It was only to appease his Grandmother. Right. Feeling less guilty, she barges into his room. She's sniffing for female scent. He wants to know what she told the Emperor. She tells him honestly that she made a bet with the Emperor that she'll find proof of his infidelity within a month. He steps on her dress and stares down at her. She vows that she told him the truth. Thus, he releases her dress and asks her how he can cooperate. She perks up. He'd rather have her at a his side than have her taking advantage of Xue family's honour. Nah, he'd have her over anything.
Now that they have an alliance, Xue Yao tells Chu Yue to leave his room. However, to cooperate, she'll need to be with him at all times. He says he won't let that happen, but the next moment, she's sleeping in his room. She lays a blanket on the floor beside his bed and quickly lies down to sleep. Her eyes are closed but shes smiling. Sighing, Xue Yao lets her be and sleeps.
[Ep11] As Xue Yao is sleeping, Chu Yue examines him up close to wonder what is it about him that makes her nightmares go away. She touches his hand and brushes through his facial features. That's when she notices his face blush and his ears redden. She touches his face and wonders if he's feverish. He finally breathes out loud and begs her to sleep. He was awake the whole time, ha. She confesses that she can't sleep because of her dreams. She begs him for a finger she can hold onto. Just one finger of his will make her sleep better. He refuses. But he regrets it soon after. He knocks on his bed to get her attention. He extends a pinky for her to hold onto.
The next morning, he's sleeping with her. He thinks she climbed onto his bed but it's him who fell onto her floor. He quietly sneaks out of bed (the floor) as if he's done something wrong. Did he forget they're married?
Chu Yue follows Xue Yao to the training site. Xing Chen is there. He's challenged by Xue Yao's men after the Emperor had relinquished Xue Yao's military powers to give it to him. The princess's husband cannot hold military power. Xing Chen makes a bet with Chu Yue that if he were to win Xue Yao's soldiers, he wants her to call him "Xing Chen Ge Ge". He wants to be her "oppa". She's about to hit him for being a rascal. Xing Chen grabs onto her hand to stop her and that's when Xue Yao enters the tent. He doesn't like seeing his wife's hand being held by another man even if the man is her "little brother".
Chu Yue watches nervously at the sidelines while Xing Chen is fighting. She tells Xue Yao that her and Xing Chen's injuries are different from his. Unlike Xue Yao's scars, theirs are internal. Xue Yao takes her hand to comfort her.
It's Xue Yao's turn to fight Xing Chen. Xing Chen, although isn't too bad, but with Xue Yao as his opponent, he loses in a few moves. Xue Yao warns him to admit defeat now but Xing Chen refuses. The more he's in pain, the more Chu Yue will care for him. This boy... This forces Xue Yao to beat him down once more. Chu Yue flies to his side. She urges him to give up but he can't lose because they still have their bet. She quickly gives in and calls him "Xing Chen Ge Ge" to appease him. He doesn't want it so halfheartedly though. Xue Yao has had enough of Xing Chen taking advantage of his wife. He announces to all his soldiers that Xing Chen is to be their new leader.
Chu Yue runs to Xue Yao, worried that he's giving his powers away. Xue Yao tells Chu Yue that he won't approve of her crying for another man. His words are sweet but dude wipes her tears a bit too rough, lol. Whatever she owes Xing Chen, he will repay it for her.
Chu Yue overhears Xue Yao secretly talking to someone in the tent. She almost hears an important piece of information but Xue Yao catches her before she hears more of it. She enters the tent thinking he's hiding a woman. She's looking everywhere and even sniffs him like a dog to confirm if there was a girl.
At night, Chu Yue is already in Xue Yao's room, bed all set up and ready to sleep. Ha. This time she even has a rope. The surprise from her never ends. She wants to tie him to her when they sleep. Lol. He adamantly refuses it. Quickly, she jumps to his bed so he can't drag her out. She's shamelessly cute. Without a choice, he takes the floor. She asks him if he regrets marrying her because he has to give up his military. He doesn't. Regardless, she's grateful for what he did for Xing Chen today. She asks him what he wants since he doesn't care about his military power. He tells her he wants justice. He doesn't explain too much of it and tells her if she wants to continue staying here, she better shut up, lie down, and sleep. She listens immediately and lies as flat as she can on his bed. Seconds later, he knocks her bed. He's giving her his pinky. Aww. But she uses the rope to take his entire hand instead. Haha. This way he can't run away in the morning again. The next morning, it's Chu Yue's turn to roll off the bed into his arms. She wakes up first and tries to leave but she's pulled back by the sleeping Xue Yao, He's no longer asleep anymore. He threatens her that if she falls asleep here once more, he'll cripple her. She quickly runs away but forgets she's still tied to him. Like a boomerang, she falls onto him once more. Heh.
[Ep12] Everyone is at the brothel. Xue Yao is here to investigate hints about his brother's death. Xing Chen is here to investigate Xue Yao. Chu Yue is dressed up as a boy servant to investigate if Xue Yao is cheating on her or more like she wants to prevent girls making their moves on him. She barges into his room and uses all her money to buyout the girls. Ha. With all the women surrounding Chu Yue, she smirks at Xue Yao.
Su Nan Nan is also at the brothel to trap Xue Yao to be her man. But she catches the wrong man and exposes her bare skin to a complete stranger. He's Luo Ji. He's working with Xue Yao because his brother saved him.
Chu Yue finds Xing Chen in the brothel. She doesn't want Xue Yao to find him so she distracts him with a Bi Dong (Kabedon) and kisses him. She also hugs him. Fed up, he pushes her aside to catch the man who she's desperate to protect. He doesn't find the man but he does find a jade that's matching with hers. She doesn't tell him it belongs to Xing Chen. Upset that she's withhold the truth from him, he throws the jade out the carriage. Chu Yue immediately stops the carriage to look for her jade. In the process, she twists her leg. He can't bear to see her hobbling around so he returns the jade that he never threw away. He's still mad at her and leaves her on the street. Chu Yue whimpers that her leg is in pain. He stops in his tracks and turns around. Smiling, Chu Yue promises she'll tell him but he has to promise to not tell the Emperor. The grumpy Xue Yao is no longer interested in knowing anymore. She grabs onto his leg like a child to prevent him from leaving. He yanks her off. Now she sits on the street hugging her knees, looking pitiful to every single onlooker. She even winks at all the ladies grabbing everyone's attention (she's still dressed like a boy). Left with no choice, he waits for her to go home together. He lends her his sword to help her walk. She's got on a silly yet cute smile while trailing him. So sweet. How can he not fall for her? He shakes his head as he's leading her. See, he can't not fall in love.
He had threatened to cripple her if she ever sleeps in his room but now he wants her by his side at all times because he thinks she's got another man. She's on the bed and turns to sleep facing him, who's on the floor. He quickly turns away. Their kissing scene flashes in his mind. Unable to sleep in the same room as her, he gets up. She quickly gets up too. She tells him she can't sleep without him or else she'll have nightmares. She's really testing his patience as a man, ha. He wants her to stop saying things like that. She doesn't know what he means. When he puts on his shoes. she puts hers on too. It's like monkey see, monkey do. She won't leave him at all even if he's just tending to his flowers. She sits on the side and stares at her own jade and remembers Xing Chen when they were young. She asks Xue Yao if there's someone he wants to protect. Ya. Her.
[Ep13] Chu Yue cries thinking about the person she must protect (Xing Chen). Xue Yao answers her question that he does have someone he needs to protect: civilians. He also figures out the man she's trying to protect is Xing Chen. He knows they're not real sibling and that's probably what bothers him the most. Chu Yue assures him that she wouldn't have just kissed anyone. She kissed him because he's Xue Yao, her husband.
Chu Yue is bored and doesn't want to think about her own love life. She goes to her regular bookstore but the store owner is only offering her books about princesses in love with generals or the princess's husband. She doesn't want any of those. Thus, the store owner gives her an erotica. Chu Yue quickly closes the book. Her eyes are wide. She slowly stares at the store owner and gives him an approving smile. Ha. The expression she has when she's reading the books.
Chu Yue is called to join dinner with Grandma and Xue Yao. Grandma is interested if there's any pregnancy news between the newly wed. Chu Yue doesn't hear a thing they're saying; she's inhaling her bowl of rice. Their chopsticks collide and so Xue Yao gives her the fish. He tries to signal her that there's rice on her face but she thinks he wants food from her. She pouts and gives it to him. He continues to signal her but she continues to misunderstand it. Fed up, he takes the rice off her face and shows it to her that this was what he meant. She now thinks he wants her to eat the rice that's in his hands. That's when grandma catches them flirting. She's frozen at their brazenness. Xue Yao, upset at being misunderstood, grumpily eats the rice on his hand (that was on her face). Chu Yue takes Xue Yao's hand and assures grandma their relationship is fine. It's more than fine, hehe.
Xue Yao is still upset at Chu Yue for lying to him (about Xing Chen being in the closet at the brothel). She tells him she has her family to protect. She can't give up her family just because she's married to him. Chu Yue compares herself to his flowers. Although he planted his flowers and they're his, but when the flowers bloom is their decision to make. He can't control that and he can't control her.
Tao Yao discovers that Chu Yue's prophecy hasn't realized yet. She plans to protect Chu Yue so that she doesn't have to transform the eleventh time. Tao Yao is a very loyal maid. She decides to outsmart the prophecy by drugging the alcohol that Chu Yue and Xue Yao are supposed to drink so that the prophecy does come true but the girl is Chu Yue. Meanwhile, Xing Chen gives Su Nan Nan a chance to drug Xue Yao. Xue Yao rejects all her advances though. The only problem is Xing Chen and Chu Yue drank the drugged alcohol. A stimulated Xing Chen is about to kiss an unconscious Chu Yue.
[Ep14] Xing Chen stops himself in time. He slaps himself for having forbidden thoughts about his sister. Xue Yao enters her room after Xing Chen leaves.
Chu Yue, who’s still affected by the drug, starts pouncing on Xue Yao. Literally. She pushes him down on the chair. He tells her she needs medicine. She tells him he is her medicine. She's about to take her medicine (kiss him) but he stops her. She almost rips his clothes off. Fed up, Xue Yao throws her in the water. OMG. He jumps into the water with her to ask if she's awake. She's not. She fervently grabs him in for a kiss. He has to yank her off. Xue Yao asks if she's sure she wants this. She answers with another kiss. Woo~.
Grandma walks in on this scene and to any onlooker they look like a couple hotly in love. Little do they know how hard Xue Yao is trying to keep her off him. He grits his teeth telling her that she's left him with no choice. When Chu Yue wakes up, he finds that her hands are tied to the bed post. I'm a little disappointed that this was what he meant, heh. Chu Yue is mad, upset and embarrassed. But first she needs to find out why Xing Chen won't talk to her.
Xing Chen coldly refuses Chu Yue at his door. She sits at his doorstep letting rain hit her. Xue Yao covers her with an umbrella. He slices open Xing Chen's doors with one cool move. He’s her Prince Charming. Xing Chen only wants to see Xue Yao though. Chu Yue waits outside. Xue Yao needs a reason from Xing Chen on his sudden attitude. Xing Chen scoffs that their current detriment is exactly what Xue Yao wants. It's not. Xue Yao knows that if Xing Chen is unhappy, then Chu Yue is unhappy. He doesn't want her unhappy. Xing Chen makes up an excuse and calls her annoying. He says all things heartbreaking to hurt Chu Yue. She’s in tears but it’s okay, she has Xue Yao. Xue Yao takes her home. He piggybacks her and comforts her that she still has him.
Chu Yue is still depressed. He takes her to his training site to make her happy. He's got a surprise waiting her. They take each other's hands so naturally now. His surprise is a horse. He thinks she loves it. She doesn't. He takes her for a fast ride and the next moment, she's puking. He doesn't understand how she's not happy. His men would brighten up immediately once they ride the fastest horse. Ha.
Chu Yue visits the brothel again once she found out it belonged to Xing Chen. She thinks that she can make him talk to her again if she makes him worried about her. The person who shows up worried is Xue Yao though. It also turns out the prophecy is set to come true in the next episode.
Without Chu Yue sleeping with Xue Yao, it’s his turn to have a nightmare. He dreamed he kissed Chu Yue but she turned into a pig. That wasn’t a dream, honey. He dresses up handsomely in his armour. He’s in the palace to pick up Chu Yue who willingly returns with him. He’s not used to this, heh. They’re suddenly under attack from the same bandits as last time. From the way Xue Yao was fighting to protect her, Chu Yue realizes he’s the bandit who saved her. She couldn’t be happier with anyone else but him.
That night, Chu Yue confronts him that he’s her saviour. He’s caught off guard. She assures him she won’t tell anyone. She also wants to return the divorce letter. But it’s not with her so she’ll have to return it another time.
[Ep16] Xue Yao questions Tao Yao why he drugged Chu Yue’s alcohol. She lies that she only wanted to help Chu Yue and Xue Yao consummate. He speaks before he thinks, “Chu Yue isn’t even rushing it, why are you?” Haha. He does want Chu Yue to rush it. Xue Yao now misunderstands that it’s Chu Yue who wants to consummate with him. When he coolly picks her up from the palace to take her home he mentions about their future son. She’s shy and denies ever saying she wants a son with him. He replies her that a daughter would be fine too. Ha.
Chu Yue has realized her feelings for Xue Yao. She’s ready to tell him everything. She takes his hand and plays with it as she tells him. He wants to take her hand off but she cutely takes his hand hostage and continues to tell him about her Birthday Rock. But he’s not listening. He’s too preoccupied with his own thoughts. He found out his brother was killed by the Emperor. The Emperor caught his brother and his beloved Consort Yun (Fei Xue) having a forbidden relationship. Therefore, his brother's murderer is the person Chu Yue treats like a father. They're star crossed lovers. Chu Yue was asking him a question but he wasn’t listening. He walks away dazed. Chu Yue thinks she's rejected.
The next morning, Xue Yao walks like the handsome man that he is towards Chu Yue. She brightens up again and throws herself at him. She thinks he's reciprocating her feelings. He tells her he’ll pick her up tomorrow when it’s her birthday. He’s not used to seeing her so happy. He wants to respond to her enthusiasm but he’s retraining himself. She asks him if that’s his answer to her question and he nods. There’s a deep misunderstanding brewing.
[Ep17] Xue Yao gave Chu Yue a white dress (a wedding dress?) with an overwhelming skirt. When he saw her dressed in it, he's mesmerized. He quickly helps her lift her train making all the maids fervently ask whether he's still the manly general. He creates a grand event that takes over the entire street to bring her to a well known resort type of place. He's luring out the bandits that are after her. Chu Yue doesn't know. She's just falling more in love with him now that he's displaying his love for her. He brings her to another manor and guards her. Every time she looks up, she catches him looking at her. So cute.
The dark cloaked man who is after Chu Yue calls his sleeping beauty "Xue Er". So she's Consort Yun? Is the man Xue Yao's brother then? He sends his men after Chu Yue that night as expected. Chu Yue was with Su Nan Nan. Although Su Nan Nan is extremely jealous of Chu Yue, she doesn't let that hinder her from protecting the weak. It's Chu Yue who doesn't want to bring danger to Su Nan Nan and leaves her. Chu Yue smartly disguises as a bandit to hide from them but the bandits think she's a comrade. She manages to hide herself when they're numbering themselves off and even naming herself. However, when they ask her what they had for dinner last night, she's exposed.
Xue Yao narrows down on the bandits. They use Chu Yue as bait. They hang her off a cliff to threaten Xue Yao to let them go. I thought they need to bring Chu Yue alive to their master?
[Ep18*] Chu Yue falls from the cliff. Xue Yao dives after her. He uses his qinggong to keep her safe. She thanks him but he says it’s his fault. She was about to confess that she likes him but a poisonous snake is attacking her. He protects her from it. Without hesitation, she sucks his poison out. He didn't even have time to stop her. He looks at her lovingly, and complains that she never listens. Xue Yao, it's because she never listens that's why you love her (:. Although she sucked out his poison, he still faints over.
Chu Yue takes care of Xue Yao the whole night and even sings to him the lullaby that grandma likes to hum to him. Xue Yao wakes up but he’s hallucinating. He had a nightmare that Chu Yue and Xing Chen are married. In his dream, he hears Chu Yue call Xing Cheng "Ge Ge" (an equivalent to "oppa"). When he wakes up, Xue Yao gets very angry and demands Chu Yue to call him "Ge Ge". He forcefully pulls her in for a kiss. He desperately tells her "You are mine, always will be." To comfort him, she repeats after him "I am yours, always will be." He hugs her tightly. She just wants him to stop reopening his injuries.
Xue Yao: "Only you are my injury (my weakness)."
He falls unconscious again.
Xue Yao is peacefully asleep again. Chu Yue recounts his words and tells him, "I’m your injury, but you’re my medicine." She softly returns his kiss. She smiles sweetly as she puts her head to his chest to sleep. She’s got one of the sweetest smiles.
The next morning, Xing Chen finds Chu Yue. She was secretly washing up so that Xue Yao gets to see her clean when he wakes up. Xing Chen knows he doesn’t have a chance whether or not he found her first. He brings her back to Xue Yao. He threatens his brother-in-law to treat her well. There’s a complicated expression on Xue Yao’s face.
On the carriage back home, Xue Yao lifts her leg to remove the bell on her ankle. He says it's for prisoners. She refuses to. She’s willing to be his prisoner. Instead, she uses the keys to draw a circle in the centre of his palm. She then closes his palms and tells him that she’ll be there (within his grasp) and the key will be in her heart. Wow. So good at flirting. “I’m already this shameless, can’t you respond to me?” She asks him if he feels the same. He's hesitant on reciprocating her feelings. How did he not die of sweetness here? I’m a girl and I’m shy listening to this confession.
He tells her that she used one month to trust him completely, he also needs one month to sort his problems. She promises to give him only one month. He thanks her. But she wants him to show his gratitude. She kneels down in front of him and shows her cheek to him. He doesn’t understand. She smiles and squints her eyes. She's moving in closer to him so that he can give her a kiss. “If you ever want to thank me, you can only thank me this way.” Chu Yue gets even more shameless. “And you can only be this far from me.”
She closes in on him. He quickly backs away. The carriage shakes and she falls onto him. Taking advantage of it, she hugs onto him. He smiles and hugs her back sweetly. She doesn’t hide her flirtation with him even in front of his guards. She’s one hundred percent devoted to seducing him while he gets a major headache from her. He wants to solve his brother’s death which he finally found hints to but she’s messing up his heart and brain. I’m so glad it’s Hu Yi Xuan in this role. I find her one of the cutest actresses this year and I can’t imagine another actress doing better than her.
[Ep19] Chu Yue finds out Xue Yao used her as bait. But she still wants to believe him. He did risk his life for her. Unless he personally tells her he betrayed her, she won’t believe what anyone else has to say. Chu Yue also shares this with Grandma who is still unconscious. She also hums her favourite song to Grandma.
Su Nan Nan makes Luo Ji drunk to make him speak. She confirms that Xue Yao used Chu Yue. Su Nan Nan lectures Xue Yao. She takes Chu Yue out of his manor to spite Xue Yao. I like Su Nan Nan a lot more now. She can’t stand it when the strong takes advantage of the weak. She stands by justice even if it's against her love.
Grandma wakes up. She knows Chu Yue took care of her the whole time. She also heard everything in her sleep. She calls over Xue Yao to demand him to bring back her precious daughter-in-law. I guess Grandma forgot about the pig. Grandma purposely makes Xue Yao fret. But this piece of wood doesn’t know where to find her. He waits impatiently at the door to his manor instead. He waits for a long time. Just when he leaves, she’s back. They miss each other.
Xue Yao paces in his room. He’s waiting for Chu Yue to barge into his room like she always does. Instead it’s Tao Yao who knocks on his doors. She’s here to retrieve Chu Yue’s blankets. He asks Tao Yao if Chu Yue has any messages for him. Nope. Unhappy, he takes the blanket to Chu Yue. When he sees her, she’s about to hang her head.
[Ep20] “If you wanted me to be in pain for the rest of my life, then take this (a sharp object) and stab me right here (heart)." Xue Yao worriedly tells her. She’s surprised to see such a distressed Xue Yao in front of her eyes. She lightly pokes him in the heart and tells him she only wanted to prevent herself from falling asleep. He’s flustered and throws her over his shoulder. He throws her down on his bed. He asks why she’s back when he used her. She kicks off her shoes and care-freely leans back on her hands. “If you used me then you used me.” She says. She’s not mad about being used. She’s mad he didn’t tell her or apologize after the fact. He tells her he doesn’t want her involved anymore than she has to. He asks her to believe him. She smiles and decides to believe him once more. He then uses the rope and ties his hand to hers. He takes the floor and she takes his bed. Chu Yue is happy again and starts falling asleep.
Grandma summons Xue Yao in the middle of the night. She wants to know the results of his investigation on his brother’s death. Chu Yue overhears everything and learns that the Emperor is the suspect. Grandma pities the star crossed lovers and sighs that they’ll have to divorce. Xue Yao refuses. He won’t divorce her, his one and only wife.
The Emperor has a nightmare. He recalls the moment Chu Yue’s father died. The Emperor held a sword at him to force him to restore the Birthday Rock. The Dad refused and committed suicide by walking into the Emperor’s sword. While he was dying, his daughter (Chu Yue) is born. The Emperor taunts the dying father that he will raise his daughter as his own to use her at his expense. The Emperor wakes up from this nightmare. He then finds a letter. He learns that the Birthday Rock is in Chu Yue. Conveniently, he receives her divorce letter. The Emperor heartily laughs and approves this divorce to bring Chu Yue (Birthday Rock) back to him.
Chu Yue accepts the edict and leaves Xue Yao. That’s the only solution she can see for them. But she's not even his real daughter...
Grandma summons Xue Yao in the middle of the night. She wants to know the results of his investigation on his brother’s death. Chu Yue overhears everything and learns that the Emperor is the suspect. Grandma pities the star crossed lovers and sighs that they’ll have to divorce. Xue Yao refuses. He won’t divorce her, his one and only wife.
The Emperor has a nightmare. He recalls the moment Chu Yue’s father died. The Emperor held a sword at him to force him to restore the Birthday Rock. The Dad refused and committed suicide by walking into the Emperor’s sword. While he was dying, his daughter (Chu Yue) is born. The Emperor taunts the dying father that he will raise his daughter as his own to use her at his expense. The Emperor wakes up from this nightmare. He then finds a letter. He learns that the Birthday Rock is in Chu Yue. Conveniently, he receives her divorce letter. The Emperor heartily laughs and approves this divorce to bring Chu Yue (Birthday Rock) back to him.
Chu Yue accepts the edict and leaves Xue Yao. That’s the only solution she can see for them. But she's not even his real daughter...
[Ep21] The Emperor puts sleeping pills in Chu Yue’s food. Thus, Chu Yue is having one of the most difficult nights to stay up. Xue Yao happens to be in the palace and catches her before she falls. Chu Yue has fallen asleep on him. He takes care of her the whole night and lets her hug him all she wants. However, he orders Tao Yao to keep it a secret because it’ll damage Chu Yue’s reputation since they’re divorced now. Tao Yao even keeps it a secret from Chu Yue so she doesn’t know he was with her the entire night.
When Xue Yao finds out that Chu Yue is choosing her new husband, he rushes over immediately. Xing Chen is helping her grade the men or more like he’s ruining everyone else’s chances. Every time Chu Yue approves of one, he finds a hidden fault in them. She wants to choose randomly to get this over with. Because no one can replace Xue Yao.
Xue Yao sees her being close to another man. He flings the man off immediately. The man is Xing Chen. She was telling him her reason for returning to the palace: she wants to investigate the Emperor. Xing Chen doesn't hear all of her explanation because a fight for Chu Yue ensues between the men.
[Ep22] Chu Yue stops the men from fighting. She doesn’t choose to stand by Xue Yao. Xue Yao misunderstands this as her not choosing him so he promises to himself to never care about her again. Sure.
The Emperor makes Chu Yue sleep in order to activate the Birthday Rock. Tao Yao alerts Xue Yao to save Chu Yue before she has a nightmare. Xue Yao finally remembers everything Chu Yue told him and starts believing her outrageous story.
This time Chu Yue has a weird dream. She’s in another world. There’s a glowing orb but a voice warns her to not touch it but she still reaches out for it because there's a man inside of it calling for help. When she’s about to touch it, Xue Yao kisses her hoping she would wake up. So this is sleeping beauty. He also kisses her cheek tenderly. He hugs her as she continues to sleep. She’s no longer dreaming though, just sound asleep.
A bandit suddenly appears. It’s Chu Yue’s shi-ge. Oh, that black cloak dude looks like him. He says he sneaked into the room to give medicine to Chu Yue but Xue Yao is suspicious of it. He also comments on his fighting skills that seems out of the ordinary.
A bandit suddenly appears. It’s Chu Yue’s shi-ge. Oh, that black cloak dude looks like him. He says he sneaked into the room to give medicine to Chu Yue but Xue Yao is suspicious of it. He also comments on his fighting skills that seems out of the ordinary.
Chu Yue tries to sneak out with Xing Chen to find her freedom (she learned that Xue Yao had stayed with her for two nights). However, on her way out she’s caught by Su Nan Nan’s father. She’s saved by Na Xi, another girl crush, heh. I'm reminded of when Su Nan Nan first saved her. She's a princess from a neighbouring country who would rather ride her horse than sit in a carriage.
Su Nan Nan wants to avoid her father’s plan for an arranged marriage. She lies that she likes Luo Jin this time.
Chu Yue's real man, Xue Yao, asks Chu Yue to return to his manor but she refuses. She still doesn't know whether the Emperor really did kill his brother. She coldly tells him to leave her alone. It's an order from the princess. Xue Yao bows and accepts the order. Girl, why?
[Ep24] A consort bullies Chu Yue. Na Xi stands up for her. Xue Yao is patrolling the palace and also stands on Chu Yue’s side. Chu Yue ignores Xue Yao when he asks if she’s okay though. She uses Na Xi as her shield to him. Now that Na Xi is always around her, even Su Nan Nan is jealous Chu Yue has a new friend. Everyone loves Chu Yue.
[Ep29] Xue Yao is drunk and furious about Chu Yue losing the coins his brother left him. He tells her his brother died because of her. Through the letters he left, she learns he had protected her Zodiac transformation secret, he was the author of her favourite novel, and he died to save her. Xue Yao has emotions he doesn’t know where to vent to. He destroys the street and pushes her away from him. “Why does it have to be you?” He cries.
Xue Yao reluctantly visits her in prison. He claims he’s only worried about her because his brother used his life to save hers. But everyone knows he cares. She pleads him to stop mentioning his brother because it makes her feel guilty. Life continues to be awful to Chu Yue. The Emperor finally reveals his true colours to Chu Yue. This “father” of hers never loved her.
[Ep30] The prince and Na Xi are funny. She gets so mad at his words in her pretend slumber, she almost kills him if her brother hadn’t saved him in time.
Xue Yao is saving Chu Yue with his own method. He’s tries to make a deal with Na Xi but she only wants to marry him. He reluctantly agrees. Na Xi has more conditions though. She wants him to tell Chu Yue he’s willingly marrying Na Xi and she wants Chu Yue to be the witness in her wedding. Sort of like a maid of honour.
Xue Yao misunderstands that Chu Yue really is pregnant with Xing Chen’s child. She’s keeping up the farce because Xing Chen might be in trouble for lying to the Emperor. Thankfully, these two idiotic lovebirds have grandma as their Cupid. While Chu Yue is temporarily blind (from the powder attack), grandma gives Xue Yao a chance to take care of Chu Yue before she’s married to Xing Chen.
[Ep33] Xue Yao continues to pretend to be the deaf servant to care for the temporarily blind Chu Yue. He sucks at it. He gives her food too hot and berries too sour. She still doesn’t know it’s Xue Yao. Meanwhile Xue Yao still thinks she’s pregnant.
Xing Chen finds the divorce letter Xue Yao left for Chu Yue. When he sees that the letter is a divorce letter from Na Xi, he realizes how much Xue Yao loves her. He’s scotching his reputation by allowing a woman to divorce him (a grand general). Xing Chen tells Chu Yue about this letter. She realizes she committed a grave mistake of pushing Xue Yao away the last time.
Chu Yue finally realizes her deaf servant was Xue Yao all along. He says he’s worried about her. “Without you, I can’t be happy.” It’s the night before he leaves to battle. He doesn’t tell her this. He only asks her to not hurt his heart tonight. He's still under the impression she no longer loves him. He shows her the fireworks. He asks her if she hears them. Fireworks were the presents he owed her during her birthday. But she still can’t see them now. Xue Yao is in monologue-mode, “You must think I’m crazy. Only someone crazy will bring someone blind to watch fireworks.” Only someone crazy will love a girl while she loves someone else. Chu Yue’s voice is stuck in her throat and suddenly she regains her vision. The first thing she sees is Xue Yao and he’s crying. She wipes his tears away. She has tears in her own eyes. Now that she can see, Xue Yao leaves. He assumes she doesn't want to see him. Chu Yue holds onto him and tells him the (most obvious) truth that she's not pregnant.
The next morning Xue Yao is supposed to be off for a battle but he’s taking his sweet time to have breakfast with Chu Yue. He wants to feed her but she cutely refuses. She gives him a bun to eat but he sighs that the bun reminds him of how soft her face was yesterday. He can’t bear to bite into that. Omg LOL. Even Chu Yue pleads for him to be normal. Her heart can’t handle this. But this is the normal Xue Yao in love mode. He tells her she'll slowly get used to it. Chu Yue reminds him they're not married yet. He tells her he's already planning it. What happened to slowly? Ha. His men have had enough though. They’ve been waiting over two hours for their leader to depart. Xue Yao is like, well then, wait longer, I’m busy with the love of my life. He continues to talk to Chu Yue like his men aren't there. He apologizes for his behaviour from before. If Xue Mu used his life to save Chu Yue, it cannot go wasted.
Other characters: Na Xi kidnaps Ning Prince (the one who likes her). Su Nan Nan’s father assigns Luo Ji to save the prince before anyone else does to get the credit for it but it’s all a trap to separate Luo Ji from his daughter. Luo Ji aims an arrow at Na Xi but Ning Prince takes it for her. His sincerity touches her. This girl falls in love with anyone who saves her eh lol. Ning Prince is cute though.
[Ep34] Luo Ji now has a death warrant on him for severely injuring Ning Prince. Facing separation, Nan Nan gives him a kiss. Luo Ji pulls her back for another one.
Tao Yao suffers a fatal injury just to warn Chu Yue to not return to the palace. Dong Shi is planning to kill everyone in the palace if his Fei Xue doesn't come back from the dead. Now that she's warned Chu Yue, Tao Yao smiles in her death because she can finally meet Xue Mu. Poor girl. She’s got the bitter love story. I thought Xing Chen's guard has something for her in these scenes. Is it just me?
Chu Yue wants to revive Tao Yao with her birthstone. She visits the old man. He has a way to let ehr see her father. Thus Chu Yue lights an incense and falls asleep. In her dream world, she’s back in the same place with the blue orb. This time her father is there too. He reluctantly tells her how to revive the dead by looking into the blue orb. It’s not a way to revive Tao Yao though. In the orb she sees Xue Yao dying. Her eyes fly open and off she darts to Xue Yao. When she sees him she throws him a big hug. He has to pull her arms off of him for her to release him. He tells her to return to the city where it’s safe but she says she can’t. She lifts up her skirt and reveals her bloody feet. She ran all the way to him without shoes on. Immediately, he carries her off the floor to tend to her feet.
They’re sleeping on the same bed. Xue Yao asks her if she’s asleep. She’s not. He pulls out the ankle lock.
Xue Yao realizes Chu Yue doesn’t want him to return to the palace. The only reason she could be fretting this much means that he’s going to die. Knowing this, he purposely leaves her to fulfill her prophecy because if she changes it, she’ll be the one to die (after her twelfth transformation). Chu Yue wants to stop him from leaving. Xue Yao throws her over his shoulders and plants her on the bed. Chu Yue threatens him that if he leaves her then the next time he’s back, he’ll see her dead corpse. Chu Yue manages to convince him to let her face their dangers together. Su Nan Nan also wants to be with Luo Ji. Thus, the old man leads the team to Dong Shi. Dong Shi was waiting for their arrival. He aims needles at Chu Yue but Xue Yao takes it for her.
Now that everyone is in Dong Shi's hands, he tells the truth about how Xue Mu died. Chu Yue did not accidentally set fire to the room. It was Dong Shi who wanted to kill Chu Yue then the fire happened. Xue Mu sent Chu Yue to safety while he took on Dong Shi alone and that's how Xue Mu died
[Ep35] Xue Yao didn’t die from the needles. The lock in his chest saved him. Bai Li Qi stabs Fei Xue and that makes Dong Shi go berserk. He releases poisonous incense to take over the palace. Everyone dies. Na Xi is back in the palace and is off to find Ning Prince. She's worried about his health. As Chu Yue enters into sleep mode because of the incense, she sees her father again. She begs dad to tell her how to change the past. Dad sighs that if she chooses this path, she will live like the dead. She can hear things but she cannot respond. Chu Yue is willing to make that exchange for everyone she loves, especially Xue Yao. She uses her third eye and chants the words her father taught her. Chu Yue successfully time travels to right before Dong Shi releases the poisonous incense. She alerts Xue Yao who quickly stops the poison from being unleashed. Everyone lives. Maybe except Chu Yue.
Time continues to flow as Chu Yue continues to sleep. The flowers in Xue Yao's garden bloom again. He cooks for Chu Yue but she's still asleep. A petal falls on a sleeping Chu Yue's nose just like their wedding night. He reads stories to her on the boat and on a carriage. Like that, days passes by, months passes by and it's been an entire year. Finally, he takes Chu Yue on a stroll. But he calls Chu Yue "Wan Wan", his wife. On the street they pass by everyone they know (the Emperor, Xing Chen, Tao Yao, Bai Li Qi, Luo Ji, Nan Nan, Na Xi, and Ning Prince). They’re not actually there. It’s just Xue Yao imagining them as he's telling Chu Yue stories. He takes Chu Yue to the "South Gates" to leave the city. Hm. Hell? They arrive at this green piece of land (which looks awfully like the one that Chu Yue always dreams of).
[First Impression (Ep1-6)] Definitely my type of rom-com with actors I trust. It's light with a good story. It's well balanced with its comedic and romantic moments. In episode one, our main girl experiences two near fatal incidents and two marriages with only one being completed. There's an unexplained magic rock that allows her to have prophetic dreams at night. These dreams are more like nightmares. Hence she's the sleepless princess who doesn't sleep at night. Each time she tries to change her fate, she turns into one of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. She's already on her tenth transformation, we don't know what will happen past her twelfth transformation when there are no more Chinese Zodiacs left. The male lead is investigating his dead brother and that brings the two of them together, forcefully. They're married but he doesn't trust her. It sort of sounds like a "Legend of Yun Xi" type of story. The chemistry is starting to bubble but I would like to believe their current chemistry hasn't even scratched the ceiling of what it could be. Right now there are more fun hijinks of him scaring her than there are romantic scenes. In these six episodes he's gradually falling in love with her and I can't wait.
[Actors/Actresses] I trust these two actors so much. I love Hu Yi Xuan from My Dear Destiny and I love Zheng Ye Cheng from Let's Shake It!. His character here is very similar to Tang Qing Feng but more serious. Hu Yi Xuan is naturally cute. When he bullies her because he doesn't trust her, she still has a wholesome optimism about her. Hu Yi Xuan makes me like her innocence and makes me understand why Zheng Ye Cheng's character would like her.
[Episode 18 Update] How can she be such a flirt? xD
[Review] The romance is wonderfully addictive. Zheng Ye Cheng and Hu Yi Xuan are the heart and soul of this drama. I’m loving the recent drama trend to make girls flirty (Love and Redemption has a flirty Xuan Ji). It’s fun watching the guys squirm around in happy discomfort. I cannot see another pair of actors recreating the chemistry that they have.
[Verdict] I'm left yearning for more from the plot but as an idol romance drama, this is top notch chemistry with incredibly sweet scenes.
It’s the consort’s son's turn to bully Chu Yue. Na Xi and Xue Yao protect her again but they don’t need to do much. The prince trips on himself most of the time. The Emperor suddenly enters the room and the four of them scatter to hide from the Emperor. Na Xi and the prince take cover under the table. He literally falls on her chest and even snuggles in them. She’s murderous after that while he’s in love.
Xue Yao takes Chu Yue to hide behind the door. Their faces are no more than a centimetre apart. The Emperor’s makes misleading statements on Chu Yue's intentions but Xue Yao writes on her palm, “I believe you”. He then takes her hand to run away. With no where else to run, he asks her whether she believes him. She does. They jump into the lake. Although they're underwater and there's a lack of oxygen, Chu Yue snuggles happily into Xue Yao's chest. When they're out of the water, they stare into each other's eyes; a kiss is forthcoming but she turns away. She says there’s too many people. He agrees. He takes her to somewhere where there’s less.
Chu Yue is back in Xue Yao's manor where there’s less people. But where’s the kiss? He suggests once more for her to return. She hesitates. He's upset and she starts playing with his sleeves, swinging his arm back and forth. She asks if she really can return and if he’s able to write her name in his family book. Her surname is Xu after all. His answer is interrupted when Na Xi suddenly intrudes the manor. Despite the interruption, Xue Yao's gaze stays fixed to Chu Yue. That is until Na Xi attacks him. She's here to protect Chu Yue from Xue Yao. These two fight until nightfall. Even Chu Yue is bored to death. Na Xi stops the fight and calls it a tie. Since it's a tie, Xue Yao concludes that he doesn't have to leave/Chu Yue gets to stay. Heh. I forgot that was the point of the battle. It also seems like Xue Yao and Na Xi have a past. Chu Yue picks up on that.
There’s something else to fret. Tao Yao recognizes the armour in Xue Yao's room. It belongs to his brother, Xue Mu. Tao Yao’s expression turns complicated.
[Ep25] Xue Yao is still feeling guilty about choosing Chu Yue when he knows the Emperor is behind his brother's death. But he can't help it. He loves her too much. He senses Chu Yue coming and immediately closes his eyes pretending to sleep. Chu Yue looks at his sleeping face up close. When she's too close, he pulls her into his lap. She's embarrassed, but he tells her she shouldn't be, she is his wife. He's sweet and all but when he recalls how she interviewed a ton of men to be her new husband, he grumps at her. Chu Yue whines that he won't let that grudge go.
Xue Yao: You have a criminal record and it's imprinted - pats chest - in my heart.
Regardless of that criminal record, he wants to take her back as his wife. She confirms with him if he really can. Xue Yao gives her a back hug. He sighs, "I lost." Chu Yue smiles sweetly. She turns around to return the hug. Putting her forehead against her chest, she sighs "If we marry once more that'll be nice." Xue Yao agrees and he's got a plan. If she's pregnant, she has to be his. He opens his arms for her to make babies. Embarrassed, she ducks under his arms and runs off.
An old man attacks Chu Yue but he seems to know her. Hmmm. He's actually just checking her pulse but Na Xi thinks he's attacking Chu Yue so Na Xi pulls him away. The man hurts Na Xi with a knife. Chu Yue is worried about her injury. Na Xi assures her that this injury is nothing, she's got bigger ones and shows her the one on her other arm. She says that this scar was from protecting someone she loved. It was worth it.
Chu Yue reads the old man's book on developing this martial arts skills that is related to her Birthday Rock. Xue Yao is skeptical Chu Yue can learn it. Chu Yue scoffs at him for judging her. He only smiles. She starts reading diligently and uses Xue Yao's body as her model. She starts tapping his chest for all these zones indicated in the book. Her fingers starts traveling lower as she asks each point what it is. Xue Yao stops her before her fingers are too low and tells her this is nothing. Heh. She calls him stingy for not helping her. She then leans on his back as she continues to read. Soon, she's fast asleep.
My love for Na Xi plummets. The one Na Xi loves is Xue Yao. She makes the Emperor bestow her a marriage with Xue Yao. When the edict arrives, Na Xi feigns innocence to Chu Yue that she had nothing to do with the edict.
[Ep26] Xue Yao convinces Chu Yue he won’t marry Na Xi. He makes it clear his wife can only be Chu Yue. Na Xi is also aware Xue Yao won't fall in love with her (so why, girl?), so she makes Chu Yue give up on Xue Yao. When Na Xi tells her how grand her love for Xue Yao is (him saving her during war and her saving him), Chu Yue feels guilty. I must add that in those circumstances, Xue Yao would have saved anyone. Na Xi asks Chu Yue what amazing thing did she do for Xue Yao to make him love her so deeply. Chu Yue doesn't know how to answer that. This entire episode Na Xi makes Chu Yue guilty for stealing Xue Yao's love when Na Xi deserves it more. Whatever. The last blow is when Na Xi tells her the anklet on Chu Yue is actually a present from Na Xi to Xue Yao that represents her love.
Just when Chu Yue is about to give up, Xing Chen is encouraging her to win her love. It's Xing Chen's turn to help Chu Yue knock on the doors of Xue Yao. Grandma is also against the marriage with Na Xi.
[Ep27] Na Xi intended to use Grandma to make Chu Yue back off but Grandma is forever on Chu Yue’s side.
Xue Yao uses an item from the late Emperor to call off his royal marriage with Na Xi. However, Chu Yue, who is overridden with guilt, rejects him. Chu Yue also misunderstood that Xue Yao doesn't love her that much. But Bai Lin tells her that he’s been requesting to see the Emperor relentlessly. And thus, she remembers everything he’s done for her. At night, she sneaks out of the palace to Xue Yao. He's drowning himself in alcohol so he thought he was hallucinating when he saw her. He only believes it when he hears her voice.
That night, she escapes from the palace and runs to Xue Yao. He’s drowning himself in alcohol so he thought he was hallucinating when he saw her. He only believed it was really her when she called out to him. She asks him to elope with her. The next scene, they’re in bed. He doesn’t want to elope, he wants to take her as his rightful bride. He also wants to seal the deal “签字画押” (sign and fingerprint). She doesn't know what he means so he kisses her. That's what he meant. I'm not too sure whether they actually seal the deal.
[Ep28] This is the first morning Chu Yue and Xue Yao woke up peacefully together. It's also their first day on their mission to elope. My understanding of elopement is that it should be kept secretive but they make their love as obvious as possible. He sweetly feeds her breakfast. It's more like he's shoving it in her mouth, though. Hahaha. She returns the love. She tells him there's something on his cheek. She reaches over but it's her lips that meet his cheek. He feeds her again and puts the spoon right in front of him. It's to tempt her to come closer so he can kiss her but it doesn't quite go as planned. He was way too obvious.
He tells her that he will become "dishonest and disloyal, unfaithful and unrighteous, and heartless and unfilial" for her. But why unfaithful? Their next date is at the bookstore. The owner almost reveals Chu Yue's love for erotica. She can't let Xue Yao know that, it'll be too embarrassing. She manages to successfully intervene that.
It's the day of their marriage and Chu Yue is waiting for her groom at her place. Su Nan Nan and Luo Ji are helping her decorate the room. Wait, isn't this an elopement? Did the Emperor approve this? Even Xing Chen is giving her his blessings. However, Xue Yao has no intentions of picking her up. He can’t. He learns from Tao Yao that his brother died because of Chu Yue. Well, not exactly. His brother (Xue Mu) had a crush on Chu Yue but she didn’t know he existed. Tao Yao noticed him and thought Xue Mu liked her. When Chu Yue transformed into an ox, she was dancing (seductively) in the palace's memorial room. She accidental sets the place on fire. Xue Mu, who was admiring her dancing, saves her. He tries to put out the fire but ends up dying. So through Xue Yao's thought process, his brother died because of Chu Yue. He can’t marry her anymore. Instead of picking up his bride that day, he drinks a ton of alcohol to numb himself of all feelings. A quick summary: his brother liked the same girl and died saving her. Xue Yao can call it tragic but he can't blame it all on Chu Yue.
It’s confirmed, Shi-ge is behind all the bandits who’s after Chu Yue.
By the way, that old man who "attacked" Chu Yue is her father's friend. He tried to save her from the hands of the Emperor when she was an infant but he was captured and became crazy and lost all his memories.
Chu Yue cries too. One bad thing follows another bad one. She’s accused of attempting to poison Na Xi. The sleep potion had problems and it was all because of of her shi-xiong (Dong Shi).
Xue Yao reluctantly visits her in prison. He claims he’s only worried about her because his brother used his life to save hers. But everyone knows he cares. She pleads him to stop mentioning his brother because it makes her feel guilty. Life continues to be awful to Chu Yue. The Emperor finally reveals his true colours to Chu Yue. This “father” of hers never loved her.
Dong Shi offers to collaborate with Na Xi who he “saved” to target their mutual enemy: Chu Yue.
Xing Chen breaks prison to save Chu Yue. She was going to slap him because saving her would put his life in danger. He lets her hit him but she freezes. Chu Yue slaps herself. She continues to hit herself to make Xing Chen leave.
Xue Yao is saving Chu Yue with his own method. He’s tries to make a deal with Na Xi but she only wants to marry him. He reluctantly agrees. Na Xi has more conditions though. She wants him to tell Chu Yue he’s willingly marrying Na Xi and she wants Chu Yue to be the witness in her wedding. Sort of like a maid of honour.
[Ep31] Su Nan Nan, the only true friend, battles it out with Na Xi for hurting Chu Yue but Chu Yue stops the fight. Nan Nan cries for Chu Yue. It’s Chu Yue who comforts her. She doesn’t want to cry because if she does that would be admitting she lost.
It’s the wedding. Xue Yao tells her she doesn’t belong here but she continues to officiate the wedding. She tells him once she sees him married her heart can stop loving him. Xue Yao receives the wedding red band from her. Chu Yue holds back the tears that’s building up in her eyes with a bitter smile.
Night falls, Tao Yao brings Chu Yue a cloak. She’s watching Xue Yao leave with Na Xi. However, Tao Yao can’t move any closer to her. She feels responsible for this. She failed Xue Mu’s request of protecting Chu Yue. She tells Xing Chen she won’t be accompanying them when they leave the palace.
It’s the wedding. Xue Yao tells her she doesn’t belong here but she continues to officiate the wedding. She tells him once she sees him married her heart can stop loving him. Xue Yao receives the wedding red band from her. Chu Yue holds back the tears that’s building up in her eyes with a bitter smile.
Night falls, Tao Yao brings Chu Yue a cloak. She’s watching Xue Yao leave with Na Xi. However, Tao Yao can’t move any closer to her. She feels responsible for this. She failed Xue Mu’s request of protecting Chu Yue. She tells Xing Chen she won’t be accompanying them when they leave the palace.
During the wedding night, Xue Yao is extra cruel to Na Xi. He only smiles that day when he finds proof of Na Xi and her country planning an attack. However, when he tells the Emperor this, the Emperor is being controlled by Dong Shi like a puppet. Dong Shi doesn’t care about country affairs, he only wants Chu Yue (birthstone). Xing Chen tries to prevent Chu Yue from falling into the hands of the Emperor so he claims that he and Chu Yue have already consummated. Extra: Xing Chen was trying to stop Chu Yue from sleeping so he hired a kid. Chu Yue was so cute trying to babysit a kid who won’t stop crying. It’s perfect for keeping any sane person sleepless. This was also the only happy thing this episode.
[Ep32] Xue Yao exposes Na Xi on her love story with him. It wasn't her who saved him from the wolf. She had summoned the wolf. She wanted to make him loyal to her so that he'd help her take down her father (a cruel king to her and her brother apparently). Through that reveal, Xue Yao gets her to sign the divorce letter. One night and the marriage is over, heh.
Xue Yao misunderstands that Chu Yue really is pregnant with Xing Chen’s child. She’s keeping up the farce because Xing Chen might be in trouble for lying to the Emperor. Thankfully, these two idiotic lovebirds have grandma as their Cupid. While Chu Yue is temporarily blind (from the powder attack), grandma gives Xue Yao a chance to take care of Chu Yue before she’s married to Xing Chen.
Xing Chen finds the divorce letter Xue Yao left for Chu Yue. When he sees that the letter is a divorce letter from Na Xi, he realizes how much Xue Yao loves her. He’s scotching his reputation by allowing a woman to divorce him (a grand general). Xing Chen tells Chu Yue about this letter. She realizes she committed a grave mistake of pushing Xue Yao away the last time.
Chu Yue finally realizes her deaf servant was Xue Yao all along. He says he’s worried about her. “Without you, I can’t be happy.” It’s the night before he leaves to battle. He doesn’t tell her this. He only asks her to not hurt his heart tonight. He's still under the impression she no longer loves him. He shows her the fireworks. He asks her if she hears them. Fireworks were the presents he owed her during her birthday. But she still can’t see them now. Xue Yao is in monologue-mode, “You must think I’m crazy. Only someone crazy will bring someone blind to watch fireworks.” Only someone crazy will love a girl while she loves someone else. Chu Yue’s voice is stuck in her throat and suddenly she regains her vision. The first thing she sees is Xue Yao and he’s crying. She wipes his tears away. She has tears in her own eyes. Now that she can see, Xue Yao leaves. He assumes she doesn't want to see him. Chu Yue holds onto him and tells him the (most obvious) truth that she's not pregnant.
Chu Yue: I am your Xu Chu Yue, always was (and always will be).
Immediately, Xue Yao grabs her in for a kiss. He cries that she lied to him too cruelly. She says he did too and she questions him: "Why are you kissing me when you're not my anything?" Xue Yao sighs asking her what kind of status (name of their relationship) she wants.
Chu Yue: 心上人. T/N: Someone in your heart. It's also a nod to the Chinese title 離人心上. You are my 心上人. As an exchange, I want to be your
心上人 too. This is our status (our relationship) - Chu Yue perks her lips towards him - now sign (签字).Xue Yao smiles: Fingerprint (画押)
They kiss again for a long and delicious one. I'm pretty sure it's these two main actor singing this version of 眠眠 (Sleep) in these scenes. Xing Chen watches them from afar. He realizes how much more Xue Yao is in love with Chu Yue. He loved her regardless of anything.
The next morning Xue Yao is supposed to be off for a battle but he’s taking his sweet time to have breakfast with Chu Yue. He wants to feed her but she cutely refuses. She gives him a bun to eat but he sighs that the bun reminds him of how soft her face was yesterday. He can’t bear to bite into that. Omg LOL. Even Chu Yue pleads for him to be normal. Her heart can’t handle this. But this is the normal Xue Yao in love mode. He tells her she'll slowly get used to it. Chu Yue reminds him they're not married yet. He tells her he's already planning it. What happened to slowly? Ha. His men have had enough though. They’ve been waiting over two hours for their leader to depart. Xue Yao is like, well then, wait longer, I’m busy with the love of my life. He continues to talk to Chu Yue like his men aren't there. He apologizes for his behaviour from before. If Xue Mu used his life to save Chu Yue, it cannot go wasted.
With that, he finally leaves for his battle with an awesome cape move. It was actually pretty awesome. Chu Yue admires her man leaving the manor. "Xu Chu Yue, the man you love is someone amazing so therefore you must match him."
Other characters: Na Xi kidnaps Ning Prince (the one who likes her). Su Nan Nan’s father assigns Luo Ji to save the prince before anyone else does to get the credit for it but it’s all a trap to separate Luo Ji from his daughter. Luo Ji aims an arrow at Na Xi but Ning Prince takes it for her. His sincerity touches her. This girl falls in love with anyone who saves her eh lol. Ning Prince is cute though.
Tao Yao suffers a fatal injury just to warn Chu Yue to not return to the palace. Dong Shi is planning to kill everyone in the palace if his Fei Xue doesn't come back from the dead. Now that she's warned Chu Yue, Tao Yao smiles in her death because she can finally meet Xue Mu. Poor girl. She’s got the bitter love story. I thought Xing Chen's guard has something for her in these scenes. Is it just me?
Chu Yue wants to revive Tao Yao with her birthstone. She visits the old man. He has a way to let ehr see her father. Thus Chu Yue lights an incense and falls asleep. In her dream world, she’s back in the same place with the blue orb. This time her father is there too. He reluctantly tells her how to revive the dead by looking into the blue orb. It’s not a way to revive Tao Yao though. In the orb she sees Xue Yao dying. Her eyes fly open and off she darts to Xue Yao. When she sees him she throws him a big hug. He has to pull her arms off of him for her to release him. He tells her to return to the city where it’s safe but she says she can’t. She lifts up her skirt and reveals her bloody feet. She ran all the way to him without shoes on. Immediately, he carries her off the floor to tend to her feet.
They’re sleeping on the same bed. Xue Yao asks her if she’s asleep. She’s not. He pulls out the ankle lock.
Xue Yao: I'm returning this (the ankle lock) to you so that you can never escape my dungeon.Chu Yue doesn't accept it though: I used to think true love is to be imprisoned but I don't think so anymore. To miss each other (to think about each other) is a way to be with each for a lifetime too. How I understand this is that Chu Yue is refusing to be physically bound to him. She tells him that as long as their hearts are with each other that's fine. It's alluding to Chu Yue thinking either of them will die because of her prophecy which means they can't physically be together.Xue Yao: What nonsense are you saying now? Of course we'll be together forever.Chu Yue slips the lock back into his chest: Then this prison, I'll place it here - her hands on his chest - keep it well. If I ever want to run away, then I'll come back to retrieve it.Xue Yao has his hands over hers: Then you'll never be able to escape.
Xue Yao realizes Chu Yue doesn’t want him to return to the palace. The only reason she could be fretting this much means that he’s going to die. Knowing this, he purposely leaves her to fulfill her prophecy because if she changes it, she’ll be the one to die (after her twelfth transformation). Chu Yue wants to stop him from leaving. Xue Yao throws her over his shoulders and plants her on the bed. Chu Yue threatens him that if he leaves her then the next time he’s back, he’ll see her dead corpse. Chu Yue manages to convince him to let her face their dangers together. Su Nan Nan also wants to be with Luo Ji. Thus, the old man leads the team to Dong Shi. Dong Shi was waiting for their arrival. He aims needles at Chu Yue but Xue Yao takes it for her.
Now that everyone is in Dong Shi's hands, he tells the truth about how Xue Mu died. Chu Yue did not accidentally set fire to the room. It was Dong Shi who wanted to kill Chu Yue then the fire happened. Xue Mu sent Chu Yue to safety while he took on Dong Shi alone and that's how Xue Mu died
Chu Yue sleeps. In her sleep, she mumbles to Xue Yao to leave. She doesn't want him to see her last transformation but he won't leave her. This time, she transforms into a dog with canine teeth and hairy ears. She jumps at Xue Yao with gleaming eyes. She's on top of him and almost bites him. Chu Yue quickly gathers control of herself and warns Xue Yao that she's really dangerous, "look at my cute ferocious canine teeth!" Xue Yao laughs.
Her dog instincts take over and she starts nibbling at his chin. He laughs some more. He flips her over so that he's on top of her. He kisses her forehead and then her lips. He's making out with a dog? Lol. First he slept in the same room with a rat, then kissed a pig's nose and now with a dog he's going all the way. He's sure got a wide range of taste. However, the morning is bittersweet. After this dog transformation, her last transformation, the next time she sleeps, she will fall eternally asleep.
Xue Yao: You have me now. For all the next sunrises, and sunsets there will be me with you.Chu Yue looks at him and thinks to herself: So all the nights I've stayed up for was to meet you.
On their way home, Chu Yue falls asleep on Xue Yao's lap. Xue Yao princess-carries her home much like their first wedding.
Time continues to flow as Chu Yue continues to sleep. The flowers in Xue Yao's garden bloom again. He cooks for Chu Yue but she's still asleep. A petal falls on a sleeping Chu Yue's nose just like their wedding night. He reads stories to her on the boat and on a carriage. Like that, days passes by, months passes by and it's been an entire year. Finally, he takes Chu Yue on a stroll. But he calls Chu Yue "Wan Wan", his wife. On the street they pass by everyone they know (the Emperor, Xing Chen, Tao Yao, Bai Li Qi, Luo Ji, Nan Nan, Na Xi, and Ning Prince). They’re not actually there. It’s just Xue Yao imagining them as he's telling Chu Yue stories. He takes Chu Yue to the "South Gates" to leave the city. Hm. Hell? They arrive at this green piece of land (which looks awfully like the one that Chu Yue always dreams of).
Xue Yao: I really hope that we can be like characters in stories because that way we can live through other people's thoughts. Then we can be together forever.
Xue Yao lifts Chu Yue into his arms and walks to the edge of the cliff. Their clothes suddenly change into the ones they wore the night their feelings reciprocated [Ep33]. Xue Yao reminisces all the times they've spoke about going to hell together. Omg. Omg. One of the flashbacks end with Chu Yue saying "As long as we miss each other we can still be together for our lifetime." I really liked how the drama linked Chu Yue's lines to show her gradual feelings about love from wanting to go to hell with him, then being his prisoner and then finally understanding love to be eternally visceral and not physically binding. Xue Yao stands at the edge. With Chu Yue in his arms, taking one more step... Xue Yao, step back NOW.
The end.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
[Epilogue] Xue Yao reads a story to Chu Yue who's asleep. Xue Yao reminds Chu Yue that the sun is setting. Chu Yue opens her eyes. She's awake! Prior to Xue Yao taking another step forward from the cliff, Chu Yue had woken up.
In the next scene is Xue Yao rushing home to prepare a meal for Chu Yue. When he's home (by the way, he calls her his wifey), she's already up. She had already cooked his meal. She teases him that she wants to be nice to him too. He smiles and asks her how she's going to take care of him from now on. She feeds him the bun (that was as soft as her cheek, ahem). If he bites it, then he'll be hers this lifetime, and the next. He smiles. He responds with feeding her the wonton and says if she eats it then for every sunrise and sunset, she'll be his. So that's as long as mankind exists, unless the sun disappears from Earth. These two stare at each other and eat the wonton and bun (no, her soft cheeks!) at the same time. Chu Yue asks him if this is considered a love shot (for weddings). Xue Yao is reminded of their weddings: the first one she was asleep and against it; the second one, he abandoned her. It's time for a real and formal one. Chu Yue ponds on that. She pulls him up and asks him to marry her in this small humble hut. He smiles and agrees. Xue Yao puts his forehead against hers and calls it a wedding bow.
What comes after the wedding bow? Well, you know. That explains why in the opening scene Chu Yue was so tired. Hehe. After that, we're back to the carriage scene with Chu Yue leaning sleepily on Xue Yao's shoulders.
Next scene, fast forward four years, there's a boy named Xue Meng. Xing Chen tries to convince Xue Meng to call him Dad. It fails. He's the son of Xue Yao and Chu Yue. Xing Chen is the Emperor by the way. The Emperor is babysitting Xue Meng while the two lovebirds are riding boats, riding horses, and doing everything fun without their son. They're traveling across the world to finish their book. Chu Yue does miss her son (a bit) but Xue Yao doesn't. He's even jealous of his own son for hogging Chu Yue's heart. He stares up at her with these dreamy eyes. Chu Yue knows what he wants, "a kiss kiss?" He nods like a kid. A pigeon with a letter interrupts their kiss. In the letter, Xue Yao finds out his son will be sent to train in the army. Xue Yao freaks out and says they have to return immediately. It's Chu Yue's turn to assure him their son will be fine, he has the blood of a warrior. A second letter arrives that night and Chu Yue gets to it first. In the first line she reads, she realizes this is not the second letter. Xing Chen had written a thousand letters to her and 999 of them have been blocked by Xue Yao. Xue Yao quickly gives her a back hug and somehow the topic changes to having a baby daughter. Chu Yue rolls her eyes but as she's doing that, she's also dragging him back to their room. Xue Yao wants to slow down but Chu Yue tells him to zip it.
Luo Ji, the brick, finally proposes to Su Nan Nan. Su Nan Nan's maid is also planning to marry. Su Nan Nan has no idea who the man is. That night, Na Xi arrives with all her men. Luo Ji and Su Nan Nan draw out their sword but Na Xi isn't here to fight. She's here to help her brother ask Su Nan Nan's maid for her hand in marriage. Su Nan Nan and Na Xi still fight. No man can stop these two women. The Prince made a commendable effort. He tries to tell Su Nan Nan (his cousin) that Na Xi is his wife and she's carrying his baby. Rewind back to that night when the poison was about to be released in the palace, Na Xi had tried to save Prince and hence their current love story. Since Na Xi is pregnant, the girls decide to fight this out with cards. Lol. Alright. I don't know who won the match because both girls fall asleep on their man's shoulder. Su Nan Nan wakes up to speak with her maid and when she realizes her maid is truly in love with Na Xi's brother, she approves of the marriage.
Remarks
[First Impression (Ep1-6)] Definitely my type of rom-com with actors I trust. It's light with a good story. It's well balanced with its comedic and romantic moments. In episode one, our main girl experiences two near fatal incidents and two marriages with only one being completed. There's an unexplained magic rock that allows her to have prophetic dreams at night. These dreams are more like nightmares. Hence she's the sleepless princess who doesn't sleep at night. Each time she tries to change her fate, she turns into one of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. She's already on her tenth transformation, we don't know what will happen past her twelfth transformation when there are no more Chinese Zodiacs left. The male lead is investigating his dead brother and that brings the two of them together, forcefully. They're married but he doesn't trust her. It sort of sounds like a "Legend of Yun Xi" type of story. The chemistry is starting to bubble but I would like to believe their current chemistry hasn't even scratched the ceiling of what it could be. Right now there are more fun hijinks of him scaring her than there are romantic scenes. In these six episodes he's gradually falling in love with her and I can't wait.
I like the English title. The drama starts off with her sleeping, quite like Sleeping Beauty, but instead of kissing her awake, he has to tell stories to wake her up. When he starts telling the real story of her, we find out she's definitely not sleeping beauty, she's a girl who refuses to sleep hence she's the sleepless princess, his sleepless bride.
[Actors/Actresses] I trust these two actors so much. I love Hu Yi Xuan from My Dear Destiny and I love Zheng Ye Cheng from Let's Shake It!. His character here is very similar to Tang Qing Feng but more serious. Hu Yi Xuan is naturally cute. When he bullies her because he doesn't trust her, she still has a wholesome optimism about her. Hu Yi Xuan makes me like her innocence and makes me understand why Zheng Ye Cheng's character would like her.
[Episode 18 Update] How can she be such a flirt? xD
[Behind the Scenes]
- Xue Yao (Zheng Ye Cheng) getting all the praises from his fellow actors: Chu Yue, Su Nan Nan, Xing Chen. He's the happy pill in the group and also the most professional. Chu Yue says he sees "dream" in him. He's always striving to be better and reaching for more for more. Although he's getting all these praises, Zheng Ye Cheng will never be able to get rid of this one comment about him though: Dark. Chinese have an obsession with being fair.
- Xue Yao eating (all the time): There's more than one clip of him eating, heh. In this one, Chu Yue glares at him eating. Her reasoning is because she doesn't want her male lead to look unflattering on screen otherwise the audience will think she has terrible taste. Xue Yao isn't listening and continuously gobbles down his food. He tells her she must be blind for choosing him then and he too is equally blind for choosing her. What did she do to warrant this comment from him though? Lol. She tells him to leave him one bit but he practically inhales all the food leaving her none. I do like how she's watching out for him, I have to admit there are certain angles he’s not very flattering. Haha.
- The casualty behind the romantic princess-carry scenes: Chu Yue excitedly tells Xue Yao it’s time to carry her. He immediately furrows his brows. Haha. The staff laughs at him too. But when he does carry her the entire staff goes wooo. He spun her around twice making it look effortless on his end. The hard work was all on Xue Yao but Xing Chen asks if Chu Yue’s hip is okay. She’s okay, she’s just dying of laughter after being flung around like that. Xue Yao playfully collapses on Xing Chen to say that it’s his hip that’s hurting. In another scene when Xue Yao was wiping his sweat after carrying Chu Yue, Xing Chen teases him for it. Xue Yao tells him to hush. So does Chu Yue. Her pride (weight) is on the line. In this video, Luo Jin is also having difficulty carrying Su Nan Nan. She complains that men these days don’t work out. It’s not her weight that's the problem at all.
- More princess-carry scenes: All these sweet carrying scenes are all physical testament to Xue Yao’s strength and Chu Yue’s weight haha. There's more scenes of Xing Chen's turn to carry her. He teases her that she's heavy and drops her. She yells in frustration that only Xue Yao can carry her. Then comes all these scenes of him carrying her. And there’s so many! I didn't realize. This drama might just top the record of how many times a male lead needs to carry their female lead.
- Episode 7 - Xing Chen almost kissing Xue Yao
- Episode 9 - Prophetic Dream of Xue Yao cheating with another girl: Su Nan Nan and Xue Yao are acting out the scene. Chu Yue is laughing hysterically at the awkwardness. She barges into the scene and (fake) slaps and punches Xue Yao who's very cooperative in acting it out with her. They're very on point. She then takes Su Nan Nan in her arms and humphs how dare he hurt her woman. Poor Xue Yao. First he was being attacked by Su Nan Nan and then by Chu Yue. Finally he's accused of hurting Su Nan Nan and the girl he loves loves another girl.
- Episode 33 - Behind the scenes of the behind-the-scenes for the kiss: Chu Yue has a little interview where she tells us that her, the director, and Xue Yao are the the three steel triads of the drama crew. They spent an entire hour discussing the emotional kiss scene in this episode (i.e. how it's going to happen and what lines to say). The director respects the actors' feelings for their character. Chu Yue recognizes that in her interview. Xue Yao is also seen giving the director a very long back hug. I personally love these types of videos because it makes me appreciate this scene that much more.
[Ending] I left out in Episode 1 that the students called Xue Yao "Guan Shan." In the end he consistently calls Chu Yue as "Wan Wan". This ending, not only is it confusing about what happens to Chu Yue and Xue Yao but also are they even Chu Yue and Xue Yao.
- Hypothesis 1. Wan Wan is Chu Yue. This is the straightforward way of thinking this ending. Xue Yao uses a new identity (Guan Shan) to tell his love story with Chu Yue so that they can live forever together in stories. This is then an open ending for Chu Yue and Xue Yao.
- Hypothesis 2. Chu Yue is only a character in Guan Shan's novel. Wan Wan is the real person and she is in a deep sleep. Guan Shan tells her this story of Chu Yue and Xue Yao to wake her up. This version also makes sense because it explains why the drama was so sloppy with all the other side characters. They've completely vanished in the last episode (except for that weird street scene) but if it's because they never actually existed and were characters in Guan Shan's story then that makes more sense. This is then an open ending for Wan Wan and Guan Shan.
I'm leaning towards Hypothesis 2. When Guan Shan took Wan Wan to the cliff they suddenly changed clothes into Xue Yao and Chu Yue. That to me means that this suicide component is part of the story Guan Shan wrote for Xue Yao. It's not 'real' per se. It might be what Guan Shan wants to do but he doesn't commit to it.
The beauty of this drama being left as an open ending is that you get to choose the ending you want. Is she Wan Wan or is she Chu Yue? The choice is yours.
P.S. Now that I’ve seen the epilogue, it changes my thoughts on the ending slightly. From moderately believing, now I strongly believe that the main characters who started the drama are Guan Shan and Wan Wan. Guan Shan gave a happy ending to Xue Yao and Chu Yue. Meanwhile Guan Shan and Wan Wan are still an open ending. My single proof to support this belief is the fact that their wardrobe changed at the cliff. It’s too significant of a change to write it off. Of course, you can totally spin it the other way and give all four characters a happy ending or believe it is Xue Yao and Chu Yue from the beginning to end. By the way, I'm so glad the other characters have a creative scene to wrap up their ending. It was delightful to watch.
Final Review
[Review] The romance is wonderfully addictive. Zheng Ye Cheng and Hu Yi Xuan are the heart and soul of this drama. I’m loving the recent drama trend to make girls flirty (Love and Redemption has a flirty Xuan Ji). It’s fun watching the guys squirm around in happy discomfort. I cannot see another pair of actors recreating the chemistry that they have.
However, as much as I love this couple, my brain cannot rate this drama highly. I don't think I understand what I don't understand to figure out how to understand the plot at the end regarding the birth stone. Why does everyone have to find return to find Dong Shi anyways? Why? Tao Yao already did all that to warn you all, so why?? The train of logic fell apart for the climax. It’s a pity such a unique story about birth stones and zodiac transformations went downhill like that. It could have been so much more and not just an idol romance drama.
The ending was a drama itself. We all thought it ended but there were rumours of an extra episode or six mini episodes. Finally, an epilogue was confirmed. Having the epilogue arrive a week later than the finale, I had to regroup my thoughts on this ending twice in terms of the romance. I’d say it’s a clever ending for the romance. The epilogue gave everyone closure but it still kept the ending message of episode 35 which was pretty neat. This really should have been slated as 36 episodes from the very start.
[Verdict] I'm left yearning for more from the plot but as an idol romance drama, this is top notch chemistry with incredibly sweet scenes.
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