I REALLY wish these drama adaptations of novels would stop messing with the original story’s ending…especially changing happy endings to sad ones. Why would you want to do such a thing??

 

A brief overview of the ending in the novel:

  • Mama Qiu used her and her son’s death to force Zhi Wei to swear that she will revive the nation of Da Cheng. (This is a bit complicated but in the novel Mama Qiu was actually tricked by her husband into believing her son is dead and the baby boy she was raising was to be sacrificed for the sake of Da Cheng.  Zhi Wei eventually figures out the whole messy truth and realizes that Mama Qiu would’ve never had allowed her own son to die over some grandiose loyalty to a nation that no longer exists. Along with that realization, Zhi Wei also lost all her motivation to raise a rebellion because she knew what the common people really want is peace and prosperity.)
  • At this point, Zhi Wei had already been declared Empress over the “nation” of Da Cheng which makes her and our hero (now the King of Tian Sheng) enemies. Fully aware of the oath Mama Qiu had forced upon Zhi Wei, Ning Yi allowed Zhi Wei to claim half of his land without putting up too much of a fight believing that our heroine would come back to him once she finished what she promised her mother.

  • Meeting Zhi Wei in an old palace hall that should’ve brought back many sweet memories they shared years ago, Ning Yi thought he and Zhi Wei can finally have their happy ending but Zhi Wei laughs mockingly and points out that Ning Yi should be feeling ill from the wine he was drinking by then. Amused when Ning Yi seems certain that there is no chance Zhi Wei could’ve poisoned him under so many watchful eyes, Zhi Wei reveals that the wine Ning Yi was drinking…the wine that had sat undisturbed in the underground of the palace was the very wine she had poisoned way back when they were still in their lovey-dovey phase. His heart shattered by Zhi Wei’s words, Ning Yi accepts his impending death calmly but tells Zhi Wei bitterly that even if she manages to kill him, the Da Cheng she just built will still dissolve. Unfazed, Zhi Wei replies with a smile “That’s alright. It’s my pleasure to be able to die with you.” Ning Yi stares at Zhi Wei, her smile is still gentle just like the first time they met. He had always thought all his effort is to create a bright future for them. That belief has allowed him to be patient all these years but in the end, it was all his own imagination. Slowly opening his eyes, the jade cup in Ning Yi hand shatters. Ignoring the blood dripping from his hand, Ning Yi summons his men and commands “Take her to the dungeon. Three days later…” Closing his eyes, Ning Yi continues “to be executed.”

  • The ever faithful Gu Nan Yi shows up in Zhi Wei’s prison cell. After quietly listening to Zhi Wei’s decision to die that day, Gu Nan Yi gently answers her “Alright. Together then.” Gu Nan Yi easily breaks Zhi Wei out of prison but things get complicated again when Gu Nan Yi’s adopted father and biological father show up. A big battle ensues, Gu Nan Yi steps in between his two fathers and was hurt badly. Gu Nan Yi turns around to look at Zhi Wei only to see her neigh unto death. Turns out, the moment Gu Nan Yi showed up at the dungeon Zhi Wei had immediately taken a pill that will end her life. With Gu Nan Yi’s arms around her, Zhi Wei swallows her last breath as she cast a longing look towards where Ning Yi’s direction. Covered in blood, Gu Nan Yi lets out a grief filled howl and jumps off the palace wall with Zhi Wei in his arms.
  • Ning Yi knew instinctively what had happened when he saw the faraway figure looking towards his direction. The distance and the drifting snow between them makes it impossible for him to see her clearly but Ning Yi could clearly feel her gaze and the farewell sigh that seems to break the connection between them. Collapsing to the ground, a gush of blood spilled from Ning Yi’s mouth.
  • Gu Nang Yi survives the fall and wakes up to find himself on his faithful horse but Zhi Wei is nowhere in sight. Gu Nang Yi searches for Zhi Wei but eventually realizes if Zhi Wei is determined to hide then she can’t be found. Going through all the places Zhi Wei has been before, Gu Nang Yi writes notes to Zhi Wei and buries them underneath trees at each place he visits.

  • Zhi Wei didn’t poison our hero after all. The wine was poisoned, but the poison was actually meant for Ning Yi’s dad, the old emperor. The poison in the wine combined with the special fragrance on Zhi Wei’s body became a special medicine for an old poison that had been troubling Ning Yi since he was young. All the “poison symptoms” Ning Yi had was actually the medicine chasing out all the bad stuff in Ning Yi’s body. When Ning Yi collapsed after coughing up blood, that was the very last of the bad stuff in his body so his health recovered quickly after that.
  • Ning Yi had fainted right after Gu Nang Yi jumped off the wall. When Ning Yi finally woke up, he promptly dragged himself into the snow to personally look through the dead bodies one by one. Ning Yi lets out a long sigh of relief when Zhi Wei’s body is nowhere to be found. However, if he can’t be certain of Zhi Wei’s fate, how is he suppose to go on living with the big question hanging over him each day? If never seeing her again meant she can be alive elsewhere then he is willing. But his big fear is what if she died? Then he wouldn’t even know where to go to visit her. Tossing all the work to 10th Prince, Ning Yi begins his own treck through the world searching for Zhi Wei…including all the places they have been to together.
  • For all of their seemingly endless patience to go on searching for Zhi Wei forever, our two male leads finally got smart and came up with a plan to trick Zhi Wei out of hiding. Gu Nan Yi pretended to be an assassin and “killed” Ning Yi.
  • After waiting outside of the palace for 10 days, Gu Nan Yi finally sees the figure on a horse he has been waiting for. Touching his own face to find a smile on it, Gu Nan Yi thought “So this is a smile…”. Gu Nan Yi had in an instant understood everything when he had held Zhi Wei in his arms and she cast her last look towards the palace. He had understood then who is in her heart and came to realize that there are many ways to love, it doesn’t always have to be one way. She had given him everything so in return, he will give her back a life of happiness. As for him…he has been here, has loved, has cried, has laughed. That’s enough. With the first smile of his life still lingering on his face, Gu Nan Yi turns around and walks off. Goodbye, my love. From now on, you will be in my heart.

  • The rider unconsciously looks up towards the hillside but there is no one there. Taking a deep breath, the rider continues on. Easily making her way into the palace, the rider feels her knee going weak when she saw the golden casket. Instinctively reaching out to stable herself, the rider jumps in surprise when her hand touches something smooth and warm. It was someone’s hand. Her body stiffening, the rider looks down and sees a long shadow by her side. The rider keeps her eyes wide open in fear in that if she blinks everything will disappear like a dream, only to see a smiling face turning around and her hand is enclosed in a familiar grasp. (The novel doesn’t clarify but the rider is obviously Zhi Wei and the man is Ning Yi who faked his death.)
  • Previously, Ning Yi had asked Zhi Wei if there is a way for them to be together. Zhi Wei’s answer is that they need to redeem their wrongs and go past death. Before Zhi Wei’s “death” she had paved the way to make sure many people (such as those who were in Xue Futu) would be taken cared of. Zhi Wei’s death also meant the whole Da Cheng empire mess is really a done deal and while she can’t bring back those who died, Zhi Wei gave peace back to the common people. So the redemption part was more or less done, which meant our two leads have to figure out how to “go past death”. Zhi Wei faked her own death to give Ning Yi a clean slate to be the emperor but turns out, our hero really didn’t want to be an emperor if it meant being without Zhi Wei so he had himself “killed.”

Postscript:

  • Despite his short reign, Ning Yi goes down the history as a great emperor who did many things for the good of people. Of course, there are many historians who can’t figure out the many glaring questions concerning the whole re-establishment of Da Cheng empire period. For example, why would such a strong empire such as Tian Sheng take such a lax attitude towards the establishment of Da Cheng empire on half of its land?! What’s even more ridiculous is that Tian Sheng’s own palace history records what should’ve been seen as a rebellion simply as “the re-establishment of Da Cheng empire”?! Because of the emperor’s puzzling peaceful attitude, which meant all those who should have been considered traitors didn’t receive any punishment at all! In fact, the Da Cheng’s first female general was allowed to leave and made herself a queen on some island.
  • A little fun side note is that there were court officials who loudly complained Ning Yi didn’t punish the “traitors” and suggest that the emperor should make sure they are killed to prevent any future problems. Nodding, Ning Yi tells the court officials since in warfare it is always best to kill the leader first, then he will place those court officials in charge of leading the army to go battle against the Da Cheng’s first female general. Their face draining of color immediately, the court officials knew this was like being banished forever since who can promise they will actually be able to find the nebulous island the female general is on…plus, they will most likely lose against the most feared general even if they end up finding her. Needless to say, Ning Yi had no more troubles with his court officials from then on.
  • The commoners who lived on the re-established part of Da Cheng (but now part of Da Cheng again) also have great things to say about their previous empress because they remembered how generous of a ruler she was and they are forever thankful that instead of fighting a hopeless war for her own greed, she let go of what most would not have been able to.

 

Sitting underneath a willow tree, a certain person jerkily closes a book. The cover of the book has a tacky drawing of a woman with a title that reads “Where is her spirit now? The secrets of the alluring empress!”

“What?” Someone lazily asks with a smile in his voice.

“Nothing” Quickly calming herself, the one who held the book stares at the gaudy woman with countless jewelry on the cover intently for a moment and sighs “This is what an empress looks like? She looks more like some street vendor selling trinkets.”

“Let me see.” The man takes the book and stares at it for a long moment. “She is ugly compares to you.” Taking a closer look at the drawing’s clothing, the man nods with approval “Not bad. The clothing is appropriate, not revealing.”

“So what if instead, it was like “The nights of the alluring empress” and the woman was scantily clad?”

“So nothing.” The man answers causally “I send a letter to 10th Prince and tell the guards to figure out who drew it. Find the guy, kill him.”

Silent for a long moment, the woman quickly puts away the book and stash it in the bottom of their trunk, trying to valiantly save the life of some no-name artist…the cover was decent looking but inside the book, there was another picture that was on the racy side.

  • After 13 years of tribulations, our hero can finally have his happy ending with our heroine.
  • The poor 10th prince ends up becoming the next emperor despite his desperate begging. Resigned to his lot, 10th Prince strikes a deal with Ning Yi that he and Zhi Wei would not live too far from the capital so the new emperor can always have his two advisors nearby.

“Speaking of 10th Prince…” Zhi Wei smiles “Do you think his hair will turn white overnight when he finds out we have disappeared?”

“Let his hair turn white.” Completely unsympathetic, Ning Yi replies “He comes to me for every little thing. Did he think I have lots of time to waste?”

Not bothering replying, Zhi Wei smiles and thought silently “Aren’t you indeed full of free time? Who was the one that was so bored last night that he wanted to go “chat” in bed?”

“It’s not like 10th can’t handle things himself now. As long as I am around then he has an excuse to be lazy.” Ning Yi declares with a righteous air “I can’t be a crutch to him. He is the emperor so he needs to carry the burden. It’s time for us to go.”

Still silent and smiling, Zhi Wei thought “What a great excuse. But I am so nice so I won’t say anything. In the end, the problem still lies on 10th Prince’s end. Such a naive kid, that 10th Prince. He comes to his brother over everything, be it big or small. The issue is that he doesn’t distinguish between night and day either. Just when his good brother gets ready to have a “chat” in bed, then there he is wanting to “discuss important national issues…”

So, after another certain night when they are interrupted once again, the next morning Ning Yi sits up in bed and after staring into space for a moment suddenly declares “Let’s run away.” Dragging a still sleeping Zhi Wei out of the bed, Ning Yi gave Zhi Wei only enough time to get dress, grabs a few things then immediately takes off without telling anyone.

“Let’s go.” Zhi Wei stands up and pulls on Ning Yi “A while ago you said the sun was too bright so you didn’t want to go. Now it’s almost sunset. If we wait any longer then you are going to say it’s too late, it’s time to sleep.”

“The one who knows me is none other than my wife Zhi Wei.” Letting Zhi Wei pull him up, Ning Yi whispers against her ear “Should we give you a new name? How about Know Yi?” (It’s a play on word of her name and his name.)

“Know Yi? I think it should be Walk Difficult.” Zhi Wei slowly replies “When one is with Mr. Ning then walking is difficult.”

Caressing Zhi Wei’s face as he laughs heartily, Ning Yi thought silently “What does it matter if we walk slowly? We have all the time in the world…”

ps. Next week I will post another epilog that actually has the two leads from Fuyao in it so be sure to look for it.

 

All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com