Story of Kunning Palace- More Drama and Novel Comparison

• You Fang Yin (our heroine’s friend) also had to marry to get away from her mess of a family in the novel but instead of marrying our hero’s trusty sidekick, she married the guy who had the salt mine. In fact, it was You Fang Yin herself who came up with the idea and approached the salt mine guy herself. Despite still missing the previous “You Fang Yin”, our heroine had come to care deeply for You Fang Yin and immediately sought out the guy to make sure for herself that he would treat her friend right. I really liked the change the drama made here. In my opinion, it was a more interesting pairing choice.
• In the novel, like our heroine, Zhang Zhe also had the memory from his previous life but kept that fact from our heroine. Unlike the drama, Zhang Zhe’s mother didn’t die (she did die in their previous life but not in this one) so Zhang Zhe was able to have his fervent wish of being a good son. Since Zhang Zhe’s mother didn’t die, our heroine was able to confess happily to Zhang Zhe but was stunned when Zhang Zhe told her that he already like someone else. Our heroine believed Zhang Zhe’s words until later on she picked up a pouch she knew from her previous life to be something Zhang Zhe treasured very much. Surprised when she opens the pouch to find items that she knows to be connected to herself, our heroine finally confirms that Zhang Zhe loves her. Our heroine shows up at Zhang Zhe’s house and confronts him with the pouch. Unable to hide the truth anymore, Zhang Zhe finally calls out “Niang Niang”. Hearing the title of respect that is used by court officials when addressing an empress, the very one that Zhang Zhe always called her by in their previous life, our heroine finally realizes Zhang Zhe also has his memory from his previous life. That single realization destroyed all of our heroine’s hope of having a future with Zhang Zhe. There was really no other explanation needed from Zhang Zhe. Our heroine and Zhang Zhe both knew that as long as they both had their past memories, there could be no happy ending to their love.
• The first time I read through this part of the novel I thought it was Zhang Zhe mother’s death that was the obstacle. However, the second time I read through it, I am thinking it’s a lot more complicated than that. In their previous life, both Zhang Zhe and our heroine ended their life with bitter regret and disgust towards themselves. As much as their love was true, Zhang Zhe could not forgive himself for what he had betrayed in the name of love and neither could our heroine forgive herself. In the novel, the moment our heroine found out Zhang Zhe had the memories then he immediately went from her secret crush to a painful reminder of everything she had done wrong in her previous life. Zhang Zhe understood the shame and bitterness, he knew how desperately our heroine wanted a new start to be a good person for once so he gave her that chance by pretending to not remember.
• I really like the changes the show made to our heroine’s relationship with her family. In the novel, our heroine’s family was more of an afterthought and I don’t remember much development on our heroine’s relationship with her mother at all. Our heroin’s relationship with her older sister is also much better in the show than it was in the novel. Unlike in the show where she accepted her birthmother’s bracelet and wore it, the older sister actually smashed the bracelet in the novel as a final proof that she truly has no desire to be associated with her birthmother.
• I was kinda disappointed that the show left out one of my favorite lines in the novel. In the scene in front of the palace after Daddy Jiang finds out about Xie Wei’s “nefarious intentions” toward his daughter, Daddy Jiang tries to warn Xie Wei off by saying “…my daughter is stubborn and spoiled. She is only nineteen years old, and still very immature to the ways of the world. As her father, I am very grateful to you for being her teacher, teaching her the morals and etiquette of this world. However, I am afraid she is still not mature enough thus needs to rely on Master Xie to make sure she doesn’t act out of line. I also ask Master Xie to be mindful of your actions and words, so as not to cause misunderstanding in her young mind. Master Xie also knows that I have not raised this daughter very well, and I am worried that she will get into trouble.” There was obviously a hint of warning in his words.

Holding a few scrolls in his hands, the smile on Xie Wei’s face did not change but he was mildly displeased inside so he simply said,”Official Jiang can’t raise her well, so why not give her to me to raise instead?” That line for some reason just strikes me as hilarious and so very Xie Wei.

• In the novel, the princess was not only married but pregnant by the time our heroine was able to save her. After suffering immensely during her marriage, faced with the real possibility of death (her husband was planning to kill her and hang her on display before the war), the princess also learned that her own brother, the emperor, preferred to have her dead.
• While I understand why they didn’t show the whole “bed” scene (when Xie Wei and our heroine were being held hostage) in the show but I would’ve loved to see the scene where our heroine purposefully made extra effort in making the “bedroom noises” to taunt Xie Wei and was quite gleeful when she saw Xie Wei having a difficult time.
• I was stunned at how much they changed the ending. In the novel, the emperor was a terrible ruler to the very end. In fact, Yan Lin ended up giving our heroine the last say to decide who took the throne…meaning she could’ve put herself on it. Our heroine decided to put the princess in as the guardian over the throne and return the power over the army to the princess as well.
• While I was fine with the novel ending, I actually thought the show’s ending was a pretty good one as well. My only wish was that the show would’ve chosen to keep Fang Yin alive. Seriously, if they were going to change that much of the ending, why could they not keep Fang Yin alive?!

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*This post is an ongoing one and will be updated as I am able.