team iksong

Jiefu （姐夫）- Changning calls Xie Zheng this, she would never call him by his name - see my explanation here

Sunsun (隼隼) - a nickname for the Falcon, because Xie Zheng's white falcon is a Gryfalcon - a "mao sun" (矛隼), and Changning gives the falcon a nickname derived from that, "Sunsun". Kind of like if you called a cat a "kitty" or something. "Sun" by itself just means falcon, generally.

a-jie (阿姐)- Changning calls Changyu "a-jie", which means "older sister"

Zheng'er (征儿) - dilf Wei Yan refers to his nephew Xie Zheng as "Zheng Er", the "Zheng" being his name, and the "er" being a diminuitive, often used for children / someone a generation below you.

(because I was just about do a similar list)

but also how characters refer to each other --

People in Lin'an seem to call Fan Changyu "Changyu," unless you're Li Huai'an or Gongsun Yin (aka virtual strangers), then it is Fan Da Niangzi (it's another version of "the eldest Miss Fan"). Changning, OTOH, is always Ning Niang (the Niang isn't really part her given name but it's hard to describe). I don't think anyone actually calls her Changning unless I'm missing something.

No one says "Zheng." It is Yan Zheng. I guess Fan Changyu calls him Xie Zheng later.

Unless you're Gongsun Yin, who I believe is a classmate of Xie Zheng, then he refers to Xie Zheng as "Jiuheng" which is Xie Zheng's courtesy name.*

It looks like the proper title for Xie Zheng as is used in the drama is Wu'an Hou Xie Zheng (the marquis of Wu'an, Xie Zheng.). It sounds other officials i.e. Li Huai'an refers to him as "Wu'an Hou" or "the Marquis of Wu'an."**

Gongsun is the first or family name, Yin is the surname. Gongsun is one of those two character family names that are relatively rare among actual chinese population but are very popular in fiction.

Xie Zheng "not blowing his cover" aka IMO sarcastically referring to himself as "Yan Mo" to Li Huai'an. The use of "mo" is this humble one. So he was being sarcastic. Li Huai'an said "Yan Xiong" or "brother Yan" when he was trying to stop Xie Zheng from killng that guy with his bare hands. That's a pretty common way to refer to someone of your similar age.

*Although he does use "Houye" at times.

another way they call changyu here is fan jia yatou 樊家丫头: basically means the girl of the fan family

rather than mr. zhao, changyu calls him zhao da shu 大叔: it's a more more affectionate, familiar term to refer to someone's older (who's around the age of one's dad/uncle who is not a direct relative) it's more like her calling him "uncle zhao!"

the underlings using shu xia 属下: it's a subordinate self-referral that they use in front of their superior-- when xie zheng's underling found him rather than "we are late" it's more of "your subordinate(s) is late", same with li huai'an underling when he was giving advice during the talk about the former's arranged marriage, rather than "i think" it's more of a "subordinate thinks", same goes with UILF wei yan's underlings

another one is that magistrate referring to himself as xia guan 下官 when talking to li huai'an, it's also another hierarchical-etiquette thing, he's basically referring to himself as "your humble servant"/ "I (the lower ranking official)" in front of the latter, usually used by lower-ranking officials when addressing superiors/higher rank, or when addressing seniors.

contrast that to when he's referring to himself as ben xian zhun 本县尊 when talking to his subordinate; much like the ben hou explanation above, but rather than "marquis" it's "county magistrate"

xie zheng refers to wei yan as jiu jiu 舅舅 in the flashbacks: uncle, yes, but maternal uncle

much like the explanation for xie zheng's use of "mo" above, he also refers to himself as cao min 草民 (grass people/commoner) it's a self-addressed form when addressing officials/superiors (again he uses it sarcastically/nonchalantly in that exchange with huai'an since changning shows up)

fuqin 父亲 and die 爹: both translated as father which is true, but there is a distinction in terms of colloquiality and to an extent formality- best way i can put it: the former is "father" the latter is "dad" "pa"; how wei xuan refers to wei yan, how changyu refers to her dad, how xie zheng calls her dad and how xie zheng's mum talks to him about his dad and so on and so forth

muqin 母亲 and niang 娘: same as above, but the mother version

general he, during the grave visiting scene with li huai'an, refer to himself as lao gu tou 老骨头: direct translation means old bones, but it's basically a sort of.... humble/self-depreciating reference of "this old man" if i could desc it, it's like "this man who is too old&useless"-- fun fact: in different context it's also used as a nickname when describing an elderly to imply that they're too stubborn (hard-boned) lol.

he also uses the good ol' lao fu 老夫 lit translates to old man: another self-reference term; this one's for elder men

li huai'an on the other hand sometimes refer to himself as xue sheng 学生 when talking to general he; lit translates to learned person/student but this is another self identifying term used by individuals seeking guidance from someone of higher social standing, age, or expertise, basically he refers to him self as this student, your student, when talking to the general

Also, why do people still believe that Xie Zheng is going to marry the princess, like can he make a public announcement that that's NOT going to happen????

Examples of symptoms include:

trying to make up stories and give up your pocket money

dealing with a terrified dummy of a marquis

lying to your new friend!

keep your boss's wife from committing murder

impersonating and having to punish your own boss

You may be entitled to financial compensation

overview | episode no. -  34 episodes, genre - costume

on the snowy eve of a political uprising, dou zhao (meng ziyi), the marchioness wei, is killed by an arrow in a buddhist sanctuary. her crime? elopement and adultery with the empire's traitor, song mo (li yunrui). dying wronged and weakened from her years of domestic labour for her unfaithful husband, dou zhao wakes again from a dream in her child body with a mysterious playbook in her hand. this time round, she is determined not to lead the same life of suffering again.

returning to the dou manor, she battles against the strict patriarchal rules that try to confine her, fighting for a meaningful life of freedom and happiness where she is able to keep safe those whom she loves most.

l⃣e⃣ t⃣’ s⃣    b⃣e⃣g⃣i⃣n⃣

aww I had so much fun watching this drama, it's a lovely one. it's a very well written, with beautiful lighting and beautiful cinematography- like genuinely. also. I'm such a sucker for good metaphors and motifs- I haven't seen a costume drama shot like this in quite a long time. the relationship and the chemistry between the two main leads song mo and dou zhao is so so charming and despite all the political killings and bloodshed, it may just end up to be one of my comfort dramas lol.

o⃣u⃣t⃣     o⃣ f⃣     t⃣ e⃣ n⃣

𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 - 8/10

𝖕𝖑𝖔𝖙 - 8/10

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 - 7/10

𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 - 10/10

𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕖 - 8.25/𝟙𝟘

o⃣u⃣t⃣    o⃣ f⃣    f⃣ i⃣v⃣ e⃣

𝖍𝖎𝖉𝖉𝖊𝖓 𝖌𝖊𝖒 𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖚𝖊 - 💎💎💎

[ besides from its really beautiful cinematography, it's a pretty standard but very well done idol costume drama. the writing is excellent, but the messages behind the drama are pretty normal, ideal in a kind of pride-and-prejudice way, where the characters aren't really challenging anything too scandalous for our modern senses. ] 

𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖆𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖚𝖊 - ✨✨ ✨ ✨ 

[ I personally love it. it's like a good hearty soup, very normal but warming. I will be rewatching at some point I think :,> I love them so much. ]

‘keep reading’ for detailed review

"but he's a second commander and a battle-hardened warrior! how could she have defeated him??" now obviously we could always just chalk it up to "because that's the plot" but might i offer this bit of analysis for your consideration: as we've seen so far, the 2nd shu commander is very impulsive, always trying to go head first into a fight until the first commander talks some sense into him. this is also exemplified by his choice of weapons: two maces instead of the usual sword. and if you've ever played any sort of medieval fighting game, you'll know that the use of maces usually requires a lot of strength from your character and it's always used as a type of brute force attack against enemies which is essentially shi hu's fighting style.

meanwhile, changyu, although she does try to fight him head on in the beginning, decides to use her speed and her smaller size to her advantage, often dodging his swings instead of fully blocking them, and immediately going for the vital parts and making use of her environment to disarm him. and she does this precisely because she couldn't match shi hu's physical strength (as exhibited by her barely holding her ground and getting thrashed around by this big ass guy). and when she manages to get a hold of the guy's mace--after slashing the length of his arm and other several body parts btw, she builds a lot of momentum first (spinning and running) before delivering the final blows as opposed to going at him with pure brute force (like general wu did). and immediately after the fight, after that big rush of adrenaline, she collapses. like it's such a believable fighting style and not really OP at all, especially for a female character.

Pursuit of Jade text posts part 1 <3

Because I was afraid, you'd die on the battlefield.

PURSUIT OF JADE (2026) | Ep 27

Bonus: The aftermath

I've already waxed on about how much I love Director Zeng Qingjie's work and his use of the "feminine gaze" so I won't repeat myself too much but dammit the way he portrays desire (especially women’s desire) and does so this skillfully with barely a word of dialogue is unmatched.

Just look at the cinematography:

It's the architectural framing of the curtains and the soft backlighting to emphasize the intimacy of the characters being "alone" as husband and wife for the first time. It's the gradual tightening of each shot to capture the characters' growing physical awareness of one another. It's the play of power with her more physically dominant in the frame while he guides her movements verbally. It's the impressionistic use of a handheld camera and the fluid rack focus on the eyes to mimic the intoxication of their almost-but-not-quite kiss.

And don't forget Zeng's strategic insert of a close-up:

Look at how the lighting reveals the texture of the clothes she's taking off him! And the blanket he hugs to bring her closer! And the goosebumps that appear on his skin when she washes him! All that suggestive wetness.

(Side Note: Hilariously, Tumblr marked those particular images of the blanket and goosebumps as needing a content label so I had to remove them.)

There's a certain haziness to the scene but where they touch is still in focus--there's sensuality in the tactile.

Director Zeng, please make at least 1-2 romance dramas a year and show these other directors how it's done.