#SOKP

[xiakeponz]

SOKP Textposts part 3/?

[zhouyes]

you're right. a saint is useless. what this world needs is heartless men. those who abide by the rules can't move forward fast. then, screw the rules.

ZHANG LINGHE as XIE WEI

story of kunning palace, 宁安如梦.

[sarah-yyy]

Jie jie are you going to do a rec post for SOKP?

aight!! i got this ask two?? three?? weeks ago, but never got round to doing this because work has been fdjkhdsghskjf, but here y'all go

what: period cdrama // completed // 38 eps, roughly 40 mins each (+ one bonus epilogue ep, about <10 mins) where: iqiyi (standard disclaimer that i don't watch with subs so i don't speak to the quality of eng subs)why: villain (of sorts) reincarnation fix-it, what's there not to like?? incredibly attractive cast.

this is jiang xuening. she is, as you can probably guess, the empress. there's been a coup. it's headed by her ex-best friend (who was in love with her until his family got massacred and she chose to leave him to pursue her dream to be empress) who resents her + a bloodthirsty advisor to the emperor. the only man she's ever loved (not the emperor ofc) hates her and is in prison because of her. her life is hell. she knows she has no way out. she trades her life for her imprisoned lover-

-and wakes up 18 again.

because jxn is not stupid, now that she's got a chance to do things again, she immediately decides this time she's going to do better!!

firstly!! she's going to be good to her bff yan lin!!

yan lin's family was massacred before?? not this fucking time!! not on jxn's watch!! she's got a few months to get her shit together and fix this for him!!

"this sounds too easy, sarah, it's a reincarnation fix-it, she's got cheat codes," you say? you're wrong. did you expect jxn to pay attention to anything in her first life beyond clawing her way up to the position of empress?? hell no. she knows the what, the when and the how - she's missing so much of the whys, which is probably important if she wants to stop it from happening.

in the meantime!! my girl's got other problems to deal with!!

in her first life, she died a really goddamn tragic life in the palace. when she was rebooted into life #2, she made the decision to stay tf away from the palace and everyone associated with it. no jxn in palace = no jxn dying in the palace. easy peasy!! foolproof. no way she can mess this up.

she ends up in the palace as the princess's study buddy 🥰 ofc she does, because jxn just can't get a goddamn break. thank you yan lin and co for meddling. 😊

while she's there, she accidentally seduces befriends the princess.

princess was in love with a crossdressing jxn in life #1 and got Really Pissed Off about it when she found out jxn was in fact not the man of her dreams (or a man at all). she made jxn's life in the palace hell in life #1.

jxn: this time around i just won't dress as a man!! no male!jxn = no princess falling in love!! princess: fool. this time i'll love the female you 🥰

ykw? works for jxn. as long as she's not dying, everything is fine. girlfriend +1 it is then!!

while we're on the topic of sorting out her relationships while she's in the palace, let's talk a little bit about zhang zhe, aka the only man she ever loved in life #1

this is zhang zhe, low ranking officer in the ministry of justice. as straight-laced as they come. excellent cheekbones. in life #1, had a Soft Spot for jxn and did some stuff against his conscience for her. in this life, she's determined not to ruin him!! he's like her 白月光

ANYWAY these two meet again in the palace when he saves her life when she's being framed for treason. immediately, jxn is all 😍🤩 over him again. why would she not!! he was her biggest regret in life #1!! she literally died to save him!! (for those of y'all who expect to have SL syndrome over him, prepare to be WELL-FED, these two have a long arc)

alright y'all know how i said jxn was in the palace to be the princess's study buddy? well!! let's meet their teacher:

xie wei. advisor to the emperor. resting bitchface 10/10. petty af. occasionally feral and murderous 🥵. they were sort of briefly acquainted way back when they travelled to the capital together and jxn saved his life when he was having an Episode (long story short, bb boy is Unwell). the last face jxn saw in life #1 when she took her own life. you guessed it, he's aka the bloodthirsty advisor who staged the coup in life #1.

jxn is (rightfully) quite afraid of him. she tries her best to stay out of his way, but he's trying to sound her out (because she knows his ~secret) to see if she's friend or foe, so they end up in each other's paths more often than not, including important times such as these:

when jxn is trying to thwart a plot to frame yan lin's dad for treason

when xie wei is committing murder

when jxn is heart broken over zhang zhe

they kind of form an alliance!! in jxn's mind, xie wei and yan lin staged the coup together in life #1, so their interests must sort of be aligned!! plus!! xie wei is hella smart!! he'll know what to do to stop yan lin's family from getting masacred!!

ANYWAY that's the gist of the story - i've avoided most of the spoilery parts i think.

there's also the typical cdrama villains you'd expect in a show like this: evil empress dowager, power-hungry prime minister, spoiled brat daughter of the prime minister who is also scheming to be queen, evil uncle of the king trying to usurp the throne etc etc. all the things you need to prop the Palace Evil Schemes up.

i've seen some people say this is a 低配 version of love like the galaxy, which, ykw? fair. 😂 lltg is written better. sokp was a fun watch, though!! y'all know i am into reincarnation plots, and am basically predisposed to liking most of bai lu's dramas. and!! this show ends on such a good note!! i've been tricked into so many ~vague endings this year that this was so so so good to get <3

some of the parts dragged a bit for me (i am p meh about zhang zhe, i mean i get the appeal, but he's not doing it for me), but it wasn't bad! i liked xie wei's character enough to sit through a lot of things. could've done with like 300% more yan lin and the princess, but we can't always have what we want!!

[circumference-pie]

I would have liked to see Jiang Boyou’s FACE when told he’s getting Xie Wei for a son-in-law

[thecarelessvoice]

Guess who have a new hyperfixation?!!!!

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

Are you here to laugh at me?

[koremakaria]

How to tell ya girl that you love her, Xie Wei's edition. A polite reminder that this man is not exactly sane, in the most delicious way possible.

🚩 when ya girl witnessed you offing a few people and is scared of you. She asks 'are you going to kill me?' And Xie Wei, in a chilling tone was like 'Do you think I won't" yes totally reassuring

🚩 when ya girl asked Xie Wei for a favor for saving his life way back when and she said with this favor we're even. Being the not sane person, Xie Wei got angry and said 'are you so eager to cut ties between us?' Again very normal because he wants to be tied to her in any way possible.

🚩 when ya girl is spending too much time with this upstanding GOOD GUY, Xie Wei was absolutely ready to off him in full public view. This was only prevented because ya girl was like don't kill him and Xie Wei could never say no to her.

🚩 when ya girl is keeping her distance because she is scared, Xie Wei basically told her 'fine fine. You can run away from me, but know this no matter where you go or how far you run, I will find you.' Xie Wei, the romantic 🚩🚩

🚩 when ya girl was like I'm afraid that you will kill me so Xie Wei was like [sighed] 'alright why don't YOU just kill ME, right here and right now, with your own hands, so that you won't be scare of me anymore' He then guided her hands on the blade and stabbed himself ... seriously ... soooo extra.

There are plenty more. These are just some of the standouts.

[ylylyli]

Manifesting more fanfics in my Fandom 🙏🤞

[misspermitted]

I know it’s been a month but I made these can you put them on the fridge

[pippin-pippout]

I really want to know what the others, particularly the 3 romantic interests, were thinking in life 1. Their version of the story. Because at first we just kind of had to accept that puppy Yan Lin of life 2, had the anger and hatred in him, not just against the Xue fam, but against Ning'er specifically for SA. Ultimately the only difference we see between life 1 and life 2 at that point is that she rejects him at a really bad time in life 1 (understatement), and that her given reason for rejecting him in life 1 was to become empress, rather than she just wasn't into him.

Speaking of YL and the SA that somehow got past censors, at first I took it as something that happened when XW and YL first conquered the capitol, and that XW may not have known about it or couldn't have stopped it. But from the recent flashback, it's clear that it was ongoing, while the emperor still lived, and that XW and probably everyone else knew about it.

XW was setting himself up to be emperor with YL to support him. So couldn't he have stopped YL? Why didn't he? Was it that he was at risk of losing YL's support if he did and that wasn't worth it? Did he also think he hated JXN back then, and thus that she deserved it?

I kind of don't trust Ning'er's narrative of what happened in life 1, because she is so self-hating. When she tells her 'dream' to second life YL, even he says, 'Ok so you wanted to be empress, but it still sounds like I was the bad guy. Not you.' She was ambitious and did shitty things, but we also know she did good things, like save Fangyin and get the emperor to try and summon YL back once he took power.

So what did happen in life 1 that she doesn't know about? How did XW and YL become so far gone in terms of how they treated her? Did ZZ actually hate her in the end, or did he want her to leave because he was heartbroken? What would the 3 think after she died?

I love second life stories because they do a good job showing the best and worst versions of people, but it's also frustrating because you only get the one perspective.

[xiakeponz]

SOKP Textposts part 1/?

[harocat]

Jiang Xuening/Shen Zhiyi commission from wribbless!! I've been wanting art of these two forever, and they turned out SO CUTE. THEY ARE IN LOVE. 🩷🩷🩷

[groffiction]

Flashback Scene from SOKP Episode 31

Ok, even though I haven't recovered, I am still going back and rewatching Episodes 31-32.

I love this flashback scene immensely. Not only is it hotter than hell, but it also shows both fierce adversaries come together because they are the SAME.

Both are like two dragons or tigers circling eachother and sizing eachother up. Regardless of the fact that Ning'er is coming to Xie Wei for help as a last ditch effort to protect herself, the both of them don't give an inch to one another.

Both have the potential to be a ruling power couple of epic proportions. But, both are too damaged at this point to fully make it work. Still, the tension is there. Xie Wei is very tempted to act on his desire. And Ning'er is willing.

You can tell that Xie Wei really thinks about it, and in return he almost seduces HER, when she is the one trying to seduce HIM. They really are like minded individuals trying to survive and failing.

And then he rejects her. But, the act still sticks in Ning'er's mind in her second life. It's one of the reasons why she gets so confused about Xie Wei's attentions. She can't figure him out. So she floats in the sea of denial.

[diamantdog]

just casually comparing our friendship to the relationship between the emperor and his favorite concubine, nbd.

[cdramaaaaa]

STORY OF KUNNING PALACE EP.5

Nice save, Xue Ning, nice save 😂

[renewedmotionforjudgment]