Xie Wei,

teacher + qin master and maker + businessman w/ 5 jobs + archer + important scholar + your archnemesis who killed you in your past life + murderous empire overthrower + PTSD sufferer + daddy dom, who still has the time to use private qin lessons to lure you into his house and to use his choking kink on you 🌷

I didn't expect you to be hiding behind closed doors, secretly eating snacks! You hungry little kitten... try some. Story of Kunning Palace (2023) | Ep. 15

I love how the Emperor is in a romcom while everyone else is in a political intrigue murder mystery. Let him live happily in a 5+1 fic where he and Lyu Xian bond over how much they ship Xie Wei and Jiang Xuening and try to get them together.

Jiang Xuening: I am so bad at playing the qin, please stop my leasons!

Xie Wei: Oh no, I'm actually going to give you private lessons.

Jiang Xuening:

i just love how both ning yuanzhou and xie wei have the same "we both are so similar" speech for their s/o but the difference in the delivery is the complete opposite

story of kunning palace ot3 fic below the cut or on AO3 if you prefer

On their wedding night, Xie Wei turns in to his bedchambers where his wife, Ning’er, waits and almost refuses to take off her veil. They fight and she practically has to force his hand to tear the red cloth from her head. Then, to consummate? Rough and unsatisfying and it’s a wonder both of them were able to finish. “Shall we try again?” Xie Wei only looks at her disparagingly but his rude face shows curiosity as well. She says it like they could and could tonight. She leaves and she comes back with an incredibly drunk Zhang Zhe. “Zhang Zhe, please just apologize now.” “I’m sorry for kissing your wife.” He apologizes seriously, but his movements… he is very drunk. Each time he lowers his head, it’s an inspiration to see him raise it again. “Go ahead, Laogong will not be able to understand your crime, and without understanding your crime he cannot forgive.” Ning’er coaxes him easily. Like a master clapping their hands, Ning’er’s words summon Zhang Zhe to her arms like a dog. He gives her sloppy kisses in between tragic looks in Xie Wei’s direction. “Look how blank his face is! He doesn’t understand yet, Zhang Zhe.” “Xie Wei. I have acted on my covetitousness behavior,” Zhang Zhe bangs his head against the floor. “Forgive me, please. Ning’er is not at fault.” This last sentence he mumbles with his cheek smushed against the floor. Xie Wei doesn’t spare a look at his wife’s delighted face, nor her ornamented hair mussed by their outsider’s drunken pawing. He helps Zhang Zhe’s face off the floor, and then, meeting his wife’s eyes, sharing a look they will share many more times, scoops up Zhang Zhe and carries him to bed. His wife scrambles after him and the two arrange Zhang Zhe lovingly, providing him with most of the covers, ensuring the blanket covers him all the way up to his flushed cheeks.

Zhang Zhe swims to consciousness the morning after their wedding in their wedding bed. He feels warm and cared for tucked against the wall—far from the edge of the bed. Ning'er and Xie Wei make gentle noises alongside him. Their foreheads pressed together with all the force they’re not applying to their gentle thrusts. Trying not to wake him up. To say he startles? He does. Of course he does, but then the chivalry kicks in and he is apologizing quietly for disturbing them. Searching for another exit as if the only way out isn’t through the marital bliss happening right next to him, on the same bed. “I’m sorry,” Zhang Zhe apologizes. He can’t look. “Zhang Zhe,” The newlyweds call his name in sync. Xie Wei is kind. “Don’t apologize.” “Join us.” Ning’er suggests.

It is against Zhang Zhe’s intentions. At no point does he really mean to. He would still admit to it, if ordered to confess.

“My wife is not smart.” Xie Wei smiles gently at his audience of powerful men. “I cannot waste what little she learns, teaching her etiquette. It is much more worthwhile to encourage her interest in politics and business.” Xie Wei turned to the official behind him. “Zhang Zhe, I must ask you for your company again.” “Does you wife not appreciate you as a teacher? You are so smart!” “Ah, well. I am her husband.” The other officials laugh goodnaturedly, and Zhang Zhe can’t get the lump out of his throat to decline.

Zhang Zhe has seen the ocean, at day and at night. Ning’er’s eyes sparkle and draw his gaze like the ocean at night. Inviting him into waters he knows to be dangerous. Xie Wei’s eyes are like the ocean in the day. Zhang Zhe bows his head and tries his best to keep walking. To not look. To not be blinded by the light. And to not relax in the beguiling darkness.

The vanishingly few servants the couple keeps in their home are occupied as usual. if Zhang Zhe painted the scene in front of him, he could use it as evidence that household equality was possible. They played in the kitchen, dancing around each other as they made their meal. They shared the space like they had spent the whole day together. It was hard to process that Xie Wei had been with him in court all day, ruling over circles of conversation that Zhang Zhe wasn’t privy to. And Ning’er had been… a wife? Xie Wei never asked about her schedule. Zhang Zhe knew it was time-consuming to manage a house, and Ning’er managed other things as well. As if she knew he was thinking of her, Ning’er gave him a sly glance. Or was it a soft glance? Wasn’t it as confusing as directions given by moonlight? Zhang Zhe’s hands fisted in his lap. Maybe tonight would be the night they didn’t treat him in that way. Maybe tonight, they would hold each other’s hands and see him out. Zhang Zhe, you must behave.

Jiang Xuening, after yet another threat-filled conversation with Xie Wei: Fangyin said that if he keeps talking to me like this, by next month we'll have enough red cloth to corner the market on wedding apparel

Love it that the Jiang sisters are both capable

it's So funny that Zhang Zhe is framed as the "safe" option. like Sure he's not, you know,

but this man is introduced in both time periods In Prison. He doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut, in a period where the Rule of Law he loves so much says that kinda shit can get your whole family killed.

His unyielding temperament is both a pro and a con, depending on circumstance, but anyone who marries him is risking their life on a tree that does not bend in the wind.

Ning'er and her harem

Story of Kunning Palace (2023)

the way xie wei has like 12 jobs and 2 identities and 95 plots going on in addition to a hobby instrument studio but by god he will be there looming in the background anytime ning'er and zhang zhe lock eyes from 100ft away

Bwahahaha she is all, sure I banged you, but marriage...I don't know. The gender reversal is delightful!

I will always be amused that he has to almost die in her arms for her to realize she wants to make an honest man out of him.

Love that Xie Wei, the crazy dude, it totally going "worth it!" And I love that she's the one who proposes, heeeee. (Side note, Yan Lin is so amused at all of this. He's totally accepted she never sees him this way and I love that his attitude seems to be "my awesome but insane cousin and Ning'er have the weirdest thing going on but it works for them, so free circus for me!"

I love that we got to see what happened to life 1 Xie Wei and it's his burning his books, digging his own grave and slitting his throat clutching her hairpin. Her rebirth saved more than just her...

And it ends up happy with their friends and kids and a cat and Xie Wei not minding the snow but still being a weird dysfunctional man (who is honestly not the most amazing father; he's as petty as his kids) but it's the best of all possible worlds they could have and I love it.

It's not my fave cdrama this year, that was LYF1 followed by The Ingenuous One, but it's def completing my top 3.

Xie Wei saving Ning'er qin

What I find fascinating about the Story of Kunning Palace is that the large events and relationships from life 1 generally remain the same in life 2 (e.g. Ning’er runs into the princess and gains her affections, Yan Lin’s home gets raided on his coming of age ceremony, Yan Lin and his dad getting exiled, etc.), but the outcomes and feelings towards Ning’er are different due to her changed motivations/actions.

The most significant differences in this life are her relationship with Yan Lin and Yan Lin in general. Yes, I’d argue even more significant than the changes with Xie Wei. To me, aside from making sure she stays alive in this life, Ning’er’s greatest motivation is to save Yan Lin’s life and his soul/goodness. As we can see in life 2, Yan Lin is a puppy! Literal sunshine! And he treats Ning’er well above everything else.

I feel like it’s this desire for repentance and to preserve Yan Lin’s goodness that drives the bulk of her changes. Yeah she’s also trying to live up to her promise to Zhang Zhe to be a good person in life 1, but I wonder if that would have just remained surface level (like when she tried to convince herself that she can learn to love antique jade restoration in an effort to get closer to Zhang Zhe 😂) without also her desire to save Yan Lin.

Like @dangermousie discussed at length already, Yan Lin represents everything good in Ning’er. Just as his soul got corrupted in life 1, so did Ning’er’s. In life 2, because Ning’er did not betray him, his goodness and love for Ning’er remains intact and in the process. Ning’er also regains some of the goodness and warmth that she originally had when she first arrived at the capital. I mean, imagine how much more sinister Yan Lin’s “if you don’t get married by the time I return, I’ll snatch you back myself” would sound coming from life 1 Yan Lin? Shudder. Whereas it would sound like a threat from life 1 Yan Lin, it is a sweet joke from life 2 Yan Lin meant to alleviate any guilt Ning’er might feel from not reciprocating his romantic feelings.

Speaking of that, I am so, so happy to see a second male lead (or is it third?) that respects the FL’s feelings and is not annoyingly clingy. Yan Lin never changed how he felt or treated Ning’er even after learning that she did not love him romantically. He also never got jealous even after realizing she liked Zhang Zhe, nor did he try to guilt her into loving him. It’s just so refreshing and makes me love him even more.

Another interesting shift in relationship dynamics is the one between Ning’er and the guard. Again, it’s similar but different from life 1. In life 1 he was her muscle and did all her dirty work. In life 2, he his again her muscle and arguably is still doing her dirty work. However, in life 2, her purpose is different. Whereas in life 1 she used him to become empress and gain/retain power, in life 2 she uses him to try to save Yan Lin and his family. I’m not saying that the guard is a good person in life 2. I trust the man as far as I can throw him. But maybe he is a bit less evil? Or at the very least, because he’s using his violence for a less evil purpose, his corruption/descent into evil is cut off early and he doesn’t become an irredeemable character.

Last but not least, our emo professor shape qin otaku, Xie Wei. It would require me to write another short novel to go over how his character has changed in life 2 due to Ning'er and I feel like so many others have already discussed it better than I could. But I do want to discuss the potential collateral changes in Xie Wei. For example, Yan Lin. Because Yan Lin did not become hardened and “evil” in life 2, perhaps Xie Wei won’t end up becoming the bloodthirsty ruthless Xie Wei we saw in life 1. I imagine it might be a bit difficult to go on a murderous bloodbath when your cousin is a lovable ball of sunshine who just wants to protect the world (I mean, how precious 🥹. He’s like those young boys you see in anime who say they want to be a hero when they grow up). Also, in this life, his beloved uncle is still alive, so he and Yan Lin are not as desperate/left with nothing to lose in the world as they were in life 2. So maybe there is a chance that the bad ending of life 1 can be avoided for Xie Wei too. He was without a doubt the victor in life 1, but at a very high personal cost.

And that’s kind of the amazing thing about this drama. It’s not just a redemption story for Jiang Xuening. It’s also a redemption story for all these other characters with her change acting as the catalyst. Just as her actions sent them down their respective paths in life 1, her actions in life 2 are also slowly but surely changing their fates in life 2. If it wasn’t clear that she was the main character of this drama already, it sure is now!

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.

Now that the final SoKP episodes have passed thru my eyes... Things I miss from the novel:

* Sorry but Jiang Xuening should have killed You Fangyin's murderer with her own hands.

* Jiang Xuening becoming obsessed with Xie Wei's cooking, such that she loves to quietly hang out in the kitchen with him whenever there's a break in the scheming. It's their safe space.

* Jiang Xuening going from being in the palace and part of the target/victims of the rebellion in Life 1 to being one of the financial backers of it in Life 2 and accompanying their fighting forces as they move up through the country as Xie Wei outsmarts the emperor & Xue family & Lord Pingnan's forces at the same time. Spending her 2 years away building the capital needed to help spearhead the rescue of the princess and then go to fuck up the emperor who sent his sister a letter to end her life for the benefit of the country.... (chef's kiss)

* The glorious revolution and making the royal family kill each other to save themselves in order to demonstrate the type of people they are

* Jiang Xuening moving into Kunning Palace at the end, as basically the unofficial minister of finance. She ended up in the same place at the end, but hearts & minds are changed and so the result is different

* Jiang Xuening putting the pieces together that the princess died in the 1st life due to her pregnancy & the emperor cutting ties (intrigue!) Team Fuck The System helping her safely give birth to her son, who she loves despite his origin. Our fav lesbian never has to get married to another dude and can just chill with her son, the cabinet of ministers, and her Ning Ning (with psycho husband in tow, but hey nobody's perfect 😂). Using her power to spread schools for women's literacy with Xie Wei terrifying the detractors into submission.

* When they try to use the Jiang family in the capital to threaten XW and he's like, so what? I was gonna pay back those bastards next for Ning'er so you're saving me time lmaaaaaaoooo

* Speaking of which tbh I prefer the lack of a last ditch bandaid on the Jiang family relationship. She's let all of the pain of the past go and isn't personally seeking to take anything away from them in this life... but she is just done with it. Dad is nicer but he's let his wife behave like this and has been mostly hands off. Feels sorta like Story of Minglan to me - letting the favoritism & emotional abuse happen while playing nice guy. In both novel & drama, he spends years not protesting how Jiang Xuening is cast as the troublesome, uncouth, inferior model. But then the drama decides to rehabilitate them. (Though to be fair, even the drama was half-hearted on this 'wash', cause at the end she's mentioning they're not close and in the last scenes the parents are with the sister and Ning'er is with her found family.)

Improvements in the drama:

* I liked that we got to see Jiang Xuening tell multiple people that she loves XW before she gives him her answer. The angst of it being uncertain what conversations she's having with the princess & ZZ, the risk that she's going to abandon XW for being a hot mess... it made for good dramatic tension in the novel. But for the ROMANCE and creating a sense that the feelings he has are truly returned... It makes the ship better.

* The relationship that FL and ML had with the fake Xue Dingfei was richer. He was a standout for me.

* Yan Lin had a happier ending. He really stole my heart in this 2nd life and like Jiang Xuening I felt no need to see him haunted by his vile actions in another universe. It was emotionally satisfying in the drama to see him at peace. You got us all rooting for him.

* Consolidated the Lord Pingnan plot! We really didn't need to get into their factions and introduce more antagonists.

* Consolidated the You Fangyin romantic interests - no need for a marriage of convenience with 1 dude and then Xie Wei's buddy also carrying a torch.

* I felt like the drama gave Zhang Zhe more personality and I did find it delightful when he was "fighting" side by side with Xie Wei.

* Xue Shu (the Xue daughter) felt like a more developed, fully realized antagonist.

* As much as it "sings" in the narrative to have her end up in Kunning Palace with power in the government at the end of the novel (that was brilliant)... maybe emotionally it spoke to me more to see her initial wish from the start of her rebirth fulfilled. Her original reborn goal was to avoid reentering the palace & exit-out of everything to have a quiet life of peace. None of that power ever made her happy.

* Marriage scenes of the otp thank uuuuuuuuu

* No and actually.. After her royal marriage in the 1st life she definitely doesn't need another big celebration. And with her messed up family relationships and his dead parents... Them doing the marriage ceremony all on their own, cause it's another pact between them, makes a lot of sense and I dig it.

* The reverse callback of whispering while she's waiting for a kiss to say "I'm yours" instead of "get out" 👌👌👌