#sokp

[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!!

#story of kunning palace #sokp #宁安如梦 #cdrama #tv rec

[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.

#cw weapon #cw blood #cw violence #cw stabbing #men in bloon #part 5 #“but he killed people” and? he looked sexy while doing it #zhang linghe #zhang ling he #story of kunning palace #cdrama #sokp #cdramanet #cdramagifs #cdramasource #cdramedit #chinese actor #linghe my fucking man #*

[thecarelessvoice]

Guess who have a new hyperfixation?!!!!

#story of kunning palace #sokp #i just can't get this chaotic group of ppl out of my head #tried to make this as accurate as possible #it was a hard one :) #jiang xuening #xie wei #yan lin #zhang zhe #shen zhiyi #shen jie #xue dingfei #you fangyin #lyu xian #cdrama #tumblr meme chart

[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.

#story of kunning palace #sokp #zhang ling he #Bai Lu #Power couple vibes #Damaged adversaries trying to survive in a cruel world #They seriously nailed this scene so well omg

[diamantdog]

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

#story of kunning palace #cdrama #sokp #ning an ru meng #宁安如梦 #jiang xuening #shen zhiyi #bai lu #liu xiening #jiang xuening x shen zhiyi

[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.

#story of kunning palace #sokp #bai lu #zhang ling he #jiang xuening #xie wei #yan lin #zhang zhe

[cdramaaaaa]

STORY OF KUNNING PALACE EP.5

Nice save, Xue Ning, nice save 😂

#宁安如梦 #story of kunning palace #ning an ru meng #sokp #xie wei #jiang xue ning #cdrama #cdramanet #bailu #zhang linghe #cdramaedit #cdramagifs #cdramasource #iqiyi #cdramaaaaa gifs #this scene cracked me up!

[palehorsemen]

#story of kunning palace #sokp #ning an ru meng #宁安如梦 #jiang xuening #xie wei #yan lin #fanart #cdrama #cdramaart #cnovel #illustrations #cnovelartreblogs

[misspermitted]

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

#story of kunning palace #jiang xuening #Xie Wei #sokp #sokp memes

[lady-blodreina]

I dare not believe you, but I want to. I'm not an ungrateful person. I don't want to hurt my savior.

There's no need for a wolf to deceive an ant...

Story of Kunning Palace 宁安如梦 (2023): episode 5

#story of kunning palace #sokp #宁安如梦 #cdrama #cdramedit #chinese drama #jiang xuening #xie wei #bai lu #zhang linghe #zhang ling he #enemies to lovers #slow burn #angst

[fantasticallyfanatic]

Xie Wei | Story of Kunning Palace | Bad Guy

#xie wei #story of kunning palace #zhang linghe #zhang ling he #sokp #cdrama #cdramedit

[shewholovestoread]

Story of Kunning Palace - Jiang Xue Ning - Part 1

There was something I wanted to touch upon about Jiang Xue Ning (Xue Ning) specifically the part about the first life.

All we know about the first life and her actions therein are largely from Xue Ning's perspective. Since we're limited because of this perspective, it is also hard to judge just how "evil" she was. She certainly judges herself very harshly but let's dig a little deeper. For the purpose of clarity, I'm going to break this up into a few key points that I think would illustrate what I'm trying to say, the post is split into 2 parts:

PART 1 1) Early Life 2) Desire for power and control. 3) Ning's desire to be loved.

PART 2 4) Alliances in first life and her influence in 2nd life 5) Ning's Personality 6) Conclusion

EARLY LIFE:

Wanniang, Xue Ning's father's concubine, switched her own daughter with Xue Ning, partly out of spite because she was being thrown out and partly because she wanted her own biological daughter to have a good life (a massive fuck-you to the Jiang family)

On her deathbed, Wanniang confesses to Xue Ning about what she did and that she has informed the family as well. Once, Ning's back home, she's faced with a family that she knows nothing about. Her father, in her first life, was largely indifferent towards her, her mother was outright hostile (she remained the same for a large portion of the 2nd life as well) and finally there was Xue Hui, the usurper. Her entire life, up until that moment had been a massive lie and one that had absolutely nothing to do with her, she was just unfortunate to get caught in the crossfire.

If we look at things from Ning's perspective, she was raised by Wanniang and thinks that Wanniang didn't really care about her, she talks about her insecurity both in the novel and show, when she says that Wanniang would sometimes look at her as if trying to see someone else in her face, or that she'd suddenly pull away from Ning. It was only later that Ning realised why that was.

At home, she always felt like an interloper. She knew that when her mother looked at her, she saw Wanniang and would not let go of that prejudice. Her father had no influence at home (he's repeatedly told that he should leave the home front to the wife) and the sister, who is so damn virtuous that there's no way that Ning could compete with her.

Her ambition then, to become the empress, makes complete sense, it stems from wanting power and control over her life.

DESIRE FOR POWER AND CONTROL:

This is tied to her early life where she felt that she had no control. It is easy to see why she would want to be the empress because the only person more powerful than her would be the emperor. But never again would she be left unable take the reins in her life. I'm going to go in deeper into how she did that in another section.

Her pursuit for power and control stems from her perceived lack of either in her life. She felt like she didn’t have any agency, all of the things that had happened were due to other people and the decisions they made, no one considered Ning’s feelings or what she might want to do.

That she pursues Shen Lang is for 2 reasons, his older brother is sickly and sooner or later, it would be Shen Lang on the throne. The 2nd is that she sees it as balancing the scales. Since Xue Hui took everything that was meant to be hers, she would take Shen Lang, it's that simple. It's fortunate that Shen Lang is a decent man and while Ning was never in love with him, she did care about him.

DESIRE FOR LOVE:

Ning herself would beat up anyone who dared to say that she was driven by her desire for love. Now, some might be thinking that in that case, why did she rebuff Yan Lin who so clearly liked her? That's partly tied to her desire for power and control. She's so incredibly haunted by what her life was like, everything that was taken from her and feeling unwanted by her own family.

She knows that love doesn't mean a damned thing if she's still powerless and ultimately her need for power overshadows any tender feelings she might harbour for Yan Lin. She feels used by the people who should have been looking out for her. Ning thought that Wanniang didn't love her and she could probably deal with that if she got along with her 'birth' family but she instead found herself alienated from them as well. I imagine she felt that there since there was no one in her corner, no one to protect her, she would have to do that herself but that also came from a place of hurt and disappointment. Her attitude towards and treatment of the people in her first life reflects her vindictiveness, she's going to use them to get what she wants.

Ning's actions in the first life are largely driven by her hurt and the all the trauma she's experienced. Imagine coming home to your "family" and realising that you're the outsider. Her desire for power and love are so deeply intertwined that I doubt that Ning herself could differentiate between them. She’s been hurt by people who should have cared about her, accepted her, and she will be damned before she lets anyone else do that again. It never occurs to her that there are people who could genuinely care about her and moreover she doesn't let herself consider that they might care.

It is only once she comes back that she has more information and context and she spends more time with people like Xie Wei, Shen Zhi Yi, Yan Lin, etc that she realizes that maybe she was wrong. Time and distance allow her to see people more clearly now that her judgement is not clouded by her prejudice, by her hurt. It's why she realizes that Shen Zhi Yi is very clearly in love with her (that's just not up for debate) and even at the end of the first life, when Xie Wei gave her the knife, maybe he did want her to have something to defend herself with. Xie Wei had to know what Yan Lin was doing every night but being an ally, he probably didn't want to alienate him, so instead gave Ning the dagger to protect herself with.

In keeping people at an arm’s length lest they hurt her, Ning doesn’t realise that she’s also closed herself to people who might genuinely care for her and I think she does realise that. It’s just that she figures that it’s a fair trade, she’s convinced that love and regard won’t last in the long run but shared interests will (hence her relationship with Zhou Yinzhi) but she only had to look at You Fangyin to know that people do have the ability to surprise you.

Click for Part 2

#the story of kunning palace #cdrama #sokp #sokp spoilers #xie wei #jiang xuening #shen zhiyi #bai lu #you fangyin #character meta #character breakdown #kunning palace

[thecarelessvoice]

'Xie wei, is she more important than the qin you've been obsessed with?'

'Not to mention the qin

the world,

revenge,

nothing in this world can compare to her.'

- Story of Kunning Palace Episode 35

#story of kunning palace #sokp #fan art #my art #jiang xuening #xie wei #the picture is based on ep 36 #cdrama #my favorite unhinged duo #enemies to lovers #bai lu #zhang ling he

[groffiction]

The Yan Family Reunion (From SOKP Episode 33)

So, I am taking time to rewatch Episodes 33-38+Special of Story of Kunning Palace and I gotta say, the first reunion between Xie Wei and his Yan family is so important and emotional. The flashbacks of Xie Wei as he recites the vow he had given 20 years ago are incredible.

The whole vow that Xie Wei did as not quite 7 year old: "My Mother has passed away. My Father is unworthy. I hate that I have the last name that he's disgraced. I don't want such a last name. Thank God for your mercy. In a crisis, one sees one's true nature."

"I, Ju'an, dare not forget it. I'm willing to give up my old last name. Abandon my old name, and my old identity. No matter how hard it is, I won't change my mind."

The fact that Xie Wei came up with this when he was that young, after being traumatized by the massacre he'd seen by the rebel king, his father and aunt basically giving him up as a sacrificial lamb, and to only be saved by his said rebel king.

Just.... damn.

Then Xie Wei goes on to say: "I am no longer Xue Dingfei, much less a viscount of the Xue family. All I have is the Yan family's blood. And my name is Xie Wei. Not only do I live for myself, but also for the 300 loyal souls.

I vow to never let it go and seek justice for them."

The vow is raw, intense, and beautiful. It's like Xie Wei is unraveling all of his defense walls kept around his soul to bear his heart to his uncle and cousin. The only two relatives that he trusts. He lets them see just what has been hidden inside of him all these years. And understandably, both his uncle and cousin are moved to almost tears.

And then his uncle responds with something equally emotional: "Okay. It doesn't matter what your name is. You'll always be the child of the Yan family."

This whole scene made me cry. It was beautiful, raw and open. And his uncle accepting Xie Wei was epic. He didn't have to say much to get the point across to Xie Wei that he was loved. That he was cherished. That he was a Yan. And the Yans protect their own. Marquis Yan, in the limited amount of time that Xie Wei has known him, has not only accepted him, but has taken him under his wing like his own child. Marquis Yan is the father Xie Wei never got to have. And Yan Lin, bless his heart, accepts Xie Wei as his brother without any hesitation, not just a heroic cousin. Yan Lin is the brother Xie Wei never got to have. Such a beautiful scene. I cried so many tears for them. That Xie Wei finally got to have this moment - just ahhhh.

#story of kunning palace #sokp #zhang ling he #xie wei #marquis yan #yan lin #so many emotions making me cry even now #i am so happy for them #xie wei deserves all the love and hugs that he never got in the past #fuck the xue family

[diamantdog]

the government censorship be like

#story of kunning palace #cdrama #sorry for how dumb this is #宁安如梦 #sokp #ning an ru meng #zhining #jiang xuening x shen zhiyi #jiang xue ning x shen zhi yi #bai lu #liu xiening

[ella-felicityqueen]

Find someone more suitable. There will be one.

Now, you know me inside and out. You've seen me for who I am without any disguise. What do you think? Are you still afraid of me?

#story of kunning palace #sokp #xie wei #jiang xuening #bailu #白梦妍 #zhang ling he #张凌赫 #bailu x linghe #cdrama #cdrama edit #my edit #Youtube