omg yes, those relationships they each had with the parental figure in their lives was so important to their character development and i like the way those relationships weren’t portrayed as perfect either. the relationships, while having their loving and affectionate moments, also deeply hurt baoqing and caigua when they were both betrayed in some way at different points in the drama by the people they trusted and deeply respected. ugh these two really had parallel character arcs and i love it!! 

edit: i just realized i didn’t address the big sister part omg because caigua’s relationship with her brother was one of my favorite things about the entire drama tbh. i’m also a big sister and certain parts of her relationship with er bizi really reflects my relationship with my own little brother. she’s a little rough and clumsy in her care for him but at the end of the day, she truly loves him a lot and is trying her best to be both his older sister and in a way, parental figure because they lost their parents at such a young age. it’s a difficult position to be in and without getting into my own personal issues lol, i find that aspect of her super relatable and it endeared her to me greatly as a character. 

yes that’s what make them both such well written characters, the fact that they were each given separate relationships that were just as important as (if not more than tbh, especially their familial ones - baoqing’s with his mother and caigua’s with her brother and grandmother - which i’m very emotional about, i love that they each have such strong ties to their families) the relationship they have with each other, which allowed for them to be fully fleshed out characters. we got to know baoqing and caigua separately first so when they are together and we see them interact, all of that comes together and we see why they are so great together :’) 

i’m not sure, anon! i don’t think she’ll end up his concubine tho but currently, i’m watching minglan completely spoiler free. i haven’t read up on anything about the drama (or the book it’s based on) since i’m enjoying the slower and meandering pace of the story as well as just finding out for myself as i watch. 

yes, exactly!! they definitely are one of my favorite drama couples for sure <3

WAIT YOU JUST REMINDED ME THAT I HAVEN’T GIFFED THAT SCENE YET I’M GONNA ADD IT TO MY LIST LOL but yes, i also died during that scene, not only of just the intense staring but also how they both kept going back and forth, insisting on protecting the other person and risking their lives for each other and actually both nearly died like 3 times my heart was !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ahhhh i know, i loved that little moment a lot <3 

omg yes i loved that scene!! it perfectly parallels the scene earlier in the drama when they first went as a big group underground and had to get past the weird geyser things and baoqing instantly ran to help caigua when he saw her struggling to get across (also the first time he got really angry because he didn’t know how to deal with his feelings about caring and worrying so much about her). honestly every single time he caught her in his arms through the drama i literally died, the tension murdered me a;lsdfj

I KNOW MY HEART!! also that comment he made about how he wished she would cry and let it out because he knew that she was purposefully repressing and holding in all her emotions :’( 

yeah omg i actually was so engaged in all the action/adventure scenes and felt so much for all the relationships!! yeeee i agree ‘eagles and youngster’ is pretty underrated but honestly, the entire cast - other than wang junkai and wen qi (who’s won a major acting award already at such a young age!! i stan her!! so much!!) are relatively unknown and idk, a lot people don’t really seem into this genre of drama i guess