Jiang Ling accidentally stumbled upon a post about a 'fish and swallow' romance.
The post claimed that with *The Little Fish and His Master* only halfway through its broadcast, the later story might involve Jiang Yuyan falling for Hua Wuque, while Xiao Yu'er mistakes her for the deceased Xiao Xian'nv, relentlessly pursuing her with overwhelming affection.
Jiang Yuyan, having suffered greatly at the hands of Jiang Biehe's legal wife, is unable to resist Xiao Yu'er's gentle advances and unknowingly succumbs, falling for him.
Just as their love reaches an unshakeable peak, Jiang Yushuang accidentally sees a portrait of the deceased Xiao Xian'nv, learns the truth about being a substitute, and becomes enraged, turning to darkness.
This aligns with the leaked blackening scene that made it into the textbooks of the Imperial Capital Film Academy.
This post received over a million likes.
Many viewers believed this might indeed be the direction of the later plot.
Jiang Yuyan and Xiao Yu'er would engage in a deeply emotional, albeit tragic, romance, and after resolving their misunderstandings, the two highly intelligent individuals with an IQ of 180 would join forces to take on the main villain, Liu Xi.
After reading the post, Jiang Ling exclaimed, "This is absolutely preposterous!"
Jiang Yuyan was clearly the ultimate villain, and the man she loved from beginning to end was Hua Wuque. How could she be paired with Xiao Yu'er?
Good heavens, this was too melodramatic!
However, upon calm reflection, the post's prediction for the latter half wasn't entirely without merit.
Jiang Ling also enjoyed stories featuring strong characters.
Especially in danmei novels, she loved seeing two equally matched men work together.
What she detested most was when certain authors portrayed the 'shou' (the receiving role in a homosexual relationship) as overly tearful and effeminate.
After all, no matter how you slice it, a 'shou' is still a man, and portraying them this way was a form of demeaning women.
This inversion of gender roles made men less like men and women less like women. One might as well just watch a conventional romance drama.
It wasn't just danmei novels with strong male pairings; she also enjoyed romance novels with equally strong couples.
Despite her preference for strong pairings, Jiang Ling knew all too well that in matters of male-female relationships, strong couples often struggled to find harmony.
Take Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying from *The Return of the Condor Heroes*, for instance. Both were top-tier martial artists, a match made in heaven.
There were no third parties to disrupt their love, no grievances between relatives or friends, and they held mutual affection. They should have become a pair envied by all.
Yet, in the end, one became a Taoist priest, and the other died of a broken heart in a tomb.
The reason was simple: they were both too strong, too competitive, unwilling to yield, and constantly clashed. One developed the *Jade Maiden Heart Sutra* to counter the other, who then used the *Nine Yin Manual* in retaliation, continuing their struggle until their deaths.
This phenomenon wasn't limited to novels and TV shows; it was also evident in real historical figures.
Strong pairings often failed to coalesce; personality complementarity was the norm.
The most classic example was Empress Wu Zetian.
When Jiang Ling was a child, watching television portrayals of Wu Zetian, she used to wonder.
Li Shimin was a great emperor of the ages, and Wu Zetian was a formidable female figure. They seemed so well-matched, so why didn't Li Shimin fancy Wu Zetian?
If these two had formed a strong alliance, the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty would have undoubtedly been even grander.
It wasn't until she grew up and experienced the world that she realized how naive her thoughts were.
Li Shimin was the emperor, wielding absolute power and dominating the realm. How could he possibly tolerate a woman encroaching upon the supreme authority he had gained through fratricidal strife?
His personality was already sufficiently resolute; adding another equally strong-willed woman would have made them too brittle, prone to breaking.
Therefore, for Li Shimin to have liked Wu Zetian was almost an impossible feat.