AleksandraSucur

"She want to kill him to keep the promise with the granma". Grandma never asked her to kill him, the oath never mentioned what she was to do in case the wedding never happened.
I agree with you she didn't took the bow for no reason, but imo it was bc she was still enraged. We all get angry more easily with the persons we care about, wouldn't you ask yourself if you were in her shoes: was it worth to give him a second chance?
I didn't see her sleeping with any other man (and I assure you I saw every second of the drama) and I didn't say she is desperate. Her emotions are... mixed, swinging between the opposites.
I agree that wedding was a wRong way for them to be together, but that's why we watch this story, curious how they'll overcome the obstacles and trials.

You continue to repeat that her intention was to kill him. Ok, lets' suppose it was her intention. So what? Did she kill him? No. She sent him on a path where smth else could have kill him? Ok. And what if she followed him to protect him from distance? She is a pretender (as he is too), used to scheme and act as she has one intention while working for the opposite goal, this option isn't impossible. She took her cousin and bow pretending to go to kill him and then pretended she changed her mind once he was in mortal danger.

ok, your arguments are convincing and I accept your opinion on this issue.
It's probably me then... in real life I'd never pass over the humiliation and would never give a second chance to the person I love for how much it breaks my heart. That's probably why, in my eyes, just by giving him this second chance, she already counterbalanced everything he "had done more"

She was waiting for him to kill him my ass.
Any woman dumped at the altar would feel enraged. Not wanting to see that person or hear his name mentioned in her presence. And the impulse to kill him would also be hard to supress, no wonder she took the bow with her, I'd do the same.
Yet, she didn't say "no" when he told her he'll still pursue her but she asked him to prove it: pick up that tea for me. Ofc the tea wasn't important, it was important that he shows his determination. And she went after him to see if he was going to do it. With the bow, ofc., she is still resented. But she didn't kill him. The instant she saw the snake, she shot the snake saving his life.
Returning home, she pissed off her grandma and left the Rong mannor. And almost killed the dastard butler with a glance bc he dumped the tea ML picked up for her.

Oh, thank you for sharing these thoughts of yours. I'm not into a romance genre and when romantic scenes appear in dramas I prefer, I usually FF them at double speed. The main reason is certainly the overuse of tropes, the second is a sense of disproportion of the emotional investment you've mentioned. But I haven't skipped romantic scenes in this drama.
Maybe I haven't skipped them bc the drama plot forces us not to miss one second (and often even to resee a scene) in fear we'll loose an important clue: it fully engages our brain cells with a guess-what-happens-later game while fueling our adrenaline to the levels in which the brain turns it to cortisol, so I've perceived their scenes together as a necessary pause to relax and lower the levels of stress this rollercoaster story exposes us to. Somehow, for me was more important the balance among different genre-threads present in the plot and the thorough characterisation of the persons involved than the balance between the proofs of their emotional investment.

But, are these proofs really so important? One person can display "more love" (both in words and in actions) while loving less than the other way round. One person may need more "proofs of love" than his/her partner. And sometimes such needs are dictated purely by circumstances, not by the character. LJL said he wanted the best of the both worlds: her and justice (/his career). What he said was: "I've decided to resume my work but will still pursue you and want to marry you". She didn't say: "no, I'll never be yours", she sent him to pick up the tea from the mountain to prove her his determination. And I think she needed that proof - before they've separated she was also determined to have the best of both worlds: him and the Rong family. And now is even ready to oppose her grandma and even to leave the Rong family. We still haven't seen more than 1/3 of this drama, it's simply too early to make a final account of their true emotional investment. ML is still in time to dump her again😉 ... there's still the arc in the capital, the mentor's daughter etc...

I think all of them sincerely believe to love her. But... as they all think they "know what's better to her" than she knows herself, it means they've never truly understood who she was and that they all fell for an idea they've had of her.
Beside LJL, who's different, the only person's feeling we still don't know well is that "last man standing" in the Rongs mannor. Monk's character and feelings are difficult to figure out. We are continuously hinted he is not the person he claims to be. He seems to be attracted by her, he also seems to be very respectful of her decisions and is restraining himself to interfere with them and he also tries to do things to please her. It's difficult to descern his motives - is he trying to please her to get close to her having also other goals in mind or is it just a pure romantic interest? - when we don't know why exactly he came there pretending to be so. else.

I think granny deserves a place among the leads, lol

This is only the start (her going against her granny wasn't entirely for LJL but for WW and Mrs Yang). I expect her to fight exclusively for him later (probably when mentor's daughter come into the picture in the last arc). For now, their main difference is the framework (=material, emotional and situational environment) determining and limiting their moves. She has so much more limitations, it's not only her granny who "knows better" how she should live her life and make decisions, but each and every person (except her maid and LJL) around her "knows better". They don't only "know better" but their actions - purpotedly for her sake - burden and shackle her even more: all the suitors, were doing smth they've believed as in her interest, starting from cousin Wen Can, He psycho, idiot butler... even Yang the bull thought their marriage would be great not only to "expand business" but to make her care less for the Rong values and rules... As sisters didn't trouble her enough, even her only ally, the Shen girl, thinks she "knows what's better to her" (although fortunately she still didn't take any stupid action). It's totally normal to prioritise the situation/problems in which RSB was, as she was more defenseless from such a huge amount of people

She just saved his life again, shooting the snake he hasn't seen at all. Has she shot that snake bc she cares about him or bc she badly wants that tea? Don't trust her cold face or lack of open demonstrations of her feelings. She was educated since she was a child to suppress or hide her emotions and she can't change that overnight.

what that glance said is: "count yourself as my enemy". She knows the bast... ergh, butler, didn't only throw away LJL's special tea but also tattled on her going to the monastery as Granny can stop her.
Cheng, you'll never ever have a chance to enterShanbao's good graces! But we should be grateful to you, wimpy idiot and loser, bc your little tattle led directly to the first RSB-Granny confrontation and RSB's first going against Granny's orders.

Gosh, I'm so excited for their final showdown, it's like my fave club preparing for the final match in the world championship! ❤️🔥🔥

Ah, ok, I also hope someone can translate it for us. Especially the part regarding the twin being punished by the evil governor, bc the seizure of plantation looked as some set-up involving the pirate man and the twin.

one of the nuns said the hooded person was a male but she didn't saw it well

where have you seen ep 25 prev? On Mango, there are only prev. for 23 and 24

They are both justice-driven. But they both have their own issues. RSB has an issue with her family and responsabilities towards that family. LJL has issues with his zeal to fight corruption, injustice etc., underestimating the powers which move them. He is a person who have risen from the bottom to the top (and even in this regard, his determination to excel in his studies and work is very similar to the FL's). They are both excessively committed to this "excellence"

I think you don't overanalyse their relationship. This is exactly how I percieve their relationship. He pushes (or better, helps) her just enough to reflect but doesn't cross the line by meddling into the sphere of her emotions/issues with her family which is exclusively hers. I've noticed that when they were lying embraced in bed when she was ill. That conversation gave strong mature couple husband-wife vibe.

It was around 4th-5th ep, rewatch it. Yan the monk delayed his arrival 5 days after all the other suitors, excusing himself for some disaster on the road (=he suffered), making an impact with tea performance (due to the special water he brought from the temple but they don't have), impeccable behaviour etc etc, How could grandma fall for all that show if not to make FL fall in the exactly same trap she fell many years before?
Although we are hooked to the story, the reversed narrative hints were a little bit overused (the director's choice, probably), the reason why the people cannot catch such details unless they turn back and rewatch the scenes, so don't worry, I wouldn't catch it either if I haven't rewatch those scenes

And why do you think she pushed FL to marry him?
She asked her chief maid, Mrs Yan (who is supposedly from the same family): "does he look like him to you?" (referring to her last lover who died and was also a Yan) and she replied: No.
So, she knows he is an impostor, why she still forced FL to marry him?

The only logical answer: she wants (wanted) FL to pass the exactly same experience as she had with her first love. She needs a heiress who'll be her exact clone, deprived of her own experiences, life and love.

grandma was never helping mrs Yan she just tollerated a fait accompli by RSB's mom. She literally said "Mrs Yang is a mess left to RSB by her mom before she passed away". And Granma also ordered RSB to "clean that mess". How could you've missed such an important dialogue?
And now, that RSB cleaned the mess, the Grandma is still unsatisfied - just in case you've missed this part too

FL was aware someone would act to obstruct the wedding (or the marriage following the wedding). Can granma allow her to have such a capable man and aide, loyal only to the FL and not to "the Rongs" (and in grandma's head she and not the FL is the personification of "the Rongs")? Have you seen the oath she forced her to pledge, it sounded normal to you? Even if it happened, it would be a (w)Rong marriage, fortunately it didn't.

If you've watched 18 ep, you must have seen she had shown warmth and great care for WW, tea plantation workers, tea plants... ie., towards people/beings she is allowed to show certain degree of care. At this point, you've certainly noticed that her coldness is a mask she must wear in front of the sisters in order not to give impression she is creating alliances with them making her granny think she is out of the "tools" she constantly uses to threaten FL's authority and to keep her under her thumb while making her work her ass off.
So, it's in the character: as a kid, she wasn't allowed even to cry when her mom died. She can't show she truly cares and likes the ML and you'll see concretely in a few eps the consequences of her favouring to him.
I think the actress excellently portrayed the character limited to a narrow framework of the emotions she is allowed to show and that her coldness is just a mask she must wear, while revealing a number of other emotions: heaviness in her heart, sincere care, weariness, constriction, acting on whim the "wedding night" she ought to spend with Yang the bull. Can't imagine any other doing better in characterising RSB.

that scheme with YY bringing WW to the court was a chef's kiss, keeping the vibe and consistency of the Rongs' functioning we are already used to.
It additionaly pointed out how limited is the framework in which our poor FL is allowed to act. She mustn't show any emotion, happiness, warmth, she must keep her 4th sister grumpy and alienated from her as not to alarm granny that she attracts allies and making her fear for her power...
She reversed the statement only when Mrs Yang's tearing off WW's drawings made normal for any person to "crack up" (touched by Mrs Yang's sacrifice as not to imply the Rongs) and reverse the statement, (adding a charge against the prefect). YY's face in that moment was... wow (I hope she finally understood her sister!)! Such a good writing and performance!