AleksandraSucur

I agree MZY was irritating, ruining that chapter with her performance but confirm what TaraVerde said: other chapters were watchable and followed Jin Yong's story and logic.

Bana and Bancha are both gold guardians (confirmed in ep 7). Maybe there were more (maybe others could still be alive, maybe guarding the very place where it is hidden). You are 100% right about the dimension of such an amount - if the gold is real... but they could still take out small amounts, turning back several times.
Instead, Bana is on a killing spree when see someone searching for gold, that's why I wonder why he didn't kill Futu as well. Bana said he didn't even know Futu used his (/Bana's) poison to kill Zhang family.
Yes, Futu is colluding with Yu Hao...

If it isn't, what would be the reason for the gold guardians to keep it in the desert instead of spending it in liveable places?
As we now start to know who they are, it looks like the guardians need the story of people searching it turning into vengeful spirits, for the only purpose to keep people away from the desert.
The thing I don't get is why they keep Futu and his gang alive? Maybe they tolerate them bc they are useful to eliminate treasure hunters? And why Futu needs poison woman to deal with the guardians?

I've dropped this drama after the first arc (/chastity arch) bc - despite the drama being convincing in recreating the Ming aesthetics and atmosphere (great Deng Ke's direction and choice of settings and camera frames 👏) - the script overlooked Confucian strict social hierarchy and laws of the time that separated scholar-officials from merchants. FL's family could have been engaged in salt trade only in violation of law and only covertly, through a proxy and in that case, they would show off as less as possible and certainly wouldn't seek visibility with chastity arches or extravagant feasts with dancing floors covered with salt... The writers' intention to show us the cruelty and hypocrisy of "chastity arch" institution (which truly existed, as well as unbelieveable submission of women to men) was too obvious and the plot involving the frustrated widow, hypocrite grandma etc, simply contradicted or neglected the underlying legal frame which was mostly well shown in the following arcs and subplots.
Now that I've completed it and despite the fact this one wasn't the only moment in which I ought to suspend my disbelief, I am glad I changed my mind and retook watching it. Overall, it was good and in certain parts and details - it was even brilliant. I've expected the drama would heavily rely on great cinematography (and it did) but the narrative also earned certain merits: eg. how it approached a systemic corruption giving us a chance to distinguish it (general Wang's deal with smugglers in order to feed his soldiers) from other types of overwhelming corruption and illegal entanglements between officials, merchants and outlaws aiming to accumulate more power. I found the emperor's relations with his grandma, ML and ministers (as well as the relations and differences among high court officials) also quite original and - as a frame - it gave a realistic foundation for continuous struggles for survival of the lead couple. The only "splendor" related to the road they've passed is that they survived and escaped the mud created by power and corruption only fools or greedy persons take for splendor.

Remnants of Gold

The saying "it's about the journey, not the destination" fits so well to this treasure hunt, affected by all sorts of poison...

This actor Wu Han Kun (Xiao Fang) could play a Wu Lei's twin, incredible resemblance... The same family name, I wonder if they were related in real life...

I like the intro animation and music, desert setting, sudden changes in pace and tanned skin of the actors who seem to be well cast.

Indeed. Btw, I still remember this actress playing a chief palace maid in Ming Dynasty - she was so impactful (as a very difficult and complex character to play) that she outshone the leads... A top class actress, like the actress who plays Lady Yu

I am well aware of this institution and punishments on "unchaste" women. It wasn't the contradiction I was talking about at all. The props, dresses and uniforms allude to a Ming dynasty setting, when officials-bureaucrats (such as local magistrates) were banned from engaging in private commerce or seeking profit by Confucian laws and a strict social hierarchy that separated scholar-officials (placed on the top) from merchants.
If such a family was engaged in salt trade (violating the law), it would have done that only covertly ("per interposta persona", per proxy), showing off as less as possible and certainly wouldn't seek visibility with chastity arches...

I expect the smuggler will become a private salt seller later on tnx to FL's skills in that business, as it is hinted her family is both in that trade and in the officialdom. Yeah, and they heavily rely on chastity arches. While the author of these contraddictions heavily relies on our capacity to suspend our disbelief...

it's impossible to discern if he is a "private salt dealer" as in the synopsis or just a smuggler-bandit. I've browsed the first 4 eps: what we can say about him with certainty is only that he is an imposter.
So, the logical expectation is that the FL will teach him all about salt business in the future, bc her family is both in that business and in officialdom (local magistrates), although essentially nobility relying on their female chastity tradition display.
From what I can see, the story in this familiar-traditional setting is so contraddictory and unconvincing that the rest of the drama will depend totally on Deng Ke's direction skills and mastery to make art out of trash. But as a person who watched all his major dramas, I think his great skills (in creating suspense, comic effects, sudden twists etc) are mismatched with the themes and motives of this story and the audience will notice it as the story progresses.

Not just hairpins, the overall aesthetics is too flashy and defies logic, the wigs are bad, dresses and uniforms mixing styles... 🤦‍♀️, but these are just typical flaws of a low budget dramas, so people just do their best to ignore the bad taste. But you're right the hairpins that should naturally drop after one move particularly prick the eyes. And I'd say even the "repaired" wooden hairpin with cheap plastic passed for "red jade" and gold was as good as two fingers piercing the eyes.

If you're craving for some light entertainment, this is a safe watch, no irritating nonsense in the plot. Despite abudant use of tropes and elements of short lenght dramas - meant to build arousal and target a specific audience - there's no abuse of these elements as they appear functional to the story and are coherent with the characters. Eg., before falling from the cliff, cornered by the enemies and with a wounded ML in her arms, the smart FL analyse the situation: "we are dead here, but if we jump down, maybe we still have some chances for survival" - which adds to the entertainment, bc. the audience is aware of the 100% chances of survival from falling off the cliff in this kind of dramas and still feels gratified when their survival is confirmed bc it went exactly as we've expected.
The entire story is a cliché but done right: the power fight among princes is developed on realistic-like problems (embezzlement on great construction works, relief offering after calamities like floods, moral and economical decay of non-meritocratic system...) of the fictional dynasty, social injustice and conflict between powerful, corrupted and selfish noble class versus commoners who suffer this injustice, a conflict which is smartly reproduced even among the members of the royal family and manoeuvred by the emperor in his own balance of power game. In such a frame, our FL (low born princess) must hide her true intentions and play all sides in order to survive, must be cunning, brave, smart and unscrupulous. The lead actress well embodied the character as well as LHY did with his role (a commoner rising up the ranks of officialdom). Side characters were also highly believeable.
I'd probably never seen it if I haven't seen a positive review of a MDL friend on my feed, but I am glad I did. Despite certain flaws typical for a low budget drama and despite its unoriginality, it was entertaining, and well measured in combining the comic, realistic, sensual, cliché etc elements and just for these reasons, it deserves a slightly better rating.

If I haven't read your "don't knock it till you try it", I wouldn't even give it a glance. Entertaining, light, sufficiently believeable story, many tropes but - all in measured dosage... I've completed it in one go

A great classic I'd recommend anybody to watch

An excellent espionage drama, among the best of the genre, espc. in terms of delivery of such a huge cast. The story is also really great, although my rating 8,5/10 (if possible, my rating would be 8,7) marked down a certain redundance of cases/scenes in which the villains tested ML's blindness in the first and the second arc. In the second arc (with Liang Jing Yuan as main villain), the involvement of the Tanoji family felt a bit unconvincing, too. Certain subplots in the third arc could have also be a bit better elaborated to be better elaborated, imho. But all these are just little flaws in a drama which was so spectacularly performed (side characters included) and directed down to the smallest details! Well done, bravo!

I perfectly agree with your reasoning on production logic, my friend, but neither I nor Acrobit12 were talking about the choices behind "tailoring" their products and "resonating" with the needs of the domestic fanbase, to use your words. If we were unable to catch those aspects, we wouldn't watch Asian dramas for so many years, right?

We were talking about the story and how the story is told, we didn't question the sense of gratification certain shares of audience still may get from it. People (any people, the three of us included) watch dramas bc they expect that precise feeling. What gives us that gratification differs from person to person (we generally refer to it as "individual taste") but there's a bottom line to it as well bc we also give smth to a drama: beside our time, we are (unconsciously) willing to suspend our disbelief in order to obtain that gratification. What guarantees the fairness of this tradeoff is only the quality of the story (is it worth watching?), indipendently of the targeted audience: general, international, domestic or just to the fanbase. I don't doubt there are persons who will tradeoff the quality of the story for the scenes like "three men in a bath" and who will still feel gratified and think it's worth watching, but if this is the case, there are better contents for them...

Indeed... 😓

I usually endure at least to 1/3 of a drama I've started before making any judgement about it. But after seeing 9 eps of this story, there's nothing to keep my patience on. The plotline - woven around the FL's path to empowerment (basically to aide ML's empowerment and shape their romantic entanglement through mutual help and cooperation) and developed on (completely unoriginal) cases of injustice - is unconvincing, with shallow, naive and inconsistent dialogues. The characters are all heavily built on stereotypes, and this is particularly evident in side characters and villains: corrupted local governor, spoiled arrogant envious viscious and unintelligent female antagonist, conservative chancellor as ML's main antagonist, shouty irascible overprotective FL's best friend, apparently frivolous ML's best friend... connected in a patchwork of messy subplots and improbable mutual relations requiring constant suspense of disbelief from the audience. The major internal threat - Tiger Roar Gang - is just a group of dumb violent bandits busy with money extortion but we are supposed to believe they are backed and directed by the chancellor and his power group. They are also connected to the major mysterious external threat supplying them with iron to melt their weapons...
The story telling is fragmented, often displayed in short scenes which are abruptly interrupted, even with scenes with absolutely no meaning to the plot inserted only to please an eye (like the men bathing together in the last ep)...
And there's also a horrible translation to add insult to all this injury...

I've liked it.
I'd be grateful if some kind soul could translate the last caption of the ending ep...