AleksandraSucur

don't worry. Yes, ep 12 was still watchable, but 13-14 are simply disappointing. I understand why the fun disappeared - both the ML and the FL (+ SML) are in a much harder position than ever before - but I can't understand why the thrill has gone too in this weird illusion-land stocked with wicked females. I can only explain it by a drop in the story-telling quality. If the story drags within this arc even in tomorrow's eps, I believe many people will quit it...
It's a pity, it started well

I beg to differ on this. She stood bravely for the FL even when she was more scared in several occasions, in situations that were life-threatening for her as a weak flower demon. Here, she is against FL bc she wants to win a competition, wants a beauty and is jealous bc both humans and demons favors FL? Such a switch of personality is unconvincing and - if remains unexplained - it's an unconsistent writing, as Salwa Nice pointed out.

I agree. Although she is a side character, she is still too important for the FL. It isn't ok for such a 180° change in attitude to remain unexplained.

most of the dresses and hairstyle we've seen immitate the late Ming fashion-style (as the outfit AtsukoM mentioned), you're right, but not all. Hanfu worn by the old lady and servants is Qing (even the late Qing, recognizable for its diagonal closure from neck towards shoulder), as well as the sleeveless short vests over the dresses. And there are other dresses from early Ming, which is also a very different style.
I can understand the enjoyment, bc all these outfits are visually beautiful and none can say the contrary, but mixing the styles was not a wise choice of the costume department: there's also an audience who will feel confused seeing them mixed, that was my point

If close siblings behave like that, the responsibilty is of an adult person who grew them up: the old Lady Rong.
Who apparently favours the oldest grandaughter as a destined heiress and beholder of Tea-Bone (clan's insignia which makes me laugh, being a homophone with T-bone) but makes her life hard in order to "educate" her to cope with problems, including her brazen sisters. She perfectly knows they've hired robbers to steal tea buds from Bao and then sent the stupid bro to cover the traces... I mean, is it in this way how you educate your grandaughters? Bao was kidnapped by the people they've hired (and than freed by Lu), but the old lady turned a blind eye and even playfully joked with the mastermind of that plot... She is the person who stirs up their competiteveness, as the Tea Bone game is open until she passes it to one of them and one of the conditions is to get married before she'll do that. Bao is aware of her game with sisters, as well as of the fact the old lady intends to make her marry that wanna be monk...
It is also true that they are not totally at each other's throats, they tend to forget their rivalries the moment Rong family or tea business is exposed to some troubles

No, I am not critical at all, it's a fictional setting, why bother... it's just the mix of styles that makes me confused. I'd prefer they've chosen one style or completely fictional style dresses

I don't like costumes, they make me feel confused. Female dresses mixed too many Ming and Qing fashion styles, men are mostly Ming but with some clothes having smth of Song and Tang. For how they look great and gorgeous, they are very distracting and disorienting for a person who differentiate them

The first day was great, very entertaining

The whole Rong mansion is a nest of born vixens, why should she be an exception, lol?
If I were a man, I'd run miles away from such a place instead of swarming in like crazy

a great parody on phantasies - usually we see them in a form of tropes on male phantasies, but here they are even more hilarious bc they are female phantasies and must contain more materialistic values, sex appeal is not sufficient, lol. I was dying

The husband selection is completely hilarious. I'd hardly reject a man dressed in a black silk with his chest muscles coming out of it like two well built balconies 🔥, sitting on a mountain of gold and jewelry 😍 surrounded by red drapes 🎇, saying: "men are often unfaithful, only gold is steadfast". Not the most romantic lines, but sound highly believable😂

yes, which makes her FL's cousin.

Qing, right, not Qiao... lapsus

I've already seen ep 1 (too short to judge if there's a lot of romance), it's a bit outdated but watchable.
I have two airing mystery/thrillers (Light of Dawn and The Company) I'm watching right now, want to resume a couple of eps of The Miracles as well... Must finish or drop smth to watch this one. I'll send you a request and let you know.

I also think the deceased Xu can be GF's bio father making GF a lawful heir of Penglai shares.

I think he was Pedro José Lobo, as it was emphasised he was of Portuguese nationality and represented Portuguese administration/governor in several occasions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Jos%C3%A9_Lobo
The name was changed (maintaining the initials) to enable his crash for (fictional) Ms Qiao, bc the real one was married and had almost adult children at the time. As well as to soften his relationship with col. Sawa Eisaku
"To expedite food procurement, Lobo was set up as head of the Companhia Cooperativa de Macau (CCM, or Macau Cooperative Company Limited), a joint Macau government–Japanese army private venture. According to journalist João Guedes, by pandering to Japanese political and military interests, this arrangement also allowed Colonel Sawa Eisaku, head of the Japanese Military Secret Service Office in Macau, to act as virtual chefe sombra (shadow chief) of the Macau Economic Services"
as it is mentioned in this sc. paper https://hkupress.hku.hk/image/catalog/pdf-preview/9789888390519.pdf
I don't know if he had a Macanese name, maybe the one you've found is the same person

I am at ep 4. It looks to me that Feifei's mom in the portrait wears a similar necklace as the one left to Gao Feng by his mom.

what I've meant, it entered in a below 10K range so it's "rankable" but will hardly go over that number, even with other watchers joining... There will still be enough people abandoning bc it is nothing special and the quitting is what weights the most.
It isn't the status of a ranked or unranked drama to determine the number of people who downrates single eps, but the ratio with those who overrated it. And I agree with you, too much love and too much hate are both detrimental for a drama, bc they are feeding each other.
I also think this drama will end up with a higher score (but not exaggerately higher, bc small share of people expressed their votes, they usually rise until 30% of watchers), bc. it's a watchable fantasy xianxia with actors who are good perfomers and no particular flaws in storytelling, pacing, editing etc, a genre and type of drama that generally scores higher than they actually deserve but have a particular appeal.

This drama will hardly go beyond a treshold of 10K.
It is nice, I am watching it daily bc I feel entertained (for the time being), but let's be honest, it isn't a hit, it doesn't bring any additional value or originality that your jaw drops down with a "wow!" and it's only natural that many people decide to drop it (as nothing new) while other people start it, so we can't know the ratio between them, bc we can't see it - and that (*the dropping) is the factor that influences the most dramas at this stage. Certainly more than a few haters that rate unseen eps "1" and counts as fractions of votes.
An 8 is a nice vote with just less than 4-5% share of watchers expressed, actually, it's a green light meaning: "watchable" for all the people who just started or still have to start it.

"this is what happens when you don't cultivate properly"😂😂😂
Said by a demon cat showing a real cat to other demons. How the real cat looked at him in that moment was priceless! I was seeing a cloud: put me down, you idiot!

Whether in real life or in dramas, cats are simply superior beings, it's in their nature to dominate us, lol. Laughed so much