AleksandraSucur

Well, I agree with your point about the youth in general. I was once young myself and still not that old not to remember the idealistic and anticonformist attitude (I still conserve to a certain point, irreverence included). Actually, in my early 20-ies, I've volonteered in a real refugee camp. But never ever in my life thought the people's interests and actions are revolving around me, like this FL. Anything ML does - FL thinks he is doing to take out on her bc of her insults and defiance.
And as a very young person, even before I've got in direct touch with the refugees, I was well aware that when a huge number of persons arrive in a place, they naturally compete for the same identical resources and settlements with the locals. If there's an army present like in the drama, the competition and divergent interests will only increase... As you see, the problem isn't just her age, a natural idealism and naivety connected to the age, it's how is this character written and that this character will unlikely evolve into a person on the ML's same wavelenght.

Now you hit the spot: "she's not afraid of the ML which explains her defiance and complete disregard for the consequences."
Why isn't she afraid of him? Shouldn't she be at least a bit afraid of a person she thinks all the worst and defies him because she can't stand him? Or she defies him exactly because she knows -whatever she says or does to him - there would be no serious consequences for her (as there were no consequences before)?
Lets' try to analyse the theater shut-down situation to check who is the "doormat" in their relationship (I suppose, if you don't like for FLs to be doormats, you'll probably dislike MLs to be treated as such) - I also dislike doormats. Before the closure, she, who isn't working for him anymore bc SHE rescinded that contract, she doesn't want to have anything to do with him, fine. But after having heard that the troup needs a writer to stage a pièce de théâtre to help the refugees, she changes her mind and starts working on the pièce - in HIS theatre. When ML makes an ironic remark about that change of mind (he asked her to stay but she refused, now she is there), she fiercly and publicly offends him implying he is not a gentleman (although she spent a night with him and he never misbehaved) while a person she knows nothing about (the troup director) is. Li Boren shuts the theatre down (for reasons completely unknown to her) and she confidently goes to the ML, on her own, without consulting anybody! Wait, in that troup there's an opera singer who knows him way better, worked with/for him (even staging "jealousy pieces" for Tao girl) for years, never offended him... shouldn't she be better to negotiate the situation? She literally barges into his office (he is a supreme army commander, lol!), saying "you can take it out on me directly, why hurting the innocents?" (ofc., bc in her chicken mind only what she does can save the refugees, while what he does can only be somehow directed against her, he has nothing more important to do as a military commander, right?) and offends him AGAIN - after he just tried to divert her incessant flow of moral teachings on benevolence and poor people - asking her a simple question: "you think you know me well?" to warn her not to draw simplicistic conclusions. Instead of trying to inquire why he doesn't want to open the theatre, she tries to convince him saying "as a newly appointed commander, if you help the refugees, it will be a win win for you and for the army". She talks about things she has NO CLUE about. She, who never wrote a theatrical piece before, is convinced her work for the troup will save the refugees if he doesn't stay in their way! In her chicken brain, he'll gain foothold in the army if he supports the refugees! She - who is an idiot, knows nothing about the world around her, about what she is talking about - treats him like an idiot.
They are definitely not on the same wavelenght and as now I've seen 8 eps of this behaviour (JXT called "appalling rudeness" the behaviour of the Tao girl but it fits also the attitude of the FL towards ML) I've got tired of it.
We also see nothing on the screen that would prelude to a change of that stupid attitude she doesn't have with other people. She resists the bullies, she doesn't provoke them, as she is doing with the ML. So, my conclusion is: she is aware he won't harm her whatever she does/says and is taking advantage of that fact, belittleing and offending him in the process.

If she is "consistent" to her moral values as you say, why did she accept ML's blackmail? She could have perfectly prefered to "sacrifice her life" than bending to a person she is so biased to and she considers a bigger bully than those guys with dogs (and from which he personally saved her, but she continues to be clueless and ungrateful).
There's a note of arrogance in her stubborness, in that stubborn belief, that confidence, she is always right and her "gut instinct" is never wrong.
And - as far as we've seen to this point - her "gut instinct" is almost always wrong. She immediately believed that girl's story, never for a second doubted the things the girl saw (uniforms of Yu army on her rapists) may appear very different if investigated, she even slapped him bc she immediately thought it was him who sent soldiers in the refugee camp... Naive, impulsive and unreasonably self confident are the most delicate words I can find to describe her. Whether such persons uphold values or not is irrelevant bc. they can't distinguish the right from wrong to apply them correctly and their silly actions can even provoke damage and work against all those high principles...

We were referring to the first part of her interrogation (which ended with her promise she'll find the culprit and was released)
What you are talking about is a LATER scene, when she was tortured (a legal mean at the time), when SHE OBVIOUSLY COVERED FOR the culprit of the assassination attempt (and in which other people died or was injured) - which is a CRIME in every country of the world and was so in every period of time! And covering up for a criminal is called "association" and makes her an accomplice.
No matter how she felt for her classmate - whom she didn't know well and who could have perfectly lied to her about her motives and invented the whole story of her family, that person set her up with a pencil while she was evidently protecting a child - she hid an important information in an investigation (and lets remember she even promised to find the culprit herself within 10 days, it's even in the synopsis of the drama), only bc her story touched her bc the other girl's dad also had a condition like her mother? WHAT VALUES ARE THAT EXACTLY? A clueless girl covered up for another clueless girl who targeted a life of a man who had nothing to do with the tragedy of her family.
And if her story were a lie and she didn't surrend on her own initiative, FL would have died in that prison. What would have happened to her mother then? It isn't just silly, it's crazy

well, they both appear stubborn and silly, maybe they've took that after their father 😂
That's a possibility, indeed. The person whose tablet she honoured may not be her real father... Maybe that's the reason why her mom doesn't want her to have connections with powerful people (and the chairman of the biggest bank is certainly a powerful man)

yes, I think you're (hope you're) right: such a plothole would be too big even for an uncomplicated story like this one.

How would otherwise an orphan pay that education abroad?

you've put it even better: "she just has to be right about the situation she knows nothing about". Yes, the jail interrogation scene annoyed me, too. And it isn't even clear why is she so stubborn and defiant towards him, so we must guess she has prejudices about him (as a playboy or a power person her mum doesn't want her to have connections)... Although he "blackmailed" her with the employment agreement, he did it bc she was already entangled in the case regarding his assassination attempt and he honoured his part of the deal, saved her ass several times and even supported her troup's humanitarian initiative - and in the right way (removing persons who perceived those refugees as obstacles to their interests) she isn't even aware of!
If this continues, I'll drop it, I don't like stubborn, stupid FLs... and the plot also looks too predictable

Pingjun is naive, impulsive and prejudiced. She is even kinda spoilt, but in a different way than the Tao girl (who is bossy, arrogant and spoilt rotten), Pingjun always has this high moral standing allure, she continuously lectures people around her (mostly the ML but not limitedly) and is always so confident she's always right! Actually, in terms of self confidence and stubborness, she is worse than the Tao girl (who, on the contrary, does evil things bc she lacks self confidence - that's why she is jealous, vindictive and must get what she desires no matter the cost)
I can't stand how both these young girls' characters are written... I can only pity the ML, attracted by one and entangled with another for interest.
And now this sc. "fiancé", who actually still isn't an official fiancé, although Pingjun thinks he is. The dude came back from Japan a month earlier without explaining why, he takes a delicate job at the military HQ instead of trying to find an employment as a journalist, as he told her before and she just accepts he will search that job later, after gaining some experience in the military. That kind of man, who doesn't share and discuss with you his projects, is a real RED FLAG and a "no" to marry!
YCX is a smart guy (at least, he looks written like that), no way he'd easily employ unchecked persons, only bc he is reforming the army and lacks translators from German of technical specifications for the new weapons he wants to introduce. He'll test this batch of people, not only Xueting, he isn't the only sus. At least I hope. It's also strange there were no signs he investigated the ambush against his father: the route was known to a very few persons... somene must have leaked it to the rival's army.

You're right, it was also mentioned by Li Boran, but that character serves as a comic relief, so he is not to be taken seriously, although he often stikes the right notes.
In this case, the land indeed served for smth rational-logical: to allow YCX to bond with the Tao girl's father, as explained in ep 5. I find such an a posteriori explanation - very weak, but it is still better than the novel translation I've skimmed and found totally unsatisfying.
We already have a totally invented Republican setting, unlinked to any historical record, a weak political plot and this childish "jealosy povoked" subplot... Relying just on leads' presence on screen can't be dragged for 38 eps- with a weak story to begin with, you'll have to rely on your force to adapt that weak plot into smth that makes sense and captivate the audience

Lands are of no use to him (a speculation we've heard from womens' talk we can't take seriously), weapons are. He doesn't only want Yus to prevail in contention with Mus, but he wants to free himself of all "the old guard", including his father.
You're right: we weren't told (I mean, a rational reason) why should she be after him but we've got sufficient details to know Taos are working with Yu's rivals. Ofc., there could be a reason for them to push the girl in YCX arms, hoping to control him (and through him, the Yu army) now he is the only heir of the family

The only advantage he takes from her is to distract her. Her family is allied with the Mus, who compete for the supreme power with the ML's family. In such a circumstance, Tao girl should spy on ML, but is distracted by his ambiguous attitude towards her.

To keep her attention focused on him and his "love life" which is a mise-en-scene (both with his sis-in-law who is a P-opera singer and with the FL).
Keeping her around this way in his social life provides him a useful alibi, as we've seen when he took the FL to a secret meeting with an army which also covets the weapons Tao girl's dad purchased on Mu Linsen's behalf from the Japanese (with loans/money destined for flood refugees). The Mus are his family's archenemies, while Taos and Mus are allies. So, he keeps her around, inticing her feelings for him, to distract her from (ir. to cover up) his important dealings.
Personally, I find this plot weak and childish and the actress who plays Tao girl is unconvincing, imo

you're welcome.
Imo, the great added value of this drama is that it conveyed the Zeitgeist of the Ming despite the initial disclaimer about "the fictional dynasty" BETTER than most of the dramas ouvertly set in the Ming!
The script never obsessively followed the important historical events to the letter, never charged the audience with the real history feeling, yet, it used very subtle historical details (such as the number of strokes for a wife assaulting her husband under the Great Ming Code) - to the letter, I've appreciated a lot, as a history freak, it made it enjoyable for me as for the person who knows nothing about the history. It's a great achievement, I'd rated it even higher than 9 I gave if there were not some melodramatic excesses. In particular I didn't like DCQ character, role in the plot and probably the actress wasn't able to convince me, although the Chinese history recorded female pirate leaders but a few centuries later.

Yes, Han did what's best for the empire. The whole situation with the emperor's captivity (very creatively) reproduced a well known Tumu Crisis occurred during the emperor Yingzong, who was captured by the Mongols in The Battle of Tumu and was used by the Mongol Khan Esen to blackmail the court in Beijing. When his younger brother ascended to the throne (as emperor Jingtai), the Mongols even advanced towards the capital "as to restore order and legal rule to the Ming" but were defeated, bc Jingtai managed to gather the support and material aid from all important officials, generals and nearby province governors to resist a situation in which the captured emperor would be (a sort of) a puppet in Mongols' hands. In real history, nobody in the court asked for the restoration of Yingtong when the Mongols freed him after the defeat as it happened in the drama, the restoration took place years after he was confined in a peripheral palace outside the Forbidden City, for completely different reasons, for a fear of succession (Jingtai's only son died and Jingtai fell ill), thus a group of officials orchestrated a coup Yingtong probably wasn't even aware of.
Han Liang in the drama was used as a personification of a "principled and meritorious official" who always puts the national interest first and regularly ends betrayed, isolated or killed by the person on the throne (like the Shens were, at their time). A symbolic victim of "the fickleness of power" XLX was warding off throughout the drama.

It is indeed, fascinating and infuriating. I am a history freak and I am in total awe watching a drama able to realistically and faithfully catch, depict and convey the Zeitgeist of the Ming to the audience, with no presumptions to narrate relevant historical events with scientific pedantry: it even merged two emperors, never told us when that one (two) died just not to waste time, not to mention the initial disclaimer we are seeing a "fictional dynasty". I've seen tons of dramas set in the Ming and, very few exceptions apart, they all failed to convey it, for one reason or another - and that's infuriating too.
Returning to a miserable condition of the women in legal frameworks, I can only add that the Ming was "a progressive state" at that particular moment of the world's history. Towards the end of the 15th century (the same period in the drama), in Europe started "witch hunts", Malleus Maleficarum was published on how "to recognise, torture and condemn a witch" that directly produced between 40-50K innocent victims, mostly women, burned on stakes... a massacre stopped only 250 years after and only in the Catholic parts of Europe (in Protestant world, the massacre continued for other century or two) by a women on the throne: Maria Theresa of Habsburg. And she was able to do so only bc she used an expedient (like LXL often uses), bc if she abolished the "crime" tout court she had no chances to win over the system. So, she never abolished a crime, she only changed the legal competence for the punishment, from courts towards an "imperial commission" she nominated and which needed her seal. Fortunately, she ruled a long period of time and the son who inherited the throne held the same Illuministic ideas: that commission never approved any punishment, she never sealed any of the condemning sentences, so the "crime" was estinguished for disuse.
Not to mention the systems like Joseon (where a neo-Confucian doctrine - that adversely hit the women in the Ming - became faith and collective obsession) or Japan of the Songuku era... Women suffered. Period.

Maybe that scene wasn't clear enough. As I've understood, she was punished with 100 strokes NOT for offending moral order but for having her husband beaten. Although the Lus were unable to provide evidence she was the instigator of that crime, an unfavourable judge could connect that assault with her. The Great Ming Code disposed the punishment as follows: "if a wife assaulted her husband, even without inflicting injury, she would receive 100 strokes of the cane; if the husband was injured, the penalty would be three degrees more severe than assaulting a stranger"
Even in the court today, if two persons accuse each other before a judge and both provide medical evidence of being injured, it's very likely the judge will punish them both unless the two offset reciprocal accusations of assault in the course of hearing.
But there were periods of time in Chinese history in which wives were punished for bringing charges against their husbands, as such a charge was considered an "offence against moral order": the famous case is the divorce of the poetess Li Qingzhao of Song Dynasty from her second husband for domestic violence and theft (he stole her money) - she won the case and obtained the divorce but was punished according to the law of time: "If a wife accuses her husband, even if the accusation is true, she shall still be sentenced to two years of imprisonment.” The poetess was out of prison after 9 days tnx to some of her noble friends who pressured the judge to release her but we can imagine many others who didn't have influential friends as she had.
Although the Great Ming Code treated wives unequally compared to husbands (aggravating the punishments for the wives and reducing them for husbands - for the same identical crime), there were no such dispositions as in the Code of Song that would require corporal punishments or imprisonment if they've asked for divorce in the court.

Your Q is totally logical. But the motivations of the two divorce claims are different from the legal pov. The common premise is always that the divorce is considered smth shameful (even today, and it happens even in the most progressive parts of the world if the marriages lasted decades... but that's another story). Lets analyse how these two cases differ
1. The case of the 1st sister (in the capital). She is a classical victim of the domestic violence, if she remained married to her husband she risked her life with that beast. In her case, there were no margins for "amicable divorce" agreement, ie. for a "he er xing zhi hao" mediation, as it was the case for Xiuru. The hearing was held in the capital - in an environment unfamiliar for the Lins, but familiar for the Lus and by a judge who was a relative of that Du Rong who was executed as prince Han's supporter and had his personal motives to hate LJQ and rule against his divorce claim. There were only two elements: the broken bone (which wasn't broken at all but XLX smartly obtained the imperial doctor certificate it was broken) and the fact Lus have taken 3K taels of the Lins assets (a clear theft, the evidence of which XLX, as a wife in charge of the finances provided ), two deeds harshly punishable under the criminal law, independently of the mood of the unfavourable judge, the judge was left with no alternatives but to punish the husband. Only to avoid THAT PUNISHMENT, Lus agreed to the sc. "settlement in the court": accepting the divorce (with a daughter going to the mother while the son remained with Lus) IN CHANGE of the Lins' withdrawal of the charge for the criminal or quasi criminal actions Lu husband committed. If he accepted the punishment and gave back the money he have stolen, they would have still remained married and she would have to suffer even harsher domestic violence. If we read crime news today, independantly of the country we live in, we'll see the things didn't progress much...
2) The case of Xiuru is completely different. There's no domestic violence, today we'll say "it's a civil case" in which one party (Xiuru and the Lins) followed the agreement, the laws and rules and Xiuru isn't isolated as the 1st sister was in the capital. Besides, Xiuru is not a desperate victim, she is a thoughtful person who weighs pros and cons, her marriage, beside being totally legal, earned merit and recognition by the emperor and is known generally as smth that preserved the emperor's life, and has the Lins to back her in the familiar environment. Her husband is not a violent beast but a gentleman who was too weak towards his mother, who was also manipulated by her clan...
As you see, the difference is huge and it would be even today, unfortunatelly

yes, you're right, I always watch a story starting with a decodification of general setting, legal frame, period of time...
For the rest, I agree with you. Actually, I see ML as a very smart person, with incredible determination. People who see him as a simp are probably too used to heroic types typical in idol dramas and are unable to recognise other characterial traits that can make a male protagonist outstanding, without playing a hero all the time.

Without any superpowers, ML efficiently resisted his fate (this going "against the current" in the title applies perfectly to him, too)
- of being a puppet son-in-law of the Zhao family, building up his own military carrier and never truly bending to any power (opposition and divorce from Zhaos, crashing down the Zhengs, even his withdrawal from the capital and official post he held at the emperor's side can be viewed through this lense). He was able to oppose even the authorities inside his family: he punished his own father when the latter humiliated his mother, he resisted his mother's pressure to marry the Zheng girl, even the authority of his grandpa wasn't anything sacred for him: he accepted his punishment but still married a girl his family opposed. Completely a man on his own.
- he maintained his humanity and generosity against all the odds of the fate
- married a girl he considered right for him. Making mistakes in the process and making up for those mistakes. Being able to say "sorry" and "thank you" makes a man stronger not weaker in my eyes
- his determination to obtain a divorce and save his 1st sister told us he is a born fighter for a just cause. Later for the other sister, actually he was a person able to develop very good relationship with all his siblings and to act as their protector.
And yes, he is certainly smart enough to enjoy his "domestic" time and space (with those siblings, wife and child), and to find peace in inaction espc. after a period spent pursuing action. I agree with you on that point too

The mystery in Mingling County is the most gripping till now. The Divine Constables team is now composed and solid, its members are in sync like components of a well lubricated Swiss clock. And even in this remote Southern lovely but floody port and its mysterious mountain behind our team finds traces of what we've seen before:
- unsolved cases linked to the events of 17 y ago
- Liluo tracks (I wonder which god's statue will crash down at their HQ once they solve the puzzle), connected with both the insect which turns persons into demons and the
- person from the list who escaped to this place and who probably changed his identity ...
The main sensation is of a hunt, progressing in various directions and having various targets, amplified by the presence of dogs and the wolf girl in desperate search of her dead mother's body...
Although the main plot isn't particularly original, the acting is good but all the actors are more or less in there comfort zone range and we've also seen several technical flaws (sudden cuts, lack of follow up or scenes of proper "wrapping of the case" after it was solved), I like the overall atmosphere and feel when it changes accordingly to the change of landscape. The story is basically "more of the same" in the genre, but for some reason, this "more of the same" feels very comfortable, refreshing and positive. Like a well known aroma and taste of our preferite tea we smell and sip in a lazy sunny afternoon in the kitchen.