AleksandraSucur

😁😂😂

Oh, hi, dear PBG, so glad you're here, too! As always, we see things in a similar way😂

that's true

Yeah, that's a main dramatic suspence... Imho, FL is a fighter, with a manifested water element: gentle when necessary, fierce when necessary, who will ultimately heal his deep traumas and resentment. She can't be subjugated, like a water, she'll only adapt to the environment while changing it.

I respect everybody's opinion, but I'd say people who think she's manipulative are simply wrong, or, at least, they don't fully get what the term means. All people are manipulative, a psychologist would say we are born with this potential, even a newborn baby "manipulates" with a loud howling once he/she "learned" that after that cry someone (usually a mother) will appear with milk or change his diapers or will cuddle him... and he/she will continue to cry until anything that bothers him/her is removed.
So, FL is manipulative as any other person, nothing more than that. She is simply smart (smarter than the ML) and she finds herself in an extremely hostile environment, dealing with extremely difficult tasks and goals to achieve. To prevent Wei's revenge on her family is only one of these tasks. She must keep herself alive and kickin' in a wolves' den. She also feels for the people, she wants to preserve all people's lives, that's why she blocks the distruction of the river dam putting her own life at risk (and all other goals she has). Just this single thing shows she isn't manipulative in a bad sense of the term.
In that environment - in which, lets' remember, she is totally ON HER OWN, isolated and constantly targeted - it is absolutely normal she needs some strategy, tactics and tricks. Her ultimate way out of such a situation is... her husband, there's none else who can help her other than him. He, on the other hand, is a man grown up with deep traumas, resentment towards her family and obsessions of revenge - all comprehensible, but... nobody in Wei really helps him to get over them (actually, except for his grandma and his advisor, everybody else is counterproductive). In order to get help from him, she must deal or, better, help him to heal, all that crap in his head. She is helping him constantly, more than any other person, certainly more than his own mother, stuck in grief and useless when not counterproductive. He must rule and look after his people: she brings HIM a crucial city in her dowry, helps HIM to win over the people there and to revitalise a necessary water supply for HIS kingdom. This is about her direct support, not counting how useful she is indirectly (and ML figured it out by himself: she uses her to refuse his uncle, ministers and mother who would fill his harem with concubines in order to gain influence over him - and that's a manipulation, strictly speaking). What does he do for her? Gives her temporarily his room and allows her to his study just to accuse her for spying in a freaking violent way? Any other woman would run away from such a situation and a man who can't get his sh*t together. But she is a fighter, gentle when necessary, fierce when necessary, she'll heal him

I've replied you below. Chuyu is basically irrelevant. Whatever she had done, she had ML's mother approval, more or less.
She'll soon be out of the picture because his mother is not a smart person

Granny indeed hopes for the peace, but it is not her only agenda, and what is peace is vague as it is today.
Lets' remember:
1. grandma was the only person who supported the election of WS as a new ruler of Wei, despite he was a child and against his uncle's aspiration.
2. She has this ignorant-silly daughter in law (ML's mother) who is stuck in a grief and revenge we all can comprehend as such, but she (unconsciously) is useless if not harmful for her surviving son. Her son didn't have HER support in becoming a ruler, that thing happened only thanks to the fact his grandma is his biggest supporter. She can't tailor the shoes for her living son, because she is stuck with the size of her dead son. ML's mother is also a manipulator, she doesn't push to place Chuyu into ML's harem to have more influence over her son or to surpress FL, she wants to surpress grandma, too. Understandable, but she is simply not up to that level.
3. Granny could have not know the QX's potential, but if I were her, in order to support my grandson in such an internally precarious situation, I would have place my bet on a person unrelated to any internal interest and that is the reason why she accepted Qiao's marriage proposal

Conclusion: Chuyu is irrelevant in this picture. Of course, we won't see her for a long time

The cousin is his mother's niece. Distant, being his mother Lady Zhu, while the niece is surnamed Zheng (Chuyu). Chuyu, who obviously also has her own ambition to be s.o. important to the ML and within the Wei clan, is basically her aid, confidant and tool, managing tasks and servants on her behalf, that is her power.
Her misdeeds are all arranged or at least approved by ML's mother, who is... not a smart lady and who is btw, stuck in hatred, revengefulness etc. we feel strongly in Wei kingdom. We may symphathize with a mother who lost a son 14 years ago, but she is useless if not (inconsciously) harmful for her surviving son, who loves her even when she tailors his shoes in a smaller size (of his dead brother) and tries to put "her person" (ie. Chuyu) into his harem, without thinking of the consequences (he already rejected more powerful persons who offered their persons as concubines: his uncle, his ministers and seniors and who would certainly be offended if he accepted Chuyu into his harem). On her side, his ignorant mother wants Chuyu in his harem to influence him and also to have a leverage over the hated "Qiao girl" and her own mother-in-law. And that MiL, his granny, is actually the only sober person, beside ML's advisor, in Wei kingdom, the only person who supported her grandson (despite he was a child and against his uncle) to take the rulership and to solidify his power for 14 years. And still, we see that the ML's position is still precarious in Wei, that's probably why grandma accepted Qiao's marriage proposal: internally isolated and unrelated wife won't work against her grandson's interests, while may be of some help in handling external relations.

I agree 100%

He was just testing what would be her reaction, how she'll handle the matter. He isn't stupid to take a concubine chosen by his mother, thus offending his nasty uncle and all the ministers who proposed other girls and whom he refused with the excuse of "being in love with his wife" and "doesn't want to disrespect her".
And she handled the task spotlessly: allarming his granny, who - in turn - isn't stupid like his mother and immediately understood the mess this thing would create. Not only with the ministers... ML's position as a ruler of that Wei country is extremely precarious, granny is the only person who tries to solidify his position: his uncle is after the rulership, ministers are after the greater influence over him, even his mother's intention to place ZCY, who is basically "her person", into his harem is instrumental in terms of influence over him, the FL and even her mother-in-law, who was against this arrangement even before. Granny accepted Qiao's marriage proposal not only for political-territorial gains, potential pacification of highly instable situation, full of hatred and revengefulness, but because only such an internally isolated person wouldn't mess with her grandson's (internal power) interests and may even be of some help in terms of external power conflicts

Once he finds out who really scratched the box (green tea cousin, obviously), I hope he slaps himself -and twice - in front of her. Although I've liked a lot her first slap (he more than deserved!), I don't want her to hurt her hands while punishing this guy when he acts as a suspicious, obsessed and unreasonable d*ck.
LYN can truly play this type roles, these scenes looked so real.
And Deng Ke is a great director, excellent pacing, great scenes and camerawork 👌

I've read few of your comments here today, so I've checked it out of curiousity and... devoured all 11 eps in one go: you were right, it's really good, well structured, paced, interesting subplots etc.
The characters are convincing, especially the ML and the chief eunuch, FL is acting even better than in Heroes (I've liked a lot)... nice!

yup. Actually, smth felt off with the father's character even before and I can't tell exactly what, either how it is written, or performed or directed, dunno, we just didn't pay much attention on him before...

Last few eps were overly melodramatic + the political background plot was so badly and/or nonsensically narrated... In particular the scenes with the "evil eunuch" or the father's reminiscence of his relationship with this godfather were too bland, superficial/stereotypized and naive to be min. credible.
The angst I've liked at the beginning is also turning into a wishy-wash, and now without that great actress who played her mother, I truly fear for the hold of the next10 eps...
Pity

Kang is the person who can tell SDJ who is who in that photo, in particular he can tell the identity of the boy in Yeo's arm. The boy is him, SDJ, his dress in the pic is the same Mme Pi kept in the box. This info is more than sufficient, all the rest doesn't matter, it is just him who needs to know his original identity and his biological parents

Kang knows the man holding him as a kid is Eunnam's bio father (surnamed Yeo). This is the info SDJ just got (as well as we did) in the last ep.
Being a friend of Yeo, Kang logically must know the identity of the kid in the pic

Seo Dongju is the most perfect male character I've ever seen: hot, handsome, intelligent +photographic memory, ambitious in a positive way, efficient, always polite, skilled fighter, survivor, excellent social and communication skills, director of the department, an employee on which the company (or at least the chairman) depends, loyal and trustworthy, romantic as far as to learn to play a violine just to propose to his beloved, good brother of a good nun, good friend, his bestie is a girl, who is overtly a music instruments shop owner and covertly a great hacker who helps him to overtake many billions of won, he easily makes friends with other people who become incredibly loyal and useful for him, he remains gallant and protective towards his girlfriend even after her totally unexpected betrayal and crazy behaviour, he is mentally balanced even when he suffers an amnesia and notwithstanding his whole life, his origins and upbringing are a complete mess... and you add all the things I've missed...
Well, the actor actually delievered this perfect man, but such a perfect intelligent and efficient man would not waste time pointlessly gazing at a photo of him as a kid with a bunch of adults he has no idea what connects them to him, but would probably immediately go and ask about it to dr. Kang's father who sent that pic to Ildo.
A good drama always relies on a good, credible story and this "who's my father?" derailment from a power conflict was unnecessary, making even this character less coherent, imho.

Their residence is not that opulent, they've struggled to arrange a banquet for students from their province. There are no particular valuables in the residence, the only valuable painting was given to FL's father by Pei Dafu (according to FL's father, as a bribe for making PD's distant relative pass the imperial exam but that may not be true), the concubine can't collect 300 silver taels to pay the guy from Danzhou for setup against FL and so on...
Her father may have been a member of Zouhang Gang and he may have even taken part in smuggling the silver through the underground pass connecting the two residences, but he is not sufficiently skilled/equiped to manage its laundring once Pei Dafu was convicted, he is just a scholar. Cunning, yes, but powerless

And talking about the money, I think MDL should add "Investigation" and "Mystery" to the genres, because that main plotline generates all other subplots keeping the story constantly suspensful and interesting.