AleksandraSucur

You may be right about another person behind Xiao Yishui - the sender of the bag, I'm not categorical about this hypothesis, it still may be some other Zou Mian's rival, but that person must know the way to communicate with profy killers.

Right, we assume the bag was directed to Wei Yue, because she was a part of that gang. But who was the real client of that gang, real sender of the murders on two boats? Zou Mian, through Du Lin. But how Zou Mian could have known Wei Yue is a survivor of the massacre of the gangsters on the boat committed by Du Lin 15 years ago? Beside ZBY, GZ and Wan Fu, the only person who knows she's alive is Xiao Yishui, but he is in prison and he doesn't know who was/is behind Du Lin.
So, the reciepent of the bag could also be another person. We all "feel there is a lot more to Zhao Li than meets the eye", as you've said. He could have also been a hidden pawn, a killer known to the sender and with the same pattern of "communication" (via bag with a sign and money). Zhao Li is the first person who discovers the bag hidden by ZBY and knows the content of the order who to kill. His attitude towards Qining (ie. the person who should be murdered) is unnaturaly clingy, why would he try to be close to a person who is to be murdered?
The relationship between Zou Mian and his foster daughter is not idyllic, we know that from her conversation with the eunuch who is the second victim of the "hat-demon", she definitely doesn't want Zou Mian to know about her business.
Consequently, while Zou Mian still can be the sender of the bag (and order to kill his foster daughter), the person behind two hat-demon murders is highly probably... Qining, she is the only person (we can see for the moment) who had motives to kill those two persons. Especially by murdering her aide, she could have raised a suspicion she was the real target of that hat-murder with purpose to obtain greater protection from the authorities. Her behaviour is too much, too provocative and explicit to be true. Maybe she already suspects somebody (foster father?) wants to kill her and she orchestrated all that hat-demon hype to protect herself.

I believe Zou Mian's enemy is still hidden to the audience and, before speculating who this person is, we should focus on side details. What I haven't understood is to whom the bag with money and order to kill Qiniang was actually directed, was it Wei Yue? In that case, the person who sent the bag knows her identity as a former pirate/killer. This is the first detail. The second is: both hat demon victims were disgusting persons, the first was a brute abuser, the second a creepy eunuch sent as an aide (and spy) to Qiniang by her foster father. Paradoxiacally, the person who had a motive to kill them both was Qiniang herself: the first murder lowered the prices of real estate market she invests in, the second was a spy.

Song Dynastypedia is a gem in a gem. I like the opening quotes, too, they all relate to the content of a singular episode. I am sure I'll rewatch this drama several times

yup 😁

😁👌

a grounded character like WY is more bothered by the fact the vixen snatched away the property she was eying for a year. She loves her husband despite it irritates her when he occasionally becomes complacent (and then she must keep him in check). I think she is aware the vixen is not seriously after her husband, just provoking and playing games.

i've thought it was him!

the comparison was between bribery and alliance. That was truly unexpected, I've almost chocked in laughter.

A phantasy in the desert, but great cast. Zhang performed a doctor with no martial skills and that performance was impactful enough to me to remember him

Check Love in Between, I've noticed him in that (underrated) drama.

That family is a bomb!
Continuously on the brink, continously struggling between legal and illegal, wealth and poverty, knowledge (+ personal skills) and overall superstition, deception, bullying etc., they are all weaklings in front of the power, but their individual and collective power is exactly the power the painting (the Leitmotif of the drama) conveys.
Truly, this is a masterpiece!

My first time in life I enjoy watching opening and ending credits of a drama. They are not simply a decoration or homage to a masterpiece, but a vehicle which drives the audience into that ancient painting, a copy of the original with purpose to admire again, to glorify all the incredible details the original contains, to enchant the viewer by conveying the feeling of flickering and miraculous acts in ordinary yet extraordinary lives of the people.
The tension of the ropes mixed with the tension in the scream: Mast! Lay down the mast! - it's art, pure unforgettable art.

I truly don't understand people who downrate this drama, do they really not realise how high is the level of this production?

He is a great actor. That Di Renjie was so badly written that even the most brilliant supporting cast wouldn't make a difference, all characters and their interactions were horribly adapted.

As for Di Lun, I think he left sufficient clues ("a person who helped him take the imperial exam 20 years ago") and Gu Zhen probably already suspects who would have wanted his fellow general dead and defamed. Now that he has this "alliance" (btw, the comparison with bribery was... lol) with Zhang couple, he'll use them to investigate further.

The cast is all on spot, I like the production included Zhang Yao, haven't seen him since Love in Between which was a nice phantasy story with excellent cast

This is totally my piece of cake! A detective drama set in a real historical picture! Who loves investigation stories (and I do), can't skip it. Who loves history (and I love it), can't skip it, who loves art (and I do), simply can't skip it. "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is one of the most famous Chinese paintings, depicted by a Song painter Zhang Zeduan (more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Along_the_River_During_the_Qingming_Festival ), which contains "814 humans, 28 boats, 60 animals, 30 buildings, 20 vehicles, 8 sedan chairs, and 170 trees." depicting a festival in today's Kaifeng, then "the Eastern Capital" of the Song. Bianjing.
It started thrilling, lets hope it remains so till the very end

the shift of tone actually happened before the wedding, around ep 15. It took 5-6 episodes to disentangle from one engagement and entangle in another. It was too long for such a fast paced storytelling. The focus shifted from its initial dark revenge vibes to (a bit annoying) family conflicts, I've noticed the same thing. At the same time, we've got only one ep x day, thing that negatively impacted on the tone.

It applies to others, too. The director is known for well-made short dramas, with episodes lasting 15 min cca. This is the reason why he doesn't waste time, each singular scene is short and impactful (no distracting multiple or weird angles), no slow-mos (with the exception of the leads'embrace on the ship, and it didn't last long), no repetitive flashbacks, no long melo-inserts... With the result: the audience's attention is constantly high and sometimes it's necessary to rewatch a scene, because the storytelling switched fast to a different subject.

Period dramas regularly follow unoriginal patterns and storylines, they are mostly watched because of the idol-actors involved, certainly not for the greatness of their script... I find period dramas interesting only if they contain elements of real history and/or are sufficiently original.
The production and trade of silk was treated in several dramas I can remember, Jiu Liu Overlord (trade), The Sword and the Brocade (that one was more about classical embroidery), The Destined (dyeing and trade), Marvelous Women (a hidden gem!), My Heroic Husband, Nothing Gold Can Stay... covering different periods of Chinese history and different regions. The payment in silk bolts (as a tribute, a tax or a reward for exceptional merit) is also often mentioned in other period dramas. There's a nice resumé of the history of silk (and other fabrics using silk, such as brocade, damask etc.) on China National Silk Museum site https://www.chinasilkmuseum.com/gwgk/info_4.aspx?itemid=26485#:~:text=Silk%20was%20one%20form%20of,bolts%20of%20silk%20as%20tax.
I've liked a lot the opening of this drama: FL as a young girl telling "her story" (story of her dad) while introducing the audience to the real history of Shu brocade. But it is still too early to judge, lets wait to see at least 1/3 of the drama, if they will be able keep this pace and authenticity vibe

yes, brocade is a fabric woven with silk threads.
I don't know about the museum promotion, but (till this point) I appreciate how the drama treats this matter, recently we've seen other dramas trying to appear (read: "promoting a drama as") "historically accurate" and failing grossly in that effort (The Story of Pearl Girl) and we will soon see one treating the history of Chinese ink. As a history freak, I certainly love these ideas but get very dissapointed when they turn out to be inaccurate.
In BO, I've notice only one minor inaccuracy (locust tree, mentioned as an ingredient for dyeing in ep 6, is native to North America, so it's impossible its flowers could have be used in Tang China), but this tree was probably just mistranslated...

yes, Shu Brocade from Sichuan (historical Yu province, Yuzhou, in the drama) was famous and highly valuable throughout the history.
The "silk" here is referred to coloured silk threads used to embroider-woven onto a satin cloth using a loom.
Silk already was precious, a commodity used for exchange as silver or gold, a luxury good traded across Euroasian continent (Silk Roads take name after it for a good reason), emperors from all dynasties strove to keep knowledge of sericulture secret to maintain the Chinese monopoly on the continet. Brocade is on a higher level of luxury, silk threads served not only to represent certain motives and scenes (of course the variety and stability of colours were crucial for this art) but also to thicken the textile.