Avi

Agreed, they are effortlessly cute!

It's getting old that the eight branch is just going back to the Li family to be yelled at while only two people don't want them there. Two people who are just loosing the family money and prestige. Yet the people who asked the eight branch there can't open their mouth against them. Ridiculous. That "vile spawn" was overdue.

That twist with the consort is neat. The emperors don't usually get an ally.

Do you have any links to articles about medical ink from historians or to articles from journalists who quote them?

Loved the bonding time with mom. But the medical ink as this big plot point has me sceptical. I thought that was just kids being kids in the beginning. Maybe some wound disinfection.

Would have been nice to actually see Li Zhen "borrow" from other smoke sheds instead of being told so out of the blue.

I wish Luo Wen Song could have stayed around. Li Zhen and he truly were kindred spirits. Loved the way Li Zhen and Luo Wen Qian meet again after so many years.

Lian was even said to be pregnant when her father was arrested, but that too was said so randomly, it took me back.

I would have also loved to see more of Lan. Her wedding, more of her growing business knowledge, bonding/scheming time with big sis--her arc was nice but it would have been great if more time had been spent on her in the later part of the drama.

Though, as others have said, it is raised eyebrow worthy why we had to see Mrs Fu get killed while Fu Hailian gets his death off-screen.

I really enjoyed it for what it did with Jinzhao, Yanyun and Xian's relationships. It was nice to see the ML and 2ML have a different dynamic than usual. I just wish one of the other women could have had such a relationship with Jinzhao rather than so many men wanting the same from her. Lan came close but was kept too much out of the plot for it. For all the smarts the leads possess, it's baffling that they didn't use Qinglan's connection to the big bads more. I like the ending!

Dying at the way Yanyun just one-kicks everything and everyone, while Jinzhao's sprawling merchant network is just as good as his informant system without even trying.

Didn't think Xuanqing would turn into this type of disgusting man...

Caught up to episode 27 and these second and third MLs really think the universe stops for them and resets itself.

A lot of recent dramas have started with a rating like this. Probably because people who dropped dramas pretty much immediately rate them in larger quantities than people who are actually watching.

Ben Chang really doesn't know when to leave things be.

It's really strange how many times the same question is asked or the characters act as if they didn't have the knowledge before. So many characters who were confronted by the monologue about the Wushuang Society on the ship had suddenly never heard of it before when asked if they know it an episode or two later. The same conversation about the master has money, the handmaid doesn't comes up again and again too. How does aging feel like is asked by Tonghua episodes after Zhi Dai already told him. Granted her replies is different but it's so baffling. Maybe it's the translation but all these instances combined just make them seem as if they are the most forgetful immortals ever.

I'm really enjoying the town set designs . The smaller passages and the stone houses are what really remind me of Legend of Ming Lan and I haven't seen the architecture in dramas for quite some time. Then the teahouse Zhen works at is such an inviting open space. No wonder their business runs well (helped out by Zhen being charming and business savvy).

As you say, they think of themselves as too smart. They wanted to show off their education by showing how the ink does in drawings. They thought a simple swatch test is beneath them or even beneath the ink at this level. Meanwhile Zhen just cares about the ink itself.

The young versions of the two Luo brothers were so precious!

Nice!