Kaihua

I'm ready for it! We just saw Yan Bai Luo be the one to hold RSB when she fell and shelter her from the rain, and at the same time this girl is introduced. I think this is their turn to come into the forefront of the story more, and offer basically the narrative counter argument to why RSB and LJL should be together. Effectively used second leads are always there to showcase why the main leads are fit for each other and not just any nice/powerful/etc. guy/girl. So there's a chance jealousy won't factor into it that much, she might not even be a bad person, just someone who likes LJL. Either way by the end they'll have been used to prove why RSB and LJL are best for each other ; )

Really!? The last drama I saw him in was THE Glory so he was in a bun the whole time

Yeah, I also feel like she's lowkey projecting... LOL

It was necessary for the emotional core of the story. LJL was always going to infiltrate the family, but by giving him amnesia, his time in the Rong household - and therefore his time with RSB - becomes sincere. If he had infiltrated normally as another candidate, he would've been no different from all the other men there for hidden agendas. He needed to have this element, and there are very few ways a man can have time and proximity to an unmarried woman, so his role was perfect both for the plots objective development and its emotional development. The only way for them to have any chance at a lasting bond in the future absolutely hinged on him being sincere in caring about her during his time there even if he was also a cunning little liar. Furthermore, he and RSB were always having a back and forth dance of trying to test each other and get a read on the other person. He was never powerless, everything was basically going the way he wanted it to the entire time. As for her being cold and dry, the point of RSB's character is that she's been boxed into the role of being a perfect heir her entire life and was not allowed to be a person or have emotions of her own. Her exterior is a fine tuned mask of composure but she obviously feels things underneath if you pay attention. This is and many other things are plenty of signs that the Rong family's way of doing things is also wrong. RSB has even said herself that the Rong family used to be without hierarchy and was a functioning family, but everything eventually went awry. And based on the recent developments, it's going to be her turn to be in a lowpoint while he has the power to help her. Even if they're emotionally equal, to be able to be equally together in status, the drama still needs time to change the situation. Every story that keeps a couple from getting together right away despite mutual feelings does it with the full awareness and demonstration that the relationship won't work yet until something changes according to the thematic throughlines of the narrative. It's completely true LJL wouldn't have been able to have equal footing in the Rong family if he successfully married at this point, not because of RSB but because of how the Rong family currently operates. And like Wen Can said, Madam Rong doesn't like him and she would definitely find ways to try to get rid of him. The sisters are also in disharmony and still plotting against each other too. It's exactly why they can't be together yet. But I do think emotionally, they see each other equally. It's just their circumstances currently don't allow for them to be together equally, and so things worked out the way they did

Yunshu has been good at weaving her spiderweb in the background and using people as borrowed knives all these years. I swear she hates the Rong family because of what happened to her mother and has long been working to bringing about the entire family's destruction

Agreed~ RSB and LJL are the same type of person when it comes to duty. They both knew it'd one day come to this and dreaded it but I think they both understand they're the type of people to put their sense of duty first. LJL's nerfed hairstyle arc is going to be sad but necessary, I can only hope one day his long hair comes back hahahaha

the family is a matriarchy and yet it still runs on the toxic masculinity of never being allowed to have emotions smh...

This time, Wen Can tells RSB off for going out of her way to do all this [ep 21] for the sake of a man which is completely overwriting her bond with Ms. Yang and spitting on it... When he talks about how she's ruined her perfect performance and perfect image, he's just like everyone else in never once allowing RSB to be human. No one has ever allowed her to be anything other than her role, not even allowed to cry over the loss of her mother, and Lu Jiang Lai is the only person who treats her like a human being and lets her be a person. GOd

If it's a paper message it could be that we will finally see what was written on that blank paper. He wouldn't even let the ml read it and all of his guesses were based on the conversation he overheard so I think the paper could have been bluff and it was about something else.... ooo I CANT WAIT 10 hours till the next eps cannot come soon enough

it really puts the childhood friendship into a sadder perspective, because he has probably spent this entire time feeling entitled to her as if she belongs to him because of it, which might be why he feels so betrayed and offended

exactly, and he's so delusional he doesn't even see it (or more like refuses to)
i cant wait to see karma get him

that Wen Can... I said his love was selfish and he's the type to blow up at a girl for ghosting his texts and that was BEFORE I saw episode 19. At this point, this mentality is already near the same level as He Xing Ming. Yet he manages to be more insufferable, because at least HXM knew he was a bastard, but WC is the truest form of Nice Guy and thinks he's the most pitiable person there. bleghhh

I think the worst part about the cousin is that he gets frustrated and upset with RSB too, as if she owes him reciprocated feelings, and as if feelings are a choice. In the modern day, there's at least a 40% chance he'd start cursing you out via text if you ghosted him or turned him down lol
His love is selfish, especially because he is so caught up in his own feelings and jealousy to try to properly understand her actions, or ask what he can do to help (when he helps her, he makes the choice on his own without consulting her). He doesn't bother to wonder how he ended up falling so far behind. When he expreiences rejection, he doesn't look inward to examine or improve himself but instead looks outward to find fault with everyone else.

it's all part of the dance~ she knows it's only a matter of time before he gets his memories back. her telling him that isn't just a message for him in the present, it's a message for him in the future when his memories return, and she will be testing him
in the future, when his memories return and he still chooses to lie to her even knowing what she told him about not telling lies to her, it shows that whatever he was here for isn't something he can trust her with, and so she can't trust him either by then. and she WILL know, because she's always been able to tell when he's not being fully honest

Agreed, plus it's established in the very earliest episodes that basically nothing gets past her, she has always been able to see through his dishonesty so obviously she'd notice now too. Honestly both actors did a great job with showing just in their expressions that she's already guessed his memories returned, he's already guessed that she guessed it, and they are now mutually pretending the relationship is unchanged while sussing each other out on the low

this is my favourite thing about the show HHAha

It's stated a few times in the show that these are sons from families that can't be offended - even if there's wrongdoing, the Rong family has to leave them a sliver of face in front of the public. There's the mentality that you have always leave your opponents room to escape, because even a mouse bites back when it's cornered. Save them a little face to the public to avoid bringing even more trouble to your door. That being said personally I think he deserves to be exiled LMAO that was diabolical on so many levels

Yes, it's revealed in the episodes leading up to 16, she is the missing Yang wife

Law as a concept is not the same as the legal process that was carried out in reality. She agrees with her father's writing on law and justice. Law is meant to uphold principles by legislative means, and this should be aspired to. Yes the government is corrupt and laws are being exploited. A system can be flawed but that doesn't mean you can't believe that it *should* be better or different, and that you shouldn't try to be that change you want to see in the world. If you can't uphold a foundational standard for moral principles a society needs to try to live up to, then it will only make things worse in ways I hope I don't need to elaborate. Personally I don't even agree with her belief, but it's not like it doesn't make sense. Anyway, the idea of law and justice is the whole thesis of the show and part of proving your narrative thesis is to have characters and situations that challenge that point of view. This is just standard story structure so of course she's going to voice her disagreement because the show is trying to make a point

Often the way information is revealed (sometomes very upfront showing who the murderer is even) and the way it's paced, it is more focused on the journey of "how did they do it" or "why did they do it" than "who did it?". Even when the culprit isn't revealed right away, as with any mystery novel, you can solve it yourself before the reveal given all the clues but the drama's priority is people being brought to justice. When you tag along for the investigations, the investment is mainly on whether or not the victim can be brought to justice, if the leads can find enough evidence to prove who did it, etc. It's not trying to be Agatha Christie