funnypeopleswim

If we are going to talk status, the first legal son was harmed...as his grandmother, she should be at least concerned at the tactics of her niece. It's a stupid blind kind of love that is damaging the family she is suppose to protect.

I'am not arguing about Madame Xu dislike of Shi Yi. She has a lot of reasons, although unfounded. Still they are valid reasons.

I am just surprised she lacks the wisdom to guide her niece. She can still favour her niece, and help guide her. Even princesses get scolded by their mothers. It's just bad parenting. In fact Madame Xu is really comfortable scolding her son.

Maybe she's just afraid of her sister, Qian's mom and unwilling to offend her family. That would make more sense.

She can support her niece and still guide her...that's all I am saying. My mom loves me but if I make a mistake she lets me know. I'm not expecting her to embarrass the chit or be harsh. But she hasn't done anything at all. Nothing.

I can understand her not trusting Shy Yi. But that doesn't excuse her not disciplining Qian when she makes mistakes.

- She took a portion of fabric that was not hers.
- She abused her powers when she tried to hit Nanny
- She nearly killed her grandson with the dog

But Madam Xu is just turning a blind eye. She could even talk to the girl in private and tell her where she went wrong. Instead she's covering for her or making excuses.

It's too much. It's showing what a terrible judge of character Madame Xu is.

Madame Xu is a big problem. Her bias towards her niece is annoying.

I just enjoyed your comment. I hate them being separated too. But unfortunately I didn't know why either. My mandarin is terrible. I think that ZZS being the former head of the Prince's team probably had something to do with it. Also he seems to have his own agenda. But I am just guessing.

Yes, the concubines fight for the ML attention.

I understand your frustration. They made the comparison too early. It's really not the same.

I like both actresses and so I won't say too much on that. However I would like to weigh in on the two shows.

The Similarities
- Daughters of concubines, not main wives
- Neglectful fathers
- Both have their own intelligence, patience and grace
- A harem plots with a lot of state politics, to make things even more complicated.
- Both women are trying to avenge the death of their mothers.
- Annoying older sister(s)

The Differences:

Ming Lan had more power
- The one that holds the money has the power. Ming Lan has been running households since she was living with her father.
- When she marries the Duke Gu, they already have affection for one another. He gives her all of the control of his massive estate. And she knows she has his full support.
- As a power couple they had a shared goal of getting revenge for the Duke against his step mom.
- The fact that she could command the ship at all means that she was already given authority.

Side note: I know you were disturbed about her giving the boat to her grandmother, but cultural morality says the elderly precede the young. The grandmother would have needed to chosen not to take the boat before servants or Ming Lan could get onboard. They would have felt it was morally wrong to take it from her.

Ming Lan knows about love and heartbreak
- She had already been in love with Duke Qi and had her heart broken by him.
- How this affects her character, I think this made her more open to her husband in the end.

Lady Shi Yi didn't grow up without a powerful supporter
- Although both characters are concubine daughters, our FL has no support. Her mom who loved her very dearly could barely help her. She's always needed to deal with problems herself. I think the ML will eventually become her protector, but we aren't there yet.
- Her father is useless because his main wife controls the estate.

Lady Shi Yi is more independent
- Our FL already has a career. She is a professionally trained embroider.
- She had no interest in marriage. She would rather be free.

Lady Shi Yi has never been in love
- This matters because she is completely uninterested in the ML or winning his favour. Her first impression of him is a ruthless law maker, who has a fling with Lady Qian. She doesn't like sharing man anymore than the audience does. This means her feeling are going to take much longer to develop.

Lady Shi Yi was not interested in being a Xu
- She is neither interested in her husband nor in his estate. She basically wants nothing to do with him. The marriage was only to get access to the household and search for the clues.
- I am sure her being forced to move out of the house because she was born an OX was Lady Shi Yi's doing. When she makes a move it's so simple and subtle. You barely notice how she resolves issues. She wanted access to the country estate. She knew the princess was worried about her pregnancy and was going to the temple. She knows the household hates her and would be happy to send her off. She used their emotions to get what she wants. And they didn't even notice. That's pretty brilliant.

Lady Shi Yi has yet to run the household.
- I think for her character it's good that she is humble and frugal. But in terms of how she is treated without the household management, everyone at the Xu house will look down on her. I think this is why her husband is pushing her to take the control away from Qian. His wife can only get respect if she holds the purse.

My point is that the two characters are starting their marriages from two different situations. I would even argue two different types of households.

Ming Lan - Had her husbands financial management and his moral support. He loved to offend his family and was happy when his wife could stick it to them. He's a bit of a rascal himself. This gave her more authority to do what she needs to do. On top of that he trusts and knows he can relay on Ming Lan.

Shi Yi - The whole Xu clan distrust her including her husband. Her husband is obedient and dutiful towards his mom. He is slowly starting to appreciate his wife, but until he does, she has the much harder job of trying to win over everyone without any support. Also up until now (ep. 12), she hasn't cared about the household or winning favours. It means she has no reason to get involved in the family affairs. She wants to solve the murder and then get out.

Sorry for this essay, but in a way the comparison is good because Ming Lan was so loved and if people are comparing then they think this show is good enough to be compared to. But ultimately they are different stories.

I was surprised reading comments about how it was slow, or something. But I thought it was a great setup episode. And it was really dark and dramatic. This show has been a nice surprise. Well done.

I agree the abduction was crossing the line. But the FL is looking into the matter. She already planted the seed of blame onto Qian buy making her husband look into the guards that abandoned her that day. But she knows she has no hard evidence agains Qian.

Qian is a main daughter from a strong family who, whole heartedly back her up. Also the Mother-in-law is favouring her too heavily.

Whereas the FL has almost no support. She has a maid, and another maid she knows who has to report to her step mom. Even the Nanny’s not on her side. She doesn’t even run the household yet, so she can’t command the staff. So if she acts she has to be cautious and have evidence. Because she probably has learned from the death of her mother that acting recklessly can have dangerous consequences.

The one thing the kidnapping has done for the story is give purpose for the FL to take the control of the household, and to put the concubine Qian in her place. Our FL wasn’t motivated to do this before. She’s only interested in the murder of her mother.

Lady Shi Yi has also been reminded of the need to care for her nephew/stepson. I think we will eventually see how Qian will get punished.

But for anyone this would not be easy.

That part made me really uncomfortable. He’s so much bigger than her. It was a little frightening. But I heard it was worse in the book. Where he pressures her to have sex.

For WeTV I use chrome. Subs fail a lot on safari. But for iQIYI I’ve used both Safari and Chrome with no issues. However sometimes picture quality effects dubbing so try reducing the resolution.

No I mean, the Ml liked her before she started scheming. But she must have been neutral beforehand.

But it would have been hard to remain neutral in that household. And with her mother.

In other words his household change the things he liked about her.

Which also mean he probably failed to protect his first wife.

I had subs. Are you using the app or desktop? I watched it on my desktop web browser. I do have a vip account.

I actually liked the first episode.

I watched it raw. Sorry. I watched on duboku.tv

Hmm. Well she doesn't have power yet. So you are right in that sense. I guess I am valuing her patience, persistence and level headedness. I appreciate the strength of character.

When he is helping him with the wound. And when they fight by the river.

Ep. 6 is very sweet. They look good together.

I think the FL is strong and smart. But it will depend on how you define it. I don't think she can do any martial arts, nor is she aggressive.

I think the divorce letter the ML gets into some kind of trouble. The ML usually divorces the wife for protection from execution/punishment