Krish728

Nah, I think FL, ML, Emperor, and FL's are playing that Chancellor Su.

In the novel, it was only ML, Emperor, and FL's father who schemed to deal with the bad apples in the court. In the drama, it looks like the FL is also involved. I don't believe she is that stupid to believe her god father even though she knows he was scheming against her father. I mean she should know it herself that her father was framed in that prefecture, and who else would frame her father if not for her god father? And the way she was on her knees begging her god father to help her father, that is so out of character for the FL. Hence my deduction that they are all playing to collect evidence, and FL, being the god daughter, and also having affection of that Liu guy, would play a crucial role in collecting the evidence.

Honestly, I'm surprised no one else on this discussion forum has thought of this. 😅

I don't think I have mentioned anything about Bao Shengen's acting in my reply above (I guess you saw 'clingy' in my post and read it as 'cringey'? ). I did make a post yesterday pointing out how expressive she was in her acting and that she will be a big star very soon.

Viki should have better subs

I think people tend to have lots of criticisms on FL no matter how they are portrayed.

They have complaints if the FL is strong and independent.
They have complaints if the FL is a clingy damsel in distress.

I personally like both, as long as they are fun.

As I said, if it was a serious drama, it makes sense. It's not, and I agree they should have had her gagged or reveal her identity.

In a serious drama, as I mentioned, just revealing her identity without her identification token wouldn't do much because the lecher wouldn't believe her.
As for why would he still go ahead with the SA even if he believed her, well he's got that Empress Dowager token which he thinks is a free pass for him to do anything. And also, he probably wouldn't expect Dingbei Wang would walk into the room any sooner. There's also one more important factor, a man in lust doesn't care for consequences.

FL's father cannot keep the military power in the situation they are in. Even if the Emperor has no scruples about it, the court will, and they will do everything in their power to keep ML in check.

The Emperor did have FL's father in prison, but that's a coordinated plan discussed between ML, the Emperor, and FL's father to deal with a few bad apples in the court.

Wang title can mean both a King and a Prince.

From the novel, the court is still not in the Emperor's full control yet. The Emperor is not the Empress Dowager's own son. Previous Emperor died when current Emperor was just a child, so the court was in the Empress Dowager's control for a long time. Although she now appears to have retired from the court, she secretly still holds a lot of power in the court. So the Emperor's hands are tied and needs to tread carefully.

The drama isn't doing a good enough job in explaining these intricacies.

For a drama that's not taking itself very seriously, yes, she should have just told that lecher she is Dingbei Wang's wife.
But for a serious drama, that won't help.
Pretty sure the Junzhu would make sure the FL has no identification token with her. So if the FL reveals her identity, good chance the lecher wouldn't believe her since she's got no identification token with her. If he did believe her, he would still go through with it, then claim that he only came to visit the Junzhu.. then this woman seduced him, and it all happened.. he didn't know the identity of this woman who seduced him, don't blame him.
If ML hadn't arrived on time, this would be the outcome. And then the ML would be a laughing stock as well.

If this were a drama that is taking itself seriously, I would say my analysis above explains why she didn't disclose her identity.

Yup, definitely worth reading.

It didn't happen in the novel. The Emperor is a good guy and will remain the emperor in the end.

Yeah, in episode 11 she only refers to the Empress Dowager as Zhumu.. in the recent episode it's WaiZhumu.
That makes her a daughter of a Gongzhu.

I have to say, though, Bao Shangen is very expressive in her acting. I think she is going to be very big very soon.

I understand she is favoured, and I wouldn't be surprised if she isn't bowing in respect for FL. My complaint is that the FL taking initiative to bow to a Junzhu. That shouldn't happen, even if the Junzhu is not bowing (owing to her favor from the Empress Dowager), a Wangfei can just greet her normally.

Another point to be noted, since the Junzhu in this drama is the Emperor's niece, and we have determined that DingBei Wang is Emperor's cousin, it also means that she is of younger generation to DingBei Wangfei. Lower in rank, and lower in seniority, too. In this case, she should be bending her wait so low to bow that her forehead touches the ground lol.

I was just on Ep 11, this Junzhu addresses the Empress Dowager as ZhuMu, it means paternal grandmother. So, she is not the Emperor's sister, and she definitely can't be the Emperor's daughter. So she can only be the Emperor's niece.
The only thing going for her is that she seems to be favoured by the Empress Dowager, but that still wouldn't warrant a bow from a Wangfei.

If she were the Emperor's direct sister, she wouldn't be a Junzhu (County Princess, a princess of second rank, usually reserved for the Emperor's nieces or female cousins). She would either be a 'Gongzhu' (Imperial Princess, a princess of first rank, usually reserved for the Emperor's daughters or sisters) or a 'Zhang Gongzhu' (Grand Princess, title above Gongzhu, usually reserved for the Emperor's sisters or paternal aunts).
Hope that helps. A Junzhu title is definitely lower than a first rank prince's Wangfei, and she is also not a direct sibling to the Emperor.

Ep 9. - Anyone more educated on this matter, correct me if I'm wrong: If a Wangfei (a First-Ranked Prince's Consort) and a Junzhu (a Princess of Second Rank, not directly related to the Emperor) come across each other, Junzhu should bow as she is a lesser-ranked person to a Wangfei. So I'm confused why it is we have the FL here bowing to the Junzhu girl?

And what's the plan for FL after the contract expires? Divorce? Divorcing would be almost impossible in that time period, especially divorcing a prince. And if somehow she gets a divorce, what then?

Ep 7: Alright, what's with this contract marriage nonsense? It's not in the novel, if I remember correctly, and it doesn't make sense at all considering the time period. No one was marrying for love in that time period.