SerenityShimikaBlack

Historically the fl and ml do end up together happily and the drama seems to be mostly faithfully adapted

Patriarchy twisted this horrible ritual/custom to be a honour for widows

Yeah the plot holes in this drama are really hard to forgive.

I would wait. Cause honestly, good subs will take some time for this drama. The language used in the drama is rather archaic and stylised so takes quite the effort to translate (reminds me of Empress in the Palace - that one finally has good subs since it's been out for so long). No wonder the auto translations are terrible.

The irony is that the girls of wealthy families looked to avoid entering the palace often cause palace life is well known for being cruel and hard. Women in the palace could also lack, clothes, shelter, food as their status was dependent upon the emperor's favour. Unfavoured concubines could even be put to death for no reason other than putting someone more favoured in a bad mood. Common or peasant women didn't necessarily have it worse. Their lives were vastly different from palace women. Women in traditional China could hold property in their own right.

Lol listening to them talk gives me a headache cause of the archaic stylised speech they use

The drool-worthy food is what keeps me watching! Make me wish I wasn't vegetarian haha

The emperor favour's his second son the Prince of Han as his successor. He find's the crown prince to not be war-like or emperor-like enough cause he's fat and can't ride a horse properly, etc and constantly finds fault the the crown prince (he even forced the crown prince to only eat vegetarian meals to lose weight, which is a problem cause he loves to eat meat lol). So the Prince of Han is constantly vying for the crown prince position (the third prince brother also does this at the family dinner scene). The big fight between the two is because the crown prince is accused of trying to poison and usurp the emperor, which is because the accusing concubine has a grudge against the crown princess (or one of the other concubines) for not treating her well. Because she is terminally ill she wants to drag them down with her. Historically, the emperor Yongle was well known for being extremely cruel and expansionist compared to his son, the crown prince, who is more reformist in policies. Largely, the emperor is unable to depose the crown prince because of the crown princess' political savviness (the scene at the very beginning with the red duck(?) dish she serves him is suppose to remind the emperor of the deceased empress' love for the crown prince), his love for his grandson (who he favours), and because the crown prince is actually a really good administrator of state affairs (so is favoured by officials).

The doctor's (at least the men) are following the diagnosis of the female doctor who misdiagnosed the empress as pregnant. The emperor believe's this to be true so all the doctors are scrambling to give her medicine to keep the unborn child safe. None of the doctor's dare go against the emperor's belief so they are unwilling to contradict the diagnosis. The lot of them are cowards too scared of imperial wrath if they accidentally kill the 'supposed' unborn child. Which apparently the medicine for curing the empress' illness might do.
To me, looks like the Concubine Guo might have something to do with the misdiagnosis, as she far too innocently seems to continue to emphasis the unborn child's life. Seems rather foolish as if the empress becomes so ill that she dies then the child wouldn't be able to be born anyways. I think Concubine Guo is looking to be crowned empress and hopefully dowager empress once the emperor dies. She's afraid of the fate of being put to death like Concubine Han Zhuang (who had no children).

No it's a matter of the life of a child with the emperor's blood being more precious than the empress'. The emperor genuinely believes that the empress is pregnant. The arguments between the doctors are about keeping the child safe or whether the empress is just ill, not pregnant. Apparently the medicine that she would take, if she were just ill, is bad for the unborn child and could inadvertently kill the child. Although it looks like the Noble consort Guo might have something to do with the misdiagnosis (this is just my guess).

My advice is start from ep 14 if you want to skip. That's the episode that reveals the fl's background/identity. You'll miss out on some of the lovey-dovey stuff but honestly not much else. Oh and the death of the emperor Yongle. The drama is very much a slice of life type. So there's not a lot of action

At the start she is the least favoured daughter in the Qiu family so makes sense her clothes don't suit her. Her prestige in the family goes up when she helps uncover the fake money distributor and she's QX's love so my guess is that her wardrobe of course would get an upgrade.

Honestly I am in tears from laughing at the ml! The actor surprisingly pulled off comedy better than I expected. His expressions were spot on and hilarious. It's a great contrast to his more masculine, cold, and aloof character. I love how not only his expressions but also his posture becomes like a child in front of his mother and QY.

QY is telling QX it's time to let go of the past and move on. QX asks is that all you wanted to talk to me about. QY basically says yes. Next scene, the emperor ask for QM (although he uses another name first so QM is under an assumed identity and has gotten to know the emperor - wonder if she has caught his attention somehow). Apparently the brothel is accusing QM of not being a virgin anymore (looks like YL is probably involved in bring the accusation to the emperor) and QM refutes the accusations, so that's why the emperor is calling for a momo (one from the palace) to check if she is still untouched. Honestly, not sure why in the next scene QM is back with her family. The trailer for 28 seems to indicate that QY is still with LY. It's the assassination scene of LY by YL (I'm guessing he's responsible). Also she seems to have realised her feelings for LY. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XyxVkdh3HY

You have voiced exactly the reasons why I find QY's character soo phantasmagorically and hard to accept in such a historical setting drama. But it is a new and rather innovative fl, which brings freshness to the genre that has been sorely lacking lately.

Haha and the scene where the mother is listening in on them hoping to hear some action. My favourite scene is the one where LY's apologising as QY is throwing a tantrum since he withheld information from her. It's so cute and wifey-like <3

This discussion post makes an interesting point about the value of taels compared to modern money. If you're interested take a look: https://www.quora.com/How-much-would-100-taels-during-the-Qing-Dynasty-be-worth-today

YL's informant, my guess, is a plant from LY to clear QY of suspicion so that there won't be any problems with her being is concubine and investigating the Qiu family's case. LY looks too chilled out about YL's scheming in the scene haha. Also the preview in ep 22 shows him telling QY we should proactively take action against YL before he does something to us that way we can control the situation

Glad to help. :) The scene in 24 doesn't reveal why LY goes to see the general specifically. My guess is he comes to the general to ask for a favour to help the Qiu family. The general says that the LY is trying to help the Qiu family more than he expected. LY responds that it would be cold-hearted and dishonourable to not care about the Qin family since he is the one who chose them.

Same struggles here! Unfortunately, it look like only a slap of reality is gonna change Qiu Ming and of course it's probably that overused trope.
Yuan Lang's vengeful obsessiveness with Liangyi's happiness and crushing it is truly remarkable lol
The previews seem to indicate that Liang Yi is basically the partner that rears in Qiu Yan's impulsiveness. Wish Qiu Yan will learn to understand the consequences of her actions more and rein herself in.