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Yup, the servant arc before she was freed was written to be more believable. But starting with the episode with Du Cuique being exposed, the whole arc with Manyi, the plot armor has been too obvious.

The Ji-er/brothel episode bothered me a bit because I can tell they wanted the brothel scene in to show the potential of Lanxiang going through something terrible. But because she is the FL and has to remain a virgin to end up with fellow virgin ML, she can't actually go through the terrible thing so Ji-er ended up "taking her place". I really wished that part was written better because in what world would the Lanxiang written as she did so far would have accepted Ji-er saying the madam won't hurt her and she did be okay.

She could have done her speech after tying Lanxiang up first. 😭 Oh well, it is plot armor and just got to accept it haha. She had to die somehow. 😂

💯 She did probably get rid of Jinqi too when the time was right and take over the entire Lin household.

She was getting ready for a harem. 🙂‍↕️

Come on now. 😂 I guess we just have to believe that Du Cuique actually allowed for all the talking to happen first instead of her men jumping in right away and slaughtered the women first and leave Lanxiang alive as a hostage against Jinqi.

The final battle...

I didn't reach that part yet. 😂 I just thought it was funny that they had a scene of her asking her handsome sidepiece if he wanted to serve her after she noticed him checking her out haha.

The side plot being Du Cuique is a dom mommy. 😂

Realistically, it is probably because the man really is not that important within a lifetime. Parents accompany their children for a long time (typically from age 0 to at least their 40-50s), and the children who then grow up usually make the choice to have children who they then accompany for a long time (typically from age 20-30 to their own death). This is assuming the parents/children all have good relationships with each other.

A person's life begins with their parents, and they are then usually buried by their children. The husband/man? They weren't there at the beginning of life and they also tend to die before the wives/women. Relationship with a man aka romantic love can also be very fickle.

Though Grandpa Lin choose the lives of himself and his family over his vows/honor to his fellow friends and people, he lived the rest of his life in regret.

I don't think either Grandpa Lin or Grandpa Shen are wrong, but it does show the "privilege" of the Lin to even have the option to step back, tie themselves to the Zhao, and continue to live out the rest of their lives in riches with slaves/servants within the master-slave system.

People like Grandpa Shen are the revolutionaries and the martyrs of our world. If these people didn't exist and laid their lives down for their causes, we won't have the modern world we have today. The laws we have right now to protect the weak, justice for the innocent, and rights for all people are written in the blood of these people who sacrificed their lives and their descendants for a future of equality and fairness.

It also reflects the reality that many descendants of these revolutionaries are often times dirt poor and struggling while the descendants of those who sided with those in power lived with their riches and able to continue their family line.

People in a certain position of power like Grandpa Lin had the option to back down, but many commoner people that participated in revolts had no other option, they watched as their people are wiped out and suffer in famine. It is either to fight back and die (with even the 1% chance of a better future for others) or lay down and die anyway.

People like Grandpa Shen were those who were in position of power and still fought for the people. They had the option to back down and didn't but in return, their descendants will suffer for it, be it those like Lanxiang who can never regain their identity or those like Scholar Lu who lives in pain. However, their deaths opened up a future for later generations to have the more progressive world we have today.

That's why I don't agree with people blaming Grandpa Shen for his choice, the fault had always lie with the emperor and how far he took it. Without those like Grandpa Shen, many of us today would still be living without any rights. And even today, many parts of the world are /still/ fighting for their rights.

True! It also goes back to the plotline with Du Cuique too mentioning how the wife's help will help the husband get promoted and the merits mainly goes to the husband. Not that Lanxiang would want these merits or have this attention on her by the imperial family.

Yes, I am enjoying this drama too because it does push viewers into some uncomfortable spaces. I enjoy seeing all the debates too because I think everyone has a valid point based on their experiences. This drama in a way is also "against the current" of what viewers want and expect when it comes to romantic relationships. 😂

I do think there is love, it did be hard not to have love when Marquis Yuan seems like a tender and handsome man and Xiuru experienced love/affection that was directed to her solely for the first time. Xiuru in return also tried her best to be a good mother/wife and she is young/pretty so there is no reason Marquis Yuan won't develop good feelings for her.

But it is not the type of love where either of them will "risk it all" or it can only be them for each other. Both are very clear-headed and have other things they place above this relationship. Xiuru is disappointed for sure, but it is not a type of love that did "shatter" her.

When Marquis Yuan and Jinqi had their conversation about concubines, Jinqi talks about his relationship with Lanxiang and expected Marquis Yuan and Xiuru to have that same type of "we saved each other's lives" type of love.

But Marquis Yuan and Xiuru were never put in that position where they had to save each other and/or close to losing each other. Thus, their love is not as "deep". Their relationship and even LX's/JQ's then serve as a juxtaposition to the servant characters who can "love" more freely.

Marquis Yuan's first wife who passed away was a princess and he loved her too. But the concubine talks never happened and probably won't ever happened because his first wife was a princess. His mother won't have dare to push the princess to get a concubine for Marquis Yuan (unless the princess wanted to herself). If the princess was still alive and remained as Marquis Yuan's only wife, would we then say his relationship with his first wife was greater than the relationship between his and Xiuru's? No, it just means that aspect of the relationship won't have ever be put to the test because of his first wife's princess status.

My point is mainly how these relationships are so conditional based on their positions. There is love, and the love is good when things aligned (status, having the same ideas, etc.). But when things don't align such as needing a male heir, then how "important" is that love truly.

Love your comment too! Human as a species can continue to have descendants even without romantic love too. Marriage is also a social construct within the human species that other species don't have. I personally think romantic love especially for girls/women have been pushed in stories we consume way more compared to the content boys/men consume. You have girls dreaming to grow up to be wives and mothers since they are young (nothing wrong with that) while how many boys can one say grew up dreaming to be husbands or fathers.

I think this drama can elicit frustrating feelings because it does reflect part of the reality that "romantic love" is actually really hard to encounter. A lot of the MLs we enjoy from these C-dramas are also written by women for women. In a way, aren't we all just enjoying the MLs (fantasy) created by women, and not actually the MLs that exist in reality that can risk it all for romantic love?

It is not to say romantic love doesn't exist or that men in hetero relationships can't have the same idea of romantic love as women, but it is just so much rarer especially when we factor in all these other factors like you mentioned like family roles, age, career, etc.

I think it is interesting how the servant characters are the ones that viewers can truly say have marriages that are based a bit more on love and affection because they are not bounded by constraints (and potentially another character that isn't a servant after different restraints have been removed).

Jiugao "ruined" his rep by dressing as a woman and delayed any potential marriage set up until he is over 30 so his mom is more willing to allow him to marry who he wants. Yuchan didn't make the move at first as she is divorced and felt she wasn't worthy of Jiugao, but as time passes while serving under Lanxiang, she recognizes that she herself has many skills and she is just as great as Jiugao. They have mutual love for each other and eventually worked towards on having a marriage that was accepted by Jiugao's mother.

Xiaolian and Nanke started when Nanke's interest piqued over the woman who enjoys eating so much. Then when Nanke saved Xiaolian, there was the "hero saving the princess" trope that pushed the feelings from interest, to care, to budding feelings. It doesn't seem like Nanke has parents, so he asked Lanxiang who Xiaolian works under and to ensure Xiaolian wasn't going to be sent away to become a concubine.

Gantang decided who she wanted her husband to be by actually meeting Dasong first after feeling that Xiaolian's family is great, so Dasong is probably a good man too (and he is). She is taking the lead in the relationship as she knows she has the skills to earn money and Dasong can just follow her lead and have a happy life together.

On the other hand, there is Lanxiang with Jinqi and Xiuru with Marquis Yuan.

I think many comments have spoken extensively already about Lanxiang's feelings for Jinqi will never truly be like the "love" of our standard nor even the love of the servant characters as there are too many constraints and other factors in their "love".

Their love is muddled by what happened to the Shen family, LX's past as a servant and him as the master who threatened her, his involvement in her life causing her to be in danger, the imperial decree, and the drugging BUT also the burial of the Shen by JQ, JQ's character development to actually see LX for who she is, JQ retiring from his position, and LX slowly accepting him. Their relationship didn't begin with consent like the relationships of the servant characters. Perhaps their love from LX's POV is just them being companions and that's enough. In this era with her being in the Lin household, being at peace might just be another way to survive. But she has reached a place where she is content and for many women back then, that is already the best they can achieve in their relationships.

Then there is Xiuru with Marquis Yuan who both wanted something from each other. Xiuru wanted to no longer just be the child of the concubine, she too wanted to live with wealth/power and not hide anymore. While Marquis Yuan wanted to build ties with the Lin family as he needed a new wife again to have a male heir and he felt like LJQ's family would resemble LJQ's character. Sure, love/affection did probably develop but it was also a relationship that started based on an exchange. I don't think either loved each other that much (nor did they have to be). Xiuru is not so deep in the relationship that Marquis Yuan having concubines is the end of the world for her, she and her daughters being safe are way more important. Marquis Yuan isn't also so deep in the relationship that not hurting Xiuru's feelings is more important than filial piety or the possibility of having a male heir.

Women like Lanxiang and Xiuru in their positions can't "love" the way the servant characters can. They are bounded by duty, their husbands being the head of the households, and having to maintain connections with all these other elite in-laws.

Though it is "sweet" that JQ can say he will never take a concubine, he wasn't bounded by the same constraints as Marquis Yuan. His mother didn't threaten to kill herself, he doesn't have a hereditary title, and he has brothers and sisters who can produce male heirs. It is a lot easier for men in his position to express "love" because it is almost seen like some "privilege" that a man decides not to have concubines, not beat his wife, allow his wife to have a job, and not blame his wife for having daughters because he "loves" his wife.

But as a wife in a higher ranked position, /how/ can they show their love? They don't even have the option to be fully resentful as they will get blamed for being jealous over concubines and for not being virtuous which will affect their own children's marriages. Their "love" is them accepting what the husbands decides and being able to be at peace with it.

I think she sometimes reiterates reviews from what other Chinese reviewers are saying on C-platforms like Bilibili. The things she mentioned for this drama are points that other Chinese reviewers have mentioned and they aren't totally wrong. But I do believe in the good intention of this drama so the potential cons don't take away from the pros of this drama. It is also still one of the better C-dramas this year within this genre for sure.

Tong Hua as a scriptwriter/novel writer had also unfortunately build a bit of a messy rep when it comes to writing some female characters and romances back in her Scarlet Heart days and the mess that was Lost You Forever season 2 so there are definitely C-viewers who are cautious about Tong Hua's pen in general.

It is probably the Yuan's lineage's fault LOL. His father's Y-chromosome was probably weak too. If there were miscarriages, it was also likely the father's fault since there are research now showing that poor sperm quality can lead to women having miscarriages, which can explain why they only had Marquis Yuan (I don't think they even have other children or if they had, the rest would be daughters). Unless the other reason was that Marquis Yuan's father died young in battle, so they only have enough time to birth one child. 🤔

Yue Rong in an earlier reply mentioned they seemed to have gotten divorce in the novel and Marquis still had no son. I am not sure what happened in the novel though regarding him so hopefully someone else can answer you!

Yes! It was said from the script leak that Xiuru basically became the head of the Yuan household after a specific incident. She took care of the 6 daughters equally.

Based on the drama spoiler from the script leaks, the Yuan family will have 6 daughters in total. 1st daughter is from Marquis Yuan's first wife who passed away, Xiuru had 3 daughters with him, and the remaining 2 daughters from the 2 concubines (each had one).