ArtemisPrime

I think it was made very clear from the first few episodes that romance was going to take a backseat in this drama.It's supposed to be primarily about the female lead and her relationships with other women and how the decisions of the men have shaped their lives.

This is what female centric cdramas used to be like before things changed after COVID and we had deluge of romance dramas that were incorrectly (IMO) termed female centric.

There's no requirement for male centric dramas to have romance...in fact the female lead is often a pretty vase in most of them so I dunno understand why people always want romance to be front and centre in female centric dramas.

Maybe this is the story's way of addressing his trauma from being a cuckold in his first marriage. He thinks she's is angry with him because she has feelings for Scholar Han just like Zhao Xingtang held a grudge because of her feelings for Qian Shaoze.

Not Madam Qin talking about bringing unreliable people into the household when she brought in an unfaithful loanshark and nearly brought in a spoilt brat from a treasonous family. The call is coming from inside the house!

A corrupt Princess or Consort or maybe even the Empress

She may have started developing feelings for him after she finds him at that dock because of the music choices used in that scene. The OST that plays at that moment is the same song that played at the military camp scene which is the moment Jinqi realised he had fallen for her. But unlike the military camp scene, the OST was quite muted and the music didn't swell... maybe it's an indication that feelings might develop but wouldn't grow.

Scholar Han has a good personality tbh but his current situation places him in a spot where he and his family would remain dependent on Lanxiang's labour for quite a while. He would have been a perfect match if he had already passed his exams. It doesn't help that he basically describes Lanxiang as a "low maintenance girlfriend" to his mother when she adviced him to wait until he passed his exams.

I think that aspect of her character changed long ago. She started getting actively involved in schemes that would place a lot of attention on her and even put her in danger after she was rewarded for saving JinQi from marrying Du Cuique because she thought it would buy her freedom much faster.
She might prefer to stay out of trouble generally but would rise to occasion when the need demands it.

Yes, Jinling used to be the capital until the current Emperor moved the capital to the North. It's just like how irl, Emperor Zhu Di moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing.

He was one of the supporters of the deposed Emperor and was probably in the same faction with Lanxiang's and Jinqi's grandfathers.
He doesn't respect Jinqi's grandfather anymore and probably thinks he's an unprincipled coward for capitulating to the current Emperor.

Yeah, the FL married the 2ML in Lost You Forever

Han Liang seems perfect except for his glaring lack of ambition. I think Jinqi clocks it and would always ask him why he was never studying for the civil service exams and he always came up with some excuse or the other.

If Lanxiang married him, she'd shoulder a lot of the burden of supporting him and his entire family (including her parents) for a long time since scholars aren't expected to work and should be constantly studying until they pass all their exams.

Yes. They've obviously changed their names for this drama but that's his real historical counterpart

Yeah, I think it's the consequence of all the billing wars. Fandoms don't even want the actors to share the credits of the drama with their co-leads for the fear of being accused of not "carrying the drama" so there's not much hope the side characters

That's true and it's because it's an ensemble cast. The side characters have their own character arcs and aren't just mere plot devices... something that's sadly missing from a lot of dramas these days

He was married when Yuchan became his maid (like Nanny Wu said, unlike his father, he isn't the type to take concubines) and then sometime within the first 2 years of his marriage he left home for many years to fight against the Wokou. There was hardly a chance of anything developing between them.
Maybe something might have happened between them after she returned to the mansion (highly unlikely she'd become his wife though as she was married to their shopkeeper) but Lanxiang entered the mansion at the same time

You're right. She looks like a classic painting

Yes, she's considered one of the most beautiful 95 liners (actresses born between 1995-2000)

I don't blame him for falling so fast. She's very striking

I mean it's Zhou Ye so I get him so much 😂

Tbh, I really don't buy Du Cuique's whole spiel about doing what she did because marrying a rich man was the easiest path to become rich and wealthy, especially because of what Du Zheng said while unconscious in the prison cell and her comment about how she'd regard it as an achievement if the entire Lin family dies along with her when she refused to disclose the antidote.

She already had a wealthy benefactor that gifted her an expensive Go set and high quality lingerie. Her benefactor could easily arrange a good marriage for her too or even marry her (if whoever it is were a man).

I think their mission was to destroy the Lin family and we're yet to know why. The marriage scheme and seduction of the second Lin sister might have been their way of making sure they stuck around long term to execute their mission.