Blueberries

My answer to your 1st question: the romance is not the focus, but it's pretty good in the first half of the drama. The ML is very expressive in showing his love for the FL, while the FL only reciprocates in very subtle ways towards the end of the drama.

**Spoiler** about the ending:




The ML died after tying a red string between himself and the FL, promising to seek her out in the next life. The FL died clutching the sachet containing the character “live” from her mother. Many viewers interpreted this as a reflection of her regret that her life with her family had been cut short.
I'd like to think that the ML will find her in the next life, after all, he tied the red string to both himself and the FL, symbolically binding them together. Perhaps their bond will lead them back to each other in their next life.
So for me, the ending is bittersweet, ML and FL do share a life and have children, but she outlives him by 30 years. She continues writing - preserving the story of her family, keeping the injustice against the Shen family alive in her work. The family's name is finally cleared more than a century later.

The ending is bittersweet, lanxiang and jinqi do share a life and have children, but Lanxiang outlives (by 30 years) the person who loved her most devotedly. She continues writing and preserving the story of her family, keeping the injustice against the Shen family alive in her work. The family's name is finally cleared more than a century later.

🤣🤣🤣 exactly!

Awww I love that promo photo of them hugging!! 👍

That's because Nanke is released from his slave status and becomes an official. He has effectively become an 'outsider man' entering the inner residence where the women of the household live. So proper etiquette requires him to speak to the female member of the inner household through a screen rather than face-to-face.

I actually agree with this. Lanxiang is guarded, traumatized and clearly has difficulty expressing what she feels.

I can understand why people feel she’s too capable at times, but I don't think that automatically makes her a Mary Sue. She can be exceptionally talented while still being emotionally flawed and imperfect.

I think what made Jinqi certain was the combination of things he already knew about Lanxiang + what Grandpa Lin confirmed about the painting. The painting connected something Lanxiang knew/recognized to the Shen family, which was the family he had believed was completely gone. Then Grandpa Lin's description and memories of Shen Jialan gave him the final connection.

So I see it less as one concrete piece of evidence and more as the last missing piece that made all the previous clues suddenly make sense.

That said, I do agree the drama could have made the connection more explicit.

So I think the emotional logic is: Lanxiang's breadth of knowledge -> Jinqi has always been suspicious -> the cold mountain painting is confirmed to had belong to the Shen family -> grandpa Lin talks about the little girl he had once met, Shen Jialan. He describes her as 璞玉浑金，林下之风, essentially, a naturally precious, well-bred girl with grace and character and recalls how the Shen family cherished and educated her. That description seems to hit Jinqi emotionally because he realizes that the qualities he sees in Lanxiang are the same qualities grandpa Lin is describing.

Ep 42:
I loved every part of the identity reveal. The whole reveal was woven through Jinqi, Lanxiang and Grandpa Lin, and the script trusted the audience to connect the dots instead of spelling everything out for us.

I could already tell from her eyes and expression that Lanxiang was about to tell Jinqi the truth before the baby started crying. 😭

Then we get Jinqi going to Grandpa Lin who had already putting the pieces together after Lanxiang's adopted father found the Cold Mountain painting. We were also shown Grandpa Lin's regret. He has carried the guilt of what happened to the Shen family for all these years, and we can see that the tragedy has stayed with him.

When Jinqi went back, telling lanxiang that from the beginning, he was the only one who had failed her - I felt like he was acknowledging what happened between Shen Jialan and Lin Jinqi, that he had failed her when her family fell, when she needed him most - his family broke the engagement.

And honestly, after this episode, I can feel Lanxiang’s love for Jinqi too. Her eyes and expressions say so much, there’s no need to spell it out when their eyes already say everything.

Yes, I'm satisfied now after watching ep 42, when Jinqi finally knew that she's Shen jialan, I can feel it through their eyes and expression, there's no need to spell it out when their eyes had already said everything.

That's the best guess I think (cancer), since we know that it caused her death, a mere abscess on her arm not likely to caused death.

my guess is that she didn't follow 'zuo yue zi', hence her illness (that's according to her logic/what she said to jiu qao's mom)

That part wasn't clear. She mentioned something about that was a result of the confinement

he's just a hoarder 🤣

Liu Xueyi's diary as Lin jinqi: https://weibo.com/1975672810/RjlfoFebE

Part 2: I just noticed that the orchid by my bedside is almost vomiting from drinking water. Will Lanxiang help me take care of this orchid after she comes? — Lin Jinqi,

Part 4: Lanxiang just slapped me. I understand her anger, but no matter what, she can only be my wife, Lin Jinqi's wife. I will make her feel my goodness and let her slowly accept me… — Lin Jinqi,

Part 5: This warm chamber is so cozy… — Lin Jinqi,

Part 6: My wife has me in her heart, and I must not let her down. I will definitely come back alive and make up for the slap I owe her. — Lin Jinqi,

Chapter 11: I'm dizzy! —Lin Jinqi -> fainting during LX's childbirth 🤣

Exactly! I also feel like we really needed that confession scene from Lanxiang. It would’ve given some much-needed emotional closure. Hopefully the last few eps will give us that.

Blame Tong Hua 😭 100 days to enjoy your son, that's enough happiness 😭😭

I agree. I also noticed it from her earlier interactions with her adopted parents. I understand that she’s trying to live well with her adopted parents, and 6 years had passed since the tragedy, but the weight of what happened to her should show through a little more. I remember a scene - when she turns back and smiles at her mom before leaving for the Lin's mansion, I expected more of a forced smile, some internal reality beneath that instead of the pure smile she gave.

And the irony is that the prohibition didn't prevent the problem from recurring.

I don't think they've released the BGM yet