CKDramaddicts

My understanding is that he was simply following the secret edict issued by the empror, and that it is the emperor who is trying to eliminate that family line. That's why he gave the jade plaque to the sister, hoping they'll all get the hint and escape. He said as much to Ye Cha, saying if he goes to Chang'an, he faces certain death. He was trying to save their lives and also why he looked so troubled and worried that Tumi and Ye Cha want to face the court -- he knows the law might not matter when they're up against the emperor and all the other powerful people at court.

There was a post on Sina or Baidu theorizing that it was a business decision by the streaming platform to split it into two parts (assuming of course, we'll see the second part, but based on that ending, I certainly hope so!).

Also, I think in context of a 40-episode arc, it would feel a lot less strange how little Ye Cha appeared in the first 10 episodes. I've seen other dramas where it takes a while for one of the main characters to appear. Given the way it ended, and assuming we see a part 2, it definitely feels like his story will dominate once they get to Chang'an.

Curious if anyone else came here for a "cleanse" after watching Dear Liar to erase creepy FZX from their brains? 🤣

There's nothing official as far as I know but the Chinese commenters seem to suggest/think there's a S2 coming with the remaining episodes. I've seen dramas get butchered even after cutting out just a small fraction of their episodes. These 20 episodes flow pretty well to me -- the drama doesn't feel like it's been excessively cut or butchered, so fingers crossed the remaining episodes will also air.

My understanding is that it's all been filmed already as this was originally a 40-episode drama anyway.

He actually strangled her and tried to make her think she imagined it all and made her take anti-psychotic medication and never told authorities about the brother being possibly dead or tried to look for him to save him. It's not about being self-righteous, these things are all **actual crimes**, regardless of his "good deeds" like taking care of Xiao Tao for three years. Lots of good people do bad things and bad people do good things, neither are absolved by the good. One can hope that maybe the good deeds will help lesson the punishment by the court, and that he changes or redeems himself off-screen, but in my vew, part of that redemption process requires acknowledging and paying for all the things he did wrong, but legally and morally.

I think in the actual ending, she did try to tell him he needs to be brave and true to himself and to stop feeling like he has to hide behind the lies. So I think a path to redemption is still open to him, but it's not something he's going to accept easily. In the meantime, he does need to face the consequences of his actions as part of that journey towards change, imho. It's to FZX's acting credit that even after all the horrible things Qin Li did, he can still elicit empathy from viewers and hope for change and redemption.

We don't know what the final number of episodes are yet, so that number is just a place-holder that gets updated by an MDL member who can/wants to/notices, as the episodes come out. I just updated it to 14 in case it hasn't been done yet, but it will still need approval before the update appears on the site.

Okay, that's what I was thinking too. Like maybe she was teaching other men how to be like her brother. 😱

I keep forgetting that FZX is only 23 -- he is excellent here (so chilling and creepy) and by far the best thing about this drama. (Though I may need to rewatch some of his scenes in other dramas for a "cleanse."😅)

Also for a Mango drama, the subs weren't incomprehensible, lol.

Question though, did anyone else understand what Qin Li's sister's "business" was and why she was panicking and shredding documents at the end? I thought it was just some dating course on how to find a girlfriend, but they always made it sound more nefarious -- did I miss something?

If you do a YouTube search for the mini dramas that you're interested in, many of them do end up with a "compilation" or "full movie" version at some point. Some of the official platforms do this as well (though their versions (for whatever reason) often have sections where the sound is cut or hallowed out because the background noise has been removed). Another option is looking for the playlists of the mini drama -- the next episode automatically plays and for some of the dramas, it's a pretty seamless watch as well.

I find these bite-sized dramas can be good for when you want a drama "fix" but don't have time to binge on a full-length one. :)

OMG, lol, I didn't even clue in that she's the FL from Bride's Revenge! Yes, her character here is really frustrating to watch and does have a similar feel to the other role.

If we just accept everything at face value, he was lying/cheating on Momo before they broke up, so it was clearly a terrible/unhealthy relationship, but agree it doesn't deserve to be career-ending.

However, what he did with Yi Fei is next level and he absolutely deserves to be outed, regardless of the situation with Momo. Pretending to be an attacker and actually attacking her, then making her think it was all in her head, and then controlling her with meds that makes her docile, telling her to cut off her relationship with her sisters, asking about her every move, making her record that terrible video of herself, constantly lying, setting up situations to "test" her, etc. are all definitely text book psychologically abusive behaviour. Throw in the fact that he was involved in an altercation with the brother and didn't report it despite thinking he was probably dead is 100 percent criminal behaviour.

Given he made Yi Fei question her sanity and was vigilent about making sure she ate her meds, I wouldn't be surprised if he did that to Momo too though. The brother is upset and wants to avenge his sister; it might not be justified if it was simply a bad relationship, but the fact that Momo was also anxious and apologetic about being late in that scene by the beach (like how Yi Fei was always on walking on egg shells and on edge about pissing him off) suggests a potentially similar pattern of behaviour, imho.

For anyone coming here for romance, that tag really shouldn't be included. This is definitely just a thriller. I'm finishing this anyway because it's so short and otherwise actually a good production, not to mention Fan Zhixin is doing a great job really creeping me out! 😱🫣Unfortunately, the FL is super annoying, so it's hard to feel emotionally drawn in to her predicament. You just want her to figure everything out, get out of there, and let everyone know. The only character that's likable is the second sister.

(Although choking her and then cleaning up the mess after to make it look like she imagined the whole thing is not just psychologically abusive, but also physically abusive.)

Yes, she is just as abusive, but in a verbal, belittling way, where as he's psychologically abusive and scary with his manipulative gaslighting. I hope the sister's husband stands his ground and doesn't cave to her begging.

Thanks so much for reading the review and commenting! And I definitely agree that desperation and wanting answers can make a person very pushy and drive people to behave less than ideally.

I was really expecting them to make the ML seem suspicious just to throw us off like Flower of Evil or something, but he is straight up an emotionally and psychologically abusive husband. Abuse doesn't have to be physical, and making her cut off contact with her family, isolating her, telling her "it's for your own good" are all classic signs among many others he presented. (An aside: the FL's eldest sister is pretty problematic too.)

And in that super disturbing "vow" he made her read for the video, she had to promise she would maintain their agreement and secret, and not disclose it to outsiders *without his permission* -- including family! WTAF.

I initially found the FL character annoying and weak, but now, I wonder if she became like this because of his constant gaslighting and pyschological manipulation, or if the qualities that made her annoying also made her particularly vulnerable to his abusive tactics.

At this point, I hope the ML gets his just deserts at the end (if they do a redemption arc for him, I will be absolutely livid at the message that sends), but I hope the story nevertheless surprises us with other twists and turns. Nobody wants to watch 27 episodes of infuriating psychological abuse - their interactions are becoming increasingly frustrating and enraging. At the same time, the evolution and escalation of the entire situation is well done. The music is especially effective in helping to build tension.

The opening credits are interesting and compelling. The first episode was effectively creepy and unsettling, and even more so by the end of episode seven. Fan Zhixin is very good at playing ambigious and "grey" characters. I'm finding the FL character somewhat annoying so far, however.

I've said this before, but it's really too bad Mango doesn't provide decent subs. They've done a lot of really solid productions, but the language barrier alienates non-Mandarin speaking C-drama fans. This one is well done so far, especially for a short-length, modern drama.

This should probably have a spoiler tag :)