In a time where it was expected that a man had multiple wives/concubines, I thought it was pretty much negligible…
That's a fair point. These arguments make sense. After his wife died, he could use his widower status as a convenient shield to avoid any new arranged marriages.
In a time where it was expected that a man had multiple wives/concubines, I thought it was pretty much negligible…
You're right, that's a good point. I forgot he wasn't the Grand Counselor at the time of his first marriage. He was young and likely had no real choice in the matter.
Reading your comment I realized that I am actually glad they didn’t explain anything about his previous wife.…
This war part really didn’t fit well with the rest of the story. It unnecessarily introduced a much heavier and overly melodramatic tone. I also really liked the ML’s jealousy outburst. It showed that even a person as calculating and composed as him becomes completely helpless when faced with love and starts acting impulsively, without any plan.
In a time where it was expected that a man had multiple wives/concubines, I thought it was pretty much negligible…
I interpret the widowhood plotline in a similar way, but ultimately it’s just speculation on my part. Considering the ML’s personality and his meticulous, controlling approach to everything, even if his mother had arranged the marriage, I doubt he would have agreed ( just for the sake of peace) to marry a completely random woman he felt nothing for. That simply isn’t in his nature. Of course, the drama makes it very clear who his one true love was, but I’d still like to know more about his deceased wife. They could have utilized his status as a widower much more effectively. They probably didn’t because most viewers want to watch a pure love story without any shadow of a past love. It was the same in The Glory. The ML there was also a widower with a daughter, and his poisoned wife was the half-sister of his new wife. They just gave us this information and left it at that. The viewer is expected to fill in the blanks and do the screenwriter’s job themselves. As I wrote before, it’s just a detail, but not an insignificant one to me. It leaves me with a feeling that there’s a gap in the plot.
It still bothers me a bit that they made the ML a widower and didn’t develop that storyline more. If this weren’t primarily a romance, that part of his backstory could’ve easily been left unexplored. But in a romantic story, it feels like an important detail for the audience. All we know is that he mourned his late wife deeply and even decided he’d never remarry. Chen Yan Yun got angry that the FL hid her youthful crush on another man, yet the topic of her husband’s romantic history didn’t seem to cross Gu Jin Zhao’s mind at all. She was a young woman in love, so it would’ve been completely natural for her to be curious about who his late wife was, what kind of person she had been, how they met, and whether their marriage had simply been arranged or based on genuine feelings. At least I, as a viewer, was curious about it. The conflict involving the adopted nephew who was in love with his uncle’s wife created the perfect opportunity to bring up the ML’s past marriage. Instead, we’re left with just guesses, so it still nags at me a little. It probably wasn’t intentional, but it does lean into that double standard where a woman’s romantic past is scrutinized much more harshly than a man’s. That said, it’s really just a side note, because it’s been a long time since I’ve been this hooked by a long-format drama. I especially loved that in this story, the marriage wasn’t the finish line. It was the starting point of their journey toward that perfect match. Every role, even the minor ones, was brilliantly acted. The voice actor who dubbed the ML also has one of the most soothing and comforting voices I’ve ever heard. I never felt like it was dragging, which is impressive for a 40-episode drama. There wasn’t a single boring moment, and honestly, I’d gladly watch more. For me, this love story is on the same level as The Double. I’d give The Double a slight edge though. It barely relied on explicit romance or kiss scenes; everything happens through eye contact and subtle moments, which makes building a truly moving love story even harder. As usual with Chinese dramas, the ending is the riskiest part. It’s rarely satisfying. You can almost expect to be disappointed. This one gave us the classic “Wait, that’s the ending?” feeling. Same thing happened with The Double, and we at least got a short bonus video there (hoping we get a whole extra episode here). Some “bad” endings still haunt me to this day. I lie awake at night thinking, “How could they end it like that?” Maybe that’s what the Chinese screenwriters are going for… truly unforgettable endings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLvOqNTa3iU hard subshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_srX6ZVrc-M hard subshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOTMPjYlOighttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uAsu5T_GRQ…
with thanks from Greer & Cioranhttps://www.facebook.com/reel/1463864318298572https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17FF8Egp2P/https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EEgvT8mJZ/https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18dbSBCWFp/https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1E2wF9ndHN/https://www.facebook.com/reel/1463864318298572https://rumble.com/v7aa5ds-thecshortvaultpick-sister-he-really-is-my-brother-in-law-eng-sub.html
🔹Eng subs BUT no full audio (no bgm):(1:40:04) hardsubshttps://youtube.com/watch?v=BLay6kdkZIU&si=juEyiZOe1UEQ3ZfXhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=x44evmBlY00&si=MHrllSUNys718wlGhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udg7mCad7Ak…
2 
https://www.bilibili.tv/en/video/4799706323884544
I also really liked the ML’s jealousy outburst. It showed that even a person as calculating and composed as him becomes completely helpless when faced with love and starts acting impulsively, without any plan.
As I wrote before, it’s just a detail, but not an insignificant one to me. It leaves me with a feeling that there’s a gap in the plot.
Chen Yan Yun got angry that the FL hid her youthful crush on another man, yet the topic of her husband’s romantic history didn’t seem to cross Gu Jin Zhao’s mind at all. She was a young woman in love, so it would’ve been completely natural for her to be curious about who his late wife was, what kind of person she had been, how they met, and whether their marriage had simply been arranged or based on genuine feelings. At least I, as a viewer, was curious about it.
The conflict involving the adopted nephew who was in love with his uncle’s wife created the perfect opportunity to bring up the ML’s past marriage. Instead, we’re left with just guesses, so it still nags at me a little. It probably wasn’t intentional, but it does lean into that double standard where a woman’s romantic past is scrutinized much more harshly than a man’s.
That said, it’s really just a side note, because it’s been a long time since I’ve been this hooked by a long-format drama. I especially loved that in this story, the marriage wasn’t the finish line. It was the starting point of their journey toward that perfect match. Every role, even the minor ones, was brilliantly acted. The voice actor who dubbed the ML also has one of the most soothing and comforting voices I’ve ever heard. I never felt like it was dragging, which is impressive for a 40-episode drama. There wasn’t a single boring moment, and honestly, I’d gladly watch more.
For me, this love story is on the same level as The Double. I’d give The Double a slight edge though. It barely relied on explicit romance or kiss scenes; everything happens through eye contact and subtle moments, which makes building a truly moving love story even harder.
As usual with Chinese dramas, the ending is the riskiest part. It’s rarely satisfying. You can almost expect to be disappointed. This one gave us the classic “Wait, that’s the ending?” feeling. Same thing happened with The Double, and we at least got a short bonus video there (hoping we get a whole extra episode here). Some “bad” endings still haunt me to this day. I lie awake at night thinking, “How could they end it like that?” Maybe that’s what the Chinese screenwriters are going for… truly unforgettable endings.
https://rumble.com/v7aepu6-the-fake-imperial-concubine.html
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa5xf00
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1205781391617959
https://www.facebook.com/reel/2337605336735439
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3QkZGAIi9g&t=2602s (unfortunately dubbed)
https://www.bilibili.tv/en/video/4799651620198912