Da-mimi

My thoughts too. Her brother must be her closest relative for lady meng. Even then , the vibes is misleading. Some issue with vibes in this series.. another case is CP and Meng heir.. and causing audience to speculate 🤣🤣

My thoughts too, why is she jealous when she picked her side. Does she expect ML to never love anyone, have a normal relationship, have kids.... her being main wife is harmful to ML and his future kids , if he has some... she may harm them using her position out of jealousy

Given her immature behavior and M L's tolerance, and amount of leeway M L gives her, she must be someone important, whom he owes some form of debt

Agree. Its a well written role and well casted. Given its Mengs daughter,family who executed his family , may be not. I dont think he can have a normal relationship with a family member of mengs family.

Family survival, not reputation , i think.. Meng has a fighting chance now after their heir died that way
Giving opening for emperor to let them off if he wants to. Which the emperor did.

Shen Zai Yi is servant of ML, who sacrificed himself to save ML when his family was executed . ML took his name to survive. It is speculated on this page his sister is sister of actual Shen Zai Ye. Not sure if that is true. He doesnt have a sister
She is adopted by him .. so his servants sister or someone else not known yet

What filial kids both Meng siblings are! .... Both smart and dignified. Sad they are on the side of greedy clan. I was shocked their father /patriarch of Meng family chose to sacrifice his son and daughter, decisively. All for family...wonder who will build the family up on the bones of all these family /non family sacrifices
. Who will gain, enjoy the power and rule .. wonder when Meng family will be content with all they achieved some day and not scheme more..or they will build more castles on others lives .. dont think such a day will ever come for noble families seeking power ..all UP or all DOWN .. thats why most of the people in noble families exhibit cruel and mean nature in these dramas.. very rarely nice people

can one watch this without watching the other prior released seasons?
or is it mandatory to watch them before?

Both Meng siblings are smart , comes across calm and have weight in their personality... both siblings equally capable.... at first glance both come across as nice , but , they are very decisive and deadly , the brother doesnt care how many lives are expended to clear their paths , while sister doesnt care if the one on the other side of their scheme is her husband (his life)...all accomplished without a bead of sweat on their brows.. while their cousin , CP, is a messed up psycho

Its very surprising that ML would marry the lady of the Meng family who executed his family andn4th prince's mother..he must have immense self control to be so polite towards her , ..he treats her much better than he treats FL ... and the lady wonders why he is cold towards her , other than her actions favoring her family , she should feel lucky he isnt taking out his revenge on her

MLs belongs to scholars family.. not sure why 4th prince's mom was refereed as maid , as she is ML's aunt... Also, why eliminate MLs family since they seem to be a reasonably wealthy but humble scholarly family , not some wealthy and powerful ... so not sure why Meng's family deemed they should be eliminated . Wonder what threat they perceived from them

I was just wondering why did emperor pick 4th prince as groom for FL ? Why not 3rd or other princes?? Also , why wouldnt emperor not favor 4th prince? Lack of backing doesnt mean you dont care for his own son, nor the fact his mother was labeled as having done witch craft reason to not favor ? ..

I cant even figure out muyin from muxia , till someone is taking out their name. I think the irrelevancy way his short scenes creeping in may be adding to the iky feeling.. if that is all to tye scene , they could have ignored the princes role in the drama.. but since they arent , we are led to believe he has something comcrete to offer.. most often than not , too saccharine characters end up as an antagonist... so thats what is causing the discomfort in audience when ever he is appearing on the screen

I suspect because he is backed by Meng family and is nephew of tye patriarch of that family , he is insecure emperor might change heir title and they want to secure it by hook or crook and wont leave it to chance

what a naive 4th prince .. he and ML's sister make a cute , clueless couple ..

you would think tough times make one smart. i think ML is the other side of the story 4th prince is narrating - his cousin . the same circumstances where prince's mother was harmed? , got ML's family killed should have made them both razor like sharp overnight - nevertheless only ML sharpened , prince still remained clueless , blunt and naive

i was never a LXY's fan. but with this drama , he earned a fan in me .. great acting and expressions ..

it would be a fake drama , not authentic, of that era if he didnt had wife and couple of coucubines for his age (30 years) and position (left concellor ) - better enjoy the drama as a commentary of lives of that era , than juxtapose todays moralities on those times and expect the storylines to be changed to fit those (audience) expectations ...

there are many types of love stories , this is one type - enemies to lovers.. not every type of love story is for everyone - pick your type and enjoy it, and don't downrate a drama because the story doesn't fit to your ideal type or the actors arent your favorites.

Also, don't judge love stories of bygone era to the expectations in today's era. life then was very difficult - surviving was big thing , anyone enabling that , red or green flag , I don't think anyone minded as long as it enabled their survival, helped their loved ones survival . the FL here has unusual life , and unusual challenges . she didn't mind not wearing red color when she first arrived at ML's house. she says " this is not a marriage with someone she loves, so why care about fabric color" - that explains a lot about her attitude about her journey with ML. he is a huge red flag and in today's era any woman would run away from him at the 1st instance. but he has the power and means that can help FL in her survival! Also, she didn't mind the change of groom either that much and actually rejoices that it is not the powerless 4th prince. that explains a lot about her circumstances and attitude. so anyone minding the red flagness of ML should understand the FL's circumstances and reason to sticking with ML and with time , may be , she sees the nicer side (if there is one) or sees the underlying reasons for ML's cruel side and may be emphatises with it, and thereby starts her love story! and him , she is a nicer person from what we see till ep 9 , and she uses cunningness and extra smartness only to survive and doesn't go about casually harming people around...so there's nothing stopping him from liking her, if not love. ..

Its annoying for us audience , but if you think from their perspective, she is a enemy spy, in all probability...and he has nonskin the game as far as he is concerned , she is supposed in marriage alliance with 4th prince's ... and due to some crude trap and her maneuver later, ended up as his concubine..for someone already with a home filled witb competiting forces , all vying for power for their families .. he is adding international conspiracy headche to his household... and which could lead to mucj bigger to him at personal level and to his country...so why would he be thrilled. And her, she wanted a space to sustain and bounce back and this cruel , but powerful person is her best bet.

And neither is a fan of each other.. love may not be pn their mind. Could have happened while working with each other when they discovered each others true nature 🤔

Both ML and FL are grey, both fighting to survive. And both working against each other, esp ML trying to kill the FL. For many of us it is frustating to watch.But , a foreign princess coming in a marriage alliance more often than not is a spy working for her country,. Coorperating with her is like helping her survive and execute her plans . if they succeed , amd come to light he would be implicated as a traitor. And if he is a patriot , why would he like to help an enemy country princess sabotage his country. She needs help and cooperation, all upside for her in such a cooperation, none for him.. unless his investigation leads to her country and needs her help there ... all downside only for him in that cooperation...