Isabella Snow

the eldest sister is one best casting ever. It's not easy to find an actress with such beauty and at the same time with demeanor of so much wisdom as if she has been through so much that she is now the head of the family. I've only seen her in Story of Kunning Palace before where she was a spoiled princess. but with the acting skill she has shown here I think she should play a goddess in a xianxia. both calm and elegant.

yes and the 5 sisters too.
ep 9 he finally did the most Darcy thing ever, ask for her love while insulting her family. he's like your family is all sorts of this mess, but i'm marrying you despite of it all. hahahaha. how in the world is that a good declaration of love?

hahahahha. crazy with all his cash. hahahahah

i don't think it's Qiongnu is a sis in law. she's an adoptive daughter... if you meant Qiongnu? i thought she was a cousin at first. turns out she was just taken in, but they didn't treat her like a servant. but she acts like one. i like how she has her own sentiments of worrying for herself because the mother only cares about marrying off her own daughters, but she's thinking that she wants that for herself too. I thought she will be a traitor or bad girl. But thankfully it's been cleared. She is like a real daughter to them. but it's tough love. because she was the reason their only son passed away. Still, revealing that the mother is also preparing for her dowry was enough to get her back on their side. And she is now a bonafide Li and is loyal to the family.

she got kidnapped. (for real). He and the 2nd son in law saved them girls. and he and Kangning had a moment and he said he wants to marry her.

and he surely meddled when she was out there being presented as available for marriage. Heck he got Du Yang Xi to join the contest and foil the women's plans, for sure it was his script to get the guy to win only to lie that he's got a wife already. Just so he could prevent her from marrying another man.
and man, did you see the sweat on his forehead when he heard that DYX was rescued by the Li's. He'll pretend to be a strangers friend to prevent anyone from getting his girl.
his trigger word is San niang i think, if that means Third Lady. his ears just perk up when he hears her being mentioned.
The way he broke that ink stone did not escape my eye. Pure jealousy. 1st and 2nd son in law were oblivious. Maybe he was referring to himself when he said that the Li's are jealous women. he is the most jealous of them all.

it's the details. (just pure beauty in the details).

I so love that the sisters are well aware of their positions and responsibilities.
When there are serious meetings, it's always the 3 eldest.
And 4th and 5th are just playing on the side. Totally reminds me of the bennet sisters, Lydia and Kitty.
But i think this will change later on, especially with the 4th who will marry a serious man as it looks from the previews.

good take.
and did you notice that Kangning is so eager to contribute to the family, 2 times already she has sacrificed herself when it came to need. the first time, when Yang Xian came looking for the Li girls who embarassed him and he forces them to give him a concubine. It was the 5th sister, but Kangning presented herself. the second time was with the literary contest, aka pearl curtain+wife.
It's like she's prepared to step up just like their eldest sister has done, and if it means getting married like their 2nd, then so be it. Her predicament might be when she realizes she has feelings already for Chai An. because that would surely conflict with her principle of taking care of the family.

rewatching the episode, i think he didn't really know it was his mother who caused them to break off the marriage. He only heard that the Li's cancelled it themselves, and from Fan Liang han that it was only a simple request to change the ceremonial handlers (i'm not sure what to call, but during the meeting, this was the Li's mother and eldest), but he wasn't in the room and he didn't know the insult that occurred. This was unavoidable because he was only respecting that the marriage process will be handled by the parents, by the women. And he was so sure that despite his mother being annoying sometimes, she means well for him and is even gullible. He was so sure that before the final lines of ep 8 happened, his mother was just a overcaring madam who gets scammed occasionally at the temples. Boy, he was so wrong for being complacent, this was the root cause of their conflict. His mom has a bad impression of the Li's because of his bickering/flirting with Third miss earlier in the story. I guess he really is prejudiced and she is just too proud.

and he thinks his sincerity is enough to get her. and that if they like each other, that's enough for them to get married. He is still working on it, but he needs to work up the parents, and the relationship between in-laws first in order to get his girl.

like it or not, that's the whole point of their plot. The Li family moved into the capital, because of marriage prospect. at first I would have thought that Kangning would hate the idea of getting married out of familial duty. but during the marriage meeting with Madam Chai, while she was defending her elder sister from the judgmental madam. I finally get it.
So it went like this. their family back in Louyang encountered a problem, not really explained yet, but you could guess maybe it has to do with the father passing away. Shou Hua still 15, and the eldest daughter was married off. This saved their family. To other eyes especially modern thinking, it's not dignified. But to them at that time, Shou Hua girl was their pride because of her sacrifice that saved them all, and up to now, her sisters look up to her. Even if she got widowed. That's unfortunate. I've read that she wasn't intending to get married again but we'll see later in to the episodes since Du Yang Xi has been introduced, how this will change her mind.
That was one of the motivation of Kangning, if her eldest sisters can get married off without being lucky in love. As long as it can benefit their family. Who is she to not do the same. Sure she is fierce, but her love for the fam is bigger than anything else in this world.
So i think by the time they moved into Bianjing, clearly the family's goal was to marry off the daughters to good men and all the girls know it and are ready for it. And it's not like they were settling for anything less. The women, lead by the eldest were meticulous with the selection process. It don't matter if the guy is rich, a good man, preferably honorable would do. So they are now looking into selecting from the Jurens (civil service examinees) who will have future prospects in government. Thats a good start. Having a husband with a good job and personality. They were using their heads instead of their hearts.
FR though, that's how women get pressured into finding prospective husbands, due to the fear of being childless and unmarried. Their fear is real. And it's not like they were unpretty to be selected. Sure they have the beauty, (their family is known for beautiful daughters) but securing a marriage and future family takes surprisingly such work to be realized.

so in contrast to the other comments here. I am liking this show. 6 eps in and they have established each the character/background introduction of the legendary Li women, including the mother plus the story of one adoptive sister.
they have unique traits that kinda reminds of the Bennet sisters and obviously Kangning is the Elizabeth while Chai An is Mr Darcy. so they have this sort of enemies to lovers kind of thing going on, mixed with the social norms and pressure and requirements of their times. This is like Blossoms in Adversity with fair focus on each member of the female lead's family. this is not a political drama. this is more about the way of life especially marriage and womanhood in Imperial China.
i'm hoping they'll keep up with the pace, so i'm watching this on netflix. so far so good. since I've seen most of the actors from somewhere before and this is a fresh take on an costume idol drama actually. multiple couples. i'd expect more chaos to the story as the other couples plot develop. but surely it will be fun.

if things don't get them married by tomorrows episode, he will probably proceed to assist his future brother in laws, before he can get married himself.

hope so... so that they can move on into the other couples and also explore their own marriage life. but I won't be surprised if Chai can't tie the knot earlier because his Lady is the smartest, fierce and most stubborn of the 5 daughters. LOL

Chai An can't abandon Fan Liang Han even when the man is clearly stupid and just a crybaby, because Liang Han has something he so longs for. to be a Li family son-in-law HAHAHHA

he just needs to pick better scripts. and honestly for the past few years he hasn't been picking better scripts/projects. and it's not really that there's something wrong with the projects/scripts. might be just not his match.

oh my gosh. "the misunderstanding lasted until the last ep or the last minute."
why would they write such stories. and keep making them over and over. geee.

i just wanna fastforward the story. and see what might happen. is it really true like they repeat the same plot?

all the rules and laws of the modern society were disregarded when they decided to make this script. it's like pure wattpad core.

the sister is a good villain i dare say.