La Gata

You don't say.

I was surprised you found it funny, now I understand how you knew straight away what I was talking about. The advantage of having to repost on the correct drama is that it gives time to think of something else to say. I was going to mention loudspeakers, but they hadn't been invented yet. 😂

Anyway, thanks for the appreciation, glad to see we share a sense of humour.

Sorry, wrong drama. The comment was meant for Spring of the Blade, so I deleted it.🫢

First madam: "If word gets out it will be disastrous for both our families".

Said in the middle of a wedding, in a hall crowded with people who have all witnessed the events. 🙄

All that was missing was a town crier with a gong, just in case someone hadn't heard yet.

Prince Han to all the soldiers: "Follow me to the capital! You'll be made marquises and ministers!!"

So that's that, if he succeeds there will be no commoners left. 🙄

Not even galloping away on horse would save him if he had gone any further than the cheek. He did the smart thing.

On the cheek. He knew better than kissing her straight on the lips, all those slaps told him the cheek was safer.

He drugged her and took her to the capital.

She had the nasty brother in law beaten up and put the blame squarely on him.

Things are starting to even out, they'll be making up soon.😂😂😂

No kidding. He wasn't even angry that she got the nasty Lu brother in-law beaten to a pulp and pinned the blame neatly on him. He just calmly asked her what she suggested they should do 😂.

He still has a few miles to walk on the straight and narrow before she turns a new leaf on the forced marriage and the drugging, though.🤣

On ep 32 she's starting to see him in a different light.

JQ showing that he respects and trusts her enough to simply get marching toward the Lu residence on grounds that 'she already has a plan', without even bothering to ask her what the plan is, should start getting him on her good book. 😂

On ep 32 she seems to be already changing her mind about him.

What cost are you thinking of?

After watching ep 31 it looks like you're right. I hope she stays like that, more power to her.

Shout out to actress Liu Mei Han, who plays Ji Er. Her interpretation on ep 31 is superb, she can cry with a nervous breakdown, be desperate but refuse to give up, get simultaneously overwhelmed by emotion and sheer happiness, be hellbent in her determination and act so naturally one has no choice but to believe her.

I went back and rewatched several of her scenes, particularly the farewell with the presents. Great actress, she deserves more prominent roles.

To start with, I haven't tried to exonerate JQ in any of my posts, quite the contrary. I have been saying all the time both men are as bad as each other. It is you who are trying to exonerate Han, with which I happen to disagree.

According to many cdramas I've watched, *good* men of that period would ask the woman first and make sure she was in agreement, then they would ask her parents for her hand. POS men of that period would simply bypass the woman and negotiate the marriage because they were after her status/money, not her happiness.

This drama is particularly toxic in trying to make POS men look normal because their abusive behaviour 'was customary'. In the case of Han, the fact that he knew she didn't love him and still went behind her back to force the marriage on her makes him an even bigger POS. Then he blabbed to the other scholars and got them to block the wedding procession; this must have been the case because JQ made a point of taking a detour to avoid them, but they were still there refusing to give way and being confrontational, they just wanted to humiliate him. Then Han 'miraculously' appeared among them despite the wedding route being out of the way from their cellebrations. Han had just passed his exam and was already throwing his weight around, so I don't expect him to get any better.

As an aside, it's interesting that the Han character himself pointed out the plot absurdity when he told JQ he was surprised JQ hadn't ordered them to make way for the emperor's decree. In a logical plot, how likely is it that the scholars would be willing to risk the royal fury? Were the emperor to hear about them blocking the wedding he had decreed for the commander who saved his life, all of them including Han would have spent a long time in a dungeon at best or lost their lives at worst.

And of course JQ is no better, he successfully forced the marriage on her, then drugged her to take her to the capital; the disrespect is eye popping, but the drama is still trying to make him look cute. It is a toxic drama with toxic characters and I don't understand the need to justify one of the toxic men.

P.S.: What about her oh so loving parents, arranging the marriage with Han without bothering to ask her even once whether she was ok with it, which is what *good* parents of that period would do according to cdramas? And this was after she had previously made it clear to them she didn't want to marry and only wanted to live with them. If I remember correctly, she had even said this same thing to Han. As I said, a toxic drama.

I agree. Flawed characters feel more real and interesting to me than perfect unattainable superior beings.

Being on her moral high horse is her flaw. She refused to use her influence with the empress to rescue Ji Er, she was going to let her suffer for longer until she could think of a plan.

Absolutely, there are 47 eps to fill after all.

This being a cdrama he's not handsome enough to become the satisfactory male of choice. For any drama anywhere in the world, neither is the plot solid enough nor the character's development anywhere near good enough for this to happen.

Aside from the above, you're right that he also has his flaws, and big ones:

One, he also tried to bypass Lan Xiang's consent and went behind her back to force marriage on her.

Two, his scholar mates blocked the wedding procession, which means he blabbed to them; this must have been the case because JQ made a point of taking a diversion in order to avoid them, but they were still there blocking his way and being quarrelsome about it. The scholars were just trying to humiliate JQ. Scholar Han had just passed his exam and was already throwing his weight around.

Indeed. And that's not all, her desire to avenge her family and restore their reputation would also go out of the window if she married Han to live a quiet life.

Remember the poor, beaten up girl who turned up barefoot at her parents house just before they all left for the capital? The plot has more holes than both her shoes put together.

No, carry on watching, Ji'er is getting her freedom back and, if there is a character you can trust to get herself into trouble, that'd be her. This is from having watched ⅓ of ep 31, I'll see what happens after that.