Lela2004

True. Also, to me it represents the elements in the title - a green spring tainted by pools of blood spilled by the blade…

Same. Started ATC to fill the SotB waiting time, and I like it so far. Also looking forward to Scandal, but they’re all fillers for me, until I can get to watch SotB. (Ideally I should use them to delay SotB so I can binge watch, but probably won’t have that much self discipline.)

Yeah, unless she suspects they overheard something they shouldn’t have. Then she’ll recommend offing them… as evidenced in ep 10. But apart from that small caveat she’ll be a positive influence for sure.

The rules seem to shift constantly. Sharp tongues might conclude that there is some committee that tries to prove its relevance by constantly changing the rules.

The first maid who returned and is actually nice to the girls still cautions ML that FL might have understood what happened (unfaithful wife…), and she might need to get silenced (aka killed)? And luckily ML lets it go against her protestations? Seriously?

So, am I understanding this correctly (ep. 10)?!?

Right? Realistically it makes no sense otherwise. But the drama can’t mean that, cause then her speech to the girls about “serving the master well and being competent” to shape their lives for the better becomes super weird!?!

I didn’t read the novel but I’d say it is obvious: as a maid she has no choice in the matter. 😉

I think he understands that he and the Shens can’t just kill her off easily, and suspects/understands that this was her plan.

This is only possible because ML has some allegiance to her. I thought it was because she was his mistress. But apparently not. (maybe in the book but sanitized for the drama?)

Same here. I think I’ll binge watch Scandal first and then dive in, so I can at least binge the first third… (well, that’s the plan. I might not manage to stay away, once episodes become available…)

I see her as a grey character. Not everyone reacts to hardships and trauma by becoming a better person like the heroes and heroines in dramas do. She clearly didn’t, she lost her soul. But while deplorable it is conceivable why. (And I commend her for standing up to dad in ep 9).

Thank you! Though I can’t say your summary makes me less nervous, haha.

Can someone please spoil ep 9&10? I can’t bear watching without any warnings about what will happpen. I just can’t bear it 😬

ML’s wife had been pregnant with her lover’s child before marriage and aborted. Did her parents know of the affair? And the abortion? Did they therefore agree to the “inferior” match so fast?

Ironically, her giving him the cold shoulder in the wedding night wasn’t just her making an excuse, it was probably an accurate description of her health condition due to the botched abortion…

So, I have a question regarding ep8…

Hm, would such a plot even be possible for a C-Drama? It hinges on (i) a strict norm/law that you are not under any circumstance allowed to divorce your spouse if they become insane and (ii) a strict norm/law prohibiting bigamy. I have no idea how societies in ancient China handled (i). Regarding (ii), sure, you can emphasize “legal wife status”, but it is not the same as “no way at all to be together” according to the rules of society.

Well, considering the law in the drama holds that a slave must not be killed by the master without cause, the cattle analogy was obviously not quite correct. There was surely no penalty for killing your own cattle without cause. Also the father states that masters must care for their servants - which obviously precludes threatening death over nothing.

To me, most definitely. (I reiterate, I’m talking about the character, not the actor).

I’m actually not sympathetic to SFL.
You are speaking from the perspective of the ruling elite. I am pretty sure the common people who were treated like cattle were not fine with this behavior and found it deplorable also back then.
Same for scholars, I guess, considering that there were LAWS prohibiting the murder of a slave FOR NO REASON. Which is what he threatens.