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I'm excited to see how the romance portion of the drama unfolds since the director/writers have done such a good job with everything else thus far.

Coming up, after watching ep 35 and the previews that are available, I suspect Xu Lan Xiang will tell Lin Jin Qi that she will never be the kind of wife he longs for and that he needs to let go the idea of her reciprocating his feelings. Ever. And I do beleive she'll tell him this as a way of being gentle and honest, because she can't see herself ever loving him (due to all the baggage between them). Her intentions will be good but he'll still feel heartbroken and sad about it (but won't give up, since that boy never gives up).

But then I think something REALLY BIG will happen to change her mind, reframe her perspective, and have her re-thinking everything she knows about him. I think this big thing will make her fall ass-over-ankles all at once. Luckily, we still have until ep 47 for some good scenes. :-D

They get "closer" ep 17-18, but then he does something that makes it hard to root for him (even though it makes sense).
Then he's a big puppy (making mistakes) while trying to win her over for several episodes.
We're at ep 34 right now and he's SO SO SO DOWN BAD. I mean, he's obsessed with her and admires her and adores her. Meanwhile, she's trying to adjust to her surprising new reality and doing her best.

It's all extremely entertaining.

If romance for you means the ML yearning for the FL, it has that. A LOT.
If romance for you means mutual pining, it doesn't have that (yet).

Episode 34

Her: Lin Jinqi!! ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡)
Him: Hit me later! ¬‿¬

It has been, but please feel free to join in now!!

I think you did! And add to all that how much she lied to her parents about being okay / never reaching out to others for help. No one is an island, she needs to share her burdens with someone.

Ohh!! Thank you, I def will

The Romance of Tiger and Rose is one of my absolute favorites. Now that you mention it, I think I'll re-watch that one this time.

I haven't watched a few of these yet, so I'll add them to my list for the future. Thank you so much for sharing your recs!!

I like this method, too! If my method doesn't work, I'll definitely give this a try

This is such a great list!!

I enjoy most Xu Kai dramas and plan to go back (in a few weeks) to watch SOTB!!

Thank you for the list!! I will check these out and watch them. <3

I really loved Road to Splendor! Def give it another chance once you have some distance from this one!! And this is the phenomenon I was referencing. I don't want to miss out on a good show just because the one I'm obsessed with is too good!!

Oh! I've been wanting to watch The Sword and the Brocade. I'll move it up on my tbw list!!

It was not supposed to look romantic and no one thought it was romantic.

Anyone else?
I have to pause all other shows I'm watching right now because they all pale in comparison to Against The Current. I've found that after a REALLY EXCELLENT drama airs, the only way to watch new dramas with fresh eyes free of instant internal criticism is to re-watch an older favorite show. After this, I'll likely watch 'Til The End of the Moon' or 'The First Frost,' different genres which reduce comparison woes.

What do you plan to watch??? What are you "palate cleanser" dramas?

This is a really good point. We do hold women to a much higher standard than men. Both then and now.

I was fine with Scholar Han until he didn't tell the FL about the ML's efforts to save her but instead mislead her by saying, "Lin Jin Qi said he didn't dare confront the person responsible." which makes it sound like the ML did nothing at all to help. It seemed to me that Scholar Han mislead FL on purpose and diminished Lin Jin Qi's huge part in finding her. That felt sneaky and beneath his character.
I don't dislike Scholar Han, but I do think he's not strong enough for the FL. She would end up taking on an undue burden with him (they're not an equal match). But with Lin Jin Qi, the FL won't have to shoulder so much by herself; he's more equal to her ability level.

Basically, Scholar Han isn't strong enough for someone like Xu Lan Xiang; she would be doing all the heavy lifting in the relationship and he'd be coasting on her brilliance.

So many favorite episodes!!! :-D

I agree. She and Lin Jin Qi were too much alike, both using power to force others to do their will. But Lin Jin Qi at least was willing to give the marriage a try. But I also understand her perspective because power and force are what she was taught/the only tools available to her. She was kept uneducated and therefore behaved with ignorance.