My take on SML and FL's wedding : (I'll post under spoilers)
Ep18: SML has been hounding FL to marry. Neither Li nor Xie family approves of the marriage, and FL agrees to play along with the setup by SML’s mother and Madam Hu, pretending to go through with it while the actual marriage is between Li Congxin and Qingru.
Ep19: FLs eldest brothers funeral. The reason he died and despite the scheme and unjust death, Xie family doesn't treat it with the importance it deserves. She realises the full extent of Shen Run’s power.
Ep20: Shen Run drops the bomb that he’ll protect Xie Shu.
Our girl is already grieving her eldest brother, and now she is feeling abandoned and betrayed too. She is at her most vulnerable. Plus she is against very powerful people. She has to avenge her mother ,but the people involved are Madam Hu and Xie Shu, also Xie Shu is under protection of emperor, even Shen Run has to not do anything. Our girl has a lot to process.
Then, in Ep20, she shares her past with Li Congxin, and he promises to help her with her revenge.
The number of people who have been genuinely kind to FL has always been so small, and she has spent her life being guarded because of it. This is perhaps the first time she really stops and pays attention to Li Congxin and realises that he is actually a genuine person.
Who wouldn't be moved by that, especially when you are already at your lowest and carrying a lifetime of betrayals?
And yet she still says, “Thank you. But this marriage is...” and pauses. I read that pause as her feeling guilty and sad, perhaps trying to decide whether she should tell him that the marriage isn't actually going to happen. There is just so much for her to process at that moment.
Then Ep21 begins with SML promising to help FL with her revenge. Again, FL reminds SML that the Li family’s choice of bride is not her. After his persuasion, she eventually nods, but even then it feels more like she is reluctantly playing along with Madam Hu and the Li ladies’ arrangement than genuinely agreeing to the marriage.
This is where I find Zhao Ye’s acting lacking. There are so many emotions and layers to FL at this point, and I don't feel that complexity coming through as convincingly as I would have liked.
And those flashbacks, where SML is promising to help her with her revenge, made me think of her memories of her eldest brother promising to bring her persimmons and her memories of young Shen Run, her memories with her mother. This girl has had so few genuinely kind people in her life. Of course she would hold on to those precious moments when someone was simply there for her.
She shouldn’t have accepted the other guy’s offer of marriage
My take on SML and FL’s wedding:
Ep18: SML has been hounding FL to marry. Neither Li nor Xie family approves of the marriage, and FL agrees to play along with the setup by SML’s mother and Madam Hu, pretending to go through with it while the actual marriage is between Li Congxin and Qingru.
Ep19: her eldest brother's death scheme comes out at his funeral. She realises the full extent of Shen Run’s power.
Ep20: Shen Run drops the bomb that he’ll protect Xie Shu.
Our girl is already grieving her eldest brother, and now she is feeling abandoned and betrayed too. She is probably at her most vulnerable.Plus she is against very powerful people. She has to avenge her mother ,but the people involved are Madam Hu and Xie Shu, also Xie Shu is under protection of emperor, even Shen Run has to not do anything. Our girl has a lot to process.
Then, in Ep20, she shares her past with Li Congxin, and he promises to help her with her revenge. The number of people who have been genuinely kind to FL has always been so small, and she has spent her life being guarded because of it. This is perhaps the first time she really stops and pays attention to Li Congxin and realises that he is actually a genuine person.
Who wouldn't be moved by that, especially when you are already at your lowest and carrying a lifetime of betrayals?
And yet she still says, “Thank you. But this marriage is...” and pauses. I read that pause as her feeling guilty and sad, perhaps trying to decide whether she should tell him that the marriage isn't actually going to happen. There is just so much for her to process at that moment.
Then Ep21 begins with SML promising to help FL with her revenge. Again, FL reminds SML that the Li family’s choice of bride is not her. After his persuasion, she eventually nods, but even then it feels more like she is reluctantly playing along with Madam Hu and the Li ladies’ arrangement than genuinely agreeing to the marriage.
This is where I find Zhao Ye’s acting lacking. There are so many emotions and layers to FL at this point, and I don't feel that complexity coming through as convincingly as I would have liked.
And those flashbacks, where SML is promising to help her with her revenge, made me think of her memories of her eldest brother promising to bring her persimmons and her memories of young Shen Run, her memories with her mother. This girl has had so few genuinely kind people in her life. Of course she would hold on to those precious moments when someone was simply there for her.
I think people are forgetting that for our FL that the number of people who have genuinely been kind to her is very small—Shen Run/Yan Rui, her eldest and second brothers, eldest sister, and her two friends, her mother, grandma chen...many of whom have died or suffered due to schemes of others. She is of course a gaurded person who doesn't trust anyone easily.
She is surrounded by schemers who will stoop to any level, taking lives being the least of it. She is also grieving the Eldest brother's death, mind you, this person went against his mother to help FL clear her mother's name.
So when Shen Run—the person who took an oath with her to seek revenge, someone who probably understands her much more than anyone, having shared the traumatic experience—now sets his own revenge aside and says he'll protect the very person responsible for it all, of course she feels abandoned and lashes out. To her, it must feel like the one person who was supposed to stand beside her, who repeatedly promised to do so, has suddenly apparently chosen the other side. Anyone would feel betrayed.
I think Shen Run understands this too...he was hesitant to even tell her..and tells her only after she asks again and again.
I'm sorry to disappoint you but she didn't think this way. She just wanted to take revenge is the first reason,…
In ep 18 the conversation is very clear...she'll play along with Congxin's mother and Xie Head madam's scheme... And she neither agreed or disgreed to the bethrothal...she is admiring Li Chingxon possibly because she is surrounded by snakes and there are few genuine people willing to help her..she was admiring her elder brother same way, there were flashbacks and dried persimmon scenes...it is more of admiration than agreement.
I love how the revenge isn’t being rushed. They’re working their way up step-by-step, starting with those who were less involved and gradually getting closer to the mastermind. The progression makes the whole revenge journey feel so much more wholesome and satisfying.
The family's first son who has a military honor and the heir just died and xie shu calls it a TRIVIAL matter????…
I don't even want to watch because the man is SO slimy. 😂 The dialogues are brilliantly written and the actor plays him so completely that I swear even I could get gaslit by him.
This is how a villain should be written and played.
They don't always have grotesque faces or walk around announcing that they're evil. Sometimes they come smiling, acting like a friend, earning your trust—and then manipulating you right under your nose. This is what makes Xie Shu so unsettling.
Xu Kai as the hero is one thing ❤️😍 But Xu Kai as the villain, with that smirk and that cold, authoritative expression? That is a completely different level of dangerous. It should be illegal. 🔥❤️🔥
Apparently analysing every character’s psychology is fine when pointing out the flaws, but appreciating the thought, consistency and coherence in the writing is just “it’s a story.” 😂
K-Drama 
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Ep19: FLs eldest brothers funeral. The reason he died and despite the scheme and unjust death, Xie family doesn't treat it with the importance it deserves. She realises the full extent of Shen Run’s power.
Ep20: Shen Run drops the bomb that he’ll protect Xie Shu.
Our girl is already grieving her eldest brother, and now she is feeling abandoned and betrayed too. She is at her most vulnerable. Plus she is against very powerful people. She has to avenge her mother ,but the people involved are Madam Hu and Xie Shu, also Xie Shu is under protection of emperor, even Shen Run has to not do anything. Our girl has a lot to process.
Then, in Ep20, she shares her past with Li Congxin, and he promises to help her with her revenge.
The number of people who have been genuinely kind to FL has always been so small, and she has spent her life being guarded because of it. This is perhaps the first time she really stops and pays attention to Li Congxin and realises that he is actually a genuine person.
Who wouldn't be moved by that, especially when you are already at your lowest and carrying a lifetime of betrayals?
And yet she still says, “Thank you. But this marriage is...” and pauses. I read that pause as her feeling guilty and sad, perhaps trying to decide whether she should tell him that the marriage isn't actually going to happen. There is just so much for her to process at that moment.
Then Ep21 begins with SML promising to help FL with her revenge. Again, FL reminds SML that the Li family’s choice of bride is not her. After his persuasion, she eventually nods, but even then it feels more like she is reluctantly playing along with Madam Hu and the Li ladies’ arrangement than genuinely agreeing to the marriage.
This is where I find Zhao Ye’s acting lacking. There are so many emotions and layers to FL at this point, and I don't feel that complexity coming through as convincingly as I would have liked.
And those flashbacks, where SML is promising to help her with her revenge, made me think of her memories of her eldest brother promising to bring her persimmons and her memories of young Shen Run, her memories with her mother. This girl has had so few genuinely kind people in her life. Of course she would hold on to those precious moments when someone was simply there for her.
Ep18: SML has been hounding FL to marry. Neither Li nor Xie family approves of the marriage, and FL agrees to play along with the setup by SML’s mother and Madam Hu, pretending to go through with it while the actual marriage is between Li Congxin and Qingru.
Ep19: her eldest brother's death scheme comes out at his funeral. She realises the full extent of Shen Run’s power.
Ep20: Shen Run drops the bomb that he’ll protect Xie Shu.
Our girl is already grieving her eldest brother, and now she is feeling abandoned and betrayed too. She is probably at her most vulnerable.Plus she is against very powerful people. She has to avenge her mother ,but the people involved are Madam Hu and Xie Shu, also Xie Shu is under protection of emperor, even Shen Run has to not do anything. Our girl has a lot to process.
Then, in Ep20, she shares her past with Li Congxin, and he promises to help her with her revenge.
The number of people who have been genuinely kind to FL has always been so small, and she has spent her life being guarded because of it. This is perhaps the first time she really stops and pays attention to Li Congxin and realises that he is actually a genuine person.
Who wouldn't be moved by that, especially when you are already at your lowest and carrying a lifetime of betrayals?
And yet she still says, “Thank you. But this marriage is...” and pauses. I read that pause as her feeling guilty and sad, perhaps trying to decide whether she should tell him that the marriage isn't actually going to happen. There is just so much for her to process at that moment.
Then Ep21 begins with SML promising to help FL with her revenge. Again, FL reminds SML that the Li family’s choice of bride is not her. After his persuasion, she eventually nods, but even then it feels more like she is reluctantly playing along with Madam Hu and the Li ladies’ arrangement than genuinely agreeing to the marriage.
This is where I find Zhao Ye’s acting lacking. There are so many emotions and layers to FL at this point, and I don't feel that complexity coming through as convincingly as I would have liked.
And those flashbacks, where SML is promising to help her with her revenge, made me think of her memories of her eldest brother promising to bring her persimmons and her memories of young Shen Run, her memories with her mother. This girl has had so few genuinely kind people in her life. Of course she would hold on to those precious moments when someone was simply there for her.
She is surrounded by schemers who will stoop to any level, taking lives being the least of it.
She is also grieving the Eldest brother's death, mind you, this person went against his mother to help FL clear her mother's name.
So when Shen Run—the person who took an oath with her to seek revenge, someone who probably understands her much more than anyone, having shared the traumatic experience—now sets his own revenge aside and says he'll protect the very person responsible for it all, of course she feels abandoned and lashes out. To her, it must feel like the one person who was supposed to stand beside her, who repeatedly promised to do so, has suddenly apparently chosen the other side. Anyone would feel betrayed.
I think Shen Run understands this too...he was hesitant to even tell her..and tells her only after she asks again and again.
And she neither agreed or disgreed to the bethrothal...she is admiring Li Chingxon possibly because she is surrounded by snakes and there are few genuine people willing to help her..she was admiring her elder brother same way, there were flashbacks and dried persimmon scenes...it is more of admiration than agreement.
The entrance. The walk. The commanding AURA🔥
Yeah… I’m done🔥❤️🔥
This is how a villain should be written and played.
They don't always have grotesque faces or walk around announcing that they're evil. Sometimes they come smiling, acting like a friend, earning your trust—and then manipulating you right under your nose. This is what makes Xie Shu so unsettling.
But Xu Kai as the villain, with that smirk and that cold, authoritative expression? That is a completely different level of dangerous. It should be illegal. 🔥❤️🔥