Thuc Duyen

Has anyone noticed that the worker in the opera troup who bumped into XLX & kidnapper may be the deposed crown prince? He appears to hide his index in left hand with his long shirt when he was talking to LJQ & the neighbour Han at the end of episode 22. Marquis Yuan mentioned to LJQ that his father used to teach the deposed crown prince archery briefly & has noticed his left index is longer than his middle finger. Hopefully, LJQ will notice it in the upcoming episodes. My question is why are the Zhao trying to catch him or are they trying to arrest?

A Chinese fan from XHS posted this update on what happen to Jier:

“ Lü Ji'er ultimately regained her freedom, finding a positive resolution to her story.
While serving at the Lin estate, she was severely punished after the eldest daughter-in-law, Zhao Xingtang, framed her for theft; her entire family was sold off, and she herself was trafficked to the Qingyan Brothel in Yangzhou, where she became a renowned courtesan known as "Shuang'er." She endured immense hardship during her time there—having finally saved enough money to buy her freedom, she was betrayed by her own parents, who absconded with the funds and abandoned her in that den of misery. She was subsequently resold multiple times, eventually falling into the hands of a merchant from the Dai family.

After marrying into the Lin family and securing her position, Xu Lanxiang never forgot how Ji'er had once shouldered the blame for her and helped her escape her plight; she made extensive inquiries and finally discovered Ji'er's whereabouts. Lanxiang negotiated the matter, paying thirty thousand taels of silver to redeem Ji'er's indenture contract and helping her remove her slave status to regain the standing of a free citizen.

Upon regaining her freedom, Lü Ji'er—unwilling to remain in Jinling, a city filled with painful memories—traveled to Quanzhou to earn a living through her own labor and begin a new life. From slave status to free citizenship, and from being a commodity to be bought and sold to becoming self-reliant, she ultimately achieved her own redemption.”

I understand from the Chinese fans that the Marquis will be killed by the Du sister & in turn Xu Rui will kill her.

Agreed, the second Lin lady is very arrogant & naive at the same time. Her parents are utterly useless & spoil her to a point where she can’t even see she is in the wrong.

No problem, I love checking on the Chinese fans explanations, they go deep in their analysis.

Ikr, grandpa Lin wasn’t there when the Du siblings created the chaos in the Lin household but sure he was there when it came to the interests & family’s name. I understand that after a while, the second Lin’s daughter managed to marry the Xie.,

This is a great explanation from a Chinese fan on XHS of what is going to happen & power dynamics in court in the upcoming episodes:
“ Wait, the Marquis's late wife is actually the Crown Prince's sister?! ❗️ The Lin family really leveled up their social game
Let's talk status and background. Since the Lin family was implicated in a crime and had to quit their official posts—switching from scholars to military—the marriage between Lin Jinqi and Zhao Xingtang was basically just borrowing power from Grand Secretary Zhao's rising influence.

Right now, aside from LJQ, everyone in the Lin family has zero status.
So, if they want to secure any marriages or engagements, they rely entirely on LJQ’s position.
The second sister's wedding and the match with the Xie family were only happening because of Lin Jinqi's power.
Once he got into trouble? Those marriages were cancelled instantly. 👋

But look at the Yongchang Marquis—he's from a prestigious military family, and his late wife was the Crown Prince's sister (so, either the new Emperor's daughter or niece).
The Marquis himself is part of the Crown Prince's faction, so naturally, he could be invited to host the wedding personally.
By using the second sister's marriage to the Marquis, the Lin family managed to network their way up! 📈
When the Du siblings' scandal exploded and the truth about the second sister couldn't be hidden anymore...
The First Madam's first reaction was panic—they didn't dare mess with the Yuan family.
Grandpa Lin immediately decided to play it safe by sacrificing his granddaughter.
Because for them, it's better to have no marriage than to make an enemy.
That's when the third sister stepped up to marry in her place! She saved the marriage AND preserved that connection, earning recognition from the Crown Prince. ✨

At this point, Lin Jinqi has already impressed the Crown Prince, and his value in the marriage market skyrocketed. His prospects upgraded straight to the youngest daughter of a Duke's household.
His marriage plans were definitely leaning towards "upward mobility."
But things got intense with the fight between the Crown Prince and the Prince of Han. 🔥
The Marquis used the wedding with the third sister as a cover to help the Crown Prince escape safely.
With Lin Jinqi helping out, he earned the credit of serving the Emperor-to-be.
This finally gave him the power to choose his own wife.
He chose to trade his merits for an imperial decree to marry Xu Lanxiang.
To the First Madam and everyone else, it looks like he's:
Giving up a huge win to marry down, or maybe even misunderstanding Lanxiang. 😓”

I don’t think he has been introduced.

Yes, but the show is really good though.

I suspect that they maybe colluding with the Dai family ( the official that gave the bad coats) given that the Du siblings are close to LJQ. In addition the Marquis Yuan hold an important position in the military to defend the sea route & the Dai are illegally stealing the government cotton & sell it to the Woo people. Dai Rong wants to get rid of the Yuan & Lin families with a view to establishing a new trade route with the Woo people. I also understand that the Zhao, the Dai and Prince are working together to rebel & take power. When that plan did t work out due to LJQ, the Zhao fled & dropped ZBT who met outlaws on her way & got injured & died.

I understand that the Zhao, the Dai & Prince Han are working together to rebel & take power. ZTB is remarrying Dai’s father.

I understand from the chinese fans who read the novel that he will find out about her real identity after the birth of their first child.

Du Zheng collided with Dai Rong beforehand I suspect.

No, Marquis Yuan is a good & principled person. I understand from Chinese fans that the Du sister will kill him after his marriage to the third Lin sister who will kill the Du girl in return. Du Zheng collided with the Dai Rong as he wants to climb up the ladder but with LJQ as his boss, he is stuck. Remember that Du Zheng didn’t appear happy when LJQ was released from prison. The Du siblings collided with Dai Rong family who themselves are colliding with the Japanese pirates & involved in the coats/cotton corruption. As Marquis Yuan comes from a prestigious/noble military family & himself holds a high & important sea maritime position where trade routes were important at the time. In order for Dai Rong & Du family to carry on their illegal trades & climb up the family status ladder ( for the Du siblings), they needed to get rid of Marquis Yuan & the Lin’s family.

Today’s episodes were really great. I love the scene where XLX,Gantang & Baocai sat together, supporting each others & promising to help others. The Du girl is evil but she’s a good actress. The showdown between XLX & Du sister was so intense. The scene between LJQ & XLX is so sweet. This drama is keeping me on edge until now.

Hi & glad to see you post. Unfortunately it won’t be easy to catch the Du girl & it will take more episodes for both XLX & LJQ to take her down.

The second Lin lady is not aware but , the third Lin lady will help her being taken advantage of by the Du brother.

Fingers crossed.

I fear that she may have died in the plague engineered by the Du sister by poisoning the Lin’s household water.

We dont know yet but I assume in a few more ep. In today’s episodes, you can start seeing the ML developing some interests in the FL. From what I’ve seen on XHS, there will be the Du siblings arch in the nex few episodes whereby the Du girl will blame the FL for exposing her plan in forcing the ML to marry her so she will take revenge by poisoning the water in the Lin’s household which has created a plague. The pandemic resulted in the death of a few servants. The FL will help the Lin’s family to expose the DU sister plan but she managed to run away. After that arch, the FL may have earned her & her adoptive parents’ freedom which may lead to her departure from the Lin’s household. She will move back to live with her parents as commoners. She has then met a well read neighbour who has proposed to her . The ML falls for her & has asked the emperor to issue a mariage decree forcing FL to marry him instead of her neighbour.