Veppeee

I think the reason why I don't feel that this is a toxic romance is because Tian Yao's actions against Yan Hui specially early in the series is not driven from "love" or "protection" as an excuse for a power trip but rather Tian Yao's trauma and his desperate need for survival to get his body back. Yan Hui also has appropriate reactions to his behavior and does not just excuse it. Tian Yao is not a good person at the beginning of the series because Suyin used his gentle innocence against him to steal his body for her selfish desires/labeling him as an evil dragon and so he is in survival mode and does not trust or care for anybody. He also saw how much his innocent belief in Suyin's love led to the demise of the beings who relied his protection and so he doesnt believe in falling in love either. He just wants his body back. Yan Hui does not care much for his predicament early on (for good reason that one of his body parts is fused to her body and keeps her alive) but later helps out due to realizing the sadness of his situation. His body is being used by others while he lives in a state of emptiness and pain. A soul in a shell and so she helps him get her body back. As Tian Yao slowly gets more of his body parts back, and learns that his innocence was not at fault but rather it was Suyin's cruelty that was at fault, he is able to go back to the gentleness that was originally his own and feel that falling in love with someone who cares for him is not foolishness. I felt like the story was a redemption story where someone who faced violations to their bodily agency and autonomy, and descends into anger and hatred, finally come back home to themselves knowing that being kind, gentle, and trusting of others is not a weakness but rather the people who take advantage of it are the ones who should be punished.

People here will make a lot of excuses for the ML

True. Not sure why so many MLs these days are so macho and aggressive dominant these days. Maybe they always have been. I just prefer the ones who are gentle and kind.

For reals. The ML is hot, rich, and powerful so of course, in the dramaverse, the FL has to get with him and excuse all his poor behavior eventually. I love a hot ML but not one who would be a villian if not the ML lol.

Haha seriously I don't get how people find any of that romantic. I guess one person's torture and suffering is another person's sexual tension (as long as the dude is hot, rich, and powerful). I had read some research few years back (don't quote me on this) that cultures that are more patriarchal where women have less freedom tend to produce romantic literature with rape fantasies and aggrssive dominant men.

I also hope that someday people will be okay with the ML characters actually being the villian and eventually facing punishment. I feel like then cdramas would be able to have more "complex" MLs and storylines without having to suss out eventually and make up reasons and excuses to convince a successful lovey dovey romance with the FL. And acknowledge that maybe the SML that shows up later (or is not as rich/powerful/hot) is actually the happier choice for the FL. Or maybe the story just doesnt have a happy ending with regards to romance.

Yea their romance is still not something I can stomach. But Lan Xiangs character and the rest of the story and characters are pretty interesting so, unless the FL/ML romance starts to fully consume the episodes, Im prob gonna stick with it

That makes sense

I agree that maybe Jin Qi will grow into a better person. It is just that I feel that FL falling in love with him would be weird and stolckholm syndromy. Like this show is about women's issues and it would be strange to show such a strong woman fall in love with a man who has mistreated her. Like I can't imagine any self-respecting person falling in love with someone who has mistreated them so much. Forgiving after "redemption" yes - but not falling in love.

I just hope that Jin Qi's actions doesn't just get "redeemed" and the FL falls in love with him. That would be such a suss ending for the show

I just hate a story where the woman has to be mistreated so that her husband learns to becomes a better husband. I will give that it is probably more realistic tho in that it is what has been expected of women for thousands of years

Seriously! At least so far he seems so sweet and considerate. And asking the parents to arrange marriage just seems like the appropriate custom of that time (even tho I find it weird) and Lan Xian was also satisfied with the marriage arrangement regardless of if she had intense feelings for him or not. They just seemed so comfortable and close to each other with the little wall knock conversations and the basket drops.

But it still allows Lan Xiang to have the decision to go along with her parents or not and tell them her thoughts (which her parents respect). Whereas Jin Qi just forces her into things she has absolutely no say in and keeps bringing her trouble. Saying Scholar Han is no better than Jin Qi is like saying someone who scratches you is the same as someone who murders you.

I think maybe she wanted to "cure" them and then be the Lin family savior and then get something out of it. Honestly it was super confusing to me too

I think it's just that so much of the story is about women's issues and the last thing such a show would want to promote is a strong woman like the FL falling in love with a man who disrespected her and have to "teach him to not wield power" like he is her child. That is the opposite of empowerment.

Just finished ep 27. I hope FL ends up with Scholar Han somehow or someone else who prioritizes her wants and decisions with respect from beginning to end (not a grown adult who has to be "taught" or "changed" after he has done bad things) and Lin Jin Qi dies. It would suck if an otherwise such a good show let the ML get away scot free with the controlling manipulation and rewards him with romance when all the other female villians who did the same suffered great backlash and did not get the guy.

It is also possible that they are trying to increase Ai Mi's popularity (even though she is already a pretty good actress) by pairing her with actors with a lot more traffic and visibility.

I am pretty excited for a good Deng Wei drama but yea I am hoping there isnt really any romance between the FL and ML. Too much age difference and FL actress is too young for it to not feel uncomfortable for me (and Deng Wei acted with her in a drama when she was just a teenager so it is not like he just met her when she is a 18yo adult) - not sure why Ai Mi is being paired with actors nearing or over 30yo (surely there are good actors closer to her age?). From what I have been reading, many fans of Ai Mi are happy she is getting lead roles since she has been acting for a while tho (although their okayness with her being in supporting romance roles, with men in their 20s, since she was a teen is incredibly disturbing). I guess there arent many female roles in chinese television that dont have romance either?

On ep 8 (ytube iqiyi channel only has 8 eps currently) and so far I mostly agree with the mdl rating. The editing and story has been a bit choppy. The OST is beautiful however. My main issue with the story is that I hope that the ML and FL dont get together in the end. I know it is supposed to be a comedy, but the character of the ML is too immature and jealous(even when not pretending to be dumb) towards the FL. I kept thinking that it is unfortunate to be married to such a man even if it is fake and no freedom. Maybe the ML gets better? Its been a while since I read it, but Im pretty sure the emperor in the original Saiunkoku novel wasnt so petty and controlling.

I dont have 2ML syndrome either since the character doesnt have too many scenes yet but I do love Deng Wei's face and he doesnt do too many dramas so prob keep warching this just for his face and voice.

I do agree with you that ageism towards women is still a big issue in media. It confounds me when women are actively trying to uphold the patriarchy by saying things like "women mature faster anyways, science proves it" - science doesnt prove any of that except that women have a slight head start in cognitive development in early childhood and that this gap does not exist in adulthood between men and women. The other factor is socialization that forces girls to grow up too fast and "act mature" based on a script provided by society to be "responsible" and "considerate" and not act silly and make mistakes. But youthful folly is a necessary part of actual emotional maturity - making mistakes and learning from it and so too many women just have an illusion of maturity that is actually just performing compliance and hyper-vigilance. You acknowledging that you are not mature is actually more mature and honest than many women who think that they are more mature at a younger age than a man. I also feel like relationships where the woman is slighly older tends to be healthier and has better power balance than where the man is older or sometimes even equal aged couples.

That being said, I am pretty excited to see Wang Duo in this drama because he is genuinely an excellent actor and also pretty good looking. I dont think he does very many romance heavy roles but he is quite good at playing a complex villian and I am curious to see if he is a villian here and what kind.