Vespertyne29

The blame really goes to the writers of the novels all these Cdramas are adaptations of! If anything, the more creative, talented directors switch things up and make some characters that are evil in the novels be much less so in the drama.

I happen to like almost all these tropes - kind of like I never get tired of the umbrella rescue in Kdramas!

I am really enjoying this drama. It's a tightly knit plot and so far the reveals are making sense. Plus the drama is very good with its cliffhangers at the end of each week's 2 episodes. Definitely makes me want to keep watching.

I just finished Episodes 9 and 10 and see that many of us were correct in guessing that Han YuJin is the killer. But there are a lot of questions, mainly WHY?

Possibilities -
Was it to frame Cha Jeong Woo? That is unclear. He remained silent and let the detective's brother take the blame, but it was completely by chance that the drugged-out brother wandered into the fiancé's apartment and left so much incriminating evidence. If he had not stumbled into the murder scene, would CJW have been the assumed suspect? Also, it seems like the truck hitting CJW as he chased HYJ was really an accident and not something planned. So CJW's memory loss - the memory of seeing HYJ running from the murder scene - may have accidentally kept CJW from being investigated for the murder.

If he wanted to frame CJW, why? I think we can all agree that it's creepy the way HYJ calls CJW's mother "mom," when he doesn't appear to have been adopted into the family, but was merely the benefactor of their funding (a funded scholarship or grant?) to attend medical school. (That was my read - it doesn't seem as if HYJ lived with CJW and his mother. If so they would be stepbrothers). Does HYJ want to somehow become the legal heir of CJW's mother?

It also looks as if HYJ may have been involved at CJW's mother's request. She was against the marriage and appears to be the one who hired the PI to take those misleading photos. She seems to think that CJW may have been the killer - otherwise why hide the records of the accident and tell CJW that it was outside the hospital instead of outside of his fiancé's apartment?

But I don't see CJW's mother ordering a hit job on her son's fiancé just to prevent a marriage. Not when it looks like she's the one who sent those misleading photos. And she certainly wouldn't do anything to implicate CJW in a murder. So I suspect that HYJ has a different agenda. But what?

What do you guys think?

How many episodes does this drama have? I actually can't see why there would even be 12 episodes since the killer has been revealed at the end of Episode 10. There must be only 12 episodes, but if so, then there has to be another twist. It's just too early to have the murder solved.

I hope it doesn't end up being Director Kim Seok Un. I like him! And he seems like he really cares for CJW and his mother. But he's the only one who so far doesn't seem to have done anything suspicious. Which makes me suspicious.

That has also crossed my mind - she is my suspect #2!
But it seems kind of drastic - the classic trope is a glass of water in the face and a big fat check!

Me., too! Crime/police/legal dramas are my favorites. I love it when the writer incorporates police or legal officials' corruption with rich chaebols and a murder mystery! Seeing the rich people get their just desserts is always enjoyable!

Me either. And that's 100% fine with me. Everything doesn't need to be a romance.

So who else thinks that the killer is going to be "concerned friend," Han Wu Jin?

I think the "memories" that Cha Jung-Woo keeps "seeing" with him killing his fiancée are based on an inaccurate - or even possibly "planted" - memories, based on the crime scene photos, and not his personal knowledge. I don't think he was actually at the crime scene - he wouldn't have run out of the house and been hit by a truck if that had been the case. He would have called for help while tryign to save her (unless, of course, he were the murderer, which I do not think is the case. It's way too early in the drama for the "killer" to be revealed, so I think it's just part of the mystery, and will lead to the police detective investigating him as a suspect.

I suspect CJW may have been intentionally hit by that truck when he was on his way to see his fiancée after her call to him, and that he never even went to the crime scene. If he did go there, then he must have found the killer there, and gave chase to them - that's the only reason he would leave the scene (again, unless he is the killer, which I don't think is right). I think the killer is probably Han Wu Jin, and that HWJ is also the person who hit CJW with a truck. Or maybe HWJ arranged for someone else to do all that. Then I think CJW's mother thought that CJW was the killer and so covered up for him by saying he was hit by a car outside the hospital, and covering up all the medical records of the accident.

It will be interesting to see. I just can't believe at this point that CJW is the killer, partly because that would sort of ruin the story for me, as I have a distinct impression of who CJW is, and that person in my mind would not intentionally kill someone.

Love Wang XingYue, but wish there was a different FL. I am not a fan of BL.

I can’t wait to watch that! I loved the original!

The SML character was obsessed and horrifyingly possessive/controlling, and I certainly never shipped him with the FL (I think SML Syndrome is weird, especially when the FL has no romantic interest in the SML). I wanted LJX to die at the end because that’s what he deserved, and also it was clear that only his death would end his unwanted pursuit of Yining.

That being said, it was the first time I’d seen Ci Sha in a drama, and he is a very sexy guy plus a good actor. I thought he did a very good job with the role, and I would like to see him play the ML in another drama.

yes, it was. I may not be remembering correctly, but I believe that it was to find out the medication her mother took that led LSY to track down a maid Madam Gu had at the time of her pregnancy. And in finding out the drug he also found out that Yining was not the child of his father, but of an unknown man.

it really made the drama drag. the SML’s death scene took almost 30 minutes of the last episode! waste of my time.

I read the book and that was definitely not the ending. There was no “alternate” ending.

That is what I have and where I am watching. Today, with express, I watched episode 27.
Thank you for responding!

There are people with 2nd ML syndrome?? wow. I guess I don’t get the type of person who finds controlling, violently jealous, cruel men who try to force an unwilling girl to be with them in any way attractive. I really appreciate the actor because he has made me absolutely hate his character, while hoping I can see him in a more attractive role in the future!

I haven't watched episode 27 yet, but that's what I read. It seems as if Grandma always knew, from the time Yining was born, or shortly thereafter. In the novel she only finds out shortly before she dies. Maybe she knows a few weeks, 2 months at most. But she still leaves Yining everything she owns in her will.

Thank you! As I expected, something was lost in translation. Like the "he was assassinated!" when it's just an attempt. At first I always thought the person was dead and was surprised when they reappeared, merely injured. But now I assume it's just an attempt.

The other weird thing that took me a while to become accustomed to is the way, when they are asked, "are you alright?", the FLs always shake their heads back and forth (meaning "no") but they actually mean they are OK and are not hurt. In standard English usage, if someone asks if you are OK, you'd nod your head up and down for yes, and you'd shake your head from side to side if you meant no. So there is always a bit of a disconnect when I see a Cdrama actress responding to "are you Okay" by shaking her head for no but saying yes.

See @PeachBlossomGoddess's response. I personally think it's worth it to buy the express package, especially when you get the last 6 episodes all at once and can binge the ending.

I didn't realize the release of episodes was only 1 per day on some days, and 2 on others. So I guess I'm always one episode ahead of what is available, but sometimes I get the 2nd regular episode plus the express episode at the same time, and other times I just get the express episode.

The only thing that annoys me is that they have a block on all Express episodes so that you can't cast them to your TV. You have to watch on your phone or tablet.
But I can't wait, so I just make do!

Is there any way for you to post or send me a photo/screenshot of what the app looks like? The one you downloaded on your iPad? Because the only We TV I get is the one to the US cable channel Women's Entertainment, and the Tencent app I have downloaded (and where I am watching the express version, which as of this second (5:08 PM PDT) has through episode 26 for VIP, Express episode 27 available for me to watch , and teasers for 28 and 29) says in the Apple Store that my Tencent App is "Tencent Video" and right under that it says "WeTV Official App in US" The app following that is We TV (not one word, but 2) and it is the US cable channel and is copyrighted by Women's Entertainment, LLC. There is also a WE tv Hip Hop Stickers entertainment app. Pretty sure that's not it!
Can you see my email address on this site?

The Duke is a soldier. He is seriously wounded and incapacited, and he's holed up at or near the temple, pretty much on the verge of death. His men - soldiers and/or personal guards - have no medical skills, apparently, and think a woman is needed to nurse him (!!). So they go to try to find help and one of them finds Madam Gu and decides she can help nurse the Duke. So they kidnap her to tend to the seriously injured Duke, and she does, in fact, save her life. But one of the medications he takes is - deer's blood? - and a side effect is that it is a major aphrodisiac, and he loses his senses/control and basically rapes her.
They are together for weeks - can't remember if it's 2 weeks or a month - and her maids don't know where she is.
The implication is that the two of them actually develop feelings for each other. He wants to marry her, but he doesn't know who she is or that she is married. He wants to marry her, but of course she's already married (even if he doesn't know that). So she disappears and returns to the Luo residence, without telling anyone what happened. She finds out she is pregnant, but she thinks the baby is just an innocent (and possibly she admits she has feelings for the duke), so she refuses to abort the baby. No one left in the Luo household knows Yining is not 2nd master's child. The person who knows is the woman doctor who trained the maid of Yining's who has medical skills This doctor is brought back to the Luo residence to treat Grandma, who is dying. (She brings the maid, who is her young medical trainee, with her). I can't remember if the medicine woman swore to Madam Gu that she'd never tell anyone, or if she just wanted to protect Yining, but she left and stayed away from the Luo residence afterwards. When she realizes that Grandma - the only Luo family member (except for 3rd brother, but the woman doesn't know that) who loves and cares for Yining, is dying, she tells her the truth about Yining's birth. Niying is still only 7 years old at the time. Grandma dies, leaves ALL of her property and Yining's mother's dowry not used, to Yining, and also tells Luo Shenyuan the truth of Yining's birth and makes him swear to always protect her. So that is when, in the novel, both grandma and LSY find out the truth of the 7-almot-8 year old Yining's birth.

Also, just to comment on your "glad they banned reincarnation/transmigration in Chinese dramas" comment - one of my top 5 dramas is the first Joy of Life. (Nirvana in Fire is #1 and Joy of Life 1 is #2). I have read the novel Joy of Life is based on - which is as long as the entire Harry Potter series put together, and took me 3 weeks to read the first time, even though it was during the pandemic and my work load was greatly reduced - three times now. Once while I was waiting for episodes of JoL 1 to drop, once again about a year later, and once again before the release of JoL 2,. And I know I will read it again because I LOVE that novel.
Anyway, the novel starts out - very briefly - with a 28 year old man, completely immobile due to a degenerative, fatal disease. To quote the novel's beginning -

" That lonesome night as he lays dying in the hospital, fearing of death and desiring the taste of life, his mind became unprecedentedly complex with mixed emotions.

Myasthenia gravis — an incurable disease where one’s muscle slowly degenerated until the day when one can no longer move and only tears may flow.

“Is this… dying?”

When he opened his eyes again, he had crossed over into the body of a two months old infant, right in the middle of an assassination attempt."

I was INSTANTLY hooked! This 28 year old contemporary man, well-educated and very well read due to his years confined to bed by his physical disability, is transported - with all of his 21st century knowledge and education and life experience - into the body of an infant in an ancient Chinese dynasty! What an amazing premise! The story unfolds, as a fascinating coming of age story as this child - with the mind and experience of a 28 year old modern man - grows up in this ancient world.
It is my favorite Chinese novel, and the concept of transmigration of souls made the story. His values, his beliefs, his experiences, his knowledge, all belong to a completely different world (although he eventually is able to confirm that he is, indeed, on earth). While the novel has some romance, as you saw if you watched the dramas, it is minimal, and the real story deals with a young man coming of age, and his relationships with other men, all of whom were wonderfully developed., and range from his adoptive father Fan Jian, who he respects and loves), the brilliant, master strategist elderly head of the powerful Investigation Bureau, Ching Pingping, his money-loving, master tracker right hand man Wang Qinian, his financially adept younger brother Fan Sizhe, and his contempoary in the Bureua, the rigidly straight laced Yan Bingun. And of course, there's his complicated, mercurial and cautious relationship with his birth father - one of my favorite themes in literature is father-son conflicts.

The poetry reciting scene is one of my top scenes in drama/film. I loved it!

Anyway, thanks to transmigration in stories, the author was able to write an amazing, fantastic fantasy drama. Too bad China had already banned transmigration and reincarnation in dramas, so the drama director had to work around it. (The drama synopsis - Zhang Qing, a present-day college student in culture and history major wants to study in professor Ye's postgraduate class, so he decides to write a historical fiction to elaborate his perspective of analyzing ancient literature history with modern concept. In the fiction, Zhang himself acts as a young man Fan Xian with a mysterious life who lives in a remote seaside town of Kingdom Qing in his childhood, under the help of a mysterious mentor and a blindfolded watchman. Fan goes to the capital when he grows up, where he experiences plenty of ordeal and temper. Fan persists in adhering the rule of justice and goodness and lives his own glorious life.).

Not bad, but the novel is still the best story!

I don't recall everything, but here's an example. The first person who recognizes that Yining is Jiaxue's wife reincarnated is LJX's nephew, Cheng Lang. In the novel, he is a little boy - 4 or 5 years old, maybe - when Yining is married to LJX. She takes care of him a lot, and he loves her. (Although he was so much younger than her during her first life, in the novel he wants to marry her when he finds out that she is in Yining's body). When he is visiting the Luo residence, Yining makes and serves a very simple sweet potato cake made from her personal recipe = Cheng Lang immediately recognizes it as the sweet potato cake LJX's wife made for him when he was a little boy. It had a unique flavor that only she made. So that was his first clue.
I can't remember what it was for Lu Jiaxue, but it was a similar experience. Things that only his wife would know, unique personality traits she had, etc. In the drama it's a lot of little things, like her paper cutting talent, but mostly the sound of her voice, which he recognizes.

But in the drama, Yining who met the blind, captive LJX and the Yining he meets again are the same girl. In the novel, it's someone who is much younger than his wife would be if she were still alive. But reincarnation/transmigration is a fantasy genre, and you have to accept that it is an accepted occurrence in the world of the novel, so it is something common to the characters in the novel. But as noted, in the drama LJX simply recognizes her voice, her mannerisms, her talents and interests - they are all identical to the young girl he fell for, so of course he can recognize her without having seen her face. I mean, it makes sense to me.