Wenxia

No different meaning I think? In early Ming the tax was paid with actual bolts of silk fabric, plus corvee labor to transport them. Then in 16th century they rolled out 'single-whip' reform that combined various land and labour taxes into one to be paid in silver. And that's the background of this drama - the main character tries to prove that this "silk poll tax" (now being paid in silver by only one county out of 8 in the province) is the same as the pre-reform tax paid by the whole province in bolts of fabric ...which is difficult because several years of records went missing:)

I thought so too. He takes over the land and then hides it from taxation. Like the girl said, the amount to pay stays the same but there are less and less people to pay it. But according to Shuai Jiamo they've been paying this tax for a hundred years already. So I was wondering if Fan Yuan took over from someone else and how far-reaching this scheme really is. He hinted rather heavily that so many people from Lanxi passing the provincial examinations wasn't by chance. Lots of minions to cover things up:)

It's not a type of tax. It is just the name under which this extra tax renhua county has been paying appeared in the registry. The why, when and where is the mystery that'll be explained by the main character.

Well, sense of duty and propriety rarely go together with cooking the books;) I think they tried for social satire with this one, so the exaggeration is kinda on-brand.

I know his heart is in the right place, but he's a walking trouble lol But alright, it's valentine's day - let's have love all around:D Cheng with the sister huh? What a couple! I'm scared to imagine how they'd settle their arguments:D
You know I was expecting a serious historical drama and instead got cat demons and brawling with a leg of lamb... Not that I'm complaining;)

Haha! Cheng Renqing the saviour of cats! I also noticed his sudden allergy lol. That guy misses nothing - impressed the heck out of me:D

Why would you wish Baoyu on the girl? He's hopeless lol
- let's not tell Chens about our business because we're not sure of their intentions but the lawyer is so trustworthy we'll spill every last detail to him;))

Oooh so many sly foxes in this one… fun! Cheng Renqing is scarily efficient.. Would love to have someone like that around to solve my problems:D
I thought this was going to be an anthology but I kinda like this case within a case within a case touching many lives on different levels. So far so good - I like the sense of humour and it keeps me guessing:)

Thanks, looks like I should prepare myself for 15 more episodes of the same lol.
Sticking to the original is part of the problem I'm sure. But the longer I watch the more it seems to me that this writer-director team just has no sense for how to tell a good engaging story. I mean the minimum for this genre is to create the feeling that the stakes are rising with each reveal. Otherwise you get viewers like me - lowkey waiting for the countdown to run out so it gets things moving;D Maybe they should watch HBO's Chernobyl. That one was a masterpiece of suspense for a story which everyone knows how it ends:))

Just finished ep14 and gotta say revolutionary songs make for a much better background than the 2008 Olympics babble;) loved this version of 草原上升起不落的太阳 The young Ye Wenjie story watches a bit like an old-school romance. I'm enjoying it. The editing is still random af though. Engaging threads be cut off with long fillers😑 Tbh I'm still waiting for sth to awe me… Cool uncle Shi Qiang remains the shining gem of this series😄

Instant mood improver these two<3 Good to know I'm not the only one that keeps coming back time and again. Can't resist their charm:))

On second thought, I do agree with you. She could've interpreted the role better. Maybe they forgot to pay the guys in editing and they got revenge via a hundred Erlangs;)

I'm not acknowledging hard truths on Mondays;P

I liked her in other roles. But this one.. it's like the character was designed to be annoying. But to be fair, that's how I feel about a lot of female characters in c-dramaland:D

Looks like no one here would miss the reporter lol. I'm the opposite, I rarely like faithful book adaptations. To me these are incompatible media. As Megumi-H said, when we read books we can set our own pace and tone. With dramas it's either hit or miss:/

Some alien monster smut, I mean romance… sure would've livened things up a little 😆

Maybe she's Shi Qiang's love interest:D

Oh yes the reporter lol. Typical. She doesn't annoy me as much, because I've grown immune:) Just rolled my eyes when she showed up.

So true about Wang Miao. You'd expect him to be a bit more analytical in that situation. I wanted to write earlier that the tone could've been set better - it's so dramatic from the start before anything much happened. But then I thought maybe that's too much complaining in one comment;)
I like Shi Qiang too! But that's predictable of me - I'm always drawn to the troublemakers lol. Ye Wenjie - I'm a little put off by her overly stoic demeanour but I liked how they introduced her. She's a pretty intriguing character on the whole. Shen Yufei though… I think they made her too cryptic - to the point of being uninteresting. She's had a lot of screen time but when I think about her, I basically draw a blank. OTOH Pan Han just showed up for two short scenes and I already have a good read on him.

I did read it:) I'll reserve my comments since you don't wish to talk further. Anyway it's clear we're looking at it from two different perspectives, so agree to disagree.

At first I thought this story was set 10+ years in the past. I mean why would anyone torture themselves by practicing characters on paper when godsends like Skritter exist?! This is going to give me flashback nightmares, along with looking up words in paper dictionaries;) I admit it's way more cinematic though... that 'shangxin' scene on the boat was quite beautiful.
I'm not surprised by all the raving comments. Even on ep2 this looks well-made and heartfelt. My only problem is that Teh reminds me a bit too much of my younger self - getting all moody and possessive over my best friend, so it's getting a little uncomfortable to watch…😬