grapejuice

The Shen family. The Lu family. Furong's family. It all happened at roughly the same time. Insecure dictators tend to clean house ...

lol. He did ! But he might have been more certain, at that time, that she would want to know and she wouldn't use any of it against him. Now that she's pretty pissed off at him, she might even maybe perhaps want to use such information to get a little revenge for what he has done.

So, if I were advising him, I'd suggest that he be worried about that for a while until he proves himself again and he's sure they're both firmly on the same side.

Actually, darling I'm not too worried about myself not understanding the drama. I do well enough in the comprehension department thanks so much. So, don't bother implying that I don't or anybody else here doesn't either. We all do just fine.

She didn't want to be his concubine. She wanted to be an independent person; a doctor or an official but that wasn't to be so she decided to marry up as high and as well as possible. She didn't stipulate that she wanted to be a concubine. She just wanted to be a permanent member of a wealthy household. Because she deserved to live well as much as anybody else.

You seem to think that rating women in the drama more highly is the same thing as rating the ML poorly. But those things aren't mutually exclusive. Nobody is down crediting or down rating the ML. We seem to me to be noting both his strengths and his weaknesses, pros and cons, which is in the end, the most accurate and compassionate way to look at any person. We are all grey characters; even MLs.

Pretty sure that he would be punished for knowing where they are buried, for visiting, and especially if people discovered that he found them and had them buried them properly (as we suspect he did). They were disposed of by decree so he would be exposing himself and his family to some serious trouble by making a deal of paying respects. Maybe if he was showing his respects in private but why would he invite her to that?

So, we're overestimating the FL? Are we thinking of her more highly than she deserves? Funny that, because the ML agrees with us.
Anyway, try living without self-influence for a while. Try living without believing that you are special in any way. Try not seeing that there really are champions in the world who uplift and motivate the rest of us to do better and live better. Try never aspiring to anything and always settling for less.
And see how long you last in this real world that you are describing as appropriate for women. Or ... are you already living under a bridge in the dark ... trolling?

Beauty, charisma and this thing that people call chemistry between leads is all in the eye of the beholder. I find myself not agreeing with other people's assessments ... regularly. And I think it's a bit off for any of us to think that we can speak about it in objective terms that are right for everybody.

And actors who get the great scripts probably get them because producers, directors, and other top actors want to work with them. They have talent. They are the right fit for that good character and that interesting script. And obviously audiences keep tuning in to see them ... so doesn't Seven Tan's success kind of explain itself and answer your question? People think she's talented. People enjoy watching her work. End of story despite the fact that we all have our own opinions.

Anyway, back in the day when there were supermodels and even now I look at people who get paid outrageous amounts of money to walk runways and I always think the same thing. Yes, they're beautiful in this standard universal way that appeals to many people but I'd rather look at a face with some character in it and also there are these people who have that girl or boy nextdoor kind of beauty that's more comfortable and accessible. And it's the same with all entertainers; dancers, singers, actors, instrumentalists, painters ... I want to see interesting, intriguing not standard beauty because it's different and it stands out to me.

And this actor fits with all of that. She's accessible. She becomes her characters and helps me to like and understand them more than many other actors do. So, that's more than enough, to explain her successes, at least to me? She's different and she's really good.

simple minded but not in a negative way? Omg. You are describing me everyday before noon and three coffees. :-) How did you know?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't like the way that Han framed his description of how she was saved. He did make it sound like Lin was the cause but didn't much care abut finding her after that admission.

Of course, she, herself, and Ji'er are the ones who really saved her. Others tried to help but more has to be made of recognizing and repaying Ji'er for her selfless heroic actions.

Nonetheless, Han knew full well that the Young Master was clearly distraught and trying to find her with everything he had. I had thought he was a good enough guy to represent what he knew fairly and accurately and give credit where it was due but no he really didn't do that. He deserves credit for his efforts (especially the well timed strike at the villainess with a musical instrument). But JinQi deserves credit too so I hope that the two right hand boys and the Marquis will, at some point, be able to tell her about all that he too did to keep her safe.

So, I think she's bewildered; not quite understanding where this level of commitment is coming from. I mean she surely sees that they are both trapped in this upcoming marriage. Neither of them is walking away from an imperial decree once it's spoken. So, you're right that she would never guess that this is genuine love and helpless yearning. But it obviously isn't a brief, frivolous fling that he has in mind.

Maybe she thinks he doesn't want any real marriage to anyone but instead has a use in mind for her beautiful brain and her many talents. She' could be useful again for for the family and his career.

So, I think she'll show up to their wedding ready to show her displeasure as she must for the whole family to see or hear but, having shed a few tears as well, I think she's regained her composure and will be looking to find out what is really going on.

She may doubt that he's a good person in the face of this but, inside, I think she still knows that he is mainly good, trustworthy, loyal and well meaning at his root.

I don't get the hate either. Grey is grey and grey is most of us; nobody is all good. A lot of people have significant flaws, make really bad choices and yet, on balance are good or at least redeemable people. It might be fair to judge someone for one bad act but, by the end of their lives they might have committed many good acts that you'll never know about.

In fact, I don't think he was shown to be particularly selfish before now unless his parents saw him that way when he stopped being a scholar and ran off to war instead.

He's generally a good son, brother, cousin, leader, boss and official who thinks about the greater good beyond his own interests. He isn't cruel. He listens. He thinks of others. He considers right and wrong. He can be brutal and calculating when he is trying to correct something that he thinks is wrong. He'll pull no punches. But he also tries to think outside the normal boxes used in his class and his family as seen when he finds a way for his second sister to live instead of having to take poison to save the families reputation. He also took his savior and the man's sister into his home out of a sense of appreciation and kindness. He seriously hates being used and will lash back at people who try.

But he clearly, genuinely, wants to be a good person. So, this is maybe the first time that he has really rebelled in a selfish way. So, the hate is misplaced I think. He's been a good person and so the bad act should be seen in that context. And he should be given a real chance to make good on his potential rather than this new thing he's done. I'm not defending it but it's clearly not the best of him when the rest may be redemptive.

You're right. I missed that but were they talking about her appearance in a negative way? or just the author/director's use of her character as a storytelling tool? It's getting late here and I'm not thinking so clearly til morning :-(.

I think she didn't want to know. She may have known unconsciously at first and then more consciously as time went on. But she had no clue what to do. It was too preposterous, much too problematic, incredibly awkward and inconvenient ...so she deflected and played at not knowing or not really believing ... and/or ... maybe she just kept slipping into denial.

Someone else's pleasure. Bearing children for someone else. And let us not forget work without pay for someone else where someone else is a male owner.

No. If sh's discovered, she'll be executed . She basically ran away and went into hiding when she should have obeyed a royal decree by going into the state sponsored brothel.

Slavery was the better part of most marriages back in that day ... :-(

It's true that his mothers poorly conceived plans got in the way and Scholar Han definitely got in the way with his having so much access to the Xu family and Lin having almost none. But Mugiwara is right that his courtship was going nowhere. He seemed overwhelmed and so very awkward. His communication skills failed him and ... well ... with the difference in status, it was going to make the thing a really hard sell. Plus he had serious world matters to contend with and no time while Han was dabbling at studying in between sips of tea and shared meals. The chips were definitely stacked against any courtship and question popping before marriage.

I felt like I got a good sense of what both families were feeling. The Xu family response was purely and simply about profound shock, sadness and loss, apprehension and the beginnings of a deep anger. While the Lin's were feeling indignant shock, anger and betrayal.. There's obviously more to come but both sides were represented fairly equally and well, I thought.

I haven't read the book so I don't know what was changed that dropped who JinQi really is. What we know of him so far has been pretty consistent. I think his perspective on the world has changed somewhat because of LangXian, he's become more responsible in the world since meeting the Marquis and he's getting to be more independent and more of a risk taker as the story progresses. But there's no out of character development in what we're seeing. Given what we already knew, there were no surprises in ep 25 and 26

the goose is already definitely cooked so he might as well eat it

Actually, I think we need more social justice warriors ... and less apathy ... now ... in our present day world. But here we are using more than enough of that energy on a drama that is set, what, a thousand years ago? Irony.

Ahhh. Yes. That's what I forgot to do this morning ... remembered to take the iron and D3 but forgot to take the chill pill. The one that helps most with so many things. :-)

Did he even know about her being accused of theft and then being sold off? Because, if he didn't, he would have met her for a few seconds or minutes where he was generous towards her for some information she gave him and that would have been it. Nobody would remember it years later.

Anyway, I like to think that one of his two right hand boys remembered her, filled him in and he sent a friend or colleague in to buy her. So, until we know differently, I'm going to stick with this idea. That way she's safe.