grapejuice

She would have said no, no matter what. Her parents would have said no, no matter what. His parents and family would have said no, no matter what ... and, probably, all of his friends and colleagues would have said no as well.

So, he did what you do when you don't want to hear no.

You don't ask. You don't ask for permission. You just plot your best scheme and then do it ... and then ask for forgiveness.

He had spotted a true talent. He admired her and then fell in love with her. So he decided to seal the deal in a way that would not permit any opposition. Don't ask and ... set things up so that nobody can ever say no. Get the emperor to put it in stone so that nobody can even really object.

Wow. I mean wow !!! It was awfully smart, a brilliant, possibly foolproof plan ... but now he has to beg forgiveness and contend with the fact that he made all of these decisions for other people that he really had no right to force.

And, who knows, he may have been wrong that she would fall in love with and choose him eventually and he may have been wrong that he would be better able to protect her and give her (and them both) a good life.

It was selfish but, more so, I think, it was arrogant to think that he would be the best person to make all the decisions for other people. How did he know that he had the ability and why did he think he had the right to make those decisions ... and make them permanently so that there could be no reversals, ever.

They (she ...and he ... and everyone else) now have no way out so ... it better work out some how.

So, I think she'll decide to make the most of yet another situation. She'll survive and not make herself miserable or die. She'll choose to live ... to the best of her ability ... just like her mum told her to. And so that is why it will work out in the end, no matter what.

I didn't see any negative comments. That would be disappointing.

LoL. I'm pretty sure he would lose his head if he said ... sorry crown prince, I have to go and save the woman I love instead of you ... some things are really not choices or a test of love

Her old friends at the Lin residence are probably happy ... I hope ... kinda

Me too ! And he's become about as close to the King as he ever could be. The planned marriage to a traitor would never have done so well for them all. But no ... a maid? The maid that saved all their lives ! But no ... a maid?

It's kind of funny that JinQi saved the crown prince's life so that he could become King which may have averted all kinds of bloodshed and upheaval ... and it should have made him a hero ... to all ... but absolutely nobody is talking about it. No congratulations. No thank yous. Nada. Nothing. Just gossip about his marrying his maid.

The drama doesn't have fantasy elements but the novel it's based on did.

Yes. Already. I got it. I don't hate ML or think he should rot in hell. Did my comment say otherwise? I know he had his reasons. I get why, from his perspective, he had to do it. And those reasons may prove to be totally justified. He played his cards very well. But, objectively, from a number of other important perspectives, and by today's standards, he has done a bad thing. Accept it and move on. Don't get angry with me. Just keep watching.

Their daughter just broke the family out of slavery and now she's being dragged back into the house she had worked so hard to get out of. Plus they lose her again. Plus who knows how badly her in-laws might treat her? I'd cry and wail if I were them.

Recognizing this and also giving credit where it is due. He was more intelligent, more strategic, more industrious (to get himself more power and influence), more aggressive and more willing to take an incredible risk that will get him into a hell of a lot of trouble. Not too meh

This is all true. All the criticisms of the ML's actions are accurate and worth really thinking about.

So, now the question, in the second half of the drama is whether something better and something good can come from it. Can we make good things come out of bad situations?

I hope so ... in fiction and in reality. Understand what's wrong. Understand what you want that would be better and then get to work.

Maybe this very flawed, hypocritical ML can turn things around ... with the right guidance.

You can look at things from the personal/small point of view and you can look at things from a cultural/historical/ big point of view.

The ML is flawed by today's standards. But he's also flawed by the standards of his day (in the eyes of his family and peers). And people like that are interesting because sometimes, just sometimes, they may even help us to get from one set of standards to the next.

The ML and FL have education, intelligence and adaptability. The ML has power and influence. And they both (she more than he) have a view of the world that includes people across class and gender.

So, yep, the ML has done bad by forcing this marriage; bad by our standards and bad by the standards of the day.

But that's not the end of the story. He may be redeemed on a personal level and together they might accomplish some good things on the historical/cultural level.

If they survive, they might be able to use their education, intelligence, power and perspective to make a better world for everyone in their society. Which would be a great story on both levels and in every way.

So, let's relax and watch what happens next.

First survive and then you can go against the current.

A couple of people have pointed out that the FL, very understandably, wants a quiet. safe life but with all of her gifts she is kind of wasted in that life when she could do more if she were to have a bigger, more adventurous one.

The mark is just a wine stain birthmark. Port wine stains are skin pigment variations. It's not common, but not totally unusual, for children to be born with one somewhere on their body. People sometimes use heavy makeup to camouflage or lessen the depth of color in them, when they cover a large area especially on the face. My friend has one. It's not a sign of illness or allergy. It's just a unique thing for everyone who has one. And in the drama, it helps us to identify this beautiful young girl who is the same age as our FL. We can spot her despite the fact that she has a minute amount of screen time.

I don't hate him. In fact I quite liked him.

But, when he told the FL what had happened after she was taken, he deliberately framed the story to make himself sound good and the ML sound bad. It's not just that he didn't tell her all that the ML had done to find her, he actually made it sound like his competition had caused the problem, was responsible for it and then didn't care to do too much to make it right.

In fact, the ML had gone to great lengths, even almost putting the CP as a lesser priority so that he could spend all of his time looking for her. There were lies of omission in what he said and lies of commission as well; all deliberately told to make himself look good at the MLs expense.

And once he had done that ... I found myself truly disliking and not trusting him anymore. It was seriously disappointing.

I think he knows or at least suspects. Why would this guy be hiding when he belongs at the troupe and has been working there for years. Plus ML promised to get him out safely knowing that he'll get info if he does ... because that's what this guy desperately needs at the moment. So, yep, I think he knows.

A Mary Sue is a perfect character living a charmed life, created by some hack author who wants to project their own self into that existence even though it comes off as being trite and meaningless to the reader. Basically, she's a fun kind of self indulgent creation that's just a wish fulfillment for a writer having too much fun.

But do you really think any of that applies to this character, this story and this author?

No. This woman is competent at surviving because she's intelligent, well educated and quick witted. That doesn't mean that she's picture of perfection in a shiny world of good fortune. In fact, the situation and story are quite the reverse of that and it isn't necessary to see the character falling down just for the sake of it. This is a story of survival where mistakes get you dead and desperate opponents can come out of nowhere. Our FL can't afford to be too imperfect or make too many mistakes.

Anyway, none of what we've been saying in our comments is going to make much difference. The new villain and his daughter are desperate. They're all about present moment power and politics ... the quickly evolving game that's happening at the palace. The ML is looking strong and well positioned right now ... so they want to join families and factions.

Unfortunately the ML has already rejected them with his rejection being strongly and squarely aimed (through the poem) at daddy. Master Lin does not intend to join hands with the Duke.

So, how can they get master Lin to change his mind? The Duke won't accept the rejection. So he has given the job entirely to his daughter along with a lame plan to seduce the young master by finding out what the nobody is doing so she can do it better, and then eliminate the FL nobody in order to replace her ... which they will do just in case it might help. After all they're cutthroat and they're desperate.

Unfortunately, the daughter will have to escalate into violence and even then she'll fail because Master Lin just isn't going to align with her daddy. The only way that they could possibly succeed with our ML is if they kidnap and ransom our FL ... but they don't know this so they will fail spectacularly and fast.

The more important thing for everyone is what will happen with the Marquis, the Crown Prince and the King. Why? Because Lin has gotten himself into a do or die political situation that could go terribly wrong.

True in wartime maybe but in peacetime most violence against women happens between partners in the home.

Anyway, thinking about it is depressing while the drama isn't for the most part. Our girl is going to win after all. :-)

Having a choice is the best thing even if it's hard to choose. Not having one is everything she's fought against. But, we know from the HE that she may look back some day and remember it as a good thing that this particular choice was made for her. Although ... I guess she and we will find out as we go along.

TY for this link. Omg. reaching for her mother in the sky !

Orchid I think. Also flying,or soaring.