gmat6594

Based on the novel 锦囊 Jin Nang by Ming Sheng pen name Shui He. Apparently the drama follows the book, I guess, fairly closely.
Some reader's comments here.

https://book.douban.com/subject/25797800/

Are the two stuck in the present time gonna travel back in time to save her?

Alone of all of the sites, dramacoooll.one has it as Under the Moonlight (2025): Season 1.
https://dramacoooll.one/seasons/under-the-moonlight-season-1
I'm sure that it is a mistake.

In the 1980s I was part of the JET program in Japan and during my third year, I was based in a SHS (Senior High School) but visited various high schools in Saku area. The worst that I visited was the agricultural high school and it was pretty grim. No fighting, but classrooms weren't cleaned. Students in the class I visited were unmotivated and one went to the window to talk to a friend walking outside during the middle of the lesson. The old teacher tried to set an example, but I wonder how much he could help. Looking back, I think that the students, most of whom had no intention of being farmers, really needed Hope. Hope in a future. There was one high school that was worse. I never visited that school. That school had an AET (Assistant English Teacher) based there. She was quite interesting. I respected her as a person. I rode the train to the school and one time, some flunkies rushed in to reserve seats for a bull. The other students shied away. I sat in the empty seat next to him which displeased him. He made a point of flashing a wad of 10,000 yen bills like a hand of cards.

True, but Muzhi might have treated her better in the lead up to a proposal. No stigma being a courtesan and no strong feelings of betrayal in her heart. Her love for him might have tipped her to think about it more seriously. Han Muzhi would not be a magistrate in Linfen without the backing of Mr Liu, though. It is strange that as accomplished as Luo Shu was, we only see it when she helps the yamen. She was top at Mengke House, but we really don't see it. With her parents alive, how far could she have moved up in society and would that lead to the Capital, and perhaps Eunuch Zhang who was looking for a capable women. That was a thread left unfinished. Who was he looking for anyway? To many scriptwriters.

Menglin first noticed Jin Nang when she played the pipa in ep. 1. and ep. 2. Notice that he was not interested in Jin Nang or the defowering event (42:05) The comments, "No wonder she's the star of Menke House were made by the two men nearby. When she started playing the pipa, her bold strumming and her choice of ballads caught his attention. She plays with heroic spirit. What kind of hero deserve such beauty. Not deserves such a beauty. Menglin was perceptive and knowledgeable enough to admire and understand her choice. And after he won the bid, he had no interest in bedding her. As he and Luo Shu interact, you can notice her giving him a brief look of consideration when he does something good that is unexpected. For example, ep. 3 10:20 when he gives his snacks to the boy who is starving. Those brief moments are there for a reason. Later he will offer to trade his life for her freedom, (ep. 35) be beaten to within an inch of his life rather than give her up. (ep. 30) And when going back to his Father in Taiyuan means certain death, ask Han to take care of her if he dies. (ep. 32)

In ep. 35, 31:27, Qin Yi said that selling your deflowering night was another excuse to scare you. . That surprised me when I saw it during a re-watch. Madam Yu had switched another girl for Jin Nang as Menglin had won the bid. I've been re-watching important events in Luo Shu and Menglin's story.

When you think about it, by social standings, Menglin as the youngest son of Gov. Qi is only approached by Liu Wan whose father is not as powerful nor rich as Gov. Qi. Menglin was supposed to marry a prime minister's granddaughter. Who knows who Liu Wan could have been married to. Luo Shu and Magistrate Han Muzhi would have been closer as he comes from a modest family and before her parents died, so did she. Had the fire not occurred, would Luo Shu's ability have attracted the attention of Magistrate Han when he moved to Linfen? It would seem that her natural inclination would become a traveling businesswoman. So she would not have needed to join the yamen. If they were to meet, would she have accepted being a concubine and would Liu Wan accepted such a woman who would steal Han Muzhi's heart? Without the fire, would Menglin and Luo Shu ever have the chance to meet? They lived and will live in the same city.

Chen Yi manipulated young Yulan (Luo Shu) to get at Wuniang who had adopted her. If so why did he feel the need to break her spirit by sending her to Mengke House and later by having her virginity sold? It was never clearly shown in the flashbacks that she had a mind and will of her own to resist him.

After offering to trade his life for her freedom and then risking life and limb to saveher from the consuming fire. Luo Shu wakes up and finds that Menglin is in prison and charged with falsifying document to obtain military grain. A capital offense and Muzhi's future father-in-law is using this to destroy the last survivor of Menglin's political family. Luo Shu sneaks in to prison under the guise of delivering food. But she intends to marry him in the cell. He thinks that it is a dream until they bump heads and then realizes it isn't. He pushes her away because he doesn't want her to face the stigma of being the widow of a executed criminal. It is not the first time that he tries to get her to give up on him in prison. Noteworthy is that Luo Shu decides be herself to marry him in prison before he might be executed. SHE recites the wedding vows and finally clearly states that she like him. Chinese dramas don't use love but like. The journey to get here is at times understated and seems to be between friends rather than lovers. Indeed earlier at the Lantern Festival when he kissed her, she pushed him away and slapped him. She felt that she could not trust anyone. . (ep. 26)

Don't know how many episodes that you have seen. But, understand that alone, of all of the characters in this drama, Menglin undergoes the most change. There is a reason why Luo Shu chooses to love him in this life or not at all. And there is a reason why Han Muzhi became just an admired friend. At best, a friend , a dear, respected, ... friend.. Unfortunately Menglin's character is saddled with being the comedic element that is used to cause friction with Luo Shu from the beginning. I suppose that Han Muzhi was made to seem like the perfect match for Luo Shu as the road not taken, but the screenwriter and director failed to understand that they merely made the ML seem completely lacking by comparison. I think that if elements of the last episode had been incorporated in the first episode to understand her and his journey, then it would have been a better story. Spoilers below.

I think more that he has to prove true sincerity towards her. Constant visits to meet her at the door and perhaps either a separated marriage like Luo Shu and Menglin or a petition to the Emperor to either rehabilitate her or allow the marriage. .

The very last scene brings to mind New Years Eve in Hawaii. Although Japanese Americans, we picked up the Chinese tradition of popping firecrackers on Dec. 31st. By the mid 70s the neighbors in our block started to pop the long string of firecrackers at midnight. 25.000 or 50,000 strings of firecrackers on a pole. And each household would pop their strings one after another, The Korean family, the Family whose father was from Tennessee with his Korean wife. It was a great time.

1. You could consider that there are two romances with the FL. The FL has a crush with that is returned by the 2ML from the first episode and they openly acknowledge it in ep. 16 but it broken in the next episode. The 2ML can not cut ties with his fiance and her powerful father and cannot protect the FL from being bullied. The 2ML then has an unrequited love until ep. 35.
The ML is interested in the FL as a courtesan from the second episode but does not realize that she is posing as a male constable. Their relationship is rocky as compared to the 2ML he is like a baby brother and there is a clash because of differing social status that she is very sensitive to. Because of the breakup with the 2ML in ep. 17, the ML becomes the default ship. and the ship progresses in increments. There is a cute bump in ep.23. and another bump in ep.27. And another in ep.29. and then they are together in that episode.
2. Not quite break up, but the two sometimes follow separate paths but then work together.
There is a third ml who obsesses over the FL that becomes evident from ep. 23.
3. There is no time skip during this period.
4. Once she decides on the ML, she doesn't waver. But both will try to sacrifice their relationship for each other. FL in Ep.31. ML in ep. 32.
5. The 2ML must untangle his relationship with the 2FL and her father.
6. Because the 2ML is mature, intelligent and cultured, the ML is viewed as annoying by quite a few here.
7. The FL has a HE, the ML waits at home for her, but both love each other. The 2ML and 2FL have a more ambiguous ending.

She is untangling on why her parents were killed. It involves all of the main characters. The ML is there for the FL that the 2 ML can't and won't.

Baidi lists two directors. Main seems to be Gu Qiming 顾其铭. Also Guo Feng 郭锋 is listed as a director. Both are listed as actors but not under the Chinese character names. Baidu lists 1 main scriptwriter and 10 other scriptwriters. Xu Ziyuan ( script director ) , Gu Qiming , Qin Qiang , Wu Xujiang , Hua Shuyu [53 ], Chen Siyi , Kang Jiajia , Liu Jing , Wu Shuang , Xiao Yi , Zhang Hanbing , Chen Mengjing

Muzhi lacked the most important thing that an ex-courtesan needed. He needed to be decisive about letting others, important others know that he was her man and had her back. And they could not shame her without immediate consequences. At the end, Luo Shu got what she wanted.

Ji Hong appears in final scene as the children's dialog coach. But after that we don't see another shot of his face.

Often you can find more info by googling the Chinese title and go to the baidu baiken page. Sometimes there are episode recaps.
当家小娘子
The son is played by Zhu Binyu 朱彬予. The older daughter is played by Mo Xixuan 莫梓萱. The youngest daughter is played by Ye Quanxi 叶泉希.

I suspect that the writer agreed with you. She stuck him at home waiting for her to make a periodic return. He is basically out of her life. Yet, Menglin fulfills the conditions that she listed on what kind of man she liked while they were trapped in the mine. She is talking about Muzhi but she could be talking about Menglin.
1. Warm and gentle. When he takes Luo Shu to stay at his home, after the New Year's party and both are drunk, he wakes up and sees her sleeping form. He leans over and it looks like he is going to maybe kiss her. She sees him getting close in the reflection and closes her eyes. He pauses and then removes something fallen on her eye and then moves away. No stealing a kiss that she should never have known if she were asleep. 2. Honest and upright. At the end with Wang, he offers the ginseng without a second thought and slips him the money for the charcoal even though Wang had earlier refused it. 3. Fiercely hates evil. He forged his Father's seal to get the military grain. A capital offense. 4. Has the common people in his heart. Hiding in Lian Shus abandoned house, he comments that he has stuck with him. He says that in the next life, Liam Shu will be the Master and he the servant. Luo Shu is listening. 5. Being genuine and carefree. At the Qi Mansion and how the girls treat him and then at the New Year's Party 6. Never indecisive for the sake of worldly gains. He strode up to defend her in front of Liu Wan and her toadies. He went back to help Yanjin whe Qin Yi came. He risked his life and his love. 7. Whenever I'm sick he comes to see me. He (also) brought ginger soup after she fell in the river. 8. Whenever I'm in danger he always shows up in time. He rescued her from Qin Yi at Mengke Hall.