matrim

Mostly costume dramas, Untamed, Under the Power, Royal Nirvana, Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace, just name a few.

Well, Zhou Shen has sung tons of OSTs for TV series, animes and games. Some call him 'king of OST' in China for a good reason.

The ‘female’ singer you heard is actually a male. Zhou Shen has a unique voice sometimes described as 'God sent' as his voice has a angelic quality because it didn't go deep during puberty. So many who heard him first time often mistook his voice as female.

What do you want to know about Ning Yi's harem? Though he has several concubines apart from Tan'er, only two have real romance from my view, Yun Zhu and Hong Ti. Chen Fan has his own loved one in the book, also a koungfu master.

Name was extremely important in ancient China. When an emperor or high rank official died, he would be given an official posthumous name to recognize his achievement, a way to respect and honor him. So name mattered even when one was dead.

The mixed feeling results from the way the screenwriter adapted the novel. The comedy in the earlier part is mostly the screenwriter's creation while the more sober tone in later part is the returning to the novel (though the screenwriter still added a lot of scenes not included in the book).

And a man could have his "Hao", third kind of name. I use "kind" because one could have multiple "Hao". The main difference between "Hao" and the other two names "Ming" and "Zi" is the latter were given by his parents or elders while the former could be given by his peers and even by himself. "Hao" had a more informal feel to it and usually bore the man's ideal, interest or personality. In short, one's name in ancient China was a complicated cultural matter.

In ancient China, a man usually had several names, esp men of noble, official, or well-educated origins. Take Ning Yi as an example. Ning Yi is the name he gets after birth, and Li Heng is the name he gets after he becomes adult. The former is called "Ming" and the latter "Zi". When one turned adult, it's impolite to call him by his "Ming", so his "Zi" Li Heng is used most of the time.

Ning Yi has seven wives (concubines) apart from Tan'er. The harem thing is one major criticism from readers, esp female readers. Back then (ten years ago when the novel started) it's common practice among web novels targeted towards male readers.

Not finished yet. In later part the story does not focus on ML and FL much, it's rather a group portrait.

No, Ning Yi never abandons Tan'er for anyone. One of the reasons he later kills the emperor and rebels is the unfair treatment Tan'er receives: she has to jump into river to escape from a government detective's chase. But, if you are more interested in romance in the novel, you may be disappointed as it only occupies a small part of it, one fifth at most. The majority of the novel is about the chaotic times, foreign invasion, clash of various forces, and misery and struggle of normal people. It's very heavy and dark, though with some light hearted passages.

I wouldn't say that. A limb maybe, an arm or leg, not the whole skeleton. Many major events in drama don't happen in novel, and vice versa.

https://novelmao.com/concubine-raiders/ Complete but machine translated. Drama and novel are two different stories.

It never happens in the novel.

In novel she plays an important part in rebellion against the court and later gets a high position in Hua Xia Army (an army with a major aim to fight Jin Dynasty (Jing in drama)). She and Ning Yi has a daughter.

In the novel only Ning Yi transmigrated. No one else.

Chaos in noble and high rank official families could lead to dire consequences back then. To favor concubine over legal wife and treat the latter badly could resulted in the noble or official's impeachment, and in extreme cases, the loss of his title or job. It's just no trivial matter.

Sorry to say this, but this drama is definitely NOT close to the period. One example, to give Qiao, a concubine the power to run the household was unacceptable in that period, family reputation would be ruined. For in that period, one responsibility of a female head in a noble family is socializing, visiting other noble families and receiving lady guests. That had to be the legal wife. If a concubine was given the power to do this, it would be a challenge to the social norms and great insult to other noble families.

Yuanniang has a son as in drama. She tricks QLF to be a concubine and makes shiyi 2nd wife. In this way she can ensure the step mother won't be a stranger and therefore her son's safety and welfare will be secured. As her son is the heir of Marquis Xu and of great importance to the family, Madame Xu understands her motive but with some extent of distaste. But she never dislike shiyi for yuanniang's sake. She doubts shiyi's ability as a mistress of the house, but from the beginning she wants shiyi to be accepted by the whole family.

Concubine Qin has a son, also the first born child of ML, a sensitive, kind hearted boy but often feels self-abased. Concubine Wen has a daughter, a nice girl acting as a bridge between she and FL. After she realizes that shiyiniang really cares about her daughter's happiness and marriage, she gets along with shiyi quite well and later becomes shiyi's assistant in managing the household. Yuanniang, the 1st legal wife exists in the novel and the relating plot didn't change much in the drama.
For lots of book fans, this drama turns out to be another disappointing adaptation of a well-received novel. It's not the plot can't be changed, for one thing, to include all the characters in the book is impractical, it has to be changed, but ought to be changed for a good reason. Some changes, like FL's assertive and bold personality, or Madame Xu's favor towards Concubine Qiao are just groundless. As a concubine daughter, shiyi is inferior in status and has to behave carefully otherwise she will offend the elders and won't survive for long. Being good at embroidery won't give her that kind of confidence. Madame Xu is even more ridiculous. Allowing concubine to run the household is unthinkable for any decent family, let alone a noble one. One of the important duties of female household head in a noble family back then was socializing, visiting other noble families and receiving guests. That had to be the legal wife. If that was done by a concubine, it would be a great insult for others, and the family doing this would be excluded from social circles and family name ruined. How can an experienced old noble lady do this?