matrim

The funny thing about Madame Xu in the drama is her favoritism towards QLF and giving her the power to run the household. In the past, anyone sane and had clan interests in mind wouldn't do such thing. To give concubine high status and power to run the family would greatly disturb family order, damage the family reputation and prospects. For families of nobles and high rank officials such act almost equaled to suicide, because bad family reputation or family unrest can lead to official punishment, in the extreme cases, even banishment from the court. QLF being Madame Xu's niece is just no excuse. It's nonsensical.

In the book Concubine Qiao is not a villain. She has her ambition and wants to win ML's favor, but hasn't done anything evil. She's just no match for FL in intelligence. And she is not Madame Xu's niece. The main villain in the book is Concubine Qin who has a son and wants her son to inherit the title.

Obviously the screenwriter thought the plot in the book is not dramatic enough to attract audiences' attention, hence the changes. The book is basically a slice of life story, with little melodrama and harem scheming.

Great pity that screenwriter changed Madame Xu's character completely. In the book she's a kind old lady with wisdom and experience, dignified but never overbearing. And she is the main shipper of ML and FL.

https://novelmao.com/concubine-raiders/ It's machine translated.

https://novelmao.com/concubine-raiders/ It's complete but machine translated. Mind you, the novel is lengthy and has tons of characters. And the plot and characterization differ greatly from the drama.

It never happens in the novel. The screenwriter added a lot of melodrama in adaptation.

In the novel ML slept with other concubines after he married FL. Qiao got pregnant after the marriage of ML and FL. When they married FL was only 14 and not mature enough to make love. Actually at the beginning she just endured the process rather than enjoyed it.

Just live quietly. Qiao was sent to a nunnery once because she had some medicine from a Taoist priest which resulted in her miscarriage. That angered Xu Lingyi. After she went back, she lost all ambition to get Xu's favor and compete with Shiyiniang and lived quietly in the household.

Yes. Qiao in the novel is just a vain and pitiful side character, but the drama turns her to a main antagonist.

No. Xu Lingyi slept with concubine Qiao before and after his marriage with Shiyiniang. Qiao got pregnant but later had a miscarriage and lost Xu's favor.

Search 庶女攻略 or A Concubine's Daughter and Her Tactics on audible, btw the audiobook is in Mandarin.

Try this: https://novelmao.com/concubine-raiders/. It's complete but machine translated.

In the novel 2nd sister died young (3 yrs I think) and the daughter who married Wang family is 10th sister shiniang. She has some conflicts with FL when in Luo family, but can hardly be called evil. After marriage she and FL don't have much interaction. And Qiao Lianfang isn't evil too in the novel. The screenwriter changed a lot in plot and characterization, to the extent that some characters (FL for example) are unrecognizable. Better see novel and drama as two different stories.

The novel is set in a fictional dynasty, not Ming Dynasty actually.

Yes. When I saw "assertive" in the description of FL's character in synopsis I knew there's huge difference in the drama. Shiyi Niang is always considerate, graceful and low key in the novel. I understand the change though, otherwise it would be too much of a challenge for the actress and might appear as boring for the audience.

Bound to be lots of differences. From the trailer one can tell FL is a complete different character compared with the novel. As a concubine born daughter she wouldn't be so bold as to ignore ML when she steps out of the carriage.

Well, a slow-burn, slice-of-life drama is not for everyone.

Gu Tingye and Sheng Cahngbai look somewhat similar, but definitely not Qi Heng.

It's adapted from Qin Jian's novel with the same title.