noor1234

oh, ok.

I think he's the murderer, & is aiming everything against ML (probably because he's the chaebol's illegitimate kid or his family was ruined by chairman or he's working for the cousin-group who want to take over succession)

Yup.

Ep.1-2: Pretty cool & fun so far - kind of reminds me of K-dramas like Master's Sun etc.

What FL said to ML was this: 'one a half years of dating a guy & I never wanted to 'sleep' with him, but I cannot stop thinking about the 2 kisses with a guy I barely know from 2 months, & I'm going to be honest with myself.'

She was going to get married to the bf, they were compatible even in jobs - both are marketers - the only reason why the y didn't end up at the altar is because he wanted to do it before marriage, & she after - & she finally realized she was rejecting the bf only because she was not s*xually interested in him. She's s*xually attracted to ML, she wasn't with the bf or SML. It does not mean they are going to get married after this, it does not mean she knows him, it just means she jumped the wall she had created herself to get what she wanted from this guy.

ML has been interested in her for some time - he deleted 'booty call' messages from other women. I think he was falling for her by Ep.3. What remains to be seen is how they navigate dating or getting to know each other as committed partners after this.

They don't have any relationship currently.

Ep.15-16: Did not make any sense & regressed FL's entire journey so far & that of her maid Bitao's. Why would FL (Fake-Rao, now actual Rao) beg, plead & want approval of all these vicious women ALL of whom tried to kill her in previous episodes, but most of all to call that king's consort 'mother' with tears in her eyes when she had done nothing motherly for 20+ years, abandoned her daughter, was not invited to the wedding of that daughter, tried to kill an innocent woman for that daughter, & now was all weepy & confused because FL's life once again was in her hands? Why would the magnificent FL reduce herself so pathetically?

Also, maid Bitao's actions did not make sense - in a proper drama writing, she would've changed sides a long time ago, because First Aunt was an old hag living with 2 other hags, while Lu's had a Duke, a General, & there was Gen. Qin too to back up FL/Lady, & she could've easily disclosed First Aunt's role in exploiting her in front of king's consort - who was going to kill FL for providing fake evidence. I think the drama took away all the bond-building between these 2 women & created a backstabbing maid just for dramatic contrivance.

I've heard & seen these kinds of scenes - women being cruel to other women - are TRP gold in conservative societies' TV dramas (e.g. South Korea, India, Turkey, Pakistan, China & Spain) where audience loves a woman being humiliated, insulted & degraded by other women. What happened in Ep.15-16 had no place in the kind of character arc & story built for 14 episodes, between FL, her maid & the actual culprits, there was a better / funner way to disclose the truth. Extremely B-grade write-up.

For her to be better at courtly, imperial, nobility stuff/ rituals than these born-in-it women is a stretch & unrealistic, considering she was married off after 5 days as Fake-Rao & has had no tutor besides the very young maid as support. Besides, as a poor woman, she was busy earning a living, not trying to find out how these super-rich people's female households operate or men live or what kind of grand gesture will move some grandma or guy - who have seen it all! This is yet another C-drama based on casteism / classism to show that people of 'noble' birth will always be better than those who are born in poverty-stricken so-called 'low-class'. FL Fake-Rao is a of noble-birth raised by poor people (who are shown to be dumb freeloaders, as per this C-drama) . C-dramas perpetuate classism & racism.

Ep.1-8:
1) Actress playing FL is acting the hell out of the 2 roles, that's for sure. I've never hated a 'villain' as much as OG-Rao, completely irredeemable after Ep.1 (killed 2 maids, injured another, nearly killed SFL, slapping everyone in town, shouting at every elder). I think OG-Rao is seriously mentally ill & calling her spoilt is missing the mark. Her scenes are irritating & I forward them all.

2) Racism/Classism/Casteism / Elitism shown in C-drama again: It's great that FL's Fake-Rao was a pot-cleaner/did odd jobs to make ends meet. BUT the big reveal of Ep.1 that FL may be OG-Rao's twin (who was presumed killed in drum on orders of First Aunt) makes me wonder what obsession C-dramas have with 'nobility' & so-called 'blue-blooded' people ending up in their rightful place in blue-blooded households??? It's almost like C-dramas perpetuate the thought that 'true blue blooded' woman had the 'mental capability' (due to being of noble birth) to learn from every person she met in poverty & was intelligent enough to maneuver even these prestigious households while her 'siblings', the sister & brother who she grew up with in poverty-stricken family, where her father was selling her, those siblings are good-for-nothing, gullible, had no job, no hard work, just free-loaders, & spent ALL of the money only to come looking for Fake-Rao in capital again to get more money & now have ended up at enemy Lord Han's mansion, eating meat in Ep. 8 without realizing they are hostages!

I've seen this time & again in Chinese dramas, & I don't know why this racism / casteism is given outrightly in C-dramas, that people of noble birth will be better (intellectually, physically) than people born in / from 'low-class' poverty-stricken backgrounds & any lead of 'noble' birth will end up in position of power / nobility because they are innately able to better handle anything & everything & make most of the opportunities than co-called 'low-class' births. I saw it this year in the cringe-fest Against the Current, Royal Betrothal, Blossoms of Power, The First Jasmine, Ashes to Crown etc. I don't know where this mindset comes from but it has NO PLACE IN 21ST-CENTURY WORLD.

3) C-dramas do want people to leave their brains in the cupboard when watching a drama, but I doubt any newbie former pot-cleaning woman would have managed to successfully do a grandma birthday banquet when she's been a Fake-Rao for only a few weeks & doesn't know the customs & traditions of these rich 'imperial-linked' households. Not only that, she successfully did the temple rituals too. She only has a young maid as a teacher at her disposal. She was married off on 5th day as Fake-Rao. It is unrealistic & unbelievable to say the maid is teaching her or those neighborly concubines & drunk scholars taught her all she needs to know to maneuver this totally new environment. But I guess her noble birth is supposed to explain away why she's sooooooooooo good at everything..........

4) One of the most lacklustre male leads in C-dramas this year has to be this guy, who is given a cardboard, robotic, hanger-on role, he has zero personality, zero interactions as a 'human being / son/ grandson/ friend' with his family or buddies or his male servant. The actor can act, but he looks & sounds & acts robotic. He is shown as being enthralled by her beauty the second she's in his house (& FL is not THAT pretty btw as everyone is calling her, SFL is prettier) - even though it's the face of the scheming evil woman he swore he'd never even see. For him to be jealous of & pull a sword at his army friend over a woman he is having conflicting feelings over is reprehensible. It shows he has no good sense & is easily controlled by women. How is this guy a general???? How is he a catch, if not for the title?!

5) I wanted to see ML's interaction with OG-Rao - that's the only scene worth seeing IMO at this point, whether ML recognizes that he is talking to a totally different woman when he meets OG-Rao & is able to put 2 & 2 together that there are 2 different women, but drama is prolonging that eventuality, I don't know why. Maybe because ML cannot be shown as being in love with a pot-cleaner who was born to poor low-class people, he has to be shown as being in love with a former pot-cleaner married by Lu's to him who is revealed as being of NOBLE BIRTH, which will make her worthy of being in this household & with this guy! (in accordance with mindset of people creating these C-dramas)

6) Lord Han is a guy I've seen in vertical dramas. I guess this is his big break - to play yet another male robot in a drama full of male robots.

Noctis, I disagree with your POV completely. This was a romance that bloomed out of a purely s*xual relationship between a boss/mentor & recent graduate/newcomer/trainee. There was a power imbalance both at work and at apartment: it had to be a secret affair because disclosure would've led to his removal or her removal or some other penalty or job loss. Neither could afford that. Disclosure would've also led to aspersions to FL's character & hard work, that she was using a boss for career advancement & on ML that he was only recommending her because he had been sleeping with her (which did happen btw, when co-boss said as much to him, during that specialist award phase).

ML decided what their relationship would be, not she - he thought he could compartmentalize being a boss and being a boyfriend - he clearly could not. He just didn't know how to be kind, gentle, considerate, empathetic, - part of the reason was because he was commitment-phobe & didn't believe in long-term relationships - that was the driving force of his need for control to keep things the way they were for SIX years. The only reason why this relationship lasted as long as it did is because of FL.

ML was her boss / mentor who she had a one-nighter with, & then was told by her friend that of the s*x is good & no time for any relationship, keep having this friends-with-benefits kind of attachment with the boss. That's how FL & ML began their s*xual relationship, the webnovel. That intimacy bonded them on every weekend (in the webnovel, ML never let her sleep with him in the beginning, she used the guest bed, showered & left). She has to toe the line between wanting openness as a woman & need for secrecy as an employee throughout. He never showed any interest in her life outside of his apartment either, (esp. in the webnovel where he later on found out that she was studying for several languages on weekends she was away from him). He had jealousy issues too. He DID see her primarily as someone he was s*xually compatible with.

All of your points are directed at the FL, probably because you saw the ML looking very cool in all those coats & shirts & decided the submissive FL is the problem, not the seductive older experienced guy she looked up to for advice, for counsel, for love, for approval, for everything emotionally. And he was only there physically, for s*x, for arrogant, condescending advice, not what a boyfriend should've been.

I also think most of their communication / relationship problems were contrived, something made up to prolong tension & drama, because there is no way two people can be in a long-term relationship, when one is boss, the other employee, without someone thinking she is using him for success, & he is recommending her because he's sleeping with her & also, on a personal level, no relationship can survive that long, when one of them is an arrogant, rude & argumentative & the other is a submissive, insecure woman who needs assurance from bf which he is unable to provide because of his bad attitude.

In the web-novel he gets to see what she made of herself without his approval, advice, he used to think she couldn't handle anything on her own, she showed him she could do it alone, successfully - unfortunately that part was condensed to Ep.23-24, where thrust was on how he wins her back, not how much he appreciated her growth when she did the Harbin seminar, how many people looked up to her, how many people wanted to date her & how she created boundaries so that he didn't hurt her again, & then how he worked his way to earn her trust & love, & that of her parents.

But it was a good drama, good adaptation, with the main leads looking very good together, very good direction & great songs.

There's a new version of this, a 12-min. per ep. short drama with good OST, 'Quite the Girl' currently airing on SEN TV - the synopsis is similar to this one. I personally feel the story is ridiculous, but songs are good: FL's grandma kills herself to stop her wedding! FL doesn't have her passport but has a laptop & phone - I think you can go to the nearest embassy / passport office to get a new one & call the police, there is no real logic to the 'trapped good girl' scenario, but because the basic premise is that she uses the guy in the beginning, hence the story arc the way it is. In the new version, 2026 one, FL leaves for higher studies at the prestigious art institute from the money she makes by selling her paintings (!!!), how trapped can you be if you get to sell your paintings?!

The story suits this vertical drama 'What a Good Girl' & makes more sense here.

I think I left a comment when this drama hadn't started or something about the webnovel it is based on - in which boss/mentor/boyfriend is toxic & gaslighting FL throughout (as in he thinks he can compartmentalize & treat FL differently at work versus at home, in a romantic relationship that essentially started as a s*xual chemistry / friends with benefits kind of situation) with complete disregard for how FL saw his actions & words & what she needed from him as a boyfriend. Some of their communication problems were contrived even in the webnovel. I don't think people in long-term relationships (as these2 were, for SIX years - & then 3 years apart) have basic lack of empathy or arrogance & condescension from the man towards the woman & for such a relationship to last for as long as theirs lasted.

This is a very good adaptation of the webnovel. I just wish the breakup had occurred in Ep.18 or so & more episodes were devoted to FL's journey as an independent career woman, ML finding her in her hometown & then slowly ingratiating himself in her life, & being part of her success. All of that got condensed to 2 episodes - Ep.23 & 24. Their post-marriage life could've been a post-credit scene, but I've read on MDL that Early Spring is getting a season 2, so maybe there will be more of her busy career & their schedules, how they make time for one another, sharing a kid, in part 2.

Great OST. FL & ML suited their roles, had great chemistry, looked very good together, very good direction of key 'intimate' scenes because they showed where the relationship stood across a decade.

I didn't know, that's too short a drama - I thought this would go till 24-25 at least, if not 30.

Yup, I forward her scenes.

2 is more likely than 1, but both could be true - he could get TWO cups, give one to Xu Chi & drink the other in front of T.

Ep.1-11: I really like Xu Chi as a character, very formidable, very real, & she's funny & human, & the actress playing the role looks & acts intelligent. I also like the fact that ML just helped her for the sake of helping a stranger, & not with any romantic or hookup notion, before he started grooming her as a prospective member for his team, & does give her steady advice without infantilizing her (unlike all of her current employees/colleagues who find ways to dumb her down). He also looks & acts professionally. He's dull, not good-looking & older (& that's the point probably - because he IS supposed to be a senior, hotshot, sort-after divorced consultant). She shines, he doesn't.

I think the intriguing part is whether FL likes him because he has guided her without any strings attached, respected her ideas & boosted her self-confidence OR she actually thinks of him as a man - because she did grow up without a father & this guy is supposed to be 14-15 years older than her (hence, crush on a father figure?)

FL's mini skirts at work are weird to me - because all of the other women, female bosses & workers wear pants (except the rich-girl 'Tianna' & the former-nasty preggers boss) - and ML also wears pants, but she's wearing shorty-shorts or minis around him or when he takes her for meetings. Even at those companies like celestial, other women are dressed in coats and pants.

I cannot stand the SFL (Tianna or whatever). I forward her scenes (even the ones with the SML) completely. The drama hasn't shown any of FL's relatives (like that absentee dad) yet, so I guess SFL has to fill in the space with her non-problems.

Ep.31: It's incredible to me how much this drama has derailed to the point I cannot recognize the FL, ML or the crux of the story arcs anymore. It's all jingoist propaganda for weak-minded female audience, who want to pretend that men are the root of all of women's problems, that as progressive as ML was shown in the earlier part of the show, he is now a ridiculous emasculated immature loser who just has to accept every weird thing his wife does or says, where even servants are acting like they own the house he lives in while he is tiptoeing around them. And HE is the one who has to be taught lessons by the virtue-signalling on-an-invisible-pedastal FL who can do no wrong.

FL who began as a girl with a remarkable tragic backstory & life journey, incredible brilliance & will power & energy & laughter - & the drama IS her life story - stopped having a fully functioning brain, she hasn't picked up any signals about anything, since she became a commoner. She hasn't shown any capacity to be empathetic to anyone other than drama's self-serving agenda to show women as perennial victims.

For me this story was always about her & the strength of her experience as a noble & slave & commoner. Unfortunately, the drama doesn't know how to write her as a woman, a friend, a lover, a wife or a daughter, unless she is giving a speech about feminism or how the world is cruel towards women & how she will save everyone.

It's especially ridiculous because she has not been shown being angry towards HER OWN DAD & GRANDPA, for what happened to the women & children of her family. She is shown walking in her parent's house & she does not realize for once that her male members were responsible for the upheaval - I know some of commenters said Confucian ideals would've made it impossible for them to 'go against their conscience' BUT a little bit of self-reflection from FL about how she ended up where she ended up would've been useful. She does not like the Lins, it's very obvious, she doesn't like ML, it's very obvious, she doesn't remember any act of kindness (& frankly drama has pummeled ML so much he is unrecognizable now). Lins are the bad guys - people who chose to live & save their families, men who didn't want women of their family to become whores are bad guys.

I don't want to get into the semantics of various scenes, because MDL commenters pick one or two lines & start bashing whoever makes a post that isn't praising the drama or cast, but now FL wants to write plays, which she wouldn't have been able to do even as the wife of an imperial scholar. She was rude to ML's elders (those Lin grandparents) whose only crime was to not support her Shen family - but expects ML to fall over himself and any sword just to please her.

FL & ML are no longer well-rounded characters. And that's not all - most of the guys introduced in this drama are bad, every rich person introduced in this drama is bad.

FL is now a petty small-minded loose cannon. She has been reduced to a robotic avenger. She has had zero open conversations with ML about their marriage, his past relationships, her past relationship, & the house she has ended up in - which would've revealed ML's point of view too, along with allowing FL to reveal bits of her former self & trauma indirectly. There is zero compatibility & communication between them at every level. How is it possible that a smart quick-on-her-feet servant could work with 'master' but cannot do so as his wife? The drama is unbalanced & is not even pro-women, it's pro-victimhood, it's about showing one woman coming to the rescue of other women. She is the only one who knows what is right, knows how to go about it (or the female servants know what is right). This is juvenile writing at its best.

And for all of the 'female empowerment' mumbo jumbo, this 47-episode drama needed a MALE LEAD to get female viewers to watch it - none of the people commenting on MDL would've watched the female-only cast for 47-episodes, if they didn't have cute boys fawning over their every move. That is how shallow this drama really is.

A very old hit J-drama Oshin did not feature a single guy (& who Oshin ended up with wasn't really a good husband, so he didn't have much screentime, even though she remained married to him till his death) & Oshin became a successful franchise owner showing Japanese business & cultural evolution after WW1.

All that ATC does is show that Chinese dramas don't know how to write women look good, without making men look bad.

Dropping this drama.

👍

My comment has nothing to do with 'lovey dovey romance' I've noticed on MDL people dumb down what someone has commented on, pick one or two lines, react to it & ultimately defend a series, no matter how ridiculous a plot point or character may be.

I'm talking about 2 adults. One of whom forced a marriage on another, that he has a past with that he doesn't know about. And another adult, who refuses to talk about the elephant in the room - inspite of her intelligence. This drama should be moving forward, instead we will be shown one pitiful woman after another for the remainder of this series - all saved by FL. While the crux of the matter - her relationship with ML AND the trauma of the massacre/ Lin decision - will be back burner for the majority of that time. And will only get resolved once she finds out he isn't all that bad - in Ep.42-44!!!! This is a waste of time. I have no intention of watching a series where FL is giving lectures to all men & women for 17 remaining episodes.

I have a problem when victimhood is reduced to a gender - in this case women only. Are women the only sufferers of that time period or poverty or class system? This is nonsense.

injuries, his health was 'never the same' after that battle is the way it's said on twitter. Most probably his heart weakened, & he died of heart failure! No, she doesn't remarry.

Ep. 29-30: I've started forwarding all the stories of all the miserable women shown in most episodes, whose lives are transformed by FL - It seems like FL is running a social welfare agency for broken women. To make one gender victim of another gender is off-putting to me. And this has nothing to do with that time period. This drama has been created for 21st century women, not imperialistic Ming, Ding, whatever dynasty women. There's a reason there's a pity party whenever a woman turns evil in this drama (her actions explained away as being product of an unfair system, no matter how privileged she may be) & an anger whenever a guy turns bad (who gets no redemption arc).

And trailers for Ep.34 show there is no progress between FL & ML - in fact he's hung up on her former fiancee. This is exactly why I said that this trope of non-communication should not have been used, but has been used to prolong the idiotic trope of 'non-consummation' till the last few episodes. We are literally expected to say 'hoorah' when they do it after she finds out about Shen graves in the last few episodes, they go & make 2 babies, & spoiler-free - what will happen, happens, etc. The End!

They should've moved on to FL understanding what privilege to do good on a larger scale this marriage provides her - because she is the type to make the best of any situation. She could've taken ML into confidence as to what she wanted her role to be, she hasn't. She is still moping around rescuing women. And she'll continue to do that till the end.

What was so wrong to show a scene between ML & FL as to what their expectations are from this marriage that FL did not agree to? Everything is not about s*x. There is a thing called compatibility, where on different issues, they could've had meeting of minds. FL could've brought up his screwed up history with women, she could've made any excuse in the world to know about Shens & what happened to them, & truth would be revealed, she'd make her peace with it & move on. Because the no.1 reason she has a problem with him as a person is that he is the same guy she was betrothed to as a teenager. Instead, we have a stone-faced FL as if life has been taken out of her BECAUSE of ending up with Lin, not spelling out anything. ML used to be graceful & serious, he's transformed into a guy living as a guest in his own house & a hanger-on around his former maid wife, looking ridiculously childish around a dismissive FL.

Instead of the plot moving forward, them reconciling, getting kids, & for 10-12 episodes we can see their actual married life together, in which she can make all the changes in the world, we are expected to watch this stalemate between FL & ML for 10-12-14 more episodes.

I still think Road to Splendor had a tighter script & story & it remains the best drama for 2026 IMO. Though this is definitely a grander a more large-scale production, that was good for a while, but it's dragging a LOT & there are 17 more episodes to go. And the plot has nothing more than showcasing miserable women (& one more battle for the throne, apparently).