noor1234

Cut her some slack! She's playing the cards she's dealt in life. And FL did not save her from anything. In fact FL should not have butted into that Wei issue at all - FL thinks simply because she was able to cut off & run away, & make a life for herself, everyone else can too - well, FL was nearly killed, declared dead & married off as a dead woman BEFORE she made her escape - and nobody hounded her in Ganglin after she separated from family (except Zhou widow) - till her dad found out about her in capital. She thinks everyone will find an honest guy like ML who will not sell a woman off for money or revenge or keep the promise to a parent to take her to another place safely.

Wu concubine was brought to capital by her aunt for an advantageous marriage, BUT that didn't stop that same aunt from defaming her own niece THREE TIMES just to latch her to some guy (ML, Wei & now Yu). Wu was groomed to be a concubine. I think once Yu household starts to fall, Wu concubine will come out of this attachment & go make something of herself in Anzhou etc.

Ep. 27: Loved it. Loved how ML & FL worked as a team - with the help of a generous king.

I have a question: how did ML get his job back after being relegated as a commoner - there was no scene between Yus celebrating his downfall, king telling him in private that he was putting him in charge of disaster relief & then Sec. Tian praising ML for his mausoleum move, and suddenly, the last scene shows FL in the dowager's chamber with all the other elite wives, how could she attend it if her husband had been publicly given a dressing down & removal of titles? She was even hiding from the merchants when stepping out of the house & he was wearing a bit normal clothes. So if he is restored, when was he restored & if he is restored, why isn't there a scene of court hearing about it or of the Yus flipping?

I would've guessed that his reinstallation would be BIG news for Yus & needed to be explained. And btw IF Sec. Tian knows ML played a game, surely dowager can also guess she got played?

Oh, okay, I get what you mean, especially after today's ep. (Ep.25).

Ep. 25: Loved the episode from start (ahem) to finish.

I watched all episodes of KTTPH as well, but I did not care for the characters or what happens to them the way I'm invested in this drama. Solid stuff.

Where is Mr. Chongsi btw? Isn't he supposed to help ML in creating revenue stream for grains & do salt reform? Shameless/ SML being in revenue bureau can't be a good thing btw. FL looked v good in that turquoise blue dress on second day of marriage (when ML has had a bad day at the office), didn't lead to any romance though.....

Me too. I don't want them in Ganglin. In fact, I want them to travel as part of checking whether salt reforms are being implemented or not - that kind of a job has the benefits of a title, without the perils. They won't have to stay in capital all that much, but will still have a house & contacts there, as well as in Ganglin. And have lots and lots of kids along the way.

Yeah, BUT king selected Chongsi only because his tutor recommended him, not because Ministry of Personnel had put forth 2 names. Even if he finds out that FL went to tutor, he may mind it, but he based his decision on tutor, not FL or ML. If he starts minding who is doing what behind his back, then he'll mind everyone in court, now won't he?!

Thanks for the history lesson & context! And I agree, FL needs to back off a little bit. Or maybe not be so vigilant.

It's 'free' on plenty of online illegal streaming sites too.....

Not really. I think this setup will allow her to be freer than she would've been as a single woman anywhere. Plus, she can go as fat as she wants to be, & she'll make a better understanding 'wife' to this thankless gutless Shameless/ SML than unfortunately SFL. Wu concubine knows painting & there's a chance that will connect her to the narcissistic SML.

Later on, when this family falls, she can always leave them, because she DOES have a powerful merchant connection - with an ear to the dowager no less.

The 2 things that stood out were the scene with bro - because it's the same bro from Ep.1-3 whose interactions with ML were limited to him pretending to be a salt censor - and now he is managing the salt reforms! - & the other scene was with the mom - because it's the same mom they saw in that pretend wedding carriage/funeral procession & now she was seeing them in similar yet different way. His friends, Sen & military people being there was nice too.

They took a minute to get there though, & even then they were playing around the issue - I think their marriage was a non-issue that was stretched like a chewing gum since ep. 19 - and all this week, in which there were more squabbles than obvious courtship. She had proposed twice when they had nothing. He should've asked her immediately when he first met her in capital (after the pickup in the rain). I found this entire arc bothersome filler.

Yup.

I don't think this drama has the depth or time to show what 5 years apart does to a couple. But they never really had a courtship either. And I doubt drama will show any other ending than the damn Ganglin as endgame.

ML & FL do have a communication gap. But he does need her especially because as he himself says lots of things are said to women in social gatherings / elsewhere that can't be said to the courtier directly. She is his eyes and ears outside of court. She is part of his strength. But both are young people navigating palace politics for the first time. Yus have been at it for decades. So of course there will be trip ups.

This entire thread started from the revelation about the king not sending a gift because of what happened at the banquet. FL said what was most appropriate given the circumstances - I doubt she knew what was going on between dowager & king about dowager's burial. The only thing that stands out to me from all this, is how precarious their situation is & how young they both are. ML & FL cross this bridge too. They are a team, whether they see it that way or not.

Ouch! You've had it with the FL huh?!!! You're right (esp about ML's stance on Chongsi & FL's Wang-Chongsi maneuver, I thought exactly the same thing - this can get him and both of them killed or in prison at the very least!!!), but the drama will show FL to be right, that whatever she's saying or doing is right. Maybe it won't. But C-dramas usually take the side of the women being right (female viewership and all that).

This is a very good analysis - I also see it this way, even though FL's original suggestion to ML to join the military was not technically a bad one - I think military was the only respectable route available to a semi-literate guy with no family, name or connections to 'make' it in the capital or country as a law abiding citizen. ML had said no at first - & that too in front of the crown prince. He could've opened a salt shop too (maybe) but before he'd decided what to do with himself, when everyone had left, I remember FL asking him to marry her & taking everyone along to Ganglin and that's when he went to army & took his buddies along.

I don't think you can blame FL for ML's ambition or 'make hay while the sun shines' personality. He was always an ambitious, opportunistic guy, even as a salt smuggler - he turned himself into that bandit when got the opportunity, he played in the big leagues with big threats to his life, he's used to pressure. He had a huge salt cargo & needed to sell it for a huge amount. Then he quite easily dropped the entire salt in people's water buckets! That flexibility & unpredictability gives him an advantage in court. He could walk away from salt business, he cannot walk away from the king! He is stuck now. You cannot say no to king & live to tell the tale. You are right, FL doesn't get it. Basically, she doesn't want him to get lost / go corrupt / think king's favor will last forever. And she does work behind the scenes to make his work better (Chongsi would be a better pick to make salt reform project a success, though she shouldn't have sent a letter to Ministry of Personnel recommending him behind his back, since she is his fiancée; & should've told him about the monk).

BUT I think drama is going to make FL right, that she's right in cautioning ML & trying to work behind the scenes to make his work easy (however it may come across) & one day ML will realize he's about to lose everyone he worked hard for & will turn around & leave the capital.

My problem with them ending up in Ganglin in the end is two-fold: 1) every place will come with its own set of problems, so what is so bad about being in the capital? In fact ML will probably have to travel a lot to see that salt reform is being implemented in different towns. FL can travel with him. 2) Ganglin is a place full of bad memories for ML. FL has good memories because she got her name in county register 3 times in 5 years. But it's a deadbeat border town with poverty & not much 'shops' even. As a teacher she may get students & grow crops, but ML as military guy will be stuck in the same cycle of base camp, provisions, bandits, salt reform implementation & court politics (another influential censor coming to town & telling him who should be selected for merits, or what he's doing wrong & picking fights with him - deadly clashes far away from the crown - which is worse?).

Ooooh, this is good - I mean, bad! - BUT the scene did not play out like this is the drama: empress did not make a snide remark did she? And king deferred the convo. But king not sending any wedding gift probably is shady stuff. I thought king was trying to show 'neutrality' by not going overboard in favoring ML.

I like your analysis, but especially the line: 'there's no shortcut to road to splendor'. That is so true for what is happening to the leads.

That means they are still young & probably a time skip of 2-3 years from Ep.25, and they are in that dead-beat border town where all bad things happened - probably handling salt reforms, military work & teaching, again at the mercy of someone from the capital. And just one kid!!! They have not lived together as much as apart in this drama & no real passage of time or work at capital beyond salt reforms?

No.

I wanted passage of time in the capital - as in 5 years or even 10, where they live & work, strengthen reforms (& take care of Yu's) & raised a bunch of kids, he grows a beard (or whatever the hell that goatee is supposed to be) - to show they came out of it unscathed & then leave for Northern areas to build a quieter life (even though military life in a border town such as north is a dead-end life with zero prospects and poverty every where with problems from distant capital to handle yearly, plus he'll be gone from home to be at camp all the time). I mean, I don't see why they should leave capital actually, but in either case, I wanted a 5-10 year life spent after 7 years of drama building up to this point in their life.

BUT it seems like in the drama, there'll be no passage of time in capital, ML has that ridiculous goatee because of someone's death? The time skip is occurring at the end of the series, where they'll be living in some other place, and have just 1 kid, a daughter (it's on x/twitter).

That is such a cliche'. What's wrong with showing this couple as a middle-aged couple who lived in capital before leaving. - but didn't become a second Lady Yu & hubby, capital failing to make them corrupt or cynical - instead of ending the series at 1 year later when they leave capital (having done reforms) & a time jump of 3 years to show them with their daughter.

We waited 7 years for them to get here, get married and then the story just peters out over the course of a year or so?