noor1234

In the start credits scene right before the title, one of the 3 women walking behind an obviously 'lady/well-to-do/married' FL is the kitchen maid, the gardening maid & Yuchan. All are wearing nice clothes. So my guess is, she survives.

It showed he's used to their squabbles. Plus, he knew dad & uncle wouldn't solve a thing, & viewers are shown he's the 'head' only dependable male in Lin household.

Ep.11-12: I'm thoroughly enjoying the bad luck ML has with women...... but it's obvious now that he's the only responsible male adult in Lin family who has to take care of everything & everyone's future.

I really like the sisterhood of FL with fellow maids - she even asked ML's mother about sharing her gold piece with the others & the reward for the maid-friend who was with her. Who would've thought of others except her?

The scene where her adoptive parents are telling neighbors to be quiet so that she can sleep was very touching. And of course her entire scene with them. FL's strategy for gaining freedom is well-thought-out: doing something so beneficial to Lins that ML's mother accepts to release her family from contract. Maybe her status will change not because of ML but rather some higher-up getting pleased with some work / help? I don't want Lins to be her benefactors.

Yes. And I will add that as 16-yo girl, she did what her mom & elders decided for her - so when she was betrothed to this guy, her duty was to be excited over this prospect of marriage & to 'care' about him - hence, she wrote that prayer note for him in first scene of Ep.1 in carriage. If you look at the 2 Lin girls for whom eligible guys were rounded up for marriage in Ep.11, one of them is made to be excited over Zheng just by looking at his shadowy appearance through a balcony!!! And she thinks she'll be happy with him.

These high society girls were never prepared for real life, they were just supposed to obey & accept & be happy with a guy behind a curtain or frame. A good match was simply someone who was good for family's advancement. And if something happened to the match, the girl's life would be ruined!

ML has had 2 betrothals & looks like is going to get snared in third one too, but his reputation is intact! He is still eligible!

Thank you, that's very well-explained. Thanks for giving context to the women's suicide decision, etc. - made things clearer.

@peachblossomgoddess, how could she run away?!!!! The 'husband' & her own dad would be honor-bound to hunt her down - even if they didn't want to!!! Her grandpa is king's fave, she cannot dishonor / lower his position by eloping & creating a scandal for court! I believe she was saving money to give to either her own family or his to allow her to leave this marriage and not return home. A clean break (built on monetary fraud & infidelity, etc.) from both households. Because if she wanted to run away, she would've done it already when ML was away on battle (there is only grandpa & those idiotic Lin women at home).

What I'm saying is that wife had a lot of privilege & time for 6 years, it was unrealistic to show her still carrying on with high-interest loans & affair & brutal maid punishments AFTER the arrival of ML back in house - an ML / husband she rejected & continued to insult even on arrival in front of her maids! She knew he didn't like her at this point! M-i-L was sending 'bed warming' maids, so that wife could raise a kid born from some maid! So wife knew things were changing after ML's arrival. And as a woman not holed up in house all day long, she went out, she visited the shops, I'm sure she met people other than that lover/cousin, she knew about the world, even if she wasn't educated - but she is shown as being ignorant, foolish, blind, hasty & insecure and not seizing any opportunity to make another life for herself, to get out of Lins house. ML even told her he'd divorce her if she said so, why didn't she say yes? She could've gone to capital after divorce without going back to Zhaos.

I don't like women turned into victims when such women obviously had OPTIONS, more options than many men - certainly wife had more options than even ML!!!!!

Okay, I understand all 3 points, thanks for giving clarity, even though ML's cancellation of betrothal was not the betrayal, it was not informing this family that king is coming after them. But I'm still against drama's idea to portray women as weak - maids are weak because they are bonded slaves, poor & dependent.

Rich women, whether literate or illiterate have a LOT of agency. And ALL of this privilege enjoyed by rich influential household women in this drama, is because of the men of their family - whether they are corrupt or not - ML's grandpa, dad & ML'S own army career funds the lifestyle & status of the women of this family. Zhao men are providers of status to the 'illiterate' women of their family. These women are just sitting pretty being mean to maids, when men are the ones with the REAL pressures of their jobs. Both families can afford a train of maids because of the men's jobs & roles. All that the women do in these families, is fight between themselves for small power & ego trips.

M-i-L treated ML's wife's maid as a product not a human being just to teach wife a lesson about who is really in control. What's the difference between her and ML's wife? There's no difference. They are both cruel, nasty, arrogant women using the privilege given by men's status to use it against each other.

I have a problem when dramas show women as good & meek & weak inspite of enjoying privilege & status they didn't work for, then pretending they don't have ANY rights even though they are extremely privileged. We are supposed to think that Lin household is better than Zhao household because Lin women are educated. So what? Lins are as cruel & arrogant & self-serving as Zhaos. Education cannot mask exploitation of people for their own ends. And all of it can be taken away from the family IF king has a problem with the men of the family! So who has it worse? Men or women?

Whatever Shens may or may not have done, Lins should've been more honorable. They should've sent a message for old times' sake / brotherly relations - the marriage was also happening to strengthen their alliance. Right now, they just look as cold-hearted & self-serving as Zhaos (even though they are 'literate' & Zhaos are 'illiterate'), the only difference between them is that Zhaos will bite the dust by the end of this drama, while Lins will again survive (even though Lin elders are corrupt - they even pimped out their son twice for advancement!). What this drama is showing is that rich prestigious families use each other for advancement & dump when going gets rough without another thought - but one family will act morally superior only because FL ends up in it, who will save & protect it.

But he was verrryyyyy happy at his wedding till he heard the no from newly wedded wife!

And how would he have arranged her elopement? ML is supposed to do what is beneficial for HIS family, not anyone else's - that much is clear from Ep.1 - that Lins are self-serving. This guy has bene betrothed twice to influential families & both times he has extracted himself before his family gets the blame. Plus, his wife rejected him 6 years ago & ridicules him whenever she sees him, so of course there is no love lost between them. Third, Zhaos are more important courtiers than Lins (Zhao grandpa is king's right hand man), if ML wants a divorce he has to give a veryyyyyyyyy good reason - and he has none. And his wife hasn't asked for a divorce either. So the only option left is to expose the affair, in a way that Zhaos are the ones to handle their own daughter, her lover, the maids, etc. while ML comes away with the deed of divorce.

ML is not the villain. And his wife was not a weakling like this show wants us to believe, to feel sorry for her. She had more privilege than most women dream of, she had her own money, her own household, and a husband who would've divorced her if she had asked for it. She could've gone and lived in the capital with her grandpa. She probably was waiting to collect a lot of money to give to Lins as compensation for divorce, but she should've acted as soon as ML came back. Or become more discreet. Instead she continued to see the lover, continued to give high-interest loans & continued to be cruel to maids. Of course, it all crumbled.

Btw, we are not watching Key to the Phoenix Heart where ML gladly enters fake marriages to save women & gladly divorces them so that they can pursue whatever they want!

Hi, that theory is not possible for the simple reason that ML's wife is informed by maids that her cousin/lover came to the birthday venue with his mom, got agitated & is roaming on property / hiding, and no one can find him. So of course he came as a man. Wife panics that a drunk cousin may be say or do something crazy in front of his inlaws/ guests, etc. Hence, the hunting expedition to find him. Trust me, IF he had shown up as a woman, a) no one would've recognized him, b) he already would've been a laughing stock of the crowd, c) he would've successfully scandalized the Zhaos over female disguise, than any secret lover business. Hence, ruining ML's plan to find them red-handed.

The guard was dressed as a woman to assimilate and not stand out in an area where ladies were present - because he was surveilling women (wife & her maids) and he had come to talk to FL - I don't think maids can talk to guys, so he had to look like a lady maid to talk to her.

Yup. I thought so too. I did not like Shens. or Lins. or Zhaos.

I disagree. Young FL was crying over wedding sweets, because Lin family was living and enjoying their life, while her life & that of her family got ruined, without any notice or consideration from Lins. She was betrothed at 16 to some guy by her elders, it wasn't like they knew each other or were in love. She was crying over the fact that it was so easy for this guy to have a wedding when technically she had just died by suicide, alongwith her family a few days ago.

She looks stoic when around his 'happy mom & son' routine, because this family got to live, and enjoy, without showing her family any courtesy. Remember, right after the letter of breaking off engagement came, the soldiers came to arrest the family. So Lins knew Shens were in trouble & extracted themselves.

She did check him out when she was first saw him in his wife's chambers seated at the table (when maids were introduced to wife), but her goal is to get out of servitude & provide for her adoptive parents. She doesn't think about this guy or his life, other than when HER life is in danger, or that of her maid-friends.

Lins did not pay anything for their involvement. Grandpa Lin said in Ep. 1 that he and Shen grandpa had talked about the 'regional prince cannot be king' thing long ago and new king is coming after both families. That's when ML says to grandpa we should inform Shen family, to which both his dad said & grandpa agreed that there was only time to save themselves - they resigned from their positions & left court. Broke off the engagement. Instead of warning Shens. They were not just betrothal families, they were longterm friends, since the days of grandpas.

I think Lins are responsible for what happened to Shens (apart from the 2 dumb Shen men who refused to apologize & got killed & ego-driven Shen grandma who thought mass suicide was better than ending up in music academy!).

Lins also used their only son to marry an influential courtier's grand daughter (the looney wife no.1) just because they wanted to secure their own future. Plus, she brought a lot of dowry. ML's mother accepted this marriage. Btw, ML was veryyyyyy happy when he got married. But he was rejected by this wife and put down too, so he left home for army. He does what his grandpa tells him to do. His sister was married off in haste and may be in a bad marriage, we'll probably see her later. But all this is done by the elders, mom/dad & grandpa - selling their own kids for privilege & status, despite being so-called 'educated'.

Unfortunately in this drama, I doubt ML's dad, mom & especially grandpa will get punished.

Yes. ML trusts Yuchan, that's why she's back. And yes, ML was suspicious of the 2 maids who were in the garden near library, so he most def. asked her to observe them. She was reporting her views back. And yes, if ML had said get rid of her, Yuchan would've arranged for FL to be hanged / disappeared / drowned or poisoned..... etc. Yes, it was pure luck that ML said no, plus, I think ML doesn't like to go after people unnecessarily.

I doubt there is such a thing as being 'nice' to maids - they are female slaves who were spoken kindly to by their manager, they are not Yuchan's friends. She is not there to protect maids. She is there to protect the household's interest.

He especially chose a veryyyyyyyyy wrong time to say what he said! As if it would make a difference whether she seduced him or not, after being caught by the husband, not just the father!!!! One of them would've killed him, if negotiations were about honor, not power.

FL is great. She knows how to survive. Her quietness heightens the real threat & tension because she's the only one who knows how bad the situation really is - because she knows how harems and households operate.

Because she never bedded ML and didn't want to have kids with a man other than the lover/cousin. That is the only logical conclusion to me. Everything else she said about bleeding blah blah was to make ML not come to her or expect her to perform 'conjugal' duties - and it was clear to ML she didn't want to be with him in that way. That's why he never went to her, went away to army to build a separate identity from his corrupt dad/granddad and corrupt in-laws. ML never told his parents that their marriage of convenience was a sham marriage. Maybe her organs got damaged during abortion, but IMO the wife drinks special kind of tea all day long so that she doesn't get pregnant - since she clearly is doing everything with the disguised cousin/lover.

Yeah, but they are playing 23 and 21 year olds - because only 6 years have passed. It doesn't matter, what their real age is, people aged sooner in those days in any case, I'm glad they found younger actors - BUT the young girl who played ML's wife on wedding night was too dark skin-toned to resemble the actress playing the role 6 years later, in present day. It was jarring.

I started this show late, because the theme is depressing and dark & so is the music, so caught up to first 8 episodes yesterday.

I like the FL, her adopted parents, & the maids (whichever household they belong to). All of them are fantastic, whether good or bad. The fear, the fact that every move can be life and death whether rich or poor, with frightening BGM is well done.

What I don't like is this idea that women are powerless no matter which situation they are in and we have to feel sorry for them no matter what. These dumb power games all of the women in a household (including maids) are made to play in C-dramas to kill or humiliate or damage each other. I am sure Chinese women did not live so brutally or criminally. Or maybe this is what rich people suffer from - because poverty-stricken or middle-class women are too busy working to be playing mind games to bring each other down.

I especially couldn't stand Ep.1 - height of OTT wailing - forwarded most of it, when an entire family is wiped out to make FL alone in the world. A grand secretary couldn't save his family 'by going against his conscience' and not denouncing some former king! Plus such a clueless grand secretary! And grandma of this well-educated family tells ALL the women to kill themselves - starting from the youngest one! - rather than serve in musical academy - that is how arrogant, elitist, fake 'honor-bound' & SHAMELESS this elder is. Even if music academy were the pits, even if they got mistreated there, at least the women would've survived or SOME wouldn't be mistreated. It was waste of all that education IMV. And a dramatic contrivance.

ML's wife was collecting money to probably give it to ML's family to release her, but ML had told her on arrival that he could divorce her if she said so, - she obviously had a lot of control when she said no to husband & he didn't tell his parents that they had a sham marriage - why did things have to be taken to such a limit by her, that even after 6 years - as a proud, arrogant, spoilt superiority-complexed woman with shops and money of her own, even without that loan scheme, clearly miserable in this house she didn't want to be in - she still is shown at the mercy of a so-called educated M-i-L, has no control over even her maids, OR her boyfriend!!!! To show ML have the upper-hand over her is dramatic contrivance. Plus, I'm shocked she wasn't killed by ML's guards or her own dad's people. I hope she survives BUT if she does, it will only affirm that this drama wants us to feel sorry for the plight of women no matter what their status may be. And that 'education' makes a difference - that's inaccurate because look at ML's educated mom, she's just a power player. I don't think women are as weak, meek or subservient in life as portrayed in C-dramas.

ML's wife was in The Double too. She's a good actress but typecast as unhinged woman. The boyfriend's makeup was so welldone, I thought they were a lesbian couple!

Secondly, ML's dad and granddad were responsible for FL's male members not getting informed in time to save themselves before cavalry arrived - inspite of betrothal and rising together in ranks under current king - so they betrayed their own friends & to-be marital relatives, and I can already see from a mile away that ML's granddad will ride off into the sunset as a sage wise kind man, while his father will get punished later on unrelated corruption. ML may have buried FL's family secretly (as it happens in dramas to make FL think well of ML), but this family is hypocritical and self-serving. Call them survivors, but FL rising the station in this family & marrying this guy is like sleeping with the enemy. Even if she clears her family's name after marrying into this family, the cost is marrying this guy and being with her original M-i-L who didn't think twice about her family - as educated as they may pretend to be - and sold her own son to highest bidder to maintain power again and again! It's better to just get out of servitude, get your slave papers back and go with your adopted mom and dad to some village and grow potatoes instead. Marry a salt smuggler..... (Ref. road to splendor)

I think ML is okay, he had to follow his elders whatever they decided when he was young, now he has more agency and control but he is written as a one-dimensional person & he's cold and scary. There is no goal in his life other than maintaining goals of his grand dad.....

This is 9th month of 2026, and every major drama this year since Jan. has shown criminals getting a pass in C-dramas because the male and female leads think of 'peace here and now' and not correcting past wrongs. And this drama is headed that way too.

I'll watch it for the girls, not the guys. And with a pinch of salt.