themarchioness

No, they’re not even half siblings. It will be revealed around Ep 8 or so that they are not biologically related (FL has a different father).

Because they're not actually siblings nor were they raised together.

I'm not sure how far you've watched, but LJX actually does share that information with him towards the end. It's just that by then he's convinced that ML has changed sides. (Although he does continue to test the ML at the same time.)

He was just mad. Even though he'd written/signed the divorce paper, his mom had disagreed and taken it. As a result, he didn't know that Gu Minglan had also signed the paper until the Duke presented it to him. He was caught off guard by that realization.

But because Gu Minglan did sign the divorce paper, it means that neither she nor the Duke were guilty of adultery at the time of their relations. That's what allows the Duke to now claim that Gu Minglan was his lawful wife (even though they weren't married).

Tearing up the divorce paper won't make a difference to any narrative that they now spin. Yining is biologically the Duke's daughter and he can proclaim that he was married to her mother and, as a Duke, no one's going to question that. He doesn't need the divorce paper to help him prove that. On Daddy Luo's side, it doesn't help him either - it's not as if he's going to wave it around to prove that they were divorced. Again, the Duke's word is good enough there. Daddy Luo would only need it if he was trying to prove the opposite, but he can't because it is signed by both parties.

I think your own answer supports what I said before. I acknowledged the possibility that if they had married, the Princess's son would be good to Yixiu -- whether that's because he would actually fall in love with her or whether that's because he seems like a stand-up guy who would at least honor the decision he made is beyond us to guess. But that was the whole point of Lin Mao asking this question of the Princess's son -- if I solve the initial reason for why you took notice of Yixiu, would you still feel the same about her? As you noted, he hesitated and he wasn't confident. That's why he backed down. Lin Mao was willing to fight for their love (the reason for him visiting the Princess's son), the Princess's son was not (which proves his feelings were never that deep to begin with).

You're also ignoring the fact that it wasn't just "dating" that Yixiu and the Princess's son were facing but an imminent engagement (that she definitely didn't want), so put yourself in her shoes. If someone said to you that you were going to be married to another in the next few weeks, and you were also told that other person didn't feel confident about you. Is that the kind of person you'd want to spend the rest of your life with?

Add to that question the context of how women lived back in the Song dynasty. As the FL observed on several occasions, once a woman married, their life was entirely in the hands of their husband. If they were lucky, great, but if not.... for those who ship Yixiu with the Princess's son, IMO, that's a lot of luck and chance y'all are betting on for her. Personally, I'd choose the sure thing.

When LJX called her "Mei mei," it wasn't the same characters for little sister. It was a homophone with different tones. If I remember correctly, it was this mei: 眉

He liked her like one would like a friend. He was willing to marry her and he probably would've treated her well had they married because he was a good person like that. But even he couldn't bring himself to say he loved her. He admitted as much that his primary interest in her was her ability to help him eat. But once the Uncle resolved that problem by giving him medicine to treat his anorexia, that also resolved his "need" for her and he was more than happy to step back, and to allow two people who actually cared for each other and loved each other to be together.

I Know I Love You has a happy ending.

As cute as his character was, his interest in her was only based on the fact that she helped his appetite to return. Once the appetite problem was resolved...

Yes, I also found the early eps slow but I think it was around ep 5 when something switched in me and I was completely hooked. In earlier threads people discussed the same, that it also took them a few eps to become invested - the only difference was in how many eps it took.

I haven't watched Lost You Forever, but I agree with your observations regarding Are You the One and Rise of Ning. ZWY's portrayal of his character in Are You the One is much more carefree, whether that's in how he speaks or his mannerisms. And that makes sense given his character's position and lot in life in that drama. Here, he acts more carefully and his speech and movement are more restrained. That is, again, consistent with his Rise of Ning character. His acting may appear "the same" at first blush, but if you're paying attention the differences are quite obvious.

Totally. One of my friends is finding TSOML slow - and as much as I love it, I can understand the other perspective - so I'm definitely going to suggest she try RoN instead.

I like both this drama and TSOML (which is one of my faves) and, personally, think it's possible to appreciate both on their own merits. But if I had to think of them in a comparison context, I'd liken them to college courses where RoN is the prerequisite course for TSOML. Haha.

After all, there's nothing wrong with a simple drama that never leaves the viewer in anxiety because everything is spelled out clearly. It was fun, captivating watch and if my heart didn't have to be in my throat while watching, that's not nothing! :P

He was definitely the Marquess of Hypocrisy, Selfishness, and Contradiction.

I totally agree. I don't know if it's that people can't separate the actor from the character or they think "true love" trumps all, but apart from the fact that love wasn't really what LJX held for LYN, but rather an obsession, even if you did accept that he was really in love with her, it doesn't change the fact that he is an immoral person overall. He smuggled for personal gain and was willing to frame and murder others to both continue and hide his illegal activities. Why would they want the FL to be with a person like that?

Towards the end, the emperor's suspicions against LJX have him being assigned to the borderlands and he was going to take LYN with him. Is that the life they want for her? Throughout that scene, I kept thinking about how the ML has spent his entire adult life working to clear his deceased master's name, but also to improve his lot in life. To live honorably, bring honor onto one's life, and provide a better future for the people you care about - surely, that is "true love." That some people have a hard time seeing that is beyond me.

Finally, as for LJX's end fate... all I could think was if he was going to take the shot for her like that, he should've done the same when he moved out of the way and let the LSY's arrow nick her instead. I'm still annoyed at LJX for that. Everyone else was blaming LSY but I blamed LJX. He knew she was behind him, he did nothing to protect her, and instead saved his own hide all so he could also hold the incident over LSY. That's the type of love this man carries -- one filled with personal gain.

It drives me batty, but this is quite common for Hello, Saturday. Sometimes casts go on the show to promote while their drama is airing, but more often than not the promotion occurs prior to a drama's airing (sometimes months in advance) or well after. That the RoN cast is visiting shortly after the drama's conclusion is actually considered quite timely!

The bad guys in these kinds of dramas are never united by the end. 😅 But how could they be? They betray, lie, and manipulate to get where they are and so of course they don’t trust each other. Bad guys are only united out of necessity. When one is about to be dragged down, of course the other will let go. That’s why I’m not at all surprised by the drama taking this direction with the Prime Minister and the Marquess. It’s par for the course!

So is LSY’s secret infiltration plan, frankly. 🤣

No, I think you have the right of it. I was only uncertain as to whether Master Sun was play acting or really being dumb in confronting LSY at that time/place.

I think he is not in on the plan. But at least in confronting LSY where he did, LSY keeps getting to build the image that he’s switched sides. It’s just… you would hope Master Sun -given his position - would be smarter. 😅

I agree, the drama does a nice job of clearing up most things in a timely manner.

As for Yang Ling, I was about 95% certain he was in on it because of that earlier letter. But since they didn't tell us what exactly was in the letter, there was 5% of me that wondered whether LSY had given him just enough information to settle him down and get him to cooperate. But then once Yang Ling was back in the capital, LSY would start to do what he needed to do and then Yang Ling would feel betrayed - with those feelings and emotions of betrayal being exactly what LYS wanted to capture so that the Prime Minister would believe that he really had turned to the other side. I am glad the drama removed any doubt in today's episode by clarifying that Yang Ling is fully in on this.

Regarding the changes in his tone and manner of speech, I haven't watched LYF so I won't comment on that one. But when I started watching RoN, I struggled to put into words the difference I was clearly hearing when I compared how he spoke in AYtO versus RoN. I kept wanting to say he sounded confident in AYtO; yet, I knew that wasn't quite right as he's a pretty confident character in RoN, too.

It finally hit me. I think there's a carefreeness to how he speaks (and moves) in AYtO and that makes sense given that he plays a Lord. His wealth, his position, and his status in society are secure in that drama. In RoN, he may be wealthy, but it's a hidden wealth - like much of his life. In terms of position and status in his family and society, it's less so, and so I'd say he speaks (and moves) more carefully in RoN.

I really appreciate that attention to detail in ZWY's portrayal of these two characters.