themarchioness

Are we already going to blame the ML for scenes that haven't even happened yet? Based on the ending of 27, it looks like the ML is preparing to find grandma and bring her back home (which is, btw, something he's doing because he knows it will help the FL). For all we know the beating happens when he's away doing that. Let's not be so quick to judge, blame, and criticize before we even see what happens.

For anyone who needs the link to Ep 29 preview: https://youtu.be/m8en5eQTlnY?si=6w7z5E0B8HZmFrxZ

He could do those things as an older brother, but we (the viewers) know he did them because he also loves her. The OP had said they could not see any signs of interest from the ML and my point is - regardless of how others (in the drama) may perceive his actions - he has also shown us (the viewers) through action, not just subtle looks/gazes.

In addition to the warm/fond gazes that LYS gives LYN -- which are also filled with restraint given that he knows she doesn't know the truth about their relationship (great acting, ZWY!) - he gives her so much help and support. He is always saying how he wants to protect her and he lives up to that by helping her with the investigations into her mother's life, preparing a dowry for her in case he dies, helping her set up the shop, etc. I could keep going on... it is baffling if others are missing how much the ML cares for the FL!

Ah, I think I have a better understanding now of why you think there is a disconnect in the FL's character. First, to your question about why the FL would be so hard into investigating her mother's death and not clarifying the circumstances surrounding her own "attempted murder," that's comparing apples to oranges.

Just because one isn't able to move on from one event doesn't mean that person will never be able to move on from any event. As others and myself have tried to explain above, you only can't move on when something still matters to you. LYN's mother's death still matters to her because when LYN returns home to the Luo family, she overhears servants gossiping and they are painting her mother in a bad light. Given how her mother's courtyard was treated after her death, etc., and the fact that LYN has always felt her mother was unfairly treated, with this new piece of information, she feels her mother has suffered an injustice and wants to clear her mother's name/memory.

By contrast, LYN does not want to get back together with LJX and that would be the only reason she'd need to clarify his intensions back then. I agree that the drama doesn't spell out for us why LYN fears LJX in the present and avoids talking about their past. That vague-ry probably has a lot to do with the liberties the drama necessarily took by removing the transmigration aspect from book in order for the drama to pass censorship review, but the drama has given us enough for us to put 2 and 2 together to "speculate," as you put it, and come up with the most likely answer.

I won't rehash what they are here because you already know what those speculations are. Instead, I'll ask, "What do you think LYN clarifying the circumstances surrounding her 'attempted murder' would achieve?" Or what do you hope to see from that?

Let's say she does find out from him that he didn't want to kill her back then... then what? What is LYN supposed to do with that information? Is she supposed to get back together with LJX? Because that's not what she wants. On the other hand, by admitting to him that she is his Mei Mei from the past, that is almost certain what would happen... because for someone who is as obsessed as LJX is, do we think he'd let LYN go once he receives confirmation? (He won't even let go now and he's only mostly certain he's right...)

Times were different back then. Yixiu fell into the water and was saved by the Han guy and her mother was ready to use that to force a marriage between the two, and as crazy as it sounds, it probably wasn't for back then because just showing one's ankle - even by accident - was enough to be considered a scandal at that time.

I bring that up to point out, from the flashbacks we've seen, LYN and LJX were all huggy and stuff. Given that history, I could very easily envision a space where LJX would want to use that information, expose it, create a scandal, and force LYN into a marriage with him.

LYN, as you've noted, is a smart girl and so she's probably figured that out too. Sure, she engaged in ill-advised behavior in the past, but she was young and sheltered and starved for company then. Now she's older, she's been through various experiences, and it's different. She's got a head on her shoulder and because she can see through people - as you put it - she knows what bad news LJX could bring for her. Which is why I don't think it's counter to her character to avoid him (which includes not clarifying the past), but rather, it's the very correct thing for her to be doing!

Because they are not actually siblings. They have different mothers and the ML finds out in Ep 8 (if I recall correctly) that she has a different father than him and the rest of the family, including the FL will find out in Ep 27.

Because the cast list for this drama on MDL is still a bit of a hot mess. The correct entry is the one with Chen Si Che.

The convo between LSY and grandma in Ep 14 actually suggests that he may not have been living with the Luo family for many years. Because grandma recalls that how he ran away from home after his father scolded him for wanting to go to school with the other Luo family boys, and LSY replies that was when he he met his master who gave him a new life. Then the grandma responds that she didn't know he'd had such an experience and surmised that he returned because of the testimony. LSY then responds that he returned to repay 2 favors: 1) the kindness Lady Gu showed to him and his mother, and 2) the grandfather obtaining the testimony that would help clear his master's name.

Given that the master's death/testimony are more recent events, grandma's comment about him returning for the testimony wouldn't make sense unless he'd been living away from the family until he needed to return to the Luo estate in order to search for the testimony.

No, it was not a translation error. What he said was: you used your grandfather’s power to force me to marry you, I refused….

So he’s not saying that they actually married, only that she tried to make the marriage happen. But you are correct that he never says “tried.” We just understand in Mandarin that’s what he meant. Context clues help! 😅

LSY and Shao An are like a comedy show duo. I love their scenes.

Hard to say from a preview. It could, for example, be because he wants to remove Lady Gu’s tablet from the family ancestral’s hall and Yi Ning fights him on that and so he punishes her.

NOT that that would make it okay. Truly I don’t think he should beat her at all, but I do hope it’s not just because she’s not his daughter. Yi Ning is innocent after all.

But let’s see how it unfolds so we know how to be mad at him when the time comes. 😝

Yes. One ep on Thursday and two on Friday.

Preview for 28: https://youtu.be/IQRYw8pXfJI?si=fZH2G72pA1pTdemP

Yi Ning (and the rest of her fam) will find out in Ep 27 - which airs tomorrow.

Why do you assume she has to ask him why he wanted to murder her? Some people might want to revisit the past to know the answer. Others might take the approach that what's done is done, and no excuse/reasoning/clarification is going to matter - they've already moved on.

Like @RilakkumasBubbleTea, my impression is that once LYN fell from the cliff, she considered that part of her history done and now she just wants to move on. It's not as if she wants to rekindle a relationship with the marquess and if anything, she feels embarrassed about their past (it's likely why she kept avoiding telling LSY about the past).

The marquess does continue to seek her out because he wants what they used to have - and frankly, has become a little obsessed over it - but none of that changes the fact that she wouldn't want to be with him in the present, even if he was able to clarify for her that he never wanted her dead back then. He's aligned himself with am embezzler who frames/kills others and has become a dangerous person himself. Clarifying the past doesn't change the present.

Clearly you feel she should react differently and that's why it's a plot hole for you. But for the others of us who see things another way, it's not a plot hole -- so it's not that we're denying there's a plot hole, we simply don't think there is a plot hole in this regard.

I agree with you. I'm actually enjoying the pacing and the drama's methodical approach - it's like building up to that moment we've all been waiting for. I never find myself bored and always wanting more! I thought it worth pointing out that even in one of the trailer videos that's intercut with lines from the drama and interviews with the lead actors and the director, the director said, "Theirs's is not a traditional romantic type of relationship. Their sibling relationship is maintained for a fairly long time." So this was definitely the intent of the production crew.

I suspect the river scene was cut because they decided to take the story in a different direction - as in, they filmed two possible outcomes. The image of them by the side of the river would suggest she was aware of him saving her (b/c if I remember correctly she's conscious in that scene). The drama ended up taking the approach that she woke up the next morning not knowing how she returned home, but also mad at LSY. That's my best guess, at least.

I've also been wondering for a while now whether the grandmother already knows. In that episode where the mother's former maid returns to visit Yi Ning, the grandmother asked why she left all those years ago despite her request that she stay. The maid responded that she had her reasons and hoped the grandmother would understand. They spoke of something else, but eventually the grandmother sighed and suggested they not speak of the past anymore. I can't remember how the grandmother said it exactly anymore, but I do remember wondering whether the grandmother had meant it literally - given that they'd just been talking about the past - or whether she was giving a subtle hint to the maid, like, "Make sure you don't reveal the secrets of the past while you're here visiting."

As for why the grandmother might have still favored Yi Ning, if it does turn out that she's known all along that Yi Ning is not her granddaughter, the grandmother previously explained that she has always felt guilty towards Lady Gu. Lady Gu was the daughter of close family friends and someone she watched growing up. She'd always wanted Lady Gu for a daughter-in-law and basically made sure that marriage between Lady Gu and her second son happened. But she also had to have known the two children were not in love with each other, and that her son was in love with another (the concubine), so that left Lady Gu very unhappy in her marriage. I could see grandmother trying to make it up to Yi Ning, as a result.

How the aunt seemed at the beginning of the drama is the image she has spent her entire life building. But it's not how she really feels and as the drama has gone on, and we've learned more about her and the other characters around her, we can see where her bitterness comes from. It doesn't excuse her actions, obviously, but if she hadn't turned out so backstabby, she could be a sympathetic character.

Specifically, she married into a family where she's the eldest daughter-in-law (having married the elder son). Yet, because her husband has a lower job position than her husband's younger brother and is also sent for many years to work in a different place, it's the second son of the family who becomes the head of the household. That means even though she should be the mistress of the household (behind the grandmother), it's the women behind the second brother who takes on those roles -- first, the concubine (which was galling for both her and the stepmother) and now, the stepmother.

On top of that, we now know her own husband was in love with her sister-in-law (the FL's mother) so she has a poor marital relationship with her husband, and thus no support from him. And as for losing out to the stepmother in terms of who gets to be the mistress of the household now, that's also bitter pill for the aunt to swallow given that she comes from a scholarly background (and probably not one without influence, if her family was able to help get her husband's job moved back to where the live) and the stepmother comes from a merchant family background (merchants are ranked lower than scholars in the hierarchy of social classes).

She's been holding in her bitterness for all these years by focusing on her children and living with the hope that they will have better outcomes and also help her gain status in that way. (For example, witness how the minute LYS became the top scholar, the other wives started inviting the stepmother to social events.) For her son, she always knew he would be battling against the concubine's son for power, but she probably thought her son had a fighting chance against him. Unfortunately for both those boys, there was still LYS -- someone the whole family had underestimated! Now that he's swept both exams so far, she knows, in the future, LYS will become the head of the Luo family. With him in control, she loses any standing or possible backing. She also knows that LYS is close to LYN, who was already favored by the grandmother (again, it's all about what level of support you have in the family), and given that LYN has already been investigating the circumstances of her mother's death, the aunt knows that if she doesn't deal with LYN first, then her past actions will be revealed sooner or later. This is also why she's been trying to push her daughters into advantageous marriages; again, it's that whole backing/support thing. The stronger your network is, the stronger you will also be. The aunt is literally watching the small lifeboat that she had around her start to sink and it's sinking fast -- no wonder she's going nuclear now.

Not yet revealed, but it will be the Duke of Ying - there were already foreshadowing comments made in Ep 25