nuatn

Jinqi was absolutely disgusting and abhorrent in ep 29, and the second Lanxiang exposed him in ep 30, he immediately tried to blame Scholar Han, just like some people here lol. And the look on his face when he got mad 😭 Bro was genuinely obsessed with her.

I fucking loved every Lanxiang scene this episode. Watching her expose Jinqi for exactly who he is, especially after so many viewers kept defending him, was so satisfying. And honestly, I still think the writer can develop his character from here. The character writing has been really good.

Hate the Lin grandfather all you want, but he’s reasonable and practical, and more importantly, he genuinely cares about his family.

In the Lin family, the elders can be stubborn or make stupid decisions, and the relatives can argue or dislike each other. But at the end of the day, none of them are truly bad people, and no one is secretly stabbing their own family in the back or trying to ruin them.

For such a big family to still have that kind of family culture, doesn’t some of the credit have to go to the person leading it? He’s definitely not perfect, but he’s managed to keep the family a family instead of turning it into some toxic mess.

The quality might be back in the last 2 episodes. I love that the show doesn't try to justify his actions.

Now it will take a really skilled writer to make Lanxiang fall for Jinqi without making it feel forced. I really hope they can pull it off.

And if anyone says Jinqi acted that way because “that was just how things were back then,” then they should also understand why the Lin family reacted the way they did. Exactly. That was just how things were back then.

At that specific point in time, the Lin family was actually slightly higher in rank than the Shen family, but the Shen family was closer to the deposed emperor. Rewatch Episode 1 and you'll see that her mother confirms this.

However, under the emperor who ordered the Shen's execution, if the Shens were still alive, they would have been slightly higher in status than the Lin family.

"the showed how the crucial decision affected the Lins but only showed how the Xus were affected with a acene with Han and Lan Xiang.

they gave no insight to her response of this decree. she showed no emotion or care."
>>> She did show a reaction though. She clearly hated the decision, but what could she do?

"he did not discuss or they did not show a discussion between Lan Xiang a!d Jin Qi before or after the decree.

i am finding it hard to believe that he requested this."
>>> But that is completely in character for him. He is also a product of his time. Also in that period, you are not supposed to meet privately after the engagement.

"his options alone were considered. he did not think of Lan's choices or options. nor did he think to give her choices or options."
>>> From his perspective, he likely saw the marriage as a favor he was granting her, raising her social status and allowing her to enter the privileged class he belonged to.

He never asked her directly, but she already knew about it and for sure agreed to it. That’s the difference. She had a choice there. With the MC, he went over her head and made the decision for her.

If you switched the ML with the 2ML, 100% of the comments here would be calling him toxic and obsessive. I genuinely can’t believe there are people who think the ML did nothing wrong here lol

I can't believe anyone could hate Han Scholar after Ep 25 and 26. He was awesome even as a loser. Please don't turn him into the bad guy. I hate that trope more than anything.

Episodes 1–21: 9/10. Probably the best C-drama I’ve watched in the last five years.
Ep 22-24: Let’s just say there’s been a noticeable drop in quality, but I'd say even Story of Minglan fell off in the middle part, so I will wait till the end to make judgment.

But let’s get one thing straight:

Who exactly put LanXiang in danger in the first place??? Creating the problem yourself and then turning around to play the savior is kind of funny, no? And even in this situation, LanXiang doesn’t actually need Jinqi to save her.

I remember reading an analysis saying that the only way Jinqi could ever marry LanXiang as his main wife was through an imperial decree, and that this had been his plan for quite some time. But he never asked LanXiang how she felt about it or whether she would agree, because he already knew that she wouldn’t.

That’s why I don’t really buy the idea that everything Jinqi does is purely about protecting LanXiang. Sure, protecting her is part of it, but his own feelings, desires, and selfishness are clearly his main motivation.

There’s nothing wrong with writing a flawed character. Flaws are what make characters interesting. What matters is how the story chooses to address those flaws. Trying to excuse those flaws or frame them as completely justified just feels unnecessary to me.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty, had many sons. His eldest son and original crown prince, Zhu Biao, died before him. Therefore, Zhu Biao’s son, Zhu Yunwen, became the emperor.

Zhu Di (the current emperor in the show) was another son of Zhu Yuanzhang, which made him Zhu Yunwen’s uncle. Zhu Di later seized the throne from Zhu Yunwen.

The deposed crown prince you see here is Zhu Yunwen’s son.

A little bit of history, if you are interested.

When Zhu Di captured Nanjing, the imperial palace caught fire. Zhu Di’s regime claimed that Zhu Yunwen and his eldest son had died in the fire. However, their bodies were never identified, so their actual fate remained uncertain.

Later on, folk legends claimed that Zhu Yunwen and his son had escaped from the palace and lived in hiding.

This is also why many historical dramas about the early Ming dynasty portray Zhu Di as being deeply troubled by the possibility that Zhu Yunwen was still alive and might one day return to reclaim the throne. As long as Zhu Yunwen’s death could not be proven, his possible survival represented a powerful challenge to the political legitimacy of Zhu Di’s regime, especially because Zhu Yunwen was chosen as the successor by Zhu Yuanzhang.

The setting is basically early Ming Dynasty.
The deposed emperor = Zhu Yunwen
The current emperor = Zhu Di
The crown prince = Zhu Gaochi.
So if the author keeps following the historical model, then yeah, our crown prince should actually be a good guy

Any character and any story can become interesting if they're put in the right circumstances. Even the current story is actually quite ordinary, but the director, actors, and screenwriter have been brilliant so far, which is why it feels so special.

Have you watched a K-drama called "My Mister"? If you read the synopsis, you'd probably think it sounds boring as hell. But because everyone involved in that show was excellent, it became one of, if not the best K-dramas of all time imo

In another story, Scholar Han would be the main character and Jinqi would be the main villain lol. I think he and Lanxiang would make a more appropriate pair. I hope they don't make Scholar Han the bad guy just so Jinqi can "save" her from marrying a bad person by forcing her to marry him instead.

Jinqi isn't a bad person, but he's far from perfect, and I hope the show lets him make mistakes and then try to fix them. That's actually one of the things I really liked about how they handled the second Lin sister's character in Episode 21. People make mistakes, people change, and no one is perfect.

Yeah, but why is he absent this whole time when he is the head of the family?

Episode 17 and 18 are crazy good. Every day I pray they don’t mess this up, because damn, this show is something special.
But still, where the hell has the grandfather been this whole time?

Well, being THE CLASSIC of its genre, it’s kinda inevitable.

Idol culture really ruins the C-drama scene. I'm so glad it's not the case with this one (yet).

This might be the best c-drama coming out in the last few years if they can keep it up. Just incredible. Really strong Story of Minglan vibes too.

The worst type of love triangle. It's the complete opposite of Sound of the Desert (also starring Liu Shishi). The first 1/3 was actually pretty good, but it just kept getting worse. Both male leads were so freaking dumb that I honestly think the true HE would be the female lead staying as far from them as possible. That ending was so trash. Please go watch Sound of the Desert instead.

Too bad real life isn't as simple as it is in this show. Fun to watch though.

The highschoolers' story is the only reason I still watch this drama. Goddamnit there is too little of them