AleksandraSucur

Oh, only now I see I've written Dashing Youth instead of Youthful Glory, I've ought to correct the title.
In that drama she also played a person who puts her interest first, but more that sophisticated lady and feminine type I found so unconvincing... Yes, I think she isn't cut for that

I didn't like her previous performances (Youthful Glory and Whispers of Fate) either. But maybe she just played unconvincingly written characters in those two dramas.
Cai Zhao's character instead fits the actress, I think she is very well cast to believably portray an intelligent, skilled, determined and righteous person, dutiful to her family and sect but also a young girl in her personal search of the truths of the world. The script doesn't ask from her to display a vast range of expressions, she is playing an upward and a bit aloof person, able to see through (such a blindingly stunning!) ML and his numerous schemes. And... hmm... also to resist (at least to this point of the drama, lol) his irresistible charms, glances and voice that would make another woman melt in a second.
As a drama, GtG has certain flaws, especially at the beginning (too many characters, sects... to many who's who and what's what to remember, with more than a few scenes brutally chopped or badly edited...), but it is still very enjoyable to watch connecting the pieces of the puzzle in 2-3 storylines of several generations.

Thank you, too. It's actually interesting to see there are aspects we see in the same way and aspects we perceive different.
Your point - "who would like sharing the fiancé with another woman?" - stands even in the circumstances of arranged marriage. But she didn't postponed the wedding because of this other girl: at the moment she told her fiancé she had her head in another business (finding out the Jade Sunflower, discovering the reason of uncle Chang's murder and possibly avenging him), she still has known nothing about that girl. So, in that moment, she was speaking for herself and wasn't weak at all. Breaking off in that moment would be totally ungrounded because it would implicate two families and reputation matters, beside breaking a promise made by her beloved aunt.
Now, lets' see why she doesn't break off the engagement after she discovered her to-be-husband is protective of another girl and intends to keep her in the household even after their wedding. Not having been romantically involved in any way, her engagement with her fiancé is a pre-contractual promise (made by two families) to enter the marriage contract between two persons in a future date and under the conditions to be defined and agreed later on. If her fiancé wants to keep another woman after their marriage and still wants to marry her, it is HIM who should be open about this arrangement with his to-be-wife. THEN, she can either accept or reject it, not before. That's why I don't see any incoherency with her logical character.

I also agree with you that she is giving too much credit to her Master and I also think this thing will create a lot of trouble. I've noticed that a few days ago and one person answered me it's probably because she loved her aunt so much and saw Qi Yunke in dispair after her death, so she takes him for good, rightful and just, just as her aunt, by default.

I am glad we agree that the FL is "self-sufficient, self-serving, pragmatic & logical". 👍
We disagree that her character changed (or became incoherent), bc. I don't see any weakness or dishonesty you perceived, imo, it isn't she who "keeps 3 men around" and her goal isn't to pair herself "with whoever in the end is still standing".
We also agree she deliberately adopted the "postponing tactic", but disagree on its purposes and meaning. Imo, she postponed the wedding for at least two reasons: 1. she has more important things to think about and to do at the moment and 2. she doesn't take her marriage romantically: for her, it's just a fulfillment of an obligation contracted by her aunt, so her fiancé having a "sidepiece" is entirely his business and problem to figure out. The "sidepiece" isn't related to her, but to her fiancé. If he wants to keep the sidepiece after the wedding, he must come to the FL with one of the solution: either to keep them both (and in that case, the FL has a solid ground to break off the engagement) or to keep only the sidepiece, de facto breaking off the engagement himself. Why should she condition his choice? In this, I see no weakness or dishonesty on her side and such a behaviour seems very coherent to her pragmatical and logical character. Having a backbone doesn't imply she is to make decisions in his stead.
And this logic applies to the Song guy as well. He never said he liked her or even implied he had intentions towards her different from their sect brotherhood, why should she back him off? That would indeed be illogical and out of her character.
Right, you didn't say the word "victim" but you've implied she was playing them in a dishonest way, while it doesn't seem to be the case imo.

I think you've missed the main PBG's argument: FL is a person who puts herself first.
It is true that the postponement of her marriage with Yuqi isn't the same thing as a clear break off, but a clear break off has its negative side-effects (as PBG explained above), so the postponement in this context is simply a WISER decision and I think we can all agree she is a smart chick. To you, it looks like she lacks guts and backbone, but to other people, she has chosen the right and smart tactic, unharmful both for her and for any other person.
Are the three guys you've mentioned really "victims" of this tactic? Lets see:
1. her fiancé is evidently entangled with another woman. He and not the FL is the person who must make a choice, who must decide what he wants from life and future. By procrastinating the marriage, FL is giving him a necessary time to reflect and figure out what he really wants.
2. ML is a person whose feelings for her are clear, but he has no plan how to be with her without her being forced to cut off her relations with her family, clan and sect. What he offers her - for the time being - burdens only her, not him. Tell me, why should only she sacrifice important things in her life?
3. Yuzhi. She doesn't play dumb with him. I think she is very clear Yuzhi is her senior sect bro. It is him who is constantly after her (bc he admires her and is grateful to her), not vice versa. He never oversteps - that's why she's fine with him being around. Why should she (or anyone among us) distantiate a valuable colleague who never annoys her/us? We'll make things clear if a colleague starts to be a nuisance, starts to plot etc., but the Song guy is not that kind of colleague, he knows how to keep his feelings for himself. They are his and it's ok that way.

I agree with your opinion. The wheelchair doc is subtley directing Zhao to suspect her Qi Yunke. That means he knows smth bad about Qi Yunke and is wary of him.

Yeah, what you say makes sense, tnx

Indeed, but I think that's only one of his multiple motivations. The other is his search of powerful techniques and objects, depowering of other sects' chiefs (we see how he manipulated them) in order to achieve total power.
He loved Cai Pingshu but married the daughter of a chieftan who came in power in dubious ways while Pingshu was still healthy and kicking.

After the dialogue between FL and her shifu, I'm even more convinced that the latter (Qi Yunke) is the Man in Black and the source of all the troubles.
FL is intelligent, why can't she see through him?

Yes, imo he is an ok guy inside the drama setting. Whilst you seem to be a very rude one when a person expresses a different opinion in a setting where persons exchange their opinions freely and politely. Sorry for not noticing, I'll certainly avoid to exchange my views with yours in the future. Good night.

You sus Qi Yunke, too? His behaviour isn't very normal, his wife said he was frequently out and none ever questioned where he had gone, he never trains his disciples and is often in seclusion to train his martial arts... and above all, he went incognito to the Demon sect, apparently after Zhao and Yuzhi, so he was there when they were attacked. And he certainly has many motives to disrupt both sides, more than any other person we've seen till now.

Ah, ok, but we know that person was Shangguan sent by NZ and was unaware of the real identity of MQY ad the time.

No, I was asking about the person who manipulated Nie Zhe (and probably NZ's father as well) to kill Master Chang, Qiu RenJie and who knows how many persons from both sides... That person must be an older generation and is skilled in a particular fighting arts, unknown to all other sects.

This person is crucial "plot-maker" for the remaining eps, bc all the ("old") enmity issues are connected to him. The story line will split in two, one following how the leads will "officialise" their relationship in circumstances which make a normal marriage and mutual family/clan relationship impossible and the second will deal with the mess stirred up by this mysterious man

I am 99% sure the Man in Black is somebody from the older generation from those rotten 6 "righteous" sects. All the sects' leaders look suspicious except Cai Zhao's father, starting from Zhao's shifu.
Dear novel readers, feel free to spoil me who's that person hereunder, tnx

Indeed.
"At least I've never abandoned him" (talking to the ML's mother)

This is not about what I support or not (no normal person of our times will support a thing which was quite a norm in those times, actually opposing the parents and eloping with a love interest was a rarity, and that thing was regularly perceived as scandalous, an act of foolishness, a whim, definitely far from anything "noble" as you've put it). You've described him as hypocritical, while imo, the hypocritical is the society in which it is normal to marry one person while having romantic feelings for another.

Besides, we still do not know what are exactly the feelings he has for Zhao. To me, they look more as an admiration (of her heroism and bravery), deep gratitude and concern towards a disciple-sister (whose bravery and entanglement with a person from an enemy sect could harm her) than as romantic feelings towards a woman. He isn't obsessed and doesn't delude himself she has any sort of romantic attachments towards him either and isn't prone to overstep. He doesn't even look hostile towards MQY, no matter how much the latter provoke and hurts him out of his jealousy. Instead of plotting or doing anything against MQY, he openely shares his worries in front of MQY regarding Zhao's entanglement with him. Totally fine guy and - till this point - a well-written, coherent character

It was very common to marry one person while having feelings for another. In this story, we've seen Lingbo's mom had (btw. shared) feelings for another man and still married Lingbo's father. Actually it is still common today, in societies in which arranged marriages are the norm. You can't order to your heart whom you love nor you can go against the orders of your family to marry a person they've planned for you.

He explained why he didn't want to break the engagement with Lingbo to his father: it would have tarnished Lingbo's reputation. In ancient times (which inspired the setting of this fantasy world), if a man broke an engagement with a woman, it meant: something is off with the woman (and the first suspectful thing would be her chastity). The truth didn't matter, it was so, period.
What is wrong is to look on such societies through the lenses of our times.

I've got the opposite impression: he is even too respectful towards his spoiled, arrogant, trouble making & bully fiancee. He even stopped his father in thinking/talking to break off his engagement with her.
He is not a hypocrite, his personality is simply... respectful, upright with great sense of duty. He doesn't "go after another woman" - this simplified interpretation reminds me a lot of Lingbo's childish, impulsive and superficial way of thinking - in the first place, he is immensely grateful to her for the cure she provided to him hiding all the difficulties she sustained. 2) Their trip to the Demon's Sect has two purposes of vital interest for their sect. As a senior and the most capable disciple who already recovered from his injuries, it is his duty to assume that task. Or do you think he should demostrate "the respect for his fiancee" by letting a junior sect-sister who already has done a lot for the sect and for him personally to go alone or with someone less capable, and potentially damaging for Zhao's reputation? He knows well she is going to the Demon's Sect not only in their sect's interest, but also bc she is worried or at least feeling obliged towards MQY, who (he knows well) helped her to obtain the cure for him. It's only right he goes with her. Or maybe you think he should show "the respect for his fiancee" taking that chicken-brain along with them? 3) Ofc. he likes Zhao and we can all understand why, but he is not the person who will ever overstep; Lingbo's mother was totally right in describing both his and Zhao's personalities. His marriage with Lingbo is an arranged marriage, Lingbo's feelings are totally one-sided, she is his fiancee only bc. it was decided so by his grandfather when they were kids. If the elders (who are true contractors of arranged marriages) don't rush it, why should he rush to marry a silly girl to whom he has no emotional attachments? I think that would be ultimately disrespectful towards his "fiancee" who, most of all, needs time to figure out many things of the world she belongs to and of the persons in her surrounding.

The first five eps were oddly interesting. Rarely a romance can keep my attention, I've checked this one only out of curiosity on latest projects taken by two actors playing in it. I've thought I'd never watch a story starting with smth so stereotypical and boring such as a FL committed to debunking men's disloyalty in love🙄🤦‍♀️ (I'm definitely too old for such a crap) but the approach taken by the story-teller is truly interesting, especially the way characters and their takes/opinions in love-matters are introduced; this style gives out almost Rashomon vibes and it is accentuated by close shot camerawork and theatrical atmosphere, invoking suspence and a guessing game on where the plot will move next and what are the true intentions and feelings of the players involved.
Hope the drama will keep this atmosphere of uncertainty throughout.

Such a beautiful & different drama. Funny and food for thought at the same time. Well done both as a story and as a script. Who wouldn't like to work in such a good social environment as Tengda in which one's own creativity and skills can combine with so so many different creative potentials of other persons? And not only to work, but to live, idle, eat, play, gossip, go on trips... in short, to exist together with all these warm and well-built characters. Bravo!