JJJ

Also the English subs sucks. 💀 They always just translate the names and never the titles. For example, the family members don't straight up call Qin Wan as "Wan" as translated, they call her by her rank within the family which is "9th lady" or "9th sister" or "9th brat" (behind her back sometimes like Grandma Qin).

Just to add, Bai Feng actually started calling Fu Ling as "Fu Ling jiejie" (and they didn't translate that either) so yes, we have an older woman/younger man situation going on.

I am really enjoying Qin Wan's and Yan Chi's developing relationship. It is progressing at a nice pace and Yan Chi has already revealed a vulnerable part of himself from his past to Qin Wan, that says a lot.

I loooove the scenes of Qin Wan working/investigating so much. It shows her charisma so much.

And case #2, it is actually some readers' favorite case just because of the twists and turns and the drama is developing it nicely.

No problem! Yeah, the drama just kind of throw the viewers in because they kind of have to in order to get all 8 cases in. In the novel, the very beginning before the first case took a bit to set up. But once you start understanding the power/ranking system in the drama, it will be easier to get everyone's rankings/relationships as they do mention the ranks via dialogues but for international viewers, it might be tough to get on the first view.

Xu He being so willing to learn how to be a coroner from Qin Wan too. 🥺

Woman who is supposed to be married - Song Rou
Guy who is escorting her - Wei Yanzhi (works for Song Rou's father aka the Duke of Song and Wei Yanzhi's older half-brother is also Song Rou's cousin)

Song Rou is supposed to be married into the Yue family to one of the Yue sons due to the emperor's decree.

The Yue and Wei families are marquis level while the Song family is at Duke level (higher than the other two).

Yan Chi skipping off in happiness just because Qin Wan stopped using formalities. 🤭

Congrats to this cast! This drama has a really strong opening ESPECIALLY when both aren't traffic stars: https://x.com/ForCdrama/status/1944688047913570363

I really hope the drama continues to do what it does because it is clearly working.

Yup. 🥲

Yeaaaaaah, basically when the main wife doesn't want to have sex or unable to, the husband can seek out a concubine or maid to "satisfy his needs".

Wait until we get to the palace, she has some other princes falling for her too. 🤭

Just want to mention for the first case, there is another level of relationship with the Song and Wei families in the novel. Wei Yanzhi stated his mom was killed by the main wife of the Wei family (also in the drama). The main wife who married into the Wei family is actually Song Jingxi (the sister of the Song Duke and Song Rou's aunt). Song Jingxi as stated in the drama would also abuse him during his childhood, so it added another twist layer to his relationship with Song Rou because it was in part revenge too.

Both! He knows she is suspicious but also can't help but be curious about her. ARP on their livestream confirmed it was on some level love at first sight, but it was through getting to know her that it really became something more.

Yeah he is pretty funny. 🤣 He is definitely not a good prefect in the sense that he will take the easy way out BUT he is also very flexible and adapts to the situation quickly. His bickering with his son is funny too.

I love those little details. On one hand he is suspicious of her + investigating her but on the other hand, he just can't help but be curious about her. He is really getting to know her on a deeper level with what she values and her thoughts as a coroner. These scenes are just really smart and sprinkled throughout so viewers can really see the process of him falling for her even deeper (because yes, he was high key mesmerized during their first meeting already, but he is also logical about it).

Yup!

Love them!

Okay I don't think anyone mentioned it yet but that scene of the three ladies (Qin Wan, Yue Ning, and Fu Ling) at the festival with their cute masks and giggles? ADORABLE. I just love scenes of girls hanging out so much.

That scene of Yan Chi running after Qin Wan to explain his side ASAP and Qin Wan recognizing she judged the situation too quickly and apologized... wow, would you look at that, an actual mature back and forth.

Those rant videos definitely contributed to the popularity. 😂 Negative attention is still attention and people were hate watching it too in order to be able to make their rant videos. Literally couldn't escape discussions on that drama when it aired back then which was "good" for the drama since it all adds up to the stats at the end of the day. A drama being dissed is still better than a drama no one cares about for profit purposes.

For sure, people are tired of certain tropes. Sometimes scriptwriters just get lazy and know the fans will defend the drama anyway or they themselves have those values and impose those values onto the characters.

Haha I just want this drama to remain at least an 8 on MDL since it does deserve it with the character set up and cases which will progress the plot and leaves no room for fillers (plus the acting is great).