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Yes! And from what I saw from the actress herself, she herself acknowledged it too about the minimal build-up and the character not fully fleshed out. That's why there are so many debates going on right now especially on C-platforms about her as a character and her motives.

Jinqi is trying to go for the CEO takes care of his delicate wife route while Lanxiang is stopping all his attempts. 😂

Saw a snippet of Zheng He Hui Zi's livestream about Du Cuique and she said she hesitated about this role because besides the role/her probably getting scolded, there is not enough build-up for the character so the scenes later might be jarring. But still feels she wants to try this role to push herself. She also acknowledges that not every character will get fully fleshed out. She said when she acted this role, she herself was also looking at Du Cuique from far away. She herself can't understand a lot of things about Du Cuique nor can she empathize with her. But when she is acting her, she tried to get closer to her.

Link: xhslink.com/o/39aHAICa5HR

Glad to see it wasn't just some viewers feeling the jarring part.

"The Chronicles of a Maid's Daily Life"
"Countdown to a Maid's Retirement from a Noble Family"
"How to Survive as a Maid 101"

😂

He is interesting for sure. He values the Lin name more than perhaps the members that make up the Lin family. The family members themselves are not bigger than the Lin surname surviving with intact reputation. He did probably cut himself off too if it means making sure the Lin name survives.

I like the changes with Lin Jinqi too.

Du Cuique's novel name was Du Huamei and the one she was based on there had her brother dead. But yes, I did read about them seemingly gave a plotline from another character with a brother to the drama Du Cuique whose brother is alive to tie the plotline to Xiuwan. It makes sense even more now why it seems like a jumble of different motives and actions.

It is even more weird later on in the drama because Du Cuique's later plot with the pirate is actually based on the real-life female pirate who is anti-Wo but in the drama, she colluded with the Wo already.

Lin household did survive the emperor's wrath due to submitting to the emperor, cutting off the Shen, and tying themselves to the Zhao afterall.

It can definitely go either way. If it was a fake death, her life would be "over" as it means she did have to live in hiding forever. The servants won't be allowed to know too so she did probably have to live somewhere else without servants taking care of her. She would probably need a fake identity and marriage which they consider a big need for woman then would be hard too. This would be a "social" death.

Second Madam's reaction does make it seem like actual death though. 🤔 With the way all the Shen ladies committed suicide in episode 1 over their reputation, it won't be surprising if Xiuwan really was expected to die and her dead body is shown as proof.

Same, the drama version I think didn't make it seem like they had no other options. DCQ just ends up looking like she has a victim complex, said to be as smart as Zhuge Liang (but how do they know that? Did she accomplish something already?) but didn't know Huang Daopo, seems to be portrayed as just wanting to be wealthy/marry up but argument includes not having equal opportunities as men.

Du Zheng is even more vague. Was he jealous? He got promoted after saving Lin Jinqi. Was it not enough? What was he aiming for?

The drama's message was DCQ "looked down on herself and she herself didn't think she and the Lin family were equal" and she could have aimed to be a wife if she was just nice/didn't have bad intention but even within this drama... that is just not true.

Yes, I think unfortunately we don't have the full picture with Du Zheng either as they were trying to keep the viewers in the dark of whether he was in on the plan or not. We didn't have any scene of Du Zheng and Du Cuique speaking 1-on-1 nor saw how they interact when they were just by themselves.

There were even debates over if Du Zheng set up the whole "saving Lin Jinqi" plot or if it was really something by accident that he then turned into an opportunity to get into the Lin household.

I think Du Zheng was in on it already when he swapped his clothes. I am more curious of when the part of working with the Wo came from, was it after they got burned and knew they missed their chances with the Lin? Was it from the very start? Were they playing both sides? Their specific plotline has left things very vague.

The drama seems to be going for the angle that it really was by chance Du Zheng saved LJQ. But he turned it into an opportunity and managed to get him and his sister in the door. Then they plan to both marry into the family.

DCQ's side failed first, but DZ still has a chance with Xiuwan if they slept together. During this time, they somehow got involved with the Wo and decided they need to get rid of the Lin household instead? But still playing both side as DCQ attempted to be the savior so still hope for the chance that they feel so thankful for her they did want her as LJQ's concubine?

Their motives of moving up the ladder then don't make sense in the drama as Du Zheng is alive. It was DZ's death in the novel that cut off DCQ's options to be a female official or get marry to be a wife (can only be a concubine). But in the drama, they still had options available as long as Du Zheng is around.

Google: La historia empieza con una piedra mágica que adquiere consciencia y decide descender al mundo terrenal para experimentar las pasiones humanas. Esa piedra reencarna en el joven Jia Baoyu. La trama se desarrolla en el esplendor y posterior decadencia de la adinerada e influyente familia Jia (y sus clanes aliados: Shi, Wang y Xue) dentro de la China de la dinastía Qing. Baoyu vive rodeado de los familiares y criados del gran jardín familiar. Él está enamorado de su prima Lin Daiyu, una poetisa delicada, culta y muy emotiva. Sin embargo, la familia presiona para que Baoyu se case con otra prima, Xue Baochai, quien representa el ideal de mujer prudente y sumisa a las normas tradicionales.

Lin household survived this long really thanks to Grandpa Lin wow. That man really will cut off anything and anyone ASAP if it can affect the Lin overall.

The actress playing Xiuru especially reminds me of it too. I feel like her face would fit right in the 1987 version.

Jinqi met his match and found someone he both respects and admires. He is definitely making her his wife. 🤣

Agreed! For people just getting into Chinese culture, Hawkes and Minford would be a good start. Then reading the ones by actual Chinese translators would definitely help to add on to the understanding.

Here is a link of the different versions linking the e-books/Amazon or other places you can buy/download them from: https://welovetranslations.com/2021/01/13/whats-the-best-translation-of-the-dream-of-the-red-chamber/

If you are a library goer, I am sure libraries carry this series too. 😊

Basically like the Shen grandpa, honor. 😔 I didn't read all the spoilers since I still want to keep some things as surprises, but it has to do with the whole prince rebellion that takes place later in the drama and he died a heroic death. If Lanxiang did get married with him, she did probably have died too as his wife.

Same, I was wondering why Du Cuique as a character seems so inconsistent and almost 1D compared to Zhao Xingtang in the drama. I looked more into it and turns out her backstory in the novel was set up the way it was which made her later actions makes sense in her twisted mind. But in the drama, as she was never the concubine and her brother was not dead, a lot of the subsequent actions didn't line up.

I understand, I am just saying I don't think the Du Cuique character drama adaptation was done as well as it could have been. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too with what she does in the novel but her motives in the drama due to changes with the ML ends up becoming flat instead.

I like the changes to the ML too, but I am saying they should have made changes to Du Cuique's motives/actions too to match the changes of ML. I think the scriptwriters recognized Du Cuique's novel character is a very "exciting" character. But as her motives were related to her being part of the Lin household already, the drama version of her ends up becoming flat compared to say the drama version of Zhao Xingtang where her changes make more sense for the drama situation.