La Gata

Salt fish is still a big industry today. Tons of tinned foods are preserved in brine. Boiling in salt water is a classic and delicious cooking method.

Salt was (still is) used as a food preservative and as an antiseptic. In old times salt was currency, not just in China but all over the world. For example, in Ancient Rome household slaves were given a monthly stipend in salt, which is where the word 'salary' comes from.

He needed the 16 heads to accumulate merit to get a promotion.

He didn't😂. It was an ironic remark about all the justifications and excuses for his awful behaviour because of some supposed PTSD.

Agree again. Plus, she's now well established, she can just take her mother to live with her.

Of course I know, but this is not about what the spectator knows, it's about what the character knows. In this instance all she knew was he was telling her about the concubine and how he couldn't really reject her because of the salt trade. He never said 'I'll never marry another woman because you are the only one in my heart', which is what she needed to hear.

As for future pain, I hope the storyline gives good reasons for it, one trope I cannot stand is suffering for the sake of suffering. Ep 21 doesn't bode well in that sense, but we'll see how the next ones pan out.

Send them a Mexican hat. Go on, do it. You know you want to. 😂😂😂😂

Tell me again! Ep 21 got my wound up proper, I'm not rewatching that string of absurdities again.

Indeed. Plus TY has her own household under her own register, she's a Xie now. She wouldn't need her father's permission even without the emperor's decree.

ZL having other motives is a possibility, of course, but there are already corruption charges prepared for when her shitty father finishes his mourning period. As for other people being involved, ZL only needs to make a clean break and put new people in charge of the Salt Trade Reform. In any case, he should have let her know he was going to visit her father. Then we start going in circles, she was threatening to leave because he was considering taking a concubine etc. Anyway, the teasers for the next few eps are good, including the wedding on 25.

That's certainly a new one: "I may take another woman because I have PTSD".😏

Her disowned father had held an official post in the salt trade in which he had been scamming the treasury. When he was about to be charged with corruption, his mother (the horrible grandmother) died, so he used his 'grief' as an excuse to go into seclusion and avoid/delay facing the charges. That's why they're saying his mourning period should have been 3 years but had already been 7, he's holed up because the moment he comes out he'll be arrested. He sees ZL as his out of jail card, hence asking him for an official post in the salt trade in exchange for TY's hand,

The absurdity of it all is of course that TY doesn't need his permission to get married, so ZL's visit to her father doesn't make sense to say the least.

Also the fact that he went to negotiate her wedding with her disowned father without consulting her. The whole plot in ep 21 is just is ridiculous.

ZL doesn't have OCD or Tourette's that we know of. To me what he's done is certainly not standard guy behaviour, that would set the bar pretty low.

She refused a gift from ZL, not from the emperor. ZL just went and sent the blasted sheep to her without asking her if she wanted it and after he hadn't visited for a number of days. She simply didn't take delivery of it. On the other hand, ZL allowed the sheep the emperor had personally gifted him to stand in the rain for four hours in front of a scammer and alleged salt thief. Out of the two, which one do you think would be on thin ice if news reach the emperor? And isn't the sheep ZL's responsibility anyway?

If a guy needs to ask what's the matter after letting me know he may take another woman, I'd be done with him there and then. Everything else comes on top of that.

She's not letting him sleep on the couch. She actually went to get him in the rain, had a heated confrontation with her father because of him and took him back. Zhao Ling going behind her back to negotiate her wedding with the father she repudiated in front of him strikes me as an act of ultimate disrespect and disloyalty. That's something the villain of a drama does, not the hero. If I hadn't been done with him before, I'd surely be now.

'Sexy' has precisely zero to do with my take on his behaviour, I don't even know where you got that from. I have been taking about mutual respect all the time, what does sexiness got to do with it?

Ep 21 comes across to me as a poor excuse to add unnecessary drama, it cheapens an otherwise excellent storyline. I don't see why her father should be back on the scene, there are already enough characters in the plot and he adds nothing to it; she doesn't need his permission to get married; she's now self sufficient and well established enough to take her mother with her; the despicable father will just become a liability for both of them if they don't make a clean break.

Anyway, I hope the script gets back on its track in the next episodes, it'd be a shame if it didn't. I've been enjoying this series up to ep 20, excellent performances all around, great direction and pace and beautiful scenery.

Fair enough. Pull Strings started yesterday. I've watched 3 eps and find it entertaining. I don't know of any others. Good luck

I agree that's not what he said. That's what he did.

The problem here is that, for a relationship to work, it must be built on a base of mutual respect. I find his compound behaviour in all the points I mentioned disrespectful well beyond what may be considered understandable, let alone acceptable. He's just taking her for granted. Hence I would cook him sod all and he could go to his sergeant for a massage, I'd be done with him.

I have the same feeling as you about the confessions, it would have been crazy to burn them without any guarantee or even promise. We'll see how it develops.

About treating the Royal sheep like crap (for some reason I find this idea hilarious 😂), I don't think she did; she only sent it back to him. The one who actually treated the Royal sheep like crap (😂😂😂) was Zhao Ling, who made the poor thing stand in the rain for 4 hours in front of that tosser of a father she has.

Lastly, she's not letting him 'sleep on the couch', he is the one who decided to leave, he run away like a child because he didn't know how to deal with the situation like an adult. Of course, then she had to go and rescue him from the situation the silly man put himself in with her POS father.

Did you really feel the need to insult me? Do you feel better now? Who's the fucking idiot, then? Blocked.

Who said I don't want people to respond? It's absolutely fine for people to opine on the drama, not to tell me what to do. I hope that clears it up. And I'm glad you saw the humour. 😏

"I came back after 5 years and it took I don't know how many days/weeks for me to visit you, what's wrong?"

"I may take another woman, before I even marry you, for the sake of some deal. What's wrong?"

"You packed all your stuff up and started moving out. I didn't take you seriously, what's wrong?"

"I asked the father you repudiated permission to marry you without consulting you at all, what's wrong?"

At that point I wouldn't put up any walls, I'd just break up with him.

To me this has turned into a script failure that is starting to spoil the drama. We get once again the trope of the 'blockhead' guy and the all understanding woman, which in reality is just an excuse for the guy to get away with murder and the woman to be somehow morally obliged to understand him. In this particular drama, that change in ZL's personality is not even in keeping with his character, it doesn't make sense.

No, the problem here is when men tell women they may take another woman because of some trade deal.

Your other half: "Yeah, I couldn't really refuse the option to cuckold you straight away because, you know, the salt trade".

But sure, that makes you the irritating one.