La Gata

That whole scenario is beyond absurd. The Anzhou merchants were enraged by the murder of Madam Wu, but somehow they wouldn't accept the evidence handwritten by Madam Wu herself? So the emperor decides instead to murder a key general for the defence of the Northwest border and personal friend instead of taking advantage of the situation to investigate further and bring the Yu down? And the merchants are somehow satisfied with Mo's execution but don't give a damn about finding Madam Wu's killer?

The grandma's mausoleum absolutely is the go-to excuse for the emperor every time he wants to get ZL to do something he doesn't like. This is at least the fourth time the emperor has come up with the grandma and the mausoleum. At this point I think the writer was just copying and pasting.

Again, there would have been no reason for Mo to accept his death if FTY had given the evidence to ZL in time instead of sitting on it until late in the evening and then mentioning it casually at the end of the conversation. Once Mo's innocence had been established the investigation should have concentrated on Madam Wu's murder, which is what the salt merchants were enraged about.

I've watched enough cdramas to know troops rebelling because their general was killed is in fact a frequent trope, not getting all of their salt and grain supply being further reason for it. Of course it would have been easy for Mo and Wang's armies to rebel in the Northwest, who would stop them? As soon as they started marching to the capital the border would be left undefended and the enemy kingdoms would invade. This would be a much more perilous situation for the emperor than the salt trade, Madam Wu's murder and the damned mausoleum put together.

The script has gone downhill and it's affected the acting too. Ding Yu Xi's performance at the beginning and middle of the drama was vastly superior in my view, he stopped convincing me a couple of episodes ago.

Today's episode was absurd too.

1) FTY is delivered proof of General Mao's innocence. Does she run to show it to ZL? Dos she even send an urgent message to him to let him know? Of course not. She just waits for him to get back home in the evening, then she tells him in a 'by the way' fashion when it is too late.

2) ZL doing what he did is over the top even for makjang. What would have been in keeping with his character would be refusing to comply with the emperor's order and follow his principles even if it enraged the emperor and cost him his life. Or just resign.

3) The emperor using his 'I can't let my grandmother do her musoleum' as an excuse to literally get away with murder is absurd. On top of it, making General Mao the scapegoat was absurd too, what about his army? Wouldn't they rightfully rebel? Isn't this army essential to defend the border? It makes even less sense considering the emperor could have just let ZL investigate Madam Wu's murder and bring the Yu down, which is what he wanted anyway.

The plot has gone makjang and a half, to the point that I'm tempted to drop this drama.

😂

Thank you.👍

Specsavers.

General Mo to Zhao Ling: "Please talk to your sister-in-law, tell her not to worry about me".

Who's Zhao Ling's sister-in-law? Is this a subtitles error? 🤔

I have already answered all those points in my previous replies. I also respect your opinion without sharing it. I agree to disagree.

Please see my reply above, part of your comment is answered there.

You asked why Madam Zou didn't leave. Point one, this would assume all characters are expected to behave similarly; even if they were, two wrongs don't make a right. Point two, she didn't seem to have the economic means to do so, in fact that seems to be the reason why she desperately wanted to marry her hapless brother into the Fu family, to secure him financially. Miss Wu is paraded around and checked out for the exact same reason, she's 100% financially dependent on her aunt who doesn't even allow her a basic amount of food and she has nobody to turn to. In both cases it's not about society, it's about plain old money to keep themselves going without having to resort to prostitution, which would have been the one other path open to a woman of no means and no standing. Miss Wu actually states this multiple times in her conversations with FTY.

I know the Yu family arranged having Madam Fu killed, I'm not arguing that point. She would have ended up dead all the same if she had divorced earlier, since the object of her death was keeping ZL out of the action for 3 months. What I'm debating is the plot hole that is her staying with her husband after every single reason why she 'may have had to' had been exhausted for years, then suddenly presenting him with a letter of divorce etc and finally being murdered by him, which rebounded on FTY and ZL's relationship. Enough time of this drama is dedicated to her and her relationship with her husband, so this is relevant.

I'm not talking about 'many examples of educated women who stay with men who abuse them', I am very aware they exist and, for all you know, I could even be one of them and vice versa. I am talking about this specific character in this specific drama, but all replies are just extrapolating it to real life and to other women.

Madam Fu describes herself at the beginning of the drama as a 'weak woman', but this weakness does not manifest even once along the whole of the 29 eps I've watched so far, and by now she's already dead. In fact, it's quite the opposite. At no point does she seem to be frightened of her husband, she actually stands her ground every time he confronts her; she even stares him in the eye and lifts her chin in defiance while he's pointing a gun at her. She's neither infatuated with this man nor deluded, she knows exactly what type of cockroach he is and despises him for it. In the scene where her maid calls ZL to the inner little yard and opens the window so he can talk to Madam Fu who's inside, I am wondering aloud why she's there, she seems to be confined in her room of her own accord; I really cannot think of a reason why she simply doesn't step out to speak to him.

Next. The early divorce scenario and the consequences for FTY. Madam Fu has no reason to worry about its potential negative effect on her daughter's future marriage because her daughter is officially dead, buried and registered as deceased in her yamen's records; she now has a new identity as a Xie and has even been granted her own household register by no other than the crown prince himself. Furthermore, fast forward a few episodes and Madam Fu knows her daughter is engaged to Zhao Ling, who's perfectly aware of her real identity because he happens to be the one who rescued her and took her away with her blessing, so even if said real identity came to light he'd still marry her. As for madam Fu's son, he's already married with children, so no need to worry about how her divorce would affect his marriage prospective options. She still stays with cringe Fu father even after her daughter is married, even after her son and daughter-in-law decide to go back to Huaning. Then suddenly she decides to divorce him and actually shows him the letter of divorce when she's defenceless.

Again, she's a wealthy woman with a kept husband who's beyond reprehensible and always has been. She grew up in a wealthy, happy, supportive family that always had her back and will always have her back. She kept her own fortune through her marriage despite whichever real life laws were applicable in China at the time. Her children are grown up, independent, married and sorted out. She's a determined, dignified woman who stands up to her shitty husband every single time. But somehow she's just a weak woman who puts up with her husband's awful behaviour and stays in that doomed marriage just because.

Madam Fu's character is badly written to the point that it slowly builds up into a gaping plot hole, this is my final take on it. Of course others will have different opinions, but that's the nature of it.

She is upset because Zhao Ling took it all upon himself to avenge Madam Fu without telling FTY the reason why he killed her father because he didn't want to upset her further. He took the blame for her father so she wouldn't have extra suffering after her mother's recent death. She's now upset because she doesn't want ZL to take all the load on by himself without sharing it with her.

'we can blame screenwriters for how her story has been executed - but she couldn't divorce husband at ep 1 like some of you guys suggest - Fu family with that chastity arcs would definitely kill her but not allow a divorce'.

Yes, she could have divorced him on ep 1. She would only have needed to keep her mouth shut, write to her brother in secret and ask him to come and get her with a divorce letter. Her circumstances were exactly the same and the law didn't change from the beginning to the end of the drama. If she could divorce him on ep 29 so could she on ep 1. The horrible Fu grandmother died 4 months after FTY left the Fu house, 7 years later Madam Fu was still enduring and financially supporting that corrupt baboon. It makes no sense.

'If I am not mistaken to have a legitimate one there was still husbands signature required. Only man could give a woman divorce paper and send her back to her family with purgatory letter.
Also her material possessions could be taken over by her family - brothers, uncles etc. as woman needed a man as a head of the household'.

Perhaps that was the case in real life, but not according to this drama. Definitely not from what she told him was going to happen after the divorce. And in the past she refused to give him money, so she was in control of her own fortune all the time.

'...so, yes that feels a bit like sloppy writing, as from our perspective there were better solutions and story development'.

Indeed. It would have been a lot more credible if, for example, Madam Fu divorces idiotic husband and moves in with ZL and FTY. An assassin hired by the Yu guy kills her and makes it look like an accident. ZL must have 3 months mourning. Sorted.

I cannot even figure out why an intelligent, good hearted, dignified woman would marry such a boorish lout.

She does. She must have sussed it out or one of the assistants told her. That's why she told Zhao Ling he took the blame for her father. because when she asked him why he killed him, he didn't tell her.

It's also at an odd straight angle, stiff hairs protruding horizontally. It looks like a chunk of a draught excluder.

The main reasons for women to stay in abusive relationships are A) Because they have small children; B) Because they cannot afford to leave, they don't have any support, they have nowhere to go and no money of their own; C) Because they had abusive parents and became vulnerable adults; D) Because they are infatuated with the man.

While I am aware the above are not the only reasons, I cannot for the life of me figure out why Madam Fu would stay with a man she despised when she had her own fortune, financial and emotional backing from her family branch and grown up independent children. At no point did she seem to be fearful of him either, she confronted him with dignity every time he did or said something awful.

As I said, her circumstances were the same on ep 1 and when she wrote the letter of divorce. Yes, I saw him tear it up, that happened because she put herself in that situation; she could have just have the letter officially delivered to him. In any case, tearing it up was just an empty grand gesture from her imbecile husband, she could just as easily write another one and file it in court. She actually was aware of the law, she explained to him what was going to happen after she filed for divorce: Separation of assets, she would take everything that was hers and cut him off financially etc. In an earlier episode, when she explained to him why she wouldn't give him any more money she sounded like she had been in control of her own fortune all the time.

She declared herself a weak woman at the beginning of the drama, which is also at odds with a character that comes from a wealthy, happy, supportive family and is not only financially independent, but a main source of income for the whole Fu family. Her staying with her POS husband even after her daughter got married and then suddenly coming up with the decision to divorce him when he's about to kill her just makes the character not credible.

There is nothing wrong with that either. I loved The First Jasmine.

She knows, What she doesn't know is that it was Grand Secretary Yu who put him up to it.

At their wedding Zhao Ling formally adopted Madam Fu as his mother. The Fu father murdered her. Zhao Ling avenged her.

Or 22. The kneeling in the rain is 21. 😂

I think the it is because when she asked him why he killed her father, he didn't t tell her it was because her father killed her mother, this is something she must have sussed out by putting two and two together, hence telling him he took the blame for her father. We'll see what happens when she learns it was Grand Secretary Yu who put him up to it.

I googled it because even for a cdrama slicing a rifle's barrel with a sword as if it were bamboo was too far fetched. It turns out it actually was bamboo. Those early muskets were also quite useless, being able to fire just some small pellets at very close range. Zhao Ling's dismissive reaction was on point, he didn't take the contraption seriously for good reason.

There was also a type of musket with the same bamboo barrel that could fire a small arrow. I don't know whether this was a different one or the nincompoop Fu father forgot to insert the arrow in it.