Mbee88

😅😅😅

Absolutely! This reminds me of the scene in Ep 1 where Xu Lanxiang asks her father what a slave is. He tells her that a slave is a chattel, but that they must still be taught loyalty and integrity. She nods and says, “I understand”, but looking back now, it almost feels like everything she subsequently experienced was the story giving her the true answer to that question.

So yes, your point is solid! Returning to the status and world she was born into isn’t simply a restoration of the Shen Jialan/Xu Lanxiang we met in Ep 1. She returns with an understanding and perspective she could never have had before. The little girl who said “I understand” now actually does.

When watching a period drama, I think we have to expect some degree of slow burn romance. These were societies where marriage was often determined by family, class, survival, political interests or even imperial decree. Individual romantic choice was a luxury, particularly when noble families were involved. Only the more unconventional period dramas allow their characters the kind of independence we would expect today.

That is why I actually found Xu Lanxiang’s relationship with Scholar Han very realistic. It was not some grand romance. It grew from friendship, trust, familiarity and two people who, as far as they knew, belonged roughly to the same social world. We as viewers know Lanxiang was born into a noble family, but Lanxiang herself has spent most of her life believing that there was a ceiling to how far she could rise. Her ambition was essentially to survive with her integrity intact. Going from slave to commoner was already an enormous change in her circumstances.

Lin Jinqi, meanwhile, is almost the quintessential obedient eldest son. He has followed the rules for years because he did not have the power not to. But I think the drama has been quietly showing us that he has been planning his escape from those constraints for a long time. Remember him writing that he had to plan first? His choices have not been accidental.

Joining the military, building something independent of his family, refusing to rely on his former father in law despite his grandfather’s preference, and eventually involving himself in protecting the Crown Prince all gradually gave him power that did not come from his family. He knew that virtually everyone with authority over his life would oppose Lanxiang. So ultimately he went to the one authority they could not overrule: the Emperor.

That is why I see the imperial decree as Lin Jinqi using the strongest means available to him in his competition for Lanxiang. He risked his life and built his own relationship with the Crown Prince, now Emperor, to reach a position where his family could no longer dictate his life.

And I think the writers have actually been remarkably fair to Scholar Han. They gave him substantial time with Lanxiang and allowed him to genuinely compete for her. He chose not to go to the academy because he wanted to pursue her, knowing another man wanted her. He had the opportunity to propose, although the kidnapping and former Emperor’s death interrupted things, and he even received the credit for saving her. The drama has not made him some disposable second male lead who never had a chance.

In a way, both men have been fighting for Lanxiang using the tools available to them. Scholar Han used proximity, companionship and persistence. Lin Jinqi used patience, strategy and eventually political power. And perhaps the writers have deliberately made Lin Jinqi work painfully hard for her after he failed to marry her as Shen Jialan when she was still a noblewoman 😂.

But there is another important point: neither man has really allowed Lanxiang to decide.

And I think that is deliberate too.

The writers have been remarkably restrained about telling us whether Lanxiang is actually in love with either of them. Her story has remained primarily one of survival, dignity and family. She simply has not had the luxury of making romance the centre of her life. She wants security and contentment with her family first.

From Lanxiang’s perspective, Lin Jinqi was probably never someone she could realistically aspire to marry once she understood herself to be a servant/commoner. Add what his family did to the Shen family, and as far as she was concerned, that ship had sailed long ago.

So I don’t think this arc is simply about which man Lanxiang “chooses”. It is about two men pursuing her within the rules and power structures of their world while Lanxiang herself has been too busy surviving to even imagine that she was entitled to choose.

And perhaps that is the wider point of the drama: notice how so many of the women’s stories are fundamentally about survival. From Lin Jinqi’s first wife to Ji’er, who once lived with Lanxiang and ended up in a brothel, and the other women we meet along the way, each is trying to survive within the circumstances she has been given. They simply use different means. Some rely on marriage, some on status or favour, some manipulate the limited power available to them, while others, like Lanxiang, cling fiercely to work, family and personal integrity. We may judge their methods differently, but they are all navigating a world in which women have remarkably little control over the conditions of their own lives. That is why I don’t think Lanxiang’s story should suddenly be read primarily as a romance. For much of this story, love has been a luxury. Survival came first.

I literally just reacted to this scene 😅

Lin Jin Qi… where are you at?! 📣😅 Scholar Han is about to nick Lan Xiang from you 😂. #ep21

Yes Yes Yes 🙌🏾

2026 has been such a great year for Chinese dramas, and Zhou Shen deserves his flowers for all the OSTs he’s given us this year! I’m happily watching Against the Current and Spring of the Blade right after finishing The Early Spring, and we can’t forget The First Jasmine, A Splendid Match, The Heir and Generation to Generation. You can’t imagine the rush I’m getting from watching one interesting drama after another. It’s actually crazy 😂 Nah, 2026 is really delivering.

I really like this Naren’s review. It’s very nuanced, as most relationships are. Tao may appear to be the meek and gentle one of the two, especially because Lu Nian has a sharp mouth and can be quite salty when he is hurt, but strangely I think Tao’s actions sometimes hurt more. Hers is a quieter kind of stubbornness. She does not necessarily argue or say cruel things; she simply makes decisions, carries on with parts of her life without him, and tells him afterwards, if at all. That kind of exclusion can feel almost like indifference, even though I don’t think she is actually indifferent to him.

And I think a lot of that behaviour comes from her insecurity around Lu Nian. She has always seen herself as somehow less than him, whether in class, at work, or generally, so she keeps parts of herself and her life away from him. The situations she enters without telling him often involve people she can be less polished around, or situations where she does not feel she has to measure up. At other times, it almost feels as though she simply does not want to “bother” the high and mighty, sophisticated Lu Nian.

The irony is that Lu Nian is probably the bigger softy of the two. For all his bad mouth, he cares about her very deeply and, in my view, loves harder. He actually wants to be relevant in every part of her life. So when she leaves him out, what he feels is not merely jealousy or possessiveness; it is that she does not really see him as her partner.

His problem is that he does not communicate that vulnerability very well. Instead of saying, “Please be open with me. See me as your boyfriend, not your boss or this sophisticated person you have to impress”, the hurt comes out as sarcasm, irritation, withdrawal or some cutting remark.

I think that is really the tragedy of these two. Tao puts him on a pedestal because of her insecurity, and that very pedestal creates the distance that hurts him. Meanwhile, Lu Nian wants her to understand that he does not want to be admired from a distance; he wants to be included. These are patterns and conditioning that cannot simply disappear because they have fallen in love.

Not exactly the same, but in terms of feeling and certain elements, it reminded me of the deep, devoted love of the Love in Pavilion couple; the politics and strategy of The Rise of Phoenixes; and a steady, consistent pace similar to The Vendetta of An, with that satisfying emotional high you get from a well done revenge drama. What makes The First Jasmine feel especially unique to me is the moral depth of the storytelling, and the way it touches on emotional healing and mental wellbeing. I have rarely seen that handled this thoughtfully in a costume drama, so in that sense, it really feels like a first for me.

This drama will definitely be among my all-time favourite Chinese dramas, but I especially want to talk about this particular OST: 《见幸福》 (“Seeing Happiness”) by Yisa Yu / 郁可唯.

The song feels ethereal and transportive. From the opening violin, it felt as though I was suspended in a cool, dark, weightless world. Yisa Yu’s voice is so clear and delicate that it moves like silk through a needle, precise but soft.

The music made me slow down, almost float, and my body wanted to move with it in fluid, wave-like gestures. It is not just beautiful; it creates a deep physical and emotional rush, like joy, longing and wonder all rising at once.

I do not even fully understand Mandarin, but I felt this song deeply. It is stunning!