PeachBlossomGoddess

There have been a few - Ripe Town, Fearless Blood, Wind Blows in Longxi and there are more planned.

He is also in Brocade Odyssey which is also currently airing.

No that should be the Wanli emperor, which was the 14th Ming emperor which was near the end of Ming dynasty. This was somewhere in the middle, Chenghua was the 9th Ming emperor.

Typo - should be Xingxue.

I felt really sad and sorry for her but the moment she chose to leave her home and go after her husband I knew she was gonna die.

I shouldn't laugh. But yes, so did I!

Yes, she should be modelled on Empress Wan who was 17 years older than the emperor and once his nanny. Her only son died in infancy but nonetheless she continued to kill all of the emperor's pregnant consorts. The crown prince should be the one that survived after being hidden away until adulthood.

Is paid for by her poor naive and dumb daughter with bad taste in men. Very sad.

Wang Xingyue's bad karma

Women had limited property rights since ancient times that was separate from their dowry. Dou Zhao inherited her mother's dowry as her property when her mother died which even the Dou family could not touch. She invested that and became very rich in her own right. But once she marries her property can be controlled by her husband's family. Miao An Su was actually bringing part of her property to the wedding to enter the Song family coffers. The emperor himself indirectly asked her to do so. It is reading between the lines of his edict to them asking them to be a harmonious family. If she did not declare and cede her property, she would be violating his edict. Once the Song family realized how much income she was capable of generating from it, they ceded it back to her management. If that were her dowry, she need not offer it to them. Her dowry (which comes to her from the Dou family) as you point out is something even after marriage no one can touch and since ancient times, women don't give their husband's families control over their dowry. There are academic books ancient Chinese women's property rights. You can look them up and read them if you are interested.

I love these kinds of stories. Can't wait.

You are right with respect to the dowry which is what is given to her by her family for her financial security. But her property in her own right, which is not the same as her dowry, becomes part of her husband's family's property. That is why Dou Zhao was adamant not to marry (bc her own property far exceeds her dowry). It is also why all members of her family including her father insisted on giving her a dowry for her own security despite her already considerable wealth. But she has so far very cleverly retained control over her own property in her initial interactions with the Song family. She was highly sought after despite her reputation as a shrew and even after she was "dumped" by WTY bc of her personal wealth. This is specifically what her stepmother had an agreement with Wei Tingyu's sister to split as a condition of her compelling Dou Zhao to marry Wei Tingyu.

It could be but I believe the Jiangs, Songs, Weis are part of the titled aristocracy but the Wus, and Dous are not, they rose through the civil or scholarly ranks. I am sure since they all marry each other there could be various marriage ties between them.

There was more to it than that. The husband's family controls a woman's property after marriage. She had a deal to "split" Dou Zhao's dowry with Wei Tingyu's sister after marriage.

PG is heavy and boring. This is much better IMHO.

I don't think they are related to the Jiangs - if they are I may have missed it

Oh yeah but I don't care at all about MDL top c-dramas. They usually are none of mine and I think there is something off with the ranking system anyway.

It is indeed a different audience. The Riverside novel was a huge hit. It will be for me, a higher watch priority than Blossom, which I also enjoy but more as light entertainment. Blossom was based on a very mediocre novel with not great reviews. The director made a huge difference to the storytelling.

WS is a well meaning young idiot. To save DZ from family punishment he admitted to stealing into the Dou mansion. This is already bad enough bc he took blame for seducing a engaged highborn lady. As grandson to Minister Wu, who is essentially the prime minister (idk how they translated his title), the Wu family is held to a much higher standard. At the time the issue of what to do wrt to war Liaodong was being debated in Court. Dou and his grandfather have different views and Wu has been blocking Dou's advancement at court. So WS got also framed for sneaking into the Dou mansion to spy on Dou for his grandfather to help figure out his position in the war debate. That's why he is being punished so severely. Young and dumb.

No they are just making way for Riverside Code which is also their drama. They are aiming at Tencent's Blossom.