PeachBlossomGoddess

She had some iconic tragic roles that made her famous including one with Chen Kun and Butterfly Lovers.

I sympathise with Xingtang too but I don't think that she gets a free pass for all her misdeeds just because of "the patriarchy". And idk why the ML should pay the price for what happened to her. That is on the Zhao family but everyone seems to be giving them a free pass and making the ML their scapegoat. Its just nuts.

Xingtang's two senior maids.

No the Lins are not poor but the Zhaos should be significantly richer and she is overtly avaricious. Besides they are so toxic, even if she agreed he would hardly be able to trust her to keep her word. She already had a huge stash and was not in any rush to run - tbh left to her own devices she would have continued to have the best of both worlds for as long as she could. This is not a gender issue - cheaters both men and women are extraordinarily selfish and like to keep it going for as long as they can. She will not fancy living life on the run no and longer the hoity toity Madam Zhao whose hubby is rising in the military and whose grandaddy is a first rank minister in the capital with a lover on the side. Even if she ran away with his help, her reputation would be ruined to a vastly greater degree than it is at the moment. Not to mention he would be still married to her and would still have to repudiate her in the worst most shameful way possible to free himself. How is that a better solution? So now they divorced amicably on surface and both their reputations are subject to some gossip that will blow over. Why is that so terrible? He never really wronged her, why should he bend over backwards so she can step all over him again???

She knew Madam was up to no good with the accounts and did not want to be physically present when she was exposed. She didn't want to be silenced to cover up the ensuing scandal. The seal was not so much about the affair and more about the accounts and the usury. Even Jinqi didn't expose that part of Xingtang's misdeeds as his family would have been inevitably implicated as she used their combined household funds.

To obfuscate the issue - of course he knew where Xingtang was, he locked her in.

Scholar Shouyi was dying to learn the art of divination from the FL's grandfather, who was the true expert. He declined to teach him and taught his grand daughter instead. So I think she is the one who "picked" the hexagram - as you can see she was the one that was laying out the yarrow sticks to form that hexagram. She lied about not knowing what they meant but she did and she wanted to send a subliminal message to the ML to be kind and the universe will repay his kindness. I think scholar Shouyi figured out there was more to her than meets the eye, which is why he gave her his card. He has probably figured out she knows a lot more about divination than she lets on. Of course he has high EQ and knows there was a lot more going on in that library that he does not need to know about.

He was pretending to be the cross dressing Shaoze to lure Xingtang to the library. They probably already knew he had hidden himself there so they only needed to make Xingtang think she saw her lover on the way there and to follow. Once she went in, Jigao left after locking her in and warned Lanxiang on the way out to stay away if she wished to live.

On rewatch, I think I figured out what Jigao was doing in drag:

The ML is not rolling in money and there are not enough silver teals to satisfy Xingtang's money loving heart. Remember Jinqi had to ask her for funds to renovate Ms Du's living quarters.
As for her reputation, I really don't understand how running away saves it?

Oh yes its really interesting and kind of scary. The Book of Changes or the I-Ching is widely translated. You can buy a box of yarrow sticks and toss them and then find the appropriate hexagram and read the divination. Idk about the English translated versions but often times the divination mysteriously seems to fit the situation you are asking about.

Quite sure she knew he was there. Scholar Shouyi was their alibi - as long as he saw and knew nothing while playing yarrow sticks with them, they also must have saw and known nothing.

Gantang is very pretty, the actress looks like a young Dong Jie.

There is no required mourning period for an ex-fiancee. In any case, weddings still take time to choose auspicious dates and prepare bridal costumes/jewellery so I am sure it wasn't that quick.

They didn't steal any money - that's why all the accounts balanced - they only borrowed it but always replaced it. He was just helping her lend the money out at usurious rates. Since the money came from the Lin household, there was no way to expose them for usury without bringing themselves down. Clearly you are not paying attention to many of the details in the story.

Exactly - and I might add he said that to her bc she did not agree to be Jinqi’s spy so Jiugao was not sure if Jinqi would trust her to be discreet with the knowledge or choose to silence her.

It was a masterful parody of the times and an unescapable fact of history that ancient China was polygamous. But as I said, it hasn’t aged well and cannot be edited without utterly destroying it.

It’s impossible to expose an affair without exposing both parties to it. The only offense her cousin committed is to have an affair with her - what else is there to expose him for?🤷🏻‍♀️

I do feel really bad for Xingtang but I blame her family and her cousin for her downfall.

I am not sure how it is possible to expose the scumbag without exposing Xingtang also.