PeachBlossomGoddess

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.

Yes of course it’s possible that calculation crossed her mind. But it could also be she remembers Lanxiang disrupted her last tryst and spooked her lover so she decided to send her away instead.

No just one and the same one. I was a bit confused by the dialogue in ep 8.

Xingtang is very willful and she made it very clear she had no intention ever of committing to the marriage from the get go. She continued her affair and became a loan shark to accumulate enough wealth to flee with her lover. Its very hard to make such a crowded marriage work. I don't blame her - she loved her feckless cousin and remained true to him even though he is a nobody with no power or privilege- its hard not to respect that. She was not willing to end her marriage until she was good and ready with enough silver teals to fund them a lifetime. Why does it make Lin Jinqi the bad guy for ending it on his timeline and not hers? She was endangering all of them with her usury and pretty openly cheating on him. It was highly likely she'd be busted so he took control of the exposure of her affair and handled it in the least scandalous way possible. The divorce is something they both wanted. Its just too bad her cousin proved to be so unworthy. But that's on him and not on Jinqi. In fact if anyone deserves all that vitriol, its him.

I think she just wanted new shoes bc she knew she was going to ruin hers running in the snow and climbing that rock. She couldn't go back to the banquet looking disheveled with soaked party shoes. She had no idea she was going to get caught so she couldn't have thought of saving one maid and not the other.

Xingtang was saving her own private monies to leave with her lover - which is also why she recklessly engaged in loan sharking. Her shops and dowry etc will no longer belong to her if she flees her marriage or is cast out from her family. That is how it worked in those days.

Well I am not sure where you are getting that information even though I hope you are right.😅 But you should be aware that ALL the official posters with WeTV logos clearly say 9:30pm - 21点半.
https://mydramalist.com/photos/5Qe4pY_3
https://mydramalist.com/photos/Knb328_3

He poured himself a cup from the same teapot and drank so no poison tea.

Royal Nirvana opens with it.

It doesn't mean said spy has to be her. He was already on to Xingtang long before he approached Lanxiang, so presumably he had other spies.

As you said, the library was just for show - none of the Zhao men ever ventured there making it a safe place for trysts.🙄😂

Well to be fair, the ML did not threaten to kill her family. He just asked her what would happen to them if the Xingtang found out she could read. And yes, its against the law to kill a slave for no reason but we have all seen that Xingtang has no compunctions about framing the slaves and then killing them. All the ML did was to point out she is vulnerable bc she can read and if she helps him, he will make sure she and her loved ones come to no harm. The management of the female slaves is in the hands of Xingtang, he has no business intervening in the inner court affairs - so if he did intervene, it would be a big breach of etiquette on his part. His mother already handed over the housekeeper role to her daughter-in-law, as she made clear at the banquet. So technically this was all Xingtang's territory. Maybe that is also why Lanxiang didn't take the tea - she didn't believe he would do that to save them.

Probably so that he can also snoop around in the women's quarters.

That cousin of hers got rocks for brains. They had their own safe space for trysts.... why would he even think of trying to get it on with her at the banquet. And she should know better but she is insecure and felt slighted by her husband snubbing her banquet.

It was handled as discreetly as possible - in their own library and with the guest scholar firmly escorted out. Her family knows well what she is and of her affair so there was no new information gained by them there.

Well that wouldn't be good but since it hasn't happened yet, I am not going to judge him by rumored plots.

Well... his illiterate daughter did dive deep into the books!