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Yes they need to add a “See all” link or something like that

This is such a perfect way to put it!

Also what a refreshing character - can't remember the last time I saw such a spunky, spicy, strong-spirited gal in dramaland who went from annoying to crying with her and rooting for her.

Oh no! Can you see this one? https://www.instagram.com/p/C01fZECNtiN/

It's amazing what happens when the storytelling/writers are actually good.

Also, I want a modern drama with this long-haired babe of a LXY 🤤: https://media.suara.com/pictures/970x544/2024/10/18/48150-liu-xue-yi.jpg

What a great point. I want to know what her desires are as well. I think what helps me understand them so far are:
1. The webnovel is a very Buddhist story. Hence all the praying to Buddha but also the absence of a revenge arc. If you're Buddhist, you might catch onto the other subtle things woven throughout. But suffice to say: Part of the Buddhist way is to accept one's circumstances and make the most of it - and I think Lanxiang very much lives by that.
2. While she was free and writing plays, it planted a dream in her. I felt like being forced into marriage with the ML was going to ruin her dreams but I was so, so happy and proud when she plainly told ML, "I write plays. I decided before we married. If anyone objects, I don't care. It's what I want to do." She loves it, it fulfills her, and conveniently allows her to earn money. It's not given a super huge focus in the drama, but she makes it very clear that this is one of the things she wants out of life.
3. As for marriage, I don't know. I hope she shares that at some point. But, even if she has thoughts on marriage, after being forced into it with ML, she may have resigned to whatever it is, it is. I think she certainly has made the most of it, given that she doesn't really have feelings for ML yet. She's used the position/power/money from her marriage (along with her innate intelligence) to help all the women around her - freed Jiu'er and the other two women from the brothel/slavery/destitution, freed the eldest sister and her daughter from an abusive husband, writing plays/art that resonates with women and perhaps helps educate them (since we're told that women are bringing their daughters to watch and that Lanxiang is writing a play as of ep 34 about divorce). That's more than any other high-standing lady around her (ahem, second aunt) can say. The fact that she involves ML in her endeavors means that she trusts him enough to do so and I believe shows that she wants a partner in the truest sense of the word - someone to walk alongside with and helping each other accomplish their goals, whatever they may be. She also steps up in-kind, by warning him of things, etc., which is her showing up as true partner.
4. Above all, I think she cares the most about her adoptive parents and wants to take care of them, for them to happy. I think that's why, despite not having feelings for Scholar Han, she agreed behind the scenes to that marriage - it would've enabled her to live right next door to her parents.

I see their interactions the way that you do and feel the same way about if a man forced me into marriage and drugged me. Lanxiang may be very slowly thawing towards Jinqi and she doesn't seem to hate him but she certainly isn't falling for him the way that I feel like some people make her out to be at this point (ep 34); she seems to me just making the best of her circumstances while remaining true to herself.

As for those who see what's happening as "sweet" or "romantic," I think a lot of cdrama viewers project their own romantic desires into dramas. They NEED the leads to be in love, or else. That's my two cents.

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I read some of your other comments earlier - thank you for being a sane person. The whole drugging thing has dampened my excitement for this drama. I’m someone who’s very analytical so it’s hard for me to turn that off, but, if the drama is about an imperfect ML who learns from the FL as Liu Xueyi said, then hope that the drama does make up for it at some point.

I am beyond disappointed that the drugging was played off like some cutesy disagreement with cutesy music in the background. What woman in their right mind would be okay with their husband/partner DRUGGING them, while, mind you, saying straight to her face "I don't want to force you". And then literally chooses one of the most obscene ways to force someone to do something - because she was fully UNCONSCIOUS. He could've raped her and she wouldn't have known. Tying her up and gagging her would've been less obscene. This is such a heinous breach of trust and agency. I thought this drama/director was going to be different but here we go again normalizing toxic behavior in the name of "romance" and "I can't live without you." I'm at a loss for words.

My only singular thought was, well, she should be able to find/save Jiu'er more quickly now.

As much as I love dramas, this is one of the hardest parts for me over the years. Seeing how toxic/abusive/controlling behaviors are normalized in dramas and how commenters just eat it up.

The difference is that, with Han, it was still her choice. By asking her parents, her parents would ask her, and, even though she was agreeing out of love for her parents, she was still agreeing. With Lin, there was no choice. And, by going to the emperor, Lin made it an irrefutable, irreversible choice of his own - and his alone.

Also, with Han, she'd have much more daily freedom AND be able to live right next to her parents, which is her top priority. With Lin, she gets locked in a gilded cage away from her parents and, now with going to the capital, even further away from them.

There seems to be a lack of critical thinking here. The core theme of this drama is literally women's agency, survival, and freedom within a patriarchal society. Any good drama has people analyzing and picking it apart - because it's making them think and consider things on a deeper level of values and morals.

You "demanding" that people should drop a drama just because their viewpoint disagrees with yours is childish and Trumpian.

The peony one with Yang Zi was pretty long.

Ah this reminds me: He purposely drank from her cup when she got drunk after saving the Lin family from the "pandemic." It was subtly done but I just knew he used her cup on purpose.

People definitely get blinded by a hot ML and/or projecting their own unfulfilled romantic desires into dramaland.

It's like: Take a man you know in your life that you don't have any feelings for. And imagine you've just been forced to marry him. AND he didn't ask you or your parents - he didn't even TALK to you about it! AND you were just beginning to enjoy a fully free life and beginning to have a dream of becoming a playwright - but this marriage forces you into a family structure that would reduce your daily freedoms AND remove your ability to pursue your own dreams. BONUS his family looks down on you and has hurt you in the past! AND you get the great responsibility of having to take care of them and all their BS! AND ABOVE ALL: there is absolutely no way out of this marriage (bc emperor's word is not only law - but law that cannot be taken back). How would you feel then?

I definitely shed a few tears during that scene. Acted so well with just non-verbal too - all the history, all the feels, all that's unsaid and doesn't need to be said.

"her resistance to giving him a chance is literally due to being part of the Shen family." I don't think this is the sole reason. I think it's multi-layered.

It's that (1) he's Lin and there's something bitter in that the family discarded her and her family the first time on their whim and then now forcibly taking her a second time on his whim, (2) that he didn't even talk to (much less ask!) her or her parents ahead of the marriage decree, and (3) she was FREE. Being his wife in a family like his is NOT freedom; it's being thrown back into a cage. Sure, she's not the maid this time, but it's a cage nonetheless.

I think @jcg's comment above yours captures it well: "she has zero romantic feelings for him and he just snatched her in marriage without her parent's consents or hers. I think she considers it highly disrespectful so she felt no obligation to be nice or gracious about it."

I think there's trauma/pain still but not enough to influence her actions - if that were the case, she would've acted out a long time ago while she was a slave.