grapejuice

She always goes with her first idea, rarely asks for input from others and she almost always has luck on her side during a crunch. I'm not saying that she isn't smart and resourceful ... a good person to have around ... but not flawless or perfect

I don't think that she's so perfect. She's smart and hard working and kind but she's also timid and naive and has trouble communicating her feelings to others. At least she usually chooses not to..

And she's definitely not always right. She has a little too much faith in her instincts, ideas and decisions and she often goes with the first thing that comes to mind ... which has worked out so far because luck has also usually been on her side.

So, it's difficult to conclude that she never makes mistakes and can solve everything on her own. And I'm not sure that everyone likes her either. The maids she's close to definitely do but a part of that is because they share the same boat, and she's a leader they can rely on for assistance. Others have been jealous, or may well become so ...

So ... no ... she's not perfect. Bravery. Confidence. Being proactive. Being resourceful. And more ... ? All of these things are gradually developing from potential to actual. If you look closely, she's definitely in a state of becoming ... becoming amazing. But she didn't begin that way.

lol. I wondered the same thing. I've missed her the last few times the FL has visited with her parents.

I really appreciate this spoiler for something I haven't seen yet.

New girl (sister of the guy who saved MLs life in battle) wanted to trick a marriage proposal out of the ML or, at the very least, embarrass and make him look like a really bad dude. She gave him a flower to wear for the party knowing that people would see his wearing it as a sign of romance between them because her name is the same as the name of the flower.

She may have had a co-conspirator or two who suggested the game, deliberately noticed that hes wearing 'her' flower and teased him so he'd have to say yes or no that they're connected or that he's interested in her. Saying yes gets him an engagement. Saying no gets him a bad rep for humiliating a lady who's brother saved him. What an ungrateful cad.

Anyway, our FL put two and two together to see how bad this would look so she raised the alarm and convinced grandfather to put the flower on himself and others so that it wouldn't look like a romantic connection between ML and new girl.

I think she's great too and should have lead roles instead of being typecast but that doesn't mean she's better than the leads in this drama. Tan Songyun has played so many different roles so well ever since she was a child actor. She definitely deserves the respect and the roles she usually gets.

Same ... page doesn't load ... just a black screen ... on the my laptop/MDLwebsite but it is working ok on my phone/MDLapp.

I think she escaped because she's audacious and fierce and a bit unhinged and definitely ready to fight back with all that she has. She talked fast and her opposition wasn't quite as fierce ... at least not yet. So they hesitated and she's still alive. For now.

He may know and be worried but he's seen her be discreet and careful and loyal enough to risk her own life to save her friend. And he may have a soft spot forming but then again he may have just spotted a talent that will be useful to him in the future. We wait, wonder and will eventually see, I guess.

She' knows that she's not much more than a slave herself ... I mean if you look at the bare facts. Her family can do anything they want with her. They can beat her or beat her to death if they want to. They can use her in any manner to extract all of her worth for their own benefit. She's chattel too and she knows it. She's bought and sold and not entitled to learn or earn and keep anything that her family don't want her to have. She gets to wear nice clothes and make other people miserable too but... she has reason to hate the people who treat her like an object instead of a person. They can force her to have an abortion and then make her marry a complete stranger who isn't the person she fell in love with. There;s nothing right or fair about it and she can't change it.

Wouldn't you be bitter and want to escape? She clearly knows what she wants. She clearly wants to be independent and free but everyone around her is there to prevent her from achieving that. The world is against her and that's enough for a free spirit to become truly miserable. She knows the world is set up against women ... all women and so she fights back in her own way instead of turning over and giving up.

I think I get her. And I actually think, from what you've written, that you get her too.

From what you say, I think you are right to get off here. This is more a slice of life drama so far; slice of life for women who are slaves, stuck working for wealthy people who don't see them as being entirely human much less equal. That's not a liberating context and not light at all.

In fact, revenge is way beyond the FL's means and it's not even known who she should go after if that's what she wants. So, it's not shaping up as you were wanting and may not ever get there. This is more realistic. This is how people were treated. So who knows if it will ever get much better in your view. And you're right, none of us is entitled to get the story we want so there isn't much point in complaining . We just move on to something else that might come closer to what we enjoy.

I wonder why you would rate it though. It's not what you were hoping for but, for what it actually is ... it's worth a higher rating. For what it is, it's not a two out of five. So your rating will mislead people who would actually enjoy the drama. You're telling them, with your rating, that it's not a good drama when it's not actually a good drama for you i.e. not your cup of tea. Your words are much better though; better at directing people towards or away from the drama depending on whether they are looking for the same things that you're looking for.

She's ultra careful and reserved, even uncommunicative to the point where many people may think she's too calculating. Not too much spontaneity. Somewhat closed off. She might also be accused of not being humble about her literacy. She spoke up so clearly about her strengths; capabilities that were uncommon at the time. I bet there will be people who think she's conceited or judgemental or stuck up because she is so capable. There will be jealousy at some point. So, depending on a character's point of view ... she isn't perfect at all.

But the thing that strikes me ... that makes her seem more excellent ... is that she is just so incredibly grateful for her life and any good luck and any little thing that people do for her. Given her life so far she's a bit jaded on the one hand and a bit naive on the other. She's seen the worst that people can do and she's known some very self sacrificing people too. There aren't that many people who are as incredibly good as her parents.

I wasn't saying that Chinese viewers are inattentive or uneducated about their own history. I know that production mistakes will be attacked and, therefore, they can be incredibly costly, It's all in my first comment. It's international, mainly English speaking, viewers that know little about histories other than their own. We stand to learn a lot from the literature, cinema and television dramas coming out of many other countries especially Asian countries. And also ... interacting with people from cultures that value education and history so highly? That's a good education for us as well since we are not taught to value these things to the same extent. World history, geography, politics and even our own history, geography, politics, economics are not always well taught or well learned in our school systems.

It would be so nice to see her land a FL role. She could definitely pull it off with enough weight, power, charisma. And ... I don't think she better do another role like this one. It's too close to the role she performed in The Double ... and since she's done these two roles so well, she might just find herself getting typecast instead of being re-cast into lead roles ...

I've never seen it before either. And most international viewers are probably pretty ignorant about both modern and historical era China ... but we eventually learn some things and wise up a bit.

whoa !!! I haven't seen the trailer or the promos and I'm trying hard, this time, not to look at the previews ... so, yep, that's a spoiler fest for me. Sounds interesting though. haha. I'll look forward to finding out how much of that is misdirection and not what it seems to be ... or maybe it's exactly what it seems to be and I'm just doing wishful thinking.

Actually, it kinda feels like the FL is definitely the main protagonist in this drama and maybe the ML is just the ML and a grey character who doesn't automatically deserve any kind of hero worship from the FL or the audience. That would certainly be interesting and different.

The Red Sleeve kdrama was like that. There was a FL and a ML but the ML wasn't every little thing that the FL ever wanted (even though he was played by Junho). Theirs was a very imperfect romance and not the kind of thing a FL would have dreamed of as a young romantic. In fact, despite being king, he wasn't always so swoon-worthy like most MLs. And she was not one who wanted to be swept off of her feet either. So, perhaps this drama will be the same.

I mean in real life, love and marriage aint what films and dramas might have little girls dreaming about so maybe this will be a more realistic drama for a more realistic audience.

It's like a disclaimer. Audiences do their research. They know what is what and if a production makes any mistakes or portrays something factual in an inaccurate way, people get seriously upset about it. Then there's a backlash and all kinds of costly trouble.

So, if you say that your production isn't portraying any particular dynasty, you won't run into these problems. What you're doing may be very or even extremely close to a particular era but, if you don't admit to that, you can't be held accountable on every little thing.

It's smart and considering the backlash that some dramas have experienced ... I bet more productions start to do the same thing. It would probably take a lot of the pressure off.

Ep. 9
I love the little ironies we're seeing in this drama. We're shown a flashback where the FL's grandpa taught her yarrow stick divination but she starts to fall asleep and he scolds her saying that Fang Shouyi had begged him to teach it to him but he never did. Nonetheless, he's willing to teach her just so that she can play with her friends and win. Then ... when it couldn't count more ... all these years later, who shows up to play yarrow stick divination with her? The very Fang Shouyi that her grandfather hadn't shown it to. And that old scholar saves her life after they play... Isn't that so satisfying?

It's from the I Ching, if I'm remembering correctly ... The Book of Changes ... divining the reversals in life ... and discovering the things that are not actually what they initially seem to be.

Taoist teachings ... the true way of things will be revealed to us if we are still and flow with events without fighting against them. Bhuddist and Taoist thought are quite influential in the first chapters of this story. So I wonder what else we'll be taken through as it all progresses.

Actually, in ep10 the ML kind of touches on this again when he's talking to his grandfather ... saying that there are often good things hidden in things that look bad. Again, it's from the Book of Changes ...

Wasn't he just quoting his mother who had been talking to him about his sisters; the one who had been married off too hastily when their family was in trouble and the one who is ready to marry just as his divorce could hurt her chances.

It seems that the first sister hasn't landed in the best situation and it might have been better to wait. So, there is regret there since the family's fortunes did, in fact, turn around again.

But the second sister. What should they do? Try to rush her marriage before this next shot hits the family's reputation and standing? Or wait and hope things turn around in their favour like they did before? Would that be repeating the same mistake twice?

The girl's fortunes; their second lives depend on the status of their family as well as what people will think their personal value might be. So, timing is everything; timing in relation to the family's fortunes rising and falling while she ages and the bloom falls from the rose.

So, this discussion doesn't really show that the ML is hypocritical, in my view. He is at least thinking about his sisters and how to improve their prospects. He knows that he's created a suboptimal situation for them because he's brought some scandal to the family ... and he cares about that.

On the other hand, being too closely tied to the Zhao family might have eventually become a bad thing. In the short run Zhao power might work against them at this time. They discuss that. Zhao might not strike at them but others might try to curry Zhao favour by doing it for them.

The ML is being smart though, I think. He doesn't want to rush. He suggests that they should play the long game, expect some misfortunes and look for the hidden good fortune that lies underneath. What looks like a bad thing on it's surface, can end up being a good thing if you wait until the true nature of the situation shows itself.

Case in point is the ML ending up in the military instead of officialdom as was intended. It didn't look like a good thing for him but it helped him to jump a lot of rungs in the hierarchy that he couldn't have even dreamed of if he had taken the scholarly route.

But I'm afraid I don't get the part of your comment where you say that the ML forces the FL to marry him. Are you talking about the novel cuz nothing like that has happened yet.

Still ... and everywhere !!!