gmat6594

They did stay friends. But at the end the four followed different paths. Two together and two to be together. I liked the CP romance a lot.

Ep. 17/18 she realized that Han wasn't able to prioritize the conflicting demand on him. If he chose Luo Shu over Liu Wan he would lose the powerful patronage of her Father and his career would be slower and even blocked. If she didn't get the emancipation papers for her, he faced punishment for marring a courtesan. If she became free, he would be known as the official who married an ex-courtesan. Ep. 17, Liu Wan forces Luo Shu to play the pipa in front of upper class friends. And she calls her by her courtesan name, Jin Nang. He didn't publicly defend her, so at that moment he went from husband material to good friend and mentor.

Think of the race to her heart as between the rabbit and the turtle. Magistrate Han is the rabbit but he couldn't publicly protect her. Qi Menglin is the turtle and he would do anything, suffer anything for her. He wins her heart. And she stands by him through thick or thin.

Late reply but she and turtle guy decided not to get married at the last minute, but became better friends.

She was very good as the FL in Love in Time. A proper romance in that one.

What the the purpose of Juila Xiang's character? And as a main role?

Ep. 23, Menglin visits home and his relationship with his female servants may change your opinion about the screenwriter's opinion about his character. They treat him like sisters.

Quite a number of viewers make that assumption about this drama. Please think of this as the road taken and not taken. Magistrate Han seems like a perfect match, and by comparison Menglin the annoying also ran. Mengling is saddled with being the comedic relief and his friction with Luo Shu consumes quite a bit of the drama. But their relationship is true and endearing. In this world, Luo Shu's only protection from some very real dangers is her ability to understand the situation.
From synopsis at Baike/baidu.
The play tells the story of Luo Shu, a woman with a rough fate. She is nicknamed "Jin Nang" because of her insight into people's hearts and her understanding of others.
Menglin is not stupid, but they don't play that up. In ep. 1 it is shown that he is knowledgeable about the pipa ballads and playing style. And if you want to like him, peek at the start of ep. 17. And then the prison scene in ep. 32. It is a moving love story. He is willing to give all to protect her and she willing to stick by him forever.

Looking at reader's comments on the original novel there shouldn't be enough for a season 2.

Google the Chinese title and the baidu baiken should most of the information you seek. includes episode by episode recaps.
The director is 顾其铭 Gu Qiming Chief director and 郭锋 Guo Feng. MDL list the names as actors.

Based on the novel 锦囊 Jin Nang by Ming Sheng pen name Shui He. Apparently the drama follows the book, I guess, fairly closely.
Some reader's comments here.

https://book.douban.com/subject/25797800/

Are the two stuck in the present time gonna travel back in time to save her?

Alone of all of the sites, dramacoooll.one has it as Under the Moonlight (2025): Season 1.
https://dramacoooll.one/seasons/under-the-moonlight-season-1
I'm sure that it is a mistake.

In the 1980s I was part of the JET program in Japan and during my third year, I was based in a SHS (Senior High School) but visited various high schools in Saku area. The worst that I visited was the agricultural high school and it was pretty grim. No fighting, but classrooms weren't cleaned. Students in the class I visited were unmotivated and one went to the window to talk to a friend walking outside during the middle of the lesson. The old teacher tried to set an example, but I wonder how much he could help. Looking back, I think that the students, most of whom had no intention of being farmers, really needed Hope. Hope in a future. There was one high school that was worse. I never visited that school. That school had an AET (Assistant English Teacher) based there. She was quite interesting. I respected her as a person. I rode the train to the school and one time, some flunkies rushed in to reserve seats for a bull. The other students shied away. I sat in the empty seat next to him which displeased him. He made a point of flashing a wad of 10,000 yen bills like a hand of cards.

True, but Muzhi might have treated her better in the lead up to a proposal. No stigma being a courtesan and no strong feelings of betrayal in her heart. Her love for him might have tipped her to think about it more seriously. Han Muzhi would not be a magistrate in Linfen without the backing of Mr Liu, though. It is strange that as accomplished as Luo Shu was, we only see it when she helps the yamen. She was top at Mengke House, but we really don't see it. With her parents alive, how far could she have moved up in society and would that lead to the Capital, and perhaps Eunuch Zhang who was looking for a capable women. That was a thread left unfinished. Who was he looking for anyway? To many scriptwriters.

Menglin first noticed Jin Nang when she played the pipa in ep. 1. and ep. 2. Notice that he was not interested in Jin Nang or the defowering event (42:05) The comments, "No wonder she's the star of Menke House were made by the two men nearby. When she started playing the pipa, her bold strumming and her choice of ballads caught his attention. She plays with heroic spirit. What kind of hero deserve such beauty. Not deserves such a beauty. Menglin was perceptive and knowledgeable enough to admire and understand her choice. And after he won the bid, he had no interest in bedding her. As he and Luo Shu interact, you can notice her giving him a brief look of consideration when he does something good that is unexpected. For example, ep. 3 10:20 when he gives his snacks to the boy who is starving. Those brief moments are there for a reason. Later he will offer to trade his life for her freedom, (ep. 35) be beaten to within an inch of his life rather than give her up. (ep. 30) And when going back to his Father in Taiyuan means certain death, ask Han to take care of her if he dies. (ep. 32)

In ep. 35, 31:27, Qin Yi said that selling your deflowering night was another excuse to scare you. . That surprised me when I saw it during a re-watch. Madam Yu had switched another girl for Jin Nang as Menglin had won the bid. I've been re-watching important events in Luo Shu and Menglin's story.

When you think about it, by social standings, Menglin as the youngest son of Gov. Qi is only approached by Liu Wan whose father is not as powerful nor rich as Gov. Qi. Menglin was supposed to marry a prime minister's granddaughter. Who knows who Liu Wan could have been married to. Luo Shu and Magistrate Han Muzhi would have been closer as he comes from a modest family and before her parents died, so did she. Had the fire not occurred, would Luo Shu's ability have attracted the attention of Magistrate Han when he moved to Linfen? It would seem that her natural inclination would become a traveling businesswoman. So she would not have needed to join the yamen. If they were to meet, would she have accepted being a concubine and would Liu Wan accepted such a woman who would steal Han Muzhi's heart? Without the fire, would Menglin and Luo Shu ever have the chance to meet? They lived and will live in the same city.

Chen Yi manipulated young Yulan (Luo Shu) to get at Wuniang who had adopted her. If so why did he feel the need to break her spirit by sending her to Mengke House and later by having her virginity sold? It was never clearly shown in the flashbacks that she had a mind and will of her own to resist him.

After offering to trade his life for her freedom and then risking life and limb to saveher from the consuming fire. Luo Shu wakes up and finds that Menglin is in prison and charged with falsifying document to obtain military grain. A capital offense and Muzhi's future father-in-law is using this to destroy the last survivor of Menglin's political family. Luo Shu sneaks in to prison under the guise of delivering food. But she intends to marry him in the cell. He thinks that it is a dream until they bump heads and then realizes it isn't. He pushes her away because he doesn't want her to face the stigma of being the widow of a executed criminal. It is not the first time that he tries to get her to give up on him in prison. Noteworthy is that Luo Shu decides be herself to marry him in prison before he might be executed. SHE recites the wedding vows and finally clearly states that she like him. Chinese dramas don't use love but like. The journey to get here is at times understated and seems to be between friends rather than lovers. Indeed earlier at the Lantern Festival when he kissed her, she pushed him away and slapped him. She felt that she could not trust anyone. . (ep. 26)