hvnlyangel

Well the Lin family elders doesn’t know that their persecution daughter in law is a vengeful “weirdo.” They just see her status.
Agree that with Lan Xiang they will be screwed. No one besides the First madam is competent in dealing with the household.

Both. The royal decree made it impossible for both her and his family to object. No one can object to a royal decree. Unless she had a prior engagement which she didn’t have. The SML was going to purpose but the ML preempted his proposal with getting the royal decree first.

The grandparents and 4th brother are in the front courtyard, where the male relatives receive guests, the back courtyard is where the family and where female family members all live.

Does anyone know how many siblings the ML has. I know that his second aunt has two sons and one daughter, and that the Lin family arrange the siblings and cousins by birth order. I am just curious how many immediate siblings that the ML has, not cousins.

What’s sad is that you can see her dad calculating that he would have preferred the second option , where she would have “died of illness. However, since the ML said that she couldn’t enter the family tomb/grace, her dad agreed to the separation instead of divorce of letting his daughter die. So I sympathize with her in that sense that her parents saw her and treated her as just a pawn. This probably partly shaped her into the person that she became.
Of c purse this does not excuse her actions but that scene made me sympathize with her and on top of it her lover betrayed her.

She was probably complacent in her role and status too. She was married with a husband who was away for years, and a Mother in law who gave her the rights to manage the household. So she has authority and power in the household, Probably she was too occupied with her lover, embezzlement money and running the household. She probably thought that he would lawns have her her loyal maid and lover by her side.

Ha he is already more like able than he is in the books. In the books he is a womanizer and forced the FL to be his concubine. He got better towards the end but he was far from ideal.

Yes he married her to not be implicated along with the Shen family. In the second episode it shows that they do not really get along and that he resents being under her family’s control.

Still sad. The music bureau was essentially the place where the female members of disposed officials would go. So they would be essential slaves to the government and became prostitutes. Still so sad that they have to make that choice. With that there was a way that they were able to survived and be united and be free from slavery and prostitution.

I think that it was much complicated than that, especially if her grandpa was loyal to the deposed emperor. If this is set during the time of the Yongle emperor, the Yongle emperor basically deposed his own nephew. The grandfather is standing up for his convictions. Also, if the grandfather suddenly changes his stance, who knows how the emperor will view him later on. Court politics and dealing with the emperor is complicated.

Everyone makes good points below to her situation below. Besides her family were servants to the Lin family. The were basically the Lin family’s slaves. She didn’t really have a chance to decide who she will serve.

Personally I enjoyed the Sword and the Brocade.

Yes he made a commit about how the FL’s grandma died so soon. He was probably trying to see what was going on with FL’s dad.

Maybe he is talking to a former friend/opponent. He is speaking to “ someone” across from a go board. Probably a friend/opponent who has passed away, possibly by his hand. It will be an interesting twist if it was the ML‘s father that he is talking too. I am rereading the story so I am uncertain of the ML’ s back story.

From other shows and novels that I have read, the practice in wealthy families is for ladies to have a couple of pretty maids to bring as her dowry maids. Some of these maids can be given to her husband as concubines when she is pregnant etc. The rationale is that by having one’s maid as a concubine , one has an ally of sorts and keeps the husbands affection by not having a concubine that is not under the control of the wife. SO yes teh marriages came with prearranged concubines who are selected by the wife’s relatives before marriage.

Yes he is insufferable. He thinks that by apologizing he can be forgiven for destroying her reputation and her life. She had to leave her whole world behind, and almost died. He is very delusional and despicable.

Fan Ya Ke is building her life on the betrayal of others, her friend. She treated her friend demise as a stepping stone to her future. FL is not perfect, she was a typical rich girl, but I do not believe that she will betray someone she is close to like that. The FL has a kind heart despite her
family treating her like that.

He is upholding the philosophy of Justice Bao. He is very chivalrous and honorable so no killing for him.

He is not only stressed but confused with the way his master’s mind is constantly changing his mind.

That makes sense from looking at the trailers the ML was no longer captured. Or maybe they saved him.