ChineseDramaFan

Be patient! Let her grow. She's finding out more and more about ML and we can feel she's beginning to look at him in a different light.

She's not being outwitted at all. She just doesn't want to get into a cat fight with her. Anyway, there's only one that is trying to stab her on the back. The other two are quite neutral. In fact, one of the 2 is getting friendly with her :)

Maybe not yet "strong" but definitely "smart".

I agree with you that both the ML & FL are intelligent and mature. They try to avoid getting into cat fights within the household. Their concept of a family is inline with each other - that is, love & trust, instead of scheming against each other to be a step ahead and getting a more vantage position.

All these bickering and scheming are just like those harems in the palace - it's tiring. Poor Lingyi watching all these happening right in front of his eyes. No wonder many of those men die young XD

Poor women. Everything was a chess move for them.

I love this voice, but yes, I would have preferred a lower tone, more subdued voice for this character.

There's this ML's younger brother (5th brother) who marries a princess (or some kind). They're rather cute at the moment.

I should correct my use of words here: "shou chong" means "being favored". So it seems this is the only meaning, instead of what I was thinking, "being slept" (ps. doesn't mean I have a dirty mind XD)

So true! This practice has been quite common even until recently, like 50 years ago. I believe many Chinese families still have grandparents with multiple spouses :)

Yes, you're right!

My apologies. I ponder over the term "shou chong", and realize it does mean they're not favored but doesn't mean they've not been slept. So yeah, you're right :)

I try to understand the term "shou chong" here - does it mean "not being favored" or "not being slept", and yes, I agree with your conclusion here. I was thinking "not being slept" because of FL's response (she seems surprised) that's why I was thrown off course. But, how you explain it makes more sense :)

I don't think the first wife is worried too much about the other "son", her planning is more for the incoming step mother who may have her own sons, hence replacing Xu Si Zhun as the "di" son. And about adopted children, you may be surprised how things actually work at that time; many emperors were not biological children of the empress dowagers :)

I'm not thinking the line you're thinking. According to Fu Po, the 2 concubines have never being "chong". I believe "chong" here implies being slept. Sure FL may have seen the kid somewhere when she visits her dying sister, but they have never been formally introduced. I don't believe Wen has a child before she marries into the Xu family. Fu Po says the 2 concubines have been with ML for a long time, implying that all these years, they have never had any children, so maybe one of them adopts a child from somewhere, we don't know yet. As for Qin, I've never said she has an affair, but it does show that she has had a child and lost the child, rendering her unable to conceive ever again. But if Xu has never "chong" her, we still don't know what has happened to her. Please don't put words in my mouth. :)

Yes, you're right. I think most people are so used to the 1 man 1 woman thing that this show takes us unprepared. However, polygamy is more realistic especially in wealthy and aristocratic families in those days. In this drama, despite having multiple spouses, he has no interest in women he doesn't love; he just needs to fulfill his duty as a husband. Poor chap!

It's a very common thing that wealthy families adopt children when the wives didn't have their own. The child only appears once. He hasn't even met FL yet as of episode 10.

Yes, I believe there is even more fierce harem fighting in Ruyi and Yanxi and this drama is no match in comparison. This story depicts the aristocrat households - this kind of consistent fighting is really tiring but very real - all because of the wives and concubines. I just sighed, men in those days getting themselves in so much headache for the sake of propagating their genes :D

If you don't believe me about ML's relationship with his concubines, go watch episode 8 again.

Hmmm! Go re-watch the scene after the wedding, FL asks her maid to gather info. She comes back and tells her that ML has been busy with battles and has never slept with the concubines.

- has 1 dead wife and 1 new wife FL (after his dead wife)
- 3 concubines
- he has only slept with his first wife and has 1 son with her
- he has never slept with his 3 concubines
- his mother is the one who takes in the concubines for him
- the Xu family is indebted to Wen's family, hence repay them by taking in the daughter as concubine (what kind of repayment is this?). she seems to have a son who calls ML dad (but no idea who the actual father is)
- concubine Qin used to be a maid for matriarch Xu, and is given to ML as concubine by the mother. Qin has lost a child before and cannot have children anymore (no idea who the father is)
- concubine Xiao is a relative who is in love with ML since she's little