marygold25

That was unexpected and a nice surprise.

I was curious about medicinal ink so I asked Google. Here it is according to Google:

Yes, medicinal ink is entirely real and was a legitimate part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) during ancient times. Known as Yao Mo (药墨), it is not a narrative invention of the C-drama The Heir (家业); rather, it was a highly specialized item heavily utilized during the Ming Dynasty, the exact period in which the show is set.

How Medicinal Ink Actually Worked:
Traditional Chinese inksticks were made by mixing carbon soot (primarily from burned pine logs or oil) with animal hide glue to bind it into a solid form. Because carbon soot naturally absorbs impurities and hide glue has mild hemostatic (blood-stopping) properties, even standard ink was sometimes used in medical emergencies.

However, true medicinal ink took this process to an extreme level by infusing the formula with actual herbs and minerals.

The Ingredients: Ink masters added precious, therapeutic substances into the soot and glue mixture. These included pearl powder, musk, borneol, camphor, and gold leaf, alongside specific Chinese herbs like Panax notoginseng.

The Labor: Normal high-quality ink required the mixture to be pounded around 100,000 times to achieve a smooth consistency. Historical records note that top-tier medicinal ink recipes required it to be crushed and kneaded up to 300,000 times to guarantee the particles were fine enough to dissolve perfectly.

The Multi-Purpose Use: Scholars could write or paint with it, but doctors would grind the inkstick on an inkstone using warm water, rice wine, or herbal teas instead of plain water.

The evil aunt, although not a good character, makes the drama intriguing.

I thought The Luo family lost everything when they were disgraced by the kingdom and Luo Wen Qian had to join the army. How could Luo Wen Qian / Qi Jiu become very rich in just several years ( about 3 years?)? Please enlighten me.

A great watch, also fresh genre as this series is a mixed of biotech and ancient folklore. To be honest I almost dropped the series early on mainly due to having a hard time following the story while the extensive suspense atmosphere and foreboding sound/music caused anxiety too. Dilraba and CXX kept me watching and also reading some reviews and comments helped me get to the story and appreciate this show. Don't believe the low rating, I would rate 8-8.5

I am in the middle of watching this drama. I am impressed with the camera work in this drama, the camera angles, techniques, creativity, movements and framings to tell a story and create a specific mood, just beautiful scenes throughout. The pacing is just right, great dialogues, suitable background music, and off course good acting. All of them make the drama enjoyable to watch.

Happy Ending although not that satisfying. YZ is is happier, taking on a new hobby (carpentry) and JTY although physically vaporized is still with him in different various live forms.

Yes, they all got killed in the end by YZ and his people.

I am in the mid of watching this drama, YZ can be sarcastic, melancholic but also pragmatic and funny at the same time. His interactions with JTY, who is kind and smart but can be too straightforward make the show entertaining to watch.

Regardless the rating, KMLM is one of my favorite CDramas which I have rewatched several times. There were many tender scenes of the ML/FL beautifully shot with touching dialoges and can't get tired watching them. I also enjoy listening to ML’s voice at times. LXY has such nice smooth melodious voice.

Against The Current short trailer 07312025 showing their family, can't wait.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YkRvkIFNea8

Agree KMLM was better than Princess's Gambit. The ML and FL had better chemistry in KMLM.

I understand the different perspectives and appreciate all of your comments.

So far I enjoy the show, still need to finish, wondering why XY didn't get or suspect that her cousin CX was in love with her? It's a bit unrealistic in my opinion and it was never indicated so in the show.

I think the actors and actresses did their part well, especially the ML superb acting. Regardless some incoherent parts of the drama, this is not a bad show. Episodes 1-19 are really strong and the rest of the episodes are a bit slow and messy. The drama has a Happy Ending although only a short scene. They could have longer beautiful ending scenes to satisfy the audience so this is a missed opportunity in my opinion. I would rate this show 8-8.5.

This show has intriguing plot with 1 FL and 4 MLs. It's romance heavy, not physically more in interactions, dialogues and flows. Overall, it's a great script and directing which is hard to find in Cdrama (in my opinion). Additionally, the FL and the MLs are very good at portraying their characters.

If the pace of the show is slowing down or upsetting, instead of dropping the drama, you can put it on hold until all 36 episodes available for bing watching as I am doing.