mimi0108

Questions for those who have read the book:

I understand your feelings but we have to put thing in perspective. It is a drama of 56 episodes which tells FL's coming of age story and journey. It's understandable that the first third of the drama is focused on her story, her personality, her family relationships, her first relationships before she started her romance with ML. If they were together from the beginning, we would end up getting bored as often in fluffy romances. It's a slow burn romance but not really since there will be many episodes with the ML & FL as main love interest.

I don't know how to do it, I just come to rave about this scene that I can't wait to see (given the outfit, there's a chance that it will be in episode 36 next Thursday).

Your remarks on the mother's past are very interesting.
Indeed, if she comes from a more wealthy family the appearance & the judgment of others matter a lot to her (which is not healthy but understandable). If she had difficulties with her first marriage, her obsession with the importance of loving her husband and choosing her in-laws is also understandable (though her current in-laws aren't a gift either).
All of this helps to understand the psychology of the mother, her demons and insecurities. However, she is completely wrong in her education of her daughter, in the arguments etc...

I agree that enough time has been given to this relationship and it's time to see CSS flourish away from this involuntarily toxic mother.

Exactly!

The worst part is : she is hypocritical and I liked that LBY, subtly, underlined it. The mother is not a conventional woman. She is a soldier, trains troops, is strict, dominating and fearsome. But she is also capable of having a normal, loving relationship with her husband.
Still, she wants her daughter to be a traditional girl. YangYang seems to be an sweet girl but she has no personality, is too fragile and would be eaten by anyone (future husband, future in-laws etc...). The fact the mother, with her dominant and strong personality, keeps valuing YY and dreams of her daughter being as sweet, submissive and conventional is aberrant and illogical.
To believe she is just looking for an excuse to reject the child in order to alleviate her feeling of guilt.

Well said!

I think what struck me the most with the mother is her unreason and twisted logic.
She keeps saying the two cousins ​​need to get along and not let themselves be divided. Yet by always praising one and belittling the other, separating the girls who's having fun at the festival, ignoring CSS and taking YY with her, the mother is the one who can create discord between the girls.
She also constantly lectures others to properly divide all the gifts to the girls in the name of fairness. However, at this same festival, she buys a jewel from YY and ignores CSS. She spends time with her niece whether it is to have fun with her, to teach her how to manage the house or to take her to see the traders. While her daughter is locked in her room to learn to read on her own. She scolds when she sees her and ignores her the rest of the time. What is this education?

I totally agree with you, the father is wrong too. First of all, he never confront his mother and sister-in-law about the abuse they put CSS through. And then, even if he sees that his wife is wrong, he always yields to her for the education (or rather the non-education) of their daughter and even defends his wife in front of their child even when she is wrong. He clearly favors his relationship as a couple to his paternal relationship and it is scandalous.

Yes, CSS has been very kind to her parents considering the situation. She is also the one who acts with the most lucidity, maturity and fairness. When her mother is wrong, she makes it clear to her what she did wrong to try to reason with her mother. I really like her metaphor about the two children: one is hungry, the other is 80% satisfied, but the mother only has a pancake that she cannot cut in half. Will she tell the child who is starving to wait until she has 2 pancakes or will she favor the child in need first. It underscored just how wrong the mother was in trying to be fair between the two cousins ​​when they clearly don't have the same needs.
CSS has always tried to explain to her parents what she has suffered, that she is like this because of her abuse. She was also able to take a step back and recognize she had her faults and had not been filial. She saved their lives in front of the emperor and analyzed the situation with intelligence and wisdom. But her mother, out of pride, unreason and misplaced guilt, still refuses to listen to logic, reason and wisdom.

3rd Princess was raised by her maternal uncle outside the palace. The uncle is ambitious and unholy. The princess is, in many ways, more his daughter than Consort Yue's and the Emperor.
As for the 5th princess, she is the only child born after her parents became emperor and empress. She therefore grew up in luxury all her life and with a distance and independence that life in the palace entails. Her father is very busy and has many children and her mother is too soft and reserved. Therefore, it's easy to imagine she's been spoiled rotten and given too much independence (she has her own mansion despite being unmarried) and surrounds herself with people who stuff her head. Therefore, no matter the personality of the parents, they did not have enough impact on their daughter to build her character and were too soft to discipline a child who deserved to be disciplined.

It would be great to see YY witness that gentle discipline and true care can make CSS a better person when her strict discipline has only driven her daughter away from her.

Ah, I see! Indeed, they'll be shocked like many people I think. The Huo Clan was important and respected.

You may want to post this comment on Part 2 where people will be please to talk about it with you, since a lot of people here are currently only at Part 1. But if you keep this comment here, please put a tag because this is a spoiler for people who aren't at part 2 yet. Thanks x)

They already know LBY and his mother were the only survivors of the Gu City. CSS parents told her at the end of ep24 because she didn't know his family's situation and his parents divorce.

I've been rewatching the drama from the start and the mother still pisses me off.
I understand some of her fear: her daughter was raised by her enemy and an insufferable grandmother and picked up some of their bad habits (she's illiterate like the grandmother, cunning and resentful like the aunt, scheming and comedian like both).

Her daughter is of marriageable age and the fear her years with the aunt will turn her into a vicious, bad and rude girl makes the mom choose the stick method without realizing that strict discipline only works with a spoiled and rotten child, not an abused child who grow up without knowing love. She also closes herself to knowing her daughter, to seeing she misunderstood some of her intentions and personality traits, and to giving her any credit. She is an unknown for the teenager. If she doesn't show her a minimum of love, tenderness, understanding and respect, the girl will never listen to her and will just treat her as an enemy. CSS had to forge a shell to survive all these years and correcting her character must be done with gentleness, pedagogy, intelligence and love, not with military discipline.

The mother literally abuses FL throughout Part 1, demeans her, makes her feel worthless and unloved and pushes her to hurry to get married to finally be free and escape a home that mistreats her. She's been home for weeks or even months but she never realized her daughter was using a child's desk and a torn bamboo sheet she had to wash and mend daily (which doesn't motivate her to study). Other than locking her in her room without eating or sleeping to learn to read (without teacher) or forcing her to learn philosophy with a mean perverted stalker, her mother has not handled her daughter's education. She didn't teach her etiquette (the girl doesn't even know how to greet guests properly), didn't teach her the genealogy of nobles (whom she nevertheless came into contact with) and so on. She dares to complain when she does nothing to educate her daughter except to use the same method as her previous abusers: spend almost no time with her, starve her, punish her, deprive her of going out, belittle her, humiliate her, praise her perfect cousin in front of her and show her no ounce of affection.
However, since episode 25, after the terrible marriage proposal and ensuing argument, the mother is so distressed that she has taken a step back from the situation and no longer interferes with what her daughter is doing. She even speaks to her gently for the first time and explains things clearly and calmly when CSS comes to ask her parents for advice on her marriage.

Do you think the disastrous method of the mother will be settled like this? That their relationship will just calm down while distancing each other without the mother or the rest of the family fixing the problem and acknowledging the mistakes made towards CSS?
Part 1 spends so much time on the emotional abuse of the mother and the impact it has on CSS so I would find it sad if there wasn't a real conclusion to it. We are talking about a mother who, while her daughter was the victim of the shenanigans of vicious servants, accused her of the serious crime of disobedience and was ready to have her beaten for simply stating the facts. She doesn't like being stood up to and facing her mistakes so much that she sinks deeper and is ready to punish her daughter for not wanting to be a silent victim.

I thought same as you so I think it may be one of the interpretation of this scene x)

I must say I appreciate the realism granted to the psychology of CSS.

Even if she agrees to marry LBY at the end of episode 27 and talks to him about it in episode 28, she is not madly in love with LBY and everything is not going perfectly in their couple. They remain two young people inexperienced in love, each with their own rhythm, expectations and desires, getting to know each other. LBY had months to develop his feelings for her, to understand them and to accept them. While she has just begun to imagine her life with him and to see him as her suitor. So, seeing them both at ease with each other, starting to flirt together but also arguing was interesting.
LBY is older, already trained and he also knows all the scheming of the palace. While CSS is the one to enter the Imperial family and learn etiquette as the Emperor's future daughter-in-law. She also just discovers the imperial court, the intrigues behind the scenes and the story of her fiancé. Everything is new for her who has always been free, independent, wild and a bit reckless. The two engaged lovers are clearly not yet in sync (whether in the strength of their respective feelings, in their knowledge of the world & the people around them, and in their expectations as a couple) and it's interesting to see.

Here is my interpretation:
LBY knew the person he was looking for was related to the Cheng family and had used the carriage to hide. The grace, gentleness, intelligence and determination of CSS intrigued him and he was surprised to see her not hesitate to denounce a member of her family. Besides, he heard she had grown up without parents and sensed her sarcasm and wit when she lectures the governess at the end.
He is someone who grew up without parents who cares a lot about justice. So he took an interest in her and felt her personality was a bit wild wich was a good thing in his eyes.

P.S: since we are in the Part 2 section, I don't think we need a spoiler tag for talking about the first episodes of Part 1 x)

Yeah, that's a huge spoiler, that's why I asked to put it under the spoiler tag (because it wasn't at first) and to be careful because when someone asks clarification about something in Part 1 they don't for sure ask for spoilers about part 2. But many people answer with huge spoilers. I didn't know before but at episode 4 of the part 1, I read this spoiler because people aren't careful and talk about it without tag under post only talking about the first episodes of the drama.

Yeah, I saw the preview for the next episode and it seems, indeed, that CSS will see the similarities between her fiancé and general Huo.

First, can you put a tag because it's a big spoiler.
Second, maybe you can ask OP if he/she wants this kind of spoiler or if he/she only wants clarification about what was said in part 1. Not everyone want to know what will happen in the 3/4 of the drama.

Edit: Thanks x)
I'm not deleting my comment in case OP need to know to not open the above comment.

The first princess was the emperor's older sister. Since Consort Yue is the emperor's wife, she called his sister as her. The emperor almost die to save his sister and was saved by the general Huo. Consort Yue is the emperor childhoo sweetheart. She's with him for more than 20 years. She knew his best friend/sworn brother the general Huo and was maybe even friend with him. She's also grateful because he saved the life of her husband and sister in law.

The first princess was the emperor's older sister. Since Consort Yue is the emperor's wife, she called his sister as her. The emperor almost die to save his sister and was saved by the general Huo. Consort Yue is the emperor childhoo sweetheart. She's with him for more than 20 years. She knew his best friend/sworn brother the general Huo and was maybe even friend with him. She's also grateful because he saved the life of her husband and sister in law.

She is the Emperor's childhood friend who was General Huo's best friend. She therefore knew him and was perhaps even friends with him. The sister she is talking about was the emperor's sister apparently (or the empress), not her biological sister.