minki4

The ML didn’t wrong her, but the FL has a right to be aggrieved, cos it’s such a bitter experience to watch your fiancé reject you and marry someone else, even if the decision was out of his hands. The truth is that the Shen grandfather holds the most fault for the Shen’s family’s plight. He could have gone back on his principles like the Lin grandfather did, but he refused and got his whole family killed. That’s why this is not primarily a revenge drama.

I think the Lin residence kept their guard low with him because he saved the Ml’s life, so he is seen as an honoured guest, and allowed free access to the residence. The youngest Lin sister even said the first madam made her greet him properly, which is a big deal cos he is much lower in status to her. I guess the guards won’t monitor him a lot since first madam and young master hold him in such high esteem. Not to mention, his sister lives in the Lin residence, basically giving him more of an excuse to loiter around the place.

She is assigned to his study, so technically she is the maid that serves him the most directly.

If there was anyone mainly to blame for the Shen family tragedy, it’s the Shen grandfather. The Lin grandfather betrayed his principles, resigned, and moved away from the capital so his family got to live. The Shen grandfather stuck to his principles, and took his whole family with him to the grave. Even if the FL had married into the ML’s family, her whole family would have still died so I doubt it will make any difference. They are both victims of their grandfather’s actions.

The irony is that the marquis is not even an old man. I don’t blame the Du young lady for glaring at her like that. The girl doesn’t even realize the amount of privilege she has to be able to say such things. She will probably learn the hard way.

Maybe I’m being too harsh but seeing the wilful dramatics of the ML’s sister, Lin Xiuwan, is getting on my nerves so much. So many young girls her age, like the maids for instance, are suffering so much simply because of who they are born to, meanwhile she is born to so much privilege, yet she keeps acting wilful and throwing tantrums. It’s hard to feel sorry for her. Atp, I hope she should marries Du Zheng so she will learn a bitter lesson.

She was too desperate and played her game too early. It’s only right that the Ml is on guard cos he is smart. Only a dumb person won’t see through her lie that it’s xiaolian that gave the ML that flower to wear. As if a maid no matter how muddle headed will make that sort of costly mistake.

As expected, young miss Du is up to no good. The way she passed the blame off to Xiaolian is so cruel. I feel most sorry for the maids in this show, cos they are completely at the mercy of their masters. They do nothing wrong, yet they get flogged, beaten to death or sold off. Smh.

It seems like that brother and sister are going to be trouble for the ML. Saving the ML’s life is one thing, and he is clearly showing his gratitude by taking the sister into his family. But I hope the siblings won’t try to hoodwink him into marrying the sister. This is why you can’t do nothing for nobody. Give people an inch, and they try take a mile.

The drama hinted that the ML is smart enough to be a top scholar but he didn’t go that route because he didn’t want to be a puppet of the Zhao family.

The FL’s father literally told the FL that slaves are like livestock (probably even less valuable considering the norms of that period), so asking a slave to be a spy is the least a master could do. You can’t use modern lens to judge historical dramas.

I’m sorry but I don’t pity Zhao XingTang. Initially, It was sad that she was forced to get married against her will, but her every action after that point is just one mistake after another that will be her doom. The stealing from the shop, lending with exorbitant interests, maintaining an affair while married, not to mention the unnecessary cruelty to the maids too.

Madam Yu is a bird fr. This is the first drama I have seen where a woman is willing to kill her child to save her husband. Cos what do you mean after she found out her husband was dead, she told her son that it should have been him. With pathetic parents like that, Yu jinxiu never stood a chance unfortunately.

The best way to watch this drama is to binge it. It’s so engaging and less stressful for some reason. The angst and wait will eat you up if you watch episode by episode.

The Yu family is brutal. Yu Gaodong manipulated Tingyun’s useless father into killing her mother. Then told the truth to Zhao Ling, so he will kill her father. Damn. Talk about getting what you want and tying up loose ends without soiling your fingers. This evil scheming is really befitting of an evil politician.

I’m enjoying how ruthless and powerful the villains in this show are. However, the most gratifying thing about suffering through an evil villain is when they have the worst retribution. An easy death after all this angst just won’t cut it. I hope the writers nail the ending.

Well the Road to Splendor is really filled with Trauma, so the title is Apt. No completely ethical way to get to that high political position.

Seems like someone in this comment section really has something against growing vegetables.

Try rebirth/transmigration revenge themed dramas. In these the main lead usually suffered a lot in their past lives, and died unjustly. So when they come back through rebirth, they are already equipped with past life knowledge to ruthlessly strike down their enemies. Some examples are “The Double”, “Blossom”. A recent transmigration one that just finished airing is “Blossoms of power”, although I didn’t watch that one. Novels like “Rebirth of malicious empress of military lineage” are also very good face slapping rebirth novels.

“Nirvana in Fire” is a masterpiece. It’s not rebirth but the male lead prepared for 12 years and gathered resources, before coming back to take revenge under another identity, so his schemes are top notch. “Joy of Life” is another masterpiece. It’s technically modern to past time travel, so the male lead has knowledge of poems from the modern world to help.

We must be watching different dramas. What I have seen in this drama is a young, politically inexperienced couple trying their best to navigate the complexities of the capital and royal favour, while a more established and influential noble family has been trying to take them down. The drama is showing the young couple’s flaws, struggles and wins and at the end leaves you asking what is really worth it in the end.

Even in the capital that you are saying they are acting like “complete idiots” or “wimpy bumbling fools who can’t plot”, they have outwitted their enemies on different occasions. However, the stakes are high and their enemies are formidable, so naturally, they won’t escape completely unscathed cos that will be unrealistic.

Since you dislike the main leads so much and you feel they are “complete idiots”, there are so many dramas where the invincible leads are drenched in plot armour regardless of their skillsets. It will do you good to check them out.

Dealing with average citizens which they did in the first half of the drama is completely different from dealing with political juggernauts in the royal court where a single misstep or lack of information can mean losing the emperor’s favour at best or death to your family at worse. If you can’t understand that, then there’s no point in continuing the drama.

The male lead while resourceful and brave, is still a commoner who did not have a noble family to guide him while growing up. The FL while incredibly smart is still severely limited by the patriarchal society at that period. Considering their lack of experience and how insidious those politicians are, they are both trying their best. This drama is just a tad bit more realistic about their struggles compared to most idol dramas that will have the leads somehow miraculously circumventing obstacles due to glaring plot armour.