Reviews

Empress dowager director says no feudal thinking here😝

Qing is with director Fang whining because she doesn’t think Yi should be allowed to ever be interested in another man. Wonder how she would feel if the director said she and Yang not compatible and can’t get married? Her youth and devotion to brother quite evident. This is why Yi takes it in stride and the director finds it adorable. Yi and head seamstress agree there is something missing from clothing line and seamstress suggests a walk. This is kinda sad that Yi didn’t think this permissible. She mentions her bike and Qing is out fixing it. She has no clue what her sis in-law is capable of when Yi says where she’s been on a bike and carrying it if something happened. Qing is so sure she is lying that she mocks the very idea. She wants that bourgeois tag on Yi’s forehead saying fragile and spoiled with no work capabilities. Wen spots her as she’s sketching and Yi finds herself on an unexpected adventure. They have noodles at a friend’s new eatery and Wen wants to supervise how to eat. When she serves him soup his friend wants served too.😂They are so like Ao and Dalun with Yi Sun in back. It took his friend a minute to get why Wen wanted him to slow down. When the car overheats, Wen finds fruit and friend tells her about the jeep’s military exploits. It is hilarious that Wen doesn’t want his friend to have any.😂 Yi eats one and hands him the rest. Wen isn’t as enthused with that but he gives his friend permission. It is really funny watching the buddy be Wen’s wingman.😂🤣Wen wants to be gallant and wash her handkerchief but slides in the water instead. He is embarrassed but he brushes it off pretty well. She finds herself invited to the daughter’s bday party where she sees Wen has a HS aged son and the daughter. The children spend the bulk of their time living at school which is part of the concessions a single dad has to accept. Yi offered to go help in the kitchen but Wen takes her to his study instead. His frugality is noted when the chair collapses under her. 😂🤣Looking around the house this has to remind her of how her husband would live if necessary. There is a nice selection of books and music but there is a complete absence of decorative decor. He watches her look through his books and notes she takes out the one her husband did not get to read. Their conversation is interrupted by director and the nurse who wasn’t invited. She puts the nurse and Yi in the kitchen to show off the young woman’s culinary skills. I do not understand why she thinks Wen would want to date someone barely older than his son. Can you picture that nurse his stepmom? She is as hopeless as his buddy if she thinks that doe eyed school age girl would appeal to an honorable, refined and educated middle aged man. Here she shows she is the labor party wife and not scholar magistrate mentality. Wen takes the nurse to the study for a chat and the director takes Yi out for one as well. It is funny how she declares feudalism with women having to stay single forever is abolished while simultaneously being the empress dowager director declaring Wen must have the proper wedding alliance. 🙄😝 It is so funny when these people pronouncing judgment never see themselves doing the same thing. She brushes the children aside for her important conversation when it was supposed to be their day and it is their home.😝🙄Yi tells her straight up that they have read her diary and know her thoughts on what she finds important. She just wants to make a living and doesn’t expect anything. Now the dowager pshaws that notion and said she should make opportunity. She might just have to lower her expectations. Her arrogance is straight up royal full of yourself crap. The crime they accuse Yi of.😝🙄Minister Wen has put it in simplest enough terms that the nurse finally understands. She is far from stupid she just naively believed wholeheartedly the exaggerations and flat out lies the director told her. And she gets mad at Wen rather than the one who lied.😝 Director empress dowager has made it clear Yi doesn’t measure up. She boldly tells her conversation with Yi and that she sent her on her way. Wen is annoyed he is in hot water with his guest and that director took it upon herself to be the head of his home.😝 Yi works all night and is slammed with a new ‘have to do’ task. She must make them uniforms. She says she isn’t familiar with men’s clothing and someone more capable should do it. The seamstress slams it down and says refusal is not an option. I really wanna know where her creative mind will take her with this task. As far as empress dowager director Fang goes, Wen has an ace if willing to use it. She wants her lackey Yang and he wants to date Yi. He will swap a Yi for a Yang. Neither will like that arrangement, but both would get their way where it matters most to them. I really hope this comes into play because I would love to watch her face through this negotiation. How much does her chosen boy really mean to her?

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Working against feudal thinking

The director is trying to push Yang’s promotion and Wen is the only holdout. She argues like Yang with him but she makes no more progress. He tells her to let the committee decide. This is a two edged sword for her. She swings it often to bend other’s wills but now that it swings against her she is frustrated. Wen has a very cute daughter. Yi was quite patient with her when the child was restless waiting on dad. Seems she likes art too but Wen refused Yi giving her a sketchbook because he doesn’t want it seen as a bribe. At the hospital Wen wants to tell the nurse he’s not interested but she gets called away by her job. Yang makes excuse to see Qing. I want to find it cute but still struggling. My bias against him is quite strong. It is interesting to me that he chose the same gift as Wen for Yi, a pen. Here he wants Qing to practice her calligraphy. He has invented his own style. This was a surprise for me that gives me a bit of hope for him. He did not want to just be seen as a master’s copier. He wanted anything he wrote down to be recognized as his work specifically. I did not expect one so zealot in behavior could have an understanding and appreciation of individuality. This is the first time I have something in agreement with him. Our handwriting and signature is how we can be seen on paper. It lets the world see our style and personality on paper. Wen gave Yi Yuan’s interrogation file and his final letter. It was a hard gift to receive but it gave her an insight to his last thoughts. Yang and Qi cornered her about going to a meeting and Yi surprised them by saying yes. I found it humerous that Qing tries to have him learn an inside voice instead of yelling. She is the first one to counter his complaints about the dark with why didn’t you bring them? He had to reflect for a moment. He brought candles and expected her to have the matches.😂He sees her as his complement and she really is. Usually this is where I get a warm fuzzy at a budding romance, but I can’t get past the stereo shrieking they will do.😝😂 Maybe they will both learn inside voices. Yi shares her husband’s last letter instead of the prepped speech Yang had written out for her. I like that she both respected and defied their attempts on interpreting her public thoughts. In the workshop a granny comes in and starts beating on a young worker. Her husband died early and she had remarried. The first mother in law counted it a betrayal because their custom was to stay single for the rest of their days after husband died. Here is where Yi stood up all pro party lines. Too bad director wasn’t there to witness. She forcefully told the Gma that in new China the feudal ways were no longer the standard. That they were allowed marriage and the freedom to work and make their place within the party. Here the first bit of understanding why the old regime was ousted. These were her own pet peeves with men ordering her about— deciding who and when she could marry, and claiming her inheritance, work and earnings for themselves. Now women were on an equal status for work. The new girl is the one that told on the young girl’s whereabouts. They were from the same town and new girl thought that was a way to diminish competition. Yi catches her in the act of gossiping and calls her on it. The Gma has actually started a brawl on the work floor and is escorted out. Qing and the leader hold her to task for gossiping against the widowed martyr. Here is where they missed what should have been addressed. The old woman trying to enslave a young girl to family tradition and feudal thinking. Here is where the party showed they were of like ilk because they did not value Yi as a person, but as the wife of a revered martyr. I think they expect her to keep that status indefinitely. Qing asking if she was so naive about rumors. However, in spite of her coarse criticism she is right. Lies told often become truth to the masses that don’t care or bother about what is really true. The irony is she never considered repeated accusations by the party made false evidence believed as truth. It’s the flip side of the coin. Yang has received a job offer as a reporter and Wen is all for it. As he re aligns the sofa doilies he is practically doing a happy dance that Yang will be gone and in a job where he can’t be as harmful to others with his judgments. The director tries to corner Wen about begging for Yang to stay. Wen is not biting and now director can feel what it’s like to be manipulated by party job offers. Qing has made herself Yi’s personal assistant. She wants to stick like glue to her. Yi questions why. I think there is a low key desire to learn how to date from someone she respects. Yi sees her as an extension of Yang’s monitoring and Qing can’t deny it. When Qing won’t leave, Yi does. Yi is appreciating the new freedoms in the workplace due to new leadership. But the strings attached monitoring of all things personal wears at her soul. This is why she told Wen she is appreciating the party more but sees herself better as one who watches the watchers. I love her determination to take the difficult but most true path for herself. She will follow nobody blindly. Aunt SiYun and her father taught her that very early on. She has her aunt’s spine and determination to follow a course of her choosing. She is starting to find it.

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A love that wouldn't die

I can not let go of the hold this series has on me. In 12 ep, they managed to break me over and over again. Perfectly paired they have delivered the best yet. The desire, the angst, harsh decisions, resolute convictions and in the end a love that didn't die. Caught up between two kingdoms, political plots and selfish ambition, Zi Ang and Shu He, fought to be but in the end on opposingsides, they fought each other. Finally, left with no other option, Shu He takes revenge but ultimately creates the only world they can live happily in. Free to be as they were meant to be, they greet each other with a smile. I easily bypass how small the production was Zhang Zhe Xu and Min Jin performances blotted out what was lacking. Central to the plot that delivered, was their meeting and the intense love borne of it. One raging and rash and the other sure and serene. Yet both bonded forever. The supporting cast isworthy of a mention. All of their parts were handled believably. This is a series I can fully recommend as its execution was as painful as it was beautiful. A period piece that will never age. It's worth watching time and time again.

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