[Mainland Chinese Drama 2018] The Story of Ming Lan 庶女明兰传 / 知否？知否？应是绿肥红瘦

[ForgottenSoulx]

13 minutes ago, linhlinh111 said:

 

I'm not sure how much later is that scene in the preview, but due to the book troubles with concubines arised twice. First was right after marriage, stepmom called the pair over and gave them 2 women. They were all GTY's women before ML. One of them was GTY's tongfang maid. In families with status, when a boy came of age, their mother (or grandmother) would send them maids to teach them about s*x. Those maids later would become their concubines after they got married. Those maids were called tongfang maids. The other one was a concubine that GTY's first wife took in on behalf of him. These 2 women took care of Rong'er when she was staying at the Gu family. But there are no first wife and Rong'er doesn't live with Gu family in the drama so I'm not sure if they would keep this scene.

 

Second time was when GTY was away on the battlefield, ML was pregnant. Stepmom didn't want GTY to have an heir, so she push ML to receive a concubine, trying to shock her into premature birth. But that doesn't seem to fit the scene either. Maybe drama would make a change here and go through with the plot you predicted. It's more common in this type of drama.

 

Well we do know MN is coming back and trys to stop ML during child birth or was that someone else it looked like her though. 

[tomo74]

18 minutes ago, mayonnaisepan said:

the other thing i wanted to say is that in the most recent episode, when GTY is confessing everything he did to basically entrap ML into marriage, i kept thinking, "this little rascal!" if i didn't have a favorable opinion of GTY and of FSF acting as GTY, i would think he's an richard simmons! lol! he kept laughing and was saying how "i couldn't sleep the whole night after i found out ______" (for example when he says he found out that dr he's cousin was someone he could use/manipulate). all the while as he was confessing, i thought that he was such a richard simmons! probably similar to ML who thought, how dare this man use such dirty means and treat me like some sort of pet to be captured! but at the same time, like ML, i also thought, damn he really did go to extremes to make sure everything went according to plan! 

Thank you for honest confession that you have favour GTY so everything (even bad thing) that GTY do are ok.

[linhlinh111]

5 minutes ago, tomo74 said:

Are they friends? I think they are (GTY offered to help QH for kidnapping the princess, people wont offer such dangerous idea if they are not friend, toooooo risky) but how close are they, I dont know.

About marry the girl, QH was forced to marry that princess (he want to kill himself so he wont marry her, but the princess's mother threaten him for killing his lover if he kill himself), not because he choose to marry the princess willingly, like if your mum forced you to marry someone you dont love (at that time, you dont know that your husband/wife life will be short and you become a widow/widower), you have to say goodbye to your lover to free him/her, but thing's changed, suddenly you have the opportunity to go back to your lover and you know he/she is still available (you dont know that he/she is actually engage to someone else), so you chase him/her again but to find out that your friend (the friend that know your love history) is your lover fiance, do you feel like that friend is stabbing your back?, maybe if the fiance is a random people, you might not that angry.

Yeah, imagine just getting rid of a crazy maniac of a wife you were forced to marry, now you are ready to go back to the love of your life and all the conditions are met. But suddenly you hear that your friend (who kinda used to be your wing man) is engaged with her. Also he was originally after her sister, and her family just kinda switched her in after her sister got into a scandal. If it were someone else or the situation didn't look that messed up maybe QH wouldn't be that enraged.

[watchumlots]

QH & ML & QTY...

 

What a tangled web we weave!

 

QH found himself suddenly and fortuitously widowed.  WHO KNEW he could be so lucky after all the bad luck?

So NOW he could pursue the woman he truly wanted, and those pesky threatening 3rd tier royals were nowhere to be found as they are very D-E-A-D.

 

QTY was a rogue.  He was an outcast from is family due to hanging out with and keeping a bar singer, setting-up household with her, having children with her, and trying to get her accepted into his family/household.  Earlier, that very thing  that caused all kinds of uproar in his house when they tried to arrange a 'decent' marriage for him and the mistress took full advantage making scenes everywhere:  PLEASE?  Just let me be an accepted concubine.   Yeah, right.  Her scam was to take over and be accepted as an aristocrat.  

 

QH knew about QTY's relationship issues.  ML, if she marries QTY, has to deal with his runaway mistress and QTY's two kiddos.  So of course QH looks like a better choice.  Even though his mother is overbearing, he doesn't have the other mistress-related baggage and bad relations with his family baggage.  

 

QTY's new found legitimacy (saving the emperor) and the favoritism displayed by the emperor puts him in a whole new light and now makes him much more desirable as a marriage prospect.  Everyone seems inclined to forget all that bar singer/mistress business. 

[ForgottenSoulx]

15 minutes ago, tomo74 said:

Are they friends? I think they are (GTY offered to help QH for kidnapping the princess, people wont offer such dangerous idea if they are not friend, toooooo risky) but how close are they, I dont know.

About marry the girl, QH was forced to marry that princess (he want to kill himself so he wont marry her, but the princess's mother threaten him for killing his lover if he kill himself), not because he choose to marry the princess willingly, like if your mum forced you to marry someone you dont love (at that time, you dont know that your husband/wife life will be short and you become a widow/widower), you have to say goodbye to your lover to free him/her, but thing's changed, suddenly you have the opportunity to go back to your lover and you know he/she is still available (you dont know that he/she is actually engage to someone else), so you chase him/her again but to find out that your friend (the friend that know your love history) is your lover fiance, do you feel like that friend is stabbing your back?, maybe if the fiance is a random people, you might not that angry.

 

Maybe i just see it differently to others but in drama time its most likely been over a year , he can get angry i understand where hes coming from but it ends after they get married if he carry's it on you think that is fine? 

[darkphoenix123]

10 minutes ago, frenchfan said:

The wedding looks really grand.  I am happy that he showed how much he care with all the "entourage".  That her marrying him is something to be proud of.  He looked so happy and her family too.  

Did you 6th Liang with the others at the house entrance? Cheng Bai looks like he doesn’t know what to think about GTY’s elation lol

 

The reason I don’t like Mama Liang is that she knows her son is a womanizer & already has a pregnant Concubine & was willing to push a girl into that snake pit. It is maternal for her but that would have spoiled a girl’s life. Also, I really disliked her ‘I will take Molan in as a concubine  if Minglan becomes the main wife’ 

[ForgottenSoulx]

4 minutes ago, tomo74 said:

Thank you for honest confession that you have favour GTY so everything (even bad thing) that GTY do are ok.

 

Its not ok but hes doing it to win the person he loves at least hes fighting for what he loves. 

[frenchfan]

1 hour ago, JoycceeDreamer said:

I seriously cannot wait until subs are released to understand all of this. I just hope they like GTY. 

I hope GTY will come to the rescue lol...cause they are so evil to do it the next day after the wedding????

Right.  So much drama right after her wedding.  Poor Minglan.  I hope she will persevere.

[ForgottenSoulx]

8 minutes ago, linhlinh111 said:

Yeah, imagine just getting rid of a crazy maniac of a wife you were forced to marry, now you are ready to go back to the love of your life and all the conditions are met. But suddenly you hear that your friend (who kinda used to be your wing man) is engaged with her. Also he was originally after her sister, and her family just kinda switched her in after her sister got into a scandal. If it were someone else or the situation didn't look that messed up maybe QH wouldn't be that enraged.

 

I understand what he said in that scene but if he wont move on afterwords then i have 0 sympathy or care for his character. 

[darkphoenix123]

5 minutes ago, tomo74 said:

Thank you for honest confession that you have favour GTY so everything (even bad thing) that GTY do are ok.

It’s not the bad things that he does are okay. It’s like what Minglan & grandma felt in today’s episode. GTY planned extensively & gave it his all to fight for the girl he loves & wanted to marry. He didn’t give up & even if he was in a position like QH where he was blackmailed knowing GTY he would have found a way around it. That’s his character. He plans & fights. He always looks out for ML’s reputation too. Even all this plotting he made sure ML came out on top. That is what people admire, atleast I do

[fra8]

I feel for QH. But life is a matter of coincidences, moments, choices. So you have to play the cards you’re dealt.

gty and ml are flawed characters but they keep fighting with what they have. Ml’s revenge or gty’s plan are examples

[mayonnaisepan]

6 minutes ago, tomo74 said:

Thank you for honest confession that you have favour GTY so everything (even bad thing) that GTY do are ok.

 

lol, i can tell that you're pro-QH and therefore, not so much for GTY so thank YOU also for your honest confession that you like QH and that no matter what he does and more importantly, doesn't do, that he's being slighted. 

 

i did not excuse GTY, i said that i found him acting as a rascal and like ML, i was both offended and in a twisted way, somewhat impressed that he went to such means to ensure that everything went according to plan because his plan had multiple tiny steps that all had to align together to work. was GTY manipulative, yes. was GTY out of line when he purposely set up the split of Dr He and ML's relationship, yes. even the cast and the drama themselves have told us repeatedly that GTY is a bit of a scoundrel. he isn't wholly pure and he's not like QH who is a scholar and not as cunning. GTY is more street smart whereas QH is more book smart. GTY said himself that in order to get ML as his wife, he even resorted to war strategies. GTY himself has said he's manipulative and yet the reason he got ML and not QH is because GTY came clean about it. he straight up told ML, this is the type of man i am. i did all of this and you can expect that in the future, i will also do the same FOR you. ML herself is not the timid type, as i said. her and GTY are similar-minded. 

[darkphoenix123]

8 minutes ago, watchumlots said:

QH & ML & QTY...

 

What a tangled web we weave!

 

QH found himself suddenly and fortuitously widowed.  WHO KNEW he could be so lucky after all the bad luck?

So NOW he could pursue the woman he truly wanted, and those pesky threatening 3rd tier royals were nowhere to be found as they are very D-E-A-D.

 

QTY was a rogue.  He was an outcast from is family due to hanging out with and keeping a bar singer, setting-up household with her, having children with her, and trying to get her accepted into his family/household.  Earlier, that very thing  that caused all kinds of uproar in his house when they tried to arrange a 'decent' marriage for him and the mistress took full advantage making scenes everywhere:  PLEASE?  Just let me be an accepted concubine.   Yeah, right.  Her scam was to take over and be accepted as an aristocrat.  

 

QH knew about QTY's relationship issues.  ML, if she marries QTY, has to deal with his runaway mistress and QTY's two kiddos.  So of course QH looks like a better choice.  Even though his mother is overbearing, he doesn't have the other mistress-related baggage and bad relations with his family baggage.  

 

QTY's new found legitimacy (saving the emperor) and the favoritism displayed by the emperor puts him in a whole new light and now makes him much more desirable as a marriage prospect.  Everyone seems inclined to forget that all that bar singer/mistress business. 

If you are talking about the viewers forgetting Manniang, I don’t think any of us have. But the way GTY’s character is sketched I have confidence that he will protect ML from her. I don’t have that same confidence in QH that he would have protected ML or would protect ML in the future if he married her. 

If you are talking about people in the show forgetting abt Manning then as far as anyone know she is long gone, he has a daughter & not a son, he is highly favored & is wealthy so everyone would obviously be after him...

[watchumlots]

Old Man Sheng was so in-love with Concubine Lin, that is why she did whatever she wanted and he chose not to see it.  It was obvious that his marriage with the main wife was a family-arranged affair and his love was Concubine Lin.  

 

All the women, concubines and wives, vie for power within the household.  Concubine Lin was very cunning and persuasive in all of her insidious deeds.  That is what drove the MainWife crazy!  Even if Lin's excuse was flimsy, the Master fell for it.  MingLan's mother was hugely pregnant and living in an unheated room!  Sheng made lame efforts to solve the problem, but did not do anything that would cause problems for Concubine Lin.  

 

If there is a mess in the Sheng house, Master Sheng bears the most blame. 

[darkphoenix123]

6 minutes ago, fra8 said:

I feel for QH. But life is a matter of coincidences, moments, choices. So you have to play the cards you’re dealt.

gty and ml are flawed characters but they keep fighting with what they have. Ml’s revenge or gty’s plan are examples

Exactly. When ML confessed to grandma about what she did she told her that when her father didn’t punish Molan & her mother after the cut Molan gave her she changed her plans. They both plan ahead

[tomo74]

57 minutes ago, ForgottenSoulx said:

 

Maybe i just see it differently to others but in drama time its most likely been over a year , he can get angry i understand where hes coming from but it ends after they get married if he carry's it on you think that is fine? 

Thank you that you are understand why he get angry, if he keeps angry after they're married and become salty, I'll say he is wrong, he shouldn't do that, then I'll agree with the comments "if he really love ML, he should let her go". Like I said, I just want people to understand his feeling (why he get angry to GTY) but I'm  not supporting his action after that, if he's still holding a grudge toward GTY (I dont know yet, since I'm not up to that episode), he is wrong, specially if he can see, GTY truly love ML and he can give the best life for her, he should moved on and be happy for ML and GTY.

[mayonnaisepan]

37 minutes ago, ForgottenSoulx said:

 

Maybe i just see it differently to others but in drama time its most likely been over a year , he can get angry i understand where hes coming from but it ends after they get married if he carry's it on you think that is fine? 

 

i agree with this!

 

i don't think QH stepped out of line when he went to have a talk with GTY. like everyone else has said, QH didn't know that GTY did this on purpose, only ML (and grandma) knew. QH was, in his own way, looking out for ML. of course, i expect that QH was hoping against hope that GTY would back down and that QH could still marry ML. QH was angry and he reacted according to that, he was probably also worried because his own mother told him that GTY had wanted to marry roulan and not ML but was a step too late. QH didn't know GTY actually likes ML. 

 

however, i agree with what you're saying about it being too little, too late. sitou asked GTY why he isn't concerned about QH going to the Sheng family to ask about ML's marriage (which GTY tells QH to do btw) and GTY said, "i was actually worried that ML would choose Dr He however, i knew that no matter what, ML would not choose QH again." 

 

i also want to do a quick translation of what xiaotao says (on behalf of grandma) to QH because grandma's words sum up what/how i feel about QH in regards to ML. xiaotao tells QH that he won't be seen tonight and when QH says he'll come back another night then, xiaotao says that there is no need. when QH asks why, she says:

 

xiaotao: grandma says the reason you're seeking an audience is in regards to marriage with ML. grandma says therefore you do not need to waste your time because what you did in the past, she has not forgotten. even though Sheng family is not a high-ranking, noble family and even thought ML is only a shu-daughter, she still has character/backbone. if it's not her place to go then she won't go. (as in, she won't try to aim higher than her status allows her) because if she does so, then she'll just be ridiculed/taken as a joke. the one who proposed marriage was you and the one who rejected the marriage was also you. even though the Sheng house door is small (meaning they aren't a rich family), they still want face (honor). 

 

then QH says he didn't mean to do all of that then (as in he didn't intend to hurt ML on purpose). 

 

xiaotao replies: not on purpose?! my lady (ML) refused you many times and you still do not relent. you knew that you couldn't get the marriage done (ie you knew that your mother would not agree to the marriage) so why did you still come to propose marriage? and now you say you had no choice? no matter where ML goes these days, people laugh and ridicule her for trying to aim for higher than she could attain. do you even know of this? 

 

what xiaotao says/or rather, what grandma says, is how i feel about the whole situation. what QH intended to do does not matter because as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. what happened as a result of what QH did, is the fact now. he shouldn't expect ML to wait for him when he was the one who gave her the doll back to say he couldn't keep his promise and she too returned her doll to him.  

 

ML, when asked by her other maid that maybe she should reconsider QH because it's not as if grandma has agreed to marriage with GTY yet, ML says to her, "one should never look backwards." ML is the type of person that once she mades a decision, she sticks to it. once she has decided on one thing, she will not waver. whether that is right or not, is up to her but she looks straight ahead and towards the future. 

 

[tomo74]

44 minutes ago, mayonnaisepan said:

 

lol, i can tell that you're pro-QH and therefore, not so much for GTY so thank YOU also for your honest confession that you like QH and that no matter what he does and more importantly, doesn't do, that he's being slighted. 

 

i did not excuse GTY, i said that i found him acting as a rascal and like ML, i was both offended and in a twisted way, somewhat impressed that he went to such means to ensure that everything went according to plan because his plan had multiple tiny steps that all had to align together to work. was GTY manipulative, yes. was GTY out of line when he purposely set up the split of Dr He and ML's relationship, yes. even the cast and the drama themselves have told us repeatedly that GTY is a bit of a scoundrel. he isn't wholly pure and he's not like QH who is a scholar and not as cunning. GTY is more street smart whereas QH is more book smart. GTY said himself that in order to get ML as his wife, he even resorted to war strategies. GTY himself has said he's manipulative and yet the reason he got ML and not QH is because GTY came clean about it. he straight up told ML, this is the type of man i am. i did all of this and you can expect that in the future, i will also do the same FOR you. ML herself is not the timid type, as i said. her and GTY are similar-minded. 

Hahaha.... I'm not in QH's camp, and I do like GTY (now, not the beginning when he is nothing but trouble), I just try to be neutral and follow the story and try to understand each character, I said in the (much) previous comment, people like GTY soooo much, so no matter how bad he is, he's still the hero, and people dislike QH, no matter how he did/do/will do (in his term, base on his personality), he end up zero, no effort, nothing good, etc, it's kinda unfair. I understand why GTY has to trick ML, because it suit his personalty.

[darkphoenix123]

12 minutes ago, mayonnaisepan said:

 

i agree with this!

 

i don't think QH stepped out of line when he went to have a talk with GTY. like everyone else has said, QH didn't know that GTY did this on purpose, only ML (and grandma) knew. QH was, in his own way, looking out for ML. of course, i expect that QH was hoping against hope that GTY would back down and that QH could still marry ML. QH was angry and he reacted according to that, he was probably also worried because his own mother told him that GTY had wanted to marry roulan and not ML but was a step too late. QH didn't know GTY actually likes ML. 

 

however, i agree with what you're saying about it being too little, too late. sitou asked GTY why he isn't concerned about QH going to the Sheng family to ask about ML's marriage (which GTY tells QH to do btw) and GTY said, "i was actually worried that ML would choose Dr He however, i knew that no matter what, ML would not choose QH again." 

 

i also want to do a quick translation of what xiaotao says (on behalf of grandma) to QH because grandma's words sum up what/how i feel about QH in regards to ML. xiaotao tells QH that he won't be seen tonight and when QH says he'll come back another night then, xiaotao says that there is no need. when QH asks why, she says:

 

xiaotao: grandma says the reason you're seeking an audience is in regards to marriage with ML. grandma says therefore you do not need to waste your time because what you did in the past, she has not forgotten. even though Sheng family is not a high-ranking, noble family and even thought ML is only a shu-daughter, she still has character/backbone. if it's not her place to go then she won't go. (as in, she won't try to aim higher than her status allows her) because if she does so, then she'll just be ridiculed/taken as a joke. the one who proposed marriage was you and the one who rejected the marriage was also you. even though the Sheng house door is small (meaning they aren't a rich family), they still want face (honor). 

 

then QH says he didn't mean to do all of that then (as in he didn't intend to hurt ML on purpose). 

 

xiaotao replies: not on purpose?! my lady (ML) refused you many times and you still do not relent. you knew that you couldn't get the marriage done (ie you knew that your mother would not agree to the marriage) so why did you still come to propose marriage? and now you say you had no choice? no matter where ML goes these days, people laugh and ridicule her for trying to aim for higher than she could attain. do you even know of this? 

 

what xiaotao says/or rather, what grandma says, is how i feel about the whole situation. what QH intended to do does not matter because as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. what happened as a result of what QH did, is the fact now. he shouldn't expect ML to wait for him when he was the one who gave her the doll back to say he couldn't keep his promise and she too returned her doll to him.  

 

ML, when asked by her other maid that maybe she should reconsider QH because it's not as if grandma has agreed to marriage with GTY yet, ML says to her, "one should never look backwards." ML is the type of person that once she mades a decision, she sticks to it. once she has decided on one thing, she will not waver. whether that is right or not, is up to her but she looks straight ahead and towards the future. 

 

This! Thank you for the translation because what grandma & Xiaotao says sums up my opinion on QH perfectly. I am angry that he didn’t back down when ML told him so many times why this wouldn’t work. When it didn’t work Minglan is the one humiliated & laughed about when he was the one who chased after her...

[mooose]

9 minutes ago, mayonnaisepan said:

i don't think QH stepped out of line when he went to have a talk with GTY. like everyone else has said, QH didn't know that GTY did this on purpose, only ML (and grandma) knew. QH was, in his own way, looking out for ML. of course, i expect that QH was hoping against hope that GTY would back down and that QH could still marry ML.

 

He was totally out of line. Before even talking to ML to suss out her feelings, he wants GTY to break off the marriage! Seriously, how big is this boy's bubble? 

 

His behaviour is only understandable if he knew she was clearly unhappy and still carrying a torch for him. Which she wasn't even.