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

[Lunkera]

@Arieslazarel In my opinion, the way QH personality is because he is a favored di son from a rich and noble family. Unfavored di children and children born from concubine won't see it that way. Since they have to fight to survive. 

[historicalfictionftw]

I finally made an account! I stumbled upon this forum on pg 80 when I couldn't stand the suspense of waiting to know what is going on, especially after the boat raid episode. I'm passed the QY understanding point and moved on to the curious about GTY and if he's a good fit for ML. Both him and ML are very strategic and I'm so excited about seeing them work together. I think it would be cute to see them playing Go together as well. I'm currently in my second semester of Chinese and I realized that the language used in this drama is far more advanced than what I'm learning... nevertheless, I make sure that when I watch the raws that I cast to my TV and try to pay attention to the characters. What are the chances my character knowledge increases by the end of this show? I'm also open to recommendations of other Chinese dramas. Admittedly, I used to be k drama all the way till I decided to take Chinese...so I'm behind the curve. I look forward to stalking this forum and any spoilers/sneak peaks/raws that are shared. This has quickly become a passion of mine that I'm worried how I'll take it when the show is over. But for now, I'll live for the upcoming wedding and moments where ML shows how mighty she really is.

Side note: GTY seems very haughty in his laughing at most situations... I wonder if it's a defense mechanism.

[UnniSarah]

13 minutes ago, Lunkera said:

@Arieslazarel In my opinion, the way QH personality is because he is a favored di son from a rich and noble family. Unfavored di children and children born from concubine won't see it that way. Since they have to fight to survive. 

@Lunkera  I think it still depend on their circumstances in the rich and noble family. CB wasn't favored but he still wanted to protect  and be filial to his family. GTY had no one to depend on, he only had CB and hi Momo to find some kind of comfort.

GTY had no one to love him from his rich family. Everyone wanted to use his money but was conspiring against him to take his money. 

His own father hated him and wished ( this just my opinion)  he was never born. I believed his father's family plan was to marry GTY's mom and use her dowry. Once they fixed their financial issue they would have divorced her but once they found out he didn't consummate the marriage, they were blocked from any income. I think his family is who ruined his reputation. Usually they cover up their children's mistakes but his family publicize his mistakes. What can a child do than act out for some attention from the one person he wants it most. I pity himmmmmmmmmmmmm.  

@historicalfictionftw     Welcome to thread

[nnnju]

7 minutes ago, minglan1 said:

GTY's brother said he had been promoted as general of Jin army.The drama is based during Song dynasty so why is it called Jin instead of Song army?

In ancient China, military forces were generally of two big groups. Jin Army and Regional Army. Jin Army is a special name for the army guarding the palace and the capital. Jin means forbidden, same character as in the Zi Jin Chen (the forbidden city). The head/general of Jin Army is always the most trusted subordinate of the emperor since his life will be all in his hands. The regional army posted at the border (sometimes it is also named as Bian Fang Army, the border defense army) and important militarial location. Unless under attack, they could only carry out military actions with the military Seal/token issued by the emperor. The Northern Song Dynasty owned the biggest Jin Army in the history by having nearly 800k soldiers. They were also in charge of the security of the direct neighbor regions around the capital. Hence GTY is an extremely powerful general under the new emperor. 

 

Actually in the novel, it is not specified that he became the head of Jin Army. It did mention he became a Rank #2 general. Rank #1 is like Duke level. Rank #2 is like Marquis level. Basically he made his status up to the level of what his ancestor did for the family all by himself. 

[aurelly]

3 hours ago, Renee Smit said:

Okay, could someone please point me in the direction of all the raw episodes?  If possible, links would be appreciated for episodes 39 and 40.  Thank you!

 Have just inbox you , enjoy 

[leeza77]

2 minutes ago, nnnju said:

In ancient China, military forces were generally of two big groups. Jin Army and Regional Army. Jin Army is a special name for the army guarding the palace and the capital. Jin means forbidden, same character as in the Zi Jin Chen (the forbidden city). The head/general of Jin Army is always the most trusted subordinate of the emperor since his life will be all in his hands. The regional army posted at the border (sometimes it is also named as Bian Fang Army, the border defense army) and important militarial location. Unless under attack, they could only carry out military actions with the military Seal/token issued by the emperor. The Northern Song Dynasty owned the biggest Jin Army in the history by having nearly 800k soldiers. They were also in charge of the security of the direct neighbor regions around the capital. Hence GTY is an extremely powerful general under the new emperor. 

 

Actually in the novel, it is not specified that he became the head of Jin Army. It did mention he became a Rank #2 general. Rank #1 is like Duke level. Rank #2 is like Marquis level. Basically he made his status up to the level of what his ancestor did for the family all by himself. 

Thanks for the info @nnnju

[minglan1]

3 minutes ago, nnnju said:

In ancient China, military forces were generally of two big groups. Jin Army and Regional Army. Jin Army is a special name for the army guarding the palace and the capital. Jin means forbidden, same character as in the Zi Jin Chen (the forbidden city). The head/general of Jin Army is always the most trusted subordinate of the emperor since his life will be all in his hands. The regional army posted at the border (sometimes it is also named as Bian Fang Army, the border defense army) and important militarial location. Unless under attack, they could only carry out military actions with the military Seal/token issued by the emperor. The Northern Song Dynasty owned the biggest Jin Army in the history by having nearly 800k soldiers. They were also in charge of the security of the direct neighbor regions around the capital. Hence GTY is an extremely powerful general under the new emperor. 

 

Actually in the novel, it is not specified that he became the head of Jin Army. It did mention he became a Rank #2 general. Rank #1 is like Duke level. Rank #2 is like Marquis level. Basically he made his status up to the level of what his ancestor did for the family all by himself. 

Thanks for the information.I am learning a lot about ancient China.It is fascinating.

[leeza77]

Tidbits

Spoiler

http://p.weibo.com/show/channerWbH5/1034:4329791479063876

 

[Lunkera]

@UnniSarah I meant the unfavored children who had no one and was schemed against since that was usually the case. Sorry for not properly stating it.

[tomo74]

45 minutes ago, gleek49 said:

 

If GTY let CB in on his scheme, then he would have asked CB to lie to his family for him. Do you think that's the better option for CB? To help his friend, he would have to lie to his parents and grandmother?

 

About Rulan, GTY told Minglan that (1) he was happy that the scholar is in the picture, which means that he knew RL would never happened to like him too. (2) He had thoroughly investigated the scholar, only after he confirmed that the scholar was trustworthy, that he proceeded with his plan. If the scholar is a bad guy, then he would have chased the guy out of the capital for Rulan and Sheng family's sake. 

So, it's ok for GTY to mislead his best friend?, it's ok to scheme the family?.

About GTY knowing RL has bf it doesn't mean she can not change her mind, he is not GOD who can read people's mind.

If this thing done by QH, I dont know what people going to say.

This is why I said, some people just biased, for certain character it's ok for doing bad thing and have an excuses.

I'm not against GTY, I just want people judge each character fairly.

 

[leeza77]

2 minutes ago, tomo74 said:

So, it's ok for GTY to mislead his best friend?, it's ok to scheme the family?.

About GTY knowing RL has bf it doesn't mean she can not change her mind, he is not GOD who can read people's mind.

If this thing done by QH, I dont know what people going to say.

This is why I said, some people just biased, for certain character it's ok for doing bad thing and have an excuses.

I'm not against GTY, I just want people judge each character fairly.

 

If qh did what gty had done.. I will applaud him. To do eloborate schemes like this require careful planning, cunning, understanding of human nature...and he got the girl. 

[tomo74]

1 hour ago, gleek49 said:

It's not like people didn't rip GTY to shreds during the first 20 eps of this drama. But guess what, after he fell on his face, the guy moved on, learnt from his mistakes and got back on his feet taller than ever. I don't think anyone is trying to make excuses for GTY or criticized QH because we "picking sides". Some of us just honestly believe that GTY is more suitable for ML, that what he did was within reasons. Some of us, like Xiaotao, just honestly don't like how QH handled his relationship with ML, so we're just stating our opinions, I don't think any of us criticize QH just out of spite to his character. Everyone is entitled to their own feelings/opinions. I guess we just have to agree to disagree.

I dont know why it become who is suitable for ML, If I remember correctly, it start when people criticized QH how wrong he is for going after ML again, people criticized QH that he shouldn't be angry with GTY, etc, and I try to make people understand QH's pov, I never forced my idea, I just try to point something, what if your friend who knows about your love history going after the person who you still have feeling for, how do you feel?, some people actually get what I meant, and when I said taking side, because I feel people dont judge fairly. I'm not expect people will say "yeah QH is the best", no! he is not, he has many flaws, but also GTY, he is not the best either, and this is nothing to do with WHO IS THE BEST FOR ML, it's just the character itself. I dont know, I think maybe I'm not good with explaining something.

[tomo74]

14 minutes ago, leeza77 said:

If qh did what gty had done.. I will applaud him. To do eloborate schemes like this require careful planning, cunning, understanding of human nature...and he got the girl. 

If you applaud him, maybe you are the only one who do that, and base on his character, I will shocked if he can do it, it's like imagining CB become playboy like Liang's 6th son

[UnniSarah]

28 minutes ago, Lunkera said:

@UnniSarah I meant the unfavored children who had no one and was schemed against since that was usually the case. Sorry for not properly stating it.

 @Lunkera ok chingu....  

[Reverie]

I love how GTY's scheming ensured that ML would have the di daughter status in Sheng household and General's wife status in Gu household. Who wouldn't want to be caught in this trap? His love is so awesome

 

On the other hand, QH's love is burdensome. His naivete and good intentions will pave the road to ML's fall. Thankfully, she managed to rein in herself in time.

 

RL's convo with ML (Ep 39) really shows how different ML's thinking is and why QH will never be her lifetime happiness. ML does not need passion and emotional indulgence. Instead, GTY can give her the unwavering devotion that she deserves. They can walk the rest of their lives together by each others' side. Their status did not divide them, neither did societal pressure or family conflicts; and it was all about how they treated each other in the end.

 

This slow burn romance is so realistic, a stark contrast against the ardor in most C-ent storylines, with common tropes - love at first sight, undying love, transcendental love. If it was any other simplistic drama QH and ML would overcome all odds, defy logic and leap over dumb plot holes just by virtue of their feelings for each other. This is why GTY's and ML's relationship is so satisfying.

[nichiwoohee]

1 hour ago, tomo74 said:

Now, talk about GTY, people say his best friend is CB, my question, why GTY have to mislead his bestie about marrying his sister, he can honestly say, "hey bro, I like your 6th sister and I plan to marry her, give me your blessing please", instead he just say (I don't know what his exact word, since I'm not up to that episode) I want to marry your sis (even though what he wants is ML), he should knows that his words will mislead CB and the whole Sheng family, lucky enough that RL doesn't like him, can you imagine what happen if RL likes him too, and they agree to let GTY marry RL, and then GTY will tell them, "um... actually I dont want RL, I want ML", if he is a gentlemen with good moral, he won't do that, how RL can live her life after that rejection, isn't he trashing RL reputation (purposely).

 

No way in chance gty didnt know about RL’s secret affair with the scholar, he said it himself he calculated his proposal mission just like going to war. He must already calculated RL’s temper, she’d do something stupid like meeting the scholar. Similar to what ML did with molan and CL. The fact that he made it that the one who catch them are always his inner circle (nanny in the novel, cb in the drama) means he also calculated the risk of it getting known by public. 

 

Gty could have told cb (I think he should’ve  to spare the poor guy). But who knows how he will react? Will he do the righteous thing by telling grandma and hence open battle between gty and grandma? Or will he help gty cornering his family? Again it mirrors what ML did, by keeping grandma in the dark

 

my take would be QH did it without calculation, he only wanted to help ML at the polo match, he didnt think about the repercussions for ML, getting talked about by the society. While gty understand what will happen, hence when he helps her, he try to do it secretly. Same with the proposal, either rejected by grandma openly or planning it without loopholes with minimum risk

[gleek49]

15 minutes ago, tomo74 said:

So, it's ok for GTY to mislead his best friend?, it's ok to scheme the family?.

About GTY knowing RL has bf it doesn't mean she can not change her mind, he is not GOD who can read people's mind.

If this thing done by QH, I dont know what people going to say.

This is why I said, some people just biased, for certain character it's ok for doing bad thing and have an excuses.

I'm not against GTY, I just want people judge each character fairly.

 

 

Yes, it IS better for him to lie to his best friend than to ask CB to lie to his own family. This is for CB's sake, he rather play the bad guy role than to ask CB to do such unfilial thing for him, how is that wrong of him? Yes, it was not ok to scheme the family, but what can he do? Promise then not deliver like QH? Or go and ask grandma directly then get rejected? Or let Minglan marry He Hongwen and let her be bothered by that Cao cousin of his forever? How does that do anyone any good?

 

And who said if QH does it, we will criticize him? We're criticizing him because he didn't dare to do things like this for Minglan. GTY had already like Minglan when he offer to help QH, that was really selfless of him. Can you say QH will be able to do the same? If you want to judge fairly then answer that.

[historicalfictionftw]

So question, when do raws get posted the fastest or where can I watch live on my phone easily? It's almost 3am Friday where I am and I'm hoping I can plan for it and sleep after lol. 

[UnniSarah]

1 hour ago, historicalfictionftw said:

Side note: GTY seems very haughty in his laughing at most situations... I wonder if it's a defense mechanism.

Thanks you for mentioning that @historicalfictionftw... His laugh is very haughty. I think it is a defense mechanism. Remember he only laughs like that when he got what he wanted. For example when GTY was with ML at the Polo Park, When je got the Spear the Emperor gave him when he was 8 years old. I can’t remember all the scenes he did it in details. But yeah it is a defense mechanism. At first I wasn’t feeling it but now I laugh with him when he does it.  Go to YouTube for Raw..... it will be posted around 0800 to 0900 am Eastern Time @historicalfictionftw

[leeza77]

There is conversation between ml and grandma in ep 36, if i'm not mistaken. The point in choosing husband is that you have to be able to tolerate the lowest character of that person. In he dr, he is too soft, thus it's not good for ml as she had to face the clinging and emotional cousin. Qh lowest character is his filliality towards his mother. In a long run if he might not be able defend her against his mother. Gty lowest character is he is a manipulator and a schemer, but all were done in order to catch her. So, the best of the 3 is gty. Even the grandma admired gty deep mind.