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


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15 minutes ago, m0us3y said:

The close/intimate way. Sleep with him basically. 

Which was why Danju said ML should consider sending her own- XiaoTao, Danju, Cui Wei (either one) to serve GTY, as they are all loyal to her, and will not be trying to take over her status or challenge her authority later. 

Which ML said that if GTY's heart isn't with her, it doesn't matter what she does, he will find his own anyway. So if the time comes, and if it comes to that, the only thing she could do is to protect her heart....so that life wouldn't be unbearable.

And she said she could not put them (XiaoTao, Danju, Cuiwei) through that just so that she can benefit from it. 

The whole conversation was very sad, in my opinion. 

This scene is pretty telling where ML's current emotional state is at in regards to TY. When I watched this, it made me:(. I hope both TY & ML communicate w/eachother. ML is still young/inexperience & its understandable that she feels this way because of her childhood & upbringing. 

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@Suzzy San @greenwatch08

I don't think it's personal..it's just the reality of the time. 

That the woman will not be able to serve the husband for a long duration, and hence should ensure the needs of the husband gets fulfilled anyway. 

As Danju puts it, she will be forced to take in more women when she gets pregnant.

That's the fate of the women. 

 

That Danju was willing to actually sacrifice that much for ML without her even asking or demanding is also very telling of how fiercely loyal she is to her. 

 

 

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41 minutes ago, zenya22 said:

I thought that the late Emperor was the Emperor's brother? How can be called the son? 

I think the current Emperor is a descendant of another royal line so he is a distant relative of the late Emperor.  Their royal line isn’t as close as the two Princes that were involved in the earlier conflict so he wasn’t even recognized as a Prince before. When he was made Crown Prince, he was adopted by the late Emperor.

 

25 minutes ago, m0us3y said:

The close/intimate way. Sleep with him basically. 

Which was why Danju said ML should consider sending her own- XiaoTao, Danju, Cui Wei (either one) to serve GTY, as they are all loyal to her, and will not be trying to take over her status or challenge her authority later. 

Which ML said that if GTY's heart isn't with her, it doesn't matter what she does, he will find his own anyway. So if the time comes, and if it comes to that, the only thing she could do is to protect her heart....so that life wouldn't be unbearable.

And she said she could not put them (XiaoTao, Danju, Cuiwei) through that just so that she can benefit from it. 

The whole conversation was very sad, in my opinion. 

Seriously women couldn’t catch a break with all the rules back then and restrictions to protect pregnancies.  I get it that they didn’t know that it was safe to have sex during pregnancy in those days.  And then of course you can’t have the men not get any since their wives can’t service them. Luckily, GTY doesn’t care if he gets any or not if the person he’s getting it from isn’t his wifey.  Think something similar happened to Rulan in the novel where she avoided her mom-in-law’s attempt to give Scholar husband a concubine during her pregnancy and Rulan offered up her maid instead (luckily her husband couldn’t do it cause Rulan was so sad :lol:). 

 

19 minutes ago, UnniSarah said:

@frenchfan Which episode did Xian’Er  tell her mom not bother them and love their own life?

It was in Ep 60 raw on YouTube.

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5 minutes ago, m0us3y said:

@Suzzy San @greenwatch08

I don't think it's personal..it's just the reality of the time. 

That the woman will not be able to serve the husband for a long duration, and hence should ensure the needs of the husband gets fulfilled anyway. 

As Danju puts it, she will be forced to take in more women when she gets pregnant.

That's the fate of the women. 

 

That Danju was willing to actually sacrifice that much for ML without her even asking or demanding is also very telling of how fiercely loyal she is to her. 

 

 

Yes I know that was why I said that it's also the ways of that time.. I'm just commenting on apart from it being the ways, ML truly seem to believe that her husband will really need all those crappy concubines.. 

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2 hours ago, sava2sava said:

I'm thinking of one comment he made to his uncle.. (Which I think it's something behind it).. He ask his uncle why is he defending his step mom so hard.. Did GTY see something as a child between the two because I don't think this is something he's making up.. This could also be another reason why he don't want anything to do with a concubine.. His very own step mom was his dad concubine first before she married him.. So I chalk one up to him for not wanting to be bother with any of the hand outs but this should be explain to ML so she could figure out a way to get some kind of profit off these free offering women.. 

I think it was in reference to all the dirty deeds the stepmom covered up for the two uncles and their families. That was why the 4th and 5th branches always backed up Stepmom.

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17 minutes ago, m0us3y said:

@Suzzy San @greenwatch08

I don't think it's personal..it's just the reality of the time. 

That the woman will not be able to serve the husband for a long duration, and hence should ensure the needs of the husband gets fulfilled anyway. 

As Danju puts it, she will be forced to take in more women when she gets pregnant.

That's the fate of the women. 

 

That Danju was willing to actually sacrifice that much for ML without her even asking or demanding is also very telling of how fiercely loyal she is to her. 

 

 

Most definitely. ML much grew up in time period where women were treated this way, even w/in her own home. So everything about the conversation makes me sad. It shaped her perception, in regards to her outlook of men & love. That's why she idealize QH in the beginning because he was this perfect/

pure/primly man whose never been intimate w/any one who vowed to make ML his 1st one & only.

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21 minutes ago, Suzzy San said:

Yes I know that was why I said that it's also the ways of that time.. I'm just commenting on apart from it being the ways, ML truly seem to believe that her husband will really need all those crappy concubines.. 

Which he does not need/care for. If TY could turn them into roaches & drive them out w/a swatter, he would. Although his stepmom & aunties need to be swatted first, like cockroaches. 

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2 hours ago, linhlinh111 said:

@curiouser9

QH is intelligent but he's also a book worm and he follow the code strictly. Although I think he's not very politically smart.

 

For example the latest debate in court when the Emperor wanted to name his late birth father Emperor. According to the rules, when a man with status has no son, he can adopt his close relative as his son to be his heir (like when stepmom wanted eldest brother to adopt 3rd brother's son). When a man has been registered under a different father, his ties with his original parents are officially cut. He is not allowed to even call his birth parents father and mother, cuz he would be considered not filial to his current official father, whose title and asset he inherits. So in this case, QH was totally by the book when he said the Emperor had to call his birth father uncle.

 

However, the situation with the Emperor is rather special. He is now, in name, the late Emperor's son, so what's he's doing is wrong, but the whole process leading to this is unusual and of course the Emperor also has extraordinary status. His goal is to establish power against the ED. Whether or not to support his action depends on the flexibility of each politician. I can see some officials behind GTY (including CB) seemed to want to voice their opinions but GTY told them that this had been discussed over with the Emperor, so they decided to back out. This indicates they were against the Emperor's action, but then decided to go with the flow. 

 

I'm not sure what to feel about QH's action in this. On one hand I want him to just shut up and step down cuz this was better for him. He is putting himself in danger tangling in all of this. This is clearly putting him on the opposite side of the Emperor. And I don't want to see him helping the ED, intentionally or not. On the other hand, I would feel really disappointed if he also kept his mouth shut like everyone else. 

 

Some history fun facts: QH's position right now, a Yu shi, is a rather interesting position in ancient imperial court. Their job is to find other officials' fault and report them, so they are not very likable. Furthermore, they also usually criticize the Emperor, since this is to them the utmost proof that they are honest and brave. So even emperors don't like them (of course there are flexible Yu shi). The higher the status of the person they accuse (successfully) the faster they ascend through rankings. To a Yu shi, the most honorable mission is si jian, meaning to die while trying to stop the Emperor from wrongdoings. But most of the time they are just exaggerating things up.

 

P/S: This time even ML disapproved of the Emperor.

 

IMO, ML did not exactly dissappoved, she just didn't understand why the Emperor insisted on being unreasonable. But calling his birth father father and wanting to title him as an Emperor was never his true intention, it's just a tool of power struggle between him and ED, to see who win. The moment ED was willing to compromise and stepped back, he also stepped back and didn't title his father an Emperor. This battle, the Emperor barely won, but he won anyway and QH became the scapegoat for ED's losing battle. QH was still too naive, he thought that he was protecting the rules and the feeble ED who was bullied by the Emperor's side, when actually, he got duped by the ED to do the dirty work for her. He only think by the book and did not realize that this is a power struggle, not the fight about who follow the rules or not. Even his parents knew that he originally got involved into this mess was due to of his grudge towards Sheng and Gu house. 

 

It's not confirmed, but I think GTY tried to get beaten on purpose so that he could avoid the battlefield, he did speak up for the Emperor once and get punished for it, so no one would be able to tell that he didn't help even if he left the battle early. Even the Emperor's son, Prince Huan, went on a business trip before the battle even started. 

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28 minutes ago, gleek49 said:

 

IMO, ML did not exactly dissappoved, she just didn't understand why the Emperor insisted on being unreasonable. But calling his birth father father and wanting to title him as an Emperor was never his true intention, it's just a tool of power struggle between him and ED, to see who win. The moment ED was willing to compromise and stepped back, he also stepped back and didn't title his father an Emperor. This battle, the Emperor barely won, but he won anyway and QH became the scapegoat for ED's losing battle. QH was still too naive, he thought that he was protecting the rules and the feeble ED who was bullied by the Emperor's side, when actually, he got duped by the ED to do the dirty work for her. He only think by the book and did not realize that this is a power struggle, not the fight about who follow the rules or not. Even his parents knew that he originally got involved into this mess was due to of his grudge towards Sheng and Gu house. 

 

It's not confirmed, but I think GTY tried to get beaten on purpose so that he could avoid the battlefield, he did speak up for the Emperor once and get punished for it, so no one would be able to tell that he didn't help even if he left the battle early. Even the Emperor's son, Prince Huan, went on a business trip before the battle even started. 

Thanks for sharing.I was curious why did GTY got flogged. Serves QH right for not thinking things through and jumping in the fire pit to get singed.He is paying a high price in becoming astute.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, greenwatch08 said:

Didnt ML mention that someone would have to serve TY if when she gets pregnant? I'm not sure if she meant it as in close/intimate way like a concubine or like a servant? Or both? It was the conversation she had w/XT when TY was w/the concubine that night.

In the novel, ml still serve gty even during her pregnancy and  gty remarked that ml's bulging stomach was cute.. B)

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57 minutes ago, leeza77 said:

In the novel, ml still serve gty even during her pregnancy and  gty remarked that ml's bulging stomach was cute.. B)

I think most of the time it's the male/husband that doesn't want to sleep with the pregnant wife because it's more troublesome and they are deemed to be not sexy. 

But in the era where it's all the women's issue, obviously this is the women's problem so they still need to find another woman to take care of the husband's needs. 

Seems like GTY pines for the wifey more than anything so clearly the pregnancy isn't exactly a problem for him. :lol::wub:

 

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Sometimes when re-watching an episode you can focus on the antagonist and have a re-think.

 

That concubine Zhou is a bit bratty but I still felt kinda sorry for her and Zhang. Huan basically took Zhou in because of guilt over his late wife and I wonder if she really had any say in the matter just like Zhang. The Zhou family could have no and protected their daughter but they wanted to keep their hooks in Huan and his newfound power and status.

 

Because of Huan's muddle headed decision, he's basically condemned these women to warring misery for the rest of their lives.

 

 

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1 hour ago, mooose said:

Sometimes when re-watching an episode you can focus on the antagonist and have a re-think.

 

That concubine Zhou is a bit bratty but I still felt kinda sorry for her and Zhang. Huan basically took Zhou in because of guilt over his late wife and I wonder if she really had any say in the matter just like Zhang. The Zhou family could have no and protected their daughter but they wanted to keep their hooks in Huan and his newfound power and status.

 

Because of Huan's muddle headed decision, he's basically condemned these women to warring misery for the rest of their lives.

He didn't actually want to marry the Zhang family though. It was a political marriage, which he was pushed into.

And Zhao , he just felt indebted to her whole family due to the wife's sacrifice, guilty conscience. 

In the end, I actually felt sorry for all 3 of them...

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2 minutes ago, m0us3y said:

He didn't actually want to marry the Zhang family though. It was a political marriage, which he was pushed into.

And Zhao , he just felt indebted to her whole family due to the wife's sacrifice, guilty conscience. 

In the end, I actually felt sorry for all 3 of them...

Thanks to ml diplomatic interference, zhang wife listen to ml and now she is pregnant and happy. Zhou concubine is arrogant and hard headed, thus she will not be happy. 

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5 hours ago, greenwatch08 said:

I love that TY is so outright/expressive in his affection while ML is more reserve in that nature, but also because she haven't quite understand what love is, hence TY explained that she's like a 3yr old who hasn't fully grasp the concept of love. Its funny when TY wanted her to call him darling but she couldn't do it. I also think it has to do with his ex mistress who calls him that all the time, so maybe that probably irks her. I cant wait to see how their relationship unfolds even more.

GTY knows his wife doesn’t really understand love why does he have to be impatient. I wonder is there a reason he is rushing it. Is there something we the viewers don’t know about? I recall him telling ML that thing will be getting bumpy soon. When he said that , I assumed he was up to something with the Prince. 

Chingu’s isn’t it funny GTY and  the Prince have the same personality . They are really close, GTY who is just as impulsive is always stopping him from making the wrong choices. I think GTY chooses to make enemies to protect the people he cares about or very good to him. I think the Prince , the Emperor , his soldiers, ML , Shitou and Shitou are his Family. I think they have already started their strategy that will help the Emperor.  

What do you guys think???

 

What is GTY’s brother up to????

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1 hour ago, mooose said:

Sometimes when re-watching an episode you can focus on the antagonist and have a re-think.

 

That concubine Zhou is a bit bratty but I still felt kinda sorry for her and Zhang. Huan basically took Zhou in because of guilt over his late wife and I wonder if she really had any say in the matter just like Zhang. The Zhou family could have no and protected their daughter but they wanted to keep their hooks in Huan and his newfound power and status.

 

Because of Huan's muddle headed decision, he's basically condemned these women to warring misery for the rest of their lives.

 

 

 

I think the one you're talking about is General Shen, who is the Empress's brother, Prince Huan's maternal uncle. All three were in disadvantage, but the concubine is the only one who behave badly. She was domineering and hell bent on bullying the main wife. If she was nice then the situation would not be that bad.

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11 hours ago, sava2sava said:

I was checking out this video it's some pretty violent scenes in this video

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I'm wondering who ML stabbing with a spear.. 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

@frenchfan  It's halarious poor girl don';t know when she's up.. She's like now is it my turn..:w00t:  I guess finally she realized Ain't Nothin Happening.. I'll just take my but to sleep.. Also poor shitou really caught hell that night..

 

@shihuangdi  It's most likely another one of step mom schemes, She can't get her on concubine in there so next person to go after to get her concubie in there is Shitou.. She's trying to plant oine next to him to spy for her.. I think it would be funny if Xiotou would come out and say what do he want with your old but when he has me..  Atleast it would be cute if she says he was with me at said time as her event happen..

 

@ForgottenSoulx  I think it was the one at the wedding saying that he never sen people bowing to two tablets when and alive parent was there.. :lol:

 

@frenchfan  Auntie Kamg only brought her sister nothing but trouble.. Granny warned her not to try and have her involved in ML house necause she already knew what type of women Auntie Kang was and she'll try and control everyone there if she moves in even if it's for a few days would have turned into years..  I'm hoping Granny got there and throw out the concubines and put Auntie Kamg in her place.. My guess is this would be when the posioning of her happens and ML takes them to task..  

 

It was nice seeing that scene Auntie Kang falling flat on her face after conniving with step mom..

Also who was that Auntie Kang slap.? 

Did anyone translate the scene of what step mom was saying while talking to her maid. She looked really upset.. Did she also learn of ML pregnancy.?

Haha @sava2sava hilarious about the sign put up about not accepting concubines!

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9 hours ago, m0us3y said:

ML used the idea of bringing back the dead was apt. No matter how bad we wanted it, we can't bring the dead back. We can't turn back time...

 

QH believes that he's trying to set her free from GTY. Because she doesn't love GTY. Because she never cried for GTY. Because she never pine for GTY, missing him like QH misses her. 

It was a wake up call for him when ML told him she never cried bitter tears for him too. 

That whilst he claimed to be doing everything for her, it was never from her perspectives. Always on his. 

It was a bitter pill to swallow for him, but a much needed one, imho.  

I have always been afraid to say this :tears::tears: but when I heard ML say this , in my heart and I never felt ML was in love with QH. I always felt she only gave him a chance because of QH actions towards her. The fact that he was willing to tell his parents he wanted to marry her made her feel something ( I can’t find the right words to explain ML’s feeing) towards him. It was almost like she was honored bound to stay by his side through his courtship. She never seemed eager to be with QH. It was always QH who was excited for the next chapter in their lives.  Do you guys remember RouLan’s what it means to be in love “missing the one you love, crying over him, spending time with him “ she even asked ML if she ever experienced it and ML didn’t know how to respond to it. 

Does anyone remember which episode was this? It is the scene when ML caught RL with her future husband. 

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8 hours ago, curiouser9 said:

There is also one thing that doesn't make sense to me and it is QH actions in the political arena, I sincerely don't get why he choose to play ED henchman. It was precisely the ED one of the accomplices of Prince Yong in imprisoning QH into his loveless first marriage: When QH's father is kidnapped by Prince Yong and his mother goes to the palace to ask for help, the ED is the person that refused to help them to see the emperor.  Because at that point  ED had already sided with Prince Yong, if she still remained neutral and impartial she would have helped them, because the actions of Prince Yong could jeopardize his chances to become the crown prince if they were exposed to an emperor famous for his benevolent values, and his crimes would make him lose a lot of support from the general public and officers.

@curiouser9  Bravo * CLAPPING* that is one of the things that bothered me the most. When QH’s mother came to see the Emperor to help her get her husband back, the ED refused to allow the Princess of Second Rank to see him. Clearly she was on the side of the people who was rebelling. Why the hell would the Princess allow her son to end up in the ED’s clutches unless the Princess didn’t connect the dots from the last rebellion.  So confused about this story line????

Besides , in the last episode The Princess and her husband look frightened after overhearing something. What frightened them so much from episode 58 in YouTube. 

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