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

[leeza77]

37 minutes ago, Wotad said:

I guess GTY arranged Rulans marriage after ML and him get married? 

So what exactly did it get ;p 

Spoiler

In the novel, gty knows that rulan already has a sweetheart. Thus, when rulan meet with the sweetheart for the last time, she was caught by gty's stepmother. Gty's family raise a ruckus and gty told sheng hong that he will accept minglan as a substitute for rulan. And rulan marries her sweetheart. All under the plan and gty's calculation. 

Oh.. N rating should exceed 1.0 

 

[ForgottenSoulx]

23 minutes ago, leeza77 said:

  Hide contents

In the novel, gty knows that rulan already has a sweetheart. Thus, when rulan meet with the sweetheart for the last time, she was caught by gty's stepmother. Gty's family raise a ruckus and gty told sheng hong that he will accept minglan as a substitute for rulan. And rulan marries her sweetheart. All under the plan and gty's calculation. 

Oh.. N rating should exceed 1.0 

 

Yeah so people were being a little dramatic with the rating stuff it will rise. 

[gleek49]

4 hours ago, cheekychipmunk_stv said:

GTY failed his exam because his elder brother spread rumours about him and caused the Imperial Exam hall to fail him eventhough he has high marks on his essay.

 

This drama is getting more and more interesting.  I want to see how GTY mistress fare ... Will she remains or she leave GTY? 

I want to see how ML revenge on the concubine. She has set trap on her but how she is going to expose her will be interesting.  After her mom died, she listened to her mom ... not to make herself noticed, hide her intelligence etc. 

 

May I ask how did GTY arrange Rulan marriage?

 

I really hope Molan suffers in her marriage. I don't wish her to marry into a good household. I want her to suffer like Ru Hua. The poor gentle girl suffered under her MIL. 

 

Can't wait to see ep 14

 

I think you meant Sheng house's oldest daughter Hua Lan? I think some of you may be curious about the girls' marriages, I'm not sure if anyone has talk about these spoilers from the book, but I will summarize what I can remember about the Sheng girls' fates below:

 

The Eldest Hua Lan

Spoiler

Sheng Hong selected a good husband for Hua Lan and the FIL was a nice person, what he didn't expect is the Monster-in-law. This woman favored her eldest son and daughter-in-law excessively, hence, treated her second son (Yuan Wenshao) and second daughter-in-law (Hua Lan) very unfairly. She kept demanding money from them and torturing Hua Lan during her pregnancies. At first, Hua Lan's husband tried to be filial so he just took the unfair treatments and let his wife suffered, but he got enough after a few years and started to stand up for his wife against his mother. Ming Lan also gave Hua Lan a few tricks to get back at her MIL. Later the MIL got what she deserved and Hua Lan's family lives happily and comfortably.

 

Mo Lan

Spoiler

Sheng Hong even though favored Mo Lan, was aware of her concubine born status, so he'd never hoped to married her to a higher household than themselves. He was planning to married her to a poor student (Wen Yanjing), whose ability 2nd brother Changbai praised. Of course, Mo Lan wasn't satisfied, she wanted to marry into some prestigious household. So she and her mother planned to trick the 6th son of Marquis Yongchang (Liang Han) into publicly "hug" her, so he had to marry her. This, of course, brought extreme humiliation to Sheng family, but Mo Lan and her mother didn't care, as long as they got what they wanted. Only after the wedding, Mo Lan found out Liang Han had already had a mistress that he loved in the house. Basically, she put herself in a situation where she's the Big Madam and said mistress is her mother =))) Karma comes in full circle on this one. And she gave birth to a bunch of girls.

 

Ru Lan

Spoiler

The poor student mentioned above, Mr. Wen, was Changbai's friend so he came to Sheng house often, he later stayed there to prepare for his exam. There he met Ru Lan and fell in love with her without knowing she's the 5th Miss. They often sneaked out and met at night and was caught by Ming Lan during one of the dates. They knew that it would be hard for her parents to accept their relationship since she's a legitimate daughter and he's a poor student. He was planning to pass the exam and have a good career so he can be suitable for her. This is where Gu Tingye came in. At the time, GTY was favored by the new emperor, hence, despite being a widower, he became one of the hottest bachelors. He unexpectedly proposed to Sheng house, and of course, the ideal candidate would be the legitimate daughter Ru Lan. Ru Lan was heartbroken, but she couldn't defy her parents, so she sneaked out to say goodbye to her boyfriend. GTY's family then "caught" them in the middle of their meeting, Ru Lan's honor was thereby ruined. Sheng house had no choice but to married Ru Lan to Mr. Wen and "compensated" to GTY by giving him the only daughter they have left, aka Ming Lan =))) Sheng parents weren't happy with Mr. Wen at first, but his sincere love to Ru Lan touched them eventually. Mr. Wen loved Ru Lan very much, he often protected her from his mother. He even refused to sleep with the girls his mother gave him because he didn't want to see Ru Lan unhappy. He also had a good career so Ru Lan also lived happily even though she only managed to give birth to one daughter (at least from what I can remember from the novel). You can imagine how much regret Mo Lan must have felt =)))

 

Ming Lan

Spoiler

The whole Ru Lan proposal debacle was GTY's plan to marry Ming Lan all along. He knew his awful history was never going to fare well with Grandma, so he had to used tricks in order to get her. Grandma originally wanted to marry Ming Lan to her friend's grandchild, He Hongwen, who was a doctor. Their family was a good household, not prestigious, but moderately rich, suitable for a concubine born daughter like Ming Lan to be a main wife. Mr. He was a nice guy, Ming Lan understood that this marriage was appropriate and accepted in willingly. It was going well until a cousin of Mr. He came back and caused a lot of trouble. Ming Lan wasn't pleased with how Mr. He and his family dealt with the whole thing (Mr. He tried his best though, it just that the cousin and her family was VERY troublesome); however, she was going to pull through since he's an ideal match. But then, GTY came in with his scheme and Ming Lan had no choice but to marry him, she didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to Mr. He. Before the wedding, ML figured out that their family was tricked by GTY and she confronted him, during the confrontation, GTY showed how he the one who understand her the most, who can give her the life she wanted, he even got on his knee if I remember correctly. It was very sweet. It took ML a long time before she can find the courage to reciprocated his feelings, but overall, they faced many obstacles but ended up as the happiest and most powerful couple (with a lot of sons =)))

 

[hello210]

6 hours ago, cheekychipmunk_stv said:

GTY failed his exam because his elder brother spread rumours about him and caused the Imperial Exam hall to fail him eventhough he has high marks on his essay.

 

This is why I’ve been rooting for GTY from the beginning since he survived the assassination attempt as a teenager. Loved his little competition with “Xiao Mai Mai” ML in ep 1 and the YouTube  previews for ep16 shows IMO that GTY is going to be the only one to provoke ML like that. She can hide her intelligence and  stay in the background around everyone else it seems.

 

5 hours ago, frenchfan said:

His elder brother is a nasty piece of work.  GTY should have passed the exam.  He worked hard for it.  I hate his dad.  He used GTY's mum's dowries for his own end.  I am wondering if his current main wife (GTY's stepmum) is not up to something.  I saw in one trailer that GTY managed to exposed his stepmum for being two-faced all this while which broke his heart as he had high regards for her.  I can't wait for more episodes to come neither.  I have been rewatching all episodes while waiting........

GTY’s stepmom is a piece of work. She’s been brainwashing his elder brother (as a kid) since GTY’s mom married into the family. I think that was her in the flashback. I can’t remember in the novel spoilers if she had anything to do with the first wife’s (her own sister’s) death. From what they’ve portrayed so far she’s pitting the two older brothers against each other to make way for her own son, the spoiled third brother. I always thought it was weird that all three GU brothers are legitimate born since the father married each wife after the other’s death with the current one being his own sister-in-law. So it really makes room for back stabbing and murder since that’s the only way for the youngest to inherit. GTY’s extended family from both parents are nasty. His maternal uncle tried to assassinate him to steal the grandfather’s salt business and his father’s family uses his name to run up bills at brothels and ruin his reputation. Just sucks that GTY really does believe his stepmom cared about him.

 

Thanks @gleek49 these marriage descriptions were that I read on the novel spoilers site. 

Now I just need to rewatch when eng subs are done to fully catch all the little nuances of what is being said in ep11-14. 

[ForgottenSoulx]

2 hours ago, gleek49 said:

 

I think you meant Sheng house's oldest daughter Hua Lan? I think some of you may be curious about the girls' marriages, I'm not sure if anyone has talk about these spoilers from the book, but I will summarize what I can remember about the Sheng girls' fates below:

 

The Eldest Hua Lan

  Reveal hidden contents

Sheng Hong selected a good husband for Hua Lan and the FIL was a nice person, what he didn't expect is the Monster-in-law. This woman favored her eldest son and daughter-in-law excessively, hence, treated her second son (Yuan Wenshao) and second daughter-in-law (Hua Lan) very unfairly. She kept demanding money from them and torturing Hua Lan during her pregnancies. At first, Hua Lan's husband tried to be filial so he just took the unfair treatments and let his wife suffered, but he got enough after a few years and started to stand up for his wife against his mother. Ming Lan also gave Hua Lan a few tricks to get back at her MIL. Later the MIL got what she deserved and Hua Lan's family lives happily and comfortably.

 

Mo Lan

  Reveal hidden contents

Sheng Hong even though favored Mo Lan, was aware of her concubine born status, so he'd never hoped to married her to a higher household than themselves. He was planning to married her to a poor student (Wen Yanjing), whose ability 2nd brother Changbai praised. Of course, Mo Lan wasn't satisfied, she wanted to marry into some prestigious household. So she and her mother planned to trick the 6th son of Marquis Yongchang (Liang Han) into publicly "hug" her, so he had to marry her. This, of course, brought extreme humiliation to Sheng family, but Mo Lan and her mother didn't care, as long as they got what they wanted. Only after the wedding, Mo Lan found out Liang Han had already had a mistress that he loved in the house. Basically, she put herself in a situation where she's the Big Madam and said mistress is her mother =))) Karma comes in full circle on this one. And she gave birth to a bunch of girls.

 

Ru Lan

  Reveal hidden contents

The poor student mentioned above, Mr. Wen, was Changbai's friend so he came to Sheng house often, he later stayed there to prepare for his exam. There he met Ru Lan and fell in love with her without knowing she's the 5th Miss. They often sneaked out and met at night and was caught by Ming Lan during one of the dates. They knew that it would be hard for her parents to accept their relationship since she's a legitimate daughter and he's a poor student. He was planning to pass the exam and have a good career so he can be suitable for her. This is where Gu Tingye came in. At the time, GTY was favored by the new emperor, hence, despite being a widower, he became one of the hottest bachelors. He unexpectedly proposed to Sheng house, and of course, the ideal candidate would be the legitimate daughter Ru Lan. Ru Lan was heartbroken, but she couldn't defy her parents, so she sneaked out to say goodbye to her boyfriend. GTY's family then "caught" them in the middle of their meeting, Ru Lan's honor was thereby ruined. Sheng house had no choice but to married Ru Lan to Mr. Wen and "compensated" to GTY by giving him the only daughter they have left, aka Ming Lan =))) Sheng parents weren't happy with Mr. Wen at first, but his sincere love to Ru Lan touched them eventually. Mr. Wen loved Ru Lan very much, he often protected her from his mother. He even refused to sleep with the girls his mother gave him because he didn't want to see Ru Lan unhappy. He also had a good career so Ru Lan also lived happily even though she only managed to give birth to one daughter (at least from what I can remember from the novel). You can imagine how much regret Mo Lan must have felt =)))

 

Ming Lan

  Reveal hidden contents

The whole Ru Lan proposal debacle was GTY's plan to marry Ming Lan all along. He knew his awful history was never going to fare well with Grandma, so he had to used tricks in order to get her. Grandma originally wanted to marry Ming Lan to her friend's grandchild, He Hongwen, who was a doctor. Their family was a good household, not prestigious, but moderately rich, suitable for a concubine born daughter like Ming Lan to be a main wife. Mr. He was a nice guy, Ming Lan understood that this marriage was appropriate and accepted in willingly. It was going well until a cousin of Mr. He came back and caused a lot of trouble. Ming Lan wasn't pleased with how Mr. He and his family dealt with the whole thing (Mr. He tried his best though, it just that the cousin and her family was VERY troublesome); however, she was going to pull through since he's an ideal match. But then, GTY came in with his scheme and Ming Lan had no choice but to marry him, she didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to Mr. He. Before the wedding, ML figured out that their family was tricked by GTY and she confronted him, during the confrontation, GTY showed how he the one who understand her the most, who can give her the life she wanted, he even got on his knee if I remember correctly. It was very sweet. It took ML a long time before she can find the courage to reciprocated his feelings, but overall, they faced many obstacles but ended up as the happiest and most powerful couple (with a lot of sons =)))

 

 

does QH get a happy ending dont spoil if anything bad happens to him etc.. just try say without saying that if it makes sense ;p 

[gleek49]

@Wotad Qi Heng will be fine, he'll struggle with marriage for a while, but he'll eventually settle down and inherit his father's title without any trouble.

[ForgottenSoulx]

34 minutes ago, gleek49 said:

@Wotad Qi Heng will be fine, he'll struggle with marriage for a while, but he'll eventually settle down and inherit his father's title without any trouble.

 

He just going to give me so many feels i already know, FUHENG over again ;p 

[dito]

@gleek49

Do you remember anything about Changbai?...er gege and his wife. All I remember is ML had a good relationship with her sister in law and maybe helped her a few times. And they have done away with the youngest brother, Changdong? ,it seems. 

And Sheng Wei and his family?? Have they been mentioned in the drama? I remember Sheng Wei really liked ML.

BTW, good job on the sisters after marriage profiles....I remembered about Hualan and Rulan..but was not clear about Molan....we can call it poetic justice that she ended up enduring the exact thing her mother made Da niang go through. 

[ForgottenSoulx]

8 minutes ago, dito said:

@gleek49

Do you remember anything about Changbai?...er gege and his wife. All I remember is ML had a good relationship with her sister in law and maybe helped her a few times. And they have done away with the youngest brother, Changdong? ,it seems. 

And Sheng Wei and his family?? Have they been mentioned in the drama? I remember Sheng Wei really liked ML.

BTW, good job on the sisters after marriage profiles....I remembered about Hualan and Rulan..but was not clear about Molan....we can call it poetic justice that she ended up enduring the exact thing her mother made Da niang go through. 

 

Shang Wei ;o who is this ;p 

[dito]

23 minutes ago, Wotad said:

 

Shang Wei ;o who is this ;p 

Minglan's uncle....father's brother I think.

[gleek49]

@dito @Wotad

 

Sheng Wei is Sheng Hong's older cousin, Sheng Wei is the one who inherit the Main Sheng household, living in Sheng family's hometown. Grandma took Ming Lan there to visit them a couple of times in the novel. His youngest daughter, Pin Lan, was really close with Ming Lan.

 

Actually, earlier today, the production team posted the family tree on weibo, Sheng Wei's family is on there, with actors' pictures, so they probably will show up at some point.

 

Changbai was the golden son, his career went very well, bringing even more honor and riches to the family than his father. His wife (Hai Shi) was selected carefully, so she performed excellently as a eldest daughter in law (good relationship with siblings, elders; supporting her husband; taking care of the household...). Changbai in the novel didn't talk or express much, but it seemed like he did loved his wife, he even taught her how to deal with Big Madam (poor Big Madam, her daughter-in-law was so much smarter than her, she almost never had a chance to scold her =))). Changbai was also very self-disciplined so he didn't take many women; I think he only kept 1 maid who followed him since they were small, plus she was timid so she never caused him and his wife any trouble. Hai Shi really liked Ming Lan a lot, but then again, everyone likes Ming Lan a lot. Even Changbai liked her better than his own blood sister Ru Lan.

 

Sadly, Changdong and his mother was cut, his relationship with ML was so cute! But I get it, there are already SO many characters in this drama, someone needed to go or the audience head might explode from information overload =)))

[hello210]

Rewatching ep11 and loved the debate scene and Molan’s reaction to GH’s view about concubine born knowing their place and supporting the main line. They also did a good job showing the difference between GH and GTY on their understanding of the Sheng sibling dynamics and ML.

[dito]

30 minutes ago, gleek49 said:

@dito @Wotad

 

Sheng Wei is Sheng Hong's older cousin, Sheng Wei is the one who inherit the Main Sheng household, living in Sheng family's hometown. Grandma took Ming Lan there to visit them a couple of times in the novel. His youngest daughter, Pin Lan, was really close with Ming Lan.

 

Actually, earlier today, the production team posted the family tree on weibo, Sheng Wei's family is on there, with actors' pictures, so they probably will show up at some point.

 

Sadly, Changdong and his mother was cut, his relationship with ML was so cute! But I get it, there are already SO many characters in this drama, someone needed to go or the audience head might explode from information overload =)))

Sorry for cutting your post.

Thats great....they included that branch. From what I remember they were all nice people. I also remember....ML and PL hiding secretly listening to adults talking about how to refuse GTY's proposal/engagement?.....after his concubine came and made a fuss at their door....Not sure if it was at their door or someone close to them.

Yes ....I loved changdong and his relationship with ML too. Such a pity I was looking forward to see little CD waking up his Liu JieJie at dawn to give him lessons before she went for her class......I think that was the reason ML was always dozing off in the class....that and boring subjects.

 

He Hongwen is here...in TV version epi 14. I watch both versions as TV version is one epi further along in the story.

I thought with almost 80 episodes...the narrative will be very slow....but its actually moving along quite nicely.

[gleek49]

@dito Actually, Pin Lan and Ming Lan were eavesdropping on the elders of the branch discussing a

Spoiler

divorce for Pin Lan's older sister, Shu Lan. 

 

The GTY proposal event was at Ming Lan other friend's house, Yanran (she appeared in Ep 5, during the handkerchief debacle)

Spoiler

GTY proposed to Yanran, since he heard that Yanran had a pleasant personality, she being the main wife would not be hard on Man Niang. But his reputation was not good so Yanran's grandparents didn't want to accept it. Man Niang tried to sabotage the proposal by bringing her daughter to Yanran's house. Yanran was fragile so she couldn't handle MN, Ming Lan had to step forward and dealt with MN for her friend.

 

I'm glad that they keep He Hongwen in the drama, we've got some juicy drama coming =))

[ForgottenSoulx]

1 hour ago, gleek49 said:

@dito @Wotad

 

Sheng Wei is Sheng Hong's older cousin, Sheng Wei is the one who inherit the Main Sheng household, living in Sheng family's hometown. Grandma took Ming Lan there to visit them a couple of times in the novel. His youngest daughter, Pin Lan, was really close with Ming Lan.

 

Actually, earlier today, the production team posted the family tree on weibo, Sheng Wei's family is on there, with actors' pictures, so they probably will show up at some point.

 

Changbai was the golden son, his career went very well, bringing even more honor and riches to the family than his father. His wife (Hai Shi) was selected carefully, so she performed excellently as a eldest daughter in law (good relationship with siblings, elders; supporting her husband; taking care of the household...). Changbai in the novel didn't talk or express much, but it seemed like he did loved his wife, he even taught her how to deal with Big Madam (poor Big Madam, her daughter-in-law was so much smarter than her, she almost never had a chance to scold her =))). Changbai was also very self-disciplined so he didn't take many women; I think he only kept 1 maid who followed him since they were small, plus she was timid so she never caused him and his wife any trouble. Hai Shi really liked Ming Lan a lot, but then again, everyone likes Ming Lan a lot. Even Changbai liked her better than his own blood sister Ru Lan.

 

Sadly, Changdong and his mother was cut, his relationship with ML was so cute! But I get it, there are already SO many characters in this drama, someone needed to go or the audience head might explode from information overload =)))

This family tree does not have Sheng Wei maybe this was a early one ,i liked the story around Sheng Wei though so good if its added.

 

38 minutes ago, dito said:

Sorry for cutting your post.

Thats great....they included that branch. From what I remember they were all nice people. I also remember....ML and PL hiding secretly listening to adults talking about how to refuse GTY's proposal/engagement?.....after his concubine came and made a fuss at their door....Not sure if it was at their door or someone close to them.

Yes ....I loved changdong and his relationship with ML too. Such a pity I was looking forward to see little CD waking up his Liu JieJie at dawn to give him lessons before she went for her class......I think that was the reason ML was always dozing off in the class....that and boring subjects.

 

He Hongwen is here...in TV version epi 14. I watch both versions as TV version is one epi further along in the story.

I thought with almost 80 episodes...the narrative will be very slow....but its actually moving along quite nicely.

 

Changdong story sounds nice as well sad that is not added but not everything can be or 90 episode drama over 73 ;p

[dito]

31 minutes ago, gleek49 said:

@dito Actually, Pin Lan and Ming Lan were eavesdropping on the elders of the branch discussing a

  Reveal hidden contents

divorce for Pin Lan's older sister, Shu Lan. 

 

The GTY proposal event was at Ming Lan other friend's house, Yanran (she appeared in Ep 5, during the handkerchief debacle)

  Reveal hidden contents

GTY proposed to Yanran, since he heard that Yanran had a pleasant personality, she being the main wife would not be hard on Man Niang. But his reputation was not good so Yanran's grandparents didn't want to accept it. Man Niang tried to sabotage the proposal by bringing her daughter to Yanran's house. Yanran was fragile so she couldn't handle MN, Ming Lan had to step forward and dealt with MN for her friend.

 

I'm glad that they keep He Hongwen in the drama, we've got some juicy drama coming =))

 

Lol.. thanks.Both got mixed up in my head.

I think GTY proposal for Yanran will be coming up soon..they are going to meet at the polo match in episode 16

[hello210]

8 minutes ago, dito said:

 

Lol.. thanks.Both got mixed up in my head.

I think GTY proposal for Yanran will be coming up soon..they are going to meet at the polo match in episode 16

Looks like in ep 16 we’re going to get to see a repeat of the pitch-pot interaction between our two leads but in polo instead...can’t wait. The BTS was funny because they were poking fun of LY’s horse being bigger than ZYL’s horse.

[ForgottenSoulx]

ML smarts revealed in episode 11 yay shes so damn clever .

[hello210]

1 hour ago, Wotad said:

ML smarts revealed in episode 11 yay shes so damn clever .

And 3rd Sheng brother is so arrogant, it’s no wonder he didn’t pass. They are so ungrateful for what they’ve already gotten from Sheng Hong and are so greedy...shows in their reaction to ML’s gift.

[ForgottenSoulx]

44 minutes ago, hello210 said:

And 3rd Sheng brother is so arrogant, it’s no wonder he didn’t pass. They are so ungrateful for what they’ve already gotten from Sheng Hong and are so greedy...shows in their reaction to ML’s gift.

I like her brother Sheng Changbai he seems to know what shes about i would love to see some nice development between these two.