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

[dito]

This show should be called 'How to play your man like a musical instrument'. Literally all men in the drama are getting played by the women in their lives...mother, wife, concubine, daughter...except for ChengBai

 

[bulubulu]

22 minutes ago, dito said:

I don't seem to find any info on GTY's wife....nothing on the drama page....so maybe she's not included in the drama. I think she was erased like ML's younger brother. 

Anyways GTY did prove to be a very good and faithful husband. He never looked at other women even though few were thrown at him from ML's own family....Da Niang, I think.  

 

 

Oh yeahh!! I really hope that wife isnt included!

[bulubulu]

Just saw preview for eps 17 & 18 Gu Tingy's father is gone..

I hope Gu Tingy find out how bad his mistress is asap

[fra8]

11 minutes ago, bulubulu said:

Just saw preview for eps 17 & 18 Gu Tingy's father is gone..

I hope Gu Tingy find out how bad his mistress is asap

me too! I like the build up but I can't wait for the beginning of GTY and Ming lan's  interaction.

 

 I wonder how the show will deal wth the doctor.

[dito]

28 minutes ago, bulubulu said:

Just saw preview for eps 17 & 18 Gu Tingy's father is gone..

I hope Gu Tingy find out how bad his mistress is asap

And his step mother...I don't think he knows yet that she's the one who turned his brother and father against him.

[Lunkera]

@lxands I haven't started watching the drama but i've read some novel spoilers. Not 100% sure if i remember correctly. Pretty big spoiler if i remember correctly, so be warned.

 

Spoiler

GTY already knew what kind of person his concubine was when he married Minglan. But she already had given birth to his twins(boy and girl). GTY has neglected them if im correct and Minglan ends up looking after the girl while the son is manipulated by the concubine. In the end the little girl sides with ML if im correct.

 

[leeza77]

Tomorrow.. Minglan's fight with Gty over misunderstanding tht minglan cause her friend to reject's Gty's proposal of marriage whilst in fact, the girl didn't want to marry gty because of his reputation and manniang's interference. 

[hello210]

2 hours ago, bulubulu said:

Oh yeahh!! I really hope that wife isnt included!

She’s listed on the Wikipedia page with the actress listed but her part should be like a blip.

 

21 minutes ago, Lunkera said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

GTY already knew what kind of person his concubine was when he married Minglan. But she already had given birth to his twins(boy and girl). GTY has neglected them if im correct and Minglan ends up looking after the girl while the son is manipulated by the concubine. In the end the little girl sides with ML if im correct.

 

Spoiler

I think someone said that ML was the one to open GTY’s eyes about his mistress. By the time he marries ML, the little girl is being cared for by the nanny/maids or something while the mistress tries to use the boy to get close to GTY, but it doesn’t work since he already knows. He just hadn’t kicked her out because of the kids until she tries to harm ML.

 

 

2 hours ago, dito said:

This show should be called 'How to play your man like a musical instrument'. Literally all men in the drama are getting played by the women in their lives...mother, wife, concubine, daughter...except for ChengBai

 

Perfect description. It’s funny but though on the surface, men run things, we can see from dramas like this that women pull many of the strings in the background. Even in NIF, the Emperor could be easily manipulated by his wife and concubines. 

[hello210]

GTY’s mistress is ridiculous with her use of the kids. I think that’s what annoys me the most about dramas (Chinese, Thai, and Korean ones), children are always used as pawns. Even though GTY is rebellious, he’s still proud and ambitious. He knows his status and won’t marry her so the only way for her to get into his household is as a concubine once he is married. For someone who’s trying to marry into status, she’s not very smart on that part when she tried to worm her way in by getting caught by his father.

[lxands]

1 hour ago, Lunkera said:

@lxands I haven't started watching the drama but i've read some novel spoilers. Not 100% sure if i remember correctly. Pretty big spoiler if i remember correctly, so be warned.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

GTY already knew what kind of person his concubine was when he married Minglan. But she already had given birth to his twins(boy and girl). GTY has neglected them if im correct and Minglan ends up looking after the girl while the son is manipulated by the concubine. In the end the little girl sides with ML if im correct.

 

So meaning to say

Spoiler

After ML marries GTY, MN still lives with them? What abt GTY, altho he already knows MN true colors did he still sleeps with her? If so then after married ML still has to deal with another concubine Lin

Thanks...I'm sure despite not being the only one in GTY's life, their chemistry & relationship is not lacking with sweetness. Afterall now we know for sure what he felt for MN is just superficial as he was tricked into being with her with pity & compassion, also perhaps her clingy ways on young, lonely & rebellious GTY, but with ML, his feeling for her is sincere with admiration & friendship slowly building up thru times.

[hello210]

 

26 minutes ago, lxands said:

So meaning to say

  Reveal hidden contents

After ML marries GTY, MN still lives with them? What abt GTY, altho he already knows MN true colors did he still sleeps with her? If so then after married ML still has to deal with another concubine Lin

 

Spoiler

From my understanding, he doesn’t sleep with anyone else but ML. MN is only there cause of the kids, but when she tries to harm ML, GTY bans her from the city or something like that.

 

[hello210]

2 hours ago, leeza77 said:

Tomorrow.. Minglan's fight with Gty over misunderstanding tht minglan cause her friend to reject's Gty's proposal of marriage whilst in fact, the girl didn't want to marry gty because of his reputation and manniang's interference. 

Can’t wait. Isn’t this in the previews where ML tells GTY that she’d rather become a monk or nun than marry him cause he said he’s going to get her?...LOL...cause she ends up marrying him on screen and in real life. Love their relationship development.

 

Did we get glimpses of GH’s future wives in ep16??

[dito]

52 minutes ago, lxands said:

So meaning to say

  Hide contents

After ML marries GTY, MN still lives with them? What abt GTY, altho he already knows MN true colors did he still sleeps with her? If so then after married ML still has to deal with another concubine Lin

Thanks...I'm sure despite not being the only one in GTY's life, their chemistry & relationship is not lacking with sweetness. Afterall now we know for sure what he felt for MN is just superficial as he was tricked into being with her with pity & compassion, also perhaps her clingy ways on young, lonely & rebellious GTY, but with ML, his feeling for her is sincere with admiration & friendship slowly building up thru times.

 

I don't think they lived in the same house as manniang. When GTY marries ML he's achieved quite a lot....he's on a high post in military and they live in the house alloted to them by the military.

After he finds out the truth about Manniang he never ever touched her again. He visited her few times because of the drama she creates with their son. And after she tries to kill ML when she was pregnant...I think she started a fire or something...he banished her out of the city....and he had people keeping an eye on her too, I think.

You don't have to worry about other women causing friction between ML and GTY.....ML had already decided she will agree to taking in concubines if GTY wants but GTY never even looked at other women. Their one big fight was because of QH or because of how ML openly expressed her anger to QH when she has never done so with GTY.

[fra8]

I like that their conflict will be internal and not because of other people.

[lxands]

1 hour ago, dito said:

 

You don't have to worry about other women causing friction between ML and GTY.....ML had already decided she will agree to taking in concubines if GTY wants but GTY never even looked at other women. Their one big fight was because of QH or because of how ML openly expressed her anger to QH when she has never done so with GTY.

So their big fight is becos he is jealous of ML & QH? Must be cute, cant wait for the scene

[fra8]

12 minutes ago, lxands said:

So their big fight is becos he is jealous of ML & QH? Must be cute, cant wait for the scene

Spoiler

in the book it wasnt because he was jealous. It was because he realized seeing Minglan getting angry with QH that Ming lan was still closed off. She never disagreed with him or got angry. So he thought she didnt completely trust him or love him. 

 

[jewelsc]

Epi 16 was the most exciting (maybe bcos i'm seeing LY being so active for the 1st time in this drama). 

I remembered someone mentioned that she can't recall if this polo scene was in the novel and yet to me it's 1 of the best epi so far...i just find it funny how ML seemed to be such a docile girl and have never done any form of outdoor activities like riding a horse much less practising aiming and scoring and yet she's so perfect at it.  I mean even a sportsman has to practise to be perfect.

[ForgottenSoulx]

8 hours ago, bulubulu said:

From reading here and there i dont know how i will find their love lovely...

But saw some little clips of them and it looks pretty lovely too..but like idk how to feel about it???

 

To me it sounds sweet.. you need to think that this is a different time, he will love ML truly so i can accept his past. 

 

Just think of him as a emperor or something lmfao , like in Yanxi he had many wife's but truly loved WYL ;p 

[dito]

13 hours ago, lxands said:

So their big fight is becos he is jealous of ML & QH? Must be cute, cant wait for the scene

 

12 hours ago, fra8 said:

  Hide contents

in the book it wasnt because he was jealous. It was because he realized seeing Minglan getting angry with QH that Ming lan was still closed off. She never disagreed with him or got angry. So he thought she didnt completely trust him or love him. 

 

 

Yes, it wasn't because he was jealous, even ML thought it was because of that...but he told her why he's angry with her. She had his children by then and still in all their years together she had never got angry or upset with him, never fought with him, or went against him in anything.....she was the perfect wife who followed every word of her husband. When he overheard ML getting angry with QH, he realized she still didn't trust him or love him....her heart was still hidden away inside her just like her real self.

 

12 hours ago, jewelsc said:

Epi 16 was the most exciting (maybe bcos i'm seeing LY being so active for the 1st time in this drama). 

I remembered someone mentioned that she can't recall if this polo scene was in the novel and yet to me it's 1 of the best epi so far...i just find it funny how ML seemed to be such a docile girl and have never done any form of outdoor activities like riding a horse much less practising aiming and scoring and yet she's so perfect at it.  I mean even a sportsman has to practise to be perfect.

I was thinking the exact thing....when did she practice those awesome polo and horse riding skills. We know her mother taught her those things but where did she find the time to keep those skills sharp.

[frenchfan]

On 1/2/2019 at 6:08 PM, 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

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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

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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

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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

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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 =)))

 

Thank you so much for this synopsis.  It helps since I have not read (nor plan to) the book but suffice to say, I already start to like the drama.  It is not my usual drama but I am finding that there are parts where it is quite humouristic and I fully enjoyed it.  I quite like the doctor.  He seemed very caring.  Qiheng's mum is very fierce so I am glad that ML did not marry him as life with Qiheng's mum would have been a torture.  I am beginning to dislike Manniang.  She is so fake and you could see that she is very calculative and conniving. I saw in the trailer that GTY had a fallen out with Manniang and he screamed at her saying something like " you only aspired to be my main wife" or something.....can you tell me what it was about?