Thank you for all the spoilers! I'm going to read this novel patiently! I stopped when I reached Chapter 620!
can someone give me spoilers on Fen Dai's character... Till the recent translated chapter her character is portrayed as all arrogant & trouble marker who wants to destroy anyone that comes in her path to become the daughter of the 1st wife... & didnt get along with Feng Yu Heng at all. What made her attitude change so much.. as according to the spoilers she became well behaved & got along with Feng Yu Heng
It was a slow process. It took about 1000+ chapters before Fen Dai stopped plotting altogether. First, FD tried to get the 5th prince to fight for the throne. When that didn't work, FD tried to ally with the 6th prince's mother, who was a weakling, since FD couldn't ally herself with the 8th prince's mother, who has a stronger personality. It got to the point where the 6th prince's mother got herself punished into solitary confinement. Even then, the 5th prince still supported FD. It took the kidnapping of XR (FD's own doing) and FD's own little brother (in MTL, they finally named him Xiao Bao, I think) for FD to realize that all the plotting to get acknowledgment and getting on top of people didn't make her happy. Trying to make the 5th prince fight for the throne didn't make her happy. FD broke off the engagement with the 5th prince thereafter and tried to live a simpler life. When the 5th prince proved to FD that FD wasn't a substitute to the dead concubine that the 5th prince favored before and that FD was really the one the 5th prince loves, despite all the abuse FD did to the 5th prince and her own little brother, FD agreed to marry the 5th prince. [This happened almost at the end of the novel.] (If I got this wrong, please correct me.)
Thank you some much... 1000+ chapters & after that she stops scheming... she had a really vicious mindset from such a young age..
I'm not going to make excuses for FD because even the author's way of characterizing FD really made me hate FD. But from what I understood, FD had to fight to get recognized within the Feng family. CY had a rich relative (before the Chen family got destroyed) and even became the legal daughter when Yao-shi got demoted. A-Heng was initially the legal daughter and got the title back again, had multiple dowries from the Yao family, which A-Heng now manages, and XR, though minimal, has dowries that sustains XR and An-shi as well. FD, on the other hand, doesn't have anything to sustain her (FD) and Han-shi and only has to depend on what meager allowance the Feng family is willing to give her (FD) and Han-shi. Han-shi used to be a performer so Han-shi doesn't have a strong paternal/maternal background and Han-shi doesn't have businesses to sustain them unlike the other 3 wives of FJY. Han-shi, though favored by FJY, never got FD was also never acknowledged by FJY. The two male children, Zi Hao and Zi Rui, were acknowledged more than FD. Han-shi also didn't raise FD well. So from the beginning, the only thing FD knows is to fight to get what she (FD) wants even at the expense of her (FD) pride and dignity. I sort of can understand why FD acts that way, I just don't like the way the author characterized it because FD's road to redemption kind of seems abrupt and almost like a brush-off. To be fair, FD might have a poisonous mind but her (FD) aim is to destroy A-Heng's reputation, not kill her (A-Heng). CY, on the other hand, not only wished to kill A-Heng but Zi Rui as well, so to A-Heng, CY's actions (namely trying to kill Zi Rui) was irredeemable compared to FD. I still don't agree, but meh... author's choice.
I will try to answer from what I can remember (also from the previous posts from people): Feng matriarch - beaten up by the crowd and then poisoned by Jin Zhen. (I forgot on whose orders.) FJY - demoted to 5th rank official; lost two high-profile wives, who were servants of the queen empress. Lives on the goodwill of the 5th prince, who basically provided financial aid to the Feng family through FD. Was killed off in Gu Shu (the country south of Da Shun) either from illness or sustained wounds. Jin Zhen - died because she poisoned the Feng matriarch. Han-shi - killed by FJY because of infidelity, along with the man she had an affair with, when the baby was found to look nothing like FJY or Han-shi. FD - engaged the 5th prince, disengaged to the 5th prince, then married the 5th prince. I think FD suffers from some type of behavioral disorder. XR - got engaged to XTH but decided to end the engagement as she is really in love with the 4th prince. I think she and the 4th prince got married before XTH woke up from his coma. (Not sure about this.) Han-shi's baby a.k.a. Xiao Bao - lived with FD for a while before the Feng family was evicted from the Feng manor and Xiao Bao was taken by A-Heng to be taken care of at Hundred Herb Hall and FD didn't even care. It was only later when FD was alone that FD took Xiao Bao from A-Heng. FD abused the child for a bit and the 5th prince and FD's new servant tried to shield the child often but the child still stayed with FD in the end. Yao-shi - was killed off in Gu Shu. Also, try to browse through some pages as some spoilers might be more detailed than this one.
Call me bitch/heartless or whatever but I'm happy with the ending of Yao shi. I'm soooooo maaaad at her!
Sorry if this was already mentioned but what did Yao-shi do that she got killed off(or why)? (and just to clarify Yao-shi is the mother of A-heng right? I'm sorry I'm getting multiple novels mixed up inside my head)
Yes, Yao-shi is the mother of A-Heng. But in summary, instead of sticking by A-Heng, Yao-shi instead went against A-Heng and went so far as to say that A-Heng is not her (Yao-shi) daughter and acknowledged a complete stranger, Fu Ya, who looks very much like A-Heng, because Fu Ya behaves like the original A-Heng. Well, Yao-shi isn't wrong, but she (Yao-shi) had (emotionally) hurt A-Heng so bad, that both XTM and Zi Rui intervened on behalf of A-Heng. Under the instruction of the 8th prince, Yao-shi, along with FJY, left with Fu Ya, so Fu Ya can pretend to be A-Heng and have some influence on the southern border of Da Shun. In the end, Fu Ya was found to be fake. FJY delivered Yao-shi and Fu Ya to the authorities to avoid getting arrested and Yao-shi was stabbed while getting arrested as she (Yao-shi) told Fu Ya to flee. Before dying, Yao-shi asked FJY to tell A-Heng sorry, which does jackshit (pardon the language) and too little too late.
Remember in Chapter 192 where XTH explained to A-Heng about planting spies on influential houses? Qing Shuang is planted at Tong Sheng by the 3rd prince and is said to be one of the 3rd prince's best spies. Yao-shi isn't really a good mom. Yao-shi just accepted being demoted and then getting kicked out of the Feng family in stride, and didn't even try to fight back or ask for an explanation at least. Or Yao-shi didn't even demand FJY for compensation once Yao-shi and her children were exiled to the mountains. As stated above where the 3rd prince has a spy on Tong Sheng, the 3rd prince also installed another of his (3rd prince) people but at Feng manor. Long story short, this person got Yao-shi literally addicted. Yao-shi already was somewhat suspicious of A-Heng, even with A-Heng's repeated assurance that A-Heng will never hurt Yao-shi and Zi Rui and will always protect them. With this addiction came the paranoia that somewhat slowly developed to delusions as Yao-shi now believes that A-Heng is not the same A-Heng. Another instance, which will be said in much, much later chapters, was that Zi Rui, though young, remembered that it was mostly the original A-Heng who made sure that mother and children survived and Yao-shi was practically useless. Zi Rui said that there was a time when they were homeless for a while because Yao-shi burned the thatched house they lived in trying to create fire and that A-Heng had to go to the mountains to find edible food so they could eat.
Does A Heng make any friends? I find mention and pictures of four girls from important families (general's daughter, daughter from the left end right minister and artisan?), but then again, it is not that much. Do they have more screen time in the novel?
Yes, she made some friends, but the friends only got more active during and after A-Heng's marriage to XTM. Bai Fu Rong is a little different though because she was mentioned more than the other 3 during A-Heng's time at Qianzhou (country bordering Da Shun in the north) and the subsequent invasion of XTM's armies in Qianzhou. Xuan Tian Ge - cousin of the princes and spoiled by the princes as she's the only girl in the Xuan family. She got married to a prince of Gu Shu (the country bordering the south of Da Shun) and is pampered by said prince. Apparently Xuan Tian Ge saved this prince when Xuan Tian Ge went south to attend A-Heng's surprise wedding to XTM. At that time Da Shun was at war with Gu Shu. Feng/Fung Tian Yu - is the daughter of the Right Prime Minister of Da Shun. Unbeknownst to Tian Yu, she rescued the exiled prince, Li Kun, of Zong Sui when Zong Sui started causing trouble for Da Shun and eventually they got married. Ren Xi Feng - daughter of General Pingnan and became the wife of the 6th prince, Xuan Tian Feng, and eventual empress when Xuan Tian Feng ascended to the throne after the old emperor abdicated the throne. Bai Fu Rong - is the daughter of the imperial master craftsman. She pretended to be A-Heng at that time when XTM's armies advanced to Qianzhou while A-Heng was deep in Qianzhou to get intel. She spent most of her time with Bai Ze and the two eventually fell in love and married later on.