Plot Summary

The drama is told in two timelines. One in the present day and it is interspersed with flashbacks from 7 years ago. In the present day, Meng Wan (ft Wu Qian) is the new Lady of the house. With this status, she is now able to mingle with the upper class of society, gain influence, and assemble a group of people to find evidence to sue Wu Lian for the atrocities that he committed.

7 years ago, Ling Ru Lan (ft Hu Yi Xuan) and many other ladies taking lessons at the Weaving Tower run by Wu Lian were unwittingly seduced by Wu Lian. Out of all the ladies who were defiled by him, only Ling Ru Lan had the courage to gather evidence and sue Wu Lian. Unfortunately for her, he proved too powerful. Wu Lian bribed the court, bribed the lawyer, and deftly manipulated public opinion against Ling Ru Lan. Ling Ru Lan and her family were constantly harassed. Without any more recourse, Ling Ru Lan commits suicide on the day she was supposed to marry Wu Lian as a concubine.

Overall Thoughts

In simple terms, this is a Me Too drama where a sexual predator Wu Lian ft Qiao Zhen Yu, due to his standing in the community, actual embroidery skills, and patriarchal system is allowed to freely commit these atrocities. Even though, at the end of the day, the Wu Lian is finally apprehended, the journey in which the characters take to get there is grueling and suffocating. I binged watched the drama in a week because it is only 25 episodes but I felt like I was holding my breath the entire time I was watching. When the drama finally ended, I finally exhaled but also felt sadness with the resolution of this drama because there are still so many parallels with this drama to present day society.

I’m glad Chinese dramas are finally tackling this rather heavy issue but I can also understand why this drama didn’t perform too well in ratings. This drama isn’t your typical romance drama but a revenge drama for a dearly beloved friend. Hopefully this trend of covering these topics and addressing that this still happens today will continue.

What I liked

• Focus on the Sisterhood: The driving force of this drama is the sisterhood between Meng Wan and Ling Ru Lan. 7 years ago, when Ling Ru Lan took up the mantle to take Wu Lian to court, Meng Wan wasn’t in a position to help, but despite their differences, the two knew that they had each other. 7 years later, Meng Wan’s sole focus is to avenge her friend’s death and seek justice against a predator. The drama isn’t bogged down with superfluous romances for the different characters. 
• Group cast of the Faithful: The drama itself is called 九义人 or the Nine Faithful. Meng Wan gathers a motley crew of old acquaintances who willing accept the dangers of this mission to fight for justice and throw the corrupt Wu Lian into jail. The drama truly shines and breathes when the group plans activities together. Honestly, I think these side characters all outshone Meng Wan. I also liked the episodic nature of each of their introductions. As the drama progresses, the story really fleshes out with how each are able to contribute to the wider group. At the same time, we do learn more about their individual desires, regrets, and aspirations. 

• Tackling of many topical issues: In the drama, whether it was Ling Ru Lan or Meng Wan, they all faced extraordinary obstacles against suing Wu Lian. I enjoyed how comprehensive it was and how bluntly these were all portrayed that women really got the short end of the stick. If a woman is no longer a virgin, then the woman and her entire family is shunned but nothing happens to the man. For almost every instance, I ticked off if these still happen in real life and unfortunately, the answer is yes.
• Qiao Zhen Yu being deliciously evil: I don’t think this drama would have worked without a handsome guy such as Qiao Zhen Yu to portray the evil Wu Lian. Yes, Qiao Zhen Yu’s best years are behind him but it’s very believable that all of the young ladies and members of the community would trust him even if he was a predator. Qiao Zhen Yu portrayed the evil man so well that I had a hard time reverting back to some of his other dramas where he was the good guy.
• No true happy ending: Even though Wu Lian is apprehended, no one truly had a happy ending. This made sense in the context of the drama in that all of the individual characters made sacrifices for what they thought was right. They all loved, fought, lost, and finally won, but in an organic way. Each character had regrets and these regrets didn’t come out of the left field. I think viewers are accustomed to having either a happy ending or else being completely up in arms for random sad endings (cough a Journey to Love). Too often characters die for the sake of a shock factor. After watching this drama, yes – I was saddened by the ending but I wasn’t upset about it.