September 11, 2026

Against the Current | Recap and Review

Against the Current
A noble lady's family falls from grace, and she becomes the servant of the very man she was once betrothed to.
Notable Actors/Actresses
Tan Song YunXu Lan Xiang
Liu Xue YiLin Jin Qi
Director
Screenwriter
Chinese Title
蘭香如故
The Orchid's Fragrance Remains
Year2026
Episodes: 24/47
Recap Grade: D
First Impression: 3.25/5


Jump to Remarks | Recs | Comments

Recaps: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40[41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47[Extra]

Cast


Tan Song Yun:
Xu Lan Xiang
Shen Jia Lan
Liu Xue Yi:
Lin Jin Qi
Feng Tai
Li Meng:
Zhao Xing Tang
Zheng He Hui Zi:
Du Cui Que
Guo Ke Yu:
Xue Gui Hua
(FL's mother)
Chen Huang:
Xu Wan Quan
(FL's father)
Li Jia Xin:
Zhou Gan Tang
Song Fang Yuan:
Du Xiao Lian
Liu Mei Han:
Lv Ji Er
Tang Meng Jia:
Bao Gai
Ye Qing:
Yu Chan
Niu Jun Feng:
Han Liang
Hou Chang Rong:
Lin Zhao Xiang
(ML's grandfather)
Kong Ling Mei:
Qin Shun Hua
(ML's mother)
Wu Tian Tian:
Lin Xiu Wan
(Lin Sister #2)
Ma Fan Ding:
Lin Xiu Ru
(Lin Sister #3)
Liu Jia Xi:
Lin Xiu Shu
(Lin Sister #4)
Pu Tao:
Lin Xiu Cai

Guo Jia Nan:
Lin Jin Lan
(Lin Brother #2)
Wang Jia Xuan:
Lin Jin Feng
(Lin Brother #3)
Wei Zi Xin:
Lin Chang Min
(ML's uncle)
Zhao Qin:
Wang Ling Xiao
(ML's aunt)
He Peng:
Yuan Shao Hui
Su Ke:
Lu Xie
Jia Ze:
Zheng Man Yi
Guan Chang:
Fu Rong
Li Hong Liang:
Lord Han
Wu Tian Qi:
Tan Su Hua
Wu Xiao Dong:
Fang Yu
Fang Shou Yi
Kong Lian Shun:
Crown Prince
Emperor
Ye Xiao Wei:
Du Zheng
Wu Jia Kai:
Xie Zhao
Ke Lan:
Cui Xue Mei
(FL's mother)
Ma Wen Yuan:
Qian Shao Ze


Mini Recaps

My goal is to pick ONE topic/highlight. It can be a major moment or the smallest little detail. You can share yours too ~

[Ep1[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

Content warning: This episode contains scenes involving suicide.

Everyone you see here:
Dies. Except FL. Even this little one acted by Li Zhi Mo (the cutie who is in everything). She takes the poison herself, reassuring everyone as she does it, and telling them how proud she is of their family values. T_T. All of them choose to die because serving in the 教坊司 Jiaofangsi, the palace's music bureau is essentially sexual servitude.

So Shen Jia Lan (Tan Song Yun) watches her family die, one by one, right in front of her. She was supposed to die too…

[Ep2[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

These parents are so kind to Shen Jia Lan Xu Lan Xiang. And she returns that kindness. They treat her like a daughter because they lost their own, and she treats them like her parents because she lost hers. They meet each other in the same grief, but what grows between them is more than just filling the space of what they lost. It's real love. They really become family to each other. :')

[Ep3[Jump to: Top | CastComments]
The wife. I swear Li Meng sleeps exactly like this in real life. I swear. I expect her to be crazy.

[Ep4[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

When one quiet, tender, hardworking soul (Tang Meng Jia as Bao Gan) recognizes another quiet, tender, hardworking soul. Aw
Bao Gan is really just as careful as Lan Xiang. When Lan Xiang covers for Ji Er, saying their master (ML) urgently needs the tea, Bao Gan catches the oddity. Is their master really looking for tea, or is he looking for someone to spill the tea? 

Sure enough, Ji Er comes back with a reward for spilling the tea on her madam. Lan Xiang is worried for Ji Er especially after Bao Gan warns her to be steadfast and honest in this household. Bao Gan seems to know exactly which way the wind is blowing, and has already taken this information to Madam's side.

[Ep5[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

I was worried for Lan Xiang when she suggested searching her body to prove she hadn't stolen anything. Turns out she had been holding the candy in her hand and melting it. Smart girl. But that candy matters too, because it was given to her by Lv Ji Er (Liu Mei Han), who's now being accused of stealing a ring. 

Then Lan Xiang deliberately creates a distraction, “accidentally” knocking over a vase before begging Madam not to "kill this lowly servant." That triggers Ji Er's memory of the story Lan Xiang once told her: a madam who killed a servant and was punished with a year of house arrest. 
Lan Xiang rescues Ji Er by giving her the information she needs to defend herself. SO CLEVER. And so kind :').

[Ep6[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

Looketh! Lan Xiang thinks fast on her feet. 
I love how Lan Xiang just blends into the background, constantly observing and adapting. She hides the seal with the fur, and cleverly takes an imprint of it onto her own arm. She's already thinking several steps ahead. While serving Madam, she worries that exposing her could get all the servants under Madam executed, so she keeps what she knows to herself. Not just to protect Madam, but to protect the people around her and, ultimately, herself. For now.

Being a noble lady (once) herself, Lan Xiang also knows there's two halves of the seal and realizes the complete character is 錢 (qian) = money. Except the “money” is actually the surname of the woman – uh, man – she loves. 
"Miss" Qian 

[Ep7[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

Lin Jin QiBe my ears, my eyes. […] If you do well, I guarantees your family will be safe and sound
ML. You cannot threaten her like this. She already lost her family once. And horrifically. T_T Meanwhile you and your Lin family ditched the Shen's and happily got married to another lady.

Right after, I don't even know what she's doing here, reaching her hands toward the sky, toward branches she can't reach, smiling, and then tearing up as she looks up. But whatever is going on in her head, I'm tearing up with her. 

[Ep8[Jump to: Top | CastComments]
Divorced.

And in the worst way possible for Zhao Xing Tang. She gets divorced from our ML, but it's also the end of her seven-year relationship with Qian Shao Ze (Ma Wen Yuan). When Qian Shao Ze is whipped by Zhao Xing Tang's father (also his uncle, so yes they're cousins), he saves himself by blaming her for seducing him.
How dare this cousin girlfriend man. Oh wrong woman. That's ML's beautiful trusty servant, Jiu Gao.
Where was I. Oh yes: here: How dare this sorry excuse for a man. Seven years! They had been together for seven years, and the moment he's in trouble, he throws her under the carriage. She even suffered a miscarriage for him. Is that why she refused to sleep with ML on their wedding night…She was pregnant?
Poor girl. At least you're single now \o/!! 

[Ep9[Jump to: Top | CastComments]
Lan Xiang could have been safe if she'd simply left the area. But she goes back for Xiao Lian, putting both of them on the Zhao family's hitlist for potentially knowing about Zhao Xing Tang's adultery. Lan Xiang's way out comes unexpectedly through Fang Yu / Fang Shou Yi. Lan Xiang remembers what her grandfather had said about him: he loves to bugua (卜卦, tell fortunes). She uses that knowledge to befriend Fang Yu, and somehow wins him over enough that he invites her to his home.

That invitation is exactly what saves them. Word gets around their social circle that Fang Yu has personally invited this lowly maid, Zhao Father and Brother can no longer simply make Lan Xiang and Xiao Lian disappear without drawing attention. Meanwhile, Lin Jin Qi takes note of this... maid.

[Ep10[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

Yu Chan (Ye Qing; the first-rank maid) asks what everyone can do. Xiao Lian doesn't know what she's good at. Except "I know how to eat. I can eat. I want to eat.”  LOL. The boys outside find her adorable. 
(Nan Ke and Jiu Gao)

Reunions 
– Ye Qing (Yu Chan) and Tan Song Yun were in Under the Power.
– Liu Xue Yi and Zheng He Hui Zi. Until they showed up together, I forgot they were a CP in In Blossom
– ZHHZ's brother is played by Ye Xiao Wei, that EVIL brother in Tong Hua's Lost You Forever. I think he's playing a sweet brother this time, but I don't know if his sister is a sweet one.

[Ep11[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

This function was meant to set up the marriage of the Lin family's second daughter, Lin Xiu Wan, with Xie Zhao. (Except Lin Xiu Wan misunderstands Xie Zhao as Du Zheng, which seems to be a whole other story.)

But we almost lost our ML to another marriage instead!!

Du Zheng's sister, Du Cui Que (Zheng He Hui Zi), nearly manages to turn the same function into a marriage setup for herself and Lin Jin Qi. Her name cui que 翠雀 refers to the delphinium flower, but really, she is a White Lotus 💮 = A woman who presents herself as pure and innocent while being deliberately manipulative underneath
💮 White Lotus
Delphinium ↴
Du Cui Que sends delphiniums for Lin Jin Qi to wear (via naive Xiao Lian), setting things up so that everyone at the function believes he is interested in her. Because of his noble status, once that kind of misunderstanding becomes public, Lin Jin Qi would be expected to marry her.

Had it not been for Lan Xiang – our book nerd. Even all those years of getting slingshots taken from a little brat came in handy. :') And I love that she did this for Yu Chan, to protect her..
[Ep12[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

Whether or not Lan Xiang has truly convinced herself that Du Cui Que isn't manipulative like that, she is really smart (it's almost tiring repeating this) about how she resolves everything inoffensively.  

1) She reassures Grandfather Lin that Du Cui Que couldn't possibly have meant anything by the flower. Surely she made more than one, because why would an innocent girl make only one and give it to Lin Jin Qi?

2) And that's exactly where Cui Que's own plan backfires. She did make multiple delphiniums, precisely to make herself look innocent. Lan Xiang uses that very evidence to dismantle the setup without ever accusing her of anything. The innocent one just out-innocented the White Lotus

3) Now Lin Jin Qi seems wary of Cui Que too. He refuses to play Go with her, yawns until she gets the hint, and once he got rid of her, he got rid of her Go piece too. Lol.
Rewinding back, he's actually not happy she joined. He'd rather play alone.

[Ep13[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

I cheat with not two, but three highlights ;D Four.

1) I was going to skip this generic ML saves FL scene. Not because I don't love these scenes, but because... well, it's the most obvious highlight I could possibly pick. I figured I'd talk about something else, but the execution was so good that I couldn't leave it out. The intensity of their stares, the force with which he grabs her, her eyes screaming that she wants to live, and then the music swelling as he catches her and swings her behind him into safety. I felt so much here.
I would have nightmares about the guy behind her too. I didn't even take the scarier screenshot where he dies with his eyes open (which I must say I appreciate Lin Jin Qi blocking the stare and closing those eyes).

2) I cannot skip a cute guard-servant moment either! Jiu Gao reminds me of Bi Wen Jun, but with less cheekbone. Jiu Gao got all pouty when Yu Chan shared the candies with another maid, hahaha. 
We couldn't even properly see his face, but I felt the pout.

3)  Gan Tang. I can't leave her out when I've included the rest. I had no idea what she was going through until now :(. Her life would have been over if Lan Xiang hadn't "強出頭 stepped forward". That's how she comforts Lan Xiang after her nightmare, when Lan Xiang is regretting volunteering herself for the mission. Because without that trait of Lan Xiang's, Gan Tang would have been sold by her own parents to marry someone for money so that her brother could have a better marriage.
The love in her eyes.

P.S. I might as well cheat all the way. I belatedly caught this action sequence, which means I completely missed The hilarious part where Linda Ye flipped Wo-Wo right at the wee-wee, precisely where Lan Xiang had already stabbed him with her needle. LOL.
All I focused on was their hands clutching each other, but at the corner, there's Wo-Wo's hand, clutching his wee-wee.
And this guy is definitely showing up at Linda ye and Lan Xiang's wedding after this line: “Look, look (at this needle). Whoever marries this woman, how will he dare to drink his wedding wine?” Looks at Linda.
The needle incident is the male trauma because Jiu Gao still can't get over it either as he reenacts the whole stabbing to Nan Ke – who was there.

[Ep14[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

It's not that Marquis Yuan Shao Hui (He Peng) imprisoned Lan Xiang. She was simply too good at storytelling. The audience refused to let her leave. And because Marquis Yuan went to pick up Lin Jin Qi, he missed the climax. Tragic. He's not going to be a rival, is he?  But Lin Jin Qi? He did not miss his climax. He's heading straight toward the peak of love.  

[Ep15[Jump to: Top | CastComments]
Lin Jin Qi. SMITTEN. When Lan Xiang gathers up her tiny little steps to chase after him, Lin Jin Qi has the tiniest smile, completely exposing his smitten heart. Either he is shortening those long strides so she can get closer, or time itself slows down whenever she is trying to catch up to him. Either way, he's matching his pace to hers.
Meanwhile, Lan Xiang is speeding up for a completely different reason. She's trying to get away from the two lovers walking behind her. Girl is running from romance while unknowingly running straight toward hers ~

[Chinese心眼子 Xīn yǎn zi – Literally “heart eyes”. Figuratively "mind's eye". By saying someone has a lot of these eyes we mean this person is full of schemes, calculation, and little tricks. It is someone who is always thinking a few steps ahead

When Lan Xiang reports to Lin Jin Qi the need for a doctor, he immediately understood she needed him to keep it a secret, which is why Lin Jin Qi describes Lan Xiang as having 心眼子, but not just a pair. From head-to-toe, she's filled with these "heart eyes." xD. Except I'd argue the one with heart eyes from head-to-toe is you, Lin Jin Qi. Like please, who's struggling to keep their eyes off? :D

Related 心眼子 idioms

800 個心眼子 Bā bǎi gè xīn yǎn zi –  800 eyes/minds/schemes. Describes someone exceptionally manipulative, overly calculating, or constantly playing mind games.

缺心眼 Quē xīn yǎn – Missing a mind/heart's eye. Describes someone who is gullible, naive or foolishly straightforward. No mindful eye. They don't have a 心眼子 to see what's really going on. [Ep22]

小心眼 Xiao xīn yǎn – Small mind/heart's eye. When "heart/mind eyes" is paired with small (小xiao), it means someone's mind is small, therefore narrow-minded, petty, touchy.

[Ep16[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

Lin Jin Qi deploying a repertoire of romantic gestures in a dimly lit room with a steaming bath… While Lan Xiang is processing each move like workplace instructions. As she should! xD I really like TSY's wandering, but still watchful eyes.
It starts with the pose. Head tilted 45 degrees, cheek resting on one hand, elbow propped on the table, while the other hand is majestically placed on his knee. 
Then he leans toward her, lowering his voice into this intimate little whisper: I'm tired, I want the other girl to leave, but you to stay.
And when Lan Xiang comes back after doing exactly what he asked, he's waiting for her against the wall, arms crossed, wearing that little satisfied smile. Didn't you say you were tired? :D
Then he simply holds out his hand. And Lan Xiang just looks at it. Hold it? Take it? What? She looks around... Oh. Handkerchief. She's supposed to read your mind now?? xD

The sister actually wanted to speak to him alone, but he lets Lan Xiang stay because she'll eventually know everything anyway. Since when was Lan Xiang promoted to “person who needs to know everything about me” status.

[Ep17[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

Nan Ke, stop scaring us! LOL. Maybe they might actually pair him with Gan Tang? It'll be cute with anyone xD.
"It's me. Nan Ke."
The problem isn't who you are. LOL

[Ep18[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

The Orchid's Fragrance


Lin Jin Qi: Which flower's fragrance is this?
Lan Xiang: 蘭花 Lan HuaLet me tell you mine and ML's thoughts: the fragrance that smells best has to be Lan Xiang. (It's literally her name. Xiang = fragrance).

She explains that some orchids smell best in the afternoon, while others release their fragrance at night. And then there is Lan Xiang, whose fragrance seems to linger all year round

Lin Jin Qi: What are you sitting down for?
Lan Xiang: I want to smell the fragrance! (Obviously!)

Lin Jin Qi: Fragrance or money?
Lan Xiang: Money. Our Lan Xiang is not drunk.

I like that she says this. There is room for both the practical and the ideal. She can want money, want to live, want security, and still want to smell the flowers. Those things don't cancel each other out.

Lan Xiang:  Living (活 huo) is good. I can smell the fragrance.

There is something so simple and moving about her being grateful that she is alive enough to smell a flower. Her mother has to be smiling at her from wherever she is. :') 
We only see one pair of feet moving away, then the empty steps where the two of them had been sitting. We don't need to see the princess carry itself. We see the space they have left together. Very nice.

[Chinese] And then the camera settles on the 蘭花與奇石, the orchid with the rock.

[蘭花與奇石 Lan hua yu Qi shi] "Orchid With an Extraordinary Rock." This is a common artistic motif that when painting orchids, it's usually paired with rocks. There is a little bit of CP wordplay here as well. The Lan and the Qi. She is the Lan flower and he is the Qi rock. She is the fragrance and he is the solidity. 

It is really so easy to look at this and say Lan Xiang is the flower and Jin Qi is the rock, with one person soft and the other hard.

But.

They're both both.

The entire visual of an orchid growing from the rock is Lan Xiang. And it is Lin Jin Qi.

[突岩深縫妙香稠] The imagery echoes a famous line from Qing painter and poet Zheng Ban Qiao's 題畫蘭 (Inscription on a Painting of Orchids)

突岩深縫妙香稠
tu yan shen feng miao xiang chou
In the deep crevices of protruding rock, the orchid's exquisite fragrance is abundant.

[深縫 shen feng] The orchid isn't growing in a soft, carefully tended garden. It grows in the deep cracks and crevices of the rock. It has taken root in a hard, unforgiving place, and yet it still blooms. It still gives off its fragrance.

[君子 jun zi] That is why the orchid became an image in Chinese culture for 君子– the virtuous or gentlemanly ideal: someone whose character and integrity remain intact even when the circumstances around them are difficult. Zheng Ban Qiao's poem takes the metaphor of 君子 and 蘭花 (orchid) even further. The orchid grows high on the mountain, surrounded by all the noise and movement below, but it doesn't allow that worldly commotion to change it. It simply remains itself and fragrant.

Which makes Lan Xiang a beautiful fit. She's a woman, but she is a 君子. This is the orchid.

[蘭花 lan hua] After their conversation about Du Zheng, Lin Jin Qi absolutely fits 君子/蘭花  too. He's not just the rock standing beside the orchid. He's an orchid too.

They are both the flower growing from the rock. They have both had to grow in difficult ground. They have both had to become resilient. And neither has allowed that hardness to take away their goodness – their fragrance.
Not only did he smell the fragrance, he had a taste or two.

[Ep19[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

Lan Xiang gets her freedom from slavery, along with her parents. Madam Lin is surprised he's willing to let Lan Xiang go. But he has to! As much as he wants to see her every day, he can't marry her while she's still his maid. 

Grateful, the Xus bow to Lin Jin Qi, but when they look up, he's gone?! Of course he can't let his future parents-in-law bow to him. He has materialized next to Father-in-law Xu so that he isn't directly receiving the bow. LOL. Lin Jin Qi has 心眼子 "heart eyes" from head to toe too xD
Before leaving, Lan Xiang thanks him and wishes him and his family well:

May Madam have a house full of children and grandchildren.
May your descendants flourish for generations.
May our Master be blessed with a destined good match.
May he find a perfect match, a marriage made in heaven.

And this man smiles directly at her:

Exactly what Madam and I need.
May everything be as (our) hearts desire.

She's literally blessing him with the future she's about to give him. And he knows it.

[ChineseNot really. Just noting this living clock in this girl who sells produce that changes with the seasons.

[莧菜 xian cai] This episode, she's selling Amaranth. A summer marker. 

[枇杷 pi pa] At the end of Ep2, this same girl was selling Loquat. A spring marker.

[菊花腦 ju hua nao] Beginning of Ep2, this girl was much younger, selling Chrysanthemum-greens. An early spring marker. 

Ep20 – Amaranth
Ep2 end – Loquat
Ep2 start – Chrysanthemum

[Ep20[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

The guards have one job this episode and they're spectacularly failing their master xD
First, Jiu Gao gives away a house at a 90% discount. Of course Lan Xiang drags her parents to run away from the scam. Jiu Gao gets his butt kicked. 

Now Lan Xiang runs to another household and meets Han Liang (Niu Jun Feng), who immediately becomes the next problem. Lin Jin Qi can only mope at home. On one hand, he admires his orchid, blooming anywhere. On the other hand, there's now a nuisance of a butterfly buzzing around her. Our master is not enjoying the pollination xD
Nan Ke walks in and very seriously asks the master where the butterfly is because he'll drive it out. He's ignored. Jiu Gao starts updating him about Han Liang, aka the butterfly. Report's over. But Nan Ke is STILL standing there. Looking. Intently. He asks again where the butterfly is because he can't hear it. 

Then Lin Jin Qi leans in. 

Nan Ke leans in too.

Listening.

“Shut up.”

HAHAHA. 

[Chinese] Right at the end, Lin Jin Qi writes: 知止而後有定,定而後能靜. This is from The Great Learning (one of the Confucian classics). “Knowing where to stop, one can attain stability; with stability, one can then achieve tranquility.” Clearly, this is his self-help manual on how to grow an orchid without premature pollination. Essentially, you must know what your true target is: marrying Lan XiangStopping the jealousy doesn't mean giving up; it means anchoring yourself to better achieve your goals so you aren't pulled in every direction by distraction or greed or butterflies.

[Ep21[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

Lin Jin Qi gives Lan Xiang a lan hua, an orchid. Says it from Gan Tang and Yu Chan. Sure. It's in a very simple little pot, which is perfect for her: unpretentious, beautiful, and still blooming despite everything.
There's a little message hidden in it. Lan Xiang might not remember, but she had told him that this particular orchid gives off its strongest fragrance at night. And it is this particular orchid he gifts her Translation: “When you smell this, think of me at night. As I will think of you."

Lan Xiang thanks Yu Chan and Gan Tang: "臉盆花都惦記著我 Even the flowers have me on their minds."

But look at Lin Jin Qi's eyes. The love is practically oozing out of them. The one 惦記 (dianji)-ing you is him, Lan Xiang. She's standing right in front of him, and this man still looks like he misses herDefinition of 惦記: to keep someone/something in one's thoughts, to miss or worry about them, to have them on your mind. It is constant. It is lingering. It is involuntaryActually. Definition of 惦記:

[Chinese (cont. Ep19)] Our timekeeper is back, but not in the background anymore. This time she's brought right into the scene and interacts with Lan Xiang.

[菊花脑 ju hua nao / 櫻桃 ying tao] The street vendor is back to selling chrysanthemum greens, giving us our spring marker. And look at her now! She's a mother with a newborn. This added detail: with another mouth to feed, she's selling more produce and adding cherries to her basket. (A little clarification: 菊花 usually refers to the chrysanthemum flower, which is associated with autumn. 菊花脑 is different. These are the young leaves and shoots of the chrysanthemum plant, eaten as a vegetable and associated with spring.)
This street vendor is not only telling us what season we're in. She's showing us how much time has passed. And now she's a "reminder" that Lan Xiang is also of marriageable age, and this episode, her parents are looking for a match for her. Unfortunately, they've set their sights on Han Liang. And more unfortunately, Han Liang has set his sights on her too. This butterfly is a serious nuisance because there's not even an obvious flaw in him. He's smart, honest, capable, and has principles… HURRY UP, LIN JIN QI. Pesticide! SOMETHING!

[Ep22[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

Remember that conversation where Lin Jin Qi asked Lan Xiang, flower or money? And even when drunk, she answered money. Well, Lan Xiang is a woman of her word. 

We start with Lin Jin Qi having a matching pot of orchid to hers, and it's not looking right. Obviously, we need a flower doctor for the orchid. He's frustrated at Jiu Gao for asking the obvious. That's because Yu Chan knows he looks at that orchid every single day and wouldn't be happy if it was gone for a minute. How much does this man stare at this flower that he can't even stand having it out of sight for a moment?

Meanwhile, Lan Xiang sells hers for 100 taels. Not a single hesitation, except to confirm she's actually getting the full 100. Oh, you 缺心眼'er! LOL. We already talked about 心眼子 in Ep15: those little “heart's eyes” that make someone watchful, shrewd, and constantly calculating a few steps ahead. Lan Xiang is filled with them from head to toe.

Except for the pair of heart-eyes she's missing in her own heart. And that is being 缺心眼. No Heart-Eye.

Definition of 缺心眼:

The foreshadowing with the dying orchid is nicely done too. We get Lan Xiang's trouble with the orchid mirrored by Zheng Man Yi (Jia Ze), who kills the pot of orchid. And this love rival doesn't even call the orchid a flower (蘭花 lan hua), She calls it a grass (蘭草 lan cao).

[Ep23[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

OMFG 😭😭😭
"I'll wait for you to come save me."


Ji Er, now Shuang Erbut no, she's Ji Er. She is confident that as long as these men want to sleep her, nothing will happen to her as she helps Lan Xiang escape the brothel. But Lan Xiang, who's in a predicament herself, has eyes only for the person hurting deep inside her. Instead of worrying about herself, she worries about Ji Er. “What will happen to you when I leave?” And “Ji Er, wait for me. I’ll come back to buy out your contract. I will definitely save you.”

[Callback to Ep19Lin Jin Qi will never accept the kneeling of his future FIL :D

[Ep24[Jump to: Top | CastComments]

Linda ye爺 (Lin da ye's nickname) walks right past Ji Er, and had me thinking, was he even supposed to remember her? Sorry, girl! I had honestly forgotten that was even the original reason she was punished. And I think the reason I forgot, and Linda did too, is that Ji Er's punishment was less about what she actually did (spying for Linda) and more about her getting caught in the crossfire between Ex-Madam Zhao and Linda.

Ji Er had fault, yes, but it is a cruel imbalance. To Ji Er, he was important enough to change the entire course of her life. To him, she was never important enough to even remember.
I just hope Ji Er doesn't take a dark turn from all this, especially when Lan Xiang and her sweet mother are doing everything they can to save her.

[Ep25[Jump to: Top | CastComments]
[Ep26[Jump to: Top | CastComments]
[Ep27[Jump to: Top | CastComments]
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[Ep29[Jump to: Top | CastComments]
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Remarks


[First Impression (Ep1-4)]

Brutal start. T_T And here I go signing myself up for another long historical Cdrama. 

What I'm liking most so far is Tan Song Yun's Xu Lan Xiang. She's reserved, quiet, but weathered. There's a heaviness to her from witnessing the tragedy in Ep1. But at her core is kindness. And Show isn't heavy-handed with the obstacles after Ep1, but rather letting her work her way up.

What's a little different about this one is that we are navigating servant-hood, and the fate of being born into a servant family: every generation is destined to serve this manor. Being a servant is essentially hereditary.

[Cast&Crew]

蘭香如故 (Lan Xiang Ru Gu) is directed by Huang Ying Xiang, who makes really pretty shows! Her previous works include Les Belles and We Go Fast on Trust.

Adapted by Tong Hua, the famous author behind Lost You Forever. But this is not Tong Hua's own novel. The original story, 蘭香緣 (Lan Xiang Yuan; The Fate of the Orchid's Fragrance) was written by He Yan Shan.

Filming wrapped on October 10, 2025.

[Ending]

[A Highlight

[Review & Rating]


Rating: /5


Recommendations

Preliminary recs are random / a peek at the list. These may be updated if drama is completed

Married CP Happier Start Tragic FL
The Road to Splendour Blossoms in Adversity Flourished Peony
→ Go to September 2026 post

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