Chinese Drama 2021

Marvelous Women (Chinese Drama Review & Summary)

✴️✴️✴️/5✴️

Global Granary Recommendation

---

• Genre: Historical Costume Drama Fiction, Weaving, Life
• Release Date: 8 November 2021
• Origin: China
• Cdrama: 35 Episodes

Cast

• Jiang Qin Qin as Shen Cui Xi
• Zhang Hui Wen as Lin Su Fang
• Yang Rong as Zeng Bao Qin
• Mao Zi Jun as Wei Liang Gong
• Xu Hai Qiao as Ren Xue Tang
• Jeffrey Tung as Shu Yan
• Li Yi Nan as Ren Ru Feng
• Kara Wai as Chen Xiao Hong (Ru Feng’s Mother)
• Wang Yu as Li Zhao (Minister Li)
• Zhang Zheng Yan as Cao Wen Bin
• Wang Xi as Ru Yi (Bao Qin’s maid)
• Roy Wang as Ding Rong
• Silvery Li as Qao’Er (Ding Rong’s Wife)
• Ouyang Didi as Xiao Lan

---

Episode1

Cui Xi was in the warpath.  She just found out that her husband had bought Zeng Bao Qin from the brothel and installed her in a villa.

Ren Xu Tang told Cui Xi that Zeng Bao Qin is his childhood sweetheart with whom he promised to be together within his lifetime.

Cui Xi was sick to the death of her husband so she left him to it and the business to manage.

Cui Xi was a genius businesswoman who brought fortune to the Ren Family.

Xu Tang was a scholar who is living in cuckoo land, thinking of his childhood romance with the prostitute Bao Qin as the be-all and end all of his life and world.

He told Cui Xi that he intends to marry Bao Qin as his second wife but if Cui Xi had a problem with it then she can step down as his wife.

Cui Xi was so stressed she left the management of account and business to Xu Tang

Xu Tang realised the amount of work Cui Xi had to do.

CuiXi was in bed for days.  One of her maids warned her to be more graceful, dainty, and gentle with the First Master, otherwise, Bao Qin will take her place as master’s first wife.

Cui Xi was so annoyed with her maid.

The situation was getting worst so Madam Ren, stepmother of Xu Tang, was getting worried that her stipend and position would be put into danger with the arrival of Bao Qin into the scene.  So she allowed her son, Ren Ru Feng to invest all the monies she had.

Episode 2

Ren Ru Feng, the Second Master of the Ren family, stupidly got involved with a merchant who had been buying raw silk.

Ru Feng was promised triple the money of his investment so Ru Feng became the middle man.  He went to buy all the raw silk using Cui Xi’s reputation as a successful businesswoman.

He then sold the raw silk to the merchant but who was actually a pirate who was doing business with Nanjiang and Japan.

Cui Xi who learned about this situation was alarmed and the rest of the family was frightened.

It was punishable to do business with pirates, Nanjiang and Japan.  The punishment is severe: death by beheading.

If this is not enough, Cui Xi found out that Xu Tang was giving all his savings to Bao Qin.

She confiscated the money and told Xu Tang that Bao Qin might not be the childhood sweetheart he remembered her to be.

Xu Tang wanted to prove Cui Xi wrong so he went to Bao Qin and told her that the Ren Family is ruined because of the Ru Feng issue.  He said he hoped Bao Qin would stay with him as they promised through thick and thin.

Xu Tang was asleep in Bao Qin bed but she could not sleep.  She crept out and met her waiting-maid, Ru Yi.  They were going to run away.

When they opened the gate, there were guards and then when they turned back XuTang was waiting.  He had his answer.  Bao Qin was only with him for the money.

But then Bao Qin said that she was pregnant.

Despite the baby, Xu Tang left her because he was so upset.  Bao Qin was not the storybook sweetheart he imagined her to be.

For 182 days, he did not visit her.

Bao Qin was now heavily pregnant.  She was worried that Xu Tang had completely forgotten her so she sent him a plate of Magnolia a la Tempura.

The crispy magnolia made Xu Tang felt romantic again.  His feet led him to Bao Qin who was in the middle of her caterwauling. LOL

Xu Tang immediately remembered his love for her and promised not to leave her or their child in her belly.

Episode 3

Xue Tang was going to make Bao Qin his concubine.  The wedding was being prepared and Bao Qin does not want to wear the wedding dress given to her.

Ruyi returned it to the main house.

Cui Xi ordered to give it back to Bao Qin and wear what she was given.

Bao Qin would not have it so she asked Xue Tang to return it for another one.

Xue Tang does everything Bao Qin told him to do so he sheepishly went to Cui Xi with the wedding dress.

He told Cui Xi to indulge Bao Qin.

Cui Xi had had enough.  She grabbed a paid of sharp scissors and put it on Xue Tang’s hand and then she guided it to her heart.  She told him to just kill him once and for all.

She would not be able to live knowing that what Bao Qin wants, Bao Qin will get.

Xue Tang took back the wedding dress to Bao Qin and told to curb her temper from now on and learn to behave like a concubine.

He was torn between Bao Qin and Cui Xi.  He even wished that could disappear because he will not be able to please either of the women.

He loves Bao Qin but he respect Cui Xi.  He found that Cui Xi is also well respected by others because she may be strict but she is also very fair and very kind as he noticed when he stalked Cui Xi for half a day.

She questioned builders why they were building a wall between the main villa and Bao Qin’s villa?  She told them that it was inhuman and what would happen if there was a fire?  The carpenter said that the people in the other villa would just have to die.

Cui Xi ordered a doorway was created to the outside so their is an exit for the occupants of  the other villa.

Xue Tang was impressed.

Cui Xi received news about the pirate so Xue Tang and his men went looking for them.

The pirates were ready and waiting and ambushed Xue Tang and his men.  Xue Tang told Shuyan, his guard, to try to get back and tell Cui Xi that the pirates were back by officials.

Shuyan saw Xue Tang being shot by an arrow and falling into the water.

Shuyan relayed the news to Cui Xi.

Meanwhile, because of the stress of the commotion of Shuyan being brought back half-dead, Bao Qin went into labour and delivered a baby boy.

Episode 4

The disappearance of Xue Tang spread like wildfire.

The Ren Elders immediately descended to the Ren Mansion insisting to see Cui Xi.

They then wanted her to give the family seal to Ru Feng as the new head of the Ren Family and. manage the business given that Xue Tang is dead.

They accepted that Cui Xi was a savvy businesswoman but she is still a woman who doesn’t really have a right to be in a man’s world.  They said that it would be a different matter if Xue Tang had left a son.

At that point, Cui Xi heard that Bao Qin had just given birth to a boy.

She announced this to the elders who wanted evidence so Cui Xi had to go to Bao Qin and had to take her baby.  She told the heartbroken Bao Qin that being the legal wife, Cui Xi is the legitimate mother of the newborn boy.

The elders were satisfied and business shall go on but for Bao Qin, she started plotting to take her baby back and to do that was to bring down the Ren business which would make Cui Xi a pariah amongst the Ren family.

So Bao Qin went to get help from Li Zhao.

Episode 5

Bao Qin started her plot and the first part was to start her own business of silk weaving.  She asked Ru Feng to allow her to use the family business name of Qingfeng Couture.

She then entered the weaving contest and went head to head with Cui Xi.

Episode 6

Bao Qin is winning her fight against Cui Xi because she has Li Zhao’s support.  LI Zhao is a minister of the court.

During the contest he purposely made Bao Qin win.

This created problem for Cui Xi who had been banished by the family.  She was locked into the former villa of Bao Xin with baby Xiushan.

They live a very austere life.  They had become the forgotten and often given only basic sustenanc3e.

Cui Xi would not complain.

Meanwhile, Shufang told Cui Xi one morning that Minister Li had come to take Baby Xiushan away.

Shufang told Rufeng to prevent it.

Episode 7

Rufeng ended up being arrested because he was dealing with Zhang Biao the bandit.

Cui Xi had to use the family heirloom Song Brocade to bribe the magistrate to let Ru Feng go.

Episode 8

Rufeng was really ashamed and grateful to Cui Xi so he asked her what he can do for her.

She told him that they need to find a painting by Ma Yuan which shows the rarest double-sided kesi weaving.

Cui Xi said that the painting was last in Bao Qin’s family.  Cui Xi said that Rufeng should not reveal what there were up to, to anyone.

Rufeng went to see Bao Qin and asked her about the painting.  He said that he wanted to gift it to Cui Xi who collects arts by Ma Yuan

Bao Qin understood as she learnt that Cuisi used the family heirloom to bail out Rufeng.

Bai Qin said that the painting was bought from their family by the Jis.  They are rich and influential and would never sell the painting.

Rufeng has a very winning personality as Cui Xi once said he was pure and innocent but easily taken advantage of.

Master Ji took some convincing.  Ru Feng said that Cui Xi would make the double Sided Kesi leave again by cleaning it up and restoring it.

Master Ji liked the idea to leave the double-sided kesi to posterity so he willingly gave the painting to Rufeng.

Cui Xi, Hafang, Rufeng and Madam Ren worked on the double sided kesi.  They had a lot of trials and errors.

They got so busy, Bao Qin got suspicious.  She was annoyed when she found out that they’ve got the painting and what they were doing with it.

Feeling so redundant, she went to the river to commit suicide but Cui Xi turned up and told her not to do something stupid.  She is the mother of Siushan who would ask about her one day.

Bao Qin cried and cried.

Finally, Cui Xi replicated the double sided Kesi.

Finally, Wei Liang Gong turned up.

This drama had been missing male leads.

Liang Gong was having a traumatic time burying his biological mother whose death was caused by his ‘mother’

Episode 9

Bao Qin found Lianggong almost freezing to death on the road.

She took him home and looked after him.

Apparently, he was a well-known child protege.  He could read at four and could write at five.

Despite being a genius, all he wanted was to listen to opera.

Seven years later…

Lianggong entered the Ren Mansion as a teacher to Xiushan.  He was shocked after hearing that Xiushan was always tired and always hungry because he was being maltreated by his mother, ‘Ciu Xi’

He confronted Ciu Xi about it and found out that she does limit Xiushan’s food intake as per advice by the family physician.  Apparently, Xiushan has a stomach ailment.

Lianggong felt like a fool and for the first time saw Ciu Xi and found her kind.

Ciu Xi was commemorating the disappearance of Xuetang when the Ren Elders turned up.

They told her that it was time to face up to the fact that Xuetang is dead.

Ciu Xi went mental.  She absolutely refused to admit that Xuetang was dead.

She was standing in the rain to cool off when an umbrella was held over her head.

It was Lianggong.

She asked him if he knew the answer to why life is so hard.

He said life is hard for everyone but he took her to ride in a gondola and listened to the gossiping women about her.

She screamed at them and found it cathartic but her sudden carefree attitude so captivated Lianggong.  He was in love.

So when he next spoke to Bao Qin who heard about the gossip of Cui Xi maltreating Xiushan, he immediately stood up for Cui Xi.

Bao Qin was annoyed with him.  She told him that he had changed.

Really loving this drama.  Just perfect for binge-watching as it is so addictive.

Episode 10

Rufeng has a crush on Shufang, who has a crush on Lianggong.

Anyway, Rufeng’s mother tried to sound out Cui Xi about Shufang getting together with Rufeng.

So Cui Xi quizzed Shufang which was overheard by Rufeng and his mother.

Shufang said that Rufeng is a womaniser and an alcoholic.  If she really needs to get married then she would rather it be Lianggong.

Cui Xi went to see Lianggong about marriage and he was very firm that he will never marry because he was already in love with someone who does not notice him because she was so in love with someone else.

He started to talk about one-sided love with made Cui Xi tear up and so did Shufang.

Cui Xi remembered that she was resigned to not marrying XueTang but Lady Ren begged her on her knees to reconsider as if XueTang and BaoQin got together, it would mean the end of the Ren Business which had been ongoing for generations.  They had to finance the gargantuan debts of Bao Qin’s father.

Episode 11

I really find this drama really compulsive viewing so I am going to up the rating to ✴️✴️✴️✴️.

Anyway, Minister Li was going autocratic and wanted all the weaving techniques passed down from one generation to the next by the four major families and he send Ding Rong to announce it starting with the Rens.

So, Cui Xi and the other families closed down their business.  Even Bao Qin shut down her shop.

Because of this Minister Li’s reputation gone down and had to order Ding Rong to sort out the scandal.  Ding Rong was advised by Minister Li to send his weak pregnant wife, Qiao’Er who used to be Cui Xi favourite maid.

Ding Rong begged the minister not to ask his wife.  He offered that he would just kill himself in front of the Ren Mansion.

The Minister said that Cui Xi hated him and it would not do any good.

So Ding Rong begged Qiao’Er, with her two children went to kneel down in front of the mansion.

Cui Xi immediately went to see Qiao’er who was so apologetic about her stupid husband.  Qiao’er then collapsed and was brought into the mansion where she gave birth.

Ding Rong begged for an apology from Cui Xi.

Cui Xi said that they would only open up their shops again if they get an official apology and a guarantee that their techniques will not ever be required to be divulged into the ministry or the public.

Ding Rong then passed this requirement from Cui Xi to Minister Li who was going ballistic but he really did not have any choice.

The four major families were rejoicing in their win.

Episode 12

There was a strike in the weaving four families and Cui Xi was blamed as an agitator.

Rufeng sacrificed himself and suffered 40 lashings which impressed Shufang, she changed her mind and is now not averse to marrying Rufeng.

Cui Xi asked her not to settle for just anyone if she was not really sure but Shufang was adamant with her decision.

Meanwhile, Lianggong went to see Minister Li to stop his victimisation of Cui Xi and warned him that it might start trending if some paparassi (literari) get hold of the news and start writing about it.

Minister Li asked who is this paps? Lianggong just looked at Li Zhou who understood that Lianggong was talking about himself.

LI Zhou said that he will not take any further action regarding Cui Xi.  When Lianggong had gone Li Zhou’s assistant asked him what he will do next.

Li Zhou said that rumours regarding Lianggond and Cui Xi will start spreading soon.  A woman, no matter how competent, can’t live with a tarnished reputation.

Bao Qin instinctively knew about this so she advised Lianggong to move out of the Ren Mansion because Li Zhou will do everything to ruin Cui Xi.  She added that a man can withstand it but not a woman.

So if Lianggong cares about Cui Xi, he had to move out.

Episode 13

Finally, Cui Xi admitted to herself that her heart started beating again.  The object of her pounding heart was Lianggong.

Unfortunately, it did not go further as she found out from Bao Qin that he was carrying a one-sided love of Bao Qin who had rescued him from a near-death experience of being frozen.

He had to leave his teaching job and was especially cruel when he asked back the statue he carved which looked like her but he said it was for Bao Qin.  He then left the pouch Cui Xi especially made for him using the double Kesi.

It then got revealed also that his becoming a teacher for Xiushan was a plot.  He rescued Xiushan from kidnapping which was arranged by Bao Qin.

Cui Xi did send him away in a very dignified way.

Episode 14

Bao Qin was worried that Wei Lianggong had not turn up at the house.  She and Ruyi looked for him and finally found him in the snowy grave of his mother.  He was already on the point of freezing to death.

And he was at death’s door.  Bao Qin had consulted all the known physicians in town and everyone said that Lianggong was so ill because his internal organs are now shutting down.

Despite being very ill, Lianggong would continue to perfect the little wooden statue that he said will be his birthday gift for Bao Qin.

Bao Qin looked at the statue and was quite shocked.  The statue does not looked like her at all.

One look and you can noticed that it was Cui Xi, the hairdo, the face, and stature.

Lianggong shamefully admitted that he really wanted to love Bao Qin but he did not know when he started thinking only of Cui Xi.

Anyway, Bao Qin is now a different woman.  She had turned really thoughtful and kind.

Having been told by doctors that Lianggong was on death’s door and now spitting blood, she thought she would make him happy.

So she went to see Cui Xi.  She knelt down in front of the Ren Mansion until Cui Xi had deigned to see her.

When she was finally led inside, she was made to kneel down again in front of Cui Xi who asked her to follow her.

They boarded a carriage.  Bao Qin was surprised when she realised that they were not heading to Shangting, her place.

Instead they went to a snowy ravine.  Cui Xi told Bao Qin that she could not trust anything Bao Qin says to her as she might be setting her up for Li Zhou.

Cui Xi challenged Bao Qin to jump into the freezing water below if she was really telling the truth.

Bao Qin started to close her eyes and began to lean into the edge but Cui Xi pulled her back.

Episode 15

Cui Xi and Bao Qin held a truce and eventually sort of made up.  They talked that women are really vicious and territorial.

But now that Xuetang is gone, they had ot move on.

Bao Qin was able to persuade Cui Xi to visit Lianggong.  She said that if there is going to be gossip, Bao Qin would personally say that she was the one who was having an affair with Lianggong.

Anyway, Cui Xi admitted that she really got the hots for Lianggong and whatever fate may bring, she was ready to face it.

When she saw Lianggong, she was heartbroken to see how ill he was.

Lianggong told her that he was terminal as no amount of medicine can cure him.

However, her presence seemed to do him good because he was able to return to Ren Mansion and felt and looked like his old self again

He also asked if he could move into the hidden villa of Bao Qin.

Cui Xi told him that she also lived in the villa for a time.

Their happiness is about to be rudely interrupted by Li Zhao who had ordered to star a gossip about Lianggong and Cui Xi.

The hapless Ding Rong was tasked with the duty,  Though he promised Qiao’Er not to do any harm to Cui Xi, he could not help himself after receiving a good caning from Li Zhao’s men from hiding what he observed with the goings-on at Shantung Street.

Qiao’Er saw her husband suspiciously so she went to find out what was going on.

Ding Rong passed a script to the town storyteller about a young widow and her lover which obviously about Cui Xi and Lianggong.

Episode 16

This is a very sad episode.

Ding Rong really pushed his luck.  He sneaked into the Ren Mansion and into Cui Xi’s bedroom and put in a pair of men slippers by her bed.  But he got caught in the act by his own guilty wife, Shuyan, Ru Feng, etc.

They frogmarched him to Cui Xi who was being interviewed by the Ren elders because the rumours had heard them already.

They had the culprit, who had been spreading the rumours.

Qiao’Er was really annoyed and embarrassed by her husband she told him that they were over.

But it became true because Qiao’er started bleeding.  She was seen by doctors but they can’t save her or her baby.

Shuyan relished in telling heartbroken Ding Rong that his wife last work was never seeing Ding Rong in this life or in the next

Episode 17

Ru Feng excitedly brought cloth for a wedding dress for Shufang.

Instead of being happy she told him that there was no engagement between them and when he asked Cui Xi to intervene, she became Cui Xi became stupid and an ungrateful user.

She told Ru Feng not to bring her into their troubles, it was between them two, completely forgetting that stupid Shufang was covering for her and her wantonness with Lianggong.

She allowed Shufang to move into the side manor where Lianggong was staying which gives Cui Xi excuse to be with Lianggong.

I am not liking her anymore.  I liked her when she was strong and moral.

Episode 18

Li Zhao is running out of money so he had to dispose of his warehouseful of raw silk but put Ding Reg as his sales rep with the pirates.

Fortunately, Bao Qin and Cui Xi were a step ahead and warned the magistrate to put more guards into the canals.

The guards rumbled the latest transaction of Ding Reng

Poor Lianggong was getting worst.  He was spitting blood.

Cui Xi spent all her time with Lianggong.  She finally noticed that he had been spitting blood.  Despite his health, they were loved up.

Awww Lianggong died on Cui Xi’s shoulder.

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

Episode 26

Xuetong is back just in time to save Cui Xi from being beheaded.  She was being blamed for his murder.

Episode 27

Xuetong’s feeling for Cui Xi and Bao Qin was not cut and dried.  He actually loves them both.

Shufang overheard Rufeng telling Xuetong that he was rather lucky to have a wife and a concubine.

Shufang got upset thinking the Rufeng wanted a harem.

Rufeng, however, was really in love with his wife and had proven it.

Episode 28

Despite having seen that she misunderstood her husband, Shufang continued to treat poor Rufeng as dirt.

She told the worker to start calling her miss rather than Your Lady.

Meanwhile, Ruyi declined Shuyan’s offer of marriage because she had a self-esteem issue thinking that she was not good enough for him.  But she made such a drama of dumping him.

The behaviour of these two women does not make more marvelous women.

Bao Qin had become very loyal to Cui Xi.

Xuetang chose to sleep in her room but she made sure he did not move in with her.

Episode 29

Rufeng was feeling sorry for himself as Shufang looks determined to get a divorce.

It was Cui Xi who picked him up and told him to man up and start pulling his weight and help his wife with their accountancy business.

So Rufeng started doing the accounts, slowly at first but he started quite liking it because he knew that it was the only way he can get Shufang back.

Xuetong was trying to get closer to Cui Xi but she was always busy or not around.

One morning he went to find her but the servant told him rather diffidently that the madam had gone to a pilgrimage to Lianggong’s graveside.

He followed her there.  Finally, he learned that he was not the only one occupying Cui Xi’s heart, in fact he was out of it as he heard Cui Xi talking to Lianggong begging him not to cross into the afterlife just yet because he had to wait for her.

Then a few days later, Xuetong was shocked to get a request from Cui Xi for a divorce.

If Xuetong was upset, Bao Qin was heartbroken.  She begged Xuetong to dissuade Cui Xi from getting a divorce.

Cui Xi found them together looking very glum so she took them for a noodle treat.

Cui Xi was loving her noodle while the two looked at her.  She then told them that she was not getting a divorce because of them two, she was doing it for herself.

She then said that the happy woman who owned the noodle shop and served them was a divorced woman.  The woman married for love but her husband only wanted her dowry and mistreated her throughout their marriage.  So she divorced him and never been more contented afterwards because she doesn’t answer to anyone anymore.  She was living for herself and that was exactly what Cui Xi wanted.

She wanted to be free and not constraint by many family protocols

Still, Bao Qin started crying.  Cui Xi told her that Bao Qin had become her beloved younger sister and she should be the last one to beg her to stay.

Episode 30

As Cui Xi would not change her mind, Xuetong prepared the divorce paper.  Cui Xi did not want alimony.

She left the house with almost nothing except her kesi knowledge and her maid Lan.

She moved to Jinxi Workshop where she started teaching embroidery.

Ding Reng brought his two young daughters to become disciples of Cui Xi.

When Xuetong visited her, he saw that she looks peaceful.

But her peace did not last long as Lan’s father who was abusive to his wife had decided that it was time for the sixteen year old Lan to get married or become a mistress to a rich family.

Shufang and Rufeng reconciled.

Episode 31

Cui Xi expected to have teething problems with divorcing Xuetang and leaving the Ren Manor.  But she did not expect what the Xuetang becomes her problem.

He was always there, stalking her.  She was forced to tell him to stop already.

But Xuetang could not help himself.  Despite having Bao Qin at home he was becoming obsessed of Cui Xi.

Episode 32

Ex-magistrate Cao Wen Bin and his wife were out of prison.

They looked for their daughter Yaoniang.

Wen Bin saw her in the brothel where he found a job as a servant.

Yaoniang was training a singer/dancer in an ancient girl band in the brothel.🤗

He tried everything to make her go back home with him including trying and encouraging her to disfigure her face so she could keep her chastity and her reputation.

Yaoniang declined and told him to think of her as gone.  She then chucked him out from the brothel.

This episode started a scandal as there was a scene where a cat was shown as dying from poisoning.  The cat gave a last jerk of its legs before it passed away.

Animal lovers were not very happy that a real cat might have been killed for real.

Episode 33

Ruyi ended up marrying Wen Jing, a young scholar.

Ruyi was at first torn between Wen Jing and Shuyan but in the end she chose Wen Jing because he wanted to marry her the moment he saw her.  Unlike Shuyan who made her wait for years and years.

Episode 34

Cui Xi rescued Cao Ya Niang from the brothel.

Episode 35

Cui Xi and Bao Qin continued to be sisters and comrade.

Cui Xi finally said a proper goodbye to Lianggong.  She promised him that she will travel the world to promote kezi.

 

The End