
The Story of Minglan 知否知否应是绿肥红瘦 garnered CSM52 ratings of 0.608% for its much-awaited premiere on Hunan TV last night. I’m surprised that it’s lagging behind most of the primetime shows and even ranks below The King of Blaze which garnered 0.770% despite being a late evening show. View count seems more hopeful in comparison as it reached 62.6 million views online to place in 3rd after hit drama Like A Flowing River and About Is Love. Nonetheless, it has yet to hit the 100 million mark that many dramas have crossed within the first hour of release.
Having caught the first two episodes, Minglan is really a family drama at its core which may not be for everybody. I though I’d be bored, but I personally enjoyed every moment and appreciated how every detail was so intricately shot. Only the young cast have appeared and I’d say they pretty much held their own.

I love little Minglan, she is too precious!

I thought he was a young Kim Soo Hyun at first glance, maybe not in this picture. What he does in the first episode is really sweet.

And here I mistook this girl for little Minglan at the opening scene. She’s also super cute.

There would be no drama without someone causing trouble. It’s her.


The heads of the household seem more self-serving and easily manipulated than evil which hardly helps. Meanwhile, here are some stills of Zhao Liying, Feng Shaofeng and Zhu Yilong as we wait for their grand entrance.



Anonymous
I am starting to think that more than family t by e drama shows how hard it was to be a woman during those times.
I think ratings will rise after a few days.
Anonymous
I will wait until ZLY at least shows up then.. LOL maybe many think alike
Anonymous
i'm watching it rn. it's been a while to see young cast over a few eps so im enjoying it rn. they're doing well!
Anonymous
Anyone knows who the younger cast are. Young Minglan might be too young to keep on my radar but young Tingye is doing pretty good.
Anonymous
Some parts remind me of Legend of Mi Yue someway. I think the child actress for Ming Lan played for the cute younger age for Mi Yue too. For the child actress for Mi Yue when she got a bit older, she is not so pretty, however she is realistically a tomboy at a mature age who is be able to be good at a dart game. What I understand from Legend of Ming Lan is, she just magically have abilities regardless of her young age or ever practicing anything but just have those talents through nature. Personally that makes it boring to me because I know she wouldn't have to put an effort to anything she wants and will just get them unrealistically or uninterestingly for sure.
The opening theme is really disappointing, it's making me really curious if the story is nothing except about jealousy women fighting? Is that why they're trying to hide the contents of the drama? The pictures they showed were not self explanatory in an obvious way, I don't know why they're the opening theme. Until I heard of the real title of the drama "The green should be plump and the red lean" (line from a poem meaning to pity ancient women's fate) I guess those pictures are for that…Sounds like something from Dreams of the Red Chamber. However, in DOTRC, it is a story of many women with different fates. Ming Lan is so much a usual typical female lead who is the nice person everyone is rooting for while everyone else is just so annoying. I wonder if the real storyline really covers something about many different women's fate…I don't have a feeling the drama version is relating to that theme because the sole focus is only Ming Lan. I really hate the slow pace and quiet dark setting, it is so colorless and undecorative. DOTRC's most famous version was slow pace but the decorations were so amazing, the Chinese culture can be seen through every move and flip of the scenes.
Anonymous
See? I was not wrong at all. On ep 16. I thought women were so restricted esp. for a person like Ming Lan, how she was able to ride a horse is just amazing enough already. She can even play hockey better than others too. That game takes lots of practice! Again, nature's gift given by the writer. She wins at anything the writer say for her to win…
Anonymous
did you see the show properly? she is smart kid and learn things….
her mother taught her how to play darts (which is mentioned when her father talked to her mother)…
and the hockey etc… grandma arranged to teach her… because it's what noble ladies played. that is also mentioned in the story.
momo
In the novel, minglan was transmigrated that s why she had adult like comprehension. In the drama, her mom was described as someone smart and well learned before her dad dead and they had to sell her as concubine. So her mom teached minglan few things before she dead, though sometimes minglan didnt listen to her mom. Then after her mom dead, minglan began to understand her position as concubine daughter and why her mom teached those things to her. Then she started to hide her intelegent and try to become invisible to survive in that kind of house. So she really didnt get anything as easily as you think.
Anonymous
LOL "not getting anything as easily as you think" she is a really little kid who can play darts without practicing it, that was easily explained as magic and nature's gift.