The Rise of Ning (2024) 锦绣安宁
Summary: In the Luo family, daughter Luo YiNing ft Ren Min never liked all the traditions and prejudices of society growing up and routinely helped her 3rd brother Luo Shen Yuan ft Zhang Wan Yi, who was bullied often. But she slowly realized that Luo Shen Yuan actually is quite the talented and skilled young man. After a heartbreak, Luo Yi Ning decides to become an entrepreneur and open up a store. Meanwhile, Luo Shen Yan has been seeking the truth of his teacher’s tragic death. He does help Luo Yi Ning in setting up her business and the two grow closer. She becomes a successful business woman while he succeeds in the imperial examinations and also finds the truth about his teacher’s death.
Total Episode Count: 40
Initial Airing Date: October 10, 2024
Platform: Hunan TV, Tencent
*Note – English translations may not match official translations
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Review 6.3/10 – Essentially a more mediocre version of the Story of Ming Lan that follows similar beats but is less serious and more romanticized. This is an adequate but not exceptionally new story, perfect for a breezy and not too serious watch. The main romance was fine, but you have to accept that they were initially blood related siblings.
luo shen yuan 罗慎远
zhang wan yi 张晚意
3rd son of the Luo family. Unloved and ignored, he is actually a talented scholar and skilled swordsman
luo yi ning 罗宜宁
ren min 任敏
6th daughter of the Luo family. She lived away from the Luo residence for many years, only recently returning for her grandmother’s birthday.
lu jia xue 陆嘉学
ci sha 此沙
A powerful Marquis. He fell in love with Luo Yi Ning when he didn’t have his eyesight and she took care of him
Plot Overview
6th daughter of the Luo family Luo Yi Ning ft Ren Min (but daughter of the main wife) was was framed by her father’s mistress for said mistress’s miscarriage when she was just a young girl. She was sent to live away for her safety by her grandmother because her mother had already passed and young Luo Yi Ning would likely be in further danger. Many years later, Yi Ning returns home to celebrate her grandmother’s birthday and is helped by her 3rd brother, Luo Shen Yuan ft Zhang Wan Yi avoid backhanded attacks by their father’s mistress. Luo Shen Yuan is involved with trying to avenge his teacher’s death, a court official framed for being involved in a corruption scandal. He suspects that Luo Yi Ning has evidence that could help overturn the wrongful conviction and interfaces with her, trying to see if he could get that evidence. The two grow closer and Luo Yi Ning tries to help Luo Shen Yuan become an official member of the Luo family as she investigates who framed her as a child and what caused the death of her mother.
In the meantime, Lu Jia Xue ft Ci Sha, a Marquis, re-enters her life but she does not want to engage. They fell in love when he was injured and she happened upon him while he was under house arrest and she was living in a separate residence outside the city. He was blinded by injury and couldn’t see her when they fell in love. However, Luo Yi Ning was forced off a cliff in a miscommunication when Lu Jia Xue tried to create alliances to regain power. He didn’t order her death and was heartbroken she was forced to jump. She in turn, tried to forget this painful past.
This drama on the whole was not exceptional, just perfectly fine. It held on well in terms of online viewership and also tv ratings wise but was no means a strong hit. It only has 5.8 on douban. It’s middling fodder that hits many of the same beats that people are familiar with which makes it perfect to watch without having to think too hard. The stakes are not exceptionally high and the plot moves at a decent enough pace. The costumes and hairstyles are exquisite to look at and there are many different characters to keep audiences engaged at the various plot points. But overall it’s not a massive production. You’ll notice we never see the Emperor or the inside of the palace once. It’s firmly a show based on family dynamics.
What helps (and hurts it) are the many parallels to the Story of Ming Lan – the main female lead’s father doesn’t care for her, she has a Mistress in the family that has the ear of her father and wreaked havoc on her life, she has siblings that are both nasty and nice to her and she is graced by the protection of a loving grandmother, among others. There were some key differences such as the fact that she is the daughter of the main wife (though still unloved), which makes her status in the family much higher than Ming Lan’s and she has a great relationship with her father’s new main wife which was rather sweet. But it’s largely the same formula. Luo Yi Ning has to ensure she is not framed for actions in the Luo family meant to kick her out, and establish a foothold in the Luo family. You know what to look out for, and this drama largely delivers on those expectations.
On Luo Shen Yuan’s part (the main male lead), you have to accept that an unloved 3rd son of the Luo family is so unchecked by his family that he is able to study and learn martial arts to such a degree that he is top tier amongst other young scholars.
This is Zhang Wan Yi’s third historical romance drama to air this year and aired soon after being pummeled for his wooden and robotic acting in 柳舟记 Are You The One. This drama is less comedic than Are You The One which in my opinion suited Zhang Wan Yi a bit better. There were still moments where he felt wooden, but the character he plays is more reserved so his wooden-ness was less out of place. But alas, another drama where I have to eat my words. I had high hopes for Zhang Wan Yi but he’s not meeting those expectations. There isn’t as much emotion behind his roles vs Lost You Forever. Almost as if you can tell he’s not that into the role he’s filming. The chemistry between Ren Min is fine, not amazing.
Ren Min as the female lead I thought was adequate, and certainly an improvement from her role in last year’s the Longest Promise. She’s been under quite a bit of scrutiny from a physical appearance standpoint in the last year but she looks the part of a daughter of a scholarly family and took on the role well. Some might find her voice a tad timid and does not enunciate well. That is a matter of personal preference.
Ci Sha’s Lu Jia Xue plays the powerful yet obsessive marquis well. He is quite handsome and is trained in martial arts and horseback riding so he suits historical dramas. I feel like Ci Sha suffers from scripts that don’t know how to adequately use him. The flashbacks between Lu Jia Xue and Luo Yi Ning were intriguing and the later scenes where he is trying to piece together whether or not Luo Yi Ning was the person he loved could’ve been a main plot point in another drama. Alas, he’s the second main male lead that doesn’t prove to be AS big of a threat to the main couple as he could’ve been.
Some mild annoyances (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD)
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The romanticized view of shopkeeping. Luo Yi Ning doesn’t want to just rely on her father or her future husband for money. So she opens up a shop with her cousin and uncle. While having an independent source of income and something to do is admirable, the way she operates this shop is entirely how a wealthy woman with no real skin in the game would operate. She is at the shop only occasionally and randomly decides to up and leave based on how she’s feeling. She is only able to have this level of “independence” because her family has money supporting her. This shop is a hobby, not an actual job which ultimately undermines her view of being strong and independent.
- Luo Yi Ning’s true identity. Luo Yi Ning’s is an unloved daughter in the Luo family. The drama would’ve been SOOO much more interesting if she turned out to be the daughter of some random person that her mother fell in love with, because then she would really need to fight to survive. Maybe she would’ve put more attention on her shop. But no, she is the daughter of the Duke of Ying. That makes her even more powerful than when she was in the Luo family. It is only because of her birth, and who her birth father is, does she have status in society and is able to hold her head up high in front of her Luo family father who neglected her. What if she wasn’t as fortunate? What then?
- The incestuous romance – I liked Zhang Wan Yi and Ren Min fine in this drama but their chemistry and romance didn’t really land. I couldn’t ship them because…well for most of the drama, SHE didn’t know he was NOT her brother. He knew quite early on that they weren’t blood related which led him to develop a different type of feeling towards her, but she did not. She would keep boundaries and joke about how she wanted to know what type of sister-in-law she would want to help find for Luo Shen Yuan. Therefore, when later on when her identity was revealed and he professed her love, it still felt, rushed. If you could ship them from the get go, it’s a decent enough romance. Otherwise, it detracts from the story.
Karen