Flourishd Peony (国色芳华) is bound to have many viewers given the cast. Both the leads, Yang Zi and Li Xian, command huge followings and hence, their dramas would naturally attract attention. The expectation is there that it should be a great drama after their past successes. By and large, they didn’t disappoint their fans and the Flourished Peony reviews are generally positive. You are welcomed to read my own take on this drama as detailed below.
My rating: 8/10
Episodes: 32
Type: Historical Romance
Aired: January 2025
Images credit: Douban Movie
The Cast Of Flourished Peony
- Yang Zi as He Wei Fang / Mu Dan
- Li Xian as Jiang Chang Yang
- Miles Wei Zhe Ming as Liu Chang
- Zhang Ya Qin as Li You Zhen
- Tu Song Yan as Prince Ning
- Shao Yun as Wu Niang / Qin Sheng Yi
- Xin Peng as Wang Qing
- Zhang Lei as Liu Shen
- Hao Wen Ting as Mrs. Liu
- Guan Yue as Zhu Fu / Da Fu
- Sun Mei Lin as Lu Geng Chun / Xiao Chun
- Jeremy Qu Zhe Ming as San Lang
Main Characters
He Wei Fang / Mu Dan
Mu Dan is the daughter of a rich merchant. She is into cultivating peonies which she learned from her late mother. Mu Dan is a determined and independent woman with a mind of her own. She is resourceful and optimistic with a keen business sense. Yu Lu is her personal maid whom she regards as her sister.
Jiang Chang Yang
Chang Yang is the Floral Envoy with a close relationship with the Emperor and Prince Ning. He appears as a playful and corrupted high-ranking official who can be bought by those seeking promotion. But Chang Yang is actually a smart and consummate pretender. Chuan Yu is his personal assistant.
Supporting Characters
Liu Chang
Liu Chang is the son of the magistrate of Luoyang. He is a principled man who tries his best to follow the rules and wants to earn a place as an official on his own merit. But he lacks guts and decisiveness when it matters. Liu Chang is also Mu Dan’s husband through an arranged marriage.
Li You Zhen
You Zhen is the daughter of Prince Ning. She is someone who would not hesitate to use her power and status to bully those beneath her to achieve her aim. You Zhen has dee feelings for Liu Chang.
Prince Ning
Prince Ning is the Emperor’s brother. He is a sly and corrupted prince with a secret agenda to undermine his brother’s rule.
Wu Niang / Qin Sheng Yi
Sheng Yi is the wife of an eatery owner who is also an abusive husband. She is illiterate and timid but still has a kind heart. The only person in her family who cares about her is her younger brother, Qin Liu Lang.
Wang Qing
Wang Qing is Sheng Yi’s abusive husband. He is a brutal and despicable man who takes advantage of weak women and is inherently greedy.
Liu Shen & Mrs. Liu
Both the Lius are Liu Chang’s parents. They are greedy people and have no qualms using dirty tactics and backdoor means to get their son to gain power and move up the ranks.
Zhu Fu / Da Fu
Da Fu is the daughter of an incense powder stall owner. She is an impulsive and a strong woman with a bit of tomboyish behavior that is frowned upon. But she is someone who will help when she sees an injustice.
Lu Geng Chun / Xiao Chun
Xiao Chun is the daughter of flower merchant and head of the flower guild. She likes to practice medicine and treat patients but is hampered by her gender and her father’s traditional thinking about women’s role in society.
San Lang
San Lang is actually the Emperor. He has a close bond with Chang Yang and San Lang is his assumed identity in public. Ling Ge is his noble consort whom he secretly loves and yearns for her genuine affections.
Synopsis
Mu Dan is married to Liu Chang who is against the marriage arranged by his parents. It was a deal as Mu Dan’s sickly mother needed a rare medicine that the Lius possessed. In exchange, Liu Chang’s parents wanted Mu Dan to be their daughter-in-law because of her good horoscope.
Hence, Liu Chang treated Mu Dan badly in the beginning while she looked for an escape route. Her in-laws are despicable people who were eyeing her dowry. The arrival of Liu Chang’s ex and Chang Yang who is the Floral Envoy provided Mu Dan the opportunity to escape from the marriage. With Chang Yang’s help who has his own agenda, she managed to get a divorce and fled to the capital.
Mu Dan’s ambition is to be a peony cultivator and trader which reminded her of her late mother. She bumps into Chang Yang again in the capital and through her wits and skills, she tries to build her business as a female entrepreneur in a male-dominated world. With Chang Yang’s help, she persistently overcome each obstacle thrown her way to make it as an enterpreneur.
Flourished Peony Ending & Recap (Spoilers Alert!)
Flourished Peony has a happy but incomplete ending with a second season on the cards. In the last episode, Mu Dan has achieved her aim to be a successful entrepreneur. She has bought over a big garden that used to belong to her mother and renovated it to become an attraction for people to enjoy flowers, entertainment, dining, and shopping for floral and medicinal cosmetics.
The story stops there without accounting for the fate of the antagonists. This part of the storyline remains incomplete which should be carried over to the second season.
When Did The Leads Get Together?
Mu Dan gradually sees Chang Yang differently after being his debtor and tenant over a period of time. She learns that he takes care of orphans in Episode 12 which is in contrast to his public persona of being a top corrupted official.
In Episode 15, she also discovers that Chang Yang has been secretly protecting his teacher from Prince Ning who wants the latter killed. His mentor is an upright official who is against Prince Ning. Chang Yang also relates to Mu Dan about his father’s broken promise to his mother when his father married a concubine. That is why he doesn’t believe in love and marriage.
Mu Dan and Chang Yang get closer in Episode 17. Chang Yang buys her over and frees her from the slave camp in Episode 23 after she has been accused of faking her death and falsifying her identity by her enemies. She proposes that they be good friends besides a creditor-debtor relationship. Chang Yang marries Mu Dan in Episode 29 with a ceremony held in Episode 30 to protect her from Prince Ning who blames Mu Dan for causing his daughter to become barren.
Mu Dan treats the union as a fake marriage which is borne out of necessity. They pretend to be a fake couple to fend off a concubine sent by Prince Ning to keep an eye on Chang Yang in Episode 3. Although Chang Yang has developed real feelings for Mu Dan, he keeps it to himself as he knows Mu Dan prefers to be a free woman.
Is There Any Love Triangle?
Liu Chang detests Mu Dan when he married her because it was a marriage forced upon him by his parents. But he soon realizes that Mu Dan has been tricked by his parents who also want her dead for her dowry. Liu Chang also begins to fall for Mu Dan which angers You Zhen who wants his affections. Mu Dan manages to get a divorce with Chang Yang’s help and through a collusion with You Zhen who lured Liu Chang into a compromising position with her.
Liu Chang thought Mu Dan has died in her escape but meets her again in the capital in Episode 10. He wants to take care and protect her but gets rejected outright. In Episode 17, Liu Chang is forced to promise his parents not to see Mu Dan again as his association with her will just annoy You Zhen who will then harm Mu Dan in return. But his feelings for her remain and he asks her for another chance in Episode 19. Mu Dan rejects him again.
Liu Chang & You Zhen
Liu Chang hates himself for being incompetent and unable to take control of his own life. He loaths You Zhen for her arrogance and cruel treatment against those whom she thinks have slighted him as well as the way she forced a marriage on him. She also doesn’t understand his need to prove his own worth rather than relying on her and her father to climb the ranks.
Thus, Liu Chang delays his marriage to You Zhen after a quarrel in Episode 19 and requests Prince Ning to annul their engagement in Episode 20. As punishment, he is sent to work in the imperial stable. However, Liu Chang is forced to marry You Zhen again in Episode 25 in order to free his father who has been arrested for mixing moldy grains with good ones for illegal profits.
As You Zhen is deeply jealous of Mu Dan, she tries to harm her in Episode 27. But You Zhen ends up being stepped on by her own horse and could no longer have children. Prince Ning forces Liu Chang to quickly marry You Zhen who is now barren. Liu Chang tries to resist but his selfish father agrees on his behalf. He is also crippled for his resistance. Liu Chang changes after the incident to take advantage of the marriage to gain power. He marries You Zhen in Episode 29 while still thinking of Mu Dan. He also poisons his parents in Episode 31 when he goes back to visit them.
Sheng Yi’s Fate
Mu Dan helps Sheng Yi to get a divorce from her abusive husband and together, they start a business selling flowers. However, despite their success, Sheng Yi still has low self-esteem and feels that she has no skills to help Mu Dan as their business grows compared to Da Fu and Xiao Chun. Coupled with her conditioned thinking that a woman still needs a man, Sheng Yi is easily swayed by Wang Qing to reconcile in Episode 20.
Wang Qing is eyeing Mu Dan’s shop and remarries Sheng Yi in Episode 21. He uses information gleaned from Sheng Yi to report Mu Dan for faking her death and falsifying her household registration. With You Zhen controlling behind the scenes, Mu Dan is found guilty and sent to a slave camp. When Sheng Yi finds out what Wang Qing has done, it is too late.
Wang Qing is abusive again after the remarriage in Episode 23. Sheng Yi regrets causing hardship to Mu Dan due to her mistake. She turns down Mu Dan’s offer to reunite as she feels they can’t go back to the past. She also decides to stick with Wang Qing in Episode 24 due to her lack of confidence to find another man as she is barren after years of abuse.
Sheng Yi kills Wang Qing in a bout of anger after another round of drunken bullying in Episode 26. She then surrenders to the authorities and commits suicide in court. She leaves a note to Mu Dan to take care of her broher, Liu Lang, after her death. Liu Lang arrives in the capital and meets Mu Dan in Episode 32. Mu Dan asks Liu Lang to regard her as a sister and he is touched by her care for him.
Flourished Peony Review – Second Season Awaits
The first thing to bear in mind when you watch Flourished Peony is that the story is incomplete. I wasn’t aware of this when I started. So, I felt kind of cheated when I reached the end as the villains story has been left hanging. It is only after finding out more about this drama that I knew that there is a second season to come like how they chopped up Lost You Forever and Joy Of Life into 2 or more seasons. Therefore, if you prefer to watch the whole saga in one sitting, then you’d better wait until S2 is released.
The other thing to take note of is that Flourished Peony is a female empowerment drama like The Story Of Pearl Girl which details a woman’s tough journey to business success. So, it is not a unique plot but one that has been used numerous times in the past. Frankly speaking, you won’t find anything special about the story. In fact, some may even find it boring because it is slow-moving in a way. The female lead has to face one obstacle after another to survive and build her business in a very feudalistic and patriarchal society. At the same time, she has to bear the wrath of a jealous princess and despicable ex-in-laws who are always out to harm her.
What makes it work though is the way everything is put together. The story itself isn’t outstanding but the way it is depicted with the characters involved is persuasive and engaging.
Relatable Characters
I think one of the success factors of Flourished Peony is the way the characters have been presented and written. It is easy to relate to them and understand their motivations. Most of the main roles are not typical one-dimensional characters but complex personalities with contradictions due to their backgrounds and bitter experiences.
The male lead puts on an appearance of being a playful corrupted official which automatically makes him a funny and interesting character. The female lead is the usual strong woman with ambition. But she also has a revengeful streak in her as she keeps score with those who have wronged her. There is also the visible contrast between the optimistic female lead and her best friend who is hampered by narrow thinking and circumstances.
Basically, all these characters put together offer viewers a rich story with different dynamics. There is the sisterhood and friendship among the female characters that will warm your heart as well as make you tear up. The spineless second male lead who is gradually being pushed to the edge before showing glimpses of fighting back towards the end is another interesting plot development.
Of course, the interactions between the male and female lead is the one that most would look forward to in this drama. However, theirs is a very, very slow burn romance.
Slow Burn Romance
If you are going to watch Flourished Peony for the romance, then be forewarned that the main couple are largely friends and business partners throughout the drama. They have made it clear that they are not into marriage early on. Hence, any feelings that come up are quickly suppressed or dismissed altogether.
As a result, their “date nights” are mainly barbecuing under the moonlight as they banter about business and profit sharing ratios. No sweet whisperings of ‘I love you’ but a kind of slow burn romance that is limited to playful arguments and a unique debtor-creditor business relationship. I see it as a very gradual build-up of admiration and appreciation of each other’s qualities with romantic feelings hidden deep under the layers.
I guess some viewers would like it while others would find it plain with no hugs and kisses. But it works for me because I find their interactions natural and easy-going.
Acting & Chemistry
This is not the first time Yang Zi and Li Xian have worked together. They were also co-stars and the main couple in Go Go Squid! back in 2019. Perhaps that is part of the reason why they seem to complement each other very well in Flourished Peony. It is enjoyable watching them together as they bicker on-screen in their respective roles. The chemistry is there from the start and the characters that they play are also a perfect fit for each other. Hence, it elevates the level of enjoyment as you watch them together.
Both Yang Zi’s and Li Xian’s acting skills are also well-recognized by now. Both have been involved in several well-known dramas in both modern and historical categories. Yang Zi is as eye-catching as always in Flourished Peony and has a strong screen presence. Her role as Mu Dan who is a survivor is well-portrayed with steely determination in her eyes and body language to reflect the character.
Li Xian also has an interesting role as a play pretend corrupted envoy who likes to indulge in wine and women. His smiles and facial expressions will automatically endear you to the character. He has his own way of portraying the non-serious side of the character and those traits seem to come naturally rather than forced.
My Verdict – Watch!
I suppose there is little reason not to give Flourished Peony a go. After all, the 2 leads are already a crowd puller. Combined with good storytelling, it is certainly worth the time invested.
To me, the characters and their great portrayals managed to bring the story to life although the plot itself is nothing fantastic. It has the right amount of everything which includes friendship, entrepreneurship, romance, and politics. Thus, it doesn’t get bogged down by a single issue which helps to counter the boredom that may arise from watching a typical success journey of a woman in ancient times.
However, the drama may still be slow-moving to some as it lacks intensity despite the presence of a revenge angle and hateful villains. A self-entitled and jealous princess causing trouble to the female lead appears every now and then. So is a prince trying to put all his chess pieces in place for a power grab. But they do not form the core of the story. Hence, if you are looking for more intensity like The Double or even Blossom, then Flourished Peony may fall a little short.
Overall, I think 8/10 is a fair score for this Flourished Peony review. It is an engaging watch if you are into female empowerment dramas and how a woman overcome the odds to succeed with powerful enemies in the picture. One huge drawback though is the long interval before the next season. You are left hanging when the villains haven’t got their just punishment and the leads’ romance is still in the ambiguous stage.
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