Percabeth:In drama, I don't know which episode but I'm sure that some character said real jiang li age is 18. Our Fl must be older than her by few years like 19-21. Our Ml must be early 20's. In book storyline is different.
drama makes the characters older than their novel age. Jiang Li is 16 and Ji Heng is 24. XFF should be around 21-22 when she died.
How old was little Duke Su/Xiao Heng when he hit the Dengwei Drum 10 years ago (to report Lord Cheng's conspiracy in killing his father)? I think he's like 10 or 12 at most. So now, 10 years later he must be around 20-22 years-old.
The emperor is a little older than him, shown when they're kids standing next to each other, the emperor's about a hand taller, I'm guessing 3 years older so he must be around 23-25 years-old now.
Though I'm still amazed that boys (or men, oops 👀) this age could plot such a complex political and military strategy! While my 23 y.o. ass is still on my bed comfortably LOL. But if we're thinking from a historical POV, it's rather normal, I guess, for people to achieve things much sooner, right? For example Mehmet II when winning the battle in Constantinople, he was but 21.
So Xiao Heng, definitely you're not xiao didi (小弟弟/little brother)!!!
But emperor? Seriously, I can't treat this character as THAT YOUNG - you know - appearance wise. The first time I watched him, I thought he must be like 30-something. Especially when I saw him with Consort Li (isn't she the stepmother's younger sister though? So it's like Jiang Li's AUNT! And logically her aunt is also Xiao Heng's aunt... And Xiao Heng is the emperor's friend)...
What does that emperor do with an auntie?!! 😆 Well, perhaps an arranged marriage with an older woman, why not?
(Cont'd next time)
Thanks for reading everybody!
Princess Wanning is a "meimei (妹妹)/younger sister" to the emperor. If the emperor's 23-25, Wanning must be in the early 20s. Imagine in the early twenty but embezzling and killing so many people 👀 - But really, guys, again to me it seems like Wanning is in the early 30s instead (appearance wise, or that's how the drama visually portrait her character).
Seriously, wondering about everyone's age was not that confusing UNTIL I watched the scenes where little Xiao Heng and little emperor standing next to each other. I mean, " Zhao Ye shouldn't you at least be 10 years older than Xiao Heng?!!"
But I'm not complaining tho 😆 The drama's wrapped pretty well, I just want to write what's been on my mind for the past few weeks.
Real Jiang Li was 18 when she died. Tong'er must be about her age too. Jiang Ruoyao (the third Jiang young lady) had the coming-of-age ceremony shortly after Jiang Li back to their family. If I'm not mistaken, in ancient China girls became adult at the age of 15, I think that's how old Ruoyao is.
But what about Jiang Yu'e (the fourth Jiang young lady)? Did she get to celebrate her own coming-of-age when she MARRIED Zhou Yanbang that quick? LOL 😆 (Or was she even "an adult" by that era's standard tho? 👀 Now it gets creepier real quick).
Jiang gongzi (young lord) is a little older than Jiang Li because she called him "biao ge / older cousin brother". As for the Liu lady, I don't know. Neither with Ye gongzi.
I'm also at lost here regarding Xue Fangfei and Shen Yurong's age. Their exact ages were not stated anywhere. At first I even thought that they were in the early 30s too or at least late 20s - appearance wise 😆
But I think we're allowed to speculate about the two of them. BlueOrchidBlossom above stated that Xue Fangfei's 19 in the novel. But I always like to portray them as much older (29-31 years old)... And so it also means that Xiao Heng likes much older woman 🤭
I don't think Xue Fang Fei is as old as 29-31.
Her husband was poor and wanted to be a scholar. Let's say she married at 15 and he was 17 (give or take). It probably took him a couple of years to study. Then he passed with great merit and was promoted. Let's say it took it a few times because those exams were difficult. Five years should give enough time for XFF to suppress her amazing intellect and be just a wife, being obedient and bullied. So she was probably 21-22 when she was offed by SYR.
The Duke's age is harder to guess. During Jiang Li's beating of the Deng Wen drum, one of the bystanders said the last time the drum was beaten was over ten years ago (by the Duke), so it's been over a decade. So, let's say, he was ten or eleven, so that makes him the same age as XFF/JiangLi. If he were older when he beat the drum (because boys tend to look younger), he would be around 24 or 25. This actually made more sense to me because the Emperor and his doing the handshake thingy scene looked like they were around 15 (the way they talked). Eight years had passed since that handshake, so that would make him 23 or 24!
The Crazy Princess is older than the Emperor.
Stepmom was in her 30s. She probably didn't marry Bai at 15 exactly because he had a Principal Wife (Jiang Li's mother). She probably spent a few years pretending to be her friend while poisoning her. So, let's put her around 33-34.
Which makes Consort Li around 31-32 because she was the Mei Mei, right? The actress looked a lot older, though!
All conjecture, of course, haha.
We forget that people didn't live that long, then. Most died in their 30s and 40s, so they were adults at a very young age. Girls run households with full control of the finances and dozens of servants by 13 or 14! A war general could be just 21 (ala Ling Bu Yi)! Alexander the Great, while conquering the then world, was 33 when he died, after all. It's amazing how much the Ancients accomplished without any machinery, Internet or sleep, apparently, heh.
There is something weird with the novel though.
at the beginning it says she’s been at the nunnery for 5 years then it jumped to 6 and 8 and then kinda settled on 7.
and supposedly she was 6 when Ji shuran lost the baby.
so she would either be as young as 11 and as old as 14 at the most.
when she gets back to the capital, the description always mention that she looks like a 14/15 old teenager.
as for him, in the beginning the only mention we have is his beauty
skyfleurette:There is something weird with the novel though.
at the beginning it says she’s been at the nunnery for 5 years then it jumped to 6 and 8 and then kinda settled on 7.
and supposedly she was 6 when Ji shuran lost the baby.
so she would either be as young as 11 and as old as 14 at the most.when she gets back to the capital, the description always mention that she looks like a 14/15 old teenager.
as for him, in the beginning the only mention we have is his beauty
This is the novel age, right? XFF's soul transmigrated into JL when the latter committed suicide, right?
In the drama, I think they made JL a bit older so that the older XFF (no transmigration) could look that age. If XFF were 21 or 22, it would be hard to sell her return as a 16 year old. But an 18 year-old? Yes, that could be done. Also, in the drama there's Rao Yan's Coming of Age banquet, which meant drama JL had to be a couple of years older.
Back to reality--these kids have long memories! I can't remember that much when I was six years old! But these five and six-year old ancients, they remember promises and warnings and bad blood, LOL.
In the novel. Yes
when she gets back, it is a few weeks before the coming of age ceremony and you’re right, her sister is 15. Which makes the ages in the novel troublesome because jiang li is supposed to be a few years older than her half sister. But they say she’s also 15. They also make jiang li one year younger than the servant’s daughter the one that drowned (killed by Ji Shiran
the author haa a hard time with numbers, clearly. the way the ceremony is disrupted is very different in the novel. She buys some jewelry that cost 300 silver taels but in the next chapter every time it is mentioned it’s 400. I don’t know if they lie on purpose to hide that she got her pendant back or if she truly has an issue
Every time they mention the incident and her being sent to the nunnery, the years she went there change. Right now it is settled on 8.
I think the drama writer realized 1 there was a real issue with the ages and 2 15 is way too young for our standards. So they’re all a bit older. She’s18 in the show and that’s better than having relationship between a 15 yo and a 24 yo (duke su‘s age in the novel).