Redheaded Jill

My favorite Chinese drama of the year so far is called Blossoms in Adversity. Warning, spoilers ahead.

One of the emperor’s advisors is a righteous old man who is the only one brave enough to stand up to the king. One day in anger the king banishes the man and all of his descendants. All the men of the household 10 years old and older are sent north to a work camp and all the women have to leave behind their home and belongings.

The story follows the oldest granddaughter as she works to provide for her large family of women. Of course she falls in love with the King’s nephew who is secretly part of the police force, and who was responsible for running her family out of their home.

It’s really heartwarming to see how all these women come together and make a living for themselves. They pull themselves up out of the gutter and end up moving back into town where they start several small businesses and become very successful. Their goal is to save enough money to buy the freedom of all of the men in their family.

There’s a couple episodes left, but I’m hoping for a happy ending. The main couple is amazing and they don’t succumb to a lot of the stereotypes and romantic tropes that are often seen in these shows. I can’t tell if the emperor is actually evil or just very unpleasant. The actors are all doing a wonderful job. It can be found for free on YouTube or viki.com.