2 out of 36 episodes recapped.
A 2025 Chinese historical drama about a marriage between a warlord and a young beauty whose families are enemies.
You can watch the trailer here.
Country: China
Local Title: 折腰
Year Released: 2025
Number of Episodes: 36
Genre: Epic Historical Arranged Marriage BG
Main Actors:
Song Zu Er as Qiao Man / Man Man
Liu Yu Ning as Wei Shao
Xuan Lu as Su E Huang / Lady Yu Lou
Liu Duan Duan as Wei Yan / Shi Yuan
Pre-Recap Information:
For me, a healthy drama diet includes a few Chinese dramas, and what I want from a Chinese drama is different from what I want from other dramas.
Here’s a list!
- Liu Yu Ning, surviving to the end of the story in good health
- Plenty of tragedy, but the main characters live at the end
- Historical/Fantasy setting
- Arranged marriage
- Fighting
- Crying
- Side characters dying
- Long journeys in carriages
- Rides on horseback in the rain
- Backstabbing and conniving family members
- Yelling
- Concubines
- Long episode counts
- Dramatic separations with lots of yearning for the other
- Betrayals
In short, I like my Chinese dramas best when they are dramatic, have a happy ending for our main characters, and have Liu Yu Ning. If I can get 2 out of 3, that’s fine too.
In this case, I have Liu Yu Ning, and I have an arranged marriage, so we’ve got a good start. He’s playing Wei Shao, a fierce warlord whose family was betrayed by the female lead’s family when he was a kid, leaving him nicely traumatized.
Meanwhile, our female lead, Man Man, has had relatively little tragedy in the past, but is a woman in some vague historical era. Her life has always been under the control of the weak men in her family. Physical strength and direct confrontation are not options. She’s had to learn to survive in other ways, and does what she needs to keep herself and those she cares about alive.
It’s a nice setup for two strong people who could be a perfect power couple if he didn’t hate her family. We’ll get there, though. I’m excited for weeping, yelling, torrential rain, night-time horseback rides, dramatic illness, and all the fun drama.
Recaps and Thoughts: