The writing in this arc SUCKS.

Best wishes to the lead artist though.

Characters being morally corrupt isn't bad writing. You expect them to be good just because they're the main characters and they're cute together? This is a story about a dog eat dog world where almost every character is a wolf.

Genuine question, is all of the talk about colonizers based solely on the villagers outfits?

My reading of Hesha’s desire to acquire the village is to bring it under her families control and thereby free the villagers from the rule of Mulai, a kingdom that these women fled from and that has been consistently shown to treat women as little more than objects.

Me too shepherd. Anywyas, Hesha girl boss in medieval world noble standards.

Genuine question, is all of the talk about colonizers based solely on the villagers outfits?

My reading of Hesha’s desire to acquire the village is to bring it under her families control and thereby free the villagers from the rule of Mulai, a kingdom that these women fled from and that has been consistently shown to treat women as little more than objects.

That is a very charitable reading, and Hesha has already demonstrated her ability to learn empathy for the less fortunate classes before. We will see how this arrangement works out in the future chapters. :-)

Genuine question, is all of the talk about colonizers based solely on the villagers outfits?

My reading of Hesha’s desire to acquire the village is to bring it under her families control and thereby free the villagers from the rule of Mulai, a kingdom that these women fled from and that has been consistently shown to treat women as little more than objects.

That is a very charitable reading, and Hesha has already demonstrated her ability to learn empathy for the less fortunate classes before. We will see how this arrangement works out in the future chapters. :-)

Seconding the sentiment that it’s a very charitable reading. I’m sure the story will try to paint our leads as good people for doing this, while also trying to continue to justify it with “well you attacked us so whatever we do is fair game”, cool story author still colonization.

The buying of people and their land regardless of how they dress and so forth is still colonization, buying their goods at cheap prices when they are unaware of the market and their value is part of colonization, even if our noble ladies are being framed as good people by nobly saving this village of women with their wealth it's still colonization.

last edited at Aug 22, 2026 11:00AM

The writing in this arc SUCKS.

Best wishes to the lead artist though.

Characters being morally corrupt isn't bad writing. You expect them to be good just because they're the main characters and they're cute together? This is a story about a dog eat dog world where almost every character is a wolf.

we support women's wrongs

But we don’t know what Hesha plans to pay the villagers yet. Sure she wants the goods for as cheap as she can but that’s how a business works. That doesn’t mean the women won’t still be well paid. Hesha’s already been shown to pay her workers well. She got in trouble with her father multiple times for continuously overpaying the people on her tea plantation because she believes in paying people what they’re worth.
In this venture, their goal seems to be to profit by exploiting the wealthy nobles by overcharging them for the limited fruits and desserts.
It’s also unlikely Jolene of all people would sit back and allow Hesha to exploit other commoners.

The way I read this arc is that Hesha and Jolene come up with a new business venture using these flavored grapes Hesha bought from a merchant to overcharge the nobles by using their seasonal nature.

Then end up getting attacked by desperate women who had previously fled to the border of their kingdom to escape the blatant abuse and sexism they were subjected to in Mulai.

In a twist of fate these women also happen to be the ones responsible for growing the flavored grapes they were interested in.

The two groups agreed to negotiate trade in exchange for Hesha not bringing down the full weight of her family on the struggling village.

Hesha and Jolene then discuss further employing the women of the village (by setting up a grape processing place in the village) so that they don’t have to resort to banditry.

Just as they are about to sit down and negotiate all the details, the Sterling army arrives to “rescue” Hesha. This leads to further mistrust between Hesha and the villagers because she claimed that nothing would happen to them if they agreed to trade. (Not to mention this lead to men entering the village when they aren’t allowed)

This is when Hesha introduces her go big or go home strategy of trying to acquire the land from the kingdom of Mulai, whom these women are still subjects of, in order to free them from Mulai’s rule. This is on top of the already planned trade and jobs that Hesha and Jolene had been discussing. All of this with the goal of improving the lives of these commoners, something that Hesha and Jolene have consistently worked towards at school.

At least this is what I believe is the authors intent for this arc. I don’t believe they intended for any kind of colonizer narrative.
Obviously some things could have been done better to show this. Like if the plan was for the story to lead to Hesha immediately helping the villagers then it probably would have been better to have them simply injure the guards instead of making them act overly violent just to turn around and play victim

Manhwa uses the seasonal format for specifically this reason. I wonder why manhua doesn't?

PS I don't think it's a charitable reading, it's just literally what the author is trying to convey. This whole time the manhua has been concerned with practical application, straddling the line many times in the process.

last edited at Aug 22, 2026 1:22PM

Even if the author didn't intend to write a colonization narrative they still did. I'm sure the series will have the village and it's people prosper from this situation, which still reads to me as a gross "colonization is good actually" narrative even if again that's not what the author intended. If people here think the wealthy buying people and their land and it all working out for the better isn't colonization with a pretty picture-frame around it than so be it, we can agree to disagree.

The writing in this arc SUCKS.

Best wishes to the lead artist though.

Characters being morally corrupt isn't bad writing. You expect them to be good just because they're the main characters and they're cute together? This is a story about a dog eat dog world where almost every character is a wolf.

Not my point. I'm talking about the unrealistic reaction and conversation of both sides in this so-called "dog eat dog world". But sure, whatever. Consumer be consuming.

I’m not saying it doesn’t appear that way or that people who read it that way are wrong even if I disagree. I’m legitimately interested in what causes the different perspectives on this.
What is the biggest cause of people perceiving it as colonization?

Is it the text? Either because of the original writing or potentially by extension my translation of it.

Is it the visual imagery? That’s why I asked about the clothing before. Obviously from a western lens, those clothes with dark skin has a certain reading regarding natives and “savages” and is often used in colonization narratives. But from the Chinese lens from which the story was written those are just poor commoners clothes and their dark skin has been well established as part of the Mulai people. They’re not things associated with colonization.

Is it the structure of the narrative that’s muddied the authors intent and given it the appearance of something it wasn’t intended to be?

I just find this all interesting

Oh wow the artist is stepping down? Im glad theres a new artist taking over but I wonder if they will portray the same intentions as the original. This has been a pretty good read so far. All the best to Shouzhong

Genuine question, is all of the talk about colonizers based solely on the villagers outfits?

My reading of Hesha’s desire to acquire the village is to bring it under her families control and thereby free the villagers from the rule of Mulai, a kingdom that these women fled from and that has been consistently shown to treat women as little more than objects.

That is a very charitable reading, and Hesha has already demonstrated her ability to learn empathy for the less fortunate classes before. We will see how this arrangement works out in the future chapters. :-)

Seconding the sentiment that it’s a very charitable reading. I’m sure the story will try to paint our leads as good people for doing this, while also trying to continue to justify it with “well you attacked us so whatever we do is fair game”, cool story author still colonization.

The buying of people and their land regardless of how they dress and so forth is still colonization, buying their goods at cheap prices when they are unaware of the market and their value is part of colonization, even if our noble ladies are being framed as good people by nobly saving this village of women with their wealth it's still colonization.

It's not just a "charitable reading". Do ya'll even know what story you're already reading?
The land is already owned by the one ruling over it, they don't "own" the village.
The intention to buy is just to move it from one lord to another lord.
A bit of reading comprehension of the setting goes a long way. I thought more of Dynasty Readers' readers than this.

I’m not saying it doesn’t appear that way or that people who read it that way are wrong even if I disagree. I’m legitimately interested in what causes the different perspectives on this.
What is the biggest cause of people perceiving it as colonization?

Is it the text? Either because of the original writing or potentially by extension my translation of it.

Is it the visual imagery? That’s why I asked about the clothing before. Obviously from a western lens, those clothes with dark skin has a certain reading regarding natives and “savages” and is often used in colonization narratives. But from the Chinese lens from which the story was written those are just poor commoners clothes and their dark skin has been well established as part of the Mulai people. They’re not things associated with colonization.

Is it the structure of the narrative that’s muddied the authors intent and given it the appearance of something it wasn’t intended to be?

I just find this all interesting

Nah, they just have massive "colonizer" bias.
To the extent they don't even have the ability to read this story in the setting that it's in - a setting of kingdoms where the land is already owned by the various nobles.
And if they have issues with that setting, I don't know why they're even reading this in the first place. It's not exactly a secret how the world was run by nobles. We still use the term "landlord" even now.

last edited at Aug 24, 2026 7:45AM

Genuine question, is all of the talk about colonizers based solely on the villagers outfits?

My reading of Hesha’s desire to acquire the village is to bring it under her families control and thereby free the villagers from the rule of Mulai, a kingdom that these women fled from and that has been consistently shown to treat women as little more than objects.

That is a very charitable reading, and Hesha has already demonstrated her ability to learn empathy for the less fortunate classes before. We will see how this arrangement works out in the future chapters. :-)

Seconding the sentiment that it’s a very charitable reading. I’m sure the story will try to paint our leads as good people for doing this, while also trying to continue to justify it with “well you attacked us so whatever we do is fair game”, cool story author still colonization.

The buying of people and their land regardless of how they dress and so forth is still colonization, buying their goods at cheap prices when they are unaware of the market and their value is part of colonization, even if our noble ladies are being framed as good people by nobly saving this village of women with their wealth it's still colonization.

It's not just a "charitable reading". Do ya'll even know what story you're already reading?
The land is already owned by the one ruling over it, they don't "own" the village.
The intention to buy is just to move it from one lord to another lord.
A bit of reading comprehension of the setting goes a long way. I thought more of Dynasty Readers' readers than this.

Ah yes because I don’t share the same perspective as you I don’t have reading comprehension, really going for the personal attack and insult here I see.

I’m not saying it doesn’t appear that way or that people who read it that way are wrong even if I disagree. I’m legitimately interested in what causes the different perspectives on this.
What is the biggest cause of people perceiving it as colonization?

Is it the text? Either because of the original writing or potentially by extension my translation of it.

Is it the visual imagery? That’s why I asked about the clothing before. Obviously from a western lens, those clothes with dark skin has a certain reading regarding natives and “savages” and is often used in colonization narratives. But from the Chinese lens from which the story was written those are just poor commoners clothes and their dark skin has been well established as part of the Mulai people. They’re not things associated with colonization.

Is it the structure of the narrative that’s muddied the authors intent and given it the appearance of something it wasn’t intended to be?

I just find this all interesting

First thing first, thanks for your hard work !

Now with that being said I'm more curious as how you couldn't see it as such. For one yes the dark skin and clothes might be a part of it, especially since literaly no one else living in the same climate feels the need to dress similarly. But it's not just that :

• The extraction and explotation of resources (they could have help them have a better economy and turn them into useful allies, but chose to exploit them instead)

  • The exploited people being painted as violent / "not as civilized" along with the implications that the exploitants are actually doing them a favor
  • And now we got the land buying being painted as a good thing (though we still have to see where it goes. Also I know the land is technically not owned by them, but it's not helping the readings.)

It's just textbook colinizer narrative, just told from colonizer perspective.

And if they simply want to paint them as cut-throat fine I don't mind. But clearly the author is too cowardly to let us form our own opinion, so instead they have to force these "isn't she so girlboss and cute and handsome ?" moments from the leads and have the "tribe" being kinda mean to them sometimes so we don't feel too bad about their situation. A better way to execute that would have been to leave space for different point of views and have them make the same decisions regardless. This just feels like we're being forced to cheer them on.

And to be clear I don't hate the work and will probably keep reading regardless. I just don't vibe with this arc's angle at all, and frankly unless there's a twist it's gonna be hard for me to romanticize the two leads as well as I did before. Not because "they've done bad stuff" but because of how bad the story has been at letting us question it.

last edited at Aug 28, 2026 6:09PM

I’m not saying it doesn’t appear that way or that people who read it that way are wrong even if I disagree. I’m legitimately interested in what causes the different perspectives on this.
What is the biggest cause of people perceiving it as colonization?

Is it the text? Either because of the original writing or potentially by extension my translation of it.

Is it the visual imagery? That’s why I asked about the clothing before. Obviously from a western lens, those clothes with dark skin has a certain reading regarding natives and “savages” and is often used in colonization narratives. But from the Chinese lens from which the story was written those are just poor commoners clothes and their dark skin has been well established as part of the Mulai people. They’re not things associated with colonization.

Is it the structure of the narrative that’s muddied the authors intent and given it the appearance of something it wasn’t intended to be?

I just find this all interesting

First thing first, thanks for your hard work !

Now with that being said I'm more curious as how you couldn't see it as such. For one yes the dark skin and clothes might be a part of it, especially since literaly no one else living in the same climate feels the need to dress similarly. But it's not just that :

• The extraction and explotation of resources (they could have help them have a better economy and turn them into useful allies, but chose to exploit them instead)

  • The exploited people being painted as violent / "not as civilized" along with the implications that the exploitants are actually doing them a favor
  • And now we got the land buying being painted as a good thing (though we still have to see where it goes. Also I know the land is technically not owned by them, but it's not helping the readings.)

It's just textbook colinizer narrative, just told from colonizer perspective.

And if they simply want to paint them as cut-throat fine I don't mind. But clearly the author is too cowardly to let us form our own opinion, so instead they have to force these "isn't she so girlboss and cute and handsome ?" moments from the leads and have the "tribe" being kinda mean to them sometimes so we don't feel too bad about their situation. A better way to execute that would have been to leave space for different point of views and have them make the same decisions regardless. This just feels like we're being forced to cheer them on.

And to be clear I don't hate the work and will probably keep reading regardless. I just don't vibe with this arc's angle at all, and frankly unless there's a twist it's gonna be hard for me to romanticize the two leads as well as I did before. Not because "they've done bad stuff" but because of how bad the story has been at letting us question it.

This is very well worded, thank you. I also appreciate the translator’s work and will continue reading the series to see where it goes, but like you I’m not vibing with the angle of the current arc.

First thing first, thanks for your hard work !

Now with that being said I'm more curious as how you couldn't see it as such. For one yes the dark skin and clothes might be a part of it, especially since literaly no one else living in the same climate feels the need to dress similarly. But it's not just that :

• The extraction and explotation of resources (they could have help them have a better economy and turn them into useful allies, but chose to exploit them instead)

  • The exploited people being painted as violent / "not as civilized" along with the implications that the exploitants are actually doing them a favor
  • And now we got the land buying being painted as a good thing (though we still have to see where it goes. Also I know the land is technically not owned by them, but it's not helping the readings.)

It's just textbook colinizer narrative, just told from colonizer perspective.

In fairness, as for no one else wearing clothes like them, the only other Mulai citizens we've seen have been the nobles and their servants. These are the only commoners we've seen so it stands to reason they would dress somewhat differently.

I'm still reserving judgment on whether the villagers are going to be explotied. Hesha and Jolene have stated that they want to make a profit but they have never said how much they're actually going to pay for the grapes. They said they wanted them for the price of Perilla leaves, but we have no in world reference for what that value is. Are they worth 1 gold in this world? Or a hundred gold? Even when the villagers quoted them a price double what the villagers usually ask for, Hesha and Jolene still saw that as extremely cheap. Nothing is stopping them from paying 10 times the normal asking price and still making a profit. Would that still be exploitation? Because the line between exploitation and business can be very thin. Ultimately that's who Hesha and Jolene are, they're businesswomen. And this series puts a lot of emphasis on women becoming financially independant and successful.

And I think the reason I didn't really see it as a colonizer narative is that I didn't put any stock into the villagers outfits because that kind of outfit has no real meaning to a chinese reader the way it would for a western one. The villagers aren't an indigenous population being pushed out by some foreign power, they are just citizens of Mulai and subject ot its rule. For me, if the villagers looked and dressed the same as Hesha or Jolene, without changing any of the plot or writing, I could easily see this kind of thing taking place between any number of European countries back in the day.

Imagine someone living in the big city in Spain, they get treated badly so they run away and live near the border with France. They are poor and barely able to get by so they rob a French noble who's traveling along the border. The French noble (seeing a business opporunity) offers to buy the land the Spaniard is living on from the Spanish government and offers to give them a job so they can provide for themselves. Is the Spaniard being colonized?

This series is mostly based on a historical period where countries trading land back and forth, along with the people living on said land, was common place. To me they're just engaging in normal business and politics of the period.

Admittedly I also don't necessarily read Hesha and Jolene's actions solely as a good thing. They are still ultimately doing it for themselves and they've both been shown to be rather selfish, but they don't mind helping out the villagers at the same time in what ways they can. I think the only truly good people we've met so far in the series are Kelly and Arnold (maybe principal Serena, but she was only in like two chapters)

That felt a bit rambley but I hope that made sense.

First thing first, thanks for your hard work !

Now with that being said I'm more curious as how you couldn't see it as such. For one yes the dark skin and clothes might be a part of it, especially since literaly no one else living in the same climate feels the need to dress similarly. But it's not just that :

• The extraction and explotation of resources (they could have help them have a better economy and turn them into useful allies, but chose to exploit them instead)

  • The exploited people being painted as violent / "not as civilized" along with the implications that the exploitants are actually doing them a favor
  • And now we got the land buying being painted as a good thing (though we still have to see where it goes. Also I know the land is technically not owned by them, but it's not helping the readings.)

It's just textbook colinizer narrative, just told from colonizer perspective.

In fairness, as for no one else wearing clothes like them, the only other Mulai citizens we've seen have been the nobles and their servants. These are the only commoners we've seen so it stands to reason they would dress somewhat differently.

I'm still reserving judgment on whether the villagers are going to be explotied. Hesha and Jolene have stated that they want to make a profit but they have never said how much they're actually going to pay for the grapes. They said they wanted them for the price of Perilla leaves, but we have no in world reference for what that value is. Are they worth 1 gold in this world? Or a hundred gold? Even when the villagers quoted them a price double what the villagers usually ask for, Hesha and Jolene still saw that as extremely cheap. Nothing is stopping them from paying 10 times the normal asking price and still making a profit. Would that still be exploitation? Because the line between exploitation and business can be very thin. Ultimately that's who Hesha and Jolene are, they're businesswomen. And this series puts a lot of emphasis on women becoming financially independant and successful.

And I think the reason I didn't really see it as a colonizer narative is that I didn't put any stock into the villagers outfits because that kind of outfit has no real meaning to a chinese reader the way it would for a western one. The villagers aren't an indigenous population being pushed out by some foreign power, they are just citizens of Mulai and subject ot its rule. For me, if the villagers looked and dressed the same as Hesha or Jolene, without changing any of the plot or writing, I could easily see this kind of thing taking place between any number of European countries back in the day.

Imagine someone living in the big city in Spain, they get treated badly so they run away and live near the border with France. They are poor and barely able to get by so they rob a French noble who's traveling along the border. The French noble (seeing a business opporunity) offers to buy the land the Spaniard is living on from the Spanish government and offers to give them a job so they can provide for themselves. Is the Spaniard being colonized?

This series is mostly based on a historical period where countries trading land back and forth, along with the people living on said land, was common place. To me they're just engaging in normal business and politics of the period.

Admittedly I also don't necessarily read Hesha and Jolene's actions solely as a good thing. They are still ultimately doing it for themselves and they've both been shown to be rather selfish, but they don't mind helping out the villagers at the same time in what ways they can. I think the only truly good people we've met so far in the series are Kelly and Arnold (maybe principal Serena, but she was only in like two chapters)

That felt a bit rambley but I hope that made sense.

I think this is the type of situation where those of us that currently see this as a colonizer narrative aren't going to see it as anything else, and those of you that think it has nothing to do with colonizing aren't going to see it as colonizing. We'll see how future chapters go, but for now we're very much at a "agree to disagree" type of impasse. Which happens sometimes, and regardless I appreciate your work translating the series! Thank you.