Title: Pursuit of Jade
Language: Chinese – Mandarin
Episodes: 40
Where to Watch: Netflix
Genres: Historical, Romance, War, Mystery
Objectionable Content: Violence, Death
Buy From: Amazon
Synopsis (from MyDramaList): It follows Fan Chang Yu, a butcher’s daughter, and Xie Zheng, a fallen noble seeking revenge. Their fake marriage turns into true love, but war tears them apart. Determined, Fan Chang Yu wields her butcher’s knife on the battlefield, searching for justice and her husband. Meanwhile, Xie Zheng reclaims his title, fighting to protect his country and love. Reunited in battle, they stand together, defying fate and uncovering the truth.
My Review of Pursuit of Jade
This drama came across my Netflix feed a few times, but I passed it by due to the number of episodes. At the time, I wasn’t in the mood to commit to such a long drama. So when I had some time off work, I decided now was the time. Honestly, I wished I’d watched it sooner but at the same time I’m glad I waited til I was on vacation because I ended up staying up til 4 am because I just couldn’t stop watching.
At Pursuit of Jade begins, Fan Chang Yu has just lost her parents. In order to support herself and her young sister, she takes up her father’s trade: slaughtering pigs and selling the meat. She finds a young man in the snow, gravely injured, and against her better judgement, saves his life. Initially, he gives her the name Yan Zheng, in order to hide his identity. When Chang Yu’s uncle tries to take her house from her, Yan Zheng, agrees to a live in marriage so she doesn’t lose everything.
To explain, as I had to look it up myself, a “live in marriage” or “live in husband” is where the man marries into the woman’s family. This means, that instead of the woman moving into the man’s family home, taking his name and basically become subject to him, the man agrees that the woman is the head of the household. This is important because during this time period, women couldn’t inherit property, only a male heir could. After Chang Yu’s parents die, the only male relative is her uncle, who tries to take her house from her in order to pay off his gambling debts. By Yan Zhang marrying in to Chang Yu’s family, the Fan family now has a male heir and Chang Yu is able to keep her house.
Initially, this agreement is one of convenience. It’s a way for Yan Zheng to repay Chang Yu for saving his life. They both know the marriage isn’t real and that when he is well again, he will leave. We soon learn that Yan Zheng is actually a nobleman who nearly died in battle and the time comes for him to leave and return to his responsibilities.
From the moment they meet, Chang Yu and Yan Zheng have amazing chemistry. Yan Zheng is fairly reserved in the beginning, being unsure of the people around him and his identity being revealed. Though he rarely smiles, he’s never rude or mean to anyone (unless they deserve it) and he quickly becomes protective of his new found family.
I honestly loved every moment of this drama. The couple is so sweet together, gradually falling deeply in love. Even when they’re separated, you know they’re thinking of one another and doing everything they can to be together again. There’s a lot of funny moments too, though not outrageously so. The comedy doesn’t deflect from the mood. The acting is perfection from all the characters, even the psychotic ones can evoke some sympathy while the so called “good” ones can be bad. The costumes are beautiful and the sets spectacular.
The blood effects are a bit lacking for the amount of death and war there is. However, the show is rated 14+ so it makes sense the gore would be minimized.
I will admit that I had some trouble following the political intrigue. There are a lot of names, places and titles being said, some being used interchangeably that I found it hard to follow. This is totally on me and no a criticism of the show.
My rating for Pursuit of Jade is 5 out of 5 stars and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical romance with a nice dash of comedy, action and mystery.
Have you watched Pursuit of Jade? I’d love to know what you think!