This is a drama that I dropped around a month ago but decided to rewatch and continue. The reason I dropped it before was because the first few episodes did not spark any particular feelings towards the plot or the characters. Nevertheless, I ended up coming back to it again because I was interested on how Rain Wang (the actor of Jingshu - female lead of the drama) acted in this particular drama. Here are some highlights about the drama:

~ THE CHARACTERS (THE STORY) ~

Before going on, I am a person who has a total bias for strong, smart male and female leads, and I am not a big fan of any characters that are easily manipulated or are not open-minded. That being said, the Crown Prince has got me sighing for basically the whole drama because he is quite inconsiderate, does not put much thought in any of his actions, only brings trouble, and clouded by this hatred. We get the feeling that the Crown Prince does not want to be the Emperor, so with the responsibilities forced on him, he just is not responsible and is way too focused on love. Indeed, he did go through a lot of trauma with the death of his royal family, but he does not consider anyone else's feelings; disregarding his concubine, misunderstanding his teacher, hating his love rival, thinking of fighting and power all the time as the solution, and more. Most importantly, towards the end, there is a sudden change in his character that just did not make any sense at all.

Which brings me to my favorite character: Han Guang. Out of the whole drama, he is the unfortunate second/third lead in the drama that falls in love with the female lead, BUT instead of being like the Crown Prince and hating the male lead, he only wishes for the female lead's happiness. Also, unlike many supporting characters in terms of love, he does not do the whole protect-her-quietly that makes us have the second lead syndrome. His faith, loyalty, and love is just amazing.

Similarly, one of the best aspects of the drama is intertwined with the Grand Counselor and the power of the throne. We have the Grand Counselor who is in power and is hated by almost everyone, but we also see a side of him that gives no thought to the power he holds, his love for his foster daughter, and his wish for the best of the country. In fact, the only reason he took the power was to help the country although he became a figure that stole power and treats other harshly. I am not a person who likes the type of characters who like to sacrifice for the country and such, but the drama portrays this character amazingly. We see the responsibility he holds and also some of the irresponsible actions he took in the past, painting him not as a completely all good person, but only as a person who really tried his best.

Other than the individual supporting characters, we also have our two or three couples and some unfortunate deaths. The first one would be the Queen, King, and Grand Counselor love triangle, which ended quite tragically. The second one is the Prince of Baili/the prime minister's daughter/fake wife love triangle that was both good and sad; I love how the prime minister's daughter let go of her hate, and she was really one of the characters that had a great character development. The third one would be the relationship between the Crown Prince and Princess Li that ends happily but starts quite disappointingly with the Crown Prince's not-very-good behavior and attitude. The forth one would be General Xie and his wife that also ended tragically when his wife died that was very unnecessary.

Leading us to the main couple and main leads, Jing shu and Lue Ying. Individually, I quite like both of them, where Jing Shu is skilled and most importantly, she respects Lue Ying's decisions even if she disagrees with them herself. In the beginning, there were only a few episodes where they deny their feelings. Although I disliked how Lue Ying was not very communicative with her, their relationship was pretty nice. Along with my bias for smart characters, Lue Ying is the one in the drama that is skilled at almost everything and a super fast learner too.

~ PLOT/NARRATIVE (THE STORY) ~

The plot does get slightly draggy, repetitive, and in loops. The all-for-hate Crown Prince. The almost-going-to-die Lue Ying. The I-will-sacrifice-anything-for-my-daughter Grand Counselor. Honestly, the story could have ended much sooner had it been more concise. The plot is also very predictable because of all the constant foreshadowing. The audience could already tell the background of Lue Ying for half the episodes of the drama, but it was not until the near end does his true identity gets revealed. I usually like foreshadowing, but I expect that the actual reveal would come soon, too.

~ THE ENDING (THE STORY) ~

This drama has a great ending! I love long happy endings, where both the main leads have a satisfying closure along with most of the supporting characters. Usually, I enjoy endings with at least a whole episode on how their lives are afterwards, where none of the main characters die off, I have admit that I rather like this ending. We already know that Lue Ying had a tragic, torturous past, and to be honest, it is very realistic that he dies. The ending gives a great closure like feeling, where he has a daughter with Jingshu, and once he passes away, Jingshu continues having a positive outlook. However, there is also an alternative ending that cuts outs his death in episode 54, but personally, I liked this realistic ending better.

Another big part of the ending that I liked (though could also have been more concise) is the full backstory of the relationship between the Grand Counselor, the Queen, the King, and Yun Xie (the villain). A lot of the times, most dramas never have a true whole episodes and scenes of the past, and these dramas usually just have the present people talk about the past situations and have flashbacks. However, unlike those dramas, this drama actually has about 3 episodes that are fully about the history behind the characters, which was great!