The things I liked about this drama mainly centre around the lead male characters. The General and his surrounding supporters were well portrayed and their relationships great to watch. Trust and reliability were evident in most scenes and I loved that. Caeser Wu was a pleasure to watch. I loved Liu Yin Jun's portrayal of Xiao Su, too.
The way the General and Shen Jin treated their household and soldiers was also a nice change. He is fair, just and whilst makes most decisions independently, listened to the thoughts of those around him.
What I really didn't like was how almost all the 2nd generation women, apart from Rui (who I really liked), were painfully immature and in the case of Shen Jin's 2 younger sisters, spiteful and selfish as well. They got away with far too much and were never fully held accountable, which irked me a lot.
Aspects of Shen Jin's character I liked; she was feisty, supportive, fairly self sufficient and had a positive can-do attitude. What sadly spoilt that, were too many occasions when she didn't listen to the advice of those with more experience and just randomly went off on her own, with no thought of the consequences. Ep23 really highlighted this and I couldn't believe her actions at all ~ quite ridiculous. She was just far too immature at times.
Rou Rou was a complete nightmare. I know she was probably supposed to be funny by being ditzy and not terribly bright, but for me, she was just far too childish, irritating and basically a royal pain.
I felt that far too many scenes were wasted; instead of concentrating on the intrigue of the fire 12 years before, as well as the scheming in the present story time, they were nonsensical, detracted from the main story and served no apparent purpose. This slowed the pace, I thought, and made the story drag.
The music was mostly quite nice, but I absolutely hated what was used each time lighter or comedic scenes were played.
The ending was a complete surprise and I liked that.
Overall not a terrible drama, but I wouldn't watch it again.