Started watching serial thinking it would be a bubbly not-so-taxing series. But boy was I surprised. Up to episode 20 everything about the drama was top-notch. I liked the general and tian qi's gradual interactions while low key pining for Marquiz Marvel to win it all (happiness, girl, you know the typical whole yard for the second male lead)... But boy o boy from ep 21 things went so weird....so weird that the final happy ending felt a blasphemy and an irritating slap to viewers.
I can't go onto describe every single detail that went wrong but I will still list a few

1. Tian Qi's revenge is nothing but a joke. She does literally nothing at all to take revenge except dressing up as a boy to enter J mansion. From then on viewers can see next to no effort of her getting any revenge done. The sorry excuse that we see in the name of revenge here comes through the intervention of the J brothers who punishes the culprit for things the villains did in general and not for tian Qi or her grievances.
2. The actual villain of the drama goes Scott free by the end of it all. The perpetrator of tian Qi and Marquiz Marvel's suffering aka General J's mother is never given any punishment or confrontations at all. The woman is just portrayed a product of her surroundings which excuse me??? Is not a good enough reason . Just to pave her son's way to become the next general and to solidify her position... she goes on a spree to kill her husband, his consort ( Marvel's mother), and tian qi's parents. And her punishment?? She becomes a Nun!!!! Like yea right that is some next level writing bullshit If there was ever any...
3. General J the character at best is wishy washy and at worst downright selfish. His selfishness begins when refuses to give tian qi to zheng even though he can't accept his homosexual feelings. And from then on his obsession with tian qi was cringe to watch (not cute). It's like he can only love tian qi if she is a girl. And he won't hear it or let his brother hear it if there is any homo matter. Now some people will argue that zheng knew tian's identity. But for those people I would say... A guy who's mother was murdered by the woman he was "made to love and respect", a guy who has every reason to bring down the family still forfeited his everything including the girl he loves to his brother because of his obligations (but more like his big heart) ... I don't think a guy like him would have chickened out like the General because of the word homosexuality thrown in. But then tian qi is not the only flaw in the general's character. His character in itself comes out as this overbearing personality who only knows how to command and be served every time no questions asked and two pivotal points in the drama proves it. a) where he tried to punish marvel according to family traditions when the later lost his temper in front of him .b) when he shouted at marvel instead of humbling down and apologizing sincerely for what his mother did to zheng . Nowhere in the entire serial do I find this general-mother duo ever feeling sincerely sorry to anyone except for themselves.
4. Tian qi. My god where to start? I would just say the writers did a very bad job here. From beginning to end it's all about her.. there is no room in her thoughts for any person other than her. In a way she is like the general too.. selfish and self centered till the end. She had no business going for that revenge if she was going to produce children with the enemy's son anyway. I mean who comes up with these plotlines??? Also she never really thanked zheng for all he did... Bollocks she never even acknowledged it except to say thanks as lol service!!! And what about her lie to the made she almost married?? Did she ever say sorry to her??? Nope

The only good character in the entire drama was Marquis Marvel aka Zheng's but he was also the only character who was made to unjustly suffer till the end. Which was one of the cruelest moves of the writer's ever.

The overall problem of the whole drama lies in its tone. For the first 20 episodes viewers are made to think it's a bubbly drama with no major brain jerkers. But from ep 21 this light hearted cute as a rainbow drama takes a 180 turn. The story gets so dark with the mom and general and everything involved that there is no turning back from there except a sad or at least bittersweet ending. But nope the writers just had to ruin even that probability of saving the drama it's grace by forcing a happy ending. As an audience I didn't feel happy with the comedic happy ending. Nope respected writers (sarcasm) not even one ounce.
The moral of the story is if you want to make a happy drama make one like (meng feng comes across) and if you wanna make a sad drama then legit make it sad (like goodbye my princess) . But please don't make a sorry mixture of both and end up writing one so utter bullshit that it only wastes viewer's energy and time... just because you can. Cause I take my dramas seriously and whenever I see a potentially good drama with a stellar cast ruined because of writers/directors experimentations with their creative licenceing, and that too with a half hearted attempt... It's feels like an insult too close to heart and damn melancholic :/