Let's start with the overview of plot.....

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Plot:
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Jiang Xue Ning(Bai Lu), the second and legitimate daughter of Jiang Family, grew up in countryside but a very ambitious and greedy person. She wanted to become Empress & gain power to make everyone bow down to her. To fulfill her ambition, she did everything regardless of right and wrong, used many people who cared for her, and destroyed many lives. But, the karma hits hard....not so long after, her own people, Xie Wei and Yan Lin and many others, turned against her, raised a rebellion and massacred the whole Royal Family. She regretted her own deeds and finally suicide to make up for her deeds.

After her suicide, she woke up in her past, in her 18 years old body with the memories of her all above mentioned experiences. It's like... life gave her a second chance with a reincarnation and all the above-mentioned things happened in a dream. After waking up, she intends to become a good person and make up for all those mistakes and regrets to change the horrific fate of her and her loved ones.

This is an interesting and kinda new plot to me....

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Main Characters and Their Relationships:
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Jiang Xue Ning (Bai Lu): She was ambitious, greedy and arrogant at first. But after experiencing a lot in life she tried to change her temperament and wanted to become a good person. I won't say she is very kind-hearted but yes.... she learned to repay the gratitude with kindness. She is not perfect but ready to improve. She had guilt for her wrongdoings. A perfectly imperfect person.
As for her romantic relationship.... In her previous life she married Shen Jie, but fell for Zhang Zhe, had a relationship with Yan Lin and also tried to seduce Xie Wei. It sounds absurd, right....In her current life, she first fell for Zhang Zhe because of her past experiences. She friend-zoned Yan Lin and being loyal to him as a friend but has no feelings for Shen Jie. She finally fell in love with Xie Wei, the most suitable person to her.
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Xie Wei (Zhang Ling He): He used to be a kind-hearted, smart and straightforward person, but life didn't do justice to him.... He was abandoned by his own father for personal gains and left to die when he was just a seven-year-old child, in the hands of rebels. He turned into a very cunning and ruthless person who have some obsessions and always hide his real emotions & feelings but has a little bit of warmness in his heart. He never let his guards down to anyone and loyal to ones who loved him or whom he loved. He returned to capital just to take his revenge.
For his romantic relationship.... it seems he was in love with Xuening in her previous life. In current life, he fell in love with her again and wanted her to keep safe but also wary of her sometimes.
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Zhang Zhe (Wang Xing Yue): The most righteous, kind, familial, loyal and perfect person in the whole drama. He comes from a poor background yet he never bends to injustice and wrong. He is smart and straightforward but unbending to situations. Because of this personality, he got himself in unnecessary troubles many times....
He developed feeling for Xuening in her past life and fell for her in this life too.
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Yan Lin (Zhou Jun Wei): He is free-spirited, smart, loving, loyal and sometimes a reckless person. He's a brave general as well as a great friend.
He loved Xuening with his whole heart in her previous as well as in current life.
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I liked many characters here and almost every character served some purpose in the drama. They are important to plot progression. Xiaobao and You Fangyin are the only ones who didn't get an ending they truly deserved.

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Acting and Chemistry:
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Main Leads and the whole other cast did a beautiful job with their characters. Zhang Ling He has really outdone himself here. This drama is purely and perfectly fall under category of a Slow-Burn Romance. Bai Lu as Xuening.... has great chemistry with all the three Male leads. They have enough sweet and lovely moments. Xuening has friendly chemistry with Yan Lin.... cat-and-mouse type at first then romantic chemistry with Xie Wei.... and guilty-and-wronged with some love chemistry with Zhang Zhe.

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OSTs and Costumes:
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OSTs are so satisfying and beautiful specially the ending theme.... I can't help myself but playing it again and again. Costumes are decent but there is a room for improvement.

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Conclusion:
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This is a story of mistakes, regrets and repayment for Xuening.... For Xie Wei, this is a story of injustice, revenge and love....

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Ending and Recommendation:
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Don't worry... it's a happy ending!

I'll definitely recommend this drama to everyone. It has an interesting plot and developed characters with a lot of politics and slow-burn romance.
GIVE IT A SHOT WITHOUT ANY OTHER THOUGHT.

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