Watch the first 12 episodes then stop.

I don't really write reviews, but I felt compelled to after finishing this. I got so many recommendations for it, and it was so well reviewed I thought I'd give it a watch.
WHAT I LIKED:
Honestly, the first twelve (?) episodes of this I enjoyed so much that if I were to recommend it, I would say watch those then stop. You'll get the romance and the tragedy without the draggy middle episodes. The desert setting was refreshing and interesting.
The main female character was so much fun - naive, sure, but also brave and wanting to be in control of her fate. The chemistry between her and the male lead was great. There was such dramatic irony because you knew that he would eventually betray her but you wanted to root for their relationship.
The music was good, and so was the acting.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Nearly everything after they got to the Eastern Palace. If it wasn't for the charm of the FL and the goodwill that the first twelve episodes built up I would have stopped watching.
Most of the political machinations were so dull I was watching on 1.5x speed until I got to the next scene with Xiaofeng. I didn't mind the scheming, mean character of Li Chengyin, especially as this is a tragedy. But while I understood he was ultimately trying to protect Xiaofeng with all his actions in the palace, after they got married most of their scenes were just him being horrible to her. It was hard to understand why she would still love him without remembering their past love. It felt to me that the show was just relying on their romance in the desert for all of the romance for the rest of the show.
I didn't like the character of Gu Jian after the desert. It seemed like all he did was drink and lurk in the shadows for like 20 episodes.
CONCLUSION:
The ending of the show was tragic, and did tie everything together well, but by that point I was more watching to finish it then anything. I wouldn't watch this show again, and would hesitate to recommend it, though I'm sure others will enjoy it a lot more than I did overall.
Also, You could see the lace front of the Grandpa's beard. I'm used to noticing the wig lace front, but the beard lace front really surprised me and was all I could see when he was on screen lol .

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