I have to admit taking 4 episodes until the main characters grow up feels too much at first, but it gets so good after that. This is probably the longest drama I ever watched and I don't regret it, I actually wanted more... 70+ episodes and I can watch it again.

I find that it has a balance of dramatic characters in the otherwise tense story of scheming elders and treacherous politics, such as crazy Man Niang who's so pretentious and her initial act in Yu family even makes me laugh. And then there's the concubine who keeps fainting for pity lol

Except for Man Ning being able to steal the boy under his nose, the ML seems to be solid calculative strategist, I wonder just how he didn't watch the kids after rebuking the evil woman, maybe he just didn't expect her to be so evil.

Other than that, it still a drama with bias for the FL and ML being saved by luck / fate multiple times in facing death situations. But I like how consistent the characters are, and they didn't force the romance above all. It also shows how struggling the women in that era against not just gender bias but also legitimate vs concubine born and how Ming Lan used her brain going along with the culture instead of fighting it heads on (except when it involves her mom and grandmother she confronted the enemy plainly). And she did say that she will risk her life for these two, and Gu Ting Ye should be happy to be the third person. I really like this moment as this is when Gu Ting Ye replied her, "How about your future husband?" Turns out he's already aiming for that position back then.

A small disappointment for me is how at the end Mo Lan was still not divorced by the Count even after all her scheming and killing the babies were revealed. And then she found comfort in Shen family welcoming her warmly in the Gu residence.. She better has learnt her lesson then.