A simple story about the lives of 3 women struggling to make a living and overcoming the odds in the Eastern Capital, with focus on Zhou Pan’er (Liu Yifei).

What was good:
• Refreshing storyline with no clichés in the romance
• Good communication between the main lead couple
• All three female leads were strong and independent
• Although there were some plot holes, the art of tea, pipa-playing, dances were all portrayed beautifully. Something that I seldom see in other Chinese historical dramas.
• Beautiful cinematography because of the many canals in the drama. Lots of dating scenes and even private conversations between officials were made in the beautiful boats on the canals or by the canals. Something refreshing to see. I like their boats as well, so apt to have intimate, private conversations.

What could have been better:
• The last few episodes dragged a little

This drama did not have much ‘fighting, adventures, angst’ one might see in a historical drama, it was more of character-driven than plot-driven. The aesthetics of the entire drama impressed me, the beautiful cinematography with the canals as the main backdrop and the gentle demeanor of the female lead, Zhao Pan’er (Liu Yifei) who always spoke so gently and elegantly in the drama.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this drama, it was one of those dramas I felt a sense of calm watching it, maybe because of the beautiful canals, the water did have that effect, because of the way Zhao Pan’er spoke, because there was not much angst in the drama, a combination of all these, but definitely it was not boring at all.