The story revolves around a female coroner, Ran Yan. She is a female ahead of her time in many ways as she is trying to support herself independent of her family. Along the way she meets and is saved (frequently) by an assassin Su Fu, and she also meets the local magistrate Xiao Song. Xiao Song immediately respects her intelligence and hires her to work as his medical examiner. Together the 2 of them, with Su Fu coming in and out, solve cases together including what really happened to her mother and the plot to overthrow the emperor.

The character of Ran Yan is an intelligent female but who can be abrasive and mean, but worse I found her lack of common sense staggering at times. I lost count how many times did she fall into a trap and have to be saved. For a smart person, she was stupid at times. Su Fu is the typical stoic assassin. In many ways he uses Ran Yan, but he also cares for her deeply. Xiao Song was to me the most developed character. Highly intelligent he solves every case in front of him with a Sherlock or Di Red type mind. He respects Ran Yan and his ability to bicker with her is fantastic. His was the character that showed the greatest range of emotions.

The acting of the show was good. The actress playing Ran Yan was fine, nothing spectacular. I wonder of the character was annoying because the actress didn't handle the complexity of the role since she only seemed to have one or two emotions, The actor playing Su Fu was ok. He basically played stoic all the time and that was all. I've seen other shows where stoic doesn't means stone faced (watch Bloody Romance). Which brings us to the reason I scored the acting as high as I did, the actor playing Xiao Song. By far the best actor and the person carrying the show, He was able to show the brain of Xiao Song, the playful bickering with Ran Yan, and the hurt and loss he felt being insulted and rejected almost every episode.

I have to give a special kudos rot the actors playing the characters of Sang Chen and Bai Yi. Sang Cheng is the frightened scholar who cluelessly loves Ran Yan. Bai Yi is the loyal bodyguard to Xiao Song. The two were fantastic characters and almost ran away with the show, There scenes together were so well done and added some ,much needed humor. I found them more likable then two thirds of the main cast. The scene with Bai Yi and Xiao Cheng, without giving spoilers, was one of the best scenes in the show,

Would I watch it again, at 36 episodes it is a quick watch so yes but not right away and not before some other shows.