Just to give a quick insight about this story, I wanna say that It was wonderful yet sorrowful. They did so well in making the plot well-balanced despite their straightforward takes of its unexpected turn of events... however, still managed to make the whole narative look manipulated and misarranged.

First of, I wanna commend this production for consistently staying away from clichė plot till the very end. That was very unexpected and satisfying! Just the thought of not having to bear through such ridiculous scenes already made this experience more delightful and light to me. Not to mention how we were given such spectacular and highly intelligent protagonists who were capable of taking absolute control of any situation they were thrown into and overcoming them with outstanding wits and teamwork. Made this drama even more amazing for me.

But!! we must bear in mind that no matter how good something is, It can never be imperfect. This story, in spite of executing most of the scenes in a viewer-friendly manner can never escape some questionable plot holes and glitches that can be found at the most crucial places. The way they dealt with the antagonists felt so wrong... Like you knew it was a bad decision but refused to judge it since you're not even half through the story yet. But as it progresses the more you find your opinions right and reasonable.

After finishing this show, my opinion still stands firm about how Lu Yuan deserves to be the final antagonist. I honestly think that everything went weak and bland right after they've dealt with him. Like he is the truest antagonist there is! so right after he passed away, the other major conflicts on the story has immediately become a child's play. Xie Hao is simply an overconfident official who thought highly of himself by pulling some grand scheme he can never control. While Wang Mian is an old man who's planned on his revenge for more than 2 decades only for it to be trampled right in front of his eyes. No matter how and where I look at it both of these guys just doesn't have it. They have aspiration, will and is bold enough, unfortunately, they're both incapable of pulling it off successfully. And, Oh, Please! Do not let me start with Grand Consort Sun and Shen Leqing! These two deserves to die even before Lu Yuan but they never did and I will never understand why no matter how much anyone try to explain it to me. Cause they may have been useful to create some discords and conflicts but they were never relevant enough to last that long! God, gracious! An utterly bad decision to keep them till the last 10 or so episode of the story.

Lastly, "It's all in the past" is my most hated phrase in this drama. The way they use it as a means to move on from the death of Shen Tingzhang and Shen Zhi gives me so much grief. I know it was wrong to keep yourself caged in the past but I also stand firm that we need to occasionally look back at those events to realize how some people deserves the worst from us.— Never forgive those who're unforgiveable.

P.S. Evil is hard to extinguish. Once an Evil, Always an Evil.

Story - 9.0, Would have given it a 0.5 rating higher only if they gave us a happier ending. I can never accept the fact that they went over tons of clichė plots all throughout the story yet still pull this kind of ending. I have long accepted that they misjudged their plot arrangements and all but I never predicted them to do it once again. Overall, the drama is good. They just tend to eliminate the wrong characters at the wrong time and keep some for longer time for nothing.

Acting/Cast - 9.5, Main CP is good. Although, it took me few episodes to fully absorb their chemistry but right after that it worked out magically. Lu Yuan and Xue Hao have been exemplery all throughout and I've got little to no complain about the side characters. The only thing that probably stood out to me the most is the inconsistency and awkward acting from Herman Li and Deng Ying at times. Specially during the first half of the drama. P.S. Ren Yun Jie is one of my fave character in this drama and hello, there Tian Xi Wei!

Music - 10, I love how it sounded natural and authentic which is very suitable to the time/era the drama's set. + Excellent and I'd say even perfect control and choice of music. I vibed so much on how laid back and comforting it sounded all at the appropriate and accurate moments.

Rewatch Value - 8.0, The overall story is good. Good pacing and character progression but watching it over again will be tough for me. Considering how displeased I am with its ending and the way they eliminate their characters in a wrong time really left a bitter taste in my mouth. I'll forever complain on how they misarranged those events and characters which impacted the story so much. This drama could've honestly been better with proper arrangement and sequencing.

Overall - 9.0, After intensive deliberation and consideration... and even after all my rants and complains. I feel like this drama and production still delivered a good story that can be enjoyed by different types of people. It just that I have my own conclusion and expectation for this story thus it made me feel so many things. All I can say is that bear my words in mind and watch this cautiously with expectation.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know.