This might actually be the first drama after The Untamed that impressed me with a full cast of actors who're not only all skilled but completely fitting for their roles.

Shen Yurong was a standout for me in terms of character writing, my faith in him slowly eroded along with the XFF's, which I thought was really well done. As for the other characters, they are all quite tropey but definitely executed extremely well.

On to the plot, this is pretty much THE plot that most of these historical female lead centric dramas have. Again, nothing surprising here but is done extremely well. For a person who is faking her identity, the show really gave XFF a run for her money more than any of the other similar shows I've watched. e.g. Her family harped on her changed personality even though I thought suffering a decade of abuse can pretty understandably change a person.

Out of all the pairings I've seen with this kind of main couple dynamic, this is by far the healthiest and most respectful variation. When they are still just acquaintances, Xiao Heng doesn't keep an eye on XFF all the time because he's smitten (which would be...uncomfortable), but rather because she's (1) extremely suspicious (2) very competent at dealing with their common enemies. XFF generally knows what's going on when XH uses her for his plans, and either goes along with it for her own reasons or calls him out on it. Other than the fact that XFF can't fight, she perfectly capable of handling herself most of the time and stays that way, unlike in some shows where the female lead's intelligence decreases as the male lead becomes reliable.

Minor gripe about the ending (just the last two scenes of the final episode: neither realistic nor particularly happy....what's the plan here?) which pulled the score down from a perfect 10. But do give it a watch. The show ended such that you can chop off the offending last section and still have a fulfilling ending.