Be warned: does contain spoilers.
This drama will take you on one heck of a roller-coaster ride. It follows the typical court/political plot with countless schemes and unnecessary deaths. Lots of eye rolls and hair pulling coming your way.

Originally would give it a 7 but changed to 8 for the ending. And the cast was very well fitted for their roles which is a plus.

Thoughts and opinions:
The first half of the drama I would highly recommend. You have Chumu who is a spoiled playboy with a personality anyone would fall for. He's flirty, funny and just a very happy character in general. And then we have Fu Rou who is actually quite the witty one. When we first see her, she deliberately planned and humiliated herself to get out of her own wedding. I can appreciate that. And when Chumu first sets eyes on Fu Rou, it was love. This is where all the fun and happy moments take place.

The last half is where it falls short. After both Chumu and Fu Rou go into the palace, there's so many misunderstandings that cause them to "break up". And so many greedy and power hungry characters appear. And we meet the 2nd lead who I quite liked in the beginning. He's very calm, a bit flirty and has his heart set on Fu Rou. But after a while, he just became a stalker who literally follows Fu Rou everywhere. The schemes are heavy and we really see all these unnecessary deaths occur.

Likes:
1. The highlight of the drama for me is the Sheng family. Chumu's family will make you smile and feel warm inside. The brothers stick together and always cause trouble for their father but at the end of the day, they can all still sit to have a meal and laugh and joke around.
2. Chumu's bravery when he becomes General. I don't like fighting scenes but everytime he goes into battle, it's such a joy to watch. He never lets his soldiers down. And when he goes back for King Han, that battle scene was flawless. Definitely recommend that scene.
3. The side couples. Princess Xinnan and Chuling. No matter what happens, they always stayed playful and true to eachother.
Lu Ying Ying and Yan Zifang, a couple who met due to revenge. I'm biased, Lu Ying Ying's story is my favorite in this drama. I liked her with King Liang too.
And finally King Han and Queen Han. Let me just say, they are a couple we aspire to be.
4. The music. Anytime something good or bad happens, the music makes it 100xs better.

Dislikes:
1. The bad always last longer than the good. So many good people died like Queen Han, Chujun and Du Ning. And then the crown princess lasts until almost the end and her death wasn't even satisfying. I would have liked to see her death more cruel considering how evil she was.
When the empress killed Queen Han without proper investigation, I was done with this drama. It made no sense. She could pardon so many others but couldn't even give her son's wife a fair trial. Smh. That's when she died, I wasn't even sad for her. I was just sad for the emperor because I really liked his character.
2. The crown prince is so gullible. He believes all the evil people and sow discord between him and his brother King Han. A character who had too much screentime.
3. Chumu's lack of screentime in the last half. He barely shows up. I started to doubt he was male lead.
4. The misunderstanding between Fu Rou and Chumu. I swear they were on bad terms longer than they were with each other.
5. The bad editing and unsatisfying last few eps transitions. We waited for Fu Rou and Chumu to make up in ep 51-52 but it never really came. One day they were together and the next they act like nothing happened. Like hello....how did they make up.

Overall I give this drama an 8. I can appreciate that some characters got happy endings.


End spoiler:
Chumu and Chujun both got their girl.
Yan Zifang kidnaps his lover and sets out for redemption. (My favorite couple)