Everlasting Longing

Surprising? Not really. The beginning is actually very good.

A drama that promised a lot... seriously! The first episodes were remarkable.

Despite the usual clichés—gender swap, a male lead from another clan, a love triangle, and more—Everlasting Longing promised a touching and interesting story, especially with actors well-loved by the audience.

So, unsurprisingly, I fell for the trap.

Surprising? Not really. The beginning is actually very good.

However, unfortunately, our protagonist, Jun Qi Luo, is the type of woman who was born to live alone.

And look, maybe her femininity was one of nature’s few mistakes. Cold, calculating, determined, with her family and nationality above any feelings of love. Angelababy was perfect for the role. Except for the lack of emotional involvement with the ever-devoted male lead, Xuan Lie. Honestly, I felt sorry for the actor/character. I understand this was a production choice, but making him a doormat for the entire drama was just bad.

Jun Qi Luo did everything she wanted. I accepted almost everything, out of love for the character. But the ending? No. The decision about the family was my breaking point—I hated it, hated it, hated it… absolutely awful!

Do you want to watch this drama? Then go ahead. I did. I don’t regret it. But I hated, with all my might, both kings (they both deserved a very different ending), Angelababy’s character, and the fates of Qi Min and the princess (they were both so cute and important to the story—despite controversial opinions, I loved them).

But if, for some reason, you give up halfway through, I’ll applaud you, because the ending is, without a doubt, the worst part.

Thirty episodes… don’t waste your time. There’s much better stuff out there… sorry!

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Loved the devotion ML had for FL

Love song Wei long in almost everything I’ve seem him in, this not one of his best, but I enjoyed his character. He was intimidated my the woman he loved or any other woman, that’s what I call a real man. Nor was blinded by the fact they were from opposing countries. He was true to his feelings. FL was rather too boring in her expressions and emotions but I’ve questioned angelababy’s acting before. I like women in roles were they are not necessarily inferior to their male counterparts.
Unfortunately I was disappointed that Lou zhizhou died and that the chancellor and both kings didn’t get any punishment for their deceptive and selfish acts. The princess qui kou was very annoying, so I was kind of glad she didn’t get what she wanted, although I hated that Shan Qing min died, I really liked his character I wished he would have had some happiness . Overall I still enjoyed watching this series and looking forward to Song Wei Long next drama. I think he’s rather handsome. There were a lot of attractive people in this series, which for me made it more enjoyable

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Diaster ending!!! Worst Storyline!!!

• Storyline:
The drama's first 10 episodes were excellent, and we hope they continue in this way. However, as the series went, it began to lose its glamour and become uninteresting, particularly in the final episodes. Finished the series anyway.
1-10: Excellent 💗
11-20: Average
21-30: Boring 🤢

• CAST:
~ ML(Xuan Lie):
He is a wolf leader and an excellent warrior. He is a cunning man who seeks vengeance. These attributes attract viewers to watch and admire him. When he falls in love, he still considers the green flag. Like how much he cares for her, his jealousy, and how he develops into a passionate lover. Everything is OK in the beginning, but as the series goes, his character begins to lose his characteristics and becomes a loser. Whyyyy make him like that???
____'Dislike_____
-Their relationship began to resemble a "female-led partnership", which was not what we desired.
-He murders his army for her, seriously bro!!! and she develops her army weapon, which kills his army, but he still adores her!!!😡He keeps his commitment. How about her????😡😡

~ Princess (Xuan Qing Kou):
The most Toxic, nasty personality. You are a princess, but this doesn't mean that everyone is your slave. 😡Her behavior is worse than a child's. She was traumatized as a child, so seek help rather than wrecking other people's life. She tortures, disrespects, and physically and emotionally harasses him, 😡😡but she expects him to still love her. She forces him to marry her, and everyone is OK. Idk how everyone can declare it's a princess so casually. If it happened to a woman, they could have declared it was a prince. Rather than developing an antidote, she prefers to focus on love. True love ?????

~ SML (Shao Qi Min):

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Light watch for binge watch

It’s not a masterpiece but it’s something that I was able to binge. I can barely finish dramas these days because i lost interest, but this one, I was able to hold on until the end. The two leads have great chemistry. I would love to see them in a modern drama. Side characters who are with the leads are a nice watch too and balances the comedic element of the show. There are lots of cdrama tropes here, which I guess made the show interesting. As I have said, the two leads have great chemistry, and you can feel the pain of the two because of their circumstance that you are rooting for them to have a happy ending. It’s something that I can rewatch, which I already did.

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Jun Fei Fan's Story

I liked the series from the beginning. I had hopes that something good would happen. I said there are good actors. I said there is action. I said if there is romance on top of it and it is kept in the story, it will be delicious. I wish I hadn't. The story gradually became less and less story-like. It drifted away from the subject. It turned into what I was watching. First of all, the actors are not compatible with each other. They are not equal. They are very different. Angela Baby is a very good actress but I could not recognize her in this series. Or it seems that it is getting harder for her to act as she gets older. There is no facial expression. She started with the same face and finished with the same face. Our young lead actress Song Wei Long will be a good actress. Her facial expression is very good. She plays older than her age. She is also good. However, there is no harmony between the two leads. There is no harmony. There is a difference. It is as if they are playing separately. I did not like it. Wrong match. For example, Yao Chi was wasted in this series. Except for her emotional scene in the last episode, she is almost non-existent. However, she is a very good actress who deserves to be the lead. She could not show her other skills here but she has a good fabric. In my opinion, she fits the Angel Faced Monster expression. She does these well. For example, Ren Hao was good. Because she darkened herself and went like that until the end. Because she was suitable for her role. Bai Bing Ke is a very good actress. But the character given to her. Is it a crazy princess role or something? It was like harassment from head to toe. You could have at least not called her princess, it was a shame for this actress. I liked Wang Yi Ting. The role went well for her. She did well. Her action also looked good. She also gives a good image. Well done. Young actors were better, I think. I liked the supporting roles. But I didn't like the series in general. The story didn't go as it started, it was fragmented. I'm not even going into the king and chancellor events, I mean, impossible things happened. It was a weird scenario. Especially that uncle and his son, okay, their funny side, but it made me wonder how such a businessman could exist. I was surprised whether to laugh or cry. However, the actors played well. However, the story and scenario were terrible. Sorry. It didn't work.

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The start with the new invention of this elevator was surprising... Good OST but the plot a little less.
In short, this king wants to reunite the 5 clans at all costs and so with wars, blackmail and subterfuge, a lot of people die (including several characters I liked). Everyone looking for Fei Fan who doesn't even know if it is a man or a woman (?!) why was it so essential to find it? This girl who does everything to find these black stones and falls in love with the "enemy".
Loves, betrayals... I was very disappointed when she cheated on him.
She is as cunning as a fox especially in commercial deals, while he, the Wolf Lord in love and undoubtedly the most faithful man on the face of the Earth.
Even after he thinks she's dead or when she tells him to leave, he stays by her side and never gives up.
30 episodes was too long.

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50/50 lowkey disappointing

I created an account for this review….

Story:
The storyline was so exciting and adventurous full of twists and turns at the beginning. Especially how exploring a different nation and the leads navigating their obstacles together in a “foreign” land But towards the middle to end when they return to yannan. It felt tropey, forced, and random and rushed. The title is called everlasting longing, but I wish they focused on building that love between the ML and FL. We never really saw them “fall in love”. They just one day did it. Then ending was SO vague and dismal. There’s no resolution to anything ? And didn’t show a happy ending or a sad ending, it didn’t wrap up anything … we never got to see this pregnancy that was the main point of the second half of the drama, or the leads family life. The petty kings just caused all this drama and for nothing. Everyone just stopped fighting and said okay fine you two love birds can be together. And they’re of course having twins and decide to continue to split up the kids to carry on the theme of country rivalry…so anticlimactic and sloppy but also non sensical and rushed. I kept watching because it felt so promising but the end really made me feel empty, like I didn’t get a conclusion to their love in the slightest


Cast:
The cast is BEAUTIFUL. The costumes are BEAUTIFUL. The supporting actors gave so much energy and dimension to their characters and there was just so much chemistry. The ML was exceptionally handsome and I felt like carried the love in the movie, he was expressive and showed the FL his longing and love for her… the FL though… I liked the FL strong character and wittiness. But as far as chemistry and love goes from the FL side … it was icy and non existent. Partly I think the script didn’t cultivate enough love between the leads as far as screenwriting goes. But everything the FL says is cold… I get her character is supposed to be a strong woman but there’s no dimension even the most “lovey dovey” moments there’s no script that reflect it on her end. Even at the end she says well love doesn’t conquer all andddd I have twins so I’ll just split them up for the country’s peace. Where is the emotion and love from her character ? The ML CARRRRRRIEEDDDDDD. Also the FL acting… she did great in the boss business woman parts but she has zero range in emotions or expression when it came to any emotional or lovey scenes. It’s almost like she can’t move her face ? She’s so beautiful but her acting was very stiff, and the love that she should’ve portrayed for her mans in the drama was just not there. Which is such a shame because you see that everlasting loving from The ML but not reciprocated by the FL…this kind of put a damper on their story for me.

Overall: I would watch it for the beautiful cinematography and cast and costume but storyline was not good towards the end… not the best but not the worst. I just wish I had more form the story that seemed to be cut short :(

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Everlasting Longing, Everlasting Stabbing

To the world of Yannan and beyond, Jun Qi Luo exists as Jun Fei Fan, the so called illegitimate son of the Jun family in an era where women were expected to be decorative, not decisive. Hidden behind this male persona is a creative genius who single handedly keeps her family business alive, thriving, and shockingly ahead of its time through ingenious inventions and machines that even modern viewers pause to admire. Her work not only supports her family but also strengthens her king, turning Jun Fei Fan into a name known far and wide. Then there's Xuan Lie, a royal general from the unstable land of Beixuan, driven by two goals. Uncovering the truth behind his parents’ murder and winning the Wolf Lord competition to unite the clans and restore peace. Believing Jun Fei Fan holds key information, he sets out to capture him, completely unaware of the truth behind the name. When their paths collide through kidnapping, misunderstandings, sharp tongues, and clashing motives, sparks slowly ignite. As secrets pile up and enemies lurk on both sides, love grows alongside danger. But when Jun Qi Luo’s identity is finally exposed, will it bring them closer or tear them apart for good?

Now here is the thing. Everlasting Longing had ingredients that should have cooked up something amazing. Political intrigue, cross dressing genius heroine, tribal conflicts, tragic backstories, and slow burn chemistry. On paper, this drama had main dish energy. In execution, it somehow managed to serve chaos with a side of frustration.

One thing I genuinely enjoyed was the visual presentation of Jun Qi Luo’s business. The 3D render of her operation, the sets filled with tools and mechanical contraptions, and the way the machines were shown working felt oddly satisfying. I do not even know what the proper term for it is, but watching those systems function scratched a very specific itch. It made her genius feel tangible and grounded, and for a moment, I believed I was watching a capable woman holding an empire together with her mind alone.

Unfortunately, that belief did not survive the acting. No offense intended, but from the very start, Angela Baby pulled me out of the story. Jun Qi Luo was written as a fierce, intelligent, independent baddie, and the writing itself was not bad. The problem was the delivery. The performance lacked weight, depth, and emotional conviction. Instead of commanding the screen, she often felt stiff and detached. I kept wishing the role had been given to another actress who could embody both the sharp intellect and the emotional complexity this character needed.

Then there is Xuan Lie, who was supposedly a strong contender for the next Wolf Lord. Keyword being supposedly. Unlike Angela Baby, Song Wei Long had the look and delivered what he had to deliver. Unfortunately, he was a victim to poor character writing. For the first half of the drama, he spends an impressive amount of time getting hurt, stabbed, poisoned, stabbed again, and emotionally wrecked, often by Jun Qi Luo herself. And after every injury, he bounced right back into lovesick puppy mode. Where was his brain. Where was his dignity. Where was that burning revenge for his parents. At one point, he even got stabbed on purpose just to stop her from leaving. That is not devotion. That is a very questionable life choice. And if that was not enough, he later takes an arrow for her too. At some point, it stopped being tragic and started feeling unintentionally comedic.

The script did not help. It felt like the writer had the memory span of a goldfish. The logic did not flow. Characters survived fatal wounds overnight and woke up the next morning glowing like they were ready to win a championship match. Honestly, there were clues that hints Xuan Lie's lack of importance to Jun Qi Luo. And yet, nothing clicked. He remained blissfully unaware that, at that point, he meant very little to her. Even if we assume Jun Qi Luo loved Xuan Lie, which is debatable, the relationship was painfully one sided. She manipulated him at every turn and never once truly chose him. She faked her death, returned to her hometown, and resumed her life while he was left drowning in grief. She never made an effort for him. Not once. Meanwhile, he spent the entire drama chasing her affection like it was oxygen.

While some episodes did give me hope and I thought maybe the story was finding its footing. Not long after, something just promptly crushed that optimism. An example was how Jun Qi Luo decided to protect the person who harmed Xuan Lie and threatens to end herself if anyone harmed him. Xuan Lie, in turn, ordered his soldiers to lower their weapons, soldiers who had just watched their comrades die, all because his love interest was having an emotional breakdown over the man who tried to murder him. Make it make sense. And somehow, in the very next sequence, they both ended up in bed together. She had just threatened to die for another man and now they were suddenly sharing a bed. So all those soldiers died for this. Incredible. The ensemble characters, although most times annoying, definitely added flavor to the drama though. Ensemble characters' relationship was cute and seeing them was like taking a break from our main couple's chaotic relationship.

By the time the drama reached its conclusion, I felt nothing but exhaustion. The ending did not feel earned or meaningful. It was just another rushed attempt to wrap up a story that never fully knew what it wanted to be. Everlasting Longing was filled with wasted potential, inconsistent writing, and a romance that felt more tragic for the wrong reasons. For me, this was not a tale of longing that lingered. It was a reminder that great concepts alone are not enough to carry a drama home.

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the last third devolves into an incoherent mess that ruins anything good from the first 2/3

This was high on my watchlist bc I love love LOVE Fated Hearts and this show has the same scriptwriter. I went in with very high expectations given how highly I regard Fated Hearts, and in retrospect, those expectations were probably unreasonably high, but even so this was just... such a mess? Like I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that the same person is responsible for both shows because the gap in quality is the size of a literal ocean. I have sooooooo many complaints but I'm going to try to just hit the highlights bc otherwise this review is going to be a literal novel.

God, where to begin......... I guess the first thing I should talk about, given this story is centered around the romance between Jun Qiluo and Xuan Lie, is their dynamic. They went from enemies to trusting each other waaaaaaay too fast. Like iirc by episode 3 Jun Qiluo is in this mentality of "I can't abandon Xuan Lie" when he has abducted her and been holding her hostage? Like, yeah, they did have that life or death experience in the desert where they were helping each other survive, but they barely know each other rn and he *did* abduct her, so this intensity just doesn't make sense at this point. That being said, the romance did pull me in for a brief moment — I really liked Xuan Lie being observant and paying attention to Jun Qiluo and realizing that Jun Feifan was her secret identity within the first 8 episodes, and the way he protected her multiple times in Beixuan... there was some really good ship material there if you just accept how quickly it moves. But then it all falls apart around halfway through the show when their relationship progresses in a way that makes no f*cking sense. So, Jun Qiluo was arranged to marry Shao Qimin, a family friend that she grew up with. She thinks one of Xuan Lie's men killed Shao Qimin in the first episode, but he actually survived and was sold as a slave to Xuan Qingkou, Xuan Lie's sister... I'll talk about her and her relationship with Shao Qimin in a moment. Anyway, Qiluo learns of a mine in Beixuan that has a rare stone that she wants access to, as she is in charge of her family business in Yannan. So she's determined to get shipments of that stone back to Yannan for her family and Xuan Lie starts giving her a bit more free reign. Around this time she learns that Qimin is actually alive as she sees him with Qingkou. Qimin, upon reuniting with Qiluo, the woman he is in love with and that it is his duty to protect (esp since she has no skills in fighting), is repeatedly trying to urge Qiluo to come back to Yannan. Qiluo is still looking for excuses to stay in Beixuan even after she has secured a shipment of these rare stones, so Qimin gives Qiluo some kind of anesthetic so he can take her back to Yannan himself, but of course they are stopped by Xuan Lie. When Xuan Lie's men have cornered Qimin and they have their weapons drawn, Qiluo holds a dagger to her throat and threatens to kill herself if Xuan Lie doesn't promise to let Qimin live. Xuan Lie of course gives into this demand since he doesn't want Qiluo to die. This leads to Xuan Lie and Qiluo having an argument in private and Xuan Lie, refusing to understand that Qiluo cares deeply about Qimin *in a platonic way*, is like "Don't you love me? But you're risking your life for him? When he has romantic feelings for you? It makes no sense! Why can't you just be with me?" and she basically responds with "I am not your only priority either, if we don't trust each other, we shouldn't be together." Qiluo then tries to walk away and Xuan Lie grabs her and threatens to kill Qimin if she leaves the room. Qiluo (UNDERSTANDABLY!!!!!!!!!!!!) in her distress grabs Xuan Lie's whip and tries to hit him with it, but he catches the end and pulls her closer to him and they end up tangled up in the whip (bc of course) and they fall to the bed. Xuan Lie then forcefully kisses her and Qiluo is trying to push him off so THIS IS ASSAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But then as soon as she does manage to push him off, she then pulls him into another kiss and things progress to sex. So, another show trying to gaslight me into finding assault sexy. Cool 👍 The romance completely lost me with that scene and then somehow it managed to get EVEN WORSE in the last third of the show! Basically the King of Beixuan arranges a marriage for Xuan Lie, and then shortly after that, Qiluo hears the news that the Yannan King has executed her family bc he believes she has defected to Beixuan. (Which……. okay I get that Xuan Lie is reluctant to let her leave, I get that she's falling for him and is also reluctant to leave but……. can't she write a letter to her family so they at least know that she's okay??????????? Like as far as her father and sisters know, they think she is DEAD and she just never has the thought of reaching out to them????? HUH??????????????) Qiluo is finally wanting to get back to Yannan (only after hearing her family was executed???? GIRL WHAT????) and is determined to do so or die trying. Her method of escaping Beixuan is to jump off a cliff… it's a CDrama, of course she survives. Qiluo learns her family wasn't actually executed and that it was just a ploy from the King to see if she would return to Yannan or not. She is now in the position of trying to keep the King happy and prove her loyalty to him so he doesn't execute her family for real. Meanwhile, Xuan Lie, thinking Qiluo died from jumping off the cliff, is then deep in his grief and decides to go to Yannan in a desire to feel closer to her. Upon learning Qiluo is alive, the man will not leave her alone! He's constantly showing up where she is and insisting she still has feelings for him and she keeps saying that she doesn't and that her life in Yannan is her priority and he refuses to listen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on the day that she is supposed to marry Qimin, bc y'know, she has to prove her loyalty to Yannan if she wants her family to stay alive, Xuan Lie ABDUCTS HER. I am so sick of this abuse apologia bullshit in romances. LISTEN TO WHAT SOMEONE IS TELLING YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just because you believe you know someone deeply and that you know their thoughts does not mean that you actually do because mindreading doesn't f*cking exist! If someone is saying something that doesn't line up with how they feel internally, it is still your responsibility to follow what they have communicated to you!!!!!!!!!!!! We are never getting out of our current nightmare reality if people do not start getting this through their skulls!!!!!!!!!! MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, it takes like six separate conversations where Qiluo insists she has no interest in them restarting their relationship before Xuan Lie finally decides to give up. But then the literal next day he learns she's pregnant and he's back to insisting that she still loves him and that they should get back together. Truly this "romance" belongs in the dumpster.

Okay… let's move onto the mess that is Qingkou. So, there's a review on here defending her and uh.... no, I don't think we should be defending the spoiled brat princess who treated a guy like a possession bc she thought he was hot. Literally she sees Qimin being auctioned off and instead of being appalled that a literal slave auction is happening right in front of her eyes and using her powers as the princess to free everyone who is being sold, she's like "[stares dreamily] He's so handsome, I must have him." Also literally in this first meeting, someone else who had bidded on Qimin gets upset w Qingkou for outbidding her and Qingkou's response is to pull out her whip and strike Qimin IN THE FACE so he will be "ruined goods." Yeah, there was no way that I was ever going to like her as a character after this bullshit. Anyway, the review I mentioned really irritated the f*ck out of me bc it claimed that Qingkou had character growth but lol where. She constantly ordered Qimin around, CHANGED HIS NAME and then ALWAYS used the name she gave him even after learning his real name (← you do not understand how much this infuriates me), threatened Qiluo's life every time Qimin displayed his concern for her, repeatedly ignored his boundaries and assaulted him. He told her MORE THAN ONCE that he did not return her feelings and yet she still would not leave him alone!!!!!! (Xuan Lie and Xuan Qingkou are the siblings from hell and I loathe both of them!!!!) When the rest of the royal family wants to keep Qingkou and Qimin separated from each other since he's from Yannan and they don't trust him, every single time without fail, Qingkou threatens to kill herself. She does not view Qimin as his own person, she very clearly views him as her property and throws a tantrum any time he does not do exactly as she wants. And while the script (unfortunately) forces Qimin into the position of forgiving her and starting to fall for her in the final 5 episodes bc how much effort she put into trying to cure him of the poison he was given by the Yannan King, even at that point she's still ordering him around and threatening to do things that would get Qiluo in trouble with the Yannan King (aka endangering Qiluo and her family). Re Qingkou trying to cure Qimin's poison, she has knowledge of medicine and decides to test one of her medicinal concoctions on herself (which.... how the f*ck does that tell her anything about its effectiveness if she has not taken the poison? HELLO??????) and said concoction nearly kills her....... Honestly, this is no different than her threats of killing herself bc ppl are keeping her away from Qimin. Bc her testing the medicine on herself means she either successfully finds the cure and she saves him or she inadvertantly poisons herself and dies and then she doesn't have to worry about living without him. Like…. lmao growth my f*cking ass.

To make matters worse re Qimin… he dies. He endured Qingkou's endless harassment and abuse and still treated her kindly and protected her (which she did NOT deserve); literally every time Xuan Lie or one of Qiluo's antagonists derailed plans to assuage the King's worries about Qiluo's loyalty, he would take the fall; and then after learning about Qiluo's pregnancy, the King is like "You've lied to me too many times. You must either kill Xuan Lie or kill the fetus." Qimin of course is not willing to do either bc he loves Qiluo and he knows how she feels about Xuan Lie, so he presumes the King will have sent guards to kill Xuan Lie and he takes out a bunch of them when he sacrifices himself. And Qiluo doesn't even get to be with him when he dies!!!!! Qingkou is holding him and crying and insisting that she's going to save him while Qiluo is trying to run over to them and then Qingkou is pushing her away OH MY GOD I LITERALLY BLACKED OUT FROM RAGE. And then for some nonsensical reason the King just decides to drop the attempt to assassinate Xuan Lie or the baby. And for some nonsensical reason Qiluo is still loyal to Yannan after this. If I had genuinely been loyal and then some paranoid dickhead with too much power killed one of the people who was dearest to me… I would not f*cking be loyal anymore! But this show doesn't care about logic so. whatever.

What else? Let's talk about the doomed triangle that was Li Fanyin - Luo Zhizhou - Dong Yin bc... god this was grotesque. So Li Fanyin and Luo Zhizhou had fallen for each other but the Beixuan King had his eye on Li Fanyin and demanded her to be his bride. Li Fanyin acquiesced to save Luo Zhizhou's life. Luo Zhizhou then starts plotting to get the position of Wolf Lord so he can save Li Fanyin (and her son with the King) and repeatedly endangers Xuan Lie (his best friend btw) and also repeatedly attempts to have Qiluo killed via help from Dong Yin (a servant in the Beixuan palace who Qiluo quickly develops a fondness for as she is of mixed parentage from Beixuan and Yannan) to try to ruin Xuan Lie's chances of becoming the Wolf Lord. As you can probably guess given Xuan Lie is the male lead, Luo Zhizhou fails in securing the position of Wolf Lord and he quickly is exposed to have been behind the (unintentional) death of another Beixuan sect leader via one of his attempts to stall/harm Xuan Lie during the Wolf Lord competition. Luo Zhizhou is quickly taken to the Beixuan King for punishment and he plans to have Luo Zhizhou AND Li Fanyin executed, causing Luo Zhizhou to insist that he acted alone and pleading for the King to spare Li Fanyin. The King agrees to these terms... but then as soon as Luo Zhizhou "dies" — basically there's a random plot convenient terminally ill doppleganger who agrees to take his place so Zhizhou can escape?????? (This was undoubtedly the exact moment when the writers started losing me lol.) — the King immediately has his son with Li Fanyin separated from her and sent far away. Li Fanyin soon falls ill — presumably bc her heartbreak/distress? — and the King repeatedly refuses to allow her to get medical care, and after an episode or two of her being sickly, she dies. And then the King's bitch ass has the f*cking nerve to be like "Oh that's so sad that she died, who could have seen this coming" and he's like crying and like... god. Go f*ck yourself, you absolute bastard!!!!!!!! So Li Fanyin just existed to suffer and be a prop. Cool 👍 Anyway, Zhizhou and Dong Yin had escaped to the countryside or smth and then upon hearing about Fanyin's death, Zhizhou decides he's going to get revenge for her or die trying and Dong Yin insists on going with him (since she is in love w him). Zhizhou then gets sooooooooooo insanely close to killing the King — WHICH THAT BASTARD UNEQUIVOCALLY DESERVES — but Xuan Lie steps in to stop him (bc his duties as the Wolf Lord). Xuan Lie is pleading for Zhizhou to stop this as he doesn't want to kill his best friend, and Zhizhou basically just… walks into Xuan Lie's sword and then forces the sword deeper into his chest. It's genuinely nauseating seeing Zhizhou getting so close to atoning for his failure to protect Fanyin and have the show side with her rapist who directly caused her death. And then the show just has to really drive home its skewed perception of morality and seconds after Zhizhou is fatally wounded, Dong Yin gets fatally wounded too. And, like, literally the only "bad" thing Dong Yin did in the entire show was attempt to kill Qiluo, which she almost immediately abandoned bc she developed a fondness for her, so it feels extra grotesque to see her die.

So yeah, no consequences for either evil King. The Yannan King loves to do his loyalty tests and is eager to execute anyone who is a toe out of line. The Beixuan King is a warmonger and rapist. And yet Qiluo remains loyal to the Yannan King and Xuan Lie remains loyal to the Beixuan King and both Kings drop their animosity towards Qiluo / Xuan Lie basically bc they see how steadfast the two are about their relationship and are like "You've worn me down, I'm tired of fighting you on this. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" HUH??????????? Qiluo and Xuan Lie had also been trying to build a trade port between the two nations and that finally comes to fruition in the last few episodes so that is also part of the two Kings allowing for Qiluo and Xuan Lie to be together, I guess.

ANYWAY, the first 2/3 of the show had its moments and if the writers weren't cowards and had pursued a Qiluo - Qimin romance once they returned to Yannan it could've been an overall enjoyable experience but no they decided to be this garbage fire instead. [sighs heavily]

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1. From the beginning, they wanted to portray a character who was smart and clever. but instead, they ended up being more like a smart, stupid person. wanted to conceal her identity, but used a pseudonym that was exactly her real name, and didn't even keep it a secret when Jun Qiluo's identity was revealed to Xuanlie. They smuggled but used a secret guard with a special tattoo?

Ep 15: After just having sex once, they're already fighting over the contraceptive? How confident are they that they'll get it right away?

2. The acting is completely ruined. AB's acting is so fake, very obvious that she is "acting", so speechless. Even though she's a veteran actress, her acting is still similar to the viral clip of her eating fake food. It's completely fake. Her acting standards are on par with Wu Jin Yan, maybe even worse.

3. The storyline seems to lack a briefing. It's as if they're acting out scenes but only know the story of that scene without understanding the full story. So in each scene, the actors discuss what they're doing, but everyone else knows something completely different.

For example, Qiluo's father wants her to become a woman again and get married, but it's never discussed, according to her younger sister and Qiluo replies that she's pretending to agree. What about the death of the smuggler Xi Da? He was unsuccessful in his assassination, but his body was later found? When Xuanlie was lured into the forest, he sent Hejiyao to Xuan Manor to bring his manor troop, instead of going to the palace to report to the king.

Ep 12, Lifanyin, in front of Qiluo, refers to herself as "母后" to her son?

The necklace xuanlie gave to Junqiluo, Red Bean and Blackstone. Why is it in Xuanlie's hands? Ep. 21

AND AND AND! They never even discussed the Jun Trading Token (君家行商令) until the end, even though she wanted to take it back from the start.

4. Too many cutscenes, many things happen suddenly, and the timeline is unclear. Regarding the information about the Three Jun Sisters and Feifan, it's unclear when and what Xuanlie and Qiluo discussed. How did Shaoqimin survive after being killed? About the princess, how did she become a drug maker expert? And how did she know Jun Qiluo was targeting the 玄铁晶石? Even Xuanlie didn't know to much

Ep 9, I was really surprised by the timelapse. From episodes 1 to 9, Qiluo and Shaoqimin were only separated by half a month? 15 days the mean? Meanwhile, teaching embroidery and buying herbs in Liangzhou that happened 10 days ago? From episodes 1 to 4, it was about 5 days and nights. Than the journey from Liangzhou to 中州 and 王城.

In episode 11, Jun Qiluo told Xuanlie they had only known each other for a few months?!

If they were only separated by 15 days without any additional days, how did Luozhizou know she was Miss Jun? Not Miss Qi? Even though they last met is in episode 7?

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