Ruan Xiaofeng's Royal Love Quest (2025)

This time again, we’ve got a modern-day FL who time-travels or is reborn into the past. But plot twist: she doesn’t take over the body of some fragile, bullied wallflower—nope, she is the so-called villainess herself (at least for the major part of the series). And honestly? That’s where the fun begins.

ML, who once treated his wife’s affection like spam mail—unopened and unwanted—is suddenly all starry-eyed now that she hits him with the “I don't give two fucks about it” attitude. Typical. Nothing flips a switch faster for men than being ignored—it’s like an instant aphrodisiac.

Now, onto the cast.

Smile Wei—haven’t seen much of her in leading roles since she usually floats around the supporting cast universe. But judging from this performance alone, I’d say her acting is pretty solid (not award-winning, but definitely not forgettable). She could level up her visual appeal a bit, but in this drama, she outshone the ML, no question. Her character was a breath of fresh sass—smart, bold, outspoken, and actually logical, unlike her previous wet-towel version. Easily the life of the show.

As for Deng Kai, our ML... I'm torn. He has his moments, truly. In some roles, he hits it out of the park, and in others—well, let’s just say the ball didn’t leave the bat. I feel like his performance heavily depends on his co-actor’s vibe, which isn’t the best trait for longevity in this industry. Here, his character revolved around two things: his mom’s tragic death and his wife’s sudden evolution into a confident queen. He did fine, but wasn’t exactly scene-stealing.

The rest of the cast? They were present. Adequate. Nothing to write emotional essays about.

The plot moved at a decent pace, and—surprisingly—most cliché landmines were carefully sidestepped. No overused love triangles, no forced misunderstandings every 10 minutes. Just clean-ish storytelling.

Final verdict? It’s a one-time watch that won’t make you scream into a pillow. And in this genre, that’s saying something.

Read More