Ru Meng Shi: Fu Yi Yu A Qi (2025)

Masterfully underplayed heart-felt love with crime investigations and more

Presumably at the behest of Empress Dowager Cixi (who else can China make a scapegoat for the end of Qing dynasty unrest with paranormal elements?) a member of royal lineage of little importance follows a "supernatural" girl and her Big Dipper/Seven Star Lamp that supposedly can grant the E.D. immortal life. Discovering that the prince and the emotionless woman can enter the dreams of dying people to fulfill their final wishes they embark on debunking what looks like the works of ghosts, spirits and demons the pair (and a resident of said lamp that these two can see) move toward the resolution and - their doom. The love is of the melancholy type, but it is not the center of the plot. In fact, neither are the leads. Each case they unravel gives us complex stories - human and societal- with top notch artists playing their hearts out. For some reason there is little info on the supporting actors, but I tell you - each person on screen is embodying their characters and playing to our viewing content. The intrigue is OK, tropes predictable, but the final result is really good. A very good watch and nice directing, editing and music.
This production has very similar mood to Under the Moonlight (but we get much better romance here than in UtM and no stupid ML!) and we get the old c-dramas feel of innocence and propriety with grittiness like that in Riverside Code at Qingming Festival (but with concise, not as rich slice of life as RCaQF delivered).

Call me crazy, but I thought that this ending (like the beautiful one in The Love Story of the Oiled Paper Umbrella with Yu Meng Long) was fitting. Loved to watch them fall in love and if the alternative title was to be bestowed, I would have chosen "Flutter of the heart" for the first love reunited-and proving us and the leads wrong about the supernatural, because after all magic can happen in this world!

PS
Personally, I gave it 9 even though I know most people will be ticked that this is definitely a set up for S2. Which I am counting on!

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