Cheng He Ti Tong! (2025)

Clever and fun for most of the story.

(I rate vertical micro dramas on their own sliding scale). General spoilers only.
I'd give the first 2hrs 10 mins a 9/10 and the last 30mins a 4/10. So... 8/10 overall because I think the majority of it is still worth watching as it's more clever than many vertical historical plots. Also nice to have a solid happy ending for a transmigration story; that's rare!

Consistently very good until the last 30mins (2 hrs 40 min total). Then everything was tied up so quickly and a bit ridiculously, the well-crafted tension dissipated, and the final culmination of the romance wasn't as satisfying as it could have been, in my opinion.

Too bad because the first 2 hours is full of smart people making smart plans. Plenty of mini triumphs for the good guys but still needing to navigate challenges because the bad guys were smart too. It was awesome how the lead couple worked as a team, with both of them coming up with ideas, but mainly the FL. And the ML obviously respected and admired her for her cleverness, and also for her kind heart. It was a slow burn romance and secondary to the plot, but the magnetism was always there. A couple lip presses with small movements near the end.

Some lightheartedness throughout nicely balanced with more serious moments. I liked that the FL was NOT infallable, and would have her moments of weakness and doubt, but ultimately was determined to not give up. She was easy to root for.

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