WM

美人谋略 aka "Beauty Strategy" - this is an excellent Drama with her playing a very capable Merchant Daughter who leaves her fiancé after learning he wants to downgrade her to a concubine.

Unfortunately, YouTube recently deleted links with it, so at the moment only Raw versions are available - https://www.qssteelcasting.com/vodplay/198265/5/1.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPBlV1plko0

Not sure what;s going on regarding the last link, but it's definitely not Zhao Huinan playing the FL here.
She actually looks a bit like Zhang Chu Xuan.

It could be this one:
Title:"Female bandit's soul travels to the modern era to snatch a husband and is adored by the whole family." | 女土匪魂穿现代抢亲后，被全家宠上天

Is this the one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxi7T-vBkS0

From the perspective, it's quite interesting that this Drama has a "smart female lead" tag, but doesn't have a "badass female lead" one - if I had to choose, Ren Xin was much more "badass" than "smart".

Overall, many months later, it remains a disappointing show with a huge potential, one of the biggest "What if...?" during my ongoing Tour de C-Dramas.

The majority of the YouTube uploads for this Drama are gone.

Okay, I finally watched enough to write a few words:
- I always felt the word "beautiful" is overused, but Wang Chu Ran is definitely one of the examples where it isn't.
- This Drama is bland/boring, yet watchable/cute. However, not on the level of "Blossom" or "Flourished Peonies", it also has a zero repeat factor.
- It would be much better with 24 or 32 episodes
- It's a rare Drama where both powerful leads are portrayed as equals based on the fighting, scheming and other skills
- It's even more rare that the ML barely saves the FL, as she does a splendid job navigating through all kinds of troubles on her own
- Of course standards tropes: the FL kills left and right when shooting, but then suddenly misses a bit when the target is someone important. The Drama, of course, has to end with the Rebellion and all the main villains living until the end.
- Did I mention that Wang Chu Ran is exceptionally beautiful? :)

My rating is 6/10 (Douban-like, where no Drama is 10/10, Nirvana In Fire is 9/10, and the crap like The Double or Legend of the Female General is 5/10 at max).

It's a very good Drama, with an FL killing 2ML spectacularly in an original timeline.

The only downside is typical - Romance, especially the fact that such a smart, resourceful FL wasn't able to figure things out about the ML's identity because of some shitty mask.

Due to a lot of praise going in FL's way, I still hope to watch it one day. But:
1) Her assassination attempt in the 1st episode was laughably bad, making me worry about how smart she can get later.
2) Her maid's schtick quickly got very tiring.

I really liked the FL here, for once, the writers made Mu Guying badass enough in combat.
However, for me, it had way too many supernatural elements to consider it really good.

It made me wonder if it would be more compared to the "Duuuuuduuuu" in the "Legend of the Female General" :).

Just watched some clips and they looked decent, but then I saw posts about the lack of intelligence and poor decision making from the fL, which is a big turn off.

Didn't watch this one and based on synopsis, doesn't seem particularly interesting.

I actually should like "Fated Hearts" due to FL being great in badassery playing in "Song of Glory", but I still couldn't continue after 4-5 episodes.

She is really good in Action/Martial Arts Dramas.

Definitely less entertaining than Yanxi, but overall higher quality IMO.
Yanxi Palace is like a gold standard of Idol Dramas.
Minglan is a gold standard of "Slice of life" Dramas.
Both FL's are very smart (but seen smarter), but even between them, there are differences - Yinglou is more proactive, while Minglan is more reactive.

A few months after report - zero repeat factor, and the only thing I remember about this one is the f'n "Dudu".

Yeah, they don't rely on man, until they need to be saved over and over again, or helped when getting drunk like an idiot.

People have incredibly low standards for a Female Leads.

I can vouch for "Blossom" and the first season of the "Flourished Peony" (second not so much).

I've tried with many others - watched in disappointment "LOFG" fully (after expecting a totally different Drama based on the Trailer) and dropped Fated Hearts/Shadow Love quickly, as I'm getting really sick and tired of the supposedly "badass female lead" needing to be saved over and over again.

In 2026, the MicroDramas, despite their obvious limitation, offer far more in the storytelling aspect and overall, a much better product.

Regarding ratings - well, we live in a world where overrated trash like "The Double" has a similar rating to "Story of Ming Lan" or "Empresses in the Palace", and the even worse crap of "Legend of the Female General" is just a bit lower.

At least Douban continues to be semi-useful.

In 2026, I'm surprised that anyone is still being surprised about it.
Only MicroDramas offer a bit of getaway from this Trope.

Except of "Veil of Vengeance", literally every Drama with a supposedly "badass female lead" makes me think how did she survive in the field before meeting the ML, since she needs to be saved/cared for all the time.

Literally half a year later, I'm still stuck at Episode 7th.
Still hoping to complete it one day, but in the meantime, I've watched dozens of MicroDramas that I've enjoyed more.
However, it remains almost impossible to find a more beautiful actress than Wang Chu Ran.

I always wonder the same about all kinds of supposedly "badass female leads", when the ML is saving them over and over again during the Dramas storyline,