Light-hearted and humorous but with a serious story to tell
This was a lovely romance drama. Story was light-hearted and humorous with a serious mystery to uncover. What happened to Lu Yan's father who was a general? Was he really a deserter?
The drama featured a cast of very good-looking male and female leads, including the villain. Besides the lead actor Alen YiLun Fang (Lu Yan), the second lead actor Charles Lin (Prince Heng) and the villain acted by Jerome Deng (Fan QingChen) were also very captivating. Charles did not look like the typical Chinese actor (notwithstanding that he is Taiwanese) - I always suspect that lead Chinese actors were commonly selected based on a certain look. Jerome looked really psychotic when he was upset in the story - I certainly hope it was completely due to his excellent acting :).
The drama was very humorous in the early episodes. The lead couple was always getting into each other's way. The story started with Luo LingYu, an orphan, trying to run away from an arranged marriage she was forced into by her uncle and aunt. During the wedding, Lu Yan sneaked into Lingyu's fiance's home to search for evidence of treason. Mistaking him for a burglar, LingYu deliberately raised an alarm to divert attention away from herself in order to escape. This caused him to be discovered and shot, and to fall into the sea. Coincidentally, he was saved by the runaway bride in a boat. She nursed him not knowing who he was as he was wearing a mask, and was quite nasty to him. However, not wanting to be seen with him when she reached YueZhou, she forced him to jump back into the sea.
At YueZhou, she sought refuge at her aunt's home where she settled and tried to look for a matrilocal husband. She thought her third cousin , being also an orphan, might be a good candidate and tried to win his affection. More humour arose. Unknown to her, he was Lu Yan whom she sabotaged earlier. Taking revenge, he was always making things difficult for her. Her fiance Fan QingChen traced her all the way to YueZhou. Looking for protection, LingYu threw herself at Prince Heng, a childhood friend of Lu Yan, and won his affection. Threatened by a love rival and getting jealous, the table was turned with Lu Yan now trying to win back the affection of LingYu but was ignored.
The drama got more serious when Lu Yan got nearer to uncovering the secret behind his father's disappearance. What happened next? That's for you to find out.
I had seen Alen in two other dramas: as the male lead in Love by Hypnotic, a comedy and second lead in A Journey to Love. I remember him vividly as the casanova in the latter, who added a lot of humour to the drama. However, I have yet to see a blockbuster where he was the lead actor. He is both good-looking and an excellent actor. I hope he gets his break soon.
Of course, like a lot of dramas, there were opportunities for me to nitpick. The most common was that someone could faint and yet could continue to stand leaning on someone - I always find this laughable - when people faint, their knees grew soft as well. Another was when Lu Yan dashed into the enemy camp single-handedly to save his love one - that was quite stupid for a battle strategist. When he finally found his love, he threw her onto a horse and told the horse to take her back to the camp - why so stupid a second time? He could have got himself onto the horse with her and rode away without staying behind to be hurt. I should check out whether the director or screenwriter was the same as for Love by Hypnotic where there were some similarities in the dramas.
On a whole, this is an excellent drama for some light-hearted entertainment. I was debating whether to give it a 8.5 or 9, but decided on 9 which is a bit generous. However, with a rating of 8.0 on Mydramalist, I think this drama was underrated.
The drama featured a cast of very good-looking male and female leads, including the villain. Besides the lead actor Alen YiLun Fang (Lu Yan), the second lead actor Charles Lin (Prince Heng) and the villain acted by Jerome Deng (Fan QingChen) were also very captivating. Charles did not look like the typical Chinese actor (notwithstanding that he is Taiwanese) - I always suspect that lead Chinese actors were commonly selected based on a certain look. Jerome looked really psychotic when he was upset in the story - I certainly hope it was completely due to his excellent acting :).
The drama was very humorous in the early episodes. The lead couple was always getting into each other's way. The story started with Luo LingYu, an orphan, trying to run away from an arranged marriage she was forced into by her uncle and aunt. During the wedding, Lu Yan sneaked into Lingyu's fiance's home to search for evidence of treason. Mistaking him for a burglar, LingYu deliberately raised an alarm to divert attention away from herself in order to escape. This caused him to be discovered and shot, and to fall into the sea. Coincidentally, he was saved by the runaway bride in a boat. She nursed him not knowing who he was as he was wearing a mask, and was quite nasty to him. However, not wanting to be seen with him when she reached YueZhou, she forced him to jump back into the sea.
At YueZhou, she sought refuge at her aunt's home where she settled and tried to look for a matrilocal husband. She thought her third cousin , being also an orphan, might be a good candidate and tried to win his affection. More humour arose. Unknown to her, he was Lu Yan whom she sabotaged earlier. Taking revenge, he was always making things difficult for her. Her fiance Fan QingChen traced her all the way to YueZhou. Looking for protection, LingYu threw herself at Prince Heng, a childhood friend of Lu Yan, and won his affection. Threatened by a love rival and getting jealous, the table was turned with Lu Yan now trying to win back the affection of LingYu but was ignored.
The drama got more serious when Lu Yan got nearer to uncovering the secret behind his father's disappearance. What happened next? That's for you to find out.
I had seen Alen in two other dramas: as the male lead in Love by Hypnotic, a comedy and second lead in A Journey to Love. I remember him vividly as the casanova in the latter, who added a lot of humour to the drama. However, I have yet to see a blockbuster where he was the lead actor. He is both good-looking and an excellent actor. I hope he gets his break soon.
Of course, like a lot of dramas, there were opportunities for me to nitpick. The most common was that someone could faint and yet could continue to stand leaning on someone - I always find this laughable - when people faint, their knees grew soft as well. Another was when Lu Yan dashed into the enemy camp single-handedly to save his love one - that was quite stupid for a battle strategist. When he finally found his love, he threw her onto a horse and told the horse to take her back to the camp - why so stupid a second time? He could have got himself onto the horse with her and rode away without staying behind to be hurt. I should check out whether the director or screenwriter was the same as for Love by Hypnotic where there were some similarities in the dramas.
On a whole, this is an excellent drama for some light-hearted entertainment. I was debating whether to give it a 8.5 or 9, but decided on 9 which is a bit generous. However, with a rating of 8.0 on Mydramalist, I think this drama was underrated.
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