Katie Cruz

I started watching this after Back from the Brink because I’m a huge fan of Hou Ming Hao. I just read the synopsis here on Mydramalist and decided to go for it. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I certainly didn’t have huge expectations for it. It’s my first time watching the actress who played Ban Hua. I’ve been watching Cdramas since 2019, and I’ve never heard of her. Anyway, her acting was not bad. She was pretty good. As for Hou Ming Hao’s character, Rong Xia? Well, not so good. He was a little stiff and not consistent with his character. One moment he likes Hua, then later on he seems to be on the path of revenge against the Ban family, so he can’t like Hua. I’m not sure if it was the actor or the writer of the dramaI to blame, but I had to watch the whole thing because I was already invested in it. It felt like the roles were reversed. The FL was more like the ML. I love the Ban family. They are so cute and funny, especially the dad and her younger brother, Ban Heng. The villains did a great job for getting under my skin. In court, we have a few powerful families like the Bans, the Yans, the Shis, and the Xies. We see each family scheming against each other, and in the end we see who really were the allies with the Bans. It’s a shame with Shi Feixian, the second male lead’s younger sister who was in love with Rong Xia. She already had a second chance in life when she was saved from jumping off the cliff. Instead of doing good and being grateful for being alive, noooo, she had to choose evil. She wanted to be empress by using the second prince Luo for her benefit. I felt bad for her because her grandfather controlled her to be perfect her whole life. He instilled in her mind that she has to be the best. He wanted her to be empress of Daye. He said those words to her up until his last breath. No remorse or whatsoever. Her grandfather was to blame for everything they had to go through. Can you imagine your grandfather wanted you to lie for the sake of his position in court and you get to be exiled? The second male lead was a nice man. He knew right from wrong. He was the only one with the right mind among his family. Even his sister, who was the empress of Daye, didn’t stop from plotting to kill Rong Xia. Like what the hell? Glad the crown prince turned Emperor asked her if she loves him or she loves his throne? We all know it’s the latter based from the expression on her face. I’m glad the Xie family became allies with the Ban family at the end. When the grandmother, Princess Royal, was dying, she asked hua why was she wearing red? Was she marrying someone? She’s trying to be funny even in her last moments. We didn’t have a lot of deaths but the grandmother and her nephew, who was the Emperor of Daye. I’m glad the emperor wasn’t so bad and he just really wanted to protect the Ban family. As for the crown prince, I’m glad he stepped up in the end instead of retreating from his responsibilities. He was so silly for deciding to abdicate the throne to Rong Xia. Feixian and the former prince Luo were exiled as commoners out in the countryside somewhere. We could see at the end how he started having mental problems. He’s now living a life of regret. Even the Empress Dowager and the princess were taken away for punishment. What a shame. The princess was Hua’s best friend but she ended up believing a snake. There were a lot of cute and funny moments in this drama. The The kisses were a little meh. Not a fan of dead fish kisses. I don’t like it when they kiss, both their eyes are opened, like nah, that’s not romantic. But I’ll give it a pass. I ended up enjoying the whole drama. 40 episodes was a little long, in my opinion. They could have shortened it down to 30 episodes. There were times I honestly got bored and just wanted to finish the drama already. I love how her brother’s wife is ready to give birth, and Rong Xia’s guard’s wife, who was one of Ban Hua’s maids, was also pregnant. Surprise surprise. Twin bliss. But we don’t get to see little ones from our main couple. Not gonna lie, I was a little sad. Oh well, that’s reality. Not everyone can have kids right away. It’s a really nice drama and I’m just happy they get to have a lot of scenes together.