JulesL

NJL was satisfyingly brutal in the way she killed but it was painful to see the ending of the fight in ep 9.

After the coroner's story which was kind of meh, I was worried about the ending but the last 4 episodes did not disappoint. Looking forward to the next season!

Enjoyed the BTS scenes. - funny!

Yeah -n I didn't quite understand his motivation - SWM said that he wanted to guilt and pressure his disciple into confessing but was it really necessary to use his own death to prove the point?

Forty episodes was simply too long for this story. There are only so many medical emergencies and military rescue scenes a viewer can sit through before it all starts blending into background noise. The pacing dragged, no question about it. But I still gave the show a respectable rating because, despite its flaws, it delivered some genuinely heartfelt moments.

The romance between the leads was enjoyable. The show captured, with surprising nuance, the real-world dilemmas and pressures faced by a couple in such demanding professions. There’s no starry-eyed, fluffy fairy-tale ending here—just a grounded portrayal of two people choosing each other with intention, fully aware of the sacrifices, ambitions, and goals that come with the relationship.

I like both Johnny Huang and Li Qin; their interactions were the highlights of the drama for me. Sadly the 2nd and 3rd couples did not appeal to me at all. The FL's best friend was one of the most love-brained character I have ever seen and the ML's female cousin was just too exaggerated with some bad acting.

Overall, this was a decent watch. If you are a fan of JH or LQ, it's certainly watchable. Maybe good for when you want some background noise while exercising or doing chores.

Exactly! Even the most intelligent of them still have biases. In that case, LLF proved to be the more objective one.

Thank goodness for trailers! I was left on the edge of my seat after the last scene of ep 6!

Me too! At the end it just wanted to protect XS.

Well said. Looking back, I agree — Wei and Du couldn’t escape their punishments, and they didn’t really want to. Everyone, including their families, understood that. That’s why I wish they had been able to kill He Bi and the high priest themselves; it would have made their sacrifices feel more worth their own deaths. As you surmised , what frustrates me most is that the merchants’ crimes weren’t exposed the way they should have been.

On a side note, as I mentioned to PBGoddess, it’s interesting that in this story the merchants are cast as the villains, when it’s usually the gentry who are shown trampling over everyone else.

It was interesting that in this case, the show spotlighted the merchants in a more negative light - compared to most dramas shoeing how the gentry can be pretentious and looking down on everyone else just because they are supposedly from a nobler class. LLF did show bias which he did apologize for but but I think it was SWM who immediately jumped to conclusions which triggered LLF. I felt that SWM should have apologize as well!

Very entertaining so far — Dilraba’s character is giving full Lara Croft energy, and they even slipped in a “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”–style sexy fight scene. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting so much action and chemistry in just 4 episodes, but here we are — and I’m not complaining.

You’re right — I would have preferred to see Wei and Du attempt to pursue justice through the law first, rather than resorting immediately to a killing spree. I thought that they acted outside the system because they didn’t want the sister’s ordeal to become public, leaving them feeling they had no choice but to take matters into their own hands.

With that in mind, I had hoped LLF might show some leniency, or at least acknowledge the pain and desperation behind their actions. But in the end, premeditated murder is still premeditated murder, and it would go against everything LLF stands for if he simply ignored that.

Agree - it's so sad for the girl disciple that in the end, she also lost the old coroner.

Seems like the old coroner Geng was already ahead of SWM when it came to finding out who the murderers were...

Agree - I wish they were able to punish the last two villains themselves - if they are going to pay for their crimes, I wish they got full satisfaction out of it!

I know but LLF in the end did not speak in support of them to the Princess. Compared to the other cases, I felt that he was reverting to being black and white.
He's willing to overlook the crimes of others and even turned a blind eye to things. However, I guess he drew the line when it came to killing people, even if the people killed were evil.

I found the whole nobles-versus-merchants storyline with the High Priest dissatisfying.
Even after uncovering the truth, LLF and SWM still couldn’t come up with a proper way to show mercy. Both of them even had strong backers who were willing to let things go.
Just when LLF started to show more humanity, he slipped right back into seeing the world in rigid black-and-white terms.

Yeah exactly - he found ways to justify the outcome like praising the poets' loyalty and brotherhood :D
I am finally shipping those two! I was not really into them the first 2 seasons but now that LLF is more humble and sweeter, he seems more worthy of XJ now - haha!

The stories so far have been intriguing, but I especially enjoyed the later ones that steered clear of all the political maneuvering with the Princess and the Emperor. Those episodes felt richer—full of unexpected turns and thoughtful layers that kept things engaging and surprising.

And I really love seeing LLF quietly bend the rules when emotion outweighs protocol. He finally has a warmer, more human side.

True - I usually don't go by MDL rating because there's so many people that would downrate a drama for no good reason.

Same here! I also was attracted to the title 😃

The food looked amazing and I can just imagine the smell of spices!

I am glad that you enjoyed the drama! Wish it got more visibility :)