CdramaAddict8230

Hong Yao does not strike us as a strong male lead choice. Xu Kai has that vibe of being a commanding male lead in almost every period drama. Li Yi Tong's performance was excellent in this drama. She showed both the strength of a female official struggling to survive in a hell like harem and her everlasting love to Xu Kai's character despite of his jealousy driven tantrum towards her.

I guess you were referring to the misunderstanding between Chu Mo and Fu Rou centered on her being accused by Chu Mo for suspicion of falling for the duke. But there were no effort by Fu Rou to clear the cloud by finding an opportunity to talk to Chu Mo even to the end of the drama. Yes, I had the exact same complaint of either the screenwriting sloppiness or screen editing incoherency. I suspected there was some screen time that Fu Rou tried to smooth things out with Chu Mo when they were hiding in a cave and after she treated his poisoned wound. I remembered that there was a very short scene with Fu Rou having her hair down (like she just had sex with her husband) and showed the chain-linked armor to Chu Mo. That scene was perhaps cut out by the director but Fu Rou had the exact same dirty face and attire as the scene after she treated Chu Mo's wound. When Fu Rou resurfaced from the woods the next morning, she was trying to straighten up her official cap. When the two were on their way back to Chang An, Fu Rou looked out at Chu Mo and he blinked and threw at her. Too bad, the cut out scene should have been there to give viewers the proper closure on the suspicion of Fu Rou throwing her love for Chu Mo away.