Deirdre19

C'mon, she jumped off a cliff for the guy! What other proof of love do you need?

It is true that many of the people who are actually watching this drama are very generous with their criticism of (in no particular order) the bad script-writing, the bad CGI and lighting, the whitewashing of the main characters (in particular ML), the endless bathing and meaningless scenes of side-actors, but one thing that I have rarely seen criticised by anyone is the acting.
And, after 30 episodes, most of these people (me included) who keep complaining about this and that are still here, eagerly waiting for new episodes. So please, don't be put off by our whining...
Yes, the ML is rather bland in the first half of the drama, but you can see Gong Jun really trying to give us the best he can despite the shitty writing. So if you like him, you will probably appreciate his acting and the role gets much better around ep. 23/24. Dilraba is a pleasure to watch as always and the role offers her ample opportunity to give us the whole range from silly over romantic to cold and vengeful. Liu Yu Ning is the one out of the three who gets to play the most complex and interesting character right from the start.
The story really picks up around ep. 21/22 I would say and right now (ep.29/30) it is getting really really good.
I also really dislike the childhood sweetheart trope, but in this one it isn't artificial or forced. Their grandfathers were friends, and it kind of makes sense that there was a marriage contract. It's not presented as anything sweetly romantic like in some other dramas, so I find it quite ok.
Give it a try and form your own opinion.

It was a joke... 🫢
FYI, not all actors need eye drops. The really good ones can conjure up the necessary emotions without these gadgets.

Some clowns are busy down-rating episodes that haven't even aired yet.
Probably half of the accounts that have already given an overall rating (0.3% even claim to have completed the drama) are fake.

They shared an onion... 😂😂😂
I'm sure it will be revealed in one of the next behind-the-scenes clips.

I saw somewhere that he said Dilraba was the one he would most like to act with and would love to see him partnered with a "grown-up" FL. I'm so sick and tired of seeing his talent wasted as a training partner for these girlies who can't act.

Yeah, the crazy eyes in that scene were definitely a WKX moment. It gave me flashbacks, too.

I didn't see anyone mention it. If DZY knew she was around it would make sense for the two to meet.
LMX's little elves must be on their day off he doesn't seem to get any intel on what's happening (Di Sheng Tian visit, Wen Shuo missing...).

I want Anning to kill him... once she wakes up.

She is too busy drinking and wallowing in self-pity (could form a self-help group with the Fake).
In the drama she is definitely one of the weakest characters. After the glorious introduction of her character in the early episodes this is such a disappointment!

Nah, Dilrabe deserves better... I neither like William Chan's looks nor his acting.
Since we're making wishes, my dream couple would be Dilraba and Jeremy Tsui.

Here's the synopsis from Douban (machine translation):
Tong Zifu, a social animal painter, accidentally entered into her comics and met Wen Jingzhan, the number one painter in Beijing. Wen Jingzhan, who only wanted to join the army, mistook Tong Zifu as a spy sent by his father. During the process of getting along, the two resolved the misunderstanding, established a relationship of trust, grew up together, and came together as they wished.

Here's the synopsis from Douban (machine translation):
Tong Zifu, a social animal painter, accidentally entered into her comics and met Wen Jingzhan, the number one painter in Beijing. Wen Jingzhan, who only wanted to join the army, mistook Tong Zifu as a spy sent by his father. During the process of getting along, the two resolved the misunderstanding, established a relationship of trust, grew up together, and came together as they wished.

Ah ya, the vengeful emperor... that makes some sense!
All that whitewashing is so annoying, not even the villains are allowed any bite.

No, he didn't tell LMX. I was waiting for him to do so.

Yeah, I was confused about the outdoors finale as well, since the flashback clearly shows they were indoors before, but it may have been two separate occasions. The Left Chancellor seems to have sent some sort of blackmail note to HY, I wonder what he was after. Maybe the 2nd meeting was the supposed "handover".
Hmh, a brilliant plan... either that or some really dumb move. After what LMX said to him during their trip to the North he seems to be looking for some self-punishment.
I think nobody seems to know that WS is missing. In the prison scene I was waiting for HY to tell LMX, but nada, and his spy network seems to be asleep as well.

So HY is locked up in prison and everyone turns up to visit him, yet nobody seems to wonder why his personal attendant isn't around??

Something is bugging me about ep. 29 ...

I think there is a rift developing between DZY and LMX as he clearly wants to take the quest for revenge/justice one step further to regime change. It is not quite clear to me what his motivation is behind this... is it really just him being overzealous? If DZY were to follow through with this, wouldn't she just confirm that the Empress Dowagers apprehension of the Di family was justified? Her ancestors made it quite clear that they didn't want to rule the empire, so for as long as there is a potentially capable ruler (the crown prince), even the injustice they have suffered should make her change course.

Vow, episodes 27-28-29 were a wild ride! Finally this drama is picking up pace and there is some movement and ample opportunity for the actors to show us what they've got...