Yan Zheng had more fighting scenes while severely injured, coughing up blood at intervals, as Changyu’s matrilocal husband in Lin’an town than he did as the Marquis of Wu’an. I spent the entire second half of the drama waiting to see him in his full glory, taking down Qi Min, but all we got were a few brief moments of him riding toward the enemy, marching, glaring, and swinging his sword here and there, and that was it.
And what on earth was Episode 39? Even Changyu had more substantial fight scenes earlier than she did as a general in that so-called ‘final battle.’ Couldn’t she have stopped the arrow aimed at Xie Zheng? If she had been present, Wei Sheng wouldn’t have had to sacrifice his life to repay Xie Zheng for saving his mother.
The director really fumbled the second half, giving unnecessary screen time to Qi Min and his repulsive scenes with Qian Qian, which could have been replaced with Gongsun and Princess Qi Shu’s storyline. They deserved far more screen time and I was hoping to see more of their love story than watching Qi Min’s psychotic obsession with his wife.
The Lin’an town arc was the best part of the drama -- everything from the story to the pacing, the comedy, and the emotional beats was well balanced. I even appreciated how the struggles of ordinary people were portrayed. But the moment I thought not a single second was being wasted in this drama, everything started going downhill from there.
It's like yuanqing is destined to be killed by one person so the whole universe has been conspiring to protect him until then. I can't explain any other reason for him to be still alive after everything. Or luck.
If someone had told me at the beginning of this drama that I would struggle toward the end to finish it, I wouldn’t have believed it, but it happened. For me, although this drama was amazing in the first part, I felt that from episode 25 onward it started going downhill... I really liked the FL, I liked her fights and her humor. I agree that the scenes where she defeats several generals aren’t very realistic, but it didn’t bother me too much.
The ML wasn’t very convincing for me, I expected more. Not many things about him stuck with me, except that most of the time he was injured and bedridden. I expected to see him more in action after episode 25, but I didn’t. There was quite a bit of room for both the FL and ML in episode 30, but I didn’t see any strong fighting from him, not even in episode 32 when Sui Yuan Qing came for revenge.
The group of four was enjoyable, maybe I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t hear more about Mandy after he died, they only mentioned him in the last episode.
Gongsun was funny, I liked him. but I’ve seen him play a similar role in “Legend of the Female General.” Next time, I hope to see him in a different role. I think he made a cute couple with the princess, though at times their relationship bored me.
Lord Li was sweet. I’m glad there wasn’t any love triangle, and I’m glad he quickly realized that someone like Qi Min shouldn’t take power.
Qi Min and Qian Qian were a toxic pair, I don’t even know if they can be called a couple, although I think she cared about him at least a little. Qi Min was truly very toxic and obsessive… wanting to kill your own child is already too much.
Sui Yuan Qing was also insane. I think he was even worse than his so-called brother, and honestly I don’t understand where that madness came from, since his parents seemed reasonable. He didn’t prove much through fighting either, just that he was crazy, and that’s about it. He deserved a harsher ending.
What I liked most was the atmosphere in the village with all the villagers, it would have been nice if they had all survived.
Overall, the story was good, but not better than other dramas I’ve watched in the past, more or less on the same level as “Blossom,” “The Double,” “Fated Hearts,” and “Prisoner of Beauty.”
I’ll finish with a rating of 8.5–8.8, and that’s only because toward the end the drama didn’t feel as good to me as it did at the beginning.
Dear script writer and director and producer, 😮💨 so many things to type and nitpick about, This drama had the potential of a 10/10, Why drag out some unnecessary scenes, you couldn’t even give us lots of action and coldness from the marquis, the inconsistency and some cringe scenes surrounding some of the FL scenes and some of the cast scenes, cast development either too fast, too slow or poorly done. Please what was that ending 😒? Romance scenes thou a 10/10 😩 Casting a 10/10 especially the FL so beautiful and different face (just like Prisoner of beauty) so I love the casting We waited so long for this drama Personally will rate it a 8.5/10 or 8/10
Replying toJiji D90•Mar 24, 2026•Liked Mar 29, 2026
I wish her journey to general and beyond had made more sense. Claiming she has seen countless and plentiful battle was so untrue when she fought in all of two battles. In the big one after those statement she didn't even lead an army or fight.
The best and worst of Pursuit of Jade is the first 17 episodes. So much time was used on leads and their village…
yeah, it got downhill from the middle of entire episode, underwhelming war scene, some epic moment of the expected character not getting screen time, but glorifying fl in every little thing she does to the point of too much, im on 31 and really struggling to finishing it
Replying tohannahbanana•Mar 28, 2026•Liked Mar 28, 2026
The best and worst of Pursuit of Jade is the first 17 episodes. So much time was used on leads and their village…
agree with this sm it’s like the director just wanted ppl to pair up so he did we didn’t really get to see anyone “fall” in love every couple was just super attractive and already 100% ready to commit to their partner lol
the marquis role was such a waste because in the novel he has a back bone and knows his priorities.. how can a general let his wife do whatever she wants in his military, the fl has crazy plot armer and the ml is just there to boost her character it feels like he’s a side character to her tbh we don’t even get any interaction of him growing up or with his uncle or any of his trama/revenge stories
The best and worst of Pursuit of Jade is the first 17 episodes. So much time was used on leads and their village life that none of the characters ever had any back stories. We never knew who they were or their motivations. I was not even able to know the names of most of them.
Even though this is a female lead oriented drama, we never got to see the real Marquis. He only came across as a dumb person with no acumen of strategy or basic common sense. FLs character was elevated to a stupid level that she is able to kill career military generals in 2 blows.
At the end, this is such a wasted potential. It could have been more. Rating 7/10
2 
And what on earth was Episode 39? Even Changyu had more substantial fight scenes earlier than she did as a general in that so-called ‘final battle.’ Couldn’t she have stopped the arrow aimed at Xie Zheng? If she had been present, Wei Sheng wouldn’t have had to sacrifice his life to repay Xie Zheng for saving his mother.
The director really fumbled the second half, giving unnecessary screen time to Qi Min and his repulsive scenes with Qian Qian, which could have been replaced with Gongsun and Princess Qi Shu’s storyline. They deserved far more screen time and I was hoping to see more of their love story than watching Qi Min’s psychotic obsession with his wife.
The Lin’an town arc was the best part of the drama -- everything from the story to the pacing, the comedy, and the emotional beats was well balanced. I even appreciated how the struggles of ordinary people were portrayed. But the moment I thought not a single second was being wasted in this drama, everything started going downhill from there.
I really liked the FL, I liked her fights and her humor. I agree that the scenes where she defeats several generals aren’t very realistic, but it didn’t bother me too much.
The ML wasn’t very convincing for me, I expected more. Not many things about him stuck with me, except that most of the time he was injured and bedridden. I expected to see him more in action after episode 25, but I didn’t. There was quite a bit of room for both the FL and ML in episode 30, but I didn’t see any strong fighting from him, not even in episode 32 when Sui Yuan Qing came for revenge.
The group of four was enjoyable, maybe I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t hear more about Mandy after he died, they only mentioned him in the last episode.
Gongsun was funny, I liked him. but I’ve seen him play a similar role in “Legend of the Female General.” Next time, I hope to see him in a different role. I think he made a cute couple with the princess, though at times their relationship bored me.
Lord Li was sweet. I’m glad there wasn’t any love triangle, and I’m glad he quickly realized that someone like Qi Min shouldn’t take power.
Qi Min and Qian Qian were a toxic pair, I don’t even know if they can be called a couple, although I think she cared about him at least a little. Qi Min was truly very toxic and obsessive… wanting to kill your own child is already too much.
Sui Yuan Qing was also insane. I think he was even worse than his so-called brother, and honestly I don’t understand where that madness came from, since his parents seemed reasonable. He didn’t prove much through fighting either, just that he was crazy, and that’s about it. He deserved a harsher ending.
What I liked most was the atmosphere in the village with all the villagers, it would have been nice if they had all survived.
Overall, the story was good, but not better than other dramas I’ve watched in the past, more or less on the same level as “Blossom,” “The Double,” “Fated Hearts,” and “Prisoner of Beauty.”
I’ll finish with a rating of 8.5–8.8, and that’s only because toward the end the drama didn’t feel as good to me as it did at the beginning.
This drama had the potential of a 10/10,
Why drag out some unnecessary scenes, you couldn’t even give us lots of action and coldness from the marquis, the inconsistency and some cringe scenes surrounding some of the FL scenes and some of the cast scenes,
cast development either too fast, too slow or poorly done. Please what was that ending 😒?
Romance scenes thou a 10/10 😩
Casting a 10/10 especially the FL so beautiful and different face (just like Prisoner of beauty) so I love the casting
We waited so long for this drama
Personally will rate it a 8.5/10 or 8/10
This is not a perfect drama, but I must said FH is much better on storytelling & pace than PoJ.
as an afterthought...
if the drama had good fight scenes it may have been worth the rewatch. so much time at war but it was more comedy and Suzy homemaker than fighting.
the marquis role was such a waste because in the novel he has a back bone and knows his priorities.. how can a general let his wife do whatever she wants in his military, the fl has crazy plot armer and the ml is just there to boost her character it feels like he’s a side character to her tbh we don’t even get any interaction of him growing up or with his uncle or any of his trama/revenge stories
Even though this is a female lead oriented drama, we never got to see the real Marquis. He only came across as a dumb person with no acumen of strategy or basic common sense. FLs character was elevated to a stupid level that she is able to kill career military generals in 2 blows.
At the end, this is such a wasted potential. It could have been more. Rating 7/10