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A Lazy Copy& Paste Plot

ML is supposed to be a fierce ruthless no nonsense commander of the Imperial Security Bureau nicknamed White Ghost, feared by all in the realm while FL is a little no rank scribe at Ministry of Justice with extensive investigative skills. Their fates got entangled in an arranged marriage when FL’s sister got betrothed to ML with an imperial decree under the conniving Prime Minister’s workings. FL’s sister ran away with her beloved to escape the marriage and FL was forced to step up and replace her as bride to avoid the family being implicated. ML was never interested in the marriage, and as he did with all his previous brides, he tried to scare FL into running away. To his surprise, FL was adamant to stay as she was threatened by the Prime Minister to become his spy in the commander’s mansion. ML decided to let her stay to see what other tricks the Prime Minister had in store for him, as he too was investigating his family’s framing many years ago which he believed related to the Prime Minister. Cases came up one after another as ML and FL uncovered clues leading to the truth behind his family’s demise, and they developed feelings for each other in the process.

Honestly at first i was ok with the FL cuz this character seemed to be a brilliant and upright one. But as the story progresses, I find her extremely annoying because ML always ends up needing to save FL each time she goes on to investigate these cases. Apparently the FL isnt really smart, but just a stubborn damsel in distress who has a knack for investigating things. Her only skill is to find out the bottom of things, and not someone who can think a few steps ahead and cover her back while doing her thing. It’s truly annoying cuz she ends up getting in trouble every single time and implicates everyone around her.

As for ML, i first saw him in White Cat Legend and then in Love in Pavilion, and thought he is really not bad of an actor. But i think he did better in series where he doesnt have a love interest. And it doesnt make things any better when the FL’s character is too annoying and cry excessively. Many of the emotional scenes in here are not naturally conveyed, i failed to feel the sadness the characters are feeling as they cry, especially when the FL cry so dang much to the point of my annoyance. That is how detached the characters look for me. Excessive public display of affection between the main leads after the so called love confessions are also too over the top and looks much out of place in ancient time. As if the screenwriter was trying to force out the main couple’s love too much to the audience. Maybe even the screenwriter thought the actors dont have much spark between them so they plant this kind of excessive expression of love to fill in the void and convince the audience.

Overall, the only characters that are fun to watch had been Wu Da Ren (FL’s boss) and her mom! Those two are hilarious and i look forward to see them with each episode.

There’s also too many flashbacks and backstory of unimportant side characters that really don’t have any impact to the main plot other than just to lengthen it. The ending is also too predictable. The palace coup arc was like a copy&paste from other tv shows, it’s lazy writing on the screenwriter’s part. I don’t know how it went with the novel as i havent read it (and don’t intend to), so am not sure if the novel’s plot is as bad as the adaptation (cuz many adaptation tend to divert from the original novels).

Most painful to watch is the final sword fight between ML and the villain. I really think the increased speed just to show the fighters’ prowess is too excessive which made it look comical. ML had better fights in White Cat Legend and Love in Pavilion, so this problem here lies on the fight choreographer (if they even hired one) and the editing.

The ‘divorcing-FL-to-avoid-implicating-her’ is also too old of a plot. So old it has rusted! I am so disgusted at this type of plot, so i couldnt even finish episode 40 cuz I think the FL should give ML harder time before reconciling. If your spouse don’t think you can shoulder their burden with you, why bother being together at all? Sick of this lame excuse for love.

The songs are great though. But because I didnt like the story, I am not adding them to my playlist as to not remind myself of this show everytime it plays.

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One of the Best Masterpiece 2025

He Yan, our FL, was born into a noble family whose eldest son He Rufei, born sick and frail. Upon receiving diagnosis that the boy wouldn’t live long, they decided to swap He Yan to assume the role in order to avoid their noble title being revoked with no male heir. So henceforth starts He Yan being raised as a boy, and as her feminine features started to be more evident, her family made her wear a mask 24/7 even while sleeping. One day she decided to run away from home when she overheard her parents discussing about her marriage to a girl, and went to enlist in the army. Despite being a mediocre student at school, always ranking last or second last, she rose to prominence in the army. On the day she returned home after receiving General Feihong title from the emperor, she finally got to meet the step brother she was subtituting for, He Rufei. A reunion that she thought was supposed to be happy, turned out to be her death sentence. She passed out from being poisoned, and when she came to, she discovered that she had turned blind. The family sent her to the temple where He Rufei had grew up in, and later He Rufei sent his bodyguard to kill He Yan to keep the secret sealed. She was stabbed with a sword, and fell off a cliff into a body of water. She thought she had died, but eventually woke up in a house. It was her shifu who had rescued her, and cured her blind eyes. Then starts her journey to enlist into ML’s army, starting from the bottom again, but this time she was not mediocre anymore. She became the num 1 recruit in the camp, with a mission to gather enough military merits to stand as high as He Rufei and reclaim her title.

I must say Zhou Ye is not bad as a cross dresser, didnt look too feminine especially in the chest area, though her character did not look as rough as Zhang Tian An’s A Mai in Fighting for Love. I still think Zhang Tian An is the best cross dresser out there, Zhou Ye being the second. I like how she smiles so wide to emulate the carefree and mischievous air of the novel He Yan. She is nimble and wields weapons convincingly good, never looking weak or clumsy like some other actress who took up female warrior roles that i’ve seen, so I can tell that she worked real hard to make the role work. She is also very expressive and able to convey her emotion accurately. This is the first time that I saw her work, and I am impressed at how she managed to blend the mixed emotions of the cheerful ever so carefree He Yan and the gloomy and sombre look whenever she recalled her previous life as a substitute to He Rufei. The change of emotions are really seamless, with her wide smile basically holding the key.

As for the ML, I have always felt the Ryan has an air of a male lead after watching his performance in My Journey to You. This is my second show of him, and of course he did not disappoint. I knew he can deliver the cold and ruthless role of Xiao Jue, as his role in My Journey To You was even more complex and hardcore. So his performance in LotFG was explosive. Being the second son in a military family with the eldest’s constitution not suitable to carry the army flag, Xiao Jue had to be the one to continue his father’s legacy. He had to train twice as hard to live up to the expectation, making him revered by all but living like an empty shell as he bottles up everything. He Yan became the first of everything for him, even before he realized she was a girl. She became his spark of life.

The storyline is very engaging, and I finished bingeing in less than 3 days. I am glad they changed the plot to assasination survival instead of the cliche reborn into another’s body like in the novel. The adaptation’s plot is more believable and connected than the novel’s. It always bothered me that novel He Yan never got to personally reclaim her General Feihong title because she was in another person’s body. All she could do was reveal the deceit of her previous family to restore the claim to the dead He Yan. It’s just not quite as fullfilling. Am so glad the screenwriter changed this flaw.

I really love the action choreograph, really fluid with mesmerising moves, i truly commend the choreoghrapher. The battle scenes, the sword fights, the clashings are all impressive and amazing. The supporting casts are all very talented and impressive.

The themesongs are the bomb! With names like Curley Gao and Zhou Shen of course they wouldnt disappoint. I’m totally adding them to my running playlist!

SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE!!
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In the novel He Yan never got to call her mother, ever. Not when she was a child because they prevented them from meeting and not after she emerged from the ashes of death as she was reborn into another person’s body. I am glad she and her mother finally got the chance in the adaptation to properly reconcile and that she was able to grieve openly for her.

Yingxiang’s death was less tragic than the novel, but definitely very laughable. I would think for a martial artist like her, it’d be easier to deflect the knife wielded by a frail woman like Xu Pingting than slip her body in between them to bear the brunt for her beloved young master. Like seriously? That short of a distance and she actually manage to squeeze between them to take the stab when she was originally standing behind Chu Zhao? Omg i laughed instead of feeling sad at her demise - i like her character very much. They could at least make Xu Pingting stab a sword or shoot an arrow from a distance to make it more realistic. Or make her pull Chu Zhao to stand behind her and then take the stab. Any of those are definitely physically easier to do that trying to sqeeze in between. It’s truly pitiful that her role was so minor that she couldnt survive a 3-inch deep stab to the shoulderblade. Had her role been a more important one, she wouldve survived arrows, spears or swords being stabbed straight to the gut, or stabbed with a hook right through (like how he yan survived 😆). Yingxiang’s death had been more realistic in the novel in this part.

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Pretty Boring Storyline

I guess I am duped by MDL rating once again. As much as I liked Bai Lu as an actress, i am just not getting the vibe of the story here. I don’t feel the connection between FL and ML, the plot is pretty straightforward and the characters are just too plain. I wouldve overlooked the lack of chemistry between the ML and FL had the plot been interesting enough to keep me watching, but yeah, 3 cases through and they failed to convince me to stay on and waste my time.

The mainleads’ childhood encounter is also too tropey that I roll my eyes everytime they do the flashbacks. I fast-forwarded many scenes of those flashbacks too cuz they keep showing the same one and it gets annoying as the show goes on. I also thought this Li Peiyi character just tried too hard to look tough and brilliant when she keeps getting set up for every cases she investigates, the vibe just failed to come through. As for Xiao Huaijin, oh well the character development is too slow I just lost interest. Yeah he’s brilliantly perceptive. Both main characters are the same - they are supposedly quickwitted and intelligent with the only difference being the FL is the tough guy while ML is the weak counterpart who relies on his brain more than brawn, but that’s just about it. There wasnt any surprises to hook me on. Even the main mystery of Peiyi’s family massacre isnt enough to keep me on. It’s funny there actually wasnt many parts of the story that annoys me enough to drop this, but instead the lack of plot growth that made me lose interest.

It’s basically a story of a lady officer investigator of Palace Investigation Bureau (they investigate cases that happen in the palace) who is also a princess, running around doing her job while getting set up and led elsewhere by somebody big behind the scene, along with her trusted follower and a reluctant dept of astronomy vice director who is torn between avoiding her due to their past (that Peiyi had already forgotten, yeah the usual amnesia trope) and helping her with every case cuz she keeps getting in trouble and get endangered for them. The plot is too monotonous for my liking, failed to grab my attention, so I’ll just go ahead and drop this to avoid further waste of time.

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Justice is Satisfying

The show starts with FL lying in bed with a man she thought was her husband but found that he wasnt. She was later caught by her in laws for adultery, and later saved by her husband. He took her away which she thought was to safety, but instead he brought her to her grave. He cracked her head with the shovel and buried her alive. Driven by the will to survive, she dug her way out and passed out by the river, and later saved by a lady foraging fruits in the forest. This lady, Jiang Li, promised to come back with food and medicine for the injuries, however she was caught while trying to sneak out of the residence during the night and was punished with flogging instead. FL found her way to this residence, sneaked in and got in time before Jiang Li died, where she managed to express her grievances of her life, telling a sad story of being slandered and abandoned by her own family for ten years since she was 8yo. FL decided to take revenge for Jiang Li and get to the bottom of her own betrayal, so she went back to capital using Jing Li’s identity solely relying on her wits and intelligence. Along the way, she met with Duke of Su, an investigator for the emperor, and they both began a relationship by using each other for their own goals but later fell in love. The show is one of those of conspiracy and court political rife than action packed. It’s like Joy of Life minus all the actions. But gotta say Joy of Life’s politics is of higher tier.

I had to admit the storyline is solid and engaging and the casts’ performance are powerful but some scenes are quite pushover. I’ve been watching shows with physically strong FLs back to back, so its refreshing to watch one with FL who isnt able to wield a weapon and is not physically strong, but extremely shrewd and witty instead. I liked her character very much, except how easily she falls in love.

I think the actress playing the FL is rather ordinary looking, so it’s definitely unconvincing to see people praising how exceptionally beautiful she is throughout the show. She also doesnt look young (FL was supposed to be 18 at the beginning of the show, and maybe around 20ish at the end), hence it kinda killed the vibe, like how Zhang Ziyi looked ridiculous playing a 16yo in The Rebel Princess. I also think that the real Jiang Li and even Tong’er are much more beautiful than her, and of course much like a teenager than FL. Wait, come to think of it, the rest of female supporting cast like Jiang Ruiyao, Liu Xu, or even Ye Jia-er are much prettier than her. It’s rather funny on the homecoming arc where Tong’er disembarked from the carriage and people commented how ordinary she looks, and then suddenly when FL disembarks, people suddenly praised what a beauty she is. It’s one thing if they had been dressed differently, Jiang Li being the noble’s daughter would be dressed in better clothes, but they were both still in the hall’s uniform which is ordinary. Had them both been standing side by side, i wouldve thought Tong’er was the higher born and FL being the maid. Her crooked smile is also weird-looking. Anyway, the actress has the looks of 30ish than late teen, so yeah her looks doesnt really fit the role, but her performance is undeniably top notch.

As for costume, the dresses are okay and not too flamboyant, but the pearl/bead make up is really distracting, i can handle the cheekbone and forehead adornment, but those on the dimple is really overdoing it. They look so weird, like some alien in Star Wars movie.

And the slow-mos!!! Theyve got tonnes of those. I keep fast forwarding those moments and still wont miss any scene. It was like watching sinetron instead of cdrama. The slow-mos truly irked me throughout the show.

Maybe romance is not my kind of genre, but the main leads’ proximity scenes are pretty cringy and blerghhh. She just got ‘killed’ by the love of her life, whom she had sacrificed everything for, and she suddenly found herself falling for the duke? What kind of bull is this? Somebody with that kind of trauma would normally take years to get over it and even then theyd scrutinize love like none other. How can she fall that easily for this notorious and ruthless duke just because he occasionally saves and helps her? And even if he loves her deeply, would it really be that easy to recover from her own trauma and grab this rebound lover? It’s one thing if she had just got dumped by her lover, she literally got dumped and buried alive by her own husband whom she left her family for, whoever can recover that fast from that kind of betrayal? If she had not been so much in love with her husband, or had been mistreated or it was an arranged marriage, i wouldve believed she’d fall that quickly for the duke, but with her current background on love betrayal, it’s ridiculous and too far-fetched especially with someone of the duke’s character, a shrewd and ruthless man who wont bat an eye to abandon his pawns to reach the goal. The moments when she smiles at him and laments her own feelings during this proximity scenes are really unconvincing. Gross even, thinking how badly she was betrayed then and then suddenly she’s falling for this duke. Makes her look rather cheap and clingy for men. It took awhile for me to realize why i didnt like the pair - they had zero chemistry! Somehow I fail to feel the spark. I mean, i didnt quite like Chang Yuqing character from Fighting for Love because he was an antihero, but i totally ship Changyuqing-FL pair. It’s nonexistent here. And I actually liked Duke of Su because his character is interesting, but i cant get myself to like his pairing with FL. Something is just off somewhere. Maybe the timing wasnt right. If this had happened years after she was betrayed, maybe it’s acceptable. Problem is it’s just been a few months after. It wouldve been believable if she rejected his advances earlier on and only realized she had fallen in love with him at the end of the show, after going through thick and thin together then only it’s easier to swallow. To fall in love so early on just doesnt make sense. And that scene when they were saving her father’s men from the mine, it’s so irritating how they keep staring at each other while other people are fighting off the enemy for their lives around them. Like seriously? U cant pick another moment for that really? Many of these proximinity and staring scenes are real cringe-worthy. And lets not mention the so called flirty conversations between them. Theyre too awkward and painful to watch. Too bad cuz i really liked this Duke of Su, but I just cant ship him being with FL. It’s weird to see two leads whom I like and yet it’s painful to watch them flirting with each other.

It’s great to see the one playing the emperor again here. The first time I saw him was in A Journey to Love as regent, Prince of Danyang and he somehow caught my attention despite the small role. So i’m kinda excited to see him again on this show as emperor. He has a likable face. And I also really like Duke of Su’s bodyguards Lu Ji and Wen Ji. Lu Ji is the silent one who speaks only when necessary, while Wen Ji is the goofy and rather naiive one who keeps getting punished by their master cuz he’s always saying the wrong things. Lu Ji reminded me of Qian Zhao from A Journey to Love. His face and personality really resembles Qian Zhao.

The most memorable and electrifying scene is the striking of the Admonishment Drum. It’s an extremely moving scene when the rest of Huai villagers take turns to strike it after FL did, all to redress the wrongfully accused Magistrate Xue capital punishment. The retrial of Magistrate Xue’s case in front of the emperor is also epic and moving. I must say other than how badly the love story between the main leads look, i totally love most of the other aspects of the show.

Although i think they really pushed ridiculousness to its limits with the last episode where FL suddenly becomes the kingmaker by shooting the arrow which she had only ONE shot of practice before. Utter ridiculous.

Opening and ending themesongs are too sad, the beat is too slow and didnt catch my attention. However the music scores played by Jiang Ruoyao and Jiang Li during the entrance exam are truly captivating.

It’s a very good show, but I dont think it has any rewatch value to me. Probably because i’m more of an action packed show kinda fan. I would totally recommend it though because the plot is great. I had to give more stars on the rewatch value so not to drag down the overall rating, but honestly I wont be rewatching this. Good story nonetheless and it gives a pure satisfying feeling at perfect retribution and revenge.

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Too Boring with Super Annoying FL

I picked this up to fill in my time as I wait for Shadow Love to release all its episodes. I first saw Wang Xingyue in The Double and he was not bad there. Thought i’d give this a try. Turned out it is not my cup of tea. The pacing is too slow, storyline is messy and not intriguing enough, and the FL just annoyed me to bits.

For somebody who grew up with her childhood sweetheart, a fellow disciple who later became her husband, brought up in super elite investigative household, the FL was too damn quick to fall for the framing and blame him for her father’s death. Like don’t you know him enough to suspect that he might have been framed? Did all the evidence including of previous murders really point to his direction other than him being the only survivor at a crime scene with a panic look and inability to speak? And you’d really think had he really been the culprit behind those serial murders, he would serve himself on a silver platter for you to slaughter after conveniently escaping the crime scene, laying low for three years and committing 3 murders again that he can easily walk away from? For real girl? I couldnt stand her illogical, incoherent bearing so am dropping this. I have seen much brighter and sound minded FLs so I couldnt relate to her character that supposed to be a brilliant detective here. I mean come on, she was groomed to be a super detective by the king of detectives, and that is all you can show us of her potential? Of all people, i thought she would be the one who would have assumed that her husband was framed. But noooo. She jumped at him on attack mode at the very first sight! She was so damn cruel to him that I couldnt help to feel sympathy for ML. And to think they’d probably reconcile later is even more frustrating. I know I wouldnt get back with somebody who joins the witchhunt as I got framed, when she of all people shouldve known me better than everyone else, sparing the benefits of a doubt for my sake. Extremely disappointing cuz i was expecting a smart FL. So yeah, not my cup of tea. Moving on to the next drama until Shadow Love completes releasing its episodes.

On a side note, the cast did a really good job in that 4 episodes that I saw. Thats the only redeeming quality that kept my rating from dropping below 4. Good job for the cast but honestly, I’d rather spare myself from getting annoyed and angry with the misunderstanding.

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Interesting title with lots of action and a miniscule hint of romance

I have been putting this title off for other titles for so long. Some of the reasons are that the title didnt look convincing and I didnt know any of the main actors other than Ren Min (which I fail to like her performance in The Longest Promise). Well apparently I’ve been delaying for no reason. This show turned out pretty good, definitely beyond my expectation.

Tells a story of a son of an assassinated Minister of Judicial Review on a journey to find out the reason of his father’s demise and the mastermind behind it. ML had been a sickly kid as he was growing up, because of this he spends most of his time reading until he met Qiu Qingzhi, a runaway slave. They formed a strong bond and ML started building a reputation of a rising genius for solving criminal cases and dumping the perpertrators at the door of his father’s office. As they grew up, ML sent his best friend QQZ to join the army so he could build a name for himself and escape the fate of a slave. Upon QQZ’s return, ML’s father was assassinated and ML went missing while en route to return to his father’s hometown. 3 years later, QQZ has emerged as a respectable general of the Jinwu Guards, while ML made his first appearance by solving the high profile Demon Cat Case which caught the attention of the empress. She appointed ML as Vice Minister of Judicial Review Ministry, working alongside Vice Minister Shangguan Qin, an only female in the lead cast. They started to unravel mysteries and strange cases that lead to the real mastermind behind ML’s father’s assassination.

This is not the typical cdrama that I’ve watched. The casts are male dominated, Ren Min being the only prominent cast of the opposite gender, but gladly enough she was not set there as love interest for ML. Yay. But I have to say that her character is really just a decor. The story would do well even without her. It’s refreshing to see a show without romance of the leads. I like this setting very much.

The casts gave a stellar performance, although i must say the dubbing for Alibaba is overly done in trying to portray his bad mandarin accent as a foreigner.

I like how the ML looking mysterious with his facial expressions. He sometimes comes off as conniving with some ulterior motives. However i think Chen Shi sometimes overacts with his calling “Bing ye (Master Bing - the ML), Bing ye,” whenever theyre in danger. It’s really annoying.

There are filler stories as to build up the other main characters, telling their backgrounds and personalities as such.

The hand to hand combat here is pretty well done. Sword fights are excellently executed. The action choreograph team has done a great job here. i really enjoy the action.

The plot twist is rather expected, but it is good nonetheless. I enjoyed watching the show.

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Wasted almost 5 hours of my time.

This female investigator Su Ci, posing as a male, got assigned to investigate the government silver that got lost during transit, and met her idol Prince Qi, Pei Yanzhi during her little stint. Only problem is the ML was posing as a commoner to investigate those who had a hand in his downfall, so FL didn’t know it was him. During investigation, ML discovered that the small framed investigator is actually a female, and played along with her disguise.

I have quite a problem with female characters posing as males, cuz most productions never cared to bind their chests! The only shows that I saw that pass the male impersonation convincingly were Fighting for Love and Legend of Female General. The rest failed miserably. With this one, at first glance I already knew it’s a girl, even before i saw her face, heck that wouldve been strike two of dead giveaway with that too feminine face, but yeah, before i saw her face i already knew it’s girl, cuz of her freakin breasts. and they were small, mind you, is it really an extra hassle to prep her chest to make the male disguise a wee bit believable? 🙄🫩 what’s even funnier, they even drew her eyelids like a woman would do. What kind of a disguise is that? Which male court official actually draw their eyelids like a female would, cuz i havent seen any, unless that character was cross-dressing as a female.

Honestly I wouldve ignored this failed male impersonation like i did with The Long Ballad and the likes, had the show came with interesting plot to hook me on. Sadly there isnt one. Instead of focussing on the plot, they just went full on romance building between the main couples. FFS I really can’t stand those supposedly awkward proximity moments between the two mainleads, the underwater kiss to supposedly give air, the backcarry, the drunken trope, the facial close-up between the two etc. The screenwriters were trying too hard to create those moments to emphasize on the attraction. Oh lord, isn’t this supposed to be an investigation/mystery story? Why am I seeing these lousy ass scenes hinting at romance? I aint here for these. i like watching Zhang Linghe but even this is too much for me. Signing out now to save my face from getting wrinkles by cringing too much. 😒 This one can stand side by side with the super cringe-worthy Ancient Love Poetry.

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Cringy and stereotyped

I picked this up because of the high rating on MDL, but it was truly a torture to get through each episode, maybe because im not into romance drama. I thought it would be like Eternal Love type of show, where theres love story and there’s action. Nope. It’s all about love baybehhh. It’s a struggle (for me!) to bear the incessant proximity moments between the two leads, which most of them don’t even make sense. There’s so many of them within the 5 episodes and it grew cringier and cringier each time that i can no longer stand it after the 5th ep. The way they fall in love was also too sudden and rushed, and maybe because im not in the ‘target age group’, the stereotype beautiful, flawless skinned men for the stonecold indifferent thousands-year-old god of war falling for the bubbly naughty trying to act cute girl kinda gets old. Nope. Not my cup of tea.

If youre like me who prefer action with adorable love story interlaced in between those action, then you might wanna skip this. It’s a totally cheesy cringy love story with mediocre action (yeah its one of those shows with hands waving around spitting internal powers out while hanging and rolling and spinning on wires kind of action, not the actual fight choreograph with physical contact at all) for the first 5 ep. If youre like me, then dont waste your time on this like I did.

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