K-Drama 
This review may contain spoilers
From childhood to adulthood romance with difficulties along the way
About me:This is the 3rd romance c-drama I watched after a 10 years hiatus from tv drama because of workload. I previously watched plenty of HK dramas. I am a Gen-X.
Comparison:
For romance drama, I watched Shine on Me, My Genius Girlfriend and this one. I would rank it this way:
1. Shine on Me 8.5
2. Love for You 8.5
3. My Genius Girlfriend 8.0
Pros :
The drama is well-paced with some guessing work as to what happened (heavy plots). I kind of like this kind of drama. I am currently watching Spring of the Blade which, I find very interesting too (9.0) but I won't be comparing it here because the setting isn't the same (isn't modern and isn't really romance). I also think all the actors and actresses did very well. Both ML and FL are introverts. So, they are not as expressive as some others but I find them doing a good job here. Probably the scripts and roles fits them very well. I think the directors are also giving very good pointers to them. I would say they collaborated extremely well.
Cons:
In my country, it is only available on Mango TV and Rakuten Viki. I couldn't find 4k. The 3 main major Chinese platforms for my country is WeTV, iQiyi and Youku. Even Youku International doesn't have 4k. This is the disappointment. Sometimes, I wish they could combine all platform into one because subscription onto all platform would cost us a bomb.
Conclusion:
I think, people like me who have been in hiatus from dramas from a long time would appreciate drama more. For people who watch it often, would probably have different expectations. Still, I like the drama - sadness, joy, happiness, loneliness, suspense and other types of emotions are in this drama.
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This review may contain spoilers
It gets exciting after they meet each other again as showed in the prologue
The main attractions of the drama is the storyline and the TXW. The drama itself is boring at the start but it gets interesting much later after the 2nd reunion. TXW literally carried the whole drama but it's quite expected of her since the drama is written around her character. (I haven't been watching drama for almost 10 years due to heavy workload. Recently, I watched this one and Shine on Me. Comparing to each other, Shine On Me is a little better).Now on to my criticism.
1) I find that the ML is very unexpressive - 木. The most crucial part for him is the 2nd reunion part with TXW. That is his story and the part where he can really shine. But I find him not doing a great job in expressing himself. For example, the feeling of frustration that he is way behind TWX, not worthy of her, and he is embarrassed in front of TXW and his friends, is not very well expressed in his acting. That would be more touching. Well, maybe because it was his character in the drama that he his the 木 type or maybe the director didn't give him more expectation. I don't know.
2) I felt that the story doesn't have enough depth. For example, I felt that the screenwriter could have given the plots a deeper sense to let the viewer guessing what happened to the ML (I am Gen X and watched plenty of HK dramas and got used to deep heavy plots and depth). I felt like spilling the beans too early as to what happened to the ML past 5 years ago, killed the suspense. If I am the screenwriter, I would also add some spice to it to tell the life of the ML during those past 5 years as to how he lived his life. I would also get him some worn or torn clothing and shoes as to show how he has been suffering. I felt that the 2nd reunion is one of the defining moment of the drama. The crew should have given more depth and emphasis on this part.
3) I felt the ending was rushed. Just like playing a drum, the drumbeat should should get more intense overtime and the story would get more exciting overtime. The ending was like 1 big knock on the drum and that's it. A typical HK dramas would usually end in a way where the main actress would fly away and the main actor would work very hard but they miss each other very much. The final reunion will be sweet.
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This review may contain spoilers
The plot is deep and satisfying
About myself:I am a Gen-X growing up watching many HK dramas. Currently more than 10 years in hiatus watching c-drama because of workload and reducing interest in dramas. This is the 4th c-drama I watched after regaining some interest and time. The drama I watched recently is Shine on Me (8.5), My Genius Girlfriend (8.0), Love for You (8.5) and Spring of the Blade (9.0)
My review:
This c-drama is very interesting as it possesses deep plots in it's story-telling which, kept me guessing what happened in the past and got me catching up on episodes release everyday (I seldom catch up on dramas as I ages, for some reason. So, bravo. I really think this is a good one). The hot and cold romance between the ML and the FL is also very nicely performed by both of them. I think Xu Kai and Zhou Ye performance is truly amazing in the drama. Xu Kai facial expression is excellent as an arrogant bastard, yet, kind-hearted and loving on the inside and Zhou Ye is really good at playing 'ice-cold' ancient costume character. The are plenty of memorable scenes in the drama. The music is very good too.
Why I rated it at only 9.0 is because:
1. Lack of action scenes. There are a few action scenes but I think it will get me thrilled a little bit more if there are more actions scenes since, I am used to HK movies in the 90s.
2. The CGI on the last episode is too fake.
3. As the matriarch of Xie family and when living as the Palace Commander, in the ending, but can live a simple life doesn't really make sense. Though, I understand the screenwriter is trying to give the drama a happy ending. If I am to rewrite the ending, I think, I would put the ML and FL separated for awhile because of work, e.g. FL working as Matriarch and ML busy with implementing the new policy, but gives an ending where they are reunited when they bump into each other again during work and spent a night together on the beach with firework and love as shown in the movie.
4. The scene on the last episode where both the ML and FL walking away gives me a kind of weird feeling. I mean I couldn't catch the feeling at all. Is it a vengeful feeling? Is it a letting go feeling? Is that a happy or sad feeling? Is that a satisfaction feeling? I just couldn't get the feeling they are trying to express although I understand the ending.
5. The scene where the rebellion takes place against the 2 generals got too little people 😂. It doesn't look grand. The mid-section of the story where the ML saves the FL got more people. Maybe it's time to use some AI to make the fight looks big 😂.
6. So far, for all these 4 c-drama that I have watched, I find that their endings are considered quite 'weak' or not very satisfying. In short, although it's happy ending but the ending failed to touch my heart. But these 4 c-dramas are 'very strong' in their mid-story.
7. The background music is too loud in the last 4 episodes. I can barely hear the voice of the actresses and actors.
Conclusion:
I think, It's a very notable 'ancient costume' c-drama for 2026. I am surprised the heat index is not that high. I think China should start to find a way to implement cross-platform rather than making exclusives (I never like the idea of exclusives like Sony Playstation or Xbox or iQiyi or Youku or WeTV. At the end of the day, it's just about reaching more customers and how to share profits and costs. Make it watchable from any platform. Then the heat index will be more comparable. It will also help us customers who wanted to watch some drama but doesn't have subscription on 1 or 2 particular platform).
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