A Female Student Arrives at the Imperial College (2021)

I gave this drama a try for Zhao Lusi. I loved the leads but story was bad! Too much focus on the second male lead aka the bad guy... The development of the story is way too slow!

I also thought it was going to be a cute lighthearted drama about their academic adventure between the leads but dont let that fool you. There is more... female lead wants to fulfill her brother's last wish of going to the academy. There she meets the male lead who is like the dean/teacher there. Her brother and the male lead were good friends and he wanted to find out the reason behind his death. Basically from the start of the drama to the end of the drama they are solving this mystery as who is the evil mastermind/people group who does illegal things like sell salt etc.

Too much limelight is given to the second male lead. He is revealed as the bad guy who has an evil aunt as the emperor's concubine, Like they portray him very innocent and having a crush on the female lead... and suddenly they introduce the aunt and he becomes evil . What piss me off is that he tried to sacrifice her. Like if she doesnt like me then nobody can have her. I would hope he would change and give up his ways for her but he didn't. He got a lot of the time and i didnt like that.

The leads figured out the second lead was evil towards the end ( which in my opinion was kinda late)

The cute parts between the leads is in the beginning half. Zhao Lu si has chemistry with all her co star! She is seriously so cute! They are a cute couple, wish they had more time together...

I skipped a lot of parts, I made it to the end. It doesnt develop well. If you are a fan of Zhao Lusi I dont think you'll mind this drama!

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Plot Twist after Plot Twist after Plot Twist but Predictable

I love how light this drama was but I got tired with its endless “predictable plot twists” towards the end.

The story was okay but got dragged towards the end. The plot could’ve been done better. I hope they just do it with 24 episodes.

The special effects were bad in some parts especially that one scene in the last episode. If you finished the drama, you know what I’m talking about. It’s so obvious! Epic fail.

I love the casting. I’m a big fan of Zhao Lusi so I enjoyed her performance here. I have no complaint. Sang Qi is so dumb but I loved it!

I liked Xu Kaicheng in Well Intended Love but honestly, at some parts I can’t sense the chemistry between them. I perceive him as a big brother for Zhao Lusi lol. I mean, I’ve seen other dramas where the ML was a teacher but still the chemistry was okay, here was kinda off. And at times, I hate it when Xu Kaicheng was making strange expressions. I can’t describe it. I just cringe everytime he does that. Going back to the chemistry, to be fair, some of their scenes had spark but still, not okay to me overall.

I’m so happy to see Ao Rui Peng here! I love him in Poisoned Love! I hope he will have a drama with Zhao Lusi in the future! They really have good chemistry!

Other cast was okay but didn’t focus on them that much.

The best thing about this the drama are the OSTs! Omg! I can’t describe how addicted I am with the OSTs especially the one in the opening credits. I usually skipped opening credits in other dramas, but this is the first time I didn’t skip the opening credits in a drama.

Overall, it was good. Nothing really special about it and it’s okay for one-time watch.

If you’re into light dramas with cute cast and happy ending and didn’t care much with its predictable storyline then it’s for you.

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A very easy, low angst historical drama rom-com.

I only picked up this drama because of Zhao Lu Si, she’s one of my top favorite C drama actresses, she’s best in A love Like Galaxy and Who Rules the world. I really love her bubbly personality and how she truly eats on camera (it makes a difference!).

The ML, Xu Kai was really good in Novoland, Pearl Eclipse and Well Intended Love 2, but for some reason, I thought he was just okay in A Female Student Arrives at the Imperial College. I do like that the ML was comical and had array of emotions (not the typical stoic cold face) but I didn’t feel any chemistry between him and the FL.

I thought the drama was very easy to watch. The angst was low and it’s 100% comical from start to finish. Usually I’m not too fond of funny historical dramas, but this one really puts a smile on your face. I didn’t binge watch the series though because at times I did find the pacing a little slow or I didn’t care for the storyline.

I liked the first portion of the drama best, where the FL was attending school and she was getting into school antics. Eventually they do graduate and the plot is focused more on the main storyline, which to be honest, I wasn’t truly interested in.

Towards the end, in very C drama fashion, it gets a little over-the-top and crazy, but it did pump up the angst if you were looking for that.

Overall, if you like historical drama rom-coms or love the actors, then this one is an easy one to watch.

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Funny .... & Comedy

So this drama was really funny and comedic ... I watched this because of the mean leads ...

The plot is rather simple and straightforward, the villain is revealed to the viewers very early in the story, Zhao Lusi is still Zhao Lusi – silly and cute, and the story is non-original with the-hero-gets-the-girl-and-the-bad-guy-vanquishes. In other words, it’s cliché and tropey. Nonetheless, I find Zhao Lusi’s cuteness irresistible. ... Having said that I do feel the pairing up between Lusi and Xu Kai cheng were not compatible to say the least ... for me I found him a bit more mature for the whole Lusi role, and I just could not get the two of them together.

The drama itself was comical, and story line was good. the acting was okay ... It is one of those easy watch drama with zero expectations of what is really gone, the villain is known really early in it so you can just watch for the sake of it.

Overall: Its not a bad watch just don't have to much of an expectation with it.

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Light, fun, and amusing romance drama!

I'll start off by saying that this is only the third drama I've managed to complete this year, the other two being Word of Honor and The Long Ballad (CGX). I've started several dramas after CGX, but I haven't been able to finish a show due to lackluster plots, intense political stories, disappointing endings, etc.

This drama had a unique new plot that was very different from past shows I've watched. At the same time, the show was really funny at some points too. It does get more serious in the second half of the show, but it wasn't too intense and didn't take away from the romance too much.

However, I did think the ending was a bit rushed. It was like one miracle after another and a lot of good luck that the FL and ML had. (And **SPOILER**, how honestly was the FL able to recover just like that when she seemed like she was on her deathbed a few scenes ago lol)

The SML also got immensely annoying in the second half of the show. Who knew he would be that important of a character in the show lol? And because of how annoying he was, I wouldn't rewatch the show again, at least the whole show. The romance between the leads is cute and worth watching again IMO.

Also, I want to throw in I'm a fan of both XKC and ZLS from previous shows they were in. As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed their acting!! I can't wait to see them in future dramas again!!

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lol

I’m currently on episode 5 but my oh my I’ve laughed countless times already, not really a Lu Si fan although I’ve watched a few of her series, and this is by far the most enjoyable I’ve watched, side characters are hilarious, and very interesting.

I’ll update more once I get to watch and finish more episodes, so far this has been really enjoyable to watch very entertaining, and very light to watch so far.

The ML looks good when he doesn’t smile, but when he does I’m reminded of a chipmunk I don’t know why, and he looks so different from his straight face and his smiling face.., I’m quite in awe with his height difference with lu si, it’s sometimes awkward hahaha but their banting is quite funny and amusing, I was laughing out loud especially on episode 2 haha.

UPDATE: currently on episode 9, slowly losing interest… might drop it soon. I don’t know why but it’s getting hella boring, and cringey for my liking…. :-/had to skip a few minutes too in some episodes

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Light, Funny & good Stress Relief

I really like this! It’s cute and funny.

Whilst the plot is nothing new, it’s a good mix between light humour and a small sinister scheme. The show is not 100% romance as the characters are also entangled in some Palace Court schemes. It’s well paced, neither slow nor rushed and a good mix of fun with serious. There are some illogical plots, but then again this isn’t a crime drama so I’m happy to let these slip.

Chemistry is very good between the FL and ML. It’s not sizzling or over the top, but they’re decently nice together. Special mention goes to the 2nd ML for executing his overly jealous role well.

This is my first show with Zhao Lusi as the FL and she’s good! I’m keen to chase her other shows now. The cute and funny role has been her typecast but she’s good at it so why not? For Xu Kaicheng, it’s my first time watching him and he’s alright. Not extremely talented or amazing but he played the tall, serious, protective yet cute ML pretty well.

At just 30 episodes, I recommend this for a good ‘ol destress after work or studies. I had a good laugh every day.

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Good humor and mystery-ish slash uncovering corruption type beat

I enjoyed this,
- good comedic elements (especially in the beginning)
- they know shes a girl. Theres no hidden identity which i thought was interesting
- wasnt that deep, esp in the beginning + easy lead up to the main thing to uncover
- easy to like the leads, (actions made sense)
- i like lusi and the guy, but mainly was interested bcs of lusi
- interesting side characters
(but i didnt really pay that muhc attention to the second couple i just knew it was happening) the side characters im refering too are mostly like the love rivals, most were bearable even fun if not fun at least interesting-ish and you understand her. The other one well, thats the main villain so like thats where the story come from so... but ill have spoilers of how i wished his character went at the very bottom. Also there was like these two guys that always fought but were more like frenemmies. i didnt really pay attention to them esp not in the beginning, but i really did like their dynamic later, kinda cute. I started paying attention after one of them had their wedding and the other came and everyone thought they were gonna fight each other.

Overall though it was a fun watch. Granted i did “drop” this a few times but thats just because it was still airing so i wasnt in a rush to get to a state where i really wanted to know whatll happen next, and also was not in the mood for uncovering corruption n schemes etc. but then it really did pick up, so much so that im writting this right after the last eps came out. with that said i think this show did those schemeing/ unraveling okay. Like smaller things were resolved along the way in a satisfying way, leaving certain bits not solved to let it continue. They way the characters solved it at first was like a twist but then after just felt lowkey repetitive to the extent that you know how they will solve it (but i dont really mean that in a bad way, but bcs of that i rate the story only 8.5) its to the extent that if they were in present times i would think that these characters rather than being teachers would be actors lmao?

The acting was good. You really hate the people ur supposed to. (Well maybe dislike, the show wasnt that deep to hate anyone imo, but theyre acting still ??) you get annoyed at the people ur supposed to and you enjoy watching the rest. Again there were funny moments, esp in the beginning, maybe they were more than just momenta but i kinda forgot.

The music was ok, i also didnt pay attention to it idk just didnt grab my attention, but it was not distracting which means it was good choice. Also its just preference.


SPOILERS ON HOW I WISH IT ENDED WITH ZHOU WEN YUAN (wait is that this name, the zhou guy, the friend)
i wish the writers gave him more pain. Like more regret for the things he did... kinda like when he found out he was partly responsible for sang yu (unintentionally so) and was heart broken. Maybe if they had even just one clip of sang yu being nice to him, something small but very memorable to him. But even with what they showed i thought that was intresting cause it showed that he wasnt like bad by nature. I think the writers made him that way bcs they wanted the charcter that way which is fine, but like i thought it would be intresting if it showed him more being pushed into it by his aunt, and lowkey reluctant and following only bcs his aunt was the only like backing he had and he was a little lost, but then slowly got too into it bcs he was in too deep n like no going back. (I think they kinda showed her pushyness on him the whole time and him holding sang qi as his last moral line kinda thing). Then his like ending wouldve been more like hard hitting bcs we lowkey felt bad for him too. maybe even that lusi liked him a little when they were small but then stopped as they grew up, so then her telling him he changed had more impact bcs she did like the older version of him at some point, then maybe he could find out only after sang qi was dying n felt mad regret. But thats just my opinion.

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Watchable. Just passing grade.

Storywise, a bit mediocre and typical. A distinguised ML, loved by all eligible female in town. A playfull young FL, who turns out to be ML's bestfriends younger sister. A guy best buddy of FL turned out to be in love with her, and no surprise who is also the bad guy. A likeable sidekicks and their cute love story. Sounds familiar right?

Plotholes, I dont know if its right to call it that. Maybe its weak spots, some scenes are just like filler, not essential to the story. I can summarize the story easily: FL entered the academy exclusively for male as there's none for females at that era. Met accidentally and got closer due to a dare. FL thought ML was bullying her and making her life hard. But discovered that he was protecting her all along. They fell in love and caused some hearts to be broken.

Then a bunch of conflicts happend just for the sake of it. Betrayals, cover ups, frame up, killings, suicides and a lot of schemings on all sides. ML and FL even resorted to preteding to have broken up and FL pretending to be dead. In the end they were succesful and had their happy ending.

I might forget this after a few months, rewatch value is also not that good.

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A breezy series

A light story for those who loves romcom. If you are looking for dark and full of twists and turns, this is not for you. But if you are for a smooth and breezy romcom that is not annoying. This is definitely a try.

Extremely sweet scenes just enough to enjoy the story.
I love Zhao Lusi very much and her acting is very naturally cute.
At first I was in doubt about the ML, but later on I see that Lusi really jive with variety of male leads. She can grasp her role and make it natural.
I am having a dream that she and Z.Tao will soon have one project.
Ofcourse a romcom kind too.

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