Surprise hidden gem with a polarizing male lead

Being a working mom of 3 whose free time is sparse, I watch dramas purely for entertainment value. Does a drama need to be high budget or have well-known actors to appeal to me? Of course not. This drama was not even on my radar as I was trying (and failing) to watch The Last Immortal. I rarely ever complete a historical/fantasy C-drama as I almost always lose interest and anything with more than 24 episodes is too long for me. In fact, I cannot remember the last wuxia/xianxia that I've ever watched from beginning to end without a whole lot of fast-forwarding. The last historical drama I watched in its entirety was The Imperial Coroner. Under the Power and Maiden Holmes are also favorites of mine so I guess I lean towards mystery dramas with romance. After reading some comments, I decided to give it a try as I did not like either versions of Sword and Fairy that were out and looking for something new to watch. And I am so glad I did! This review will be long, sorry.

Story: Nothing new here as it seems there are a lot of dramas about the female lead transmigrating into a book. I was hooked after the amazing opening scene. It was enthralling and straight to the point and had me rooting for the 'villain', Ji Chu. His cold stare, arrogant strut towards the throne and smirk immediately made him my favorite character. In fact, his character was so great that the actor's sometimes rather wooden acting almost didn't matter. The actor, Ding Ze Ren, was pretty great when he sparred with our Fl but he needs improvement during sad scenes but I'll cut him some slack because he's fairly green. He has a lot of potential, though. Anyway, back to the story. The mysteries were nicely woven into the main plot and all the characters, including small side ones, had an important part to play. The reveal of the real big bad was a surprise. In fact, I was kept guessing a lot throughout the drama, especially Secretary Du being a bad guy. I really did not expect that!

Acting/Cast: Song Yiren nailed her character. She was smart, cute, silly but not overly to the point of obnoxious. I wish they hadn't dubbed her voice because I like her real voice. She and Ding Ze Ren had good onscreen chemistry which is always a deal-breaker for me. If the leads don't have chemistry, I tend to get bored and drop a show. Thank goodness, they did. In fact, their bickering in the beginning had me laughing a lot. Of course, once the ML fell first and made it clear his pursuit of the FL, I was left swooning and squealing. The bathtub scene, the 'child-bearing pill' scene, the real first kiss scene, the 'forced kiss', and of course, the unexpectedly short, sweet and hot bed scene. That's how you show so little but make it suggestive, people! They had so many more scenes in between, too. Like, from the very beginning, the FL touched Ji Chu a lot. And he's a germaphobe yet he let her touch him all the time...so many cute moments. I can go on and on but please, do yourself a favor and watch it yourself.

Pros: I have to give some kudos to the beautiful sets and costumes. Never have I seen such memorable outfits, especially for the ML. The colors and hair styling really suited him. He and the FL also had a lot of complementing couple's outfits which was nice. The music was also great...the ending ost is on repeat for me.

Cons: I wish they had cut the whole arch with the little emperor and his sister and given us one whole episode of the leads being in the modern world. I knew that would be the ending but was hoping for longer than a 1 minute of them just meeting each other.

Overall, while this drama is not perfect, it's perfect for me because it held my attention, made me laugh, smile, and cry. In the end, it had everything I love and it'll be hard for me to move past Ji Chu and Hua Qing Ge's love story.

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Sweet, fluffy romance with very little angst and likable cast.

I tend to fast-forward in most c-dramas because they drag sometimes or have characters that get on my nerves. Fortunately, this was not one of those! I watched every minute and found myself either smiling uncontrollably at the adorableness of the main leads or laughing at their antics. There was very little angst which is just fine with me. The main leads had amazing chemistry and I cannot stress enough how handsome Darren Chen is! His facial expressions were very well-done and his acting as Wen Bing was excellent. As was Sebrina Chen who is so cute disguised as a boy. I love all their character developments...building relationships and friendships, finding one's dreams and goals...it was just perfect. Wen Bing's mother and grandmother were also great in their roles and I loved all the friendships and romance amongst the side characters! The mandatory other woman, Meng Na, was a stand-out! I loved that they made her cute and adorable and not mean to the FL. Her interactions with the FL's brother were cute as well. All, in all, this is very highly recommended! Cute, sweet, hilarious but also has a good message...work for your dreams and never settle.

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