With palace dramas like this and Zhen Huan - fights between concubine are expected to happen. Initially the drama went off well with good amount of conflict and revenge between the concubines. In summary - this is a heavier drama compared to Story of Yanxi and Zhen Huan.

Firstly - the negatives
1) The drama was intended to be about the romance between the leads, but there was still an emphasis on the inner court drama. The 'fights' progressively became repetitive and realistically you would expect the main to 'do something' in return for the tactics against her. But every time it kind of became a pity party and the 'innocence' became stubborn and unrealistic.
2) Although I really applaud the performance of Zhou Xun, unfortunately Wallace Huo was not on par with her level. It could be that he doesn't suit the character of Hongli/Qianlong because historically he is an emperor with great achievements and Huo did not portray this well. His chemistry with Zhou Xun was compatible during their 'younger years' in the drama but seem to be overpowered as the story progresses. I also watched Story of Yanxi prior to this so there was definite some comparisons (in my mind) between the actors.

Now - the positives
Again, the spectacular performance of Zhou Xun - she is really the representative of chinese actresses. I feel that for her poorly written characters she is the reason i gave this drama a 8/10. Furthermore, costumes and music was visually and auditory pleasing.

My favourite scene (SPOILER) - the last episode when Hailan brought in the series of fabric flags (?) that Ruyi handmade, with the names of all the people Wei YanWan had harmed, in the emperor's room. It was a very powerful scene and as a viewer you can feel the amount of anger and regret Ruyi has accumulated from WYW's act without her appearance.