I need more

One of the best cdramas i've watched with amazing fight choreography. The choreographer and director really know how to film an exciting wuxia martial arts series. It actually reminded me of Ip Man a lot with the way the fight scenes were filmed. The sword fighting was beautiful I can't help replay them multiple times. Choreography reminded me of the live action version of Rurouni Kenshin. Fast sword work makes for a very satisfying fight. I hate it when they slow down the fight scenes(ahem immortal samsara).

A lot of wuxia and xianxia dramas the fight choreography mostly made up of flashy skills and sword glares and CGI but otherwise don't look particular skilled but chengyi did such a wonderful job with the overall choreo. The lines of his body extended beautifully in wide motions to give the illusion of skill and grace when fighting. I can't stop watching and rewatching those scenes. Especially when he uses a stick of bamboo and still dominated his opponents it was soooo satisfying to watch.

I actually clicked on this cdrama by accident and got hooked by chengyi's acting and now i'm a huge fan of his. The fact that he does the fight scenes himself is also admirable.

The one gripe i have about this series is that iT'S NOT ENOUGH i need a sequel and a happy ending and I feel like we really missed watching Li Xiangyi / Li Lianhua at full power. We got hints of it and a very very satisfying last boss fight at the end (again beautiful choreography it was like watching art) but it's not enough. I need more of his prowess, i want to see him recovered and go on with his nonsense. Throughout the series he was never at 100%. He was either poisoned or had one last burst of power before it faded. I want to know what his 100% looked like. And let Lao Di get his life's wish!!!

I also love that the romance wasn't the main trope and it wasn't overdone. It ended cleanly (more or less). Tho tbh i didn't need the romance at all. The cases, the fighting, the deadpan jokes and the bromance was more than enough to satisfy me endlessly.

Overall, i'm recommending this series to everyone i know. It's been a week since I finished it but It's just so good i had to get it off my chest.

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Relationship goals and green flags all around

I LOVE POWER COUPLES WHO DON'T HAVE RELATIONSHIP DRAMA THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS MASTERPIECE!!!

Pros:
The plot itself was engaging and riveting to the point where I slept 4hrs over the weekend just to binge the whole series and I'm just so thankful they didn't add needless cliché dramatic misunderstandings between the main couple. It was so refreshing to see their mutual trust in each other grow throughout the show. I'm usually not a big romance fan and i hate immature characters. These two are mature, intellectual and so morally good you cannot CANNOT not love them. Even though it's a revenge plot, the revenge is 100% justified and carried out in a... morally upright... way LOL which is not something most can say about the topic on revenge but it was very sane and very satisfying to see the evildoers get rekt.

What I loved the most was the mutual respect the ML and FL showed each other. The information ML gathered he didn't withhold from the FL (unlike some dramas). He never thought for a second that she's incapable of handling that information and trusted her intellect to give her free reign on how to deal with the situation and rather than control her he followed along and weaved his plans around hers. THIS IS HOW RESPECT SHOULD LOOK LIKE! Unlike a lot of shows where the ML keeps things from the FL to "not make her worry" this relationship was a huge green flag from the beginning. Trust your partner! Women are not that weak-minded.

The actress is insane and i actually teared up during a few scenes where I felt her helplessness at her betrayal and the suffering she went through. Wish there could be more than 40 episodes just so I can get more romance scenes hahhahaha which in itself is ludicrous to me because I prefer plot over romance but this time i couldn't help but revisit all their cute moments together. The tension, the attraction, the mutual understanding and trust between them was the crux of the whole show and the main leads played it so well. This show was a tease; I was bingeing for MORE MAIN LEAD INTERACTIONS than i was for the plot hahahahahahaha

The relationships of the main leads with their close friends were also really cute :')
Especially Xiao Heng with the Emperor and his two bodyguards!

The music was also superior. The guqin!!!! during the exam!!!! I need them in full instrumental!!!!!

The scenes and setting were also very artistically framed and shot. The colours were so aesthetic and just pleasant to watch overall. I almost wish I could go on set to photograph the scenes because they were so well done and pretty.

The villains deserve a mention too because they're complex and have their own hardships that made them turn out the way they did. The main 'villain' husband dude was a very morally grey individual which I liked because of how you as a viewer will never know what he's really thinking and what he actually wants. I was kept glued to my seat without sleep because I don't know when he would help or harm the main female lead. He was a good person turned bad by decision and circumstance. I just wish his mother and sister would shut up though lol they were the most annoying characters for me i wish they got worse punishment than they did just for being so annoying. If i were him i would have killed those two instead of the wife.. those ungrateful parasites.

Cons:
I WISH THERE WERE MORE ROMANTIC SCENES I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SAYING THIS.
Virtually all the main villains had tragic backstories that 'turned them evil' which i feel might have been overdone. Some people are just bad people.

The close ups of the actor's solo shots were a bit jarring at first because I'm not used to this kind of scene directing.

One thing that urked me a bit were the age gaps and the children they got to play the roles. A bit unrealistic to have a 10 year old child on the throne? They used literal kids i mean at least use a teen? In the novel the duke and the emperor was at least mid 20s. I wouldn't trust a 10yo with my house much less a country.

There were some visual effects that weren't needed and made the scene look a bit unrealistic for a supposedly realistic wuxia drama (ahem guqin special effects i'm looking at you) but i guess that scene couldn't have been 6mins of us looking at her playing the song and it was worth it because we got the song in full and the female lead's acting brought me to tears. You can see the agony in her eyes and it hurts you deep. Wait this was supposed to be cons–

tbh there aren't many things i will consider cons. overall it was a really good drama. Sure some characters didn't need to die and I wish a lot of the good supporting actors made it out alive at the other end. But it wasn't wholly unbelievable deaths.

Definitely at the top of my list of dramas i recommend. I'll be rewatching it again probably. The loss of sleep was well worth it.

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Good cast, Good overall plot but unrealistic writing and plot holes

It started off good. You didn't know who was the bad guy or good guy and it was fun figuring the whole web of characters out. But as the story progressed i couldn't help but feel that some parts of the writing and dialogue just didn't make sense. I watched for Wang Yibo but stayed for Chen Xiao. He did such a good job with his character it was compelling.

[SPOILERS ALERT]

I need to rant about this series.

When Chen Yu and WZF started working together, they brought back important documents obtained with a warrant back to their own apartment. Why? I understand that they thought the police station and some people could not be trusted with the USB data WZF gave and that they would have to hand it over for review. But bringing it back to their apartment??? Which is a cafe??? Which is in no way a secured area???? Careless! They're just asking for it to be taken from them. No way the dealers would let evidence slip by like that???

Also, the way Chen Yu said they have to make WZF trust them to obtain info from him only to badger him to reveal whatever he knows at every second of the day thereafter. Like just hear a man out and stop asking him to reveal everything every time the dude opens his mouth?? Maybe this was how Chen Yu was supposed to be written cos he has zero EQ for a cop.

But the scene that takes the cake for me (in a bad way) was when Chen Yu went to infiltrate Wan Logistics to obtain the past records and not only did he kick over an empty water container, he forgot to silence his phone. That's like infiltration 101. What sort of policeman (who supposedly graduated with top honours) would fail to silence his phone while sneaking into somewhere?! And while that was happening, his girlfriend (who shouldn't even know anything about the case because what happened to confidentiality) was in a club following a potential drug suspect, alone, with no back-up. ??? She is a civilian! What did she think would happen? And then when they got rescued, I was waiting for the line that said 'it's not Chen Yu's fault, i went there without him knowing" but instead she kept quiet. This is the sort of writing i find wholly unrealistic because surely being with someone working in this sort of job should come with some awareness of danger. Why would you go alone to a place you're 70% sure contains druggies that you're trying to catch???? You're just asking to get caught???

Also the case of Jiang Lei being repeatedly mentioned by multiple caught drug dealers but not on a suspects list at all. Ever since that info came out it has been buried under the rug. Aren't they at least suspicious that these dealers know your nephew's name? Doesn't that mean he has had dealings with them on more than one occasion? It's no wonder this team can't solve anything for 3 years.

Maybe I'm overly critical of these series. The actors and actresses played their parts well according to the script. But I personally think the script was not very well written in terms of character actions and reactions as well as character interactions. I would still continue to watch it for the plot and I'm still eager to see the conclusion. I just feel it's a pity that a show with what would have been a good storyline be made subpar by holes in the writing.

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