WM

OMG, what a difficult choice you gave me:
- in the red corner: Men's harem and system nonsense
- in the blue corner: Female Emperor and Ma Qiuyuan as the FL

True, but this one had the FL as a ruler for a big part of the Drama, which is quite rare.

Zhi Chunhe currently has 4 unreleased Dramas listed on Douban, and neither of them is the Part 3 of Lu Songli's Adventure :(

However, I highly recommend this one, where she is portraying a similar-level Female Lead with great fighting skills on top of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXX-Xl-y9LY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXX-Xl-y9LY

Zhi Chunhe has a new Drama with the FL badassery approaching Lu Songli's territory.

Also, it seems to be based on the Novel titled "From Sacrifice to Empress"

You can read it fully here, it's only 55 chapters + some extras - https://m.bgnovel.com/gudaixiaoshuo/22141_0.html

Good read, although slightly different from the Drama. For example, the FL is extremely ruthless to herself and her opponents.

Thank you for the info and links.

Zhi Chunhe once again (after starring in "Lu Songli Adventures") portrays an extremely capable Female Lead.

Even Romance wasn't an automatic Fast Forward for me (but of course, messed up things a few times).

It's kind of funny that you recommended me a Drama with one of the most disliked actors by me, especially when playing Emperors.

The FL is played by possibly one of the prettiest and most popular Vertical Drama actresses still without MDL's profile - 汪巧 aka Wang Qiao.

The FL is played by possibly one of the prettiest and most popular Vertical Drama actresses still without MDL's profile - 汪巧 aka Wang Qiao.

You're welcome.

Also, this - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9f14fs
I think subtitles are better here, but the screen is a bit obstructed.

Regarding "Crown of Shadows" - look for "黑莲花上位手册".
Interesting fact, it's actually rated at Douban and quite high, at 6.3
You can watch it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTXaumd8h4M

Regarding other Dramas - will take a look at Calculated Fortune.

Also, not sure if you are familiar with Wei Fan Shu - I left info on two Dramas with her in the comments section, but I can be biased, as I find her extremely beautiful.

Well, she went into the Harem, so its unavoidable, I don't really have problem with it.

The bigger issue for me was overall flatness - for example, I rate " Crown of Shadows" much higher, even without proper ending.

Hello again in MicroDrama world :).

Uuuu, this is a disappointing review, as while checking some clips here and there, it looks very intriguing.

Micro Drama mixing "Nirvana in Fire" and "Empresses in the Palace" deserves a shot :).

I'm horrible with face recognition, but isn't she playing as the FL here?
https://reelxia.com/drama/z4

Just finished watching "After Rebirth, I Became Bestie with the Princess" - not exactly perfect drama, but definitely above-average, and she was great as the FL there.
And obviously, she is super easy on the eyes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwN8EhEb-ug

This is a dubbed version and for some reason, it's almost 15 minutes longer.

This could be really good without a childish ML, what a waste of screentime he was.
I really liked the FL speech at the end inside the court when discussing the Ancestors Rules.

Lol, you just listed why I found The Double unwatchable (found also ML horrible there) and consider the majority of recent Dramas a total trash (with exceptions of "Blossom" and "Flourished Peony" S1)

I guess, I'm using Micro/Vertical Dramas for my over-the-top trashy stuff :)

For me the weaknesses of the Ming Lan are inconsistencies in the ML character and the weakening of the FL character later on.
But it's still a TOP3/TOP5 Show I'ever watched and I don't see anything topping it soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmynfkhIsPg

Does anyone recognize it? I didn't find it through listings and links, and in the comments section on YT somebody mentioned Wei Fan Shu as a leading actress, although she looks very similar to Zhang Ruo Chen in my eyes (but I have poor eyesight).

I pretty much stopped watching Big Production Dramas anymore, but how are the FL's skills/capability level in this one?

Is she typically useless, saved every two episodes by the ML under a "female assassin" tag or similar ones?