The best part of this drama was the outstanding cast. Chemistry among them was great - the married couple (main leads), the sworn brothers and sister - of which there were many. Liu YueYi was outstanding in the portrayal of the villain and he got me really hating the character. Aside from this, the story on the whole was interesting although you could find numerous illogical parts in them and too many coincidences.

Gu JiuSi 's parents were in a hurry to find him a bride before the emperor's decree arrived for him to marry the princess. Mistaking the joke he played on Liu YuRu who he actually disliked as an expression of true affection, his parents hurriedly arranged for them to get married. The marriage was immediately accepted by YuRu's greedy parents as the Gus were very wealthy. They were married much to each others anguish. YuRu was in love with another and JiuSi thought she was a very scheming girl. There were numerous funny incidents arising from this.

However, their lives were thrown together as they had to weather through thick and thin, first trying to escape the predatory Yangzhou governor who were out for their wealth and then in YouZhou where they had to fight to defend the provincial capital from the attack of Prince Liang. Their paths finally took them to high positions in the country capital where more dangers awaited them.

There were many illogical parts which you could poke holes at. Why would the Empress Dowager insisted on marrying the Princess to JiuSi who was already married by then, when there were so many eligible bachelors including the Crown Prince of the new dynasty? Why did the emperor appoint the treacherous Luo Zishang as the Grand Tutor when there were better choices? What kind of medicine could make a person looked dead and then revived? This seemed to be a favourite tact in Chinese dramas and was so cliche. Why chose to stay at an inn which was obviously owned by the governor? The explanation that it was to be right under his nose so he would overlook was so illogical. And just by selling cosmetics, one can get so rich in so short a time, really?

And there were too many convenient coincidences. JiuSi and YuRu fainted on arriving in YouZhou just as Zhou Ye arrived to find them. YuRu arrived back in YangZhou just as Ye ShiAn was at the checkpoint to let them through. YuRu's mother fell of the cliff to be rescued by Ye ShiAn. If it happened otherwise, they would be toast. Always at the edge of danger, rescue came. Coincidences happened in life but just not so frequent and so fortunate.

Many things were not explained. How did Luo ZiShang rise from an orphaned beggar to be so influential? Why did he mistook the wrong father?

There were however some suspenseful parts which would make you clench your teeth and swear at the foolishness and stubbornness of some of the characters: General Zhou's wilful rejection of the emperor's attempt to connect, and the young Crown Prince's stupidity in not being able to see through and handle the Grand Tutor's scheming.

Finally, there was the feel good factor at the end. The capable and righteous became emperor, not yet another child emperor who was there because of lineage.

Overall, in spite of my nitpicking, I think this drama was very entertaining and worth watching.