I really enjoyed this drama but unfortunately I have some complains.
At times I felt like it was dragging. One moment it was very slow-paced and repeating things we already knew and the next (especially towards the end) it felt rushed! Also, personally, it felt like the production's budget was limited. I say this mostly because of the fighting scenes that were animated (and poorly at that), but it goes even further than this. The spaces-locations that were shown were numbered. We were almost always shown the crown prince/king in his chambers. Εven when the ministers came to discuss with him, it was still in his room, we never saw the court meeting even at perilous times. Additionally, in the drama Li Le Yan was loved a lot by her father (the emperor) so it makes zero sense for her wedding to be that simple. Even if they wanted a simpler wedding (which cannot happen due to customs at the time) she would still wear an extremely elaborate dress.
What saved the drama for me, was the amazing cast! The acting was great and at times brilliant. The scenes where the ml lost his mother or when the fl lost A dou were tear jerking . Some award worthy performances were given by Zhao Lusi ( for example when her little companion passed away and when Hao Du was fighting for her with Ashile SheEr). I especially liked the chemistry of Zhao lusi and Liu Yu Ning as Li Le Yan and Hao Dou . And if I am being completely honest, I have to admit that this couple was at times more appealing and interesting to me that the main one.
On another note I enjoyed the OSTs and the opening was amazing (both the music and video)!
All in all, I really liked the story, though I do believe it could have been a little more well written. It's a good drama, which becomes a great one, because of the cast. Would probably re-watch (with a lot of skips).