For me personally, I felt like this drama was meant for Leo Luo, who once played his role as Run Yu in Ashes of Love, and I am extremely thankful for the directors for choosing Leo Luo to play as the main male lead in this drama.

Yes, a lot of familiar faces from Ashes of Love, Leo Luo (who played as Run Yu), Yukee Chen (who played as Liu Ying) and Zhou Ting Wei (who played as Mu Ci).

I came to find out this drama through searching Leo Luo's profile since I wanted to watch something that can heal my heart from how his character (Run Yu) was poorly mistreated in Ashes of Love, and I am thankful I came across this drama.

In this drama, I can get what I want for Run Yu, because the things he couldn't get in Ashes of Love, he got in this drama instead, i.e.
- There are more people around him who cares for him and his well-being
- There are people who speaks up for him
- Him whole-heartedly loving and sacrificing for a woman who deserves his love in return.
- Having a father and sister who cares for him sincerely

There are parallel and similarities ofcourse between the two characters Leo Luo played in both dramas (Ashes of Love vs And the Winner is Love) ofcourse and the similarities is, he is an illegitimate son, but unlike his father in Ashes of Love who didn't love his mother (and took her virginity) and didn't love his own son Run Yu to be willing to sacrifice for him, in 'And the Winner is Love', his father loves his mother dearly and he will sacrifice his own life to protect his own son. The two love he received from the fathers in their respective stories is different. One is selfish (Ashes of Love) and one is someone who loves his son and wants what is best for him (And the Winner is Love).

Another similarity is Zhou Ting Wei played the character who is beside Yukee Chen (as a body guard) as well, but unlike in Ashes of Love, in this one, she only saw him like her brother (family), not a lover sense.

Leo Luo really can act, I love how he perfected his role as Shangguan Tou with his emotions, and you can say I purposely jumped into this drama, and am watching this for him, because I love his character in Ashes of Love. To me, I consider this a 'healing to my heart', because like I said, things I wanted to see for him when he played as Run Yu, I get to have in this drama instead, and to me, this is like an extension to Ashes of Love, in an AU universe, different time line, the character played by Leo Luo, who shares similar costume, hair style get to have his happy ending in this one. And can be happy, that's all I wanted for him, to be HAPPY.

There are times I am subconsciously comparing the love he holds for the woman he loves, and at least in this drama, the sacrifice and love he put into the woman he loves (i.e. Xue Zhi) can accept and return his love, so I love that. It's like whenever Shangguan Tou asked Xue Zhi which shows his love for her, and when Xue Zhi accepts and reciprocate his love in return, and then seeing him smile and happy, makes me happy (and made me wish something like this happened in Ashes of Love instead)

I am sorry I am NOT betraying you Liu Ying and Mu Ci, LOL, but in 'And the Winner is Love', I came to love the main pairing 'Xuezhi and Shangguan Tou' so much that I just want them to be happy. Personally, I actually like his character, Mu Ci better, because his character 'Yu Wen Mu Yuan' actually took advantage of something, which I don't want to spoil and for that I am not very proud of.

For Xue Zhi (Female Lead), I also would like to say there was a period of time I didn't really like her on my end, because she have disappointed me to a certain point.... Since, she didn't believe in her Tou Gege, when he needed her trust and belief the most, and when he wanted to explain to her, she didn't give him that chance to, so that really annoyed me to be honest. But then, what she showed me afterwards, after she came to realize the whole truth, i.e. how much she actually loves Shangguan Tou, made me forgave her LOL. But with that all said, I do see that Xue Zhi is someone who makes mistakes, yes, and that is fine, because humans made mistakes, at least for her, she actually learned from it, and won't repeat that mistake again so that makes her loveable.

The story is about the sects and governments, so it's a mix of both, but I have to say, I really love Shangguan Tou character, his acting doesn't disappoint, and I love how charming he is in this one, I also love how gentlemanly he is, especially when it comes to Xue Zhi. All in all, his character doesn't disappoint, I love how he uses his fan as his weapon, and imo, he and Xue Zhi (played by Yukee Chen) have chemistry!

This story definitely have it's flaws indeed, but in the overall, I am giving it a 9.5/10, because like I said, this drama is a 'healing to my heart', and ignoring some certain scenes I didn't quite like/enjoyed and wish was done better, I still love and enjoyed this drama very much.

I am sad that some characters died, and I didn't wish that they did, but I am glad some characters I came to love didn't die. And honestly, considering Feng Zi didn't die, yet Xia Qingmei killed himself (because he thought Feng Zi died)... made his death be for nothing, so that was rather "Uh, what?" to me when it happened, which kinda gives me the 'Romeo x Juliet' vibe.. With that said, I wish that part was done differently though.

Rewatch Value: 10/10
Leo Luo and Yukee Chen have great chemistry in this one when they played their characters, so their scenes is definitely on my rewatch list. I am rewatching this again on my end, so - it's already on my rewatch list.

Music: 10/10 - I love the music in this one. Some I really love and have downloaded and listened to this as a playlist that make me remember the scenes in this drama.

I honestly wish this wasn't a 48 episode drama, the irony, because I think 63 episodes for Ashes of Love is too long, yet, for 'And the Winner is Love' being 48 episodes is too short, wish it was longer, but I guess when it comes to something you enjoy and love, you just don't want it to end, that's how I feel about this drama on my end. To me, between Ashes of Love and And the Winner is Love, the REAL WINNER between these two dramas, preference-wise and the story between the two main pairing, 'And the Winner is Love' is my preference, because I love Shannguan Tou who respected and is patience with Xue Zhi, and I love how Xue Zhi came to go through that character development, to become stronger and mature later, and become smarter by putting two and two together to figure out the whole truth, it's all part of her character development. At least the female lead in this one, actually works hard to cultivate and become stronger, so that was nice to see, not like the other female lead (Jin Mi), but I won't mention about her in here.

To me, I actually don't understand the low ratings for this drama LOL. It's like, drama's who doesn't deserve a high rating (Ashes of Love) got a high rating, but dramas who does (And the Winner is Love) got a low rating, well for me, I did learn something in the end, everyone have different preferences, you either love or you hate. Anyways, despite this is an underrated drama by those who voted below average(not that I understand lol), IMO, this is still far better than Ashes of Love where the 'main pairing' ; 'male lead' and 'female lead' is concerned. So with that all said, And the Winner is love is definitely worth the watch, especially to those who are fans of Run Yu in Ashes of Love, because in this, he is at least treated better by the writers.