I'm so sorry for the overly long review! I just compiled my thoughts but I did it for days so it turned out like that...Whoever reads it - sorry again and thank you! Also - maaany SPOILERS ahead! Not for people that still haven't watched the drama, I think.

Finished the drama yesterday, still don't know exactly what to say but it's time for me to let go of most of my thoughts and feelings about his drama.
The song about the little fox, as it was playing in the background of some of the most poignant moments of the story, perfectly describes the feelings of the main characters - how they are forever yearning for their lost memories, dreams, wild hopes, a peaceful future, a lost home, a home not yet built...most of everything, a person. I can't help but remember the last scene of the series, when Li Chengyin was desperately looking for his lost love in the desert, so many years after she left their world. In that scene is the image of the even longer gone young and innocent princess we met at the start of the story, almost a child, when she was waiting on the sand dune, not knowing that she wasn't actually waiting her first childhood sweetheart(Gu Jian) but she was waiting for a foreign man riding on a tired horse, coming from a far away place with his bloody clothes and carrying their fate with him. As if that young girl was still on the same dune years later and still was waiting for that stranger...for her fate and her love to finally come to her - the first time to bring her pain, the second to take it away. She was forever seeking Gu Xiao Wu and he would be forever searching for the young princess, he too waiting for the moment he can be Gu Xiao Wu again.

That is the general romantic vision I have in my mind when thinking about the series as a whole. Apart from that, I will share my thoughts as someone that watches shows and films for entertainment purposes and not to compare it with real modern life or completely imagine myself as some of the characters(although it can happen). I don't want to think of them as the realest people that should follow the morals, rules and understanding of the world as we nowadays have it (hopefully). This is fiction, as such, I have specific expectations from it and they're personal and again, all abiding to the rule that it is entertainment. On that note...
Omg, thank you screnwriters and book author for Li Chengyin! Unfortunately he existed in a story that was against him and that would in the end not give him the freedom to be everything such a character could be buuut he was so strong, he pushed through anyway! I wanted for so long to see such a ML - someone that actually does things considering the world he lives in. He wasn't even made to be so cruel as he could've been so the audience can "hate" him properly but I guess the writers didn't want that much of a "dark" storyline, too much for Chinese TV drama land? I don't know. In a Western historical or maybe even a Chinese movie he would shine though. Full on force, full wickedness making for an exciting ride because he still would be a grey character but that much more entertaining and compelling!

From the moment I knew the ML is using the girl and will betray her and kill people from her tribe for his own country's and personal reasons, I was very interested and hooked to the story. Gu Xiao Wu appeared and I always asked myself - when is the moment? I felt it coming and was impatiently waiting for that turn of events that is so different to other stories and other men in powerful positions' strangely morallistic desicions. I was at the same time scared of course because I knew it would be very emotional and dramatic. I also didn't know if he really loved the young princess so it was interesting to see how the events would go on. I couldn't reveal the motives of his character from the start but a little episodes in and I saw how he started falling in love wich made the future of their story even more compelling. I was even a little suprised. From what I knew of the drama beforehand, it sounded like he would just use her relation to the tribe and play a role but it turned more complicated and at the same time expected from two young people on a journey together through the vast landscapes of a beautiful region. So the story became romantic and so beautiful, yet it promised a melodramatic culmination, that is what excites me in a plot so I was hooked. When Gu Xiao Wu went to his legion, when his soldiers created a path for "the tea merchant" to pass through and he stood beside his general, took the red cloak, put on the battle helmet and from that moment prince Li Chengyin looked his enemies straight ahead like..THAT was probably one of my favourite scenes in the whole show! And the faces of Xiao Feng's relatives seeing that happening before their eyes...the complete shock ..I dreaded the moment yet it felt so epic! What made his character so twisted yet human was how he beheaded the FL's grandfather and when she screamed having seen that, he looked at her so shocked, teary, scared...in a single expression showing how complicated are human beings actually, how black and white don't exist , yet that sends shivers. Amazing plot here!
From a plotline perspective it is a unique thing in comparison with other romance dramas I've watched - they set up all the cliches: a young spirited girl that is different from other girls that are not wild as her, a young "prince" to meet and fall in love with, an escape from political marriage BUT the guy is not a freedom loving tea merchant himself but a young ruler-to-be with hidden motives, a desire for revenge, a desire for safety through power - he has a plan and he goes with it and overturnes the normal expectations from such a story-setting. Him falling in love is a good misdirect but like, nah, not enough to fool the audience, we know what's coming, we know who he is. The type of the series had to put such a strong character that operates on many levels, against the naivety of a princess that lived in a glass world where she thought she wasn't actually a princess and there was no politics in it. On top of that it became clear it would be generally a romance story and we should sympathies with her because this is generally how it happens in simplistic romantic tales - no place for Game of Thrones type of characters when we should supposedly have only Romeo and Juliette world-building. Had the princess started to see the world from another perspective and change with time to play the game and become stronger, had she also learned the rules and how to break them also, had she turned "morally" grey too, we wouldn't see Li Chengyin as such a great contrast nor we would interprete his actions as bad. I would have loved it if that change happened! Not only it would be interesting to see, it would be a logical alternative to her life in the palace and a good character development. Unfortunately, I didn't see that much of a character development to her except in her last living moments, she suddenly was a different person right before she died. The character development of Li Chengyin himself is a little questionable after a while - he goes from one emotional state to another sometimes too fast woth no build-up to that. He is similar to me to Daenerys Targaryen, a favourite character of mine from another show, but at least he didn't quite snap like she did in the last season of her series. People liked her because we watched the show from her perspective and we wanted her revenge, it was rightful. But here the perspective is a little bit more on the FL side and the audience generally sympathies with her. I guess that was the the writers wanted? Not sure.

The palace plotline was a a lot more boring than the first part. Gone are the beautiful nature landscapes, the gorgeous color palette, the better hair of the ML :) It turned from something original to...another generic Chinese palace drama. We're presented with so.much. talking between characters we see for the first time. They don't really show how they feel about something or do things, they prefer explaining eveeything in detail while staring blankly and smiling ever so faintly showing some plans hiding at the back(which they will explain over and over again later). There were very funny moments and moments between the main leads in which their chemistry shined. It became clear where they fell in love again - the snowbow fight. LI Chengyin continued with the plan to take the throne and as for Xiao Feng....well, she...um .she drank wine and we had long monologues about how people miss their home and how absolutely tragic it is to be in another country marrying for another man. Honestly, how is she even a princess lol. Diplomatic marriagies were so often the base on which you can legitimise a whole state and let it be known to every other country that you want peace. Kings were made kings only after such political moves. Princesses were married to more than three kings and princes in a single lifetime so that their father can ensure the throne of her land, it is an example from the history of my own country, it's a power game and often a very good and smart move. And how can she think that being the daughter of a ruler of people, somehow comes with no responsibilities? Who raised her? A modern day family that travelled back in time to teach her the rights to freedom in a typical capitalist society? I rolled my eyes so many times through the series...the monologue about missing the Xi state became so repetitive...every second episode I would hear about the vast deserts and horseback riding and how rightful the Xi state women are...while she is repeatedly told her responsibilities as a crown princess of an empire...I almost skipped scenes. The ones in Mi Luo bar or something especially. And then they introduced the sad Persian guys and I just couldn't loool too much filler!!

It was not a fairytale anymore, rather a cliched story and even Li Chengyin wasn't as original as in the first part. Still I rooted for him after every political success in the court. I liked that he didn't go against his enemies head on but he hid his desire for power and revenge and I particularly liked the scene where his uncle was already imprisoned and Li Chengyin revealed he didn't like walnut cakes but pretended since childhood. That showed he had this perseptivness about the world he lived from such an early point in life. Such a simple reveal yet his uncle was even scared after hearing it and with right. Li Chengyin is scary ,I liked that about him - so intelligent and mercyless when need be but we didn't see enough of that.
Sese was absolutely annoying, almost as much as Gu Jian. I don't know if it's the actor or how the character was written but he had no screen presence from start to finish, I could never truly feel for him when he appeared in a scene, no matter the sad music in the background, nothing. He lacked expressions, he lacked good development and his motives became questionable. I was rooting so much for the main leads at one point, even though they weren't perfect either but when Gu Jian took Xiao Feng and the moment when she decided to stay with him for no apparent reason I realised the show is over :) It came as a shock - something just started to develop after the memory loss and bam, introducing the most cringy plotline which got so much on my nerves. Xiao Feng was forever left with no development, we were back at the beginning being hurt and broken all over again, the angst commensed, long live the lack of communication! The scene when Li Chengyin ordered the murder of Gu Jian (who returned to the palace for what exactly? Fail at his perceived mission?) not one person said "wait , he is not Gu Xiao Wu, this is a misunderstanding". Not the general, not Xiao Feng - they would rather watch a person die than say a few words at least to try and appease the already mad Li Chengyin. I mean, it should come as a basic instinct to say it so they can save a life, maybe? Why would you hide it? You already returned your memories, what purpose they would serve you except being the truth..
The drama began to loose its sense and direction for the sake of angst and inflicting of pain. It turned out it could be shortened to the first quarter, some scenes from the middle and the last ones and it would have conveyed the author's material...it's not particularly a character driven drama, except for some sections, the characters stayed through to the story in the mind of the writers, they didn't do something different than what could have led them to the expected idea of an ending. So the originality at the beginning was for...the drama in the last part. As if they knew they wanted the FL to die and they wanted the scene where Li Chengyin cries and realises his loss but that makes the forgetting of the past and the "new beginning" for them ...leading to nothing. The River of Forgetfulnes, alrhough an i teresting addition, surved no particular purpose, it didn't offer development or a chance to let go or a chance to change, it offered the addition of some sweet scenes, some not so sweet scenes, political plotting and it then returned the characters in the beginning almost. If it was always going to be that ,it could have been a shorter series with no fillers or a straight to the point movie to tell a beautiful heart-breaking tale. A series should be more character-driven, I think.

It was indeed very sad at the end. No one got what they most wanted, what they were seeking and wanted to return to. But what I didn't agree with is that the FL had to sacrifice herself. She suddenly had the realisation that she has respondibilities to both contries and that would mean... dying for them. Her character had a last minute development in a different direction but she decided to end her life after. I think she already got the agreement of both states that they shouldn't wage that war and after she could terurn to her position as a crown princess of Li empire not because of love to the emperor but to ensure her people that from her political position she should make sure that piece will stay on those lands, that she will be its symbol for both countries. I suspect her decision had more to do with the personal trauma which she couldn't let go of (because of Gu Jian aaaaand because their love with Li Chengyin in the palace led to nothing :) ) The series solidified itself as something of a Shakespearean drama and I don't mind it that much but I'm asking again - you could have that effect with a shorter story, for what was the middle part? How it changed things? Her love for Li Chengyin probably prevented her from killing him but she would probably reconsider killing him even without the new feelings, she couldn't do it because of the memory of Gu Xiao Wu, too. She also didn't acquire a new world understanding(excluding the ending) or changed or took a stance earlier, her character stayed the same because it was the symbol of innocence in the world of cruelty. I...don't really find these type of personalities interesting, they don't make for a good and complicated story nor they are particularly human, they are more like text-book morality prototypes? Yet XF had responsibility for the death of Gu Jian so she did make mistakes. If the story was a little bit more from Li Chengyin's persepctive and the writers didn't shy away from a more "risky" plot, it could've been even better and set a precedent for character-building, the drama would be worrh it <3

It's not.. how do I say it..a mature enough story but there are many saving graces - like the cinematography, the beautiful settings and good actor's work(especially Chen Xin Xu, apart from some of his expressions when angry, I liked his overall performance very much!). It did follow the plot but it didn't quite delve into making the characters multi-layered, except for Li Chengyin and even he wasn't fully fledged. Some plotlines were pointless - the bar and everyone partaking in the scenes there, didn't add anthing to the story. The second part was too cliched, and sometimes annoying; their intimacy was censored too much - the Fl just refused the idea of her ever do that "dirty" activity called sex, it's laughable because it's a part of every single Chinese drama and I can't anymore with this childishness...They didn't censor the dramatic slitting of the throat at the end but a kiss was out of the question, I can't take that seriously or respect it :) I also don't like the fact that the FL tried to kill herself THREE times (the last one successfully) - she never really stood up to her memories and pain, never tried to properly heal, never had an inner leading force..she didn't stand up to Li Chengyin either and basically gave up from the beginning which just solidified the idea that her character is a text-book prototype and not someone who goes through changes. It's a simple story actually and that's not such a bad thing, I just think for what it tried to be, it could have been improved in many aspects. Still it's very emotional and leaves you a wreck for a while , it maybe lacks deep philosophy or challenges the viewers with complicated characters(except LinChengyin) but achieves the goal to make you cry. Maybe that is everything it evere aspired to do, unfortunately. I was heart-broken the most when Gu Jian kidnapped the FL and then I saw what is going to happen next, saw some scenes and realised the series was over then and there, it was made to be hopeless with no intention of finding a different solution to their hurt and desires, no hope for an original turn of events, just loss and death...