Maybe in terms of plot, it is quite non-sensical, or dumb, and sometimes even bizarre, but who says it's not entertaining? if you like a strong female lead (the real one, not the one who's strong as the story wants and then becomes a damsel in distress a second later just for the sake of knight saving beauty), well-written characters, protagonist having minimal setbacks in other words almost winning every time, and clever leads who are always three steps ahead... then just turn off your brain and enjoy it as at the end of the day its main purpose is entertainment, it's not a science textbook where everything should make sense.

It's a character-driven story, as I said before plot kinda sucks coz a lot of time it's very illogical, a bit problematic, surreal. And politics is poorly written... nothing mind-blowing with no What? whoa! moment. It's a rather simple concept of revenge that mostly circles around Jiu Ling, it's her journey. So almost every other character is kinda-not-really-important. On the positive side of the story, I'll say comparing similarly-themed dramas... it's not torturous, or painful to watch, a writer doesn't kill your favorite characters left and right or even adds the most annoying characters taking a looot of screentime. If you are looking for romance, it's merely there but with a lot of chemistry.

Jun Jiu Ling is the heart of the story... and most important aspect as without her brilliant characterization this would fall flat. She's clever, quick-witted, and knows how to use her skills to get her goal.. her every action is planned and she's ready for any consequences. Even without any fighting skills, she rocks, Brain over brawn! I can't think Jiu Ling is without Peng Xiao Ran, she's just amazing as Jiu Ling... seeing her playing the character so beautifully was a pleasure to watch, especially she nails every emotional scene. Though I'm not very fond of super perfect characters, I still liked her... who doesn't love to watch lead surpassing everyone with her great abilities.

Ning Yun Zhao... well why I'm mentioning him even before ML? well non-surprisingly he's my favorite character after Jiu Ling, I bet you'll get the major second lead syndrome. As they match each other intellectually, perfect!... even their first meeting was one of my favorite scenes of the drama. Wang You Shuo did a good job... I truly felt bad for him from bottom of my heart, he did exceptionally well in the rejection scene, you can just feel pain in his eyes.

Here we go... matter of conflict, the male lead. Zhu Zan, not very fond of him... but I did like some aspects of his character a lot, he's not very ideal but I take it on the positive side as we already have 'perfect' FL we need some balance right? Jin Han... even if he's great at playing grey characters, he's pretty good as Zhu Zan with his charm. My only problem was who the heck was his hairstylist? ah, it's worse lol... I can't stand his styling he can look a lot better if they just put a bit of effort.

Lu Yun Qi is psycho... and a sick character, for a second I pitied him than just a later scene... I pitied why I pitied him, mostly he hateable (almost) all time...not a fan of his last-minute-eureka-moment that made his character inconsistent, why build the whole character in such a way if you're gonna give him last-minute development at least take some time or let him be psycho I'm happy with either. Du Ya Fei, never seen this guy before, honestly, I've as his profile says but I don't even remember him, but I don't think it'll happen again. As his performance was most splendid, and it outshined.

As for reverse-harem, as I already mentioned... there isn't much romance here why worry about reverse-harem, plus FLs character is worthy of everyone getting smitten over her lol xD so it's understandable... and other than Yun Qi 'Love' aka obsession no other male character is annoying.

It's a low budget, don't expect much of majestic setting or beautiful clothing, styling as you can see many clothes recycled all time, even lighting is dull, and I personally didn't like color pallet much. Apart from the intro, none of the osts weren't significant enough (for me).

It's not best but not worst either, but surprisingly addictive and intruding... with a femal