This drama had been on my watch list for some time (upon recommendation of my sister). I enjoyed it enough to get all the way through, but I do not think I'll rewatch it. In my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," and "nah," this drama rates a "liked" but no rewatch.

While this may be tagged as historical, it bears little resemblance to actual history--even if any of those characters existed in history (which I did not bother to look up). There was definitely no ancient Chinese doctor who could perform plastic and voice surgery. lol. But anyways, if you suspend historical reality, then you can enjoy this drama. This drama showed a good buildup of a relationship between the leads, featured an intelligent and fearless female lead (who, best of all, did not suddenly get helpless just so the ML could save her), and there minimal misunderstandings and stupid sacrifices for one another. There was a lot of "background", as in the characters would talk about something and then it would have happened by the next scene (so you don't see many battles, ML assassinating the emperor of the Qi, etc).

Personally, I did not mind Jin Han in the role of ML. At first, I was not sure about him as ML, his appearance fits better with Western, rather than Asian, standards of handsomeness--and I also saw him for the first time playing a sociopath in Princess Agents (but then playing the ML in "Our Glamorous Time") so I was a bit hesitant. But he did alright--especially the more comedic bits (I loved him and his two brofriends). He could be a little too dramatic at times, but it was tolerable. And its nice to have an ML in a drama who (almost) weighs as much as me...

This is my first time seeing Peng Xiao Ran in anything, and I thought she did just fine.

Du Ya Fei did a good job as Lu Yun Qi. He was a properly creepy/repulsive character with almost no good side except that LYQ kept Jiuling's family safe and never forced himself upon either her sister or her. I did not quite buy his change of heart at the end, since before that DYF played the character as a sociopath, but they had to tie up a happy ending in some way so him becoming a witness was a way to do that.

Side characters: Zhou Zhan as Fang Cheng Yu--I feel bad for the actor that he, a man in his early twenties, can convincingly play a fifteen year old boy. I really thought the actor was that young. He was cute though, especially with his crush on his "cousin"/wife/ex-wife. I kind of shipped ZZ's full sister with Ning Yun Zhao--that would have been a nice tie-up and they would have been a cute couple (but that mother would have been a bit of a nightmare...). I loved the ML's brofriends, they were hilarious and the three of them were able to convey hilarity without even needing to speak. I like the portrayal of supportive families (the Fangs and the Zhus).

A random drama questions: Why does anyone ever want to be the emperor!? (At least as the job is portrayed in Chinese & Korean dramas). It seems to be absolutely no fun and while you may be the person in charge, you're not actually in charge because every minute of every day is ritualized, you can't marry whom you want (or if you do, your actual wife [or your mother or grandmother] can make their life a living hell), you can't go anywhere you want, and you have to deal with annoying ministers all the time--and you are never alone while at the same time very lonely. Also, is that really how governments functioned back in the day? At anytime, anyone (with almost no evidence) could be accused of treason and their entire family for three generations killed? Even if you were a celebrated general? A long-serving minister? Seems like absolutely no one would want to risk doing anything for their country. Or maybe that is really what happened, and why kingdoms eventually collapsed and/or were conquered.

Not a waste of time, not the best drama ever, but a good watch for when you want to escape reality.