I'm a bit disappointed. I expected more.

I love seasoned actors. Sadly I found another copy of the actor Allen—good actor who is unable to play romance and lack chemistry with his partner. They both had in common the same female lead. I am not sure if they are all unlucky to parter them, if it is the script or director or if they are unable to act romantic scenes. They are all good but not together.

After Under the Power, I gave her another chance. Indeed, it was much better. I was spared with another childish female lead… Instead, we got a femalee victim bullied by everyone for over 11 episodes. Glad it said it was a work of fiction each intro of each episode because it was completely irrealistic.

Post edits production is poorly executed. Missing major scenes that explained behavior and actions. Terrible.

In Episode 12, the main character insists she knows what to do but is constantly bullied. No backbone. It takes too long to to see her defended by her husband. They cut few important scenes, yet kept redundantones. The drama revolves around villains. Each 3 concubines, the old matriarch, the sister in law, the sisters. Except 1 maid, all women are villains. The only trustedperson is of course her maid telling her that being passive is worse., but she prefers to be a victim and claims she doesn't care. I really dislike her attitude, so I skipped many useless conversations.

To summarize, the male lead slept with two concubines and his ex-wife. He has two kids, and one concubine lost a child during childbirth. Then he lost physical interest to all because he could not stand women in general and their pettiness. He always feels guilty for mistreating the heroine, yet never asserts himself. I understand the matriarch is the queen of any Chinese family, but the romance was still not visible before episode 35.

It got better when he realized he fell for her around episode 15. But because she is a prude virgin, he never crossed the line… with his wife. Typically, the Chinese were seeing the collar skin is considered erotic. (rolling eyes) As if a married man did not sleep with his wife for years.

In Episode 21, the matriarch said she was upset with the concubine, Qiao, but the scene was cut in production, so it's unclear what she was referring to. Then the male lead spent an hour in the favorite concubine's bedroom as per the servant. This raises the question of whether he had sex with her as a birthday present. Additionally, the female lead said that the male lead gave his heart and she will give hers, but it's unclear when this happened. Furthermore, he slept with the concubine despite this. It all seems very inconsistent. The cuts in scenes seem unprofessional. They wanted to reduce the number of episodes, but at times, it made no sense.

Another thing that deserves its own paragraph… when FL married ML, his sister in law was pregnant. It is said numerous times that FL spent 2 years since her arrival. Ahem. 2 years pregnancy? The scriptwriter is plain stupid. That's the only explanation.

Compared to the story of Ming Lan, this drama is average. The storyline focuses on how to bully as much as possible and how the villains are rewarded. Like a few others here, I also do not see the chemistry between the main couple. He reminds me of Allen. He's a good actor, but he should never be cast in a romance drama.

The romance between the main couple is based on trust and honesty. I'm not sure if bumping into someone or falling physically due to bumpy roads or missed steps can be the big love revelation, but it seems to be in this drama. "I touched you by accident, and then I must be falling in love" - it's all quite ridiculous.

The drama is watchable, but annoying. I am not impressed with the direction/post production in general. It was poorly executed. Amateurs.