The two male actors did a bang job. I love Wang Duo so much, I can go on write good things about him. The pain, loneliness, hate, determination, love, care, and deep thinking is in his eyes and smiles. When the door's closing at him during last scene, I can see the loneliness and abandonment he felt....losing everything he hold dear. So much so he overshadowed everyone else. Shawn Qu also remarkable too...as a submissive reserved man that would look at Wan Mei with such devotion - he loved Wan Mei tenderly and would do anything for her. Li YiTong is great, her character flipped flopped a lot depend on whether she successfully finished the mission or not. In the book Wen Mei slept with every men, kind of gross me, the adaption is more relatable and have better story line. So much memorable acting from Wang Duo and Shaw Qu, I put them on top of best performance and favorite.
The best scene was when both Wan Mei and Chan'An went separately, thru the river Chan'An left....with hundred of bright firework lit the dark night sky - Wan Mei cried and run toward the river. Gong Zi run after her just to found out how heart broken she was, memorable was the significant of explosion of fireworks as representing how Chan'An felt about.
The drawing illustrations fit in to drama, adding more dramatic than spoiling the scenes because they put it together nicely between drawing and alive scenes - not come in at very important epic scenes (Note: Long Ballad needs to learn this). It broke my heart with the ending...I demand season 2!! This drama is one of my favorite...and I don't have very many of them...