!! Content/trigger warning for mention of sexual assault: At the end of episode 17 and beginning of episode 18, there is an attempted sexual assault on one of the female characters, which fails, and the perpetrator is punished in a later episode.

I thought this was excellent. I went in not really knowing what to expect and had meant to just watch the first episode to decide whether or not I liked it, as I usually do, and got hooked immediately.

No huge plot holes and no inane story or character slips that didn't make any sense, which is usually the main issue in Chinese dramas. The pacing was good, and the length of the episodes and series length felt appropriate and just about right, and nothing really felt like filler. Some things do happen very quickly, like the two leads falling in love, and there are some things that go against usual historical drama rule convention without much consequence, like there being no objection from people around the male lead for wanting to marry a non-noble, but for the most part these are peripheral enough to the main story and fleshing them out would only have dragged out the story for no reason other than to add unnecessary drama, so I don't really have complaints about that. Normally these omissions would annoy me very much, but in this case they didn't really bother me other than the occasional note of 'Huh, why is this random bucket-scrubbing maid allowed to just walk around the inner city/palace and command so much way-giving? Oh well *shrug*', which I attribute to the fact that it's a low-stakes rom-com that doesn't take itself too seriously with a 30min-per-episode runtime; and the level of (in)formality fits the format. The one thing that did trip me up the most was when, near the end, a character makes a pivotal choice to defend their city against another city's army based on their identity as a Muxi citizen specifically, and this is talked about by the female lead as 'sometimes your cultural/national identity is more important than your life', but shortly afterwards the three cities are then united into one, which is sort-of-but-not-really painted as the FL's goal to some extent as well. That whole 'sometimes people defend their identity before their own life and we call them heroes' speech was a bit 'Huh, propagandy' to me, but perhaps that was the trade-off with the censors or something to keep all the kissing scenes in, who knows.

I thought the comedy in this was great, including the 'What!' reaction sounds and occasional use of music that were English songs to emphasise certain moments. The first time I heard an English song during a Moment I had to check that I wasn't watching it on YouTube and they had replaced the music for copyright reasons, but I was watching it on a random Chinese streaming site, so that seems unlikely. Maybe it still was an insert, but either way, that was my experience of watching the drama and I found it very funny. I found this drama very funny and almost Douyin skit-esque in its humour. There was a lot of toilet humour, including someone falling in love because someone gave them clean toilet paper, and also a lot of fart jokes, which sort of really ties in with the Douyin-esque vibe of 'What!' reaction sounds and musical emphasis moments. The animal roaring sounds were a bit silly at times, and felt like perhaps were used a bit too often with the FL, but overall sort of fell into the general sense of comedy.

The kissing scenes are almost all early on and I have to say, they are very active kissing scenes with locked lips and not just faces pressed together, which I really liked about this drama. They actually like each other! They're actually kissing each other and kissing back! I usually look away during kissing scenes but in the case of this drama I actually really enjoyed them because they seemed genuine - not overdone so they were tearing at each other's clothes, but also not uncomfortably close-up of just the lips that sort of sensationalise it like so many other dramas tend to do. I also really liked the romance between the two leads - it's established early on that they're equals, and the FL very actively stabilises and backs up the ML in his role as city lord. There are no nonsense misunderstandings and the ML is very supportive of the FL throughout, especially once he realises that he really does like her. The one main argument that they have is resolved almost immediately - one might even argue too quickly - but even that is set-up beforehand with a lot of 'what-if ... would you forgive me?' probing and prepping, as well as the ML repeatedly noting that he likes the FL for her.

The romance between Yun Luo and Tan Rang was a little more '???' for me, but again, I wasn't particularly annoyed by it, although I did think Tan Rang was a bit too forgiving (I personally am unsure if I would be so okay with some random tricking me and doing the things Yun Luo does to him with the consequences they result in, even if the last consequence wasn't on purpose). Zhao Jing also had a bit of a weird situation happen for him with Zhi Lan and then Ke Qian Yue, and I do feel bad for him; it was very much not the usual clean-cut pairing up that normally happens, though I did also appreciate the 'random non-lead is a ladykiller' vibe that it gave off. I really didn't expect Zhi Lan's story to go in that direction and didn't quite believe it, and kept expecting that there would be some kind of 'Surprise! We tricked you' moment, but apparently they were serious about it, which I also found unusual given the genre - I kept thinking 'Ah, it's a rom-com, that won't happen', but apparently not. It was a shame, and she and Zhao Jing deserved better.

The second male lead was one of the nicest second male leads I've ever seen, and knows when to step back and when to exit. I never felt like he pushes the FL, although he does make it clear he likes her and tries for his chance. He also develops a friendship with the ML despite their love rivalry and is never bitter or entitled towards anything, including when dealing with Princesses Qi Meng and Hui Rou and their machinations. One of the most good-natured SMLs I've seen in a drama, and was supportive all the way, even solving multiple problems for the leads.

I've never seen either the female or male leads in anything before and was completely new to them, but I really liked them both, as I did most of the actors in this drama. The female lead especially is not your average FL-dressed-in-men's-clothes, but actually felt believable as somebody who grew up disguised as a boy. Even dressed in women's clothes she doesn't lose any of her ferocity, and she is always believable in each moment in her capacity of the City Lord of Muxi. When she is dressed as the 'male' Ye Zhao Nan her manner and demeanor genuinely swaggers, and even her voice seems to be deeper. Count me impressed. The ML on the other hand does a great cold and serious City Lord - and then you see him warm up and smile. Towards the end it was ridiculous, I was pausing the screen and yelling because he is So Pretty when he smiles. Who is this guy??? And why haven't I seen him in other things before??? He's also really good at the comedy and very quick with it too, especially with his facial expressions.

The other actors are also nothing to sniff at. From Zhao Jing to Lao Guan, the supporting cast also uniformly did a great job. The only one I found something to pick at about was Princess Qi Meng/Hui Rou, who seemed a little over-acted, especially with the sudden laughing, although I understand that it was meant to convey that she was unhinged.

The opening theme was light and cute, even catchy, and the ending theme was sweet. While the music didn't really stand out to me during the show, upon listening properly to the OST (I tend to skip the opening and endings of dramas when bingeing...), it is actually very nice. Okay, actually now I'm listening to the full version of the ending theme and the rest of the OST, honestly they could have made this drama a serious romance (which is not to say that the romance is a joke in this show but like. A Serious Romance with much less comedy) just based on the strengths of the ballads alone. I think I'm going to keep this OST to just pull out and listen to every now and then, actually.

I rate this very rewatchable, because I already want to rewatch it right now immediately. I binged this in less than two days, and the episode and series length adds to how easy it is to rewatch.