I only picked this up because of Sun Li, but I thought the premise wasn't too interesting. I certainly wouldn't have expected that this work would turn out to exceed Zhen Huan. Her acting in this one is just impeccable.

Although it starts slowly, the first twenty-ish episodes of Nothing Gold can Stay are the most tightly plotted I have seen yet in any cdrama. The intelligent villains act intelligent, the plot devices are realistic, and the characters for the most part act rationally and reasonably and have an interesting personality without becoming cliche (which is one weakness of Zhen Huan, being that there were so many concubines in the story). The core mystery of the plot is Wu Ping's death, and this is unravelled in a very slow and satisfying manner while Zhou Ying's character is built up into someone we can respect and cheer for. Another bright spot is that this drama has a relatively good portrayal of the early manufacturing and trades in China (with admittedly a tendency towards simplifying and glorifying things).

Towards the end, the storytelling becomes a little looser, but in general it is satisfying. I do have a couple of important points I didn't like. Firstly, I think the risks Zhou Ying takes on early in her business are unrealistically large for the amount of capital she has. Most of the time she takes on her competitors by offering a completely crazy deal or encountering a really big coincidence. It requires some suspension of belief, e.g. the crazy trade deal with Tu Er Dan (also... does every male have to fall for the protagonist?). Secondly, Shen Xing Yi's story was not resolved in a satisfying way for someone who was so important throughout the entire story, and his actions towards the end were not logical. Lastly, the main villain Du Mingli (directed by the Prince) planned his work so carefully at risk of death, but somehow made major blunders near the end. The Prince really treated Zhao Bai Shi so much more leniently.

Despite these nitpicks there are so many good parts in this drama. The ill fated love between Du Mingli and Hu YongMei, the genuine relationship between Zhou Ying and Shen Xing Yi which actually makes true progress from irritation to love, and the wonderful characterization of Zhou Ying's reliable yet unreliable father were highlights for me.