Be warned: does contain spoilers.
This drama will take you on one heck of a roller-coaster ride. It follows the typical court/political plot with countless schemes and unnecessary deaths. Lots of eye rolls and hair pulling coming your way.

Originally would give it a 7 but changed to 8 for the ending. And the cast was very well fitted for their roles which is a plus.

Thoughts and opinions:
The first half of the drama I would highly recommend. You have Chumu who is a spoiled playboy with a personality anyone would fall for. He's flirty, funny and just a very happy character in general. And then we have Fu Rou who is actually quite the witty one. When we first see her, she deliberately planned and humiliated herself to get out of her own wedding. I can appreciate that. And when Chumu first sets eyes on Fu Rou, it was love. This is where all the fun and happy moments take place.

The last half is where it falls short. After both Chumu and Fu Rou go into the palace, there's so many misunderstandings that cause them to "break up". And so many greedy and power hungry characters appear. And we meet the 2nd lead who I quite liked in the beginning. He's very calm, a bit flirty and has his heart set on Fu Rou. But after a while, he just became a stalker who literally follows Fu Rou everywhere. The schemes are heavy and we really see all these unnecessary deaths occur.

Likes:
1. The highlight of the drama for me is the Sheng family. Chumu's family will make you smile and feel warm inside. The brothers stick together and always cause trouble for their father but at the end of the day, they can all still sit to have a meal and laugh and joke around.
2. Chumu's bravery when he becomes General. I don't like fighting scenes but everytime he goes into battle, it's such a joy to watch. He never lets his soldiers down. And when he goes back for King Han, that battle scene was flawless. Definitely recommend that scene.
3. The side couples. Princess Xinnan and Chuling. No matter what happens, they always stayed playful and true to eachother.
Lu Ying Ying and Yan Zifang, a couple who met due to revenge. I'm biased, Lu Ying Ying's story is my favorite in this drama. I liked her with King Liang too.
And finally King Han and Queen Han. Let me just say, they are a couple we aspire to be.
4. The music. Anytime something good or bad happens, the music makes it 100xs better.

Dislikes:
1. The bad always last longer than the good. So many good people died like Queen Han, Chujun and Du Ning. And then the crown princess lasts until almost the end and her death wasn't even satisfying. I would have liked to see her death more cruel considering how evil she was.
When the empress killed Queen Han without proper investigation, I was done with this drama. It made no sense. She could pardon so many others but couldn't even give her son's wife a fair trial. Smh. That's when she died, I wasn't even sad for her. I was just sad for the emperor because I really liked his character.
2. The crown prince is so gullible. He believes all the evil people and sow discord between him and his brother King Han. A character who had too much screentime.
3. Chumu's lack of screentime in the last half. He barely shows up. I started to doubt he was male lead.
4. The misunderstanding between Fu Rou and Chumu. I swear they were on bad terms longer than they were with each other.
5. The bad editing and unsatisfying last few eps transitions. We waited for Fu Rou and Chumu to make up in ep 51-52 but it never really came. One day they were together and the next they act like nothing happened. Like hello....how did they make up.

Overall I give this drama an 8. I can appreciate that some characters got happy endings.


End spoiler:
Chumu and Chujun both got their girl.
Yan Zifang kidnaps his lover and sets out for redemption. (My favorite couple)

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Just a Foodie Trying to Live Her Life

Let's just say, the world of cdrama finished off the year strong with New Life Begins. The last time I didn't forward a cdrama was Nirvana in Fire and that was ages ago. So that says alot already.

10/10 Main Cast
*Bai Jing Ting: Honestly I was never a fan of his. Was iffy the first time I saw him appear in this drama as Prince Zheng. Then the moment he met Li Wei, my mind changed completely. They have crazy wild chemistry. Who doesn't love an adorable jealous yet smart prince eh?
*Tian Xi Wei: This is my first drama of her. My immediate thought was, she has the classic 80/90's beauty. She reminds me of a very cute version of Barbara Yung. Regardless, I adored her bubbly personality and her love for food. The way she looks at food is truly love. And her willingness to stand against injustice makes her the perfect female lead.

10/10 Side Characters
I think what made me love this drama the most is the side characters. The lovely Hai Ting, aggressive Princess Shangguan, bratty Song Wu, silly Prince Qi, Prince Zheng's fun and protective advisor, Li Wei's maids, etc. Side characters don't get enough credit but they really bring out the charm of a drama. I don't think the drama would be the same without the advisor and maids.

10/10 Romance
I loved every couple except 2 (you know who). What I appreciate is that they all lived within the palace but walked different paths. I loved the contrast between each couple. They made the screen very fun and interesting. And each couple had great chemistry. Especially my silly Prince Qi and his girl Jing'er.

10/10 Writing
*No true evil female villain. I can so appreciate this. For once I don't hear an evil B cry and complain about how unfair life is and that she deserves the main guy...blah blah blah every second she's on screen. And if there was one, it lasted a few episodes only.
*One highlight was the all the women supporting one another in a time where men ran the world. Seeing them risk everything and even their lives to save one another is truly such a breath of fresh air in cdramas. For once, no one schemed against one another. Just a bunch of women trying to live their lives the way they want.

I could write a 5 page review about how good this drama is but I'll spare you guys the reading.

Overall, it's a must watch. It's a feel good drama. It'll make you laugh and cry and then smile like a lovesick puppy.

Plus happy ending. Who doesn't love happy endings.

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Everything you could ask for in a drama

To start, the martial arts/wuxia genre is not really my cup of tea. I'm more of a Sword and the Brocade kind of viewer. So going in, I didn't have expectations that I was going to like this. But let's just say, this drama got my attention and I ended up anxiously waiting for new eps every day.

HFX AND BFX are actually really well written characters. BFX was that fearless heroic figure who acted based on the situation right there and then and her emotions. While HFX is rather calculating. He always thinks before doing something. And is very kept to himself during the first half. From the very beginning, I already loved their interaction. I even had the feeling he was already in love with her way before they were introduced to us viewers. He's always watching and taking care of her without giving himself away. And ofc this leads to her thinking everything he does is to benefit himself and he wouldn't do anything that doesn't give him the upper hand. But again, I 99.99% am sure he either had feelings for her or admired her for a long time.

I definitely liked the first half better. It was more of them bickering, solving problems and slowly learning about each other.

Second half was politics, fight for the throne and war. Not my cup of tea but I can say I enjoyed this one as HFX always had the upperhand against his brother FJ.

Pros:
1. BFX was literally the female character we wished were written more in dramas. Alot of dramas, I see strong females in the beginning who gradually lose that coolness. But I can honestly say, she was a strong and badass character throughout most of the drama. There were only a few instances I didn't like her. Like how she babies her Jr. Sister Langhua. Who I wanted to slap so many times.
2. HFX's character...do we need to explain him. He's literally a hero to the world, BFX and our hearts.
3. We got some really good side characters.
*His sidekicks who were fun and always besides our male lead assisting him. Let me just say, I'm glad neither of them died.
* Prince Chang: Some might say he's not a good character as he killed innocent people who knew about his illness. But I think that was the only flaw in his character. I honestly thought he was going to turn against HFX but thankfully he remained the best brother for HFX. He didn't have many scenes but he definitely left an impression on me. He had some of my favorite scenes.
*Minister Feng: by far one of my favorite supporting females in any dramas I've watched. Yes, she was in love with HFX but he didn't love her and she was okay with that. Instead she continued to support him (take notes future evil jealous third wheeling females) and her bonding with BFX during their 1st meeting was enough to say I loved her.

Cons:
1. The rushed ending. Everything was choppy and alot of details were missing and they literally ended a war in a couple episodes. Not that I care for war scenes but wow, it was really rushed.
2. HFX's father the emperor is a terrible father. Didn't even care for his late wife. The fact that he chose to ignore all the bad things Queen Baili and her son FJ did to HFX will make you want to pull your hair. I was literally at the point of wishing death on him.
3. Queen Baili and FJ were really quite the annoying and jealous characters. They should have died long ago so that way there was more time for the actual war and end.

There's alot more pros and cons but I'll stop there. Regardless, I'd give a solid 9.5. Minus .5 for the long plot with the evil queen and stupid emperor.

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