I thought this was one of the most well-done productions since The Story of MingLan. The chemistry between the two leads WAS ON FIRE!!! The dialogue was witty and natural; the story, interesting; the costumes, beautiful; the comedy, hilarious (despite being a little slap-stick at times); the characters, complex; and the ending?! You'll have to watch it, hehe. My only complaint is that the ending felt a tad rushed, but as it was capped at 40 episodes, I was amazed at how complete and satisfying the resolution turned out to be. (Oh wait, that's a lie. There was a song I really didn't like, but THAT'S IT!) It was an amazing piece of screen writing and careful plot development, very well-paced within it's given timeframe.

I heard that this was based off an opera, not a book. This made me even more impressed with the director and the screenwriters. The camera work and production alluded very well to it's operatic/theatrical foundation in meaningful ways and the screenwriters (without the assistance of a novel's dialogue) succeeded in making a script that was natural and touching without stepping outside of it's historical period.

I've become a massive fan of all the actors (the show really let all of the characters shine), especially the Liu Yi Fei who played Zhao Pan'er and Chen Xiao who played Gu Qianfan! If they are in a show, regardless of genre, I'll watch it. Their acting was top-shelf quality.

I've never written a review for a show before. Made an account just to write this one because I couldn't believe the rating was still at an 8.5 since the start of the show. If you loved The Story of MingLan, Eternal Love, Ancient Love Poetry, Royal Nirvana, Rise of the Phoenixes, Blue Whisper, and the like - you'll love this show.