I’m sorry to say this but the plot idea was so immature and if maybe it was possibly done so on purpose to cater to a younger audience then that would make much more sense as to why the tone was so different from the parent story.
One thing I did like was the music since it’s the same one from the parent story. However in my opinion the music is too sophisticated for the plot and doesn’t match at all.
It was also nice to see the King and Ying Lu interact with each other again. She honestly stole the show in the sequel tooo! Impressive acting on Wu Jin Yan’s part.

***********Spoilers below*******
Honestly I’m baffled by the princess idea of revenge and how easily she was willing to forgive and even encourage the person who approached her with sinister motives. Definitely not like her mother at all.

The whole thing just reads teenage high school drama. Could have just put everything into a movie and saved me the anticipation.

There were so many major plot holes which basically confused the whole ending and the progression of the story made no sense.
The male lead who hates someone with her personality fell for her in a matter of 3 days? Or maybe he fell for her because she rejected him? Second ML I don’t understand when he fell for her because the whole time he was taking pleasure in conspiring against her.
Tbh Fu Heng’s not so biological son got off unbelievably easy for someone who put the life and well being of a princess at risk and calling a noble consort by name in front of a lot of servants when in the first season Wei Ying Lou couldn’t even say her sisters real name because part of the name was the same as some consort’s name.

Thoroughly disappointed.