This was one of my most awaited drama, I couldn’t wait to see this pairing again.

What I liked :
- Cinematography
- acting was great, both leads were phenomenal, but also side characters did good
- music
- actions scenes. exemple ep 18 was heartbreaking, but very well done.
- costumes, hairstyles, makeup
- friendship
1) ML and Kang Ju : I absolutely love Kang Ju, one of my fav character. their bond was very strong. They went through so much together and have been together for years, I love this duo. Poor Kang Ju couldn’t save him…. His reaction to ML poison and wanted to save him broke my heart
2) the girl’s friendship at clear mind
3) not sure how I feel about FL and Cui friendship, feel like I didn’t really feel it after everything that happened and it happened pretty late in the story. At some point I was like, a thing to bound about, both lost their men….
4) the trio : FL, ML and SML. it was fun to watched them and the development between ML and SML. how they eventually became friends, their bickering and how they helped each other
5) we cannot forget the the late ones from the convoy. I loved their friendship and their moments together. Their deaths marked a tournament in the story and it was pretty sad.
- The love triangle was so well done and it’s how it should be : very minimal and rejected relatively early. he accepted it, no obsession or annoyances to get in the way or to get her. He was a friend to both FL and ML, helped them alone the way. His present created some funny jaelousy moments. He was a bit annoying at first, but he came to understand their situation and was they went through, their way of thinking. I don’t even think this should be called a love triangle. this is a very good/positive point for me, I’m tired of obsess/delulu/crazy/annoying SML
- the pace of the plot was pretty good and the story in general was interesting and well written
- the first half was more interesting to me, but I like seeing FL’s journey, I know the drama is about her.
- the story was different. It contained hard scenes to watch and emotional scenes that kept us attentive
- I actually did not dislike second couple, in the end I came to like them and they had chemistry. They liked each other for real and it was too late. I cried a bit when he died, the acting was good and I felt it. It was heartbreaking to me, how he wanted to protect her and everything. I had to look away when he was impaled and when through it because he had to save her. And after that how she didn’t to leave him, I would have wanted her to respond to him when he asked if she loved him for real. I felt so bad for her after that. when she was in her room and like saying she finally got the shop, but she’s alone, she just wants her family back. both had trash family that were using and treating them bad, they deserved better and also I would say a happy ending. in the end, they just wanted to escape and be together
- to finish this, let’s about the leads : strong, intelligent, beautiful, capable, kind, we can go on and on. both suffered so much and were perfect for each other. they understood each other suffering, they went through similar things. very mature and heartwarming relationship. their chemistry was very strong. such good moments and romantic scenes we got, even if romance was not the main focus, even if I wished it was. Seeing their relationship progress was beautiful, seeing them slowly falling in love. they loved each other so much, my heart broke for them, they so much deserved a happy ending, they deserved better. I cried a lot during ep 40


So now :
- personally, the misunderstanding lasted too long.
- got somehow less interesting with the business part a little, but still enjoyable. Every 40 eps drama have some boring moments in my opinion, so I’m not deducing my rating because of this, I didn’t for other dramas.
- I wasn’t satisfied with the revenge/ clearing the family name at all. Actually there was no revenge, we saw almost nothing and it was all cleared by the law, which is not satisfying to me
- didn’t like the ending. A sad ending is already bad to me (but can be well done I guess sometimes, but didn’t like it here). but an ending that doesn’t feel complete, like we didn’t got closure, is worst to me. didn’t like his choice and how it was left to him leaving and dying off screen. Even the last scene and the thing about business, didn’t care much to be honest even if the drama is about FL’s journey. I’m not satisfied with the ending, it’s feels a bit like I wasted time when the ending is not satisfying. I don’t know why the writers do this ? (it was the same in KMLM). the characters have suffered for years and everything, but they don’t even get an happy ending? If they absolutely wanted him to die, I think maybe it could have been written otherwise. like it was also misleading some people saying that in interviews she said or hinted (I don’t remember) that it’s happy ending. I remember reading about this in the comments at some point. I shouldn’t have paid attention to that ahaha my mistake
I’m saying nonsense here ahaha (I just finished, I cried, I’m tired), but both FL and SFL lost their men, like what is it, to bloom and be successful she should be alone with no men. Anyway, now I don’t even wanna watch the next dramas of Liu Yu Jing that are in my watch list…. And one of them I have been waiting for so long. The novel has a happy ending, but I have trust issues now with Cdramas, they actually change HE in SE sometimes and many writers don’t know how to write good endings. actually just like Allen Ren, they have so many sad ending dramas, that I don’t even wanna watch anymore.

Hopefully next year, we get more happy and satisfying ending. don’t know how to rate, I can’t give 10/10 because I’m not satisfied with the ending/last ep. I would say between 9-9,5 should be my rating. I would absolutely recommend, but be prepared for the heartbreak at the end.