Great Story Shines through Bad Subbing

The subbing on this is absolutely atrocious. It borderline made it unwatchable. Fortunately, the storyline is simple, the acting superb and the tale so funny and cute that the bad subbing is *almost* forgivable. The eldest prince of the kingdom of Yan, Xiao He and the second prince Xiao Yu have learned a terrible secret - anyone who sits on the dragon throne is cursed to die in their prime. Naturally, they've been doing everything that they can to avoid that fate with Xiao He pretending to be a womanizing delinquent and Xiao Yu pretending to be sickly and weak. Neither is what they seem - He has never even kissed a girl and Yu lifts heavy boulders with his bare hands. The emperor, sick and desperate to get his boys to take responsibility, marries He to Fu Qi,a Dongling princess whose family has been sent to the border for crimes they didn't commit and whom she is desperate to exonerate. She knows once Xiao He takes the throne she will be able to help her brother and father, so she sets about making He crown prince just as He works with equal diligence to avoid that fate. Their battle of wits is hilarious, the two actors have great chemistry and the short, sweet story is a terrific blend of romance, mystery, and comedy.

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Charming Comedy with likable leads and wonderful acting

Our story begins with a murder. A young bride (Xia Yubing) is force-fed poison on her wedding night, the groom (Xu Zi Yan) justifying the action by saying she had framed his beloved (Xia Liu Qing) and someone that evil deserves death. We learn Yubing was tricked into framing Liu Qing and that she really isn't villainous at heart. The tale is then jolted from the past to the present where we learn Yubing and Zi Yan are both characters in a comic by a newbie author and her editor isn't pleased with a story about a stupid girl and a heartless hero. The author swears she will do better next go around and after a few edits turns Yubing into the female lead and a good character in the story, with Zi Yan an eager young doctor wanting to force-feed her medicine in order to save her from a rare but deadly disease.

In spite of that somewhat confusing set up this is an easy-to-follow rom-com that (almost) never forgets its a comedy. I laughed during most of the episodes, even during what would typically be "dark" moments like an execution or torture. The story's emphasis is less on plot than it is on relationship building. Yubing turns out to be a savvy businesswoman with a lovely, warm heart. Not only do she and Zi Yan wind up having a wonderful romance but Yubing also establishes a terrific connection with her sister Liu Qing, Zi Yan's bestie Ye Wen, and with Zi Yan's father Xu Guang Ling. Yubing is a positive presence in all their lives as she helps to create a better family/friend situation for herself/those around her and a more cooperative and caring business environment for her community. If you like feel-good stories, this is definitely a show you'll enjoy.

The acting is excellent and the chemistry between our leads is fantastic.

Few things are perfect, however, and this is no exception. The story gave way too much time to the villain, which caused it to drag in parts. The ending, while happy, is a touch incomplete. The character of Gu Gu/NPC was fabulous and excellently portrayed but I could have done with less of the author, especially in the final episode. All that said, this is easily my favorite Chinese rom-com.

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Badly dubbed Sweet Romance

Wei Shang Zhi is China's Bluebeard or Henry the Eighth, he's a man who has wed six times -- and murdered all his brides. Bai Zhi will be the Marquis' seventh wife by Imperial edict, and her family is none too happy to hand their precious daughter over to die. She goes prepared - her clothes are stuffed with poisons and weapons. But the unexpected happens, and she soon finds herself intrigued by her clever, handsome groom.

Marquis Wei is, of course, not the person rumor and speculation have made him out to be, and a lot of the impetus of our story comes from the heroine and the local community discovering the truth behind his alleged crimes. Yang Xiao Ting does a nice job of giving us a female lead who is naive but not stupid and whose sweet nature, open mind, and loving heart make her a perfect match for our stalwart hero. Li Qi Ge also does a nice job of depicting the male protagonist - he manages to be warm and kind toward those he trusts while still displaying a cynical and menacing demeanor to the world at large. He plays the role like he is a man with secrets - which is perfect, cause he is.

Both actors struggled some with the choreography of the many holds, catches, and fight sequences, but this didn't really detract from my enjoyment. The story is short, sweet, and clear, which is a blessing because the English subtitles are as bad as I have ever seen. Sometimes what was on screen seemed like complete gibberish and you had to struggle to figure out what the character was actually trying to communicate.

Overall, this is a good short, sweet watch for when you want something light and quick.

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Interesting Story With Great Acting

This review is for seasons 1 and 2 since both iterations together make up one tale. The acting here is excellent and I liked the plot - the idea of a girl exchanging bodies with another woman who just happens to be in a position to get even with the first girl's killer was riveting. The relationship development between hero He Lian Xuan and our heroine Li/Qi is terrific - we see her become his fierce protector and as a result, he comes out of the shadows to be the best version of himself. I loved the chemistry between the actors and thought they did a great job playing their roles. The storyline was a bit choppy at times, probably due to its brevity but that mostly worked. There is a scene that is extremely poorly explained, however - the revenge against Yun Ji is written off as being a "stay away from my man or else" scenario when in fact we know from the start Yun Ji is a spy sent to hurt them by Concubine Liu. The story also doesn't examine that Yun Ji is one of the people who used to bully Qi and the two are actually half-sisters from my understanding. Those factors - along with the honey trap aspect used in the original written form - would have made this scene more palatable if explained. Also, the FL runs away at two different points, a behavior that is completely out of character with her confrontational approach to life during the rest of the show. I overall enjoyed it though and would recommend it.

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Spousal Abuse Disguised as Comedy

I seriously doubt many here would find a man beating his wife to the point of breaking her arm, kicking her shins hard enough to leave her limping, giving her numerous bruises and a black eye, and then calling her "stupid" constantly romantic or funny. And yet that was the relationship between one of the brothers and his wife, with her constantly beating him even when they are supposedly happily together.

Sadly, that was one of the better-written romances on the show. The ML and FL have zero chemistry together and are strongly in the friend zone in real life. When they are forced to kiss or hug, the awkwardness between the actors comes through on the screen. Fortunately, that only occurs for about half an hour in total in a forty-hour show. In fact, their screen time together is far less than half of the show overall.

It was toxic watching her constantly demand that he ascribed to her nation's ideals. There was no sense of compromise with a different way of life but endless judgmentalism.

The historicity here was atrocious. Princesses running businesses in ancient China felt like a cheap Disney movie. Not only did they run businesses, but they were ALL successful entrepreneurs. The only way that would have made sense would have been if their husband's influence was responsible for it.

The elitism was disgusting as well. They sat in jewels that could have paid for a family's food for a year whining about their oppression, but they never even considered the labor of the maids and major-domo who gave them all the free time to make that possible or the many vendors who needed to make a living that their privileged selves were doing unfair competition against.

Could have been cute but choose to go another route.

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Ridiculous storyline with needless dramatic twists

Primary Romance: 2
Secondary Romance: 8

I'm going to start by saying I found the title ironic. Literally halfway through I forgot the name of the series and had to check my youtube history to remind me of what I was watching. I'm stubborn and so was determined to finish it.

The only positive to this tale is the secondary romance between a secretary and her boss. There is a lot of lively banter that is enacted perfectly and is highly entertaining. Some mistakes are made in the way they handle the relationship by both of them but their sincerity and how perfectly right they are for each other shone through everything. I kept watching mainly for them.

I started this series because I enjoy the bubbly, sweet energy actress Hu Yi Xuan brings to her roles. I thought for sure her pairing with the adorable Lennon Sun and the handsomely, aloof seeming Wei Zhe Ming would create a funny but poignant tale of love. It didn't.

The first episode wasn't bad. There were your typical misunderstandings as the hero and heroine find themselves unexpectedly thrust into each other's lives, this time via a young boy who has some psychological issues due to trauma in his past. That would have been all well and good except that this massive plot point - the boy's issues - is treated in such a slap-dash manner it is whiplash-inducing. Hu Yi Xuan Qin Yi Yue is a wholly unprofessional doctor. Anyone associated with mental health will tell you consistency is one of the aspects most needed by the patient and yet she was all over the place in the role she played in the young boy's life. Sometimes she put him first, and others he just disappeared from the plot as she dealt with the inevitable love quadrangle that appears in every C-drama. Moreover, not only did she not act like a child psychologist but who in the world tells a four to seven-year-old (I could never figure out his age) that you will give them anything they want and swears by that? What if he had asked for the moon or a dinosaur? As a professional child psychologist, her training should have kicked in and helped her phrase that better.

The romance was equally weird. Most of the time ML and FL acted like they sincerely didn't like each other. They sure as heck didn't understand each other. This was the first drama where I wanted the leads to fall for the secondary love interests. The plot also revolved around a mystery whose resolution literally came out of nowhere - the people involved had never been mentioned in the drama. Overall, this was just dissatisfying.

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What would Scooby Doo be like if Daphne were the main character?

The usual plot of a girl leaving home while refusing to marry a man she doesn't love is made slightly more interesting by the fact that she decides to write novels about crime and joins the county magistrate office of Tang Tian Yuan to gain information. Her enthusiastically juvenile antics are viewed with tolerance and amusement by her co-workers and her ability to get herself kidnapped or in some other kind of trouble leads to the discovery of crime-solving clues for the ML. The ML is handsome, smart and kind, so I wasn't sure what he so in this gal and frankly, her quirky cuteness grew grating after the first half.

The secondary couple can best be described as an honorable, handsome but somewhat stupid man falls for an evil girl who is only redeemed at the very end of our story. I didn't enjoy their romance because it involved a lack of trust and honesty on her part for the vast majority of the tale.

I felt really sorry for the jilted fiancee of the FL. His feelings were genuine and he was a kind and good guy who wound up with a broken heart. I really wish they would have finished the series with a love interest for him.

Overall, didn't enjoy this one very much. I stuck it out thinking it was bound to get better but alas, that was not the case.

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Too Much Villain View Point and too many production mistakes

Costuming: 2
Chemistry between leads:4

I've been thoroughly impressed by the beauty of the wigs and costumes used even in low-budget dramas so needless to say was absolutely stunned when I saw the poor job done on the ML (Xu Kai Cheng) in this one. He looked gorgeous in Pet in Dali Temple and Novoland: Pearl Eclipse, as well as the trailer to Love is an Accident, so I know he can look good in ancient garb. But here, the clothes detracted from his looks and not only gave him that popular physique known as dad-bod but actually aged him a good few years. This was due to a poor choice of colors/cut for the costumes and color/style of the wig. There were scenes when his hair was up and the costumes more sleekly styled when he looked like himself but for most of them his sleeves seemed out of control, his hair looked unkempt and his overall form seemed sloppy. The costume mistress/master really is to blame for that.

Both leads are adorable and well worth celebrating as rom-com actors but perhaps due to the poor costuming of the ML or just the general vibe between Xu Kai Cheng and Zhao Lu Si there was a definite older brother/younger sister vibe between our hero and heroine rather than a romantic one. They have that same chemistry in their interviews so perhaps they just couldn't overcome it but whatever the cause, I didn't feel the love.

Spoilers ahead for the ending: All of that might have been overcome if not for the endless scenes depicting the villain and giving his monotonous story screen time. He was equal in the number of appearances in the tale to that of the hero and heroine and was so completely and utterly despicable I breathed a sigh of relief when he died. He had zero nuance and zero redemptive factors. The actor was good but there was just too much of this character in our story.

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Corny and Cheesy but Sweet

If you're looking for a realistic love story, please keep looking. If you are interested in something lighthearted, with a hero and heroine you can root for, this might be the perfect show for you. Ling Yue gets into a car crash, manages to crawl out of it and is then run over by a delivery girl on a scooter named An Xin. He demands reparations, insisting that An Xin pay for his recovery time in an expensive hotel that can cater to his every need since he has both a hurt leg and amnesia. An Xin can't afford anything he is asking for and instead brings him home to care for him in person. It is easy to see why Ling Yue falls for An Xin - she's sweet, cheerful, kindhearted, generous, and good-natured. She brings him a lot of joy. He is kind and clever, so they make a good couple.

I liked the chemistry between the couple (I read that they dated in real life) and that there was some passion in their relationship. Too often in these dramas we are left wondering if these people even want to be together but here it is clear they very much do like and want each other. I liked that their problems were mainly externally generated rather than them constantly misunderstanding each other. There were a lot of cute dating sequences/scenes too. The villains are over the top but at least they had some motives (I've seen plenty of dramas where they don't) and I liked how the story handled them. Overall, I really liked this show.

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