No idea why this drama is rated so highly. On the surface TROTAR waves a feminist banner but the plot is stiflingly unoriginal and female characters can't step away from their dated stereotypical roles. Sisters fighting over a man, evil jealous sister, and rash and unintelligent female lead, just to name a FEW. There's potential in the plot and setting in a matriarchal society *if* this drama was actually written in a way that respected the intelligence of its viewers but alas, TROTAR fails in this regard.

Characters are traditional and one-dimensional. Male lead is an antihero that has potential but the female lead was written and acted so badly that the drama is just un-saveable. Zhao Lu Si (Xiao Qian)'s character could have just swapped places with the same role she played in Oh! My Emperor and you would not have noticed a difference.

On top of all that, I had a particular distaste for the near sexual assault scene in episode 19(?). It could have been written sensually as a CONSENSUAL test for either female or male leads but instead the writers decided to go the good ol' way of a potential rape. Yay, feminism.

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Strong female protagonist and great acting by both leads. Storyline could have been tighter but it was not too distracting because character development was excellent. I watched this for Gu Jia Cheng (Yan Qing) and was not disappointed. He plays a funny, caring, and warm male lead who is respectful of female lead (Connie Kang) who is also smart, cunning, and matches him wit for wit. This is something you don’t see in many rom-coms, so how refreshing! This could easily have been a 30-episode story to give the leads more (and better) romantic scenes together but either way this drama was very enjoyable. Highly recommended for those looking for more action/adventure story with romantic partners on equal footing.

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