I make some references to certain parts of the show, but I try to keep it vague so as to keep it from completely spoiling the show.

Ban Hua has a horrible reputation, but she doesn't care one bit. She is a skilled martial artist that has an independent, straightforward, honest personality; she does what she wants, and doesn't allow anyone to look down on her. Her temper can get the best of her, but even then she's smart about it and will take full responsibility for her actions. Even so, she helps people whenever she can. She's righteous and encouraging, even when she's mean about it. Her random acts of kindness causes so many men to fall in love with her. She's the hero that saves the beauty and then the beauty falls in love with the hero. I would say she's not book smart, but she's street smart. Sometimes she knows something's wrong, she's just too lazy to think about it. Ban Hua's dreams can also predict the future, so this helps her out a lot. She's from a ridiculously rich and influential family. Her family spends money like crazy and does what they want, so people think they are bad, but they are actually really nice. I love her family interactions. They are silly and not very smart, but they care for and love each other.

Rong Xia is a scholar that is unbiased and neutral, but he comes to Ban Hua's aide multiple times, mostly to get close to her for ulterior motives. Although he gets close to her, he doesn't hurt her or her family. What he wants most is to figure out the truth behind his family's death and get revenge. He's calculative, but also looks at the overall picture as to not cause a big disturbance unless needed. He also knows martial arts, but isn't as skilled as Ban Hua. He's a gentleman with many admirers, but he's lonely because he grew up without a family. I like the contrast with Ban Hua. Ban Hua is outgoing and rarely shy, Rong Xia is more reserved and sticks to etiquette. Rong Xia grew up without family, but Ban Hua did. I like their interactions, and their chemistry is good. Even when there's misunderstandings, they either figure it out together, or they are smart enough to understand why the other person did what they did. They make a perfect couple that is unstoppable.

I'd say there's 3 arcs:
eps 1-16: Rong Xia starts to investigate his family's death. Ban Hua and Rong Xia fall in love and break up.
eps 17-30: Ban Hua and Rong Xia clear the air and get back together. Rong Xia finds out the truth.
eps 31-40: Bad guy arc. Rong Xia and Ban Hua break up and make up...two more times? And the ending.
The plot is pretty straightforward, and it did start to drag out towards the second half, but I still couldn't wait to see what would happen next. I absolutely love how humorous this show is, I laughed out loud so many times! It's pretty light-hearted, really funny, romantic, serious and sad at certain times. I loved the acting and the music was perfect. I say this show has the best strong female lead because she often encourages other women, and many women follow her, thus this is definitely a female positive show. I highly recommend this show, and I will definitely be re-watching it over and over, especially all the funny parts.

Random characters/thoughts:
-Eldest Princess Dening (Ban Hua's Grandmother) is the smartest of the family. She protected her family after the death of her husband. The Ban's rely on her status and relationship with the Emperor. I love her, she cares for and loves her family and they love her so much, it shows. I just love how loving this family is.
-Ban Hua's mother is probably tied for second with Ban Hua for the next smartest in the family. I just love how both of them know that they can't trust the men to do important things in the family.
-Ban Hua's maids are also good at martial arts and are strong like her. This is definitely a woman empowering show.
-Xie Wan Yu is probably one of my favorite characters, outside the main people. She accepted her fate, but then realized she could change it upon seeing what the Ban family is really like. All she wants is to have a family like theirs, who just wants each other to be happy and support each other. She stays firm and keeps trying and trying to change her fate. She also loves cooking, and I totally want to eat whatever she makes. I also like her love story.
-Xie Qi Lin is Xie Wan Yu's 2nd brother. Oh man...I just feel bad for him. He's actually a really nice guy and kind of funny despite first impressions. I feel like he's a lot like his sister.
-Shi Jin is the second male lead that is a general and is also skilled in martial arts. He doesn't fight for power, unlike his family. I also feel bad for him; he's such a good guy and helps out when he can, but he gets his hopes up so many times.
-poor Shi Fei Xian. Her jealousy, rejection, and abandonment leads her to becoming someone that never wants to feel that way again. It's a nice contrast to how Ban Hua deals with all these problems compared to her. Ban Hua helps refugees to help them, Shi Fei Xian does it to get attention and compete with Ban Hua. When Shi Fei Xian gets jealous, she tries to stir up conflicts and get even, while Ban Hua just gets mad.
-Ban Huai (Ban Hua's dad) and the Xie family's dad are frenemies, and watching their rivalry and them bicker is comedic relief. I love these two characters.
-Prince A Ke Qi's appearance was one of the funniest misunderstandings. After that, he just so happened to appear (like don't you need to go back to your own country?) But he was a great supportive character that was always there for Ban Hua whenever she needed help.
-I like how the crowds comment/gossip, it's hilarious. They also lean towards the woman's side; unlike in other historical dramas, it's the woman's fault because they must've done something wrong.
-At the end of the day, the morale of the story is that the happiest people aren't those that don't vie for power, but just live to the fullest and love.