Finished this about a week ago and i’d say i find another ML gem in Hou Ming Hou. This is my first drama of him and i really like his portrayal of Rong Xia. He makes rong xia so charming, handsome but at the same time, adorable, esp when he was drinking vinegar! Lol

This is also my first drama of guan xiaotong and even though her ban hua takes a little time to grow on me, it definitely grew on you later, part of it thanks to rong xia. I definitely think having a soft spot on rong xia first mellows me towards the ban hua’s character later on.


However, i must say that for a historical drama, theres a few things that i have questions on:

-rong xia is basically just a minister, but he was basically given too much importance by the emperor to me, it was sometimes quite absurd.
-same with ban hua. Not sure she should be allowed such ‘power’, sensibly speaking. Being only just a xianzhu/junzhu, sometimes she got away with too much, as compared to say, the emperor blood second son by the empress 🤔. I mean, i get that her grandmother is the royal princess, but still, tone it down a little! Lol
-wherever is the emperor’s other consort? Lol. Well, maybe he just had the empress? Lol
-i still dont know whether rong xia should be versed in martial arts or not until the end? Sometimes he is, sometimes he’s not?
-everytime, it was always ban hua who got hurt, and even if rong xia got hurt initially as well (when he drank the poison to help ban hua counters hers and also when someone was sent to kill him), he was always portrayed to be completely well and healed on the next scene and it frustrates me. Lol

But overall, i really like this dramas. It is not too heavy and of course, as i said, rong xia is sooo adorbs i cant even. Lol. Not too mention, i like that the ban’a family is such a laid back family, with such a supportive parents and of course, a street-smart, silly little brother. Ban heng’s story with xie wanjun (and ban huai’s bickering with xie wanjun’s father) is a nice touch.

Ost is quite nice as well.