This masterpiece grabbed me from the very first episode and
kept me hooked until the end. Pure magic! For once, the online hype matched the drama.
The story follows Fan Chang Yu(Tian Xi Wei), a butcher’s daughter, and Xie Zheng (Zhang Ling He), a fallen noble out for revenge. Their pretend marriage slowly turns into real love as they get to know each other and face challenges. But war and politics pull them apart. Fan Chang Yu bravely takes her butcher’s knife to the battlefield, looking for justice and her husband. At the same time, Xie Zheng reclaims his Marquis title and fights to protect his country and seek justice for his mother and his army.
The best thing about this #cdrama was honestly everything—the world-building, the lead actors, the production design, the costumes, and the supporting cast. The OSTs were all memorable and catchy.
Some of my favorite moments include:
- The Marquis of Wu’an ’s return to the army, especially the scene with the pheasant feathers head piece, was amazing. The actor did an exceptional job, and the soundtrack was fantastic too!
- When Fan Chang Yu introduces her husband to the Grand Princess Qi Shu and doesn’t realize they already know each other and grew up together —I couldn’t stop laughing. Both of them are lying to her about who they are in this scene so they had to reluctantly help each keep up the pretense.
- Watching Song Yan faint when he realizes Fan Chang Yu's husband is the famous Marquis of Wu’an was hilarious.
- When the pig-butcher squad reunites in the stone quarry (Li Dian Zun, Sun Kai, Wu Yi Jia, Nine)
- When our Fan Chang Yu realizes her husband is the legendary Marquis of Wu’an and he chases her across the battlefield—another beautiful OST moment.
The lead couple played their roles so well that it will be hard for me to watch another drama without comparing. Their chemistry was incredible! Watching them face challenges and protect each other was adorable. The #cdrama community say it’s because the director, Zeng Qing Jie, coached them through all the intimate scenes.
The villains—the two Sui princes (Deng Kai and Lin Mu Ran) and the uncle, Prime Minister of Yin—were also memorable. Usually, we only fall for the male lead, but in this drama, you end up liking everyone, no matter how much of a red flag they are. We got well built characters with stories and arcs that stand strong on their own, thanks to the book and the script writer. For example the dynamic between Qi Sheng and Wei Yan - when uncle (Yan Yi Kuan) slaps the emperor like it was nothing, I flinched. It showed us who the most powerful man in the nation really was.
I also want to give a special mention to the supporting cast—from the second lead couple (Li Qing and Yu Zhong Li) to the villagers (Liu Lin, Yue Yang, Jia Ni, Fu Miao, Xiang Xia, Gao Yu Qing, Snow Kong, Cao Yan Ning ) the battle scenes (Lu Yong, Li Jian Yi, Tong Hu, Shawn Zhang) and even the palace (Guan Yun Peng, Lily Tien). The acting and storytelling were stellar, and everyone held their own. We fell for everyone in this one, so much so that we are still grieving the losses.
However, during the last few episodes... everything crashed. It was disappointing because the build-up was soooo strong, especially with the early episodes with the suicide assassins and flashbacks to the mysterious tragic fire in palace that killed the crown princess and her 'son'. I got confused and had to rewatch to figure out who did what, and when I finally understood after some TikTok research, I just felt really sad for the main characters. They can’t go back to how things were in the village when they first met because now they have to help the new child emperor and empress dowager. Also, I felt Fan Chang Yu became a general too easily. I could see her growing as a soldier, but advising on leading the country seemed like a stretch. Xie Zheng also becomes like his uncle in the end, sacrificing his life to hold the country together.
We didn’t need two episodes of the Marquis being drugged and dragged across the palace, lusting over his wife. I wanted to see more of him as a fighter and strong strategic military leader, like the scene in the military camp when he tells the royal eunuch that he’s the one keeping the emperor on the throne and could remove him at any time. I wanted more moments like this because they built up all this tension around his ruthless persona. I wanted to see more of an internal struggle between who he had to be in the past and who he wants to be now that he is with Fan Chang Yu.
Towards the end of the drama, we never really lose hope. In the best cdramas, you lose all hope that things will work out for your heroes until the very last minute when somehow something clicks and things turn for the good, but here, they were never in any danger once they reached the capital city. They had already fought their battles and defeated most of the major enemies (some too easily). Only one was left, Qi Min/Sui Yuan Huai, and in that fight, you could tell there wasn’t enough budget to make it as epic as it should have been.
But I think we can forgive the ending, because it is rare to get our hit drama so early in the year and I can't wait to watch Zeng Qing Jie's next project.
This is definitely one of my top ten!
You can watch it on all the usual platforms including Netflix
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