Ah! Where do I begin? I've watched this series last year and my overall rating was 8. Few months later I've watched it again. Well it 's really known that the most autocratic dynasty that ruled China was the Ming Dynasty. And this affects the lives of women due to neo-Confucianism and among other things. The rigidity and strictness that was being imposed on women was really designed to oppress the female species. Well I can go on and on about this. This drama is a story of a young woman who's desire in life was to learn to be a physician and heal patients. Of course she encountered mountains of hurdles along the way as men's mindset at that time was extremely primeval. The story is set during the Ming dynasty and the Oirat's several attempts to bring back the Mongolian rule. How the eunuchs' influence on the young emperor brought him his ruin that led him into Oirat's captivity and losing his position as an emperor to his brother. In the midst of it all is our heroine.

This drama made me shed barrels of tears. First time I've watched it I sobbed plus it's exacerbated due to it's beautiful and heart-rendering OST. And it had the same result the second time around. Every time the OST is played on the background with Cecilia &Wallace on screen - knowing that the love is there but it can't become into romantic reality made me burst into tears. Others say that emperor Qi Zhen (Wallace) had unrequited love for Yun Xian (Cecilia) but I disagree. She loves him with all her heart without realizing it at first. Or it might be because she already committed herself to Qi Yu and the emperor had an empress. Such complicated relationships for these characters involved in the story.

Great choice of cast specially the leads. I've admired the works of Cecilia and I find her a good actress. I've watched her on Sound of the Desert, Scarlet Heart & Lost Love In Times. Oh God! All the mentioned series made me cry but they're all FANTASTIC. She is somehow great in finding chemistry with her on-screen partners. She makes you fall in love with her character and the men she's with. Except for Qi Yu. Ahhgghh! Hate him such an asshole. The actor is great but I never warmed to him. He is not handsome nor charismatic. Compared to Ye Xian (Mickey Yuan) I don't find him endowed with good looks as well but he has charisma. And Cecilia was even able to connect with him on screen. There were times I wanted to scream at Yun Xian to show more strength in front of her nemesis like the empress. But duhh...

Now, Wallace's acting is spot on. This is the first time I've watched him but damn his portrayal was superb. I love how his character has grown from being frivolous to a matured person. From a young emperor, to his captivity, to retired emperor. There were many instances that I wanted to find the director and scream at him. Good God! Ask him to hug Yun Xian or kiss her. What's wrong with more physical intimacy on-screen. So annoyed.

Critique: I really don't know Chinese Traditional Medicine and I did a little research since I'm curious. There's a lot of criticism about it in the medical field such as claims of purportedly healing efficacy. But hey every culture and tradition has its own idiosyncrasies. But what I can't fathom is the use of chicken dung and its effects as medicine. Eewww disgusting! And there were a lot of other dodgy medicinal ingredients featured in the series. Plus it was made worse with the subtitle because of the translation.

On the other hand, this drama is superb. I love it. Highly recommend it. How I wish the Chinese drama makers will make more of this kind of dramas - meaning serious with good cast appropriate to their characters. There's really very few of this category, there's mostly these teeny fluffy historical rom-coms.