Storyline started out good, there was suspense and a decent pace to the drama. There was also a hint of a triangle romance between the Prince, his buddy and Leng Yue that was light-hearted and playful.
But towards the middle, the story started to drag because of a forced cringe romance between the Prince and the babyfaced FL who seemed to have only 2-3 facial expressions throughout the drama. The plot took a downward tailspin and so did the main characters. The chief eunuch, whose acting sustained this drama, had his role chopped off to make way for the cringe romance. Likewise, the other story arcs like the fake coins and southwest military buildup were also completely abandoned midway to focus on the romance between Chu Chu and the Prince, with the Prince running behind Chu Chu just like the ML running behind the babyfaced FL in Nirvana in Fire 2.
The writers should have stuck to the original suspense theme instead of changing focus - it would have salvaged the drama.