Let me start off by saying THIS DRAMA IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!!! On that note... I am actually faint at heart so I was unable to finish. I'll let you know why down below but first a general overview.

General Overview
The drama starts off really slow. it sort of paces like a day time soap opera. Most episodes pick up right where it ended and it basically follows the day to day lives of the females who live in the emperor's harem. We see the hierarchy of the wives and get a basic idea of how things are done. The drama, however, does not pick up really until its well in its 20's (it drags quite a bit prior) but the episodes are still interesting to watch. Btw if you're watching this for the revenge..don't do it..not worth it...trust me..This is one of those shows that make you depressed and happy at the same time...Like while watching it I hated it but I always kept wanting to know what would happen next. The more I watched though the sadder I became. The one thing I will commend this drama for is how strong Ruyi is, regardless of what she faced she remained strong and that was awesome because her husband was wilding for literally this entire drama!

SPOILERS!!!!!!
Like I mentioned earlier this drama is not for the faint of heart. It made me extremely uncomfortable, Not because I'm conservative and couldn't get behind the many wives troupe, that was fine. What was not fine is how the whole sister wives thing affected all the women especially Ruyi (the main female lead) Okay from that get-go they introduced Ruyi and the emperor to us, they were childhood friends who loved each other hence they're both excited to marry each other. After the marriage however is when the shitshow begins,..Initially, the emperor started out with 2 wives and 1 concubine. However, by the time I gave up on the show he probably had about 9/10 in total. Now throughout the drama (up to where I stopped anyway) the emperor was constantly reassuring Ruyi that she was the only one he loved. He doted on her more than the others and he treated her the best out of all his wives & concubines. However, in this same breath, he would see a random girl and "fall in lust" with her and marry her and for a couple of months she would be his main focus the one he visits every night. Ruyi is obviously accustomed to it but you can see eventually it begins to take a strain on the love she has for him. This dude cannot keep it in his pants. Its so hard to believe that he loves her when you see him with all the other women (he treats all of them the pretty good too) some of whom he saw once or twice before being with them. Not taking away all the times he abandoned her in some instances to 'protect her' and in the end, she would have no choice but to go back to him. It was so difficult watching him basically fall in love with another woman while he claimed to be so in love with Ruyi

This drama is heartbreaking because eventually Ruyi can't take it anymore and she closes her heart to him and he eventually "sets her aside" for a shiner evil sly conniving bitch. No happy ending here folks. Its literally like watching a documentary on how the love of your life will eventually break you.