A Gem of a novel. Exhilarating, tear-jerking, suspenseful and beautiful roller-coaster.
An awe-inspiringly badass female protagonist that's seen never before.
Intelligent, cunning, badass, savage, ambitious, domineering, yet kind and compassionate and majestic. A greatly and consistently written character who's always 100 steps ahead of the scheming and cruel antagonists, to seek justice for the devastation they befell upon her loved ones and people. Ren Anle, also Di Zi Yuan, takes the crown for one of the most formidable and incredible female protagonists, I've encountered so far.

A brilliantly written male lead.
Han Ye matches her game to the very best. Kind, loyal, equally intelligent, warm yet cold, cunning and ambitious, who won't sway a bit from his belief and ideal no matter the cost.
The story is filled with intrigues and suspense and also, a HEAVY amount of angst. The counter schemes are maneuvered very satisfyingly.

One of the most beautiful love story, filled with the heaviest angst and pain that made my heart ache but gave me the deserved healing bliss, at the end. Everything Han Ye and Di Zi Yuan did and went through for each other was just overwhelming, unfathomable and amazing. Their hearts reverberated in unison for the same dream of establishing a peaceful & glorious country and till the end they persisted forward boldly even at the cost of their own happiness.

This novel assembles some great characters and relationship dynamics, along with the main romance of our protagonists, which is another reason for me to love it. The friendship between Di Zi Yuan and An Ning, portrayed like a brotherhood, different from the usual cringy and brittle friendships often portrayed between girls in novels, is my favorite of all. The relationship between Han Ye and Wen Shuo, Di Zi Yuan and Wen Shuo, Di Zi Yuan and Yuan Shu, Yuan Qin, Chang Qing, Wen Shuo and Yuan Qin felt extremely precious to me.
I'm done reading this novel with google translations once but re-reading it now seeing an official english translation being released. I couldn't move on for days after finishing, so I'm glad to re-read anew with better understanding. I hope this gem finds more eyes that witness the journey, and more hearts that cherish the emotions like I did. Not to mention, it'll always drive you on the edge of your seat and fuel an adrenaline rush with the suspense, intrigue and actions just as much.

The earlier parts of the story were amazing. I really loved Anle/ Ziyuan and there were times that I loved Han Ye.

But staring from the middle.. Han Ye simply disappointed me.

WARNING: spoiler

... more>> I love how Han Ye's character was so kind and patient, righteous, and virtuous at the start; determined to love and protect DZY, even when he thought DZY's family were traitors, as his royal family were the ones sentencing them to death. That's a true man right there.

But as the story progressed, he just got more and more shameless. The more his family's crimes were uncovered, the more he realized how much he owed DZY, the more audacity. He confronted the DZY multiple times asking, saying, "What do you truly want?", "I had hoped you could let go so we could be together.." like brother??? Her folks are dead because of your family and you wish she would let go to be together with you??? Those sentences would make more sense if DZY truly avenged herself, killed indiscriminately, or put the innocents into danger, but she did none of that, her so-called 'revenge' is really just uncovering the villains' crimes which, at first, Han Ye took pretty well, but when he realized there were more crimes to be revealed and she's not done yet, he lost it??? 'I realized now that the one I love is Ren Anle, not Di Ziyuan', what does that even mean?? You love her and her qualities but dislike that she's standing up against her grievances and injustice? Because that's the only thing I could take from that statement.

And I'll just briefly mention An Ning, she knew the truth for most of her life, but instead of feeling tremendous guilt of keeping silent, she was more into blaming DZY for 'cornering her to speak up', excuse my language but, b*tch??? That's your responsibility??? Your family's crimes have nothing to do with you, but the moment you knew and chose not to reveal it, you were no longer innocent!

I love Xing Ling's novels, and honestly this one is still pretty good overall, I especially liked the scene when Ren Anle revealed herself as Di Ziyuan in front of the emperor. Simply brilliant. But yeah, Han Ye's and An Ning's, mostly Han Ye's, attitudes toward the situation put me off. And don't get me wrong, I do think he's completely entitled to feel aggrieved, because it's about his family and he has morals; but confronting DZY repeatedly while knowing how much he owed her and how heinous the crimes were just a huge no no. How shameless do you have to be? <<less

It’s a great novel! The first half is centered around court politics and the 2nd half is more around war tactics. All wrapped in such a sad and tragic romance. I loved both leads and the story.