I sincerely liked this drama but at the same time, I found a lot of missing points.

The story is very original. It talks about the inner palace, the emperor's harem. This harem is evocated plenty of time in the historical dramas but never this deeply. It was very interesting to see how everything was organized, how the hierarchy used to work etc.
Even though it is not that original anymore in Cdramas, I still really appreciated to see how our main female character was ambitious, clever and independent. Some people say she was way too kind and nice, but I do not agree. Well, actually I agree she was too nice but, it was one of the most important characteristic of her personality : the naive girl, living in this cruel and heartless palace. So it was necessaire.
The Bromance between Ah Zhan and Ah Yan really touched me. The love they have for each other is pure and I really appreciated watching it staying intact during the whole show.
The romance between Ah Zhen and Ah Zhan was awesome, I loved to see how the evolved : Ah Zhen being first very jealous and then, learning how to stay calmer, to make wise decisions etc. and Ah Zhan being over protective, becoming insane because Ah Zhen is dying but learning to give his woman more liberties. I also really liked how this couple was realistic, how their feelings become deeper with time, how they get to know each other better through the arguments and how they learn to tolerate each other, to understand each others' feelings.
Even though the romance between the Imperial Consort and the Emperor was not the main subject and not very developed, it was nice as well.
For the Emperor's mother, I was honestly quite disappointed. There are so many bad queen dowagers in Cdramas ! I feel like there's really an overdose ! And at the end of the show, this character becomes even more cliché and annoying. (But I really liked the actress !)

I felt like there were TOO MANY GIRLS in this drama. Normal fact since it takes place in the harem, but still. I'm not saying there were not enough handsome guys but it kinda made the drama a little unbalanced and I felt like there was something missing. It is really a shame.


For the ending, it is not sad nor happy. But the happy wins over the sad. So don't be afraid and go watch it !

It was globally a good show and I don't regret watching the 59 episodes. However, I don't think I would watch it again.