If you are a fan of SWL, move along because I didn’t care for his character at all. A total Mary Sue but soooo bland. I have major second and third lead syndrome. I’m thoroughly charmed by Lei Zexin and Yu Lexuan! Their individual stories were more fleshed out than both the two main leads.

I didn’t care much for the relationship between the actual ML and FL. Their development was totally lacking, like you were being forced to accept that the FL would just fall for the ML, despite having the other two guys being more supportive and caring to her.
The friendship built between the FL and Lexuan and the FL and Zexin were more interesting: how Lexuan always helped the FL with earning money for her family, and protecting her in his own way from the bullying of the student council by always stepping in at the right time; and how Zexin took the FL under his wing from the moment they met at the forest, to her saving him numerous times in his nightly vigilante escapes, to them having their shixiong-shidi/brotherly bond. The only time I was deeply touched was on their last scene together, when he offered wine sacrifice to her father and his brother, and he told her he will always be her family and JJY had teary eyes, but he still flicked her forehead. SO MUCH CHEMISTRY!!!
On a happy note, it was also fun to watch their actions to protect the FL’s secret after they each learned the truth that she was a girl.

I dont have much love for the FL character also, there were so many times that she made idiotic decisions despite being labeled as “intelligent”. And she was always just glaring at her opponent/agressor when caught in a bind. There was no intelligent plot line for her. I was waiting for a brilliant solve from her for so many instances but nothing happened. She was just giving tiny inspirational speeches that didn’t contribute much. The intelligent and heroic schemes/acts to solve the many issues were passed to the ML to further his Mary Sue-ness. And her family issues were present just at the beginning and towards the very end. The “quest” to secure her family’s future and legacy was non-existent for the most part. Her supposed intelligence was only shown at the first couple of episodes, but after the entrance exam, was never highlighted again!

The comedic value of the principal and the classmate sidekicks were a pleasant surprise. And also Mu Xiao Man being so much more talented and capable than the FL, like WTF? but a pleasantly surprised WTF. :))) She is talented in music, dance, art, she was proactive with the main propaganda and fighting for justice, and she can fight. GO GIRL!

Overall, wouldn’t recommend except for the pleasure of enjoying the charming performances of Wang Rui Chang and Bi Wenjun.