Crossdressing trope isn't new, but chen yao as male su ci is definitely one of the few very convincing female to male crossdressing characters I've seen. This drama has a lot going on but what stuck the most in my mind is how consistent our fl is as a detective. I actually enjoyed her investigation scenes which says a lot since I'm not a fan of mystery genre.

Story: Our fl is on a 7 years-long quest to clear her clan's name which was annihilated due to alleged rebellion against the former emperor while our ml is set on solving the case of his crushing defeat in battle. I really loved the start of the drama, everything was well-paced and the plot is intriguing to me. Unfortunately, somewhere in the middle there are a few inconsistencies that made me mellow a bit. It seemed that visually impaired ML was so much better in battle than his healed version. I actually expected more action since he's known as a formidable warrior on the battlefield but it left me wanting especially at the throne room scene at the end part. This scene was a bit disappointing to me, they should've picked better actors for the soldiers since it was a mess. It really took so much away from the immersive experience when the soldiers were clumsily sliding across the floor 😭 The ending tho is very heart-warming and a bit cheesy but I'm not complaining lol.

Acting: I was surprised when I learned this was ZLH's debut role. His acting isn't the best here of course and yet notably still better than some other actors I've seen. I can see he prepared a lot for this role and it shows. Chen Yao is also a delight to watch, she really made a convincing male here. Commendable performance from the villain tho, Prince Yun. He's very committed to his role and embodied a regal aura of a royalty but also of a serial schemer.

Music: OSTs are good, especially the one sebrina sang. I also love how it's inserted into scenes, I think they're very nicely done.

Rewatch value: We have a lot of dramas of a similar trope so personally I'm not itching to rewatch this, but it's something I would think of when I'm out of dramas to watch/rewatch.

Overall it's a nice drama. It has its upsides and downsides of course but I enjoyed it.