This was excellently written and directed, superb cast performed by the main and support characters.

A lone female and her wolf clan run free in the Gobi Desert...earlier the female has been captured by a human and exposed to human ways and lived briefly with the Tartars, until her "Papa" is killed by a greedy warrior who wants to become king of the desert Tartars, and she returns to her wolf pack.

A chance meeting with Ninth Lord and his caravan while stealing from them, our lone beautiful lady, Jin Yu, and the wolf that follows her, are let go. The Lord gives her a dress and salt, and bids Jin Yu goodbye. The lady changes into the dress and the next day she runs into a group of men, whom she later observes as being trained in martial arts, being attacked by desert pirates...after calling on her wolf pack, the pirates decide to abandon their attack on the foreigners.

The foreigners thank Jin Yu for her help and ask her for guidance through the desert; since her dead "Papa" has planned on taking her back to his home, the city of Jain-an, before being killed she guides them safely through the desert and remains in the city. Amongst the foreigners is the dashing General Wei Wu Ji.

What follows is a rapid advancement, after being drugged at first, of Jin Yu into being the House Manager at a dance theater/house; her wit, intelligence and {sometimes} unseen support from Ninth Lord's Shi Shipping business, lands her into profit and some prestige, yet also unneeded attention from the Palace hierarchy.

The second male lead, General Wei Wu Ji of the Nan Dynasty, saved by the wolf pack and our heroine, tries to find the wolf lady; however, while Wei Wu Ji is looking through the city for Yin Ju, , Ninth Lord has already found the wolf girl and is supporting her as much as possible (even staying with him part-time). Still Wei Wu Ji attempts to woo her, only to find her already in love with Ninth Lord.

A one-sided romance develops between our heroine Jin Yu and Ninth Lord, but as Ninth Lord continues to ignore her advances, Jin Yu is heartbroken, trying to be a 'tree' as Ninth Lord is, and also support him instead.

Jin Yu finally works up the nerve to directly tell Ninth Lord her feelings, but Ninth Lord still rebukes her and her love advances...this causes Jin Yu to abruptly leave Jain-an, leaving letters for her able house assistant, Ms. Hong, and Wei Wu Ji.

General Wei Wu Ji finds Jin Yu at a travel station along her route back to the desert, and abducts her to his military camp. After returning home with Wei Wu Ji, Jin Yu moves back to the dancing house, but later goes to live with Wei Wu Ji...Her emotions are set on a roller-coaster ride as she finds out the trouble that Ninth Lord went to trying to find her but he still rejects her Significant Other advances...and also troubling is the fact that Wei Wu Ji lied to Ninth Lord about knowing her whereabouts earlier...

Political intrigue enters the scene upon the two returning as 1) Wei Wu Ji becomes a pawn in the Court power struggles, especially with his adopted family, the Wan faction, and 2) the concubine, Qin Xiang, that Jin Yu trained so that she would be accepted into the Palace harem, rapidly gains power in the harem but turns on Jin Yu, causing her misadventure in the later episodes.

Although Jin Yu promised not to reveal the real reason for Madame Xiang's presence in the harem (vengeance, although others figured it out by themselves), she becomes the target of the Madame, partly for her being free and able to travel outside the palace and live her own life, a life that Madame Xiang begins to covet!

What started out as to men fighting over Jin Yu becomes a loose partnership between Ninth Lord and
General Wei Wu Ji , both supporting Jin Yu as she is attacked and placed into captivity by forces of the Wan faction, and both Yin Ju and Wei Wu Ji being poisoned. Both Yin Ju and Wei Wu Ji feel trapped by the political warfare in Jain-an City, and seek to stay apart from political intrigue; however, the Wang faction first tricks Wei Wu Ji in killing the head of the Li power faction, General Li ji, who happens to be the only supporter of Madame Xiang in the palace (besides the Emporer) while the Wan family plans a more morbid future for the General.

Thus, a plan is hatched to free them from Jain-an and service to the powerful Emporer; unfortunately, one of them does not know about it.

Al the actors and actresses, both main and support, performed their roles brilliantly...

Main Roles:

Shi Shi Lui, as Ying Ju, portrayed a cornucopia of emotions as she portrayed the female lead...going from chlld-like innocence in one scene to intelligently fending off attackers in the next. Especially dramatic was the two episodes of her childbirth and the following one: even though I know these are scripted series, I momentarily forgot this during the birthing scene and the two episodes after that....fantastic acting from a great actress!
I also especially loved Jin Yu's dance in the palace as the Tartar girls are performing and one is about to steal her man!

Hugh Hu, as Ninth Lord, portrayed a Stoic benefactor to the female lead, time and time sacrificing his money, and later his health, in supporting both Yin Ju and General Li Ji; many comments on the CN Drama (YouTube) site wish that a spinoff movie would be made in the future to have Ninth Lord finally find his love!

Eddie Peng, as General Wei Wu Ji, perfectly portrayed a platonic supporter of Yin Ju until he saw her response after Ninth Lord's last rejection of Yin Ju's love, then he easily portrayed Yin Ju's lover and supporter as well afterward.

Supporting Roles:

Han Dong, as General Li JI, was superb as a cohort of General Wei Wu Ji, and also as someone who tried to talk sense into Madame Xiang and save her from herself and the Palace harem she foolishly sought entry into...performing as well as he did in his roies in 'Love Lost In Time' and 'Scarlet Hearts'.

Fala Chen, as Madame Xiang, went from a level-headed sister to her episode brothers Qin Yong (Qin Yuan Chao) and
Zhang Xiang (Qin Yuan Qi) to a vindicitve but suffering madame in the harem of the Emperor...I personally saw her ending way before the final episode.
I think that she would be more than able to play a lead villianess in a major movie or series if given a chance!

Deng Li Min (Uncle Shi) and Han Zhen Hua (Uncle Chen), among the many other support actors/actresses that I do not have the time to mention here, put on superb roles as supporters of their respective houses in the series.

Superb writing, superb directing, superb acting....the ingredients to a great series!