Mei lin lost her parents in a fire plotted by one of the royal family.
Jinghe has been wrongly accused of causing the massacre of Qingzhou
Both decided to work together when Meilin found out who the real culprit is.
Honestly, the drama started very well! The back and forth schemes between the crown prince and Jinghe had me on the edge of my seat. Unfortunately, after the big bad wolf was taken down, the drama seemed to have fallen off for me. lol
A lot of the actors played their part well:
Liu Xue Yi became a psycho maniac guy to a loving husband. I've only watched one of his dramas thus far, but this drama definitely showcase the variety of techniques he's able to bring to the drama. His eyes has so much emotion in them, he didn't need to talk. LOL This is what I think is a really good actor who can move their facial muscles even as cold, stoic person. Not many actors can do this, Liu is an exception.

Wu Jin Yan also did quite well. i guess I watched too many of her dramas since Yanxi Palace and this drama just felt similar. Her acting is neither terrible nor pheneomal here. It didn't have much of a wow factor for me. I think her action scenes were beautiful though, I loved every action stunt she displayed.

One of the outstanding actors I would say in this dramas has to be Baron Chen who played Xuanliu, the crown prince.
Maybe I am biased as I've been a fan of his acting since Fated to Love You (classic) and damn... I must say he did a PHENOMENAL job as the villain. The variety of emotions he has displayed from innocence, anger, love, etc. His acting had me pausing during the climax of the drama because it was thrilling and NERVE-RACKING to see who would win. For once, I am satisfied with a villain's death.

The king and Princess Yan's relationship was cute - albeit I can't help but think in the back of my mind how wrong it is. I had to constantly remind myself ancient China had concubines as young as her.. and it was fine back then. Regardless, I did like the King in this drama because he seems to have emotion that no other kings would displayhe was quite gentle and caring.

Once again, this drama started off quite strong, it had purpose and when that purpose was done -there was about ...6 episodes left and I just skipped most of the scenes. I thought the drama should've ended at episode 26 instead of 32. However, I suppose the leads had to wrap up loose ends with Qingzhou, and their relationship.
Would I recommend it?
If you like action scenes, thrill, schemes, sure. But if you don't want to waste your time, I'd suggest stopping at episode 26 or so. LOL