Summary
The story revolves around Ran Yan a forensic examiner. During one of the cases, she encounters Su Fu, a top assassin and Xiao Song, the Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Punishment. She was bribed/forced to become the coroner for Xiao Song. Together, they solved many cases while Ran Yan also tries to solve her mother’s suicide.
Su Fu is an assassin working for the Fire Flag Sect. The Fire Flag Sect wanted to restore the previous Sui Dynasty. Ran Yan had helped Su Fu and covered for him many times during his missions. Ran Yan is engaged to Su Fu, the illegitimate son of Su household. He is unliked and unwanted by his family. The marriage was arranged by Ran Yan’s stepmother who doesn’t want anything good for Ran Yan. Ran Yan doesn’t know that the assassin that she met is Su Fu. Ran Yan was unwilling to marry because she didn’t know Su Fu and asked assassin Su Fu for a favor. The favor was for Su Fu to kidnap himself. Their wedding was interrupted because Ran Yan got kidnapped by Xiao Song to go help him on a case.
Later Ran Yan got to know that the assassin is Su Fu. They fell in love with each other because they had a lot in common. Both are unwanted by their families. He used his sad past to manipulate Ran Yan in doing things she didn’t want to do. This broke their relationship.
While this was happening, Ran Yan was working for Xiao Song in solving cases. He was on a secret assignment to find the pearl of the Marquise of Sui. According to legends, the pearl will lead them to untold wealth. The cases are all somewhat related to this pearl. While working on the cases, Xiao Song and Ran Yan bickered a lot. Ran Yan knows how to push Xiao Song and Xiao Song knows how to tease Ran Yan. The balance was just right. Neither went overboard. They even gave each other nicknames. Xiao Song is called Merman Xiao by Ran Yan because the first time they met, Xiao Song was taking a bath in a large bathtub when Ran Yan barged in. Xiao Song calls her fox because he said that one had to be on one’s guard with her, otherwise, you will be bitten without knowing. Slowly, Xiao Song fell in love with Ran Yan. However, Ran Yan was in love with Su Fu.
Su Fu used her feelings because Ran Yan’s mother held a clue to the pearl. While investigating the suicide of her mother, Ran Yan discovered that her mother died to protect her and she also found the clue left by her mother. Later, Ran Yan discovered Su Fu’s betrayal and ended things with him. Su Fu had truly fallen in love with her. In order to protect her from being killed by his master, he willingly took a pill that will cause him to become a puppet (living dead) over time. The pill will also bring him immense pain if he wasn’t given an antidote every time.
While investigating her mother’s case, Ran Yan and Xiao Song had a marriage in name. After they discovered the truth, Xiao Song handed the divorce document to Ran Yan for her to choose whether to divorce him or not. He was summoned back to the capital.
Because of the case of her mother, which implicated her stepmother, her family fell apart. Her father blamed her for being a jinx and drove her away from home. Her stepsister swore revenge against her. Without a home and without family, she embarked on a journey to the capital to find her cousin.
In the capital, she met Xiao Song again. She even gave the bones of a fish his name (so cute). They worked again on cases. Su Fu had now become an official of the Court of Judicial Review (da li si) and helped them on some cases.
The family of Xiao Song found out about the marriage and wanted to dissolve it. She refused and said that it was Xiao Song who forced her into the marriage. Her reasoning for staying is because he had helped her previously and she wanted to repay that by helping him investigate the deaths of his wives. Xiao Song had been married two times, but both times, the wives died under suspicious natural circumstances. Ran Yan was jealous about the rumors that Xiao Song doted very much on his second wife. She vented it out on the poor owner of a restaurant.
Ran Yan fell in love with Xiao Song without even knowing it. After she realized it, she was manipulated by Su Fu into giving him the pearl. The pearl turned out to have always been in Xiao Song’s possession ever since he was a child. So, when Ran Yan stole the pearl to save Su Fu, their relationship was broken. He thought that Ran Yan was still in love with Su Fu. He started to act indifferent towards her, but still protecting and helping her in secret. Because of his indifference, Ran Yan thought he doesn’t love her anymore.
However, after Ran Yan had been in many dangerous situations, Xiao Song thought it was the best if she stayed where he can see her. Even if he thinks that she was in love with another man, he still tried his best to protect her. On one occasion when he dragged her to the Xiao residence, she said that she is fine staying at her cousin’s home. In a voice over, he said that her home is to be right next to him. Secretly, she was pleased to stay by his side. When Ran Yan realized that Xiao Song still loves her, not only did she become his partner in crime but also his wife.
In this final phase, it becomes clear that all activity is directed at taking Xiao Song down. With Xiao Song around, the emperor, who is the ultimate target, is almost untouchable. The villains knows that his only weakness is Ran Yan. Su Fu was the first one who had noticed his soft spot for Ran Yan in the early episodes and used that to get Xiao Song to unwittingly reveal information. But of course Xiao Song seldom lets his guard down, easily using the enemy’s stratagems against him for his purpose.
The last case was about the remnants of the Sui Dynasty wanting to restore their dynasty. The true mastermind of it all was kinda shocking. By now Su Fu had become a puppet and no longer had a will of his own. Love was what made him broke free from the mind control and sacrifice himself for the woman he loves. After all the remnants were taken care of, the emperor was not glad at the lengths (even defying decrees) that Xiao Song will go for Ran Yan. He separated them. A year later, Xiao Song is seen in Suzhou (Ran Yan’s hometown) and being jealous that Ran Yan is attracting butterflies and bees. They found each other again and shared the first and only kiss of the whole drama.
Review
Ran Yan played by Zhou Jie Qiong : Ran Yan was accused as having been the cause of her mother’s suicide and the death of her grandmother. Her father banished her to a manor to live by herself as he considered her to be bad luck. She had never believed in her mother’s suicide. This was also one of the reason why she became a coroner. She wanted to investigate the death of her mother and had been searching for her grave for years. I don’t like nor dislike the character. She is strong-minded and can stand on her own for most of the part. She knows very well who she likes and who she doesn’t like. Unlike many female characters, she doesn’t throw herself into danger for most part. I like the banters between her and Xiao Song. They complement each other so well. I don’t know why I feel indifferent towards her. Perhaps, it is the actress. She did quite well for her debut drama.
Xiao Song played by Toby Lee: Xiao Song is a trusted official of the emperor. He sent Xiao Song on a mission to find the pearl of the Marquise of Sui. Unbeknownst to Xiao Song, he had the pearl in his possession all along. The pearl was inside his family heirloom, given to him by his grandfather when he was child. Xiao Song is someone meticulous and a strategist. He is cunning as hell. I think one of the reasons he fell in love with Ran Yan is because Ran Yan brings the playful side out of him. I can see why the villains had to get rid of him. You don’t want to be on his bad side. However, if you are someone dear to him, he will protect you with his all. He is also so cute when he gave Ran Yan foxes carved out of jade. He also doesn’t do things that are overboard when he sees how in love Su Fu and Ran Yan were. He only acts jealous by himself and doesn’t lash it out on anyone. This is a stark contrast to other ML that lashes it out on everyone, even the FL. When he is in love with you, he will do everything for you. He even took slashes decreed by the emperor in the stead of Ran Yan. When he had to beat Ran Yan ten times on the orders of the emperor, I could feel his pain. This man can act. He portrayed the jealous, cunning and sad Xiao Song so well. His eyes convey so much emotions. TVB actors can take some lessons from this man. I must say I have fallen in love with his Xiao Song.
Su Fu played by Tim Pei: his character was tragic from beginning to end. He is unwanted by his family for being illegitimate and became an assassin (it was not mentioned why he became an assassin). Then, he fell in love with his target which is a huge no no for an assassin. Their love was doomed from the start. Like the Chinese will say (有缘无分) destined to meet but not fated to be together. He willingly went against his master to protect her and even took the puppet pill for her. When he was under mind control, it was also this love that had saved him. His sacrifice was unnecessarily, but I get why he had to redeem himself like that. I can’t say much about Tim Pei’s acting as his expression was mostly the same throughout of the series. It was also required of the character to remain emotionless like that. I did like his character and felt sad for him.
Overall, I liked this drama very much. The cases were interesting (unlike those of FH 4. I may have PTSD for FH). The romance was well-done. Sometimes it was heart-wrenching. The villains were also good and know what they were doing. This drama is one of the better ones of this year. I rate it a 4.5/5