Honestly, to be honest, I was quite surprised. At first, like maybe up to episode 2, it was pretty confusing. Confusing but intriguing. Then from episode 2 to maybe about episode 20, it was so draggy. I was bored out of my mind and stopped watching episode 7 before forcing myself to pick it up again. I lost all interest in it. Then the juicy parts started and suddenly it was so interesting. Really, the storyline itself is pretty good. The twists and turns and the uncovered secrets of the past. It's just it's so, so, so DRAGGY sometimes.

So I would've given the storyline a 9.5 or 10 but it was too boring, no growth in the story at all, sometimes. Plus, sometimes it's just too confusing. Nothing made sense at all and you'd meet all types of new characters and new plots and no idea how to piece it all together and no idea what was going on. Then, in the end, it would all make sense, although if you didn't pay attention before it wouldn't make sense at all.

I think that the character arches, such as Jiang Chen, were pretty good. Some of the villains, especially messed up Xue Yang, had really interesting stories, and Xue Yang/Xiao Xing Chen/Song Lan's side story was very enjoyable. The storyline, again, itself, is quite good. The ending was a bit confusing, but I guess we'll just have to guess what happened.

The cast, on the other hand, was immaculate. Wang Yibo, for his age, made a very impressive performance as Lan Zhan. He had the perfect mixture of being cold and making expressions. Acting aloof and cold is a very difficult role to manage, especially since you have to act with your eyes and express feelings without actually obviously changing your expression of coldness, and Wang Yibo did an excellent job, so kudos to him.

Xiao Zhan is a fine actor and although I don't enjoy his "playful" scenes as much as others might, I was absolutely in love with his acting as the "villain". The chemistry between Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan was great. Overall, the other actors/actresses were well-chosen and I didn't notice anyone who was too bad at their role. Of course, Jin Guangyao did a very nice job of his twisted, messed-up role as the secret villain.

The music was perfection. That's all that needs to be said. Also, Xue Yang's theme song by Zhou Shen (I love Zhou Shen, haha), Huang Cheng Du, was beautiful. The theme song of the show itself was alright, although I didn't know it was the theme song until I saw a comment, so I don't think that's a good thing.

My rewatch rating doesn't count, as I don't rewatch dramas. Overall, I enjoyed chunks of the drama and I would recommend it but I don't know if I would consider it to be in my top 10 dramas.