“Blurb”: 18 years ago a young and innocent Xue Tong witnessed her family being brutally murdered. Since then she has hidden herself quietly and patiently, waiting for the day she could put her revenge plan into action. Well that day has come, and Xue Tong has finally returned to her hometown as Miss Lin Bao Er, the daughter of a wealthy Nanyang businessman. Now an adult, Lin Bao Er is clever, cunning, good with a gun, and skilled at understanding the depths of human nature.

When she meets the charming young master Zhu Guan Wen, the two decide to pose as couple in order to progress their own interests. Neither can help but grow feelings for each other, but will their love be their greatest strength or their downfall? [– from MDL]

You. Guys. I am giddy as I write this review. Revenge, a kickass FL, and THE most supportive ML. I was constantly *STAR-EYES* and *HEART-EYES* while watching this drama. Honestly, I think you “need” both trailers to get an idea – it’s definitely got it’s dark moments (nearly all presented in trailer two), but there’s a lot of romance too. The TBR prompt for October is “Danger Zone” and … Miss Mystery really fit the bill here because our FL (female lead) Lin Bao Er/ Xue Tong is throwing herself into unknown dangers in order to avenge her family. She’s got a plan, but in life you never quite know how things will turn out. Lucky for her she has ML (male lead) Zhu Guan Wen who could be labeled “Mr. Supportive.” (ETA: I forgot to add that as a potential bonus, each episode is only 5-10 minutes long, so it’s not a big commitment.)

Lin Bao Er/ Xue Tong as stated is our FL. Eighteen years ago when she was six years old (literally on her birthday) her family was massacred. Even all the servants were murdered. She was adopted by a rich family and essentially has been planning her revenge since. I loved that this part of her history was true, and that her adoptive brother was also A+. Dude came in at all the right times. Anyway, Bao Er is kickass. She’s really smart and capable. She understands business, anticipates a lot of the villains’ scheming, and can fight. Sadly they only really show this once in episode one – which you can partially see in the first trailer. That’s what got me interested in this show, actually and I lowkey am desperate to see the behind the scenes of that “fight.” Step one of Bao Er’s plan is to seduce the young master of the Zhu family, but surprise! He’s basically been in love with her for eighteen years! (And is the one who originally saved her!) She doesn’t know this … but he does.

Which brings us to Zhu Guan Wen our badass bad boy ML, who is stupid (as in excessively) in love. He knows his dad is shady AF, and puts FL before anyone else. He knows she’s using him at the beginning and is ok with it, because he just wants to help her, support her, and protect her. He even tells her that multiple times. I can’t remember if Bao Er ever directly puts him on the spot, but he even tells her – if it comes down to a choice between you and my family, I choose you. There are a few times he comes in to save the day and … I want to see the behind the scenes of those action sequences too. Anyway from go he’s absolutely Team FL. And I loved that. He’s also smart and helps FL gather information – and is more familiar with the villains so calls in timely backup. There’s also a bit of a plot twist at the very end, which I think would especially make the native audience more comfortable with things.

This series definitely does not pull its punches. When I started the first episode I was this emoji: 😱 because they go full throttle on the massacre of the Xue family. (And then you get the sexy fight between FL and ML.) Normally I don’t care for Republican Era dramas, and definitely not guns but … :X they didn’t bother me that much here. I guess old timey ones in the hand of FL out for vengeance makes them more “acceptable.” Shoutout to FL for being a crack shot too. Also while I mention a bit of the shock value, it’s still be c-drama standards so, it’s definitely jaw dropping but (in my opinion) not excessive or drawn out like a lot of Western series.

It was so satisfying to see FL take down each of the people involved in killing her family, one by one – and that ML continued to support her. My “only” complaints would probably be I kinda felt like some of the women were collateral damage – though one of them at least was evil in her own right. (And I’m not even talking about SFL – second female lead – who was a definite villain.) Also, that FL was so kickass in the first episode, and then later (let?) herself get kidnapped a bunch of times – I guess for plot? Or to lure out people to show their true colors and intentions? It wasn’t egregious or anything, just a little bit ugh. (Oh, and I guess one other complaint is I found the ML’s personal servant really annoying. I don’t know if he was directed to act that way or what but I muted pretty much all of his lines.)

I can definitely see myself rewatching this drama in the future. The chemistry between our leads is fantastic. I love me a smitten hero, and a smart heroine who successfully carries out revenge in a tight storyline is so satisfying. 2023 seems to be the year of the short drama. Each episode is only like seven to ten minutes so you don’t have a lot of the annoying misunderstandings or villainous crowing. As I’ve stated – I don’t know for sure but I think censorship is different for short dramas so you get real kisses instead of the dead fish wide eyed mouth presses. The acting is also good, and I can’t wait to see ML in other upcoming dramas.

[I will say I noted the MDL rating dropped a little bit the day of the finale – I read the comments and such before finishing the series, and I agree with a number of them in that one questionable scene, I don’t think it’s as it appears on face value – I think it’s that ML and FL knew there was a trap and willingly fell into it in order to trick the people setting it. I loved their cooperation and mutual support.]

You can start watching with episode one here:

ETA: you can now view it in “movie form” … so I’m rewatching it now 😀