I wanted to see more of Zhang Bin Bin (after noticing him in Eternal Love) and this pairing with Dilraba seemed interesting. I felt the two of them could be a compelling couple.

Big thanks to Baidu for their summary to help me recall what happened.

Total episodes: 48, about 40 min each (watched it on Viki)

Listen to the OST on Spotify (the songs aren’t available in the US, so try YouTube music; however, that one has more of the instrumentals, so I made my own playlist) — my fav song is Qing Wei Yang 情未央=”Love Hasn’t Ended“

Title in Chinese is Qin Shi Li Ren Ming Yue Xin 秦时丽人明月心:
Qin is the name of the dynasty (and my surname!), Shi is time, Li is beautiful, Ren is person, Ming is bright or understand, Yue is moon, Xin is heart. So, beautiful person of the Qin era understands the moon’s heart? Or has a clear moon heart? In this case, the beautiful refers to the FL Gongsun Li as that is her given name.

Warning: possible spoilers ahead!

I rated this an 8/10.

It was well done with great costumes, but what a painful storyline.

Ying Zheng is a real historical figure and the man who established the Qin dynasty. This is a fictional story revolving around true historical events and a lot of actual people and events are woven in. Our female lead Gongsun Li is made up though, and no historical records show Ying Zheng had a relationship with a woman like her. This is an interesting show to contrast with Legend of Haolan, which I watched much later and focuses on the life of Ying Zheng’s mother. The shows definitely portrayed her very differently while still keeping to certain historical facts.

This one made it on 8 lists:

1. Kissworthy
2. Palace Dramas
3. A Lifetime Apart
4. Love Again
5. Other Dynasties
6. Gimme More (Dilraba Dilmurat, Vin Zhang, Li Tai)
7. Lookalikes (Dilraba, Vin)
8. Gorgeous (Dilraba)

Tropes/themes in this show:

• jealous female love rival who thinks she deserves the male lead
• male love rival who fights to win the female lead
• main lead’s mother who is of low status and gets bullied
• side character who also falls in love with main lead, but can never be with them and ends up accepting it
• main lead who needs to do something completely against their character to accomplish a larger goal; in the mean time they alienate their loved ones and have a falling out
• main lead who sacrifices him/herself to save the other
• arranged marriage where they are resistant at first, then fall in love
• arranged marriage that turns out to be with the person they fell in love with in a different context
• main lead is key to the destruction of the world (or preventing it)
• someone decides the only way to protect themselves and their loved ones is by gaining power (usually a throne)
• childhood connection between the main leads
• someone schemes to catch main lead in compromising situation
• quirky old man

Show Summary:

This was back before I started jotting notes while watching shows, so the summary will be quite patchy. I also didn’t pay much attention to a lot of the political happenings and cared more about the relationships.

Ep1 Ying Zheng is a powerful man and leader, king of Qin (which is currently a kingdom and not yet an empire). He has a very tenuous relationship with his mother, who seeks pleasure in a man called Lao Ai. Man, I totally forgot we were introduced to her so early on and thought it was towards the end of the show. Gongsun Yu is a prominent man of another state and he has 3 disciples: his granddaughter Gongsun Li, younger guy Jing Ke, and older guy Han Shen. It’s a turbulent time and grandpa gets killed. Not sure when we get introduced to Han Shen, but right now it’s just Li and Jing Ke. Ying Zheng is getting coronated and recalls being saved by a boy and a girl in his childhood. He grew up in a really dangerous situation and really distrusts people, but he yearns for that girl who saved him. She turns out to be Gongsun Li, but of course he doesn’t know that yet.

Ep2 We learn about Ying Zheng’s childhood, where he grew up as a hostage prince in another kingdom. He was bullied and nearly killed. He managed to return and took the throne at 13, but his mom and the chancellor Lu Buwei (who seems to have a thing for his mom) were in control. Now he has gained control bit by bit and overthrown those in power to truly reign. Ying Zheng goes out posing as a merchant and happens to run into Li and Jing Ke. Jing Ke gets drunk and clings to Li, the first inkling of feelings. Drunk Ying Zheng ends up in Li’s bed haha and almost slips that he’s a king. He thinks she’s a man — really? Later she ends up helping him fight some attackers and gets injured. In getting her aid, he learns she’s a woman haha. Come on it’s not believable at all, she’s clearly a woman. But anyways. Meanwhile, Jing Ke had gotten chased and saved by Lu Goujian, a swords master that the disciples and grandpa had tried to learn from earlier.

Ep3 Ying Zheng sees Li’s necklace and realizes she’s the girl he’s been trying to find. She ends up leaving in a whole situation that is a test for Ying Zheng or something. There’s a bunch of political stuff happening and power vying that I mostly don’t care to summarize, but one big thing is that Ying Zheng’s brother Cheng Jiao learns some details about his mother’s death that lead him to rebel against Ying Zheng.

Ep4 The brothers are estranged now and Ying Zheng is upset. He goes to talk to his confidante Yan Dan, the crown prince of another state who is a hostage there. The inverse of Ying Zheng. Jing Ke and Li encounter Ge Lan, another swordsman’s daughter and Jing Ke begs to learn from him. Ying Zheng has 2 concubines, Chu and Min Dai. Chu vies for attention while Min Dai is reserved. Jing Ke and Li stay with Ge Lan and dad Ge Nie and the girls become sworn sisters. I’m confused by the name because they prounounce it Ge, but when I see translations, it says Gai. I went with Ge since that’s how they say it in the show.

Ep5 Ying Zheng wants to find Gongsun Li and puts wanted posters all around the kingdom. Jing Ke gets badly injured as they get chased. Li drags him to try to get help and runs into Tian Guang, who Goujian had told them could be trusted. Li is relieved and they take him off to treat him but find he is badly poisoned.

Ep6 Gongsun Li rushes to the palace to find the king and get the antidote. She finds out he’s the merchant she met before. He wants her and she decides it’s the only way to save Jing Ke. She agrees to return in 3 months and not tell anyone about the agreement. She stays with her love Jing Ke as he gets better and then he has an opportunity to meet someone important but she finds an excuse not to go.

Ep7 The duo gets a chance to practice swords together and have some romantic moments. They go hide in a cave when it starts to rain and Li knows her time is running out, so she hugs him and asks him if he likes her. He expresses his devotion and they end up sleeping together. He leaves not knowing it’s the last time they’ll be together. Li goes to turn herself in to be taken to the palace as promised. She then learns she is pregnant. Ying Zheng is angry and almost tries to terminate the pregnancy, but Li threatens herself and he decides to take the child as his own and Jing Ke will never know. He likes her resistance and sassiness. A bit of a masochist? Jing Ke returns and learns what Li did to save him. He rushes off to find her.

Ep8 Li threatens her life to keep Ying Zheng from terminating her pregnancy, so he decides to keep it and nobody will ever know it wasn’t his child. He makes her swear she will never leave the palace so her child can live. Li has a duel with a general, Meng Wu, and beats him. Jing Ke tries to sneak into the palace and is caught and tortured.

Ep9 Chu has been plotting for power and grand queen dowager (Ying Zheng’s grandma) wants to make her queen. Ying Zheng refuses, saying it’s not time. Li gets poisoned by medicine that could cause a miscarriage. Of course Chu was behind it, making a minor consort do it for her. Li learns from Min Dai, who grew up with Ying Zheng, that she is just there for her country. Big disciple brother Han Shen is also in love with Li and wants to rescue her from the palace. He becomes a guard and has to find a way to the harem where the women are kept.

Ep10 Ying Zheng’s mom has gone crazy after getting locked up and having her young sons killed. She ends up sneaking into Li’s room and attacking her, causing a ruckus. Jing Ke is now part of a labor camp and is saved by Tian Guang. Ying Zheng is relieved that mom and fetus are ok and tries to get her to eat but she refuses, so he feeds her with his mouth to get her to eat. Jing Ke is completely falling apart as he misses Li and just drinks all day. He is targeted and saved by Ge Lan and Ge Nie.

Ep11 Li goes into labor and has a son. She names him Tianming and Ying Zheng won’t allow her to see him. He’s always going to use the kid as leverage huh? Han Shen sneaks in to Li’s room and scares her before she knows it’s him. He finds out who the real father is and doesn’t try to harm the baby. Another king, Zhao Dan, comes to visit. Grand queen dowager gives Li a task that’s really a punishment. Ying Zheng rushes over when he finds out and whisks her away.

Ep12 Ying Zheng is sad about Li’s injury. He’s very protective of her and promotes her. Chu is furious. Li and Jing Ke both separately practice the double swordsmanship that they had done together, which is sort of like a couple’s dance. Ying Zheng gets jealous but says he won’t touch her until she’s willing. He’s convinced she will. Yan Dan gets word from Zhao Gao of that kingdom that they are planning on attacking his home country of Yan. Plans backfire and Zhao Dan ends up dying. Han Shen tries to assassinate Ying Zheng but he’s prepared and Han Shen gets stabbed instead. Tianming goes missing.

Ep13 Chu was behind this plot against the baby. Han Shen was almost caught as the assassin. He goes to see Li again after he learns about the missing child. Chu is given the eldest son Fusu to raise and Li explains to her how she can’t have her own child, or she might get killed in the power struggle. Han Shen overhears some weird stuff happening in a cold palace and reports it to Ying Zheng since Tianming might be there. They find the kid with crazy queen dowager, who didn’t know who the kid was.

Ep14 Han Shen is almost exposed but Li helps get him out of trouble. People want Lu Buwei to become chancellor but he keeps turning them down. He instead meets with Ying Zheng and claims he isn’t trying to take over or become an official in Chu state. But then news comes he got a post in Chu and Ying Zheng is furious. Li plots with Han Shen to make an escape and dresses as a soldier.

Ep15 Li disappears and Chu is pleased. Ge Lan has been looking for Jing Ke and finally finds him to tell him Han Shen is bringing Li. She doesn’t want Jing Ke to know about his child. They meet and they’re both very emotional. Han Shen and Ge Lan are both happy and sad since they each love one of the couple and don’t get to be with them but they’re glad the couple gets to be happy together again. Ying Zheng goes searching for Li and hears that Buwei killed himself. Li is having a great time with her friends.

Ep16 Li’s maid Qing’er has been tortured by Zhao Gao and Min Dai comes to save her. Li knows she has to return to the palace and plans on getting Ge Lan be with Jing Ke. She is starting to feel compassion for Ying Zheng and doesn’t think he’s completely a tyrant anymore. She tells Jing Ke about her son but claims he’s Ying Zheng’s. Jing Ke is livid. Li returns to the palace alone and tells Han Shen not to go back.

Ep17 The disciple brothers fight because Han Shen defends Li. Ge Lan is really sad about this break in relations. When Li gets back, Ying Zheng locks her up and Li sees how badly her maid was beaten. The crooked eunuch Zhao Gao wanted to torture Li but Ying Zheng showed up in time to stop him and later, some servants sent by grand queen dowager.

Ep18 Li got let out and then snuck back to check on Han Shen. They are caught by Ying Zheng and Li confesses that he is her disciple brother. They set up a fight between them and Meng Wu. When Li joins to fight with Han Shen, it becomes clear they know how to fight together in a coordinated effort. Ying Zheng sets up a deal with Han Shen to stay and protect Li. Jing Ke has been drinking himself into a stupor again and Ge Nie gives him a wakeup call to pull himself together. He finally starts to think about what he’s going to do with his life.

Ep19 Jing Ke decides to go advance his swordsmanship and Ge Lan tags along. Ying Zheng wants to sleep with Li and he forcefully kisses her only to get bitten. He says he’ll come every day until she’s willing. He uses the baby Tianming as leverage to keep Li from doing anything crazy like hurting herself. Grand queen dowager sets up a trap at her birthday banquet and has Li perform a sword dance but plants assassins. It looks like she is about to attack Ying Zheng but she ends up saving him from a sneak attack and then gets stabbed.

Ep20 There’s a lot of political stirrings with Chu nation, which grand queen dowager and Chu consort are from. I wasn’t that interested in these developments so I didn’t pay much attention. Meanwhile, Jing Ke and Ge Lan came across Gao Jianli, who Jing Ke had competed with before.

Ep21 Ying Zheng decides to go to battle and brings Li with him. Jing Ke and Ge Lan get attacked by some people who want swords secrets and they end up falling into a secret chamber underground. Ying Zheng convinces Li to stay in his tent, but she refuses to share the bed.

Ep22 Li starts to see more of Ying Zheng’s caring side and she might be opening up to him. Jing Ke finds out he needs to master a secret sword technique to get them out of that cave. Ying Zheng wants a scholar Han Fei to defect to his country. The guy stutters but is very well-educated. Li and Ying Zheng get flirtatious as he chases her around. He decides to sleep right on the steps in her room.

Ep23 The ministers argue over how to handle the war situation. Jing Ke finally masters the sword technique to get them out. Ge Lan is basically starving to death. Ying Zheng sneaks in on Li complaining about him haha. He likes it and hugs her, then kisses her again. She resists, but calms down pretty quickly and seems to like it for the first time. He carries her off to bed and they wake up snuggling. He can be gentle. Jing Ke got them out of the cave and then has to fight those people again. Li gets a chance to know Yan Dan, who talks about the pains of being a hostage prince.

Ep24 Yan Dan and Ying Zheng’s relationship is strained. Ying Zheng has some nice time with Li and kisses her after saying he wants to know everything about her. Ying Zheng tries to set up Han Shen with Li’s maid Qing’er but they aren’t interested. Poor Han Fei gets framed by Chu people. Li decides she needs to help him because she believes he isn’t sinister like that. Li gets kidnapped.

Ep25 Ge Lan’s injury needed help so Jing Ke finds Tian Guang. Han Shen also ends up there looking for help to find Li. The brothers argue again and Han Shen can’t tell Jing Ke the truth about the child, or else he’d do something stupid to risk his life. They end up working together to fight some bad guys and try to find Li. Jing Ke has some sick moves now. He finds Li and saves her. They end up in a cave again and their relationship will never be the same. Sad.

Ep26 Han Fei is convinced to take poison, thinking he has no way out. Ying Zheng finds Li and they rush back but it’s too late to save him. I feel so bad for this guy, who was so good and nice and got used. Ying Zheng and Li set up a trial to expose Chu consort and corrupt official Li Si, who had gotten Han Fei to kill himself.

Ep27 Li suspects there’s someone else behind the plot. Turns out Min Dai was the true culprit, but why? Turns out Buwei didn’t kill himself and it was staged. He’s secretly planning for power.

Ep28 Tian Guang turns out to be Yan Dan’s advisor. He asks Jing Ke to help him rescue Yan Dan. Li has been helping out Yan Dan too. They make it look like assassins came and sneak Yan Dan out. Then they use a funeral procession to try to sneak out of the country.

Ep29 Jing Ke ends up making some fancy moves to fight the guards and get them to let the people out. Han Shen secretly helps too. Ying Zheng brings Tianming back to the palace and he’s already a few years old. Chu consort finds out that a woman gifted to Han Fei is pregnant and wants to get rid of the child. She then makes a physician claim she is pregnant.

Ep30 Li went to visit queen dowager and happened to learn about Min Dai’s past, which made her suspect Min Dai might be behind the plot. Chu was going to pretend the baby was hers but then the woman dies.

Ep31 Chu pretends to have a miscarriage. Li is starting to see some humanity in Ying Zheng despite his ruthlessness. After all, he’s in a tough position and had a very challenging childhood and life. He talks about his regrets with his brother Chengjiao. Li sends Han Shen off on a secret mission. He goes to find Jing Ke and Yan Dan.

Ep32 Li confronts Min Dai about the plot but then Min Dai makes it look like Li attacked her. Li exposes all of Min Dai’s crimes but then they turn it on her and make Ying Zheng jealous of the time that Li was kidnapped and alone with Jing Ke. He finds out Li helped Yan Dan escape and he thinks she did it for Jing Ke. He lets her get beaten in prison.

Ep33 Yan Dan gets kidnapped and Han Shen helps a bunch of his followers to try to recover him. Ying Zheng misses Li but doesn’t know what to do because he’s still upset. Jing Ke ends up saving Yan Dan.

Ep34 Ah, Han Shen is looking for Chengjiao to see if he wants to return home. Li remembers that night as a child when they met Ying Zheng. I think she still doesn’t know who he is. But Ying Zheng overhears and now he’s all emotional and confused. Jing Ke gets drunk after hearing about how carefully Li planned things for Ying Zheng to possibly reunite with his brother. Ge Lan helps him out, he cries in her arms, and they wake up together. Han Shen finds Chengjiao with a wife and child.

Ep35 Han Shen returns to find Li beaten in prison and goes to save her. He stands up to Ying Zheng to get her out of there. He explains he went to find Chengjiao and brings out the child. Chengjiao had decided he was too ashamed to return, but he sends his son. Ying Zheng is really emotional about it all. Li ends up passing out and Han Shen carries her off, telling Ying Zheng he’s not worthy of her. Yan Dan returns home and his dad is happy but things are akward. Ying Zheng wants to see Li and goes to find her, but Han Shen fights him.

Ep36 Li can’t help but protect Ying Zheng. Ying Zheng agrees not to come anymore and to bring Tianming the next day. He feels guilty and maybe a bit defeated. Yan Dan gifts Jing Ke a nice home. Omg I don’t think I’ve seen him smile so genuinely before. Li finds out Ying Zheng went missing and goes to help.

Ep37 Li finds Ying Zheng in the woods and saves him. They go to hide in a cave overnight and he’s so relieved to see her. They then pose as a normal couple as they wait for the backup to get them. A nice lady takes them in and then Ying Zheng learns that Li is pregnant. She is learning to love him. The lady tells the story of how her whole family was killed by Ying Zheng’s troops. The next day, the troops attack the city and poor lady is stunned to find the man is the king she hated so much. She yells at him and goes to attack, but Meng Wu kills her. Ying Zheng gets angry at him for killing her. Auntie tells Li she shouldn’t stay with a tyrant like Ying Zheng.

Ep38 Ying Zheng sets up a tomb for Han Fei in his home country. Li returns to the palace. Her getup reminds me of Japanese wear. Han Shen decides to leave. Jing Ke gets recruited in an assassination plot. Min Dai finds out about Li’s pregnancy and sneaks her medicine to cause a miscarriage. Li confronts her and Min Dai finally loses her cool and reveals her true colors.

Ep39 Min Dai causes a rift between Li and Ying Zheng by making him jealous of Jing Ke again. Li goes to visit queen dowager, who is ill and wants to go home to her state of Zhao. Li convinces Ying Zheng to let her take mom home. Buwei gets a letter to queen dowager and the woman insists on seeing him.

Ep40 Li helps queen dowager meet Buwei. Ying Zheng is his son! He kidnaps her. Zhao king is forced to surrender. Ying Zheng confronts Buwei. When did he learn that Buwei is his dad? Ying Zheng doesn’t trust Buwei and ends up killing him. Min Dai is angry at the Zhao king after everything she did for him and her country. She kills herself after losing it. Ying Zheng kills a bunch of people after he recalls his childhood there being bullied. He then disappears again.

Ep41 Li finds Ying Zheng and finds out he was the kid she saved. Ying Zheng gets back in time before his mom dies. Jing Ke goes to get a special sword made for his plan. Ge Lan finds out and she’s devastated. Li goes to lead troops to protect Ying Zheng and he refuses to leave.

Ep42 The assassination needs a sacrifice and the general agrees to die so his head can be presented to Ying Zheng. Ying Zheng will not budge until Li returns and when she finally does, he runs to her. Han Shen tries to convince Jing Ke not to go through with it and finally tells him that Tianming is his child. But it’s too late, the general is already dead and Jing Ke is going to present his head.

Ep43 Ying Zheng wants to make Tianming the crown prince. Tian Guang decides that he needs to die as part of the plot. Chu got her position restored but then gets in trouble for helping with passing a message.

Ep44 Chu gets in trouble for the plot and kills herself. Ying Zheng knows that it wasn’t hurt fault but he knows someone needs to take the blame. Yan Dan sends off Jing Ke on the mission.

Ep45 Han Shen secretly meets with Li and tells her about the assassination plan. He wants to get them out of the palace. Li finds out Ying Zheng still can’t fully accept Tianming as his child. He believes he needs to get rid of Jing Ke. Li takes Tianming out of the palace to meet with Han Shen. When soldiers come to capture them, Li tells her son who his real father is. She sends him off with Han Shen as she distracts the troops.

Ep46 Dang, Li has been in the palace for 10 years now. She admits to Ying Zheng exactly what she did to protect her son. Jing Ke and co arrive in the city and get ready. Jing Ke and Li arrange to meet privately. He hugs her after years apart.

Ep47 Li tries one last time to convince Jing Ke to back down, but he’s too far in. Han Shen has Tianming hide and he fights to the death. Ge Nie and Ge Lan come to help. It’s too late for Han Shen but they save Tianming. Aw man, Han Shen was my fav! Ying Zheng knows about the plot and wants to face Jing Ke head on. Li wants Jing Ke to miss the event and has her maid give a sedative to him.

Ep48 Jing Ke arrives as the envoy. Li was being held under house arrest and fights her way past dozens of guards. Turns out she got a sedative. Jing Ke confronts Ying Zheng to make him jealous. Jing Ke’s powers are limited because he got poisoned. The two duel it out and Jing Ke is badly injured but makes a comeback. Ying Zheng’s guard Li Zhong protects him and then Ying Zheng uses him as a shield, then straight up tosses him aside! Ouch. He then kills Jing Ke this time. Jing Ke’s last sight is a blurry view of Li rushing in. They carry his body out and he dies in front of her. She then confronts Ying Zheng and finds out he never trusted her, but he says he loves her. She says she’ll finish the job Jing Ke couldn’t and now they run at each other with swords. Just as she’s getting close, she turns her sword around so just the scabbard touches him. His shock as he watches it happen but his momentum stabs her… and he realizes she never meant to hurt him. He asks why and she says she wanted him to feel what it’s like to lose your most loved. This way he could empathize with his people. She wants him to be a good ruler. Well, now he managed to kill both the buddies who saved him. Was it worth it?