Gong Suo Cheng Xiang (Movie)

       I really enjoyed this movie for several reasons. For one thing, it was nice to see the baby-faced and innocent Zhao Li Ying play the role of the antagonist. Every drama that I have watched her in, she was always played the lovable character as seen in dramas such as Legend of Lu Zhen, Boss and Me, and the new Huan Zhu GeGe. So seeing her play the antagonist showed just how great her acting spectrum is and it made me appreciate her in a new light. 

       This movie takes place within the palace. Chen Xiang, the protagonist, is sent to live in the palace as a maid when she was a little girl. Her kind and timid nature made her quite vulnerable in an unfamiliar environment. Thankfully, she befriends a confident and bold girl named  Liu Li. The two grow up together. Upon growing up, Liu Li begins fantasizing marrying a man from a well-off family (such as a prince). Dragging Chen Xiang along, she seeks to bump into one of the princes one night and makes Chen Xiang do her shift's work. Liu Li met the ninth prince who was manipulative and cold-hearted and took advantage of Liu Li. Meanwhile, Chen Xiang bumps into the thirteenth prince who falls in love with her kind nature but he never saw her face as she covered it with a handkerchief. When news spread that he was looking for her, she couldn't come out and say that she was the maid from that night  because Liu Li would get punished for not being at her shift. Taking Chen Xiang's identity from the night before, she pretends to be the girl that was with the thirteenth prince and marries him. At the same time, Liu Li still is messily involved with the ninth prince and doesn't really love the thirteenth prince wholeheartedly. 

      Chen Xiang goes along with it despite feeling depressed. She got her chances to talk to the thirteenth prince though because the thirteenth prince came up to her often to ask her what Liu Li liked since Chen Xiang was Liu Li's best friend. As Liu Li gets used to her status, she begins to order Chen Xiang around and abuse Cheng Xiang at times. Overtime, the truth is revealed and everything begins to work back in place even if it was the most gruesome option.