Mei Ren Xin Ji

Storyline/Pacing [4.5/5]
"Schemes of a Beauty” or “Mei Ren Xin Ji” is a well paced
drama with a decently executed storyline by Yu Zheng. I
believe that Mei Ren Xin Ji is originally a novel but Yu
Zheng based this series very loosely on it. Yu Zheng is also
responsible for other works such as "Four Women Conflict",
"One Thousand Tear Drops", "Roses of Jiang Hu", "The Last
Princess", and the latest "Chu Lu Xiang"; so he’s somewhat
of an expert on making and producing “women dramas,” much to
the amusement of this reviewer since he’s a relatively young
man. “Schemes of a Beauty” is surprisingly fast paced for a
drama about palace intrigue and feminine plotting. I have
not watched "Concubines of the Qing Emperor" or "War and
Beauty" which are both of similar premises, so I cannot
comment or offer any comparisons. For a series about the
important women behind the throne, this series has a highly
sympathetic heroine, Dou Yi Fang, the historical Empress Dou
of the Han Dynasty. We see the future Empress Dou’s rise
from a poor extended charity case to palace maid to Consort
Dou and finally Empress Dou.

This series is a must watch for viewers who like legacy
dramas. By that, I mean human dramas about where life takes
the characters and how small seemingly inane decisions can
bear great consequences. This series is about women; the
women just happen to be in positions of political power as a
consequence of the men they are married to. Each and every
women in Mei Ren Xin Ji- Empress Lu, Dou Yi Fang, Nie Shen
Er, Bo Zhi, Mo Xue Yan, and Lu Yu – sacrifice a great deal
for their loved ones. This series is categorized as a
historical period and romance drama; watch it more for the
latter than the former and you will enjoy it much more. If
you watch for its historical accuracy [or conversely, lack
thereof], you make not be getting the full scope of its
dramatic storyline or complex character depiction. **Be
forewarned, this synopsis and review is long and has heavy
spoilers!!**

Synopsis
Ruby Lin begins life as Dou Yun Xi [child actress] the
daughter of palace maid, Xian Liang [also Ruby Lin]. Xian
Ling is originally under the service of Consort Bo as a
nanny since they are from the same province. However,
Empress Lu tries to use the intimate relationship of Xian
Liang and young Prince Liu Heng to poison him. The plan goes
awry and Consort Bo arranges for Xian Liang to escape with
her daughter but the pair is hunted down by armed guards
sent by Empress Lu. The two are hunted down and eventually
saved by the husband of Ping Hua [Huang Hai Bing] who is a
hunter. The poor couple takes the mother/daughter pair in
knowing that they may be putting their lives in danger. This
proves to be true; Ping Hua, her husband, and Xian Liang are
all killed. This leaves the young Dou Yun Xi and even
younger Shen Er homeless. Through the machinations of Yun
Xi’s aunt-in-law, Yun Xi is raised in the home of her uncle
as no better than a maid and Shen Er is adopted by a brothel
owner. In addition, Consort Bo realizes the Empress’s
intentions and decides that she must leave the palace if she
wants to save the life of her son and her own life.

Yun Xi and Shen Er grow up; the former holds a low position
in her Uncle’s home [a commissioner] while the latter is an
entertainer in a brothel. This is a short interlude of their
adult life where we see the first of many misunderstandings
arise between Yun Xi and Shen Er over a man [handsome guest
star Yan Kuan]. The characters of Yun Xi and Shen Er are
established in this part; Yun Xi is highly principled and
forgiving while Shen Er is opportunistic and selfish. After
the two reunite and reclaim their foster sisterhood, they
are led into the palace as new ladies-in-waiting. As ladies-
in-waiting, their positions are no higher than maids. Many
of these ladies, if lucky, are chosen to “serve” the king
played by Luo Jin, the only son of Empress Lu. Empress Lu
has since established her power as a regent and the ruler
behind the throne; it is she who holds the true power not
the Emperor. Truth be told, whom he decides to sleep with is
also up to her since it’s in her interest to ensure a
legitimate heir to the throne is birthed upon an appropriate
woman, namely one of her own line. While Yun Xi tries her
best to stay out of the limelight and from the keen eye of
the royal family, Shen Er tries to do the exact opposite!
Witness how Yun Xi does her best to save Shen Er multiple
times while barely saving her own skin. Emperor Lui Ying is
another tragic character that is introduced into the life of
Dou Yun Xi, alongside the child Empress Zhang Yan and
assassin/ maid Mo Xue Yan.

Yun Xi proves herself to be intelligent and capable and thus
wins the trust of Empress Lu. The Queen Mother cannot help
but resist using Yun Xi to further her own ambitions in
ensuring her child’s power base. Through various
mechanizations, Dou Yun Xi dies and Dou Yi Fang is born. She
is sent to the principality of Dai alongside her trusty maid
Mo Xue Yan, and three other beautiful women under the guise
of rewarding Dai for their loyalty. This begins the third
phase of Dou Yun Xi’s life or rather the beginning of Dou Yi
Fang’s life. In this time span, we also see the more in
depth introduction of Mo Xue Yan played by Yang Mi. Yang Mi
is the other half of the couple which includes Zhou Ya Fu
played by Mickey He. Mo Xue Yan and Zhou Ya Fu is the second
leading couple after the power couple that is Yi Fang and
Liu Heng. Zhou Ya Fu is a powerful and courageous general
whose loyalties lay solely in Prince Liu Heng of Dai.
Unfortunately for Mo Xue Yan, Zhou Ya Fu harbors enmity
towards her mistress; it is this suspicion that Ya Fu has
that creates the irreparable chasm between him and Mo Xue
Yan.

The show is not named Schemes of a Beauty for nothing, and
we see how Dou Yi Fang uses her smarts to help her husband,
Prince Liu Heng, solidify his military power, and outwit the
Empress Lu. Regardless of how the people of Dai negatively
view her [mother-in-law and various officials], she still
works behind the scenes and manipulates the people around
her for the benefit and protection of her greatest love, Liu
Heng. Eventually, Liu Heng will become the next Emperor of
the greater Han Dynasty and Dou Yi Fang will be his Empress.
The leap from each point in her life is met with little
actual resistance. One may wonder as to why the lead
character is so lucky in her life events. She is by far the
least tragic figure; the most tragic figures are the ones
most close to her such as Mo Xue Yan [and her aunt], Liu
Ying, Zhang Yan, and finally Nie Shen Er. Is it possible
that Dou Yi Fang’s kindness is the actual catalyst for all
of these peoples’ less than favorable consequences?

CastThis is a great cast!
Ruby Lin as Dou Yi Fang [4/5]
Ruby is the most important character in this series, and a
lot of the scenes in the first half of the show are carried
by her. Since Empress Dou is believed to have been a
benevolent empress [superficially at least] Ruby does a good
job of showing the positive side. It’s hard to imagine Ruby
being anything but nice, even when she’s being not so nice,
she still looks kind. Her big cartoonish eyes, small lips,
and deep dimples, makes it hard for her to shed her Xia
Ziwei image[Huan Zhu Ge Ge]. It does not work completely
against her, since Dou Yi Fang is written by Yu Zheng to be
a Huang Rong wise woman; of course, without all of Huang
Rong’s evil tendencies. Ruby did a good job as far as being
benevolent, self sacrificing, and intelligent. However,
sometimes she is TOO intelligent, so much that she makes
everyone around her look like a twit! Dou Yi Fang is often
too kind to the undeserving, but she is not intimate enough
with the ones closest to her in private. For example, she
is very forgiving towards Shen Er but she does not take the
time to set examples for her own son and daughter. This
proves to be unwise for Dou Yi Fang in the end because her
children combined possess only half the intelligence and
ability of Yi Fang and Liu Heng, as individuals.

One thing I could not reconcile myself with were how easily
all of her predicaments were solved in such short amounts of
time by her “discussions.” In addition, she is able to
quickly come up with so many effective solutions to all of
her husband’s problems, and they ALL work! This is
unbelievable! This problem is rectified somewhat towards the
end of the story, when she becomes much older. Her
intelligence and personal involvement take a backseat to the
scheming of the next generation of royalty. This is much
more believable, after all, in her advanced age, how can Dou
Yi Fang keep up with the young people?

Despite all of this, I loved the character of Dou Yi Fang. I
thought she was a powerful and intelligent woman who was
also warm and open to the people around her. Empress Lu was
also a powerful and intelligent woman, but she lacked the
personal warmth that Dou Yi Fang had; however, the
circumstances of their livelihoods’ were very different. I
gave Ruby a [4/5] because both the actress and character
were very likeable …however fictitious each may be. Great
performance, any flaws should be picked with the writers. I
would have scored her perfectly had Dou not already been
perfect.

Wang Li Kun as Nie Shen Er/Wang Zhi [BOTH 5/5]
With the title "Schemes of a Beauty", the character of Nie
Shen Er is most representative of that title! She does the
most scheming throughout the entire series; however, she’s
not a purely evil person in the series. She’s a bit too
ambitious for sure. That’s probably one of the most defining
characteristic differences between Nie Shen Er and Dou Yi
Fang. When Nie Shen Er had political ambitions, it was
depicted as a hungry selfish craving for unjustified power.
Conversely, when Dou Yi Fang wanted to help elevate her
husband’s political position, it seemed much more
understated. As if Liu Heng’s rise to the throne should be
an uncontested entitlement or a logical conclusion. Whether
that’s true or not, is up to the individual viewer. Nie
Shen Er, who is touted as a villain, is not really so
different from Dou Yi Fang; she is also a survivor, but life
has dealt her a completely different set of cards to make do
with. Shen Er doesn’t actually plot against Dou Yi Fang
until much later into the story, but it’s hard for this
reviewer not to relate to this character as she knows many
tragedies in the storyline of the series. Viewers can
witness how Shen Er’s lifeline runs almost parallel to Dou
Yi Fang’s; however, their individual dispositions, luck, and
ambitions greatly influence how events turn out for both
women.

Please note that most of the sufferings Shen Er faces occur
with the emergence of Dou Yi Fang into her life. It begs to
be asked, had Shen Er not encountered Dou Yi Fang in this
lifetime, would Shen Er have met with so many mournful life
events? Shen Er is a character who grows a little more
bitter with each loss in her life. This turns the once
childlike and willful girl into the plotting and vindictive
woman. A great performance here! The actress Wang Li Kun
looks surprisingly young and unaffected in behind the scenes
pictures. She also did very well as the intelligent and kind
hearted Wang Zhi, who was a completely different character
from Nie Shen Er.

Yang Mi as Mo Xue Yan [5/5]
Mo Xue Yan is a character that will make everyone feel pity
for. She is also by far the most sympathetic character in
the entire series. Xue Yan is neither on the side of black
or white, like many of the characters on the show, but this
character is fundamentally self sacrificing, humble, and
long suffering. She is the faithful servant of Dou Yi Fang
but also the main love interest of Zhou Ya Fu. Dou Yi Fang
and Zhou Ya Fu are not on different sides, but Zhou Ya Fu is
the suspicious sort of man, with rightful due cause since
Dou Yi Fang’s complete identity is a false one. The
conflicting interests of Dou and Zhou make it difficult for
Xue Yan to reconcile her situation; one is her romantic love
while the other her only friend. Xue Yan does nothing for
herself and lives only for the welfare of the people around
her; in the end, she will suffer for that same mindset.

While many viewers think of Xue Yan as being a good person,
viewers should also not forget that this character has also
done many bad things under the bidding of Empress Lu. Thus,
whether she is good or bad is really subjective. That
dynamic makes for an interesting character as terrible
things happen to Xue Yan, but neither is she completely
innocent of doing terrible things to others. Remember her
aunt, Mo Li, was also a faithful servant but to the
universally vilified Empress Lu. I am not pointing this out
to taint the character of Xue Yan, but to remind the viewers
that there are no obvious “good guys” VS “bad guys” in this
series. This is a completely different character than the
ones that Yang Mi has played in the past, and she did an
excellent job as Mo Xue Yan. I believe she genuinely smiles
all of two times during the entire series whereas in
previous roles she’s the willful or happy sort i.e. Wang
Zhao Jun, Guo Xiang, or Tang Xue Jian.

Dai Chun Rong as Empress Dowager Lu [4.5/5]
Ah, the universally vilified Empress Dowager Lu…what to say?
Dau Chun Rong plays an excellent Queen, that’s for sure.
This Empress Dowager Lu is seen as a pretty decent mother,
grandmother, and aunt. As a wife, she was terrible to have
since other [if ambitious] wives never lived too long. She
was truly scary, especially when she smiled at you. Dai Chun
Rong is almost 50 years old I believe, but looks no older
than when she played her other famous Empress role 10 years
ago, remember her? Nonetheless, she did an excellent job as
the multifaceted and ever plotting Empress that Dou Yi Fang
could have turned out to be.

Sammul Chan as Liu Heng [4/5]
Poor Sammul, like many of the males on this show, he was
more or less subject to the whims of the ladies of the
court, especially his mother and his wife’s. Sammul fared
much better than other males and become an Emperor. That was
because Dou Yi Fang was his number one fan. Sammul falls in
love with Dou very quickly, which is a little hard to
understand...and not simultaneously. If Liu Heng were any
other man that was not aspiring to the throne, he could have
fallen for Dou quite easily; she was beautiful, clever, and
understanding. However, Liu Heng and his mother, Concubine
Bo Zhi, had aspirations to put a Liu on the throne and oust
the line of Lu from power. Thus, how could he have fallen so
hard and quickly for a lady sent as a gift from the Lu
Empress? He’s quite the fool as far as watching his back,
but viewers are led to believe that it’s all done for love.
After all, Yi Fang did fall in love with him too, right...so
it’s okay? In hindsight, believing in Dou Yi Fang was the
right thing to do, but Liu Heng should have been less
forthcoming in his affections and trust. This man was simply
not thinking with his head. Sammul was very romantic, loyal,
and honorable, so it’s not hard to see why Dou Yi Fang was
so single minded in her love for Liu Heng. She thinks of him
most when she is older and burdened by the bickering of
their children and grandchildren. In turn, he used his last
breath to secure her power and safety after his death.
Sammul did a very good job in this role, though I believe
that the character of Liu Heng was not especially hard to
play.

Mickey He as Zhou Ya Fu [4.5/5]
Mickey He’s Zhou Ya Fu is a likeable character, yet he’s a
stubborn male and this trait makes many a female viewer want
to rip her hair out. Zhou Ya Fu is best defined alongside Mo
Xue Yan. As a singular character, he’s quite one
dimensional; honest, loyal, a heroic type. However, when
placed alongside Mo Xue Yan, he becomes more complex. The
man is in a love triangle of sorts. He demands Xue Yan’s
loyalty, but she’s already given all she has to Dou Yi Fang.
In some ways, Zhou Ya Fu spends a large part hating Dou
because she’s stolen all of Xue Yan’s trust and self
sacrificing capability. Zhou Ya Fu just had a terrible bone
to pick with Dou after the death of his sister and nephew.
His unwavering hostility and lack of trust proves will test
Xue Yan's reserve time and again.

Surprisingly, of the original main cast, only Dou and Zhou
accompany each other into old age, and they do make peace
with one another. The conversations they have with one
another, when Dou can no longer see and Zhou can no longer
battle, are touching and melancholic as the viewers also
have lived their long eventful lives with them. Mickey He
initially looked a bit too modern to play this part; and
frankly he looks almost like a Neanderthal standing next to
the dainty and fair Yang Mi. I got used to his face after a
while, and with the character's growth, Mickey He changes
accordingly to make his character more tolerable from the
previous stick in the mud posturing.

Other Supporting Casts [And a stellar supporting
casts!]
Luo Jin as Liu Ying [3.5/5]
He was born to be king but his temperament was more
befitting to be a wandering poet or a sidekick. He was the
central male character in the beginning of Dou Yun Xi’s life
but the two of them had a brother/sister relationship at Yun
Xi’s request. This was another tragic character. However, at
times the actor doth protest too much at his station in life
it treads into whining.

Liu and Dou children: Gao Hao as Liu Qi [3.5/5], Qi Wei as
Guan Tao [3.5/5], and Zhang Xiao Chen as Liu Wu [short cameo
only]
None of the offspring of Liu Heng and Dou Yi Fang are as
smart as their parents. Where in the world did these
children get their temperaments from? Liu Wu is actually
Shen Er’s son, but Dou raised him as well, and she is the
only mother he knows. What I cannot understand is why Guan
Tao and Liu Qi were so antagonistic towards their youngest
brother! Liu Wu is just a brash teenager who loved his
mother very much. The other two should have known better.
Even though Liu Wu was from a different mother, surely
having the same father counts for something!

Liu Qi, the crown prince, is neither as smart as his mother
or as warm and compassionate as his father. This reviewer
was completely exasperated by how the royal siblings were so
easily played against one another and their mother on
hearsay. Doesn’t speak much for a royal upbringing! Their
lives of great privilege really did not do much for them.
One wonders how they would have fared had they lived in the
fear and secrecy of their parents’ lives! The series really
should have ended after Liu Heng ascended to the Han throne
instead of introducing so many unlikeable characters to the
series…

Feng Shao Feng as Liu Zhang and Myolie Wu as Lu Yu [couple
rating 5/5]
This couple had a few glitches early in their relationship
but they had a relatively happy ending. Feng Shao Feng is a
hard hearted warrior who goes mushy for the feisty Lu Yu
played by Myolie Wu. Lu Yu is no pushover, but she knows
when to keep quiet and when to speak up. Lu Yu is a
character who gets smarter through her very short career in
politics. They are a funny, young, and romantic couple, my
favorite by far. This couple certainly didn’t overstay their
welcome since Liu Zhang is the decisive and dominant sort,
nobody really wanted to keep him around as a thorn in their
side anyway! Eventually, he sticks to his word to retreat
back to his own kingdom after political matters were settled
against his favor. It didn’t matter to him; his lady was the
only prize he really desired till the end. Good looking
couple with great chemistry and very sweet outcome!

Du Jun Ze as Lu Lu [3.5/5]
Well, he was a supporting character that found himself in
the middle of some major political floundering. In truth,
such a lack wit character should have died early in the show
if not for his powerful auntie and cunning wife. Thankfully,
his daughter got his temperament and honesty with her
mother’s brains! The actor had a few awkward facial
expressions and did not match well with Wang Li Kun. He was
a little annoying, unless he was being scolded by his auntie
or abused by his wife…

Ending Comments
Yu Zheng writes Dou Yi Fang as a simple but intelligent
woman whose hand is often forced by external uncontrollable
powers; thus, as viewers, we are often compelled to
sympathize with her. Yu Zheng is only moderately successful
as modern viewers are not so naïve as to overlook plot holes
and overly simplistic solutions to major dilemmas.
Sometimes, it’s just plain silly how Dou Yi Fang solves her
problems through talks even though she’s facing political
hostilities who are wielding weapons. Dou Yi Fang is the
most intelligent character amongst intelligent characters.
This is a little difficult to believe. Not that Ruby Lin
doesn’t look clever, but the actress just doesn’t look like
she’s scheming all too much despite the title.

The viewers are treated to magnificent costumes and
certainly the amazing cast and guest appearances were a
major draw for many faithful fans. While the opening and
ending theme songs are decently done, the sub themes for
background music need more than a little tweaking. It got
quite tiresome to hear the Harry Potter “tinker bell” theme
play when something was supposed to be touching or poignant.
The Harry Potter music only served the opposite effect to
make the particular scene comical and childish. It
completely tainted the credit of the show as any serious
kind of production. When all is said and done and this
review is nearing end, I’d like to recommend this series to
open minded viewers. This series is far from lighthearted,
unless taking in its historicity, but it has well written
characters and a plethora of talented actors and actresses,
so it’s well worth your time and money...at least until Liu
Heng makes his ascension to the Han Dynasty throne anyway.