It's rather sad that there's not too many dramas of the same quality as Yi Zhi Mei out there. I find generally historical dramas are either too dry and political, or too mushy and romantic, with very little in terms of plot. Even if there's a plot, it generally centres around the women and their pettiness as opposed to something more important (namely the country and the people).
In this case, Yi Zhi Mei hosts individual cases which span a couple of episodes and can be considered self-contained. However, there are linking factors throughout, which relates to each character's past, especially the stuff about RuYi. There are hints of humanity and other mushy stuff, like between Wallace and LSS, but they arn't dominant, so are great tantalising sidedishes which does not overwhelm the whole thing. The flashbacks are also interesting devices to keep the viewers guessing, as the actions may not be as they seem...
So hope there'll be a sequel! In terms of the case/episode type plot, they can easily extend it like in Ji Xiao Lan. It would also be interesting to see if Wallace could truely commit to LSS after the demise of evil dude whose name currently escapes me, but barked like a lap dog and was dumbly loyal to RuYi even in death.
Also, gotta throw my two pence in and say the messy dishevelled Wallace is uber hot! It makes him seem so much more manly ^^
It's like the younger girls loving the pretty boy looks of Orlando Bloom as Legolas in LOTR, whilst the women swooned at the feet of Viggo as Aragon, who had messy hair and 5 o'clock shadow.