While I know that He Heng (ML) really loves Qing Ju (FL). There are a few occasions where he was implicated to be interested or fascinated about someone..

For example, Han Liangdi (One of He Heng's concubine), during the time where Qing Ju is pregnant, He Heng actually allowed Han to be with him and even allowed her to accompany him and even serenaded him [One of He Hengs's people even thought that the concubine was asking for favor {due to the choice of song}] He didnt show any objection to it and only panicked when he saw that Qing Ju (while pregnant) is actually looking at them at a distance... I must admit, I am very disappointed with him

Another was the Huakui (?) (Not sure if the spelling is correct) Yun Qing was her name? (I dont remember her anymore) When she was doing her scheme to gain a position in the fu (when she saw that being/acting virtuous wont make her advance in He Heng's heart) she actually recited about a poem during the time when He Heng was about to go to Qing Ju's place! At that time, the huakui was actually acting pitiful and knelt down (? Not sure if I remember correctly) He Heng was actually staring at her chest...

Last example was the Qin girl, I think it was Qin Bai Lu's (Wife of He Yuan, brother of He Heng, favored prince of the Emperor) relative. It happened during a banquet hosted by Qing Ju herself, at that time, if I remember correctly. He Heng actually took a second glance at her and was implied to be interested because the girl was dressed in a simple and elegant way, also the way of her speaking made him look at her.. but that interest waned when he saw the pearl-something-shoes that she wore and greatly reprimanded her..

Aish.. I cant help but feel saddened in Qing Ju's behalf.. she has many love rivals.. (The concubines, Wei Ran Shung {I dont know if her name is correct but this girl is also He Heng's cousin], the princess that visited the palace when He Heng ascended the throne.. even her sister admired her husband..)

While Qing Ju on the other hand.. He Heng didnt even need to shoo off some admirers even though He Yuan showed some signs that he likes her..

For example.. whenever he sees Qing Ju, he always thinks that he is pretty, when he complained to his mother about his wife, he said that he implied that he would be better off with someone like Qing Ju, when Qing Ju was pregnant, even without the approval of his very own Wang Fei, he sent her very abundant and good gifts.. And.. finally, during the epilogue made for He Yuan.. it was finally officially said that he indeed harbored feeling for her.. We found out during that chapter that he sent her paintings, got a wife and concubines that has some similar traits with the empress and even told his son during his death bed that he wanted (not really said, just told the son to get a box from the closet (?) and when he perishes, he wants it with him, when he finally passes away, his second wife opened the box and was shocked to see a painting of a woman standing (?) during the Plum Blossoms gathering.

I wish we have some sequel.. what is it was He Yuan instead? I am very interested to see what would've happened to the two of them..

If I had to find one flaw of the work, it is that the relationship of the 2 main leads never really encounters any truly difficult challenges which would require some sort of sacrifice on the part of either one. It gives it a bit of a fairy tale feel though I understand that the author never meant for this novel to be anything overly serious.

For example, she gives birth to a healthy male heir right off the bat. Imagine the pressure He Heng would have to face to have children with other wives if she is not able to produce an heir for even a few years! I doubt he would be able to stay completely faithful to her in such a case.

The FL enjoys a leisure life and everything goes her way. If I had any complaints, it would be that there's never really a basis for the depth of the emperor's love for her. Like no big moment that makes him realize she's the one for him. All she did was look good, eat well and be kind, but now that I'm writing this I realize that realistically there's not much more than that needed to fall in love with someone. They were also really good friends. Their interactions were nice to read.

The "villains" in the story are mostly s*upid/jealous/ambitious women and after the ML became the emperor, the story became a little repetitive and just kept throwing these women at the emperor so he could reject them and make the empress assured of his love for her