what i like so much about mudan and changyang is that they genuinely like each other as people, and so they are real friends. changyang's infinitely charmed by mudan, while mudan finds him interesting, trustworthy, and comfortable to be herself around with no need for the distancing of politeness or decorum. they like spending time with each other doing the things they both enjoy--drinking, eating, admiring flowers, and just talking. mudan sees past the frolicking corrupt official act changyang puts on, and he doesn't ask her to put on an act of being demure, obedient, and less intelligent than he is.
the pacing of the show is like a thriller, with a truly ridiculous amount of harrowing (and exhausting) things happening to mudan one right after the other, with her overcoming them like some kind of unfailing god. but throughout all of that is her and changyang coming home to each other for the quotidian rituals of domestic life--grill some food, have some wine, talk about their day, invite friends over, tease each other and draw out the tension of their flirtatious business partnership cum friendship turned fake marriage with real and blossoming romantic feelings.
the review of the ~first season~ shows mudan telling changyang's aunt what she'd like in an ideal husband, and it tickled me to remember how changyang fulfills every single last one of her wishes. i love how this makes the show's commitment to romantic fantasy equal to its commitment to a power fantasy.
fantasies of power: mudan escapes a shitty marriage and a narcissist husband, outwits a royal, succeeds in business and gains back her mother's lost flower garden, gets a powerful financial and social backer in changyang, and loves and is able to financially and socially support other women (obsessed with how in many ways she is for her girlfriends like changyang is for her--freeing them, supporting them, extending the circle of their power and empowerment).
fantasies of romance: mudan wants a husband who can understand her better than she understands herself, and changyang does; she wants a husband who knows what she likes and dislikes without her having to say a thing, and changyang does; she wants a husband who can face all the crazy ass shit she always seems to encounter with her, and changyang does. for all the imbalances of power between them (and there are many, considering she's a woman and he's a man, and he's an aristocrat and she's a merchant), changyang is very much someone who lives up to what mudan wants--he is made in the image of her desire.