I prefer more the original story than this reversal or side story-- whatever you call it. I have read Ning yu's story and it's much acceptable than this.
just finish this. and here is my rating of it without spoilers
character 4/5,
story 4.5/5,
worldbuilding 4.5/5,
ending 4/5,
spacing between story events 4.5/5,
romance 3.5/5,
my overall enjoyment of it all 5/5.
Ironically, they created a television series (Chum chun gei) based on this novel, but as it was adapted the idea from the beginning was "not to change anything in the story", so it was probably less disappointing than the novel.
Popular Reviews
character 4/5,
story 4.5/5,
worldbuilding 4.5/5,
ending 4/5,
spacing between story events 4.5/5,
romance 3.5/5,
my overall enjoyment of it all 5/5.