- #1
(੭눈 _ 눈) ੭ - boring, meek and bland to the point you want to yawn...
At first I got interested... the author portrayed female lead as calm and virtuous... but then, it showed her practicing sword dancing and playing chess all the time...
Of course that aroused my curiosity... who doesn't love a heroine that kick ass?
But then... that's it... she sword dance a couple of times and never showed off her martial skills again... she practices chess every night before bed, but lost badly when playing against the Emperor...
(Omg just read a novel before with female lead and male lead meeting for the first time in a festival and while watching a competition of chess, they started playing against each other in blindfold chess - Playing chess in your mind, also known as blindfold chess, is a challenging and impressive skill that requires a strong memory and visualization abilities... you basically set the board in your mind, memorize all the positions of yours chess pieces and the opponents and play mentally by telling to your opponent your chess moves... omg! It gives me goosebumps of just imagining this scene!) But sadly this female lead, in this story, practices chess every night and it's still mediocre...
(-﹏-。) sad
the author said that she's virtuous and knows chess, painting, calligraphy and zither... but she never demonstrated any of her "talents" during the whole story... the author also made a mistake (or was a problem in the machine translation?) by saying that the heroine learned swordsmanship and archery... but in the scene which she was in the soldiers camp practicing archery, she shot the arrows so badly that didn't even reached the target...
(--_--) Oh dear, so embarrassing and she still got praised (to save some face maybe?)
And lastly and the worst of all, is that she refused to discuss politics with the Emperor because women discussing politics is taboo and deemed to disaster according to her own thoughts (and obviously the thought of every Ancient Chinese people) and despite being a reality, it doesn't make less sad that the female lead is so mediocre that still abide by that patriarchal and chauvinist rule... what about the story of being an outstanding heroine that is bold and intelligent enough to understand and discuss politics?
Her goal in life is also boring and mediocre (surprise! (ॣ•͈૦•͈ ॣ) to find a good and nice husband)... argh, so sad... a typical noble girl from the inner house...
But... the only good point is that she's pretty and cute... but besides that, she's nothing special and is extremely boring...
[collapse]There's a second male lead... Spoilerhis participation in the story is really little but he's also boring and really pitiful since he's the nice guy that doesn't get the girl (but kinda his fault since he was indecisive)...
[collapse]All in all, Spoilerthe male lead Emperor is a little overbearing but not excessive (in my opinion, I saw worse Emperors) and female lead is blah but still a little likable (way better than those hateful female leads in some novels)... so a 3 star rating...
The imperial family is also cute, with the Empress Dowager and the Princess with her male concubines... the heroine's adopted father is really nice too (he's the general that loved her mother deeply)
The people that normally is always the villains in other stories, such as second female lead, is really nice in this novel...
A nasty family and ex fiancée like majority of Ancient Chinese novels... but despite that, I think that her father's behavior of not liking her if it's not accepted at least can be understandable, since... (big spoiler)
SpoilerThe alleged biological father always harbored suspicions that the female lead's mother was not a virg*n when they married and that she was already pregnant with the female lead. As a result, he was always distant and neglectful towards both the heroine and her mother. Instead of confronting his wife and seeking a divorce if he truly doubted her fidelity, he chose to save face by staying married and accepted the heroine as his daughter. However, if he had truly committed to this decision despite his suspicions, he should have treated the heroine with fairness and honesty. While his behavior was misguided, it's understandable considering human emotions; he may have been biased towards his second daughter, the only one he was certain was biologically his.
And the suspicion proved to be true... he wasn't the real father and in the end he was also a victim by being used... despite a bunch of twist and turns in the story made everyone involved being relatively innocent... so he might be a villain but a kinda of justified villain?
[collapse]Oh, just a reminder for those who feel uncomfortable... male lead is probably in his twenties (actually it doesn't mention in the novel, I'm justing estimating?) and started liking female lead of 14 years old (since her coming of age ceremony only happens at the end of the novel, and normally happens when the girl is 15 years old).
It's kinda ok for me... read worst novels with female lead of 12 years old and male lead really older than that (pe*ophilia for some, but normal in Ancient Times?) One was even "funny" with the Emperor becoming a father at 15 years old and falling in love with a young heroine and getting jealous of his older son, since his son and his lover of 15 years old, are practically of the same age and the oldest son really started harboring some romantic feelings for the heroine (funny and tragic? (ᗒᗜᗕ) ՛̵̖)
[collapse]But don't give up to read the novel and take your own conclusions... it's not so bad in the end... Ah, one last interesting spoiler... ——- ∩ ∧＿∧ ﾉ ヽ (´´ิ∀´ิ`) ⊂´＿＿＿___∩SpoilerThe s*x diary of the Emperor...
In the novel, an eunuch record every time the Emperor and Empress sleeps together and it seems that even the amount of time that they do it is recorded (that's how it's described in the novel...)
I read about this in another novel and it's seemed that they recorded it to prevent the concubines cheating in case they get pregnant? (Don't know if it's true... goggle said that some of the s*x diary was only for records per si and even described the position they had s*x... I don't know how they recorded... the eunuchs kept trying to listen the noise in the room or he keeps inside the room to witness everything or the Emperor described after he finished?
ꉂꉂ (ᵔᗜᵔ*) ʱªʱª⁎*.＊
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