- #1
To read this story, you must acknowledge that the portrayal of ab*se itself is not bad. No, really, if you give it one star because it has ab*se in the main cp, then you missed the whole point. I think that this story is an accidentally brilliant potrayal of ab*se and toxic realtionships (yes, many relationships, the main cp and a side cp and a couple of really minor characters??????). This novel offers a lesser known portrayal of ab*se, where the ab*ser is the lover, not the antagonist.Fair warning, because r*pe is tagged, this novel is casually r*pey. Most gongs are casually r*pey. But r*pe is treated more as losing a spar than something very traumatising and bone-chilling bad that happens to the characters. And also is a way of flirting. I'm gonna tag victim blaming too. ≪spoiler> even the strongest most powerful charcter in this story got r*ped by a woman and had a child with her and is blamed by his rapist's brother, his rapist, his wife, and himself.</spoiler>If the main couple brings you discomfort, congrats, you see it, you see the rotten foundation that this seemingly sweet and devoted relationship is based on. This story's toxic relationships are brilliant in the fact that even if the author sugar coated it in an overwhelming amount of senseless devotion from the ML to the MC, ab*se is ab*se. It's rather like show, not tell. If one write about ab*se and screams "THIS IS ab*se" every other line, then it ruins the immersion, won't it.One of the recurring detail that really catches my eyes is the fact that no matter how badass, how hard the MC tries to grow up, he reverts back to a dumb babied fool whenever he's in the same room as the ml. We can see how he is ruined by his ab*ser (s), and how everyone goes along with the ML instead of the MC, all in the name of 'doing what is good for him'. The MC can be brilliant, but it ultimately doesn't matter because the ML can and will cut off his wings the next. MC can be a god that brings prosperity and brightness one moment, and a mere s*x toy to be indulged and a prize to be taken by the emperors the next. Helplessness, naivety and ignorance is what made this character a character, and is both horrifying and intriguing.Why do I say 'accidentally brilliant'? Because maybe the author hasn't meant it like this, maybe they were just trying to write a p*rno. Dubcons/noncons and seemingly innocent emotional manipulations are a staple in these kind of danmeis after all. But because it is just so stubbornly ignorant of the ab*se going on that it accidentally became a realistic portrayal of some ab*se victim's mentality.All in all, if you enjoy looking at the red flags and seeing how red they can get, then this is gold. If you require good details and plot go read qiang jin jiu then yeah, this novel really is tr*shy.
