Devil’s Warmth Chapter 59 Discussion

This is actually a pretty moving story, with realistic character developments and plot progression. The ML is disabled since he was four years old, and the FL wakes up when she was four years old, but within a few days of her arrival, her high fever burned the memories of her transmigration away. She only managed to scribble some messages to herself before they were really gone, and her memories returned in dribs and drabs as she got older. Thus, she saw the ML as the child he is, as she was also a child that's only a little older than him.

Be warned that when I say realistic, I mean realistic. I get annoyed when there are 5-yo in stories that don't act like their age, so it was refreshign to see that their actions are age-appropriate as they grew older. It was also great to see their childhood friends grow up and mature—something you don't see in c-novels often. On the downside, I realise that this is the root of some people's complaints—that the ML is so gloomy and down on himself.

The Male Lead: He's not a CEO, ha ha. Seriously, though, you don't have to be a developmental psychologist to know that having no adult to support him and be with him all the way since he was a child would leave lasting trauma and mental scars. Of-freaking-course he would create a shell around him, pushing people away. It's easier to be the one doing the rejecting than to open yourself and be rejected later. It doesn't help that this was set in a time when China was also still pretty prejudiced against disabled people (well, I suppose now too, but I assume it would've lessened somewhat).

If people don't like the ML's prickliness and insecurity, just scram, but don't say his character is bad in and of itself. He's a difficult person to deal with for most people, all spikes on the outside, but the FL can always read him the best, more than anyone else. And she considers his friendship worth keeping from the beginning, because she understood his small acts of kindnesses better than other people too. If she didn't find it a burden to be friends with him, why the heck should the readers complain?

She's not sacrificing her future with him. She didn't love him to the exclusion of everyone else. She still has her family, has a good relationship with him. She still studies to get into the schools she wants, the university she really wants, etc, and he had never been a barrier to that.

Their relationship is healthy; a lot healthier than the ones between some of those FLs and overbearing CEOs.

Our MC, the female lead: I see some reviews say that the FL is unremarkable. My response is, how the frack did they reach that conclusion?? Did we even read the same story? She's mentally strong. Since she'd always been a few years older in mental age than her physical age (her memory trickles back bit by bit as she grows up), so she'd always shown more maturity than her peers. She could see that he was hurt by the rejection of the people around him, or their easy dismissal of him. Because of this, she always tries to cheer him up, to show him that there is still kindness and warmth in this world.

She's also courageous. There was one time where he actually studied seriously for a final-term test because of her good wishes to him, and got the #1 rank in his school. But considering he'd been a slacker before, he was accused of cheating. She personally dragged him to the school's director (who accused him) and asked for evidence, and flat out told him that he was an embarrassment as an educator, because a teacher should always trust their student first. She challenged them to test him again under strictly monitored conditions. He'd already given up before she did that, not even trying to clear his name. But it was her efforts that turned the condition around for him.

Remember that her mental age is only 2-3 years older than her body at all times. She's a teenager, and she went against the system, alone, for him. Because she knew and trusted his ability that much. She's not like those transmigrators who are adults in a small body, and she doesn't have a golden finger either. This is a true act of courage.

That was how he started to turn his life around, to start studying seriously.

She's not a pushover: One of her friends was being a green tea b**ch, but after she did poisonous acts more than once, she hits back. She's kind, but she wouldn't let people walk all over her either. Points from my side.

Plot: Mostly slice-of-life, as their relationship grows through the years. He (tries) to push her away, and she chased him down again and manages to see through his lies, excuses and prevarications. It's still a webnovel c-novel, though. This means that there'd be some school drama from the s*upid actions of petty people (see the green tea b**ch comment above), the gossips that surround the FL because she's the school flower... and the underworld from which the ML earns his money after he left his parents' house.

To his credit, the ML never blames the MC for any jealousy that he felt. But if you were looking for a more stable relationship interaction, or at least one where they communicate better... that's not going to be this one, alright? It's a budding relationship between teenagers after years of friendship. His sense of self-worth is a bottomless abyss that's only getting closed in litte bits at a time. It's realistic, but it might be frustrating to people who want a faster payoff (if that's you, then just look for a quick transmigration story, then).

TL;DR: Young woman gets transmigrated to her younger self, loses most of her memories and basically grows up as a child that's mentally older by 2-3 years from her peers. She remembers one person she wants to repay, though, the ML whose feet had been cut off as a child, and she struck a friendship with him in kindergarten. The story follows them growing up, the ML being prickly and the MC seeing through it after some time. Basically a realistic coming-of-age romance against a prejudiced world.

Has some dramatic elements typical of webnovels too, to get the tension high. Sweet, if gritty, story.