- #1
Man, it's overrated it's crazy. I kinda like the twists and turns, but if you narrowed it down, the plot is just... Okay? Arranged marriage, do bad things to people who offend you, husband #1 dies, scheme against the protags, married again, scheme against the emperor, war, husband dies, husband reborn, do bad things again... Idk it's just, okay.For the dynamic, I personally don't hate their dynamic. They're interesting characters on their own and they also complement the existence of the other, but they don't really influence one another in a personal level. It's like two tropes mashed into a relationship. The goal of the ML at this point is just to provide comical relief in a pathetic attempt to whitewash the shou with his psychopathic tendencies.I feel some side characters have potential to shine, Shen Huaishi, Xiao Jie and Xi Rong, Xiao Chen, even Princess Jingchun. But they weren't even given the chance to connect on readers on a personal level bc the author just said 'they been mention on the orig novel, this is different', or just 'they messed with shou so... die'. Maybe I'm just upset and find the death of Xi Rong and Xiao Cheng unnecessary and something that could have been resolved if the author just, idk tried? The only sin that Xi Rong committed is wanting to monopolize the power in order to protect him and his brother if Lin Qingyu decided to lay his hands on them. Spoiler
The reason why Xi Rong was guarded with Qingyu in the first place is bc he also wanted an in to the power when he asked for the Tianji Camp's seal, wanting to control a military force that should have been the Emperor's, so technically, Xi Rong was forced to be on guard against him, thus forcing him to make a move of Gu Fuzhou. Qingyu just asked for it.
[collapse] They're both on guard against one another, but they both have someone they wanted to protect and it could have been a good partnership. Overall, plot mediocre, characters fairly interesting. Would read again if I'm going to look back at novels with missed potential.