- #1
In my opinion a story gets kind of boring when everything is too perfect and easy for the MC. Before reading this novel, I read The Only Favorite Ugly Husband which had much better worldbuilding and charter development than this novel. They are pretty much the same scenario, the MC is transmigrated to ancient times and starts a business and grows their power, but in TOFUH the MC doesn't have any cheats other than having a bit of business sense developed by living in modern times which makes his future development a lot more satisfying.The novel is a bit hard to get absorbed in because every time I started to get intrigued by the plot, some nonsensical and usually arbitrary detail is shoved in. Many aspects of the novel have confusing and somewhat pointless backstory that kind of takes away from the character building and the worldbuilding with holes and flaws. For example, the MC is basically able to do everything despite the fact that in his previous life he was only a chef. The author uses the excuse that he lived in the country with his grandparents when he was younger, but this really doesn't excuse the fact that he not only knows the mechanics of things like a noodle maker and carriage but also knows how to perfectly draw a design of them. This is a common theme where the MC knows extremely arbitrary info like the recipe of smokeless coal and how to build a cotton machine.This wouldn't be so bad if the MC was just really smart, but he even acknowledges that he isn't, and this is shown by the fact that basically all his problems are solved by his magical space and the water he gets from it. This is another thing that kind of made broke the flow of the story because every time the MC accomplished something it was basically thanks to the magical water. Now, usually it adds an interesting element to a story when the MC has a golden finger, but in this case, it just felt so random and thrown in.One of the things I find really irritating is the development of MCs personality. The author makes the villain's very noisy and constantly finding trouble, which is usually interesting, however, sometimes they just seem to exist purely to offset the virtue of the MC and ML. Sometime the MC's 'virtue' comes across as a bit pretentious. For example, all the children of the villain's and annoying relatives are equally obnoxious and seem to really annoy the MC. When the children come to visit his farm, they break branches and knock flowers from the trees and demand he give them his things. However, when his own children are born the author talks about how beautiful they are and how all the villagers want to hug them because they are so cute. Then, makes sure to say that they would never let them touch their children because they have too many germs.This is the point I started to get annoyed because it became pretty clear that everything of the MC's is better than everyone else, which is soooo not how children work. Even if you think your child is the cutest and most well behaved, they are still messy and tiring and a lot of work. But the MC's children are quiet, cute, and well-behaved.