- #1
Read to chapter 155 then skimmed to the end. The first half of the novel was pretty entertaining, but went really down hill after chapter 120 or so.As a warning, the main couples first time is absolutely non consensual and their second time is a little bit dub con, but everything after is lovey dovey.MC was okay, I usually love a gong MC, but he wasn't anything special. A little bit shameless and rouge like which led to some laughs.ML is absolutely just a prop of a character after like chapter 20-30. Once he quickly falls for MC he gets regulated to random superficial appearances. Wanted more about him.Their romance is meh to be honest. The ML believed and fell for the MC too quickly. At least it wasn't a slow burn.I did like the MC trying to be more forward thinking about a women/gers place he tried to introduce his ideas everywhere, but not exactly force them on others. His ideas about education was enlightening, saying there are good points in both Western and Eastern styles.Then the author ruined it all with the overly patriotic China is the best and westerners are horrible rhetoric and the MC being so accepting and brutal to s*aves. The idea that China was upright as merchants and were good their s*aves while westerners were horrible to s*aves and where trying to scam everyone made me laugh. Let's be real, everyone s**ked during that time period.The part that really bothered me was that the MC had no qualms about owning s*aves and literally let the kids from the school bully and pick on some of them. Granted those s*aves weren't good people, but allowing 10 year olds to bully them was distasteful. The whole last part of the book just ruined it for me.The last bit is all aboutSpoiler
the imperial examination, you know the one that he wasn't going to do. Well he does and of course wins first place. MC then does something I absolutely hate on these books, he creates gun powder and explosives. I wish the novel had kept away from the capital and the political nonsense, just focused on education reform.
Also since when is English a derivative of Latin? Apparently he can learn the "barbarian" language quickly because they speak Latin and he knows English. Like I get Latin did have some influence on English, however, it is a derivative of Germanic.
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