- #1
I just... can't anymore. Over 280+ chapters later and I'm throwing in the towel. This novel is just WAY too bloated and draggy in the middle. The author could have easily taken out 100 chapters and the results would be the same. I skimmed through a lot. I was excited to start and finish this too. Court conspiracy lesbians, who could resist? But the fact that it took so, so, so long for Qi Yan to finally be revealed just made it so frustrating because Jingnu thinks she's in love with a man for 2/3 of the novel. Also, Qi Yan is just too perfect, her schemes are always so flawless and things rarely ever go wrong. No one is her equal unless the story calls for one for the sake of convenience. It's just not realistic and there are no stakes at all.I had more interest in er-jie Nangong Shunu's transformation. The fact that she was an unfavored daughter who was forced to suffer in a loveless marriage for so long and then found her true self in the end was just a much better character arc for me to follow. I got way too attached to her story but was disappointed that there was barely anything there to extract. We only get glimpses of her story with Xiao-Die. Anyway, knowing that it's a happy ending I'll just happily drop this. There were some parts that felt very angsty and delicious between the two of them and it's out in the open but for the majority of it it's always just in Qi Yan's head. It's too unsatisfying. The writing is excellent and the translation is good. The author is so meticulous in her research and detail so I didn't want to give this a low rating.