To Be A Virtuous Wife

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As a virtuous wife, does it include tolerating his cousin, enduring his concubines, bearing his mother?

If you will not let me live freely, why would I let you live in satisfaction?

Did fate let women time-travel so they could learn the three morals and four virtues?

Rather than act like a coward and live, it would be better to live in satisfaction and die.

Associated Names
One entry per line
He Wei Xian Qi
Thế nào là hiền thê
ชายาผู้มีคุณธรรม
何为贤妻
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Eight Treasures Trousseau (31)
Chu Wang Fei (14)
Husband, Be A Gentleman (12)
Chongfei Manual (9)
Demon Wang’s Golden Favorite Fei (8)
Mei Gongqing (7)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Best Female Protagonists
  2. 5 RATED HISTORICAL NOVEL
  3. a history
  4. Favorite B/G Historical Novels
  5. The BEST Historical Novels (BG only)

Latest Release

Date Group Release
01/05/16 Dreams of Jianghu c123 (end)
01/04/16 Dreams of Jianghu c122
01/03/16 Dreams of Jianghu c121
01/02/16 Dreams of Jianghu c120
01/01/16 Dreams of Jianghu c119
12/31/15 Dreams of Jianghu c118
12/30/15 Dreams of Jianghu c117
12/29/15 Dreams of Jianghu c116
12/28/15 Dreams of Jianghu c115
12/27/15 Dreams of Jianghu c114
12/26/15 Dreams of Jianghu c113
12/25/15 Dreams of Jianghu c112
12/24/15 Dreams of Jianghu c111
12/23/15 Dreams of Jianghu c110
12/22/15 Dreams of Jianghu c109
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352 Reviews sorted by


Rida
Rida rated it
November 30, 2020
Status: c54
The author makes the ML clever only by making every other character brainless.

... more>>
Spoiler

For instance, when the first and third prince were fighting and the fourth prince got injured, they only suspected each other. I understand why they might make that conclusion but shouldn't they at least consider that a third party might be involved? (In this case it was the ML, who is manipulating them behind the scenes like literally every BG xianxia book.)

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The MC is also quite irksome. She's a grown woman mentally but takes pleasure in the fact that she can rebut the words of a teenager. Even if I don't expect her to be a punching bag, she should be more mature than what she acts like.

Overall an over-hyped and generic let-down. Don't recommend. <<less
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Xye86
Xye86 rated it
December 9, 2017
Status: c123
Just done reading this novel and I can say that this is really Gem...a treasure novel. Real Fairy Tale in a more realistic plot.

Been doubting reading this novel at first. I, myself, doesn't like male MC behave as a Lothario but the Male MC here proves me wrong... He is hopelessly devoted to the female MC. I bow to this faithfulness.

I love the tenacity and coolness of the female MC. Wish I could be like that.

Overall this web novel is something I would love to keep and re-read it again... more>> sometime soon.

I intensely Recommend this to readers who loves a realistic Fairy Tale (with some twist). <<less
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Sae
Sae rated it
October 19, 2016
Status: Completed
Definitely a great novel of its genre, whichever you would categorize it into. There is a fine balance between romance and noble/imperial life struggle, though it is more lighthearted and easy on the mind than other disadvantaged female reincarnation stories. The novel is straightforward, laced with humor and subtle philosophy, only 123 chap yet many moments are pure gold, I didn't regret a second of it.

There are no overly, obviously 1D dumb characters that put up a headache of prolonged nonsense verbal arguments. Many characters are realistic and some even delightful, those who appear simple are not really simple, befitting the era setting. The lead couple are smart people who excel at acting and hiding their true capabilities. Their interactions are thus interesting and spark great chemistry.

Minor
Spoiler

The MC is clear-headed, open-minded, charismatic, adapting and knows how to care for herself. She has a firm mindset and not afraid to live as freely as she could because 'the worse is just death'. She manages people skillfully and never goes out of her way to slight more people and create never ending cycle of enmity, nor actively trying to climb the power ladder. That's why she is lowkey, not showing off her might yet still greatly respected and able to enjoy her life though being a member of the imperial family.

The male lead's character can be considered pretty decent for the era and also for someone with the prince position. He is also capable yet even more lowkey, because he is the type that secretly scheming, and he is very good at it. The story being not from his pov also contributes to this. I eventually got to see how he is fitting to be a ruler, a skilled flirt but I never held him highly in the matter of romance and reading the MC's heart. However at c104, I realized that I underestimated him greatly. After that he gets better and better.

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The translation quality is thumbs up great, the translator is thoughtful and pleasant. The author leaves a good impression. 5/5 for everything.
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pichu
pichu rated it
May 10, 2016
Status: --
Lack of sleep for 2 days is worth it. I enjoyed reading this story. There is no major conflict between the main characters, its more like nourishing love as time passed. Slow paced yet I can't stop reading it. Good job and thank you.
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meowm
meowm rated it
January 20, 2022
Status: c41
Holy hell, am I the only one who doesn't like this novel?

I read it once before but dropped it and I didn't remember why when I decided to give it a try again since I hear so much about it. It's okay. Honestly, I'm not impressed. Another story where the main character is the only smart one among everyone. She outshines everyone, no one is as good as her. So cliché. I am biased though, because while reading this I suddenly figured out the reason I dropped it. Rui Wang.... more>> Safe to say, my tastes in men haven't changed since the last time I read this book and it's definitely beauties like Rui Wang. Arrogant, willful, gorgeous enough to surpass women, yup, he checks all the boxes, so when this story displayed him as some sort of idiotic man-child, I was clearly not going to have any of it. It's not only this though, it's like I mentioned before, showing how smart the main characters are compared to everyone else and how boring the male lead and main character are. Seriously, I haven't been this unattracted to a male lead except for novels I hate. He's so boring, so robotic and I really don't feel his chemistry with MC, at all <<less
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Kim Nara
Kim Nara rated it
August 30, 2021
Status: Completed
This is a story about how a woman should behave. Put yourself first before others, please yourself rather than fawn and please others because if you let yourself down then others could do that to you too.

The FL didn't have that ridiculous OP, super smart brain or whatever, she's just someone that already died once and so she accepted that one day she will die again but before that happens, she would enjoy herself as much as she can and not let others bothered her.

Of course since it is ancient... more>> time, this traits of her will make her special in the others eye and make her win ML favour. But I myself think even in our society now, this carefree attitude could make you pass your day happier than if you fawn and pleased others to give you happinesses.

I love how FL enjoy herself, find amus**ent, and watch everything with carefree attitude. She's not someone that make trouble then crying for help, or acted coquettish to gain favour. Of course she acted and fake her behaviour too, but it's rather to amused herself and she love watching other people reaction towards her.

I give this 5 star so others can read this too, this is a good light story. <<less
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aitakm1
aitakm1 rated it
July 21, 2020
Status: c10
I tried to skip the rating section on this review but accidentally gave it a one... whoops.

Anyways, to me, as well as many others, this novel was very difficult to read due to all the excessive use of Chinese terms the translators decided to put in. This was the first reason why I struggled to finish 10 chapters.

Another reason was that the protagonist’s personality was too bland to me. Maybe it’s because in the more recent novels I read, the protagonists were so full of life and a way to... more>> connect, that from this protagonist I felt nothing.

Finally, this may be weird to say, but it felt too fast paced? Like how quickly she captured the prince’s attention, how quickly she was able to adapt and put people in their place?

Of course, these types of novels I don’t necessarily mind sometimes as long as there is something to capture my attention. However this novel was not for me.

(keep in mind, I only read 10 chapters so what I said is based off of those 10 chapters) <<less
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CherryPie94
CherryPie94 rated it
June 6, 2020
Status: c38
The problem with this story is that the female lead is not developed properly. We hardly know anything about her previous life and there is no grand purpose for this story. In "The Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage" the female lead wants revenge and in "Doomed to be Cannon Fodder", the female lead wants to survive, however in this novel, you just don't know. The only thing she does is eat and sleep with the male lead.

The translation is like a Chinese lesson too. Wang Fei could... more>> have been easily translated as Princess Consort. Fu could have been easily translated as complex, house, or residence. Duān Qīn Wáng could have been easily translated as Prince Duan of the First Rank. I'm pretty sure people had to keep the glossary open and check each time they forgot the meaning of a word.

I was actually editing an epub file and translating almost all the pinyin to their English equivalent term if available, but because the story is boring I just abandoned that at chapter 38.

I just started "Doomed to be Cannon Fodder", but I totally recommend it if you stories like this. Actually, "Doomed to be Cannon Fodder" has lots of Chinese terms like "To Be A Virtuous Wife" but they were almost all translated instead of being left as pinyin. <<less
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nenuphar
nenuphar rated it
June 1, 2018
Status: Completed
Well...i enjoyed it, even through the translation at first was very hard to understand given the fact it was my first c novel but it was still surmountable. What I didn't really like was the lack of hardship for the FL. Everything is so easy for her: the romance, the mother in law, the dumb enemies.... all was served on a silver platter for her so I had difficulties to relate to her or even to care about her. She's like a big mary sue with no defaults and it's... more>> a bit tiring. Characters like qin bai lu and he yuan were so much more interesting with really good growth character ? ML was okay but forgettable cause the romance was too much smooth like they NEVER had an argument so I had the feeling of watching a lovey dovey OLD couple and their romance was never challenged. It should have been. <<less
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LeeEzekiel
LeeEzekiel rated it
March 21, 2018
Status: --
Story: A bit of a mellow taste, I suppose? First, the way cannon fodder are dealt with was pretty anticlimatic and / or rushed compared to other works in the genre. Second, everything feels shallow; I can't get invested into any of these people. I do like the uniqueness of the MC and ML's romance though. It's like they're both putting up the facade of a sweet harmonious couple for their own purposes, yet they slowly become genuinely fond of each other too.

Translation: Okay, I understand leaving terms like wang ye and wang fei untranslated, but for even the terms for sister-in-law, servant girls, concubines, etc. To be left in Chinese feels horribly pretentious, like ten levels worse than Japanese translators refusing to translate "nakama". This isn't preserving the essence... more>> of the novel, this is just being pedantic for the sake of it. Then there's the issue of rampant typos - seems to have very little proofreading, translator just relies on a spellchecker, so most errors are things like using the word "being" instead of "behind". All in all a well-meaning but sloppy performance. <<less
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andrometic
andrometic rated it
March 3, 2018
Status: Completed
This story was... disappointing.

But you still gave it a 4 star, you may ask - well, I managed to stick with it til the last two chapters of the epilogue, so I think it deserves that much. And the writing was truly beautiful - the translators did an amazing job, and there are some really nice passages. They also put together a wonderful glossary, which was very helpful during the first several chapters, and periodically included a visual compilation of the jewelry, fabrics, and other such things, which I thought... more>> looked absolutely beautiful. Technically, this was a wonderful piece of writing - it was the soul that was lacking.

(SPOILERS AHOY. I am new to this site and don't quite know how to work the spoiler buttons yet, so I am giving a warning!)

I don't mean the romance between the two main characters. That was another thing I enjoyed - it was delicate, well planned out, and honestly, the two were super cute together. You could really feel the love even coming out of the pages! (Well, the computer screen, lol.) The scenes where HH and QQJ are together and in love, they're really well done. The scenes like sharing a bath, playing a board game, they were so cute, and the... shall we say, steamier scenes were deftly handled and so good! Plus, the MC's approach to her life - don't dedicate your life to a man, treat yourself best first - was refreshing and tbh, actually some pretty good advice.

The sad thing is the plot, because this was basically the super powerful best at everything stallion novel hero dressed up in women's court dresses. The MC is just the best at everything, the prettiest, most virtuous, most perfect woman, whose charms are so great her husband would never stray, not once. Nothing bad happens to her and nothing bad reflects on her, or at least not once she finds out about it. Everything goes perfectly for her; the book reads more like a gloss than an actual story, there's next to no plot that doesn't either happen to her or happen around her. And for a modern woman, she certainly had no internal issues with completely destroying people's lives, just with the vague thought that 'oh, they brought it on themselves.' Whether that's true or not, you can't even find one shred of sympathy or guilt that comes from a human place? The MC had very few moments of being an actual character, not the hand of the plot gods - I loved the small moments where she does stuff like cheat at a board game and plays a naive idiot with her mother-in-law, and how she's like, 'but actually I really like all these pretty jewels and robes, ' but other than that she's just a dream archetype with faint personality.

Plus, it seemed like so many of the women were punished for 'not being the MC.' I mean, they even make a note of that in the story - that women are judged far more harshly than men - and yet, it feels like empty lip service when you see characters like Rui Wang/He Yuan beat and (possibly, I skimmed over the scene because it was kind of upsetting) r*pe their concubines and wives, act like spoiled brats, and generally have an evil personality, and yet what happens to him? He's demoted for five years and in the end gets to divorce Qin Bai Lu and marry a new, younger, more beautiful wife - approved by MC, naturally - and suddenly he is more faithful to her. Meanwhile, MC's half sister, one of his concubines, whose greatest crime is being kind of mean to the MC when they were children because they were step sisters and her mother clearly hated MC, ends up as his concubine because her parents are power hungry, and is beaten by him, if not r*ped then is violently treated by him in bed, and eventually, once she dares to ask him to spare her family because her parents have been coming to beg her about it, he casts her to the side for having the temerity to ask him for anything, then she gets sick and dies because Qin Bai Lu and He Yuan both refuse to call a physician and even mock her for it. Similar things happen to everyone who's even halfway interested in the ML, the MC doesn't even hesitate before skipping straight to crushing them, and it's only the women who are interested in ML or have wronged MC. So many families destroyed, not unjustly but each chapter it happens the characters and the narrative make a point of blaming the woman interested in the ML as the source of all her house's troubles. MC has no relationships with anyone not her husband or (barely) Jin An Princess (maybe her mother in law? but they disappear midway through the novel) that isn't one where she's in a superior position; her closest people seem to be her personal servants who exist mostly to give an in-universe account about how she's so great, she's wonderful, she's the best.

And for all that this novel pays half a mind to what a modern woman might think living here - there's a couple of great sections where MC and Jin An Princess are watching a play or MC reads a novel and she comments on how obnoxious and wish fulfillment they are and how women are always the villain in them even when they are the ones being wronged, or MC thinks about how much she wants internet because she is so bored, or that they should think about the poor people who are starving as a result of embezzlement and raised taxes for nothing more than some new clothes for the wang ye - they never follow through on anything. I'm not saying she has to single handedly revolutionize industry, I'd just like something to come of it! How hard is it to introduce some tension or conflict between her own views and the world she is living in? The MC was a dancer and worked as a manager in the entertainment industry, ostensibly (we get no memories and no information on this) - you're telling me you can't work this into the novel as anything more than an explanation for why the MC is The Best at dancing and The Best at reading people? Somehow she instinctively knows all the proper manners and way of speaking of a world hundreds of years before her own and never makes a mistake? How boring.

Which brings me to a repeating theme in the story, especially at the beginning - the idea that life isn't a fairy tale. And it's not - unless you're the MC. I've seen some comments both in and out of the text that lean towards parts of this story being a deconstruction of fairy tales, specifically when touching on Yun Qing. But rather, it seems that this is a fairy tale, it's just the MC's fairy tale. Which is fine, but shouldn't be billed as a story where the MC works to make her future happen, and succeeds due to her skill and practicality. She's an incredibly passive agent throughout the whole story, and that just doesn't make for interesting reading, to me. I much preferred her mother-in-law, who was principled, loved her son, but still pretty scheming, and didn't drag down every woman her man came into contact with.

Overall, this story had a lot of promise but was lacking a lot of soul (and relationships between women that weren't centered around a man and a nuanced take on, well, anything but especially women). 4/5 because I only bowed at the very very end, and it's a good story if you just want something about (really beautiful, I did enjoy this part) fancy clothes, a loving husband, and being right and justified and perfect in every way. And I mean, hey, who am I to judge your wish fulfillment? I was just hoping there was more to the story since I saw it so highly recommended, but it ended up being a disappointment that left me with a sour taste in my mouth. <<less
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Iskandria
Iskandria rated it
March 3, 2017
Status: c123
This is an excellent light novel. With only 123 chapters it is the shortest novel I've read so far, which is also completed, naturally. Overall idea is a reincarnation of a smart female into the body of a unfortunate one. A classic. The female lead has no overpowered abilities. She simply has brains. Nice! As one might think, the chapters are on point and doesnt get lost in senseless explanations. 123 chapters, youre never getting bored or try to skip parts. A welcoming change. Story is simple, slaps are there... more>> but not as excessive as the classics. Focus lies on the characters. Sweet, nice, and understandable. MCs have s*x. Nice! Villains are not purely villainous but comprehensible and with intelligent reactions and endings. Author puts emphasis on the fate of women in a similar time period as the Ancient chinese dynasties. Bittersweet, not always fulfilling, but intelligent and realistic. Do not fret, though, happy ending for MCs.

Low chapters mean not always satisfying appearences of side characters. Which is sad, since they are well made and likeable. Doesnt negatively influence the Story, though.
Had some good laughs along the way, so Humor is there. Nice!

Overall: Read this, its good. <<less
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happydot
happydot rated it
June 15, 2022
Status: c1
I completed this a long time ago. Since it was one of my first Chinese web novels, I thought it was normal to struggle through numerous untranslated words that were pointless to know. I decided to come back in hopes of rereading the story, but upon opening the first chapter, I was given PTSD from all the untranslated words. After consuming so many Chinese web novels and dramas, I now know that it is not normal to come across the pinyin form of words like sister-in-law, elder brother, etc. I... more>> understand that translators would like to keep the essence of the language, but having the pinyin form of sister-in-law does not make any sense. It detracts from the story and makes it frustrating to read.

What's supposed to be a light, slice-of-life read is now an annoying, frustrating read because of the poor translation.

I just wish I could reread this with a complete, proper translation. <<less
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Nikkiart
Nikkiart rated it
May 7, 2021
Status: Completed
This is one of the best ancient China setting novels I've read.

Okay, I get it. It's not realistic but what're people expecting from a transmigration novel? She adapts easily, yes, but suspension of disbelief is part of reading these genres. At least she manages to explain her great acting skills as she was essentially in the entertainment industry so it makes more sense than like why would a doctor suddenly be proficient in martial arts or etc. I also do understand the whole pinyin is confusing, but stick with it.

Here's... more>> the thing that sets it apart from other transmigration into the ancient world novels: the moral and political stances of the characters.

The thing that tends to annoy me about many of the historical and even just regular Chinese novels is how easily they'll excuse r*pe and mu*der. There are so many novels where the main characters who come from modern times by the way suddenly become completely ok with drugging other women with aphrodisiacs or poisoning women so that their faces melt off or whatever else. This novel doesn't have that. There are definitely people who die but that's due to treason and in ways that are more believable than the above. For example:

Spoiler

One of the tong fang I believe they're called (? Basically it's a maid who's slept with the ml, but doesn't have the background necessary to be a concubine) is passing news to one of the other princes. She gets caught and made to drink poison.

Should she have died? Maybe or maybe not, but I do understand that something like that is important to make sure it doesn't happen again and there isn't a chance for it to happen. So I guess it's awful, but this were the times, but it's much better than the novels where maids are beaten to death for the smallest mistakes or whatever.

Also is poison a terrible way to go? Absolutely, but is it a million times better than all the death in webnovels where the women are r*ped and tortured or killed in increasingly horrific ways.

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Basically in my opinion, the whole story doesn't reek of misogyny. I'm not saying that in this novel women are equal to men- absolutely not- but the author and the MC acknowledge it and they essentially try not to make it even harder for women by putting women against each other due to petty reasons.

There's still plenty of jealousy between women, but it's never from the MC really which I think is great. The MC knows that she can only do what she can and for however long the ML allows it and she doesn't try to make life harder for the others under her power unless they directly challenge her (not for the ml's favor, but by being rude and etc).

The MC gets revenge, but within the confines of respectable society. She's literally the epitome of 'living well is the best revenge.'

Additionally, I like the political intrigue in this a whole lot. It doesn't get in depth compared to eight treasures trousseau, but it's still there in a more realistic way than most novels where everyone's secretly hiding hundreds of assassins with basically mystical levels of martial arts. There's also no war.

I do think this isn't as good as Eight Treasures Trousseau in terms of the romance, but it's still good and realistic in how the MC isn't willing to trust the ML in a society where men have so much more power than the women.

Overall, I think this is a truly well written and beautiful novel and hope that more people would read it. <<less
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LaCondesita
LaCondesita rated it
September 23, 2020
Status: Completed
Its an ok read. The romance and the characters are ok, not very complex, really. The plot is bland except for the treatment of females, that I found interesting and realistic for a historical fiction. Of course, the bad girls are still dumb. The political part is not well made and the leads are forgetable for me... I did not feel the love LOL. But well, my last novel had Xie Jing Xin and Shen Miao... the bar was too high.

I liked the translation, because I like the cultural details... more>> to be kept as much as possible. <<less
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Elqior
Elqior rated it
May 3, 2020
Status: Completed
To describe this story in one word, it is "realistic"

I personally like heavier plot than this. I just finished Rebirth of malicious empress from military lineage before reading this. This story plot is not as heavy as the former with less scheming and politics. The rude way of describing is all bark and no bite politics. It focused more about the love story of the main character and the struggle of each household, mainly the ML and FL household.

many said the footnote is incredibly lot. That is so true, I... more>> am overwhelmed for few starter chapter. After a few chapter, after knowing the meaning, everything is easy and smooth. The footnote is actually quite generous as the translator explaining the meaning of name, idiom and story. In chinese, name is very important, the name will define something. So explaining it is very generous. Also, by including chinese way of calling ones make the dialogue more realistic and china-esque. You need to overcome the hurdle first though :')

when I read review of others that said this is about pure love, I thought about something fairy tale-like romance. But actually not at all. What I read is 2 realistic people falling in love. I want to describe very roughly about the ending below.

Spoiler

I thought the ending will be happily ever after like in the fairy tale, but no. The ending is a good ending but realistic. If the ending of a fairy tale happily ever after ending is flowery ending with nuance of spring of the year, I think this ending is like a calm lake at the end of winter. It is beautiful and realistic.

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I personally very like and happy with the ending.

as to why I rate this as 4 is the way the feelings are delivered and I think the plot is not completed. The sarcastic and sneer reply are not delivered well enough and the FL is transmigrated but there is no explanation nor elaboration about it in later chapter. Every one is so focused to the love story and the transmigration just become a reason for the change of attitude.

overall, very good for those looking for love story with little schemes in politics. For those who like heavier plot or schemes, the schemes and harem is just too peaceful. After reading so many schemes at harem in various novel, I am quite in bewildered when reading this. I don't have to worry about the schemes at all, every schemes are like child play and not too harmful compared to the other novels. Quite a refreshing read to clean this blackened brain :D <<less
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SuibianRose
SuibianRose rated it
April 18, 2020
Status: c9
I tried reading it and it was interesting but I just could not deal with the unstranslated Chinese words. They were numerous and italicized. It was very jarring.

The thing was the words that weren't translated weren't so central to the story that they needed to stay that way. It's like I just used Google translate or something like that. I couldn't take it anymore and stopped reading.

Maybe somebody else could pick this up and translate.
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amruta
amruta rated it
December 11, 2019
Status: Completed
I have read this novel multiple times. I consider it one of the best in the Josei genre.

The translation is excellent. The pinyin does take some getting used to. But imo, its better to leave certain words in pinyin because sometimes they sound ridiculous in English. (I prefer reading nubi compared to s*ave. I hate how the commoners had to refer themselves to s*ave or servant all the time. They couldn't say 'I'.)

The FL is cool and mature. The story mentions that she has transmigrated but it does... more>> not serve any purpose in the story other than the personality change. Honestly it would have been better if she was a black-belly instead, pretending to be bullied and timid before marriage to survive under her step-mother. And then after marriage she shows her true self. Would have enjoyed that. I really like that the FL doesn't use her knowledge of the future to change anything. Even her interactions with people around her stick to the social norms of that time.

The ML is much better than many MLs portrayed in other historical novels. He gradually falls for the FL. His POV in the extras is really good in that it tells the reader why he fell for the FL. He's not cruel but cannot be kind. Just a product of the times and result of being someone from the royal family. No mention of the military power or anything. He just quietly plots in the background. Lol

The side characters are a bit one dimensional existing only for the story to progress. The ones I liked are the ML's mother, the third prince and the wife of the first prince. They are fleshed out decently. <<less
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FillThisSpace
FillThisSpace rated it
October 29, 2019
Status: Completed
I’ve just finished rereading this for the 5th time and still haven’t gotten tired of it. This is a heartwarming story and isn’t overly complex. This doesn’t have the complicated multi chapter revenge and counterattack plots most other historical novels have. The antagonists aren’t one dimensional and experience character growth (to the point that I want to read a fanfic of MC and Rui Wang so much). The main couple don’t have misunderstandings and there are no miscommunication (relationship goals, seriously).

The only thing that could be considered a negative for... more>> it is that there is a lot of terminology that is left, e.g ‘nucai’, ‘zhouli’, ‘houyuan’. After the first use of terminology, there’s no translation in the chapter so you have to go look for it in the accompanying glossary. Although, using the terminology does help to suck you into the story and the background, so not really that big a problem. <<less
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maiha-sama
maiha-sama rated it
May 23, 2017
Status: c123
Absolute love. This is a great example of a novel that doesn't need an overly convoluted plot or complex writing to be compelling, sweet and satisfying.

I like Qing Ju a whole lot - she is realistic, street smart and independent but emotionally closed off. She plays her cards right and ensures she gets to do what she wants. Overall, she is pretty badass. Her and He Heng are quite good together. He Heng seems to be boring at first, but as we read on, he is as scheming as he... more>> needs to be. He's a solid ML - a quiet black belly. By pulling the strings in the shadows, he was also able to make things play out the way he wanted. He deserved to be big boss. Still unsure if he'd have given into temptation that time but I'll give him the benefit of doubt. The other characters were remarkably s*upid though. So there's not much palace intrigue, no surprise romance angle or anything - it is pretty much laid out at the start. Initially I was hoping there would be a third wheel to spice things up but after finishing the novel, I'm convinced the main ship deserves the sturdiness it had - despite everything. The endearing moments between the lead couple are a treat. A few scenes were really impressionable (QJ shouting at HH, the walk down the Palace stairs, the lantern festival) and will stay with me for a long time.

The slow build up of trust between the leads is whats worth reading. On one hand, the feelings that simple, quiet actions can convey are weightier than the feelings three words can hope to confirm. On the other, I'm not entirely convinced QJ truly loved HH.. But that's her personality too. I was surprised at the amount of heartache I felt when reading about Rui Wang. It just ate me up. I also really liked the Princess Royal's character.. She seems more like a modern woman than QJ tbh. The Chinese ranks could be confusing at first but as you read similar novels, it becomes easier to relate to them. So I'm glad to have read the novel with the terms untranslated. <<less
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