A small graph of the plot's progress is included in one of the earliest author's notes: MC poisons ML –> MC takes advantage of the amnesiac ML -> crematorium for MC -> tragic event -> crematorium for ML -> HE

The biggest spoiler of them all were the chapter titles on jjwxc though, after seeing "Miscarriage" I was prepared for everything on the sadness front.

Lu Mingyu is an unfavored prince who had to start to playing the game otherwise he would have been played to death. After his third brother's passing he 'lucked out' to earn the backing of the General's Mansion since he seemed easy to handle with no support and had the added bonus of prior involvement with Yan Yunge. What's important for the conflict is that he also resolved to be a proper emperor responsible for his people since he had to become one. Meanwhile, the General's Mansion is a rebellious party with the clear goal of grabbing the rule of the country and Yan Yunge, the current General Fuyuan, is loyal to the family cause. MC initially actually sees the Yan family's intentions quite well and ML prior to his wake-up call is a scum who treats MC without the basic respect given to a human being – not unlike everyone else in the General's Mansion who do so because they feel he is beneath them.

In the book Lu Mingyu once laments that he would have been willing to become a fatuous emperor for Yan Yunge if only the man treated him nice. I can understand that power taken and firmly grasped in your hand is secure and it's probably humiliating for a war-hero general to play the role of a seductress but it really made me question just who was plotting the power grab of the Yan Party – a question I didn't receive an answer for – because they were straight going for treason and a violent takeover while not even willing to entertain the peaceful option of using Yan Yunge as a beauty trap longterm. This is just my humble opinion, but if he was so looked down upon and dismissed as a person it would have been plain su*cide for MC to put ML before everything else as Taigaike says he should have. All the more so as he was well aware of the disregard toward himself.