visits the princess and then meets another character (forgot her name) and they talk about hamburgers, I thought maybe she would do stuff in the palace more

For example, the Old Madam. This really hit me hard because I've read a lot of CN novels, so I know that in historical China women rely on the so-called rules to pave their future. I love how the author described her loneliness and used descriptions for the street food market to show this turning point in the Old Madam's life, and how she started changing her mindset.

Two other characters whose development I really liked were Zhou Ruoying and Xie Lang. The author portrayed how bittersweet their story was; the ambiguous ending just made it more realistic for me. It's not that Xie Lang wasn't wrong, and it's not that his regret wasn't real, but he caused too much hurt. It's not certain whether it could be something that could be forgiven and forgotten—just like in real life. It's all very grey, which I like.

I lost a bit of motivation to read it after the 2nd house broke up and the wife left to go back home. Like sure the hubby was a bit scummy and took in concubines but I didn't feel he was that bad.

I also felt like a lot of it was the wife's fault, she never really spoke up or just discussed her true feeling with him. I also felt like he really considered her feelings in the end and did things that he felt would make her happy instead of just keeping her in his house due to pride, reputation and whatever..., but I get that by then she had fallen out of love with him so... Yeah.

It's nice that she's a strong woman, but I think a lot could have been resolved if she didn't try too hard to fit the image she felt he wanted and they just communicated (isn't this every romance novel). Nevertheless, I really liked their story arc and I was hoping that they would resolve their differences.

Zhou Sister-in-law and Mother Lin

Detailed description and breakdown of of Zhou-shi's storyline is as follows: Zhou-shi's storyline is pretty interesting in that at first she's like all the other family members who dislikes the MC and refuses to associate with her, only to be gradually seduced by the MC's delicious food. She has a young daughter with whom she has a distant relationship, a husband whom she loves but seems to have some long-simmering one-sided-on-her-side background issues, and is known for her th**ny attitude. Later in the story, it's revealed that she came from a different province considered on the country-bumpkin side, and she has a background as a martial artist which she gave up when she fell in love with and married her husband because that's unseemly for the wife of an aristocrat.

Things take a turn when her husband one day brings home an attractive lower-class woman pregnant with his child and announces he's taking her as his concubine. Zhou-shi is pissed off by this while everyone else tries to placate her and her husband acts dismissively because, after all, for this time period, taking concubines is normal, and he figures his wife will get over it just like she's gotten over every other time he pissed her off.

Unlike past incidents though, she doesn't get over it. Instead, she remains cold to him and refuses his advances and attempts to kiss-and-make-up, instead channeling her restlessness and anger into learning how to cook from the MC, and along the way develops an awkward but loving relationship with her daughter. Zhou-shi also goes back to her martial artist roots and uses her blade skills and fighting techniques to perfectly chop vegetables and such. Along the way, she realizes how she has stifled herself all these years for the sake of her husband, who claims to love her but doesn't really seem to respect her or connect deeply with her anymore. She struggles with homesickness and the realization of how much she's missed her own family for all these years.

On his side, as the husband realizes Zhou-shi isn't going to easily forgive him for knocking up a random hot girl and bringing her into the household as his concubine, he starts trying to ingratiate himself to her and is shocked when she continues to rebuff him. He also sees her cooking more and starting to flourish, and remembers how he fell in love with that vivacious martial artist girl and was overjoyed to marry her, and realizes how dull and constricted she became by societal norms and family expectations once she moved away from her home to be with him.

However, he still retains the mindset of his social class and doesn't really see a problem with the whole preggo concubine thing—like, he got her pregnant so of course he has to take her in, and what's the matter with that as long as he still loves his wife, who is the main wife and her status remains the same? He pretty much says all this to her face, still hoping that she'll forgive him and they can resume their previous relationship.

But Zhou-shi is, for this genre, an actually very kick-a** woman beyond just being a kick-a** martial artist, because she tells her husband that despite everything she will remain his loyal wife—but she's basically done with him and is going to do whatever the f*** she wants, so he should just go ahead and do whatever he wants (as he's been doing all these years) and leave her alone. She tells him this very straightforwardly and then basically mic drops and walks off.

Her husband is left dumbfounded and realizing too late how badly he messed everything up, while at the same time unable to figure out where he went wrong. His resigned grappling with the repercussions of his behavior and the loss of his wife in everything but name is somewhat satisfying, though it doesn't reach crematorium-genre levels.

He does eventually figure things out enough to do good by her to the best of his ability: He takes a demotion in order to be transferred to the boonies of her old hometown after securing the agreement of their level-headed young daughter (who has become more interested in her mother's background and wants to expand her own horizons), so that their daughter can technically accompany him though she will stay with her mother's side of the family. He then gives his wife a letter of separation which she can accept or reject as she wishes—she can remain his wife and stay in the capitol or follow him, or she can leave him and go home, and either way she'll still have her daughter with her if she wants. He even tells her that they don't have to announce their separation if that will cause trouble for her, they can just keep it on the down-low.

Zhou-shi basically has the most solid character development and an actual character arc in the story. I'd totally read a novel with her as the protagonist.

The MC's mother's pregnancy was prominently featured in the story yet when the story ends, she's still heavily pregnant. In the extras, she basically gives birth so far off screen I had to reread a paragraph twice before I realized it had even happened, and there's no mention of the MC attending to her mother and newborn sibling and she has no scenes with them. Instead it's Zhou-shi who has a very tiny scene with them.

The MC is revealed to pregnant literally at the very end of the story and then BAM the end. Then in the extras, her pregnancy is sort of vaguely featured and then BAM she gives birth to twins and then BAM time skip of at least several if not more years, vague unclear references to her husband changing jobs and the family moving (?), and the MC holds that banquet where no food is described and she isn't even in the scene.

Zhou-shi features in the extras too, having returned to her hometown and reuniting with her family and showing off her cooking skills. Again, like with the latter part of the main story, she has more detailed scenes and character stuff than the other characters. It's ambiguous whether she's chosen to leave her husband, officially or unofficially, and I was actually okay with not knowing because she's clearly back in her element and happier with her family and daughter. There is a small scene of her daughter and husband together that was a nice end-note.

But overall, the extras were disappointing in how rushed they felt and how the literal main character was barely featured in them. If things hadn't ended this way, I would've ranked the story a full 5 stars instead of 4.5—as it is, it's a bit like feasting at a grand banquet that's supposed to end with a magnificent dessert, and then at the end of the banquet you get served a stale cookie still plastic-wrapped from a fast food joint because the chef got tired. The banquet was overall still great but the ending was a disappointment.

Still marking it as a 5-star though because I did overall enjoy it.