by an almost-castration during what was supposed to be his first s*xual experience

replaced by a look alike that gets her real family's love & acknowledgement which she never got because she was too busy plotting against people to work on herself

Lin Yunwan then asked him, "Why... are you doing this?" She couldn't fathom why the prince wanted to marry her.

"Your Highness, you know my status better than anyone. Marrying me brings you no advantage."

She was no longer the legitimate daughter of the Lin family, and her father's accumulated reputation and the like were now irrelevant to her. Since there was no political motive... matters of love and affection shouldn't be taken too seriously by them.

Lin Yunwan said, "Whom you marry makes no difference, does it?" There really was no need for the two of them to marry.

"Lin Yunwan. There is no particular reason."

Qi Linghen looked at her indifferently, "I simply want to do something that comes naturally."

Lin Yunwan was puzzled, how was this natural?

Qi Linghen found it hard to explain... initially, he hadn't felt particularly drawn to her, but he found himself wanting to marry her.

After she fakes her death and takes on a new identity, she has a "half-sister" born to her "father's" second wife. They don't initially know Yunwan isnt actually the father's daughter (who died, banished to the countryside, before MC took over her identity). The half sister, Lin Yunjiao, is a spoiled brat, but she eventually falls in love with a poor, scholarly cousin of hers who her mother intended to marry Yunwan off to. She married him in the end, and while she doesn't live a life in splendor funded by the stolen dowry of her father's first wife like she used to, she lives a good, honest life for herself independently with her husband and even ends up helping Lin Yunwan out. I just thought it was a nice and interesting twist on the usual tired formulas we see for cannon fodder women.

eg. ML didn't care that she had been married before and still wanted to marry her despite her being another man's wife for like 7 years

1. • First Act: we meet the MC and realize what a crap marriage she is in. She tries to get a divorce but can't. Ends up faking her death with the help of the Prince who has had a crush on her for years. This is all platonic because she is married.

1. • Second Act: MC assumes the identity of a dead woman and moves to a faraway province. Wouldn't you know it, the Prince just happens to also move to the same place to become liege king. What a coincidence. The MC assumes the identity of a sheltered daughter from an old household. Thus, her movements are limited. So her interaction with the prince is limited to a few secret meetings.
   • Third Act: ML and MC move back to the capital to deal with unfinished business. MC has to contend with the exes and she has to get along with the Imperial Family, her new in-laws.

There were multiple "proposals" because she kept shooting him down.

1. • The less than subtle classism between Bao'er and Yunwan drove me insane. It's always been somewhat present in this genre but it's dialed up to eleven in this story. Everyone praises Yunwan for being well read, but hates Bao'er for trying to learn? Why? No, legitimately, why. I understand that in some dynasties well learned women weren't ideal, but the dichotomy between everyone praising Yunwan and then hating on Bao'er just didn't sit right with me. Especially as this was well before Bao'er showed just how insane she truly was. It felt like the author was putting the cart before the horse.

• • Just everything about how Bao'er is handled rubs me the wrong way. Make no mistake, she's an awful person who ruined multiple people's lives due to her selfishness, but frankly she's written more like a caricature than an actual human being. I can't root for her downfall when her motivations and logic are thinner than wet rice paper. Eventually you just get tired of seeing her and get even more tired of seeing the s*upid excuses the other characters use to keep her around. Hell it just makes Yunwan look s*upid for not realizing what was occurring in the first timeline. Because clearly Bao'er has a hole in her skull and would have self sabotaged regardless of any intervention.

• • How Qing'er was handled was what ultimately made me drop the novel. Sure, in the original timeline he turned into a vindictive little weasel. But even in that timeline you got the sense that it was because he had multiple people whispering in his ear, telling him to hate Yunwan. Which is substantiated in the current timeline when we see he's literally just a small child who wants to help his manipulative birth mother. He doesn't understand that his birth mother is a snake. He doesn't understand that she's ruining his future. He just wants to be with her. And at every turn this child being manipulated is framed as a moral failing on his part. When Yunwan essentially told him to stop visiting her after Bao'er was thrown out of the manor I had to stop reading the story entirely. That is where she lost me as a protagonist. I don't care what the kid did in his prior life. He's not even ten years old in this life and seems willing to be better, but is constantly being dragged down by the Looney Tunes character that is his biological mother. But sure, let's not be sympathetic to the literal child who can now grow as a person and be better than he was in his past life. That would have been a more satisfying revenge for me. Taking Qing'er and ensuring he succeeded to spite both Zhengliu and Bao'er. But no, can't have that in these novels. "Oh but Crimson, he would have resented Yunwan eventually!" Given how he was being written to that point I very much doubt it. But then again who knows what weird logic the author would have pulled out of their bu*t to justify it. They seem hell bent on demonizing a literal child while also going out of their way to make the child as sympathetic as possible. :/

• • The way Lu Jia just instantly hated Yunwan also made me roll my eyes so hard they almost popped out of my skull. Really? We needed another vindictive woman to hate on the MC?
  • Given all of these problems in the first third of the book, I couldn't for the life of me decide to continue reading the next arcs. Maybe it gets better, I don't know, but I'm already nursing a headache trying to reconcile the current plot and I'd hate to see how it ends up when we get palace politics involved.
    
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The ending for the ex-husband and his son felt wrong.

The relationship with the FML and the adopted son should have been more...

I was surprised how cold-hearted the adopted son can be towards the ex-husband considering how well he treated him.

Maybe the ex-husband's son could have been a better person but then again the FML had cherished him in her 1st lifetime but he still hated her.

The ex-husband didn't seem like he did anything extreme that could've warranted him that kind of ending.

They all could've moved on and lived well but then there would be no story.

the not so divorce is going on ch 79 and after this our ML often mentioned and having scene (we can see that he care but still take a good distance bcs if not it will be bad for mc) but it's ok.. Bcs if MC get divorce then changgong gonna having hard time and she doesn't want it, our mc's real action is on 107, she scheme at Ge baoer and Lu household to free herself and not harming changgong.

The romance really began after she left Lu's House, in 139 I can feel MC almost ''misunderstanding'' ML behavior, this difficulty to say intention to someone u love is really such a formidable wall, both of them was modest people, our MC already have intention to remarried and choose the best one.. But I guess she still shackles with her previous mind set.

They break the wall at 169 and progress to the good thing at 182, it not that slow, suddenly I find it more logical to them not so deeply in love, the love is come from devotion, and trust, although they not say it explicitly you can saw it, just be patient and they will be married so don't be nervous. It's almost smooth sailing and the after marriage is sweet.. Although moderate and modest and a bit rush sweet but still it's real sweet