The whole situation with the Nan pharmacy was very interesting to read.

when the Budda statue in Lu Tong's room accidentally got knocked over, causing the jars full of soil and water to break, and Pei Yunying wached as Lu Tong desperately tried to fetch them, cutting herself in the process. I will never forget this scene. The flashback to her getting along with her family to the family becoming the mixed muddy water on the floor. It was so sad. This is the moment we saw our FL who had been unfeeling, show such vulnerability. It was understandable that Pei Yunying treated her differently after this.

What started as a fierce confrontation between our FL and ML ends on this sad note.

(the queen mother, his father)

the ML has just realized his feelings for the fl, and she's not even thinking of romance, so we don't have to deal with that just yet.

ruthless poison master who takes the FL away as a poison /drug test subject, leaving her alone on a mountain for long periods of time amidst piles of medical/poison books and wild animals. After the doctor dies, the FL is able to return to her family.

poison immunity from being a poison drug tester as a child, and extensive medical/poison skills.

I think it is becauae of the suffering of Lu Tong, I'm happy that she was finally able to move forward and let go but because the tragedies were too many I feel that the good moments were too few at the end. I mean, we don't really have many happy events besides the marriage of the main leads. I feel for Pei Yunhuan's master's story for example. The romance between Xiao guy and PY's sister wasn't completed either and the romance of fl's confidant with shopkeeper was left open for a reason I don't agree with. For people who enjoy tragedy in a story with bitter-sweet endings might give this story a 5. I just cannot. The final thing is that we didn't get to see too far into the future either, and we can only guess that they have children later on. It's sad because I think a good balance in the story could have been not only showing the tragic past of the leads but their bright future surrounded by their decendants and building a family of their own. As a symbol of hope and to show that they have broken the ill fated cycle. In sum, I needed more sweet to counter the bitter

aka mu*der

After MC's first mu*der, she and ML accidentally met. Blah blah, ML accidentally saw MC's hand which has a suspicious blood (? I forgor) just when the people in that place got alerted that someone died last night. Like first of all, why did MC did not noticed that on her own hand before meeting with people? Like whaaat.

Buying jewelry from pawn shop, knowing that she never wears jewelry. She should've atleast had some excuse but idk why she didn't. Like idk, she could've done better for sure.

Why would MC not think to hide "The Laws of the Liang Dynasty" book somewhere that can't be easily seen by guests (like ML, for example) ? She should have thought that it'd be pretty suspicious no matter what for a WOMAN to read that kind of book 😅 It's not like she has a job related to laws or something, her current identity is a doctor in a small clinic. So I'm not sure why she put the book in plain sight. At this point, ML doesn't need to have 1999iq to be suspicious about her. MC is just careless, tbh. But I know that the author intended for MC to be a little bit careless in front of ML to display ML's intelligence and let ML continue to be interested with this unusual woman (MC).

besides the obvious loss of the whole MC's immediate family the most colirful example is the situation with the main villan's dog. Dog is induced to try to slaughter MC and she almost did not survive the dog's attack, but at the end the corrupt nobility discusses whether the MC should be killed for the offence of harming the precious dog, or just kowtow to the carcuss and the dog's ownet.

for instance, Qi Qing as the main culprit's father is a cold blooded mu*derer of, among many other people, his own wife whom he loved dearly. She needed to be removed from the picture due to the inconvenience of her mental illness

she kill personally the first and second (or third?) killer of her family and for her last revenge she really was going to put her life on the line but then the male lead stop her

She almost kill the male lead when he found out about her. I laugh at that part because although he didn't underestimate her, I don't think he fully understand how far can Lu Tong go when it concerns her revenge. At that part of the story the ML doesn't realise yet how much she's been through and what she's willing to put through so she can have her revenge.

I just wish to read more of some of the characters like, Boss Du and Yin Zheng, PY sister and buddy, Ji Xin and Lin Dan Qing (if I remember their names correctly) and their married life. I wanted more sweetness after all the bitterness.

A reviewer mentioned that the characters are "barely alive", and although they didn't mention any name specifically, I assume they're talking about Lu Tong, cause other characters apart from her seem "alive" enough so far and that's exactly my impression on her when I read the first few chapters. Upon learning of her family's demise, she didn't show any reaction in particular. Like she literally didn't cry; girlie simply said no more and left for the capital to plan her revenge. If you've read into the story far enough, you'll see that this is the "side effect" from her time with her master Yun Niang, and you'll understand it even more when you read the chants/mantra or whatever it is that she's reciting when she's in distress.

Another reviewer also pointed out how she became careless whenever ML was involved, but imo the only huge blunder she made was accidentally revealing the injury she got when killing her sister's ex-husband, and if you ask me, this "mistake" is more like a forced plot device to make the ML latch onto her tail. Why do I say it's forced? Because supposedly, the ex-husband was drugged to the point his body wouldn't move at all, which was why she could easily drag him around and drown him in a water basin. Assuming that the drug hadn't worn off until his death, he shouldn't be able to struggle (which was where she got the injury) but for some reason the author decided to add this nonsense. Yeah you can argue that the drug worn off first cause she interrogated the ex-husband before killing him, but considering how meticulous her plan was for her next revenge, I don't know man, a smart person like her should've anticipated that if you ask me. If this small but s*upid "mistake" never happened, the ML probably wouldn't connect her to the death of her sister's ex-husband. He'd probably still be suspicious of her other unusual antics, but unless he dug deep into her past, I don't think he'd find out so soon.

Like in her second revenge plan towards her own uncle who reported her brother to the authorities and the corrupted judge who declared him guilty, she manipulated an innocent scholar into committing su*cide during the examination to become official. She told him to kill the examiner, but knowing his good nature, he would have chosen kill himself instead so the poison she gave him was the kind that made a person "dead" for some time but later regained consciousness. I didn't remember the exact wording, but she said she didn't want to harm an innocent person.