From the start, you know the MC is someone who likes to make light of his own suffering, who doesn't like thinking or describing the bad stuff around him. He likes narrating things from a comedic standpoint, even though his life is shitty and sad AF.

He tells the reader only about random Mary Sue encounters and tyrannical Presidents in the prologue, but then proceeds to literally kill himself from a single word from a crazy asylum brother. Unlike other transmigrators, he didn't get hit by a bus or die from an external force. MC committed su*cide. And that act alone exposes the dark underbelly of the narration. It didn't happen randomly, it was a long time coming.

And that sets the tone for how the rest of the story will be explored. Things shouldn't be taken at face value; read with suspicion at the unreliable narrator.

One of the only issues is that near the end, a few of the event triggers started feeling more unreasonable; like the author cannot allow the characters to execute a single plan or pass by a single day smoothly.

The angst started feeling more contrived as similar plots repeat. [MC tries to help the ML but puts himself in danger -> he thinks it will be ok -> it goes badly, MC sacrifices or gets very hurt -> ML gets hurt.] Seriously, it ALWAYS goes wrong.

Anyway, still, overall a good novel.

Even though there are closure for the couple when Xiao Yu An committed su*cide at that time,

Just imagine that MC is the emperor of the northern kingdom and ML is the crown prince of the southern kingdom. The emperor's country invaded the prince's homeland, killed his family, and showed mercy to no one; soldiers killed everyone indiscriminately, including children, women, and elderly people. Soon, the crown prince became the emperor, took revenge, and conquered the state that invaded his homeland. So MC became the former emperor of a fallen country. Even though MC and ML love and care about each other, the hate between their people runs too deep. Every time they are together, everyone thinks that one of them has ulterior motives and plots something. MC and ML have no control over the overall situation or their predicament.

His past life was too unbearable. His mother was a mistress, his father cheated on his wife, and he doesn't care about anyone, including MC's mother and MC. MC and his brother are illegitimate children. Their lives were hard, and when MC was 6 years old, his mother committed su*cide right in front of him. Then MC father finally remembered that he has two sons, mainly because his wife couldn't give birth, so he took MC back as an heir but separated him from his brother, who has physical disabilities, and because of that, their father didn't want to bother himself and take care of him. Afterwards, there wasn't anything mentioned, but I believe MC's stepmother would not be delighted and definitely wouldn't have loved him or taken good care of a child of his husband's mistress. MC only mentioned that his father was an animal, and he took revenge. I guess he was neglected and bullied. After he grew up, he found his brother, who at times had mental health issues. He tried to help him, but in vain. His brother hated him and blamed him for abandonment. MC dedicated his whole life to his brother. He hoped that he would get better and maybe one day he would forgive him; he was his only family, but this never happened. MC himself said that in his past life he lived in hatred towards his father and in guilt towards his brother. He never knew what happiness was. He also has insomnia that was caused by his mother's su*cide, and it never gets better. At the end of his past life, he had a terminal illness. Even when he was ill, he still blamed himself and thought that he was a useless person who yet again let his brother down. And as his situation got worse, he, like his mother, committed su*cide. The circumstances and the way he did it were so distressing that it broke my heart. He is a good person; he is caring, but in his past life, he gave away everything he had but didn't receive anything back. And like that, he transmigrated in the novel. He just committed su*cide because there was nothing worth leaving for him, and now he acts really recklessly; he goes with the flew because he doesn't know what to do, spouts nonsense, and doesn't take anything seriously. He thinks that his life has no value and that the country he rules will still fall. So I don't know what people expected from him. It is already a miracle that he is sane; his behaviour is peculiar but understandable. Just because he is reckless doesn't mean that he is s*upid.

He was the first character who transmigrated as a villainous cannon fodder and wanted to kill the protagonist and not hold his thigh to save himself. In addition, he tried to follow the plot of the original novel. He didn't go directly to ML to help him out, but let him go through the script. It was only later in the story that he decided to go against the plot and change it, yet again, not in ML's favour. Everything he did for ML, he did because of his own feelings, not for the script.

MC keeps repeating that he was raised as a tyrannical CEO and that he read a lot of books and learned a lot of things to become one. I never get what he means, but I think it is the identity he came up with in order to deal with his life. He needed some distraction to feel less guilt. He read a lot of web novels to escape reality, so I think it was just for fun. His stories look more like stories a little child would imagine in order to deal with abuse.

Besides, everyone hates MC, so everyone is waiting for their chance to hurt him. Every time MC gets hurt, ML himself is in a dangerous predicament and on the brink of death, so he can't protect him. On one occasion, he got hurt because, despite his identity, he tried to shield MC. So he isn't bad and will protect MC at all costs. But the only way to protect him would be by sending him away, and I doubt that MC himself would agree.

ML colluded with the Emperor's enemies, and as a result, MC almost got killed. Two points were really important here. Firstly, someone died while protecting MC, and he felt guilty because he played with the lives of others. He finally understood that he couldn't save both ML, the state, and the people he was governing. Secondly, ML truly collided with rebels; he might not have known that MC would be ambushed, but he played his part. MC also felt guilty because he knew this would happen but didn't stop it because he was following the plot and didn't care. It was this moment when MC thought that he should be serious and protect people. He thought that ML hate was so big that he could not change anything, and ML might hate him too. Which is logical. If someone took part in your assassination, that could not be out of love, could it? At the same time, ML felt guilty because of his betrayal. MC was kind to him, and he repaid him with this and thought that MC hated him. Which is also logical. He wanted to explain and confess his feelings, but they didn't communicate well. ML didn't know how to explain himself. Honestly, at this point in the story, even if ML had confessed, it would change nothing. MC wanted to protect people, and ML wanted his revenge. They stand on opposite sides, and nothing can be changed. What could MC do? Run away with him? He is emperor, and he can't abandon people. There are a lot of people who MC genuinely likes and cares about. Or could ML forget about his responsibility as a future emperor? I don't think so. They do have feelings for each other, but it isn't enough to change the course of history. Hence, a tragic and heartbreaking misunderstanding occurred.

was anything more than a dream when they 'return'. The ML does not explicitly state he shared that dream, he just comforts the MC on the possibility of their dead friends going to a better (extremely Mary Su) place.

I can't recall Xiao Jun Wang in the other extra mentioning work. He also never sees or mentions relatives other than the brother. How deep is the delusion??? Wow

Hong Xiu’s death

You want a novel where the ML knows about the MC’s transmigration. The MC tells the ML in the first arc.