While he definitely went through lots of pain and suffering, I feel he hurt Qing'er a lot.

(If you've ever read Eastern Palace or watched the TV adaptation Goodbye My Princess, then it's somewhat reminiscent of how Li Chengyin treats Xiaofeng, but even worse.)

Chengyao causes (or is involved in) the death of Qing'er's entire family not just once, but TWICE - in her former life, as well as in her "second life" (there's no transmigration/reincarnation in this story... but if you want to know what I mean, click on the other spoiler tag below).

And he's really an a**hole, cos even if he had his reasons, he did do quite a lot of cruel, horrible things, such as: having an affair with his father's concubine, making another woman (Du Ruyin) fall in love with him so that he could use her as a "shield/stand-in" and die in place of Qing'er (while she was pregnant with a child that she thought was his), forsaking Qing'er while she was pregnant and indirectly causing her miscarriage etc. And did I mention he killed both her families???

It's a little ridiculous how so many female characters fall head over heels in love with Nan Chengyao, even though he's a total a**: Qing'er, who falls in love with him in both lives; Sang Muqing aka real Murong Qing; Murong Yan; Du Ruyin; Guifei aka his father's concubine; Xunyun, his female servant.

I don't hate Nan Chengyao, but I don't love him either. Honestly, I wanted a happy ending for Qing'er and him, not because I ship them, but just because I think they've been through so much suffering that they kinda deserve a happy ending.

First off, who is Qing'er? What's her real identity? And is the princess (aka male MC's first love) still alive?

Our protagonist, Qing'er's real identity is actually Princess Yuqing, the former princess of the old dynasty, and male MC, Nan Chengyao's first love. After she fell down the cliff, she was rescued by Su Xiumian. At first, Su Xiumian did it purely out of obligation because he had to fulfil the wish of his old master, but he later fell in love with Qing'er. But anyway, because Murong Qing, the second daughter of the Murong Family, also fell down the cliff at the same time as Yuqing (lol what a coincidence!!!) , in order to protect the princess, Su Xiumian did some "plastic surgery" and changed the princess' facial features to resemble Murong Qing, made the original Murong Qing change her identity, and let the princess become Murong Qing. Qing'er lost all her memories and so she truly believes herself to be Murong Qing and doesn't know her true identity until much later.

(Side note: Can I also just say how ridiculous it is the sheer number of times Qing'er almost dies but manages to survive. I mean, she keeps falling off cliffs and getting herself almost killed, but is miraculously saved by Nan Chengyao or healed by the godly physician skills of Su Xiumian. Honestly, you just have to suspend your disbelief a little, even though the story is not bad.)

I shan't go through all the twists and turns that happen throughout the story, because (1) I don't want to spoil the story completely (it's really a fantastic story, you should go read it yourself) and (2) there's so much happening that I don't even know where to begin. But the most important question you may be wondering is...

So how does it end??? What happens in the end???

It's a happy ending. Sort of. Here's a breakdown of what happened to the key characters:

• • Sang Muqing (aka the real Murong Qing) - Sang Muqing, the renown beautiful dancer of the kingdom, turns out to be the real Murong Qing. She was willing to give up her identity in exchange for Su Xiumian saving her life, but later resented and was jealous of Qing'er for taking over her life (and also because she was in love with Nan Chengyao). She reveals her identity to the Murong Family, Nan Chengyao and Qing'er, but ultimately dies at the hands of her real parents, who kill her so as to not reveal her identity.

• • Murong Yan, the sister of Murong Qing and the wife of Crown Prince - The Crown Prince, Nan Chengmian is deposed after his plotting against Nan Chengyao fails and sent away. Murong Yan follows him and gives birth to a daughter. She knows Nan Chengyao won't spare Nan Chengmian's life, but makes him promise to spare her daughter's life. He agrees, on the condition that she must never find out her real parentage. After Nan Chengmian is killed and they fake her daughter's death and sends her away, Murong Yan commits su*cide.

• • Murong Lian, the brother of Murong Qing - He was initially sentenced to death after the Murong Family was exposed for plotting against the emperor together with the Crown Prince. Qing'er gets Nan Chengyao to rescue him and send him away. He ends up marrying the princess of a neighbouring kingdom so that he can get revenge on Nan Chengyao - and also, after he discovers Qing'er is not his real sister, he realises he is in love with her. Ultimately though, he lets Qing'er go, and he helps his wife conquer and overthrow the Nan empire/dynasty and become the new emperor. (Their story can be read in the side-stories at the end, which are in the POV of Princess Tianlian aka Lian's wife. Tianlian isn't as simple as she looks, and umm haha I didn't really like her so I speed-read through that part, but she does truly love Lian.)

• • Nan Chengyao (aka male MC), Third Prince and husband of Qing'er - Nan Chengyao succeeds and becomes the Crown Prince, then Emperor, but loses Qing'er. When Murong Lian leads the army of the neighbouring kingdom to attack them, Nan Chengyao doesn't bother putting up much of a fight, and gives up the throne to Lian. Lian pretends to kill Nan Chengyao, but he lets him go.

• • Su Xiumian (aka the poor second male lead who never gets the girl) - After depleting his energy to cure and save Qing'er on countless occasions, his body is weakened and he dies. However, he keeps his death a secret from Qing'er, lying to her that he left to travel and makes her promise to take care of herself from then on.

• • Qing'er (aka protagonist) - After she leaves Nan Chengyao, Su Xiumian and Murong Lian, she sets up a clinic and treats people as a physician. One day, a little girl runs into the shop and calls her "Mother". Confused, she asks the girl what her name is, and the little girl replies, "Yan'er". Qing'er sees the man, the girl's so-called father, and he says, "It's really you." The story ends here. Although it's not stated explicitly, it's implied that the man is Nan Chengyao, the little girl is the daughter of Murong Yan, and they probably live happily ever after in peace as a family with Qing'er.

Our FL has many similarities with the ML's beloved first love. She has a same first name which is Qing or Qing'er, she also falls down a cliff when she is younger, she also plays well, and I think they have similar eyes. FL has also a phoenix tattoo in her arm to cover her scars when she fall down the cliff and our ML really like to touch and kiss it. Is his first love have the same tattoo too? I don't know, its not revealed yet.