as expected of the author of restricted area, this was another masterpiece. its a business drama/office romance type story with a decent amount of faceslapping but MC and ML dont always have everything going their way. theyre both smart and cunning and their scheming made the whole thing a very engaging read.

(that said, the tl quality is... questionable at best. definitely edited mtl)

first off, I disliked a good portion of the cast. that isnt to say the writing was bad, but considering how all of the shao family are manipulative capitalists, thats to be expected. especially that shao zhenbang grandpa whom I just wanted to strangle with my own hands and send him to his deathbed faster. kudos to the author who really drove home the fact that gramps was a rich as*hole disconnected from reality and always surrounded by groveling yesmen all his life. demanding that MC marries his granddaughter before he hits the bucket was just... incredulous audacity.

but I think whats even more incredible is how the author made ML a morally grey character. even though he has countless charms and obviously written to be likeable, he's very ruthless and coldblooded when it comes to business and constantly employs underhanded tactics and unscrupulous means to get to his goals. I was lowkey shocked when he dragged a random side character into his mess and ruined his acting career over something that was completely out of his control. like bro didnt even hesitate. it wasnt even face slapping it was purely driven by self interest and kinda mean lmao..

that said he still has a touch of humanity with his dealings and thankfully MC knows how to reel him in. and near the end he gives up his conglomerate empire and chose a path that is more aligned with his own interests instead of pure profits and power.

also really like how MC was written with a bunch of quirks. hes got his cute little hobbies like car racing and collecting gold bars and cutely following ml's instagram like a fangirl, but also his less than desirable traits like being a workaholic just for the sake of climbing the socioeconomy ladder. because of the environment hes been exposed to, he places a lot of importance to social status, money, and how others perceive him and his performance. to the detriment of his health sometimes. but I like how further down the story he cares less and less about those things, to the point where he chose to leave his gilded career and work for his family business instead.

overall their relationship is very cute. I kinda felt like it came on a bit abruptly because MC was dragging his feet but suddenly they sleep together and hes is totally cool with it lmfao, but im not complaining tho theyre very sweet to each other afterwards. their car racing dates were very cute

+ I honestly thought their relationship was gonna sour after that stunt with ML acquiring mc's family business and MC tricking ML with a trap in their contract. the way it was handled was kinda weird but it showed the spirit of MC and ML not backing down from their own interests despite being together lol

I love how well ML handles MC as well. One moment the MC gets angry, the ML deflects the topic and makes the MC shift his attention, then MC later realizes he got played by ML lmao. But this doesn't mean he's manipulative all the time, it's just like how someone really knows you well to be able to sense your mood shift and knows how to run when you're about to give it to them, then come back and apologize cutely later when you've cooled down and are ready to discuss rationally. This also enables ML to know what MC likes and how he's feeling without MC having to spill it out, since that's not in his nature (he keeps a lot of things from his big brother), which is why MC feels safe to act spoiled and asks for things from him and confide in him, both in business and emotional matters.

Also MC's just strangely funny, he keeps gold bars inside his safe and often counts his money like an old person, but these quirks aren't just for being funny and cute, they're fueled by a past event that changed him and made him so obsessed with success today, and I really like that detail.

people might be upset about the drunk one nightstand. And honestly it's dubious consent but MC doesn't feel, like, even the tiny bit bad about it since he reasons that he was the one who initiated the whole thing and kept urging ML who tried to refuse at first. But yeah, this is certainly one of those gray-area things