at the end, we don't know if Xun Ying and Qi Ke ended up together. We don't know Mrs. Qi and her daughter's outcome aftet Mrs. Qi was kept by FL. I'msure FL will take care of of her half sister but I wonder if she will ever reconcile with her mother. We also don't have an ending for her father's concubine and half siblings. We also don'tknow if her male cousin ever passed that exam and got the girl. I recall reading that he was missing her a lot and so he understood the longing btw Xun Ying and Qi Ke. If there was a conclusion with his crush I might have missed it when I skipped around. But yea... lots of unknowns remain.

In the first life, her mother tricked her and kidnapped her from the capital. Her mother is basically greedy cannon fodder with very little attachment to her daughter from the first marriage (as the mother had divorced the MC's father and married into different family) and just wanted the dowry that the grandparents had arranged for the MC due to the divorce.

While she was outside of the capital, her father was swept away by the politics and eventually sent to a far off part of the Kingdom so she never saw him again. The author gets a little wishy washy with their writing but it's implied that the grandmother also died because of this.

His younger sister, the treasure of his family basically, was schemed against by their cousins and sexually mol*sted by one of the Princes. He didn't fully deflower her but was caught at a certain point on purpose so that the Emperor would have to bestow her as a concubine/wife to the Prince. She killed herself in front of the Emperor as she had no desire to marry the Prince.

His younger brother was led along by one of the Empress' nieces and ended up being badly injured (to the point of being crippled and unable to have children).

His father was killed on the battlefield.

Then the ML himself was poisoned multiple times and eventually became bedridden before dying.

Turns out, the Empress has the IQ of a teabag.

She deliberately summoned the MC, the ML's family, the Crown Princess and several other noble ladies for a banquet so she could arrange for them to all be there when she and a Concubine seize the throne. Nevermind that the Crown Princess, and several women loyal to her and the ML's family, were all military spouses with highly trained servants. The Empress' attempts to seize the women fail miserably and she ends up becoming a hostage.

Further highlighted with how she (or one of the other women associated in her plot) has someone begin taunting the ML's younger sister about the young scholar the younger sister liked and implied that he was used as a body double for the Concubine's son to fake his death. It's like evil villain twirling their mustache and revealing everything 101.

Of course, there is no build up to this event other than the MC feeling worried about the banquet as they requested the younger sister by name. There is discussion between her and the ML earlier that they felt like the same event that happened in the last life might happen in this one but we're not told what that discussion is. Just that they have it.

by the last 1/4 of the book, the thing that is the most concerning is the male leads younger sister and how she was plotted by I believe the third Prince wei because he really wanted her. And in the past life she died because of him. So they are wary of it and it's a big point of regret for the both of them. She obviously ends up liking the number one scholar and the number one scholar ends up liking her back. However, in the moment where they are both kind of brewing these initial attraction to each other, the number one scholar finds out that the third Prince is lustful for her. So despite the fact in the past life he was very intelligent and very pure in the sense that he disregarded all of the factions and never sided with any Prince for that their own, and he was known to be very wise and intelligent... And in this life too he is still considered intelligent, you're telling me that his solution to him finding out that he has feelings for the male leads younger sister and that she may be plotted against the third prince to become his concubine threw some trap potentially... Or just even that the third Prince is also interested in her... You're saying that he's just going to go undercover by himself and sacrifice his life and career for her without saying a word to anybody. Just so he can find out what the third Prince is doing and sabotage it just in case for her potentially... That is bullshit.

Because let me solve the issue for you. It's easy as 1 2 3. He could simply pursue her. Maybe he thought she was too above her him that he could never grasp and get such a wife since she is of high birth. I understand that. But if he attempted to or if he purely warned her powerful older brother and worked as a double agent from the start, like but still the quickest way to solve this. Is simply make her your wife. All you needed to do was to pursue. I understand class differences like if he became like I said the number one scholar... Like he was supposed to.... I know he got apparently like sick because of the second Prince so he couldn't take the second test. regardless, this whole quarter of the book literally the only reason there are issues are because of these two. Like it's the main leads just trying to clean up after these two because they're in love with each other but they're on separate ends Of the political spectrum and the leads don't really know if the number one school scholar actually is doing this for the younger sister or not like they just suspect. Which is also so dumb. Like you really couldn't ask like they asked him eventually later so what was the difference between asking him later and asking him in the beginning..... Nothing. There's this is such a big plot hole to me personally. Maybe I'm not taking in account her high birth as much as perhaps the number one scholar is. But I feel like if he's truly smart he would do his best to be politically significant to the emperor so he could get a position so he could feel like he's worthy of her and then pursue her to block off the third Prince from trying to scheme her. Because then she would already be engaged. And then the two leads don't have the f*cking tiptoe politically around the situation because they don't want to ruin these two people's love stories especially the younger sisters because they value her so much. It's f*cking mind-boggling.

It's because this book is so decently written that the fact that we're using this to extend or move the plot forward is bonkers. Not to mention the fact that we had to make the two princes assumed to be gay or whatever in order to basically get the person they want to be the ruler chosen as the crown Prince. Like does it really necessary to villainize homosexuality? Not to mention the the bi erasure casually. Like the fact that The one thing That makes this indecisive emperor choose is literally just plotting the two princes together in bed with aphrodisiacs going at each other... Is like low bar like that's the solution? I know like that's not the full ending because they're trying to clean up and obviously the emperor gets suspicious about it eventually and tries to figure out what's going on. But still. I guess this is the only way to have it not be a bloody ending like in the past life idk.

It's even more s*upid when you think about it because it was referenced from the beginning that when the male leads younger sister died because of the third Prince's actions in the past life, The younger cousin female jinrou sacrifices herself again to become the main wife of the third Prince and then eventually at a critical moment, spills everything to the emperor on what's happening behind the scenes And the s*xual whatever things that are happening in the third prince's Palace. Which gets the third Prince in trouble and she gets exempt from being associated to him and the punishment that he gets because she turned over the information. So knowing that that happens in the past life and knowing that, why didn't the male lead contact the number one scholar if he had a suspicion that the number one scholar was just contacting the two princes there for his younger sister? Just because he felt conflicted about the two of them having affection for each other? Or didn't want to be wrong? Or because they weren't sure? So what again what's the difference between asking in the beginning and asking later when they did? Really nothing. Why couldn't they just plant him to start with as their spy, why couldn't they just try to ask him to help their side even if they know he's neutral in the past.

I'm sorry the more I talk about it. The more the plot hole like widens for me. I it is kind of disappointing. The book itself is not like anything amazing. It has some nuances but that's only because the MC is generous to women and etc but obviously not as cutthroat as the ML which is fine whatever. I prefer cutthroat I don't care. Irregardless, the book itself wasn't overly cliche. And I would prefer cliche over this because then you know like the only reason why this is happening is because the other person is s*upid. However the other person is not supposed to be s*upid according to their setup according to their character setting, so this this is confusing. And disappointing. But that's my deep dive take on it. You should read it for yourself. Whatever. I think it's a huge plot hole. But the novel itself is still I guess enjoyable? It's just a little disappointing considering.

everyone says that all the princes being plotted and killed and poisoned near the end of the book is obvious that qin wang is The most suspicious because he would benefit the most from all the other princes suffering. That is a lie. Anyone with a brain and anyone with the brain in the story could refute that but they didn't. Because they all know that first of all qin wang Is the only one who wasn't punished to leave the Capitol and never come back, after the two princes were plotted to have s*xual relations with each other. So qin wang is someone most likely to become crown Prince if he wasn't already at this point. So actually no he would benefit the least from all of his brothers being killed. Because he would be extremely obvious that it would be him. So like no one even said that. no one refuted those statements. Even if qin Wang's faction did do all of those things, that's s*upid. Just plain and simple that is the s*upid thing why did they do that. I just think the author has like a literal brain fart near the end of the novel. Perhaps they literally were like how do I end this LOL it's showing. The difference between a rush ending and a non-rushed ending is basically the pacing, the lack Of foreshadowing, telling over showing etc. The only foreshadowing we had was that one line I swear about the fact that the noble consort would have to eventually try to Target the emperor if her son s were not being viewed well by the public or being praised by the emperor. That was like one line. Unless I am missing other lines. That is the only foreshadowing we had. And was that enough for everything that happened in succession after words? No. It was just like events that you're like oh Sherlock like this is what happened actually. But there was no foreshadowing. Like it just happened and then you tell us why. But it's not well done enough. Telling us why afterwards without having any setup beforehand with enough details for hints of potential future events that we will then be like oh we want to know what happened, then it's just bad writing. In my opinion like it's just becomes word vomit.

Not to mention the whole reason why that happens is because the main character isn't told anything. Obviously because it's such a big event I understand that she can't know everything and it does have to be an omnipresent view perspective, but if she's supposed to be one of the main characters then let her be a main character. I'm not asking her to fight I'm not asking her to do nothing. But I am asking her to be smart and be let into the process AKA let the readers into the process because she is our perspective into the plan. But if she doesn't know the plan or she isn't told it or shown it in a scene, then we are not hinted at it or shown it or whatever. You don't have to tell us everything. You just need to let us in. And at this point near the end of the novel, the main character basically had no purpose. She just existed. She was just a viewer. she was as surprised as any other bystander. Bruh she's supposed to be our main character. I don't care if she isnt the crown princess. The fact is her husband is basically the crown Prince's advisor and she's best friends with the crown princess and is supposed to be intelligent... Like so what, she has a son and now her brain is offline and her abilities are left for the dust? bit*h I can't. I don't think she acts dumb so that's thank God like nothing happened ooc. But she did nothing. She existed. And in consequence, as the reader who is looking into the story basically through her main perspective even if it's in third person, Is also just existing to read this word vomit at the end

Literally, at some point, she's like, oh I don't know what's going on, better ask him when he gets back from the trip. Or, hmmm he's plotting something I don't what yet.

And don't know for you but when I read of Xun Ying being shemed against by Prince Wei and actually rather than bedding her, he's bedding his own brother hahaha I laught so hard! Best counterattack ever!

"To put it bluntly, conflicts inside the manor, every family all had"

or

"And although Qi-shi was indeed irritable and very easily angered, but perhaps frequently making a racket like this, having the anger inside immediately vented out at all times, it thus won't leave behind any ailments, not having pent-up anger damaging the body and such"

it took me a few time to fully comprehend this, I don't think ive seen so many coma in a novel before and sometimes I don't notice them which make it harder for me