You literally witness how step-by-step, the emperor's caution and policies push the country to the brink. And separately, each step seem "reasonable" from his point of view, but alltogether, they become the straw that breaks the camel's back. Beautiful.

No handwavy magic, no vague "implications" (from authors who themselves have no idea what they're talking about). An incredibly impressive and believable way for the way the author set up each of the major events in the novel.

When the MC confesses to the ML and gets rejected, he simply accepts the rejection and they go back to a 'platonic' relationship. Like holy crap! No forcing, drugging or threatening, what a f*cking shock! They also realize that there are more important things at stake like the stability of the country, not just their epic romance! A-m-a-z-i-n-g!

The grammar is a pretty big issue for native English readers. The past perfect and present perfect tenses and plural/singular verb conjugations are almost always wrong. About 90% of the story is grammatically incorrect, which makes reading it extremely difficult. Typically, I would have long dropped stories with this level of grammar problems.

Specific terms are arbitrarily translated. I'm not sure why the "Black Iron Camp" and "Wind Slasher" got translated, but Spectrum Arrows, telescopes, monocles, mechanics, Beacon tickets, etc. are left their original pinyin. There's seriously a LOT of pinyin to memorize, and I read the book all at once so it would be way more difficult for people who were slower readers (because the vocab is not consistently footnoted).

I also recommend translating the pinyin for the steampunk oil into something like "viogold oil", because so many policies and people (like gold fighters) play on the word "gold" in that made-up term. Measuring impurities in it is one thing and setting it on fire to create explosions is a huge part of many battles/plots. It is SO difficult for English readers to even imagine what category of substance "ziliujing" is (a liquid? a mineral? a powder?) when the entire phrase is left untranslated.

Yes, I understand Chinese, yes I can read pinyin, yes I still think it's a problem.

the gong and shou have some chronic diseases respectively. Gu Yun (shou) is half deaf-half blind becoz he was poisoned when he was a child. that's the truth. with some medicine he can see and hear rather well, but not without nasty side effects, like... shortened lifespan and severe headache. and this medicine was losing effectiveness by time to time. he still looks nonchalant about this. damn. Chang Geng (gong) was poisoned by his supposedly-mother in early chapters. well she was not his real mother, she was his aunt actually, she tried to kill him several times till he always gets nightmares every night. by this bad bad aunt, Chang Geng was cursed to be a madman, killing everyone in fit of madness, have unstable mind. Chang Geng is a smart child, he tried to suppress it and find a way to cure this. so, he looks calm and stable, but when his yifu is involved, the calmness was crushed. as far I read, this poison is only affecting the mind. but eh, I may be wrong.

now now i've read about CG's curse and how he got it. GDI XIU NIANG. W-WHAT KIND OF GRIEVANCE YOU HAD TILL YOU DID THAT TO A CHILD WHO MAY BE YOUR OWN OR YOUR SISTER'S ?!! the detail is too grotesque. can't write it here orz

it's a forsaken child ascending to throne kind of story. the shou will be the one to help the gong become king. the world setting is a steam punk china with ziliujin (violetstream gold) powering machines, armors, and weapons. think of it like vibranium. china is constantly in battles with neighboring tribes for land.

a bratty child, currently. but he's ardent in his martial art training and cares a lot about his yifu (shou). one time he thought his yifu has fallen into the water and jumped to save him even though he always acted nonchalant towards his yifu. a righteous person, would save his friend even when it endangers his life.

GOSH I LOVE HIM. shameless ukes always burns my fire. he's beautiful and he's not ashamed to admit it. very lazy tho, would delegate all house chores to shen yi. even though he's sick he's not weak. although the desc said he's deaf-blind he still can see and hear from close distance. a general of an army division, he has won countless border wars. he thinks of the gong as his actual son. would the gong be son-zoned???

NOOOO

being the leader of the Black Iron Camp

I really love Chang geng's development. E.g. when he felt lacking and undeserving bc of the gap between him and Gu Yun despite their closeness vs. Chang geng managing the Grand Council and providing solutions to economic problems in the country

or when it was shown how he hates himself because of his childhood trauma + bone of impurity vs. when he realized all the misfortunes he suffered was to save luck in order to meet gu yun

As for Gu Yun, despite seeming carefree, he's actually quite distant and never lets his feelings and weaknesses show, making others deal with Chang geng in place of him. But in the latter chapters he opens up to Chang geng ("If something really happened to you this time... what am I supposed to do?... I truly have no strength left to... place someone else in my heart anymore") and even trusts him to command the Jiangbei camp in place of him during a foreign attack bc of his injuries. wow.

They both suffered a lot so I just want them to live in peace after everything gets resolved.

Constantly being misunderstood as some lecher when in reality it was Chang Geng who seduced him, haha. On the other hand, we have Chang Geng with his, "Zi Xi, I'm hurt. Kiss me."

Shen Yi and Chen Qing Xu get married.

Basically there was no father-son love at the beginning. ML has never known what the love of a father was like and consequently didn't know how to be a father either. He raised MC just the same way his father did to him: let him do whatever he wants and doesn't interfere with anything. ML's love for MC since the beginning has always been guarding and protection for the weaker and has nothing to do with the father-son love, thus, created a room for the romantic love to develop.