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???

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.

being the leader of the Black Iron Camp

Firstly, I would like to say that I am not a very good judge when it comes to plot. I have never been the type to care for it, so I'd usually skim through the text just to look at the relationship parts. In this however, I properly sat myself and read all of it. The plot was so well crafted that it had left me wondering how much care Priest must have put into writing something like this.

Almost every character is memorable, no matter if you love them or hate them. This is especially true for the main characters. MC and ML both have very distinct personalities, I can easily remember the funniest and the most ridiculous things they've done with each other or individually that brings a smile to my face. Side characters didn't feel like some extra mob puppets that adds nothing to the story or are just there to aid the main characters. I even got worried at one point for a side character that hadn't appear for a long time. (I'm looking at you, Shen Yi!)

Bless Priest, bless Yi Fu, bless Chang Geng, I'll be looking forward to more of Priest's works in the future!