MC used to love ML, JingXuan since she was little but ML was disgusted by her love. Since empress dowager was very fond of MC, she arranged a marriage between MC and ML. To avoid the marriage, ML puts MC to cold palace (similar to a prison) for 2 years as a punishment for an accident caused by MC who could have gotten a lesser sentence since she is a nominal princess. After the horrible period of her stay in cold palace, MC decides to forget about ML and move on. She meets 2nd ML, Yonghe and falls in love with him and decides to give him a chance by marrying him. ML gets jealous of MC's love for Yonghe and takes her as a concubine by threatning with Yonghe's life. For the safety of 2nd ML, MC becomes a concubine of ML. Although MC becomes ML's woman she never loves him and only shows cold indifference. When she had a child she eases up to ML only because of her child's future and ultimately gives up her life for her child's future without even leaving a note for ML.

My heart, Yonghe 😭😭😭. He wasn't someone I was in love with, but his presence and warmth was wonderfully appreciated. If he and Mei Li had ended together, I think they would have been a small, insignificant BUT happy couple. And that's all I wanted for Mei Li, her happiness 😞

be buried with FL?! You mf you didn't deserve it you bish!!!!!

FL commit su*cide to make her son an official son (?) and I think in the end ML never know the son whas his real son

after the birth of her child he starts to mellow out a bit and yearn for her love, and after living together peacefully for four years, they had a symbiotic relationship of husband and wife and ironically, you see him trying his best to get her to like him. It's a total flip to her chasing after him in their past. So, the scum outgrew his scum and despite him being the reason why she is miserable and I won't forgive him for that, I found myself just wishing for their peace and for MC to find a small amount of happiness with him at the end, you know, since she can't change her fate and the guy really did turn out to love her in a way that was no longer twisted... And it was my only hope for a somewhat happy ending. Alas, I knew this was a tragedy, so of course someone has to die.

I'm not too sure if she would have died anyway from the schemes of the other wife but I disagree with her decision to trade her life for a better life for her son, as essentially it left him motherless even for all the riches and status in the world. As for the ML, I actually teared up at the futility of it all when he tried to fulfil her last wish and all the what could have beens. He really did change a lot and was so different towards the end as they grew older. If only he was like this and not the total scumbag at the start...

I also like how she didn't fully return his feelings even when she died, leaving him without even a note. It's so fitting and ironic that he started out cold and she was desperately madly in love and chasing him, and it ends with them flipping sides totally. I actually don't hate the guy he became at the end but there were too many things that couldn't be undone between him and the MC. Nearing the final scenes where he walks in on MC crying because her son is unprivileged compared to the other wife's, he carries his son to hoist him to read the text on the wall when the other wife had the eunuchs do it for her own son, and when he senses something is wrong and asks her what happened and actually tried to fulfil her last wish of him... that was a bit moving I have to admit, cause that's where you see how the sides are flipped and how the s*upid ML genuinely loved her and accepted his son but changed his ways too late.

It made me think that this story could have had a happy ending, where they may not have a mutual romantic relationship but have a husband and wife partnership and build a familial kind of 'love' and live out the remainder of their days in peace despite the horrific way it started.

Thinks he will be the one to take her v*rginity and somehow be forever remembered by her but since the author wants to dig another hole for our FL's tragic life, she doesnt shed blood which he mistakenly understands as her having already done it with the 2nd ML

FL liked ML and use to chase him, he hated her for always annoying him, FL is an orphan and ML is a very important figure (i forgot his exact title), the only one who use to pity and side with FL is the empress dowager. FL accidentally killed an old woman with a horse, ML took that as an opportunity and ask the emperor to extend her punishment as a result FL was locked up for 2 years in cold palace, after that FL completely lost hope of having his love, after she's out of her punishment, she was still mistreated and ML was still being a jerk.

She met 2nd ML and later empress dowager arrange their marriage and they're now engaged, 2nd ML like her a lot, he was sceptical of her at first because of the rumours but after seeing her he fell in love with her immediately, he's such a green flag, compare to ML he's a whole forest, and FL started to like 2nd ML too, he used to gift her books she could read to fell asleep because she use to have nightmares, but of course people have to ruin it for them. Witnessing how FL and 2nd ML treated each other and how FL look at 2nd ML with such love, our jerk of an ML feel jealous and started to harassed fl, he even forcefully kiss her, this one girl who hate FL notice the atmosphere between the FL and ML and decided to set them up. Falling into the bad girl's trap she fell in a hole and ML save her and they got stuck somewhere, at this point, FL notice that someone was trying to set her up and tells ML to not make any move for the people to suspect them but this a$$hole took her back naked? (I don't remember how exactly) but anyways now everyone's suspecting them of sleeping together, he obviously using this as an opportunity, he offer FL to be his concubine because obviously he have to marry a Nobel woman who the emperor arranged for him (this makes me so angry because 2nd ML said he will leave everything for FL and we never get to witness their marriage because of a jerk and we have to watch her marrying that jerk☹️) at first FL reject his offer and goes to tell 2nd ML that nothing happens that night and he says 'he knows' :'), but then ML pulls some strings and now 2nd ML is locked up, his mother (who didn't really like fl) comes to beg FL for help and now FL has no choice but to agree to marry ML and be his concubine, ML refused to release 2nd ML untill they get married so they arrange to held the ceremony at that week, ML suppose to be wife visit him and tells him to marry FL after they get married but ML refused, they get married and 2nd ML is out of jail, he visit FL and (this part is soo sad) at first FL refused to see him and tell her maid to take the books he gifted and that to tell him she's okay but ML barged in and dragged her out by the arm to see 2nd ML they exchange some word and FL tells him that she's happy marrying ML and to not worry but 2nd ML understands that she have no choice but to marry ml, and they parted ways (i hate ML soo much he was smirking and all while this happen). ML Still don't understand how FL is so indifferent when he treated her so good (yea right) and he gets angry almost everytime they see each other. Now ML married the official wife, 2nd ML goes to war because of ml, and ML goes to war too, FL is pregnant now and the official wife too, ML send letters to FL but she never responded, she don't know how to tell ML about her pregnancy but she knows he already knows it because he knows everything about her, she finally respond his letter telling him that she's fine. The war is over and 2nd ML is dead, this shooked FL and she give birth premature, ML came back and tells her that she'll spare her son because he owe 2nd ML (he thought the child is 2nd ml's child), FL got so mad that he don't acknowledge his own son and yell at him that he indeed owe 2nd ML and he should feel guilty, they argue again. It's time to celebrate the 100th day of the child and FL asked ML to be at the celebration, but later he send a maid to tell her that he won't be able to come coz offical wife is giving birth and to celebrate alone, the child was named as the official son by the emperor. Time passed the child is 3 yrs old, ML still think he's not his son and feels jealous that he got fl's love, the official son also grows up now, they're both 3yrs old, fl's son noticed that even though ML is his dad, he's not entirely his own, at one scene, when he was at the festival/night market with fl, he saw ML with official wife and office son, FL noticed his sad eyes and tells him that she will buy anything he wants, he whispered that he wants to buy a dad : (, he's aware that he's somewhat at lower position compared to his brother and FL is so sad that he's aware of such thing at such a young age, and blame herself, she wants to use an important map that was given to her by her friend to make offer with the emperor but she witnessed the emperor promising the official wife's dad that his daughter will always be the qing Princess, she lost all hope now, she cried on ML embrace that night and tells him that the child is his and he's been her only man her entire life and ask ML to promise her to make her and her son the official wife and son, the ML promised but FL didn't really believe him cause he never fulfilled his promises but she's still happy that he promise, FL comes to conclusion that she and her son have nothing to lose so she will take the risk (the risk here is that because she been hiding the map for a long time, the emperor will kill her) and goes to make a deal with emperor, she showed him the map and says she will accept death if her son is make the official son and that she can do anything for her son, the emperor was moved by her love for her son so instead of killing her he agreed that she killed herself, she goes back that night and tells her maid to take good care of her son and spend her last night with her son, she died in her room, when ML got the message that she died he refused to believe it, but when he got back and see her body on her room, he knew she had died, ML and fl's son now official son and him held her funeral, he buried her on the left side of a tomb that he will be buried when he died. Time passed, he died and he saw FL hands reaching out to him, he took her hand and the end.

he did change gradually to a recyclable tr*sh but I still don't forgive him.

MC seriously killed herself go give her son a better title, even though he already had a great title and all of her wealth, she also did it because a child needs a father apparantly, but his father was dogsh*t even before the su*cide, why would he improve after the only thing he cares about the son kills herself

And im sure the son will just super duper appreciate her robbing him of the only person loving him to get him a slightly better title

The empress dowager and the emperor are just straight up freaking evil in this too, but they try to play it off like they arent that bad

i was very satisfied with the ending but not happy with it. While I understand her view but I still never like this kind of mindset to take ones life for any reason. It might look like a form of sacrifice for the love one but for me it's just a show of weakness and selfishness. She just feel tired of life and found a reason to justify her actions to end it that could also ease up her guilt. But then again I did understand where she came from and did feel pity for her, with that kind of society and life, it's hard to survive one body even mentality, it's good she didn't turn to the worst. The author should really wrote the side story of the child. Like how his life after her mother dies nor his view about his father and other. The ML is a scum for sure, though the retribution is not that satisfying but it's still ease up the whole anger in me as a reader. The emperor is the second scum character.