Look, if it was easy to obtain ML's affections, then he would've already fallen for that white lotus bıtch cousin who covets him which we definitely don't want! So for me personally, the progress to how his feelings change for FL is just right. If I remember correctly, I think it took 50 chapters before he finally admitted to himself that he has fallen in love with FL and act upon it right away. Meaning, he instantly became a doting husband once he accepted FL as being his person aaand trust me when I say there are tons of dog food being thrown at our face to compensate us for the long wait kekeke!

This FL has really turned me off for any "Protagonist Falls in Love First" tags for the foreseeable future. I can't get behind a story where I cannot find myself aligning with the FL in some form or another. It doesn't have to be the full being of who the FL is, just a sliver of a characteristic that I can relate to. And yet somehow I found the FL to be irritating and forceful.

The hypocrisy that a woman can be forceful and be extolled as strong and independent while a man if described the same is essentially persecuted is pretty appalling. Let's be honest, the FL sexually harassed and stalked the ML in the guise of "stolen kisses" and "love." Somehow we as readers are conditioned to see the FL's actions as cute and endearing, and yet if it were vice versa and a man did it to an unwilling woman its assault. The double standard does not sit right with me and neither does the motivations of why she started helping out the ML in shadows in the first place. Falling in love immediately after being saved at the tender age of ten and holding that torch for the man since? Girl, puh-lease. If that ain't the glaring sign of immature obsession then I don't know what is.

Also the FL and the villainess are literally two sides of the same coin and you can't convince me otherwise because who's to say that the FL would not have done the same things the villainess did had the villainess succeeded in getting the ML instead of her? Both FL and and villainess have the same obsession and corrupt moral compass. Same family background and same upbringing and you're telling me they're different? Yeah, okay.

I can only assume that the author must hate women to portray them to be so desperate and dumb. Seriously, how the FL survived for so long is literally the luck of the draw and because she has the "FL halo."

Don't even get me started with Lu Heng and Xie Yun. Why the author thinks it's okay to have the woman gain the man's love and affection after she's debased herself to the point of self endangerment is beyond me. The author is basically just guilt tripping the man to be with the woman even tho the man treated the woman like absolute tr*sh. And yet the woman, who experienced terrible tragedies like miscarriage, physical assault, mental distress and wrongful blame for the death of a loved one still hangs on to the man like he was not the reason she was in that miserable plight in the first place. In my opinion, Xie Yun should have let go of Lu Heng

. The FL is out of line to give advice to Xie Yun to keep chasing after Lu Heng and to use her getting hurt as a way to get him to care for her. The FL is the literal worst person to give advice on anyone else's personal life given how inappropriate and obsessive she was in her pursuit of the nonconsenting ML. Her meddling in their relationship is intrusive crosses a line considering XY had already made her decision. Again another example of the FL forcing her will on people who did not ask for it.

Personally, I don't think Lu Heng deserved a second chance. He didn't even bother to hear XY out or bother to find out the truth. Why should he be given a chance when he was so hell bent on condemning XY without knowing the full story? And to make Xie Yun still desperately cling on to that kind of man even after finding out the fault was not with her is utter BS. She's left to grieve on her own for a baby she lost because of the shock of thinking that she killed her fiancé's dad. Blamed herself, punished herself and let Lu Heng treat her like scum and yet the author made it so Lu Heng is given space to deal with the truth while Xie Yun pined away for him waiting for the day he "forgave" her for a crime she did not commit. Yeah what a stand up guy you wrote there author. He's a real Prince Charming.
The FL is shameless, relentless and desperate and those are not a virtues. Those are flaws which the author treated as if they were virtues. It sets such a bad example for women everywhere. If a man doesn't want you and shows you he doesn't want you then don't force it. Move on because in the end he was never for you. People out here blaming the ML for being an AHole and not caring about the FL despite her efforts for him, but y'all forget that he wasn't obligated to care for her. Her decisions were her decisions. In the end he never owed her anything, just as how he never asked her to do all those things she did. I get that in the latter half the ML gets all affectionate and doting towards the FL, but honestly after reading how the FL acted in the first half I ended up not really caring for their relationship anymore. It came off feeling fake and inorganic.
All in all, this story left much to be desired and a bad taste in the mouth. Despite the unpalatable characters, the world building and political intrigue was decent however not enough to forgive the kind of characters written for it. Plus side? There's a panda called Lan-Lan and the FL's siblings are actual sweethearts. Too bad the FL was willing to sacrifice them just to attain the ML's goal. Love is well and truly blind in this one.