I'm not excusing his cheating but if we're go by what was said at the beginning, his father really tried. The ML's Mom was portrayed to be a nitpicker, complainer and somehow unbearable making their whole years of marriage uncomfortable, trust lacking and love lacking even with the ML's father succumbing to all for peace.

Okay, it now seems like they're getting on track, why bring back the cheating with the first love? Even if it's to be done, couldn't it have happened in another way? Why try to soil his endurance, personalities, reducing it to nothing at the end?

Lin Song'an's father Lin Yexin, seemed like a good man. Yes, he had to marry Fang Lin while loving someone else but he made it work. Fang Lin was a handful with how difficult and suspicious she kept being.

What I do not understand is how it suddenly became a thing of Lin Yexin cheating with his old flame. That was very unnecessary. I guess the author wanted to show the difference between him and his son and how strong ML is, but there are better ways to do that. It came completely out of left field and seemed contrived.

I couldn't leave without mentioning this. ML's sacrifice at the end deeply affected me. While I understand that it was necessary for the continuity of MC and ML's relationship in the context of the novel, it honestly bothered me. I don't really enjoy reading about characters who make irreversible sacrifices in novels because I think these sacrifices sometimes overshadow the relationship itself and make it impossible to imagine the relationship without them. But at the same time, I understand ML. So, even though I think it would've been much better if it hadn't happened, still, I can't deny that it added depth to the story.