For me, this isn't slowburn romance, because it's shown early on that Li Ying liked CX even when he acted cold and dismissive. CX liked her too, but he felt too unworthy and weighed down by guilt to act on it.

Besides the guessing game for the culprit, we also get openly annoying villains Shen Que and Ashina Wuduo but ugh still disgusting.

I cried so hard at Cui Xun's fate in his current life. He's genuinely a good person, but his ending was so cruel. Ashina Wuduo is actual tr*sh. My poor man became so sickly... it hurt to read.

But honestly, the ending for this life is probably the best path for both CX and LY. Destiny and karma needed to be balanced before they could get their happy ending. At least they finally got peace. <3

I was likeee BOOM BOOM DUAR at Li Ying's actual cause of death. The hints were there but I still didn't catch them. Who would've thought her fate was so tightly connected to Cui Xun?

Also, thank you author for the incredibly sweet reincarnation life. I absolutely adore CX in that lifetime—once his emotional chains were gone, he could finally love normally and even pursue LY properly. A literal hidden gem of a male lead.

Li Ying literally **repeated her entire life cycle** to meet CX again AND to push the imperial reform forward. She traveled from the future back to the past to give spoilers. And omg that "s word"... who would've expected THAT?? Good thing her good karma and the blessings of her loved ones let her break the cycle in the end.

our CP gets a happy ending.

It honestly felt like the author's main goal was to torture the male lead just to wring emotions and sympathy out of the readers. And yes, I get why the ML's sufferings were "important" to the plot... but also, I don't.

The premise and summary hooked me, it promised angst, mystery, heartbreak, and bittersweet moments. And to be fair, it delivered on those... just in the most shallow way possible. I couldn't bring myself to invest emotionally, partly because from the very beginning, the plot holes were practically waving at me. And don't get me wrong, if I really like a novel, I can absolutely overlook gaping plot holes. But here? I couldn't.

The Characters — or Lack Thereof

The two leads had no personality. The FL is pure, innocent, surrounded by love her whole life... and that's literally it. She's flawless, selfless, and endlessly generous, with no other defining traits, desires, or flaws. She's the perfect, porcelain doll heroine and I personally like my characters with a bit more complexity (it's a personal take)

The ML? Basically the same story. His whole personality is thinking of the FL as the untouchable moon while he's the dirt beneath her feet. This metaphor is hammered in every three chapters until the very end. Yes, thank you, author, I understand he has self-esteem issues and guilt. But there's no depth to him beyond that.

His only real desire in life is to clear the name of his fallen comrades and their army. Noble, sure, and he's willing to sacrifice anyone and anything to get it done. We're constantly told that he framed loyal officials while acting as the empress dowager's hunting dog - but somehow this is all brushed aside after the FL tells him, "no, you're a loyal dude and ily regardless of who says what and ik they lying anyway." Suddenly, everything's fine? Yes, he didn't betray his land or sovereign, was framed himself, lost all faith in justice, and became a 'yakshaka' on the road of revenge - great, we've seen plenty of male leads like that. But here? He suddenly morphs into a misunderstood pookie, like... where did the morally grey side go? The only "bad" thing he did was deceive the FL, and after that, nada. The only past regarding him is how he was tortured, and had to endure humiliation, is it sad and makes the reader feel miserable? yes. But did he also lack a real struggle in his character, also yes. His character setting could have had depth, but like I said - poor execution. These 2D characters remained 2D for me, unfortunately.

Now... the plot logic. Oh boy.

The FL is a ghost, but somehow changes her clothes and jewellery every day? Okay, they were "offerings" from her family, fine. But then she gives them to the ML?? How??

She even feeds the ML the food offerings she receives... WHAT?

No one questions how the ML can see or touch her?? And apparently the 2nd ML and 3rd ML can also see and touch her (those two had some reasons atleast but the ML ??) The 2nd ML has a whole business with the supernatural world, but we get zero insight into how it works. Basically there's no world building. The FL has no shadow and no footprints on the snow but can somehow pluck flowers and catch petals, and the ML can put flowers in her hair, so I'm guessing random people will just see the flower/petal, float?? okay leave that.

Established rule: FL cannot touch living things. Then later... she's catching fireflies. Excuse me??

And I could list a dozen more "wait, what??" moments like that. It just disrupted the flow so much.

The Unnecessary Love Interest Overload Why do both MCs have so many love interests?

For the FL: There's even a 40ish something shadow guard who's been in love with her for years, can see her because he is the daoist disciple of the evil guy, who is in cahoots with the evil minister, and somehow works for the emperor as well. This man is collecting job titles like Pokémon cards.

For the ML: The 3rd FL is obsessed with him after... watching him get treated like dirt and thinking, "Wow, I love his tenacity"? The concept could've worked, but the execution was awful. LIKE GIRL, you're telling me she watched him get tortured inhumanely and she, falls in love with him ???? what ?? only because she thinks wow he didn't betray his country and stood up against the evil 2nd FL whom I couldn't even dream to challenge and so yes I love him. LOVE him enough to die and become a strand of obsession, girl ?? wtf even is your obessession?? ISTG

The rest of the side characters are selfish jerks who spit on the ML, though some conveniently change at the end after the ML single handedly (with the help of 2 of the 2nd mls) brings justice to the fallen army. Yay, I guess.

The only reason I kept reading was because the novel had potential, the setup was intriguing enough to see how it ended. But the execution? Choppy, redundant, and vague to the point of frustration.

The mu*der mystery? Completely botched. After the first suspect was cleared, the story threw in three more suspects who also turned out innocent. By the end, all tension was gone. (I guessed who the mu*derer really was after the 2nd suspect was cleared and damn I was right, Idk if it was apparent enough or not tho)

And yet... I did enjoy the final chapters and the epilogue (minus the Tianwei Army and Emperor/Empress extras didn't bother). After all that dog blood, I guess I needed the happy ending to feel like my time wasn't entirely wasted.