+ Interesting plot. Everything was very interesting and fun and the path that the main characters took to get to the throne was cool

+ Realistic FL: I appreciated how pragmatic she was and how she isn't overpowered. I think she's a very interesting character.

+ Relationships with other women: I personally loved all of the (friendly) relationships that the FL had with other female characters, like the nicer concubines, her aunt, her mother-in-law and the empress. It was just fun and I love anything with other women, especially because female friendships are rare and this novel actually has feminist themes.

+ The ML is pretty cool! He talks to the FL occasionally about his plans, he basically leaves behind his concubines the moment he has her, he spoils her and protects her, he is a good brother (see cons about his crown Prince brother), and he is a calm sort of prince, which is surprisingly rare to see in novels.

— The translation will make you REALLY annoyed. It's good in general, but the amount of pinyin is so annoying and confusing that you'll just have to power through in order to get used to it. However, when you're irritated and wanting a nice novel to read, do not read anything published by Dreams of Jianghu if you want to preserve your sanity. (They're still a good translator but the amount of pinyin that is inside ONE chapter can reach 32 😟)

— Wayyyyyyy too much over praising of the main characters. You'll get mentions of how calm and thoughtful the ML is, how kind he is to the FL, how the FL is so beautiful and smart, how the FL is such a good empress/wife/consort/etc. It's just really frequent.

— The relationship between the FL and the ML is really depressing. The FL talks a lot about how she "knows men" and how she's "seen it all" whenever the ML treats her nicely. You can't even enjoy a nice moment between the main characters because she'll always talk about how much of a good actor the ML is whenever he treats her well and then she'll pretend to fall for it. It's just really depressing. She never verbalizes whether or not she loves the ML, even until the very end. We're just left to guess and personally, I don't enjoy that :/

— FL has the EQ of a wet paper bag (see: her relationship with the ML) and can often be hypocritical especially about other women. She thinks a bit too realistically with the thinking of a woman in modern times, but she forgets that most people around her are INSANELY young (since they marry at around 13-15 years old) and that women generally don't get power unless they're married to a powerful man. So sometimes, when she talks about women, marriage, and power, she sounds kinda ridiculous bc she's very privileged and has the experience of a woman from the modern times.

— The Crown Prince 🙂 Personally, I cannot understand what the author intended when they kept this character alive, especially by making the ML keep him alive. Like, didn't this man try to kill you and take over the throne?? Not only is he abusive towards his wives, he's an *sshole and a r*pist, who actually r*ped the FL's sister almost every night in order to vent his frustrations. Later, he even allowed her to die and his actions drove his wife insane, causing her to be executed. It's just crazy how he gets another better and more gentle wife and then gets drawn in a sympathetic light when he dies with a broken heart with the FL as his white moonlight. It's just absolutely insane and I think it's one of the worst decisions the author made, especially when there was a very nice, lowkey feminist undertone within the novel. The decision to keep this *sshole alive was a st*pid decision.

— The ML still has concubines. He never approaches them again after he gets with the FL for the first time, but they still exist :/

One of the tong fang I believe they're called (? Basically it's a maid who's slept with the ml, but doesn't have the background necessary to be a concubine) is passing news to one of the other princes. She gets caught and made to drink poison.

Should she have died? Maybe or maybe not, but I do understand that something like that is important to make sure it doesn't happen again and there isn't a chance for it to happen. So I guess it's awful, but this were the times, but it's much better than the novels where maids are beaten to death for the smallest mistakes or whatever.

Also is poison a terrible way to go? Absolutely, but is it a million times better than all the death in webnovels where the women are r*ped and tortured or killed in increasingly horrific ways.

I thought the ending will be happily ever after like in the fairy tale, but no. The ending is a good ending but realistic. If the ending of a fairy tale happily ever after ending is flowery ending with nuance of spring of the year, I think this ending is like a calm lake at the end of winter. It is beautiful and realistic.

One has to emphasize how important her viewpoint toward love is. She has no room for the struggle against someone like ML. He treated the original QQJ horribly, took one of her maids as his concubine, and let a higher-ranked concubine mess with her til the point she died and the MC transmigrated. You can argue it wasn't intentional, but it is what it is.

ML isn't a good person. He may love her but she knows that this love can change at any time.

She can only give back as much as he's willing to share. She can't afford to make herself miserable by falling head over into a pit. The society in which she now dwells won't free her from him even if he's one to grow tired of her. She can't just pack up and leave, she never had a choice but to settle with the marriage of the original QQJ.

She's lucky that ML and she hit it off well, and that he appreciates her good and bad.

There are enough of his concubines that set a good example of how they can have a sweet phase and once he saw something better, be ignored and turned away for good. If MC falls out of favor as a wife, she may keep her status but what's a lonely heart good for other than pain?

She's in love with him but she's fully capable of drawing clear lines if she needs to.

Negative comments on her lucid attitude towards ML make no sense :D

"Han liangdi has served Emperor for so many years, but her appearance hasn't changed at all." Han Qing He had been serving by He Heng's side since she was sixteen. Right now, she was just twenty one. In her previous life, it would have been the best years of her life. In this era, her age was slightly old.

"Really, zhen doesn't remember what she was like before, " He Heng glanced in the direction of Fu Shou Palace,

Not gonna lie, this is kinda sad. She was with him since she was 16 and this is all the affection left for her and she's only 21.

Also so far, the main character is 16..

"Jing's territory is high up, so the majority of people's skin are dark colored, so how beautiful could they be? Compared to our Da Long's females, they must be severely lacking. It's all just unfounded rumors to deceive ignorant people."

It happens again... man this is why I hesitate in reading these historical novels. I understand there's a cultural difference and white skin is preferred over there but I get disappointed every single time.