ML and our MC had the most moving ending, and the system that is with our MC is also the cutest! The system was the reason I cried because he scarified himself for our MC. Of course he came back, but not as a system.

3.5/5. Some boring parts here and there, but overall okay. Ending was a bit of a cop-out. Bumped up to 4 because face-slapping is nice to read.

Ever read a slow burn story so slow that a snail could run laps around it?

Now you can!

Transmigrating into the Reborn Male Lead’s Ex-Boyfriend is exactly what it says on the tin.

Song Xuanhe was going to die, then one day, he wakes up in the body of book!Song Xuanhe, a scum villain cannon fodder mini boss who died without a whole corpse after offending the protagonist of the world.

Whoops.

Together with his system, Song Xuanhe must go through the scenarios written in the book until his untimely death at a pack of beasts. Simple, right?

But of course, things change, and Xiao Yuanmu, Mr 'I'm the protagonist', seems to be a little different from the book. Hmm.

Overall, this is a very slow burn novel. The MC and ML spend quite some time apart, in different countries, and the tone of the story slightly changes to a more revenge based one after Xiao Yuanmu ends up in an accident.

Plot wise:

Like a lot of other business novels, this is quite a dog-blood novel, with scheming relatives and white lotus, misunderstandings and shameless suitors. The second half of the story (where book!Song Xuanhe didn't have much scenes) is slightly different from the first half where Song Xuanhe had to follow the plot and system. While he still had to follow, most of those scenes were far apart, and it's mostly focused on a business-type novel style.

The ML also doesn't have many scenes in the middle-to-later part of the novel, and for those that might not be that interested in other side plots, this novel might not be one for you.

The ending, while being a happy one, feels a bit like a cop-out with the words 'happy end' tacked onto it.

Characters:

The MC and ML changed a lot throughout the whole story. Personally, while I preferred the OG!ML, and not the reborn one, the MC also goes through this same dilemma, treating them as a boon character, before slowly realising that the world he is in is a real one, with people that have their own thoughts and dreams.

Initially, their relationship is very strained due to several factors involved. Firstly, OG!Song Xuanhe had forced Xiao Yuanmu into a relationship, and while the dynamics changed later, this is brought up several times in the novel. Secondly, misunderstandings! Due to the MC having to do stuff like acting like a scum because of the original book character, this causes misunderstandings that are either increased through more misunderstandings, or solved by someone else misunderstandings something.

Thirdly, family. Because this is a business novel with rich kids, the tensions that the families bring play an important part in the novel, from antagonists to mini-bosses or supporting mother's that really love their sons.

The side characters are funny, from good bro Zhou Nan to the ever confident Louis, each of them are also important to the plot in certain ways, and always have links to what happened in the original book.

TL;DR:

Slow burn business novel, so slow that a snail could run circles about it. MC and ML spend some time apart, and readers that don't like reading about "are they together or not?" relationships or long-distance relationships might want to give this a miss.