[Locked chapters will be revised. Follow along for updates!]
Blurb:
Yaozhen is the Meng family's adopted daughter-in-law.
Her husband is cold and distant, and her mother-in-law is hot-tempered. Unhappy that she has only given birth to a daughter, her mother-in-law often abuses her.
Yaozhen looks after her husband, serves her mother-in-law, and raises her daughter, struggling through each day.
One day, her husband rescues a noble young gentleman and brings him home. The two hit it off and swear brotherhood.
The young gentleman is strikingly handsome and radiates nobility. He politely, distantly calls her sister-in-law. Yaozhen lowers her head and avoids his gaze, as if ashamed of herself, thinking that she'd never seen anyone like him.
Her husband is busy with official duties, and the young gentleman is bedridden while he recovers. Only Yaozhen and her daughter are there to care for him.
As time passes, they keep finding themselves together.
Later, her mother-in-law tells her that if she can't give birth to a son, she'll be cast out. Yaozhen was adopted into the family and has no family of her own. If she loses her husband's protection, she'll be left to the mercy of bandits.
Overwhelmed by despair, she decides to hang herself. At the brink of death, someone saves her.
Her rescuer smells wonderfully of sandalwood. She used to anxiously avoid him, but now she sobs uncontrollably in his arms.
The young gentleman strokes the marks around her neck, angry that she tried to take her own life, yet pitying her plight.
At last, he grits his teeth and whispers in her ear:
“It's only a son. If he can't give you one, I will.”
[Reader's Notes]
1. The heroine and hero get together after she ends her marriage to the second male lead.
2. Before the novel goes paid, updates follow the rankings. After it goes paid, there will be six updates a week, every evening at 5:20.
3. The hero and the second male lead are both sexually inexperienced.
Theme: Life holds limitless possibilities
The later parts felt rushed; everyone was focused on the plot, and the characters received less development. It wasn't as nuanced as the beginning. From the moment the emperor went mad, feigned illness, and recalled the male protagonist, the entire story took a sharp turn for the worse. Many characters' motivations became illogical.
It's good that it's finished; the later parts were truly bland and tasteless, a classic case of starting strong but ending weak. I'd give the beginning 5 stars, but I'd hesitate to give the last 3. From the moment the emperor went mad, the whole story just plummeted.
The later parts are much worse than the earlier ones. [Laughing and crying with face covered]
In my opinion, it was actually a poorly executed project.
It was too rushed, like pressing the accelerator button.
Hooray for the finale! I followed it chapter by chapter, and to be honest, I'm a little disappointed. I thought there was so much more to the story, but the ending felt rushed.
Some readers said it started strong but declined, and I agree. The later parts felt like just setting the stage for the plot, and some of the scenes didn't hold up to scrutiny. However, as a first story, it was still quite good, with many refreshing moments at the beginning.
The check-in and tag [pigeon] were written very well at the beginning, but then the author seemed to lose control, like she got burned while eating hot pot, her tongue twitched and she just blurted out the ending. It felt too rushed 🥺
Keep up the good work, author! Everyone's love for you is deep, and their expectations are high. We hope you can improve. The first half of the novel was simply brilliant, with vivid characters and a very smooth writing style. It made me want to read it a second and third time. The most memorable part was when Meng Zhi was riding a donkey and got thrown off – I could laugh for days!
It's a poorly written ending; many of the later chapters are uninteresting yet difficult to finish.