Ahhhhhhhh!!! I love Butterfly’s historical stories (... well everything they write...).

This was so beautiful. The relationships were on point. The MC was absolutely adorable (esp as a little kid and the army chapters). While I almost had a heart attack ... more>>

Spoiler

when I thought Huang Ama was going to kill the MC

[collapse]

, the dad love was really, really moving in the careful restraint way that any Emperor could feel for their kid. This isn’t the first time Butterfly has captured this dynamic, but I think it was the best executed.

Super kudos to the translator who put in some serious work to not only translate, but annotate and add a little extra literary (ish) asides.

This is definitely worth a read (or two...). <<less

I thought the description for this novel was really interesting, plus I generally enjoy novels by 月下蝶影, so I was excited to pick this up and give it a try. It did not disappoint. Even though it's historical danmei, it's the most realistic book in this genre I've read, most likely because the characters are real figures from history. The translation was excellent, and I appreciated all of the translator's historical notes. She put a lot of effort into doing research as part of the translation, and it was interesting... more>> to get that additional context. Included in the footnotes are also the translator's thoughts on the unspoken meaning behind various characters' words and actions, which I found very helpful.

The novel follows a 30 year old transmigrator from modern times who wakes up in the body of Yinyou, the 7th son of Emperor Kangxi who ruled during the Qing dynasty. He's born with a lame foot to a low status concubine, so that automatically takes him out of the running for emperor. Because of that, he's able to live a relatively carefree life even as a prince and focus on things that he enjoys, such as food, improving tools with his modern knowledge, etc. And stay out of the fight for the throne. The story starts when Yinyou is only 1 years old and follows his journey into adulthood, so you can really see how the innocent relationships between the young princes as kids gradually changes into a subtly antagonistic dynamic as each brother is either vying for the throne or joins another brother's camp.

The one thing that stays constant in Yinyou's life is his good relationship with the ML, his half older brother and 4th prince, Yinzhen (so note there is the in*est tag). Initially the MC wants to cozy up to Yinzhen because he knows the course of history and that Yinzhen eventually becomes the next emperor. Because he doesn't have much status among the princes, he wants to get into his 4th brother's good graces early on so that he can live nicely once Yinzhen becomes emperor. What eventually starts as a relationship based on self benefits gradually develops into a relationship with real feelings as they spend a lot of time together and each comes to realize that the other truly cares about him. In this kind of cutthroat environment where all the princes don't fully trust each other and only ally with each other for mutual self-interest, even if they're in the same camp, it's rare to have that kind of genuine affection.

At the same time though, both main characters are realistic and understand that having heirs is critical to success, so they follow the emperor and their mother's will in getting married and each have multiple women in their harem. They each treat their women with respect and leave the management of the household up to them, and that's where the relationship ends. Only with each other do they show their real selves and bring love and feelings into the relationship. It's such an interesting dynamic between juggling each other and their wives and concubines, and I wish there was more historical danmei written like this. Maybe there is and I haven't seen it, but to me it was very refreshing to read a story like this.

The romance is definitely slow burn but it's so worth the read. Yinzhen catches onto his feelings much more quickly than Yinyou, but there are a lot of sweet moments even before they get together as you see them show their vulnerable side to each other and protect each other. And then obviously after they confirm their feelings, things are very sweet as well, even though it takes time for their relationship to cross into the physical realm since the confirmation happens at a time when the relationship between the emperor and the princes and between the princes are tense and they don't want to make any missteps.

I really liked both the MC and ML. I feel like if I were to transmigrate into historical China, I'd be exactly like the MC. Enjoy the food and luxuries you get as a prince and follow whatever you're passionate about. We don't see this side of the ML that much, but he's actually super smart and good at scheming. Yinyou points it out a couple times, but because we're reading the story from his perspective and he doesn't want to get too involved in the fight for the throne, we don't actually see it in practice. Only at the end, when Yinyou visits the deposed Crown Prince, do we learn a little bit about how he's secretly been pulling the strings behind the scenes, and boy was I surprised at how much influence he had on events that lead to the downfall of his other brothers. It's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for, as they like to say!

I would highly recommend this book if you don't mind the in*est and polygamy and enjoy reading stories with plenty of political intrigue. I had a hard time putting my phone down and stayed up till 2-3 am everyday reading until I finished, so it's definitely a page turner! <<less