in school, she deliberately worked hard to get into his higher class, he deliberately failed to get into her lower class, and they ended up switching places and being in separate classes. She deliberately got into the prestigious university he wanted to go to, and he deliberately got into the lower university she wanted to go to, and they ended up in different cities. He went into entertainment as an actor to make money to be worthy of her, she followed him into the entertainment industry later on as an actress, and still they don't know about each other's feelings.)

Qiao Anhao falling into a coma just when Lu Jinnian tries to confess, overhearing misleading conversations, having evil villains send fake texts/destroy letters/lie to the leads to keep them apart, Qiao Anhao being engaged just when Lu Jinnian wants to confess to her, there's even a fake marriage in there, etc.

unplanned pregnancies, fetal death, planned abortion, and infertility amongst the different plot lines

I still remember a few scenes. Like how he would always play paper, scissors, rock (this order) when playing the game with her. She thought he was just bad at the game. But it had a meaning. Paper 5, scissors 2, stone 0..520, it's said that 520 sounds like I love you in Chinese.

And the gifts he gave her, all of them had a brand. Shmily - See How Much I Love You

MC (Qiao Anhao) - orphaned at a young age and was raised by her aunt's family. She was used to being pampered by her bio parents, but she could not feel comfortable with this new family despite their kindness. She felt like she was imposing on another family and taking things that were meant for their own daughter, Qiao Anxia. She grew less expressive over time and got so used to suppressing her feelings that by the time she met the ML, she naturally suppressed herself in the face of Qiao Anxia who had her own crush on the ML.

ML (Lu Jinnian) - he was shamed all his life for being an illegitimate child of the Xu family which naturally led to him developing an inferiority complex towards his half-brother, Xu Jianmu. The ML grew up extremely poor, something was always conscious about when confronting the MC who grew up her wealthy relatives. The ML was deeply indebted to Xu Jiamu who always stood up for him and voluntarily donated his bone marrow to cure ML's leukemia against his parent's wishes. In his eyes, Xu Jiamu was the better groom for the MC and so when MC&Jiamu's engagement was announced, ML suppressed himself and gave way to Jiamu.

Qiao Anxia - MC's cousin. Her personality is outgoing in contrast to MC's timid nature. She had a minor crush on ML that grew into an unhealthy obsession after getting a humiliating rejection (she always got her way in the past could not accept the rejection). She caught the MC practicing her her confession speech with Jiamu. Qiao Anxia thought the confession was real, she recorded it and sent it to Han Ruchu who then arranged a marriage between the two.

They often carry self-depreciating thoughts like they're not worthy enough or that there are better ppl out there. Overcoming this mental barrier isn't easy because it's started in their early childhood, but it is the most important key to breaking down the misunderstandings that piled up.

The MC and ML's siblings are included in the romantic entanglement, making it difficult to seek help from supporting characters

You can't have romance without love rivals right? Well, it gets awkward when the MC and ML's 'perceived' love rival are their own siblings. Their siblings are also their BFFs and would've been the only ppl that they would've felt comfortable to open up to, but because of the precieved love triangle, the MC&ML kept their feelings hidden from their siblings.

The misunderstandings isn't just between the MC and ML. The supporting characters own misunderstandings add fuel to the flames

Just as the main CP isn't communicating with each other, they aren't communicating with the supporting characters either. The supporting characters ends up with a skewed perception of the situation and makes awful decisions that hurts everyone. To make it worse, their actions furthers skews the MC and ML's perception of each other.

The worst possible outcome with secret keeping is when the enemy is the one to discover the secret before the allies. The arch villain ends up being the first person to know about the MC/ML's feelings and is the ONLY person to know this fact.

- the MC imposes 3 rules. (This made the ML assume that the MC was repulsed by him. The MC real reason was that the marriage was only temporary and still wanted to marry the ML, but worried that the divorce and remarriage would cause a huge scandal)

- the ML's birthday gift to the MC was thrown in the tr*sh (Han Ruchu was the one who tr*shed it and claimed that the MC loved Xu Jiamu)

Qiao Anhao x Lu Jinnian - they have a child nicknamed Little Rice Cake. Jinnian becomes a total henpecked husband. Anhao becomes an accomplished actress.

Song Xiangsi x Xu Jiamu- Xiangsi secretly gave birth to Little Red Bean. The two reunite and repair their relationship 4 years later. However the matter of the kid being registered under a different couple (Song Yao x Jiang Licheng) was never resolved. It's hard to like this CP bc they never show any real chemistry. Both their personalities deteriorated in contrast to the main CP.

Qiao Anxia x Cheng Yang - adopted a boy bc Anxia became sterile from getting her uterus stabbed by Han Ruchu (she took the blow for her pregnant sister). Her crush on Lu Jinnian developed into a long obsession and she finally lets go after realizing she loves CY

Han Ruchu - commuted su*cide in prison despite Jiamu's attempts to repair their damaged relationship if she let go of her hatred for the MC/ML. Xu Jiamu was the only person who was truly sad over her death.

Xu Wanli - unknown. He disappeared after Han Ruchu was imprisoned. Last time he was mentioned, Jiamu was attempting to inform him about Ruchu's su*cide, but couldn't contact him. We then learn he was overseas. Later on, Jiamu mentioned selling the Xu estate (which may imply that Xu Wanli permanently moved overseas). Although he never participated in Ruchu's evil schemes, he's just as unlikable. He's a coward who couldn't own up to his responsibility for ruining the lives of Han Ruchu and Lu Jinnian's mom. We never learn his side of the story regarding the adultery even though he was the one who started it all.

There was a fake wedding ceremony (ML posed as his brother as the groom) between the leads after ML'S brother became comatose from a car accident to save ML's father's company from bankruptcy, and ML only agreed to it only because this was his chance to get close to MC after 5 years of separation.

The translation quality is great and it's already completed on webnovel. However, you have to pay stones/points to unlock chapters that aren't free. This may bother some (including me, but I just wanted to finish the novel).

What other reviewers said was true, ML and MC are braindead about communication and love to assume without evidence. Most conflicts in the story are caused by misunderstandings, unintentional or by design.

Truthfully speaking, each character deserves a good b*tch slap to the face. Every single one of them.

But it's not all bad. As someone who hates love triangles or harems (reverse or not), it was refreshing to find a pair who are devoted to each other completely. It's admirable to see how steadfast their feelings for each other are (not their actions nor their judgement, tho. They're both m0r*ns) through the years and through conflicts.

Any rivals in love are bound for failure:

• MC and her fake husband married to pretend that the "husband" was still alive after an accident that made him comatose. They really don't like love other, more like siblings. We even find out the "husband" was secretly with seeing someone else before the accident. ML is only self-sacrifing and an assuming idiot.
• ML will never love mc's sister and that woman is in love with someone else, she just doesn't realize it yet.

I only continued through the frustration because I was rest assured that neither would be led astray. They loved each other and no one else. It should have been the biggest strength of the novel, but its execution was terrible.

It was terrible because they only love. There was no patience, understanding, nor trust. Their love was empty and had no foundations. They did not communicate and just because of that they wasted 13 years of each other's life.

Neither of them had confidence to confess their feelings or even think that their feelings might be mutual.

Apart from the main villainess (mother in law), there wasn't an incredibly frustrating villain because the mother-in-law was already a complete monster. It didn't help that mc's gullibilty and lack of hindsight was the reason she didn't realize that woman's scheme. Girl, if you notice something wrong with your body you go to the doctor and after you realize you miscarried you bet your a$s you ask those d*mn doctors the how and the why. Just because a nurse revealed that ML signed the papers for the abortion, you ate it up and decided "so that's how it is." You ask a doctor for the reason and you ask your d*mn man the f*ck he's thinking. Why wait to confront each other? Ofc, real MVP is the nurse who was bribed by the mother in law. Thanks for showing that nurses can't be trusted. She should get her license revoked and a big, fat slap.

The sister was just extremely malicious. She lied, saying MC was in love with the ml's half-brother so that the two would get engaged only because she herself didn't want to marry. She didn't even clear the misunderstanding after learning the truth. She's whack. But I could see how a person could be like this in real life and that's worse.

This story is insanely disturbing and strangely idealistic this way. Somehow after everything, the MC and ML still get their HEA. Heck, even the sister had her redemption and happy ending.

After knowing MC and ML were getting married, I stopped caring though. Then again, by that time I was already skipping whole chapters. Side cps are all just as frustrating as the main cp. I couldn't care less about their future. They deserve another slap to the face.