ML mourned MC for 30 years in the first life, and fell in love with him after learning his life story through others and retracing his steps. He doesn’t impose any expectations on MC.

It is not explicit- the head maids teach MC about s*x and how to please ML using his hands and mouth - since he is too young for penetrative s*x. On their wedding night, ML reiterates that MC is too young for penetrative s*x, but should use his mouth to show what he has learned. The story is censored, but you know what is happening.

making sure the friend that died from illness in his past life gets proper medical treatment this time around.

they are blessed w 5 babies lmao

I am the kind of person who sees fictional characters as completely separate from real people. Here, the MC is only 14 years old when he is taken by the ML as a male bedservant. Although they wait until 16 to have penetrative s*x, the MC has been romantically and sexually (oral, hand) involved with the ML since he was 14.

Personally, I can ignore this as this as I don't think this novel will convince actual 14 year olds to have romantic ties with grown men, nor will it serve as a justification for grown men to think that it's fine for them to date minors.

Neither do I believe that any of this novel's readers will apply its plot to real life in the sense that they will honestly think that it is not unhealthy and immoral for a real grown adult to predate upon and seduce a real minor just because a fictional 14 year-old character was taken advantage of by a fictional grown man who, because of rebirth, either genuinely loves him or at the very least will stay faithful and loving to him in a novel where their relationship does not end up as tragic and toxic because this is a fantasy story world where apparently, trauma just DOES NOT exist.

HOWEVER, I do acknowledge that some readers do not think this way. And personally, I think that the MC's youth is not needed for this story to work. Yes, 14 WAS a suitable age to marry in Ancient China, but this is already an unrealistic story. Gers exist, for goodness' sake. And the plot itself is not really realistic either (a servant with no meaningful connections becoming an Empress without meeting the disagreement of EVERYONE just because the Crown Prince really really likes him? ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE in any real Chinese dynasty).

I would prefer for the author to simply raise the MC's age. Say that 18 is now the age of marriage. Just extend the recuperation period of the poison that the ML takes and extend its harmful effects to also hurting gers, so that he will have a reason to wait two years if that waiting time is truly vital to the plot. ML can still tell his mother that only gers will be unaffected, but this time it'll be a lie. This lie will further cement the ML's affection for MC, as he is willing to lie to his parents for MC. This will also work because neither the Empress nor the Emperor ever bother to consult ML's physician or have ML go to a different doctor to further confirm his illness. They just take his word for everything.

Although, I do acknowledge that while this may be alright for me, this may not sit as well with Chinese readers, the audience that the author actually keeps in mind. It's very common for Chinese novels, movies, and series based on Ancient Times to feature 14 year-old characters as Romance leads regardless of the historical accuracy of their plot, although they do cast older actors for those roles. It seems as if Chinese audiences EXPECT that age no matter what, and that is why those characters are never aged up. Thus, I don't assume that the author is just a shotacon and that's why they made MC underage.

All in all, while I ignored it and pretended as if the MC's an adult so that I can continue indulging myself in all this novel's sugar, I acknowledge that the MC being only 14 IS an issue among readers that CAN very much be solved easily, and I hope that I'm not wrong in assuming that no one will truly apply this novel's plot in their perception of what is alright to do and what is not alright to do in the real world.

Cannonfodders and White Lotuses are the bread and butter of Chinese webnovels, it's almost impossible to find a book that doesn't include or mention them. Sadly, both of these archetypes rely on those aforementioned cannonfodders and white lotuses to have an IQ lower than -10000.

The MC is kind of a doormat in the beginning of every conversation he has. He does say 'no' and understand how to use logic eventually, but his guard is ALWAYS lowered. It only goes up when the person he's talking to says something that will OBVIOUSLY work against him, after which he will reject his conversation partner, although after their conversation his guard against that person will immediately lower again.

He fails to grasp the subtleties and traps in the words of others. He fails to see other people's intentions. One time, he made the only servant following him return to the Dowager Empress' Palace to get back an item that he left there. While alone (he still has shadow guards that he's unaware of, tho), he meets a crying maid who tells him that her mistress is dying, and he just FOLLOWS HER. The crying maid. Who he DOES NOT KNOW IN ANY WAY. He never stops to wonder why the maid cannot approach any other servant, which, if he does think about, will inevitably lead to him thinking about the identity of the maid's mistress, and whether that woman is someone he would be able to help without getting in trouble. He doesn't even stop to wait for his servant to come back. HE JUST FOLLOWS HER. AND THEN HE BELIEVES THE WORDS OF THE MAID'S MISTRESS. WITHOUT QUESTIONING HER INTENTIONS.

That is only the beginning. The protagonist shows the same blind trust to others and always nearly gets harmed for his trust. Like most White Lotuses, he gets really irritating when he does this.

His s*upidity may be attributed to him being a relatively spoiled 14 year-old, but he doesn't really get that much better even as he ages.

The ML's overconfidence about the death of Li Qinwang is also a little dumb, but it can be attributed to the fact that he's reborn and roughly knows what may happen. Although as someone who had already been Emperor, that change is still kind of impossible.

What the ML is REALLY dumb for is his total lack of suspicion for his harem. The author tries to excuse this as him being too busy to pay attention to his women. But the thing is, MANY emperors are like that. But still, any emperor with a normally functioning brain will wonder why he can't conceive any sons or why every woman who he does get pregnant and up miscarrying. BUT NO. ML doesn't. Because the magical author wand took all of his braincells away.

Speaking of Li Qingwang, DUMB PLAN. REALLY DUMB PLAN. Other villains? NOTHING BUT CANNONFODDERS WITH EVEN DUMBER PLANS.

Basically, the story needs to proceed and have drama somehow. The author, who we can assume only aims to write a casual sweet novel, doesn't really write anything that will make the plot's unravelling seem like a logical progression of actions and decisions, she just goes with the easiest route, which I don't blame her for since she may be just writing this casually.

I could feel that the gong really treasures the shou (in a way that as much as he could for someone from a royal ancient setting). I could see that the feeling the gong had was rooted from his realization that his "beloved" people actually betraying him and the shou was the only one who actually protected him despite not being favored by the gong. So, in other words it's the combination of guilty feeling and gratefulness. And it became obsession because the gong coudn't see anyone that will treat him like that as well as he has wronged the shou and couldn't paid it back. At least that's how I see it. So yeah, it was not love because of the slowly interaction and such process.

1. How young the shou is when he brought to the gong and their first s*xual interaction as well as interc**rse. Like, if this is not ancient setting I would be furious lol

2. The r*pe in previous life, but it was only really slightly mentioned. Also, in the present life the gong really treasures the shou. And well this is ancient setting and ger had low status and the servant couldn't decide for their own life.

3. I feel that the shou's POV was not really shown. Well, maybe because I am actually wondering how the shou perceive the gong in the last life and what will happen if the shou remembers the last life haha

Finally he got everything he want; ML by his side, his unborn baby + bonus batch of babies, his parent and little brother living a happy life

He's a cold hearted person. Only his parent, lil bro and ML who can make him smile. But the rest of him is totally heartless. He won't even bat an eye while killing every single person who makes his family and ML suffered in his last life. He even easily disposed everyone who make a bad comment about ML; a random son of imperial court member, ML's uncle family, his concubine, his brother's wife, and his father's concubine little brother.

If you feel it's unfair for shou, to still be wrapped by the once scummy gong, well, he didn't have his past, so he's actually living a happier life, and that's fine. If you can see it from another pov, gong has both life to remember. He'll forever condemned to the heartbreak and pain of the past even if he finally has shou in this life. And honestly, as an emperor who has power and superior, he'll be arrogant and rather selfish, he will tie shou to himself, and won't let anyone else to have him. It's cliche to anyone with power in any kind of settings, it's just depends on what kind of shou the gong meet. And in this story, if shou isn't with gong, with his temperament, he might still be pinched around by white lotuses (his cousin family was one example, his servant colleagues was another), and who knows what kind of man he will meet (maybe another version of the past gong even).

What I especially loved about this is MC and ML’s families. Both parties are just lovable and agreeable. MC’s father the late emperor and his mother were righteous but kind. ML’s immediate family did not even think of taking advantage of his position all throughout.

gong in the past life was saved by the shou during the assassination in his birthday party and after some slight drama, he found out that the only person who loves him in the harem is the shou and those he dotes were poisoning his balls ?, so after he was reborn he spoil the shou endlessly and remove everything that blocks them. I like how pure the shou is without any pretense and how doting the ML is