Some things I will probably not forget anytime soon is the Sad Nipple Syndrome and the Tail. Sadly, my most anticipated Cat Lingerie scene was utterly obliterated. Hated the author at that moment!

They do break up for about 10 days before ML figures some stuff out about himself, like he can't do without the MC and other things. The way ML initiated the break-up was pretty harsh to me.

his child having asthma

the child's asthma was never mentioned again - you'd think that if it was something life-threatening that would make the ML give up everything for his son, it would have a bigger impact on the child's overall health. But no, never came up again, ever

would try to lie to his child for the next 10 years just so he wouldn't get upset and get another asthma attack? How do you even keep up such a lie? In that case, why on earth did the ML move back to China in the first place, he had no reason to be there, him and his spouse and child were orginally staying in the US because he was studying there, so why did he leave but his ex stayed?

the ML's decision to break up with MC would have made more sense if he inteded to reunite with his ex, but no, he didn't even do that, just broke up because he thought he could pretend to be in a relationship with his ex without actually being in one for the next decade or so. That's just idiotic

I don't think that the break-up was what made the last push of the story lackluster. It was like an impending doom just simmering in the background of the happy chapters imo. It was nothing unpredictable. Was it kinda abrupt? Yeah but it was still acceptable because of what the story gave as an aftermath.

What I would like to pinpoint as the cause of it feeling kinda meh was actually the reconciliation of the couple. The building up of their relationship into becoming a couple was so nice like it was a complete sturdy tower of jenga. Then, the break up made the tower of blocks fell which needed to be rebuilt. For me, the restoration (i.e. Chasing arc) was good. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions that the actual reconciliation was kinda bland. The breakup + chasing arc gave us some good scenes and peak of emotions that the actual comeback was like "that's it?" It's like you started a game of jenga without even finishing building the whole set yknow? The previously sturdy foundation when they became an established couple was not completely restored storywise imo.

This then lead to the story becoming boring cause we experienced such high emotions only for the resolution to be lukewarm.

before the fire nation attacked the breakup ark appeared.

I understand “chasing wife to the crematorium” genre (this one, though, was more like “apologising to wife profusely for being rash”), and I love a good grovel like any other person, but oh god the breakup ark was unnecessary. It really spoils the story and the dynamic between the leads — it just stops being fun!

It just drags the drama, adds a stalking horse character that does literally nothing but grinds the reader’s gears, makes the interactions between leads awkward and tiring to read, just all-around bad part in an amazing novel. Sure, it may be “realistic” to have a rash breakup after not thinking things through, but you know what else is realistic? Being a bit more selfish and/or using brains a tiny bit more when you’re both out of your puberty! I expect s*upid breakups out of high school settings, not serious “let’s be the best to each other with all our childhood traumas, exes and personal quirks” settings!

3-star with the breakup ark, I did not enjoy it one bit