This one starts off funny--🤧🤧. Funny because the character said he's a ghost-. Even just reading the summary, makes you think it's comedy. But it's not..

It's another scam-😭😭. Why, Wu zhe, why???

Several content warnings include mention of su*cide, death by drowning, hanging, etc.., emotional ab*se (child neglect and possibly ab*se), mental trauma (that's me, I got trauma reading) Just basically, depressed from beginning, a little bit of sunshine and sweet in the middle, followed by another emotional ab*se and then happy ending. (Quite a long journey towards that happy... more>> ending, considering the book only has 61 chapters + 2 extras.)

*******Wrote this early bit when I've only read like 20 chaps or less (There are some stuff that aren't what they seem) :

MC is a writer. I love writer characters, simply because I like to think that the way the character plots and plans their book is highly similar to the way the actual author does. Even if there are a few changes that they add, tweaks here and there to suit a particular character, there's always a chance that they might put themselves as author into how their character write their fictional book inside a novel.

Yuan Wu is a complicated character to explain. I spent majority of my reading trying to figure out why he is the way he is. Creating shitty theories that I sent to Jaco that makes her laugh-🤣🤣.. Complicated coz he doesn't know shit. He has a goldfish memory- and spent most of the time asking questions to himself that I wanna ask him. He speaks the question I WANNA ASK, coz I don't understand what's happening. Not the kind of understand where I became s*upid and didn't figure out what's happening, but the one where the story progresses with the character being blindfolded about what's happening to him and everything else. Which also make the reader blinded, simply following the progress and making guesses-🤧.. It's a great technique to leave the reader wanting more and more, because you simply can't stop reading until you learn what's the ultimate ending.

The ML, Lin Chengbu, is the funny character who told the MC that he's a ghost that he needed to help move on and reincarnate- LMAO.. He's a chef in a restaurant that makes a secret recipe of Tofu. Which is passed down from someone- I forget if there were several generations who made this recipe but anyway, funny thing, the description about it is that it's passed down to only the men---lol... as if it's a martial art technique (accdng to Wu Zhe) Mysogynistic shit.

"𝙈𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙛𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚𝙣, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙜𝙡𝙮......"

His relationship with the MC remains a mystery. There are hints and misleading lines, that would make you think about the two's relationship. The reason being, Yuan Wu has unreliable memory. So what Lin Chengbu says, basically, you won't know if it's true for the other.

T̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶l̶f̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶v̶e̶l̶ ̶d̶r̶o̶v̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶c̶r̶a̶z̶y̶-̶🤧🤧.̶ ̶ (̶h̶a̶.̶h̶a̶.̶h̶a̶.̶) ̶

Scratch that: The entire novel drove me crazy.

******* (Review after I finished reading)

This novel leaves too much emotional damage. The character development and relationship development is too grounded on reality that if you get drawn in, it's gonna suck out all the energy in your body.

Yuan Wu has a lot of emotional scars stemming from childhood ab*se and later on, another traumatizing event happened in his life, that's connected to his childhood scar (well open wound, to be honest.) It never healed from the beginning and something continued to wound it, leaving a deep cut into his heart. That's what made this story so depressing right from the beginning. Along with how he treats the ML because of those wounds.

As the story progresses, I saw a lot of Wu Zhe trademarks in the writing.

**gay friend, personalized gift, mushroom picking in the wild (park) **

She weaves stories of characters with deep psychological traumas, that left me breathless, and speechless with how amazing each development proceeds to. You see the process of how she tries to make the characters move towards their goal, how they heal, how the others react to them as they try to heal. I honestly don't know how to explain or what example to give. It's just so normal-.. Something you'd relate to, but it's magic in her story.

The healing process of Yuan Wu takes a lot of him and Lin Chengbu. Their budding romance has numerous hurdles to pass. What's more difficult about this, is that the obstacles seems to be within Yuan Wu. And aside from emotional, physical and mental support from Lin Chengbu, there isn't much he could do. The healing should first start with Yuan Wu. He has to want to, has to let Lin Chengbu help him.

Gosh.. how real their reactions are, and how when the wound sort of relapses or turns a different shade, Lin Chengbu's perspective changes. When there's a relapse, there's that suffocating feeling that anyone would feel, when instead of healing positively, someone you love becomes different from how they were previously.

~~~𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨, 𝙔𝙪𝙖𝙣 𝙒𝙪 𝙬𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙥𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.

𝙐𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙨𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙. ~~

Even my review sounds so fcking depressing that I don't think I'd be able to pull someone into reading it, unless you're a masochist and likes pain-😭..

The romantic development of this story is so delicately written. Yuan Wu having emotional trauma, and Lin Chengbu who holds onto him inspite of everything. As per Wu Zhe style, love doesn't happen overnight with these psychological and emotional issues. It's a step by step process, that sometimes, there's a large gap before they even move forward.

I must say that I rly love how Yuan Wu develops emotionally. He doesn't fall in love quick. He doesn't even categorize how he feel as liking, coz he doesn't know it. Never received it unconditionally as how Lin Chengbu gives him. It's always subtle development. The way he reacts, the way he watches Xiao Bu, the way he touches him. Soft, soft soft touches.

I noticed that I didn't write as much about Lin Chengbu. That's because he received the brunt of the heartache-😭😭. He's a little sunshine that's about to pass through a huge sandstorm without any protection.

This is how he describes himself:

"𝙔𝙚𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙨, 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚, 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨...."

Lin Chengbu is a HORNEEE WILD HORSE!🤣. He's always at the ready, despite the emotional turmoil he feels, and the fact that it happens on scenes that aren't appropriate-.. Like, it's supposed to be sad, but suddenly he's raising the flag.. Or holding the gun? Literally what Wu Zhe says-.

Don't be afraid that it's all depressing shit, you'll see Wu Zhe style of dialogues, funny lines and sarcastic replies amidst all those.

The sweetness when I reached the parts when they truly become a couple is chef's kiss: Xiao Bu's excitement when they get together (that you can't help getting carried away), the anticipation Yuan Wu feels when they meet after being apart.

Of course, there's the spicy side CP. But don't expect much. They don't appear until extras-.. Well, their story is given life more in the extra, but they appear in the main story, and hints of what would happen in the extra-

I love how the the last extra was written to round up the story. It goes back to the beginning. The same with how the first chapter starts with borrowing a lighter, the ending closed it up the same way.

I feel I left out a lot of stuff, but I'm just not good at doing this, and I forget details. Also, I just wanna wallow in my own emotions towards this book, that the only way for me to tell someone how I truly feel about it, is if they live in my brain and experience how wrecked my nerves were.🤣.

Anyway, read Jiehuo for my new babies-. Read and find out how Yuan Wu and Lin Chengbu's love story happens. <<less

I'm translating this, so I thought I'd write a review explaining why it means so much to me.

Summary

Though the POV switches from time to time, the story mainly follows Yuan Wu as he unpacks his past, sorts through his emotions and coping mechanisms, and puts himself back together again, with Lin Chengbu first acting as his support, then as his motivation to change.

... more>> Main Couple

The plot of this story is mostly about their relationship. This is not a fluffy novel. The development is slow, and there is a strong focus on trying to understand what exactly they want from their relationship. They start from a one-sided, unrequited crush and progress to a physical relationship before emotions catch up. (Note: The intimate scenes are not very detailed, but enough to get a few chapter-locks on the raw site.)

Main Characters

The main characters are not perfect, but they're good enough people for you to like them and root for them, and they suit each other very well. Most importantly, they communicate like mature adults—misunderstandings aren't blown out of proportion, and when something's genuinely wrong, they can have serious, honest conversations about it even if it scares them.

Themes

One of my favourite themes throughout the novel is the conflict between what Yuan Wu feels, and what he thinks he ought to feel. There is a lot that isn't explicitly stated, but conveyed through the mood of the writing. Reading the first several chapters made me feel confused and lost, and it is gradually revealed that Yuan Wu feels exactly that, though he ignores it. Later, despite the couple

Spoiler

appearing to be in a good place, you can still feel something off, something suffocatingly wrong from the tone of the story, which finally comes to a head.

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The healing and happiness is gradual, and everything is so much sweeter for it. They develop as a couple, but most of the individual emotional development is on Yuan Wu's end. Lin Chengbu is very sure of what he wants, which gives Yuan Wu the stability he lacks.

How it made me feel

I personally found this a heavy read and binged it because I needed resolution. That said, it's full of banter and silly jokes, so it was an easy read in that sense.

After recovering from the emotional impact, I also felt that the novel was very complete—it didn't lose steam halfway or end unsatisfyingly. From beginning to end, the writing was effective and every scene mattered to the story and characters in some way. None of it was out of place.

Overall, Jiehuo was a very satisfying read for me, and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants their novels to make them feel something. <<less

I’m a huge fan of Wu Zhe, and I liked this novel, but the author said they didn’t have a detailed outline while writing this, and I can see that.

What I liked:

• The way we get to see Yuan Wu’s attitude towards Lin Chengbu slowly change, from being annoyed/can’t be bothered to respond to this one-sided crush, to being grateful for his support, to feeling the need to keep him by his side, to like, to “like quite a lot, ” and more.
• How family life can have a huge effect on someone. The contrast between Yuan Wu’s upbringing and the trauma it brought him, vs. Lin Chengbu’s upbringing and the way he interacts with his family.
• The multiple facets of each character. Lin Chengbu can be silly, persistent, annoying, full of jokes, but can also be serious, supportive, concerned, patient. He can be generous and loving, but also stand up for himself and maintain self-respect. And Yuan Wu can be irritable, hard to get along with, and quick to anger, but he can also be introspective, insecure, unsure, and (when it comes to his family) submissive.

What wasn’t as strong as Wu Zhe’s other novels: A lot of Wu Zhe’s novels touch on psychological and mental health issues, but this one felt a little... less researched? A little less believable and real than... more>> the others. The recovery period seems too “easy” for Yuan Wu. Even though he definitely goes through struggles, he made a huge leap from

Spoiler

not remembering anyone in his life and not even being aware of who HE was for a lot of the time, to remembering everything, but just feeling guilty about his brother’s su*cide.

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The pacing felt a little strange due to the very sudden, huge change in setting and Yuan Wu's mental state, and not much transition period.

All in all, I think there’s a good story here and it’s definitely worth reading, but could probably have been a little longer, so that the 1/3-1/2 area of the novel could have been built out better to make Yuan Wu’s recovery arc more believable. <<less

i love wuzhe's works! And they didnt disappoint this time either. The way yuan wu's emotional state is written was too similar to real life and it HURT. The ending was a bit rushed but it was good overall.