I will warn everyone who is currently reading this. If you were hoping for super cute adorable romance, you are not going to get that. Even the stuff that's relatively cute ends up ruined because Xiao Tianyao will f*ck Lin Chujiu over and she will be grievously injured for him in some way that just, you know, RUINS EVERYTHING. And he will NOT think he did ANYTHING WRONG. HE WILL NEVER APOLOGIZE. (Until 900 chapters later, kind of. Not really.) He doesn't start being the "wife s*ave" until like... I don't know. Maybe chapter 900? Of a 1014 chapter story. Let that sink in. LET THAT. SINK IN.

MOVING ON.

Our MC, Lin Chujiu, is the eldest miss of the Lin family. She actually isn't her father's daughter, because her mother was pregnant with her before she married in. Her mother's sister eventually poisoned and killed her own f*cking sister and married MC's father and he had a daughter and son and he spoils and dotes on them obviously because he hates Lin Chujiu cus she represents the nice big green hat on his head. Her mother's maiden family treats her pretty well though. But of course, Good Father Lin here is a GIANT PIECE OF SH*T who DOES NOT GIVE A F*CK about ANYONE except himself. He steps all over her mother's maiden family because like, he hates 'em or something. His wife, a daughter of the Meng family, is like "lol this is fine" and thinks there's nothing wrong with that. Her family, let me tell you, her family. At first, Lin Chujiu's younger sister who's name I don't remember because why would I care about her? is all over her original fiance, then later, SHE TRIES TO GET INTO XIAO TIANYAO'S PANTS. This dumb b*tch AND YET SHE'S STILL ALLOWED TO LIVE. She does a TON of dumb stuff, tries to get Lin Chujiu f*cked over multiple times, her mother poisoned Lin Chujiu, poisoned her mother, and yet, BOTH OF THEM ARE ALLOWED TO LIVE AND ARE NOT DEALT WITH. AND, OF COURSE, THEY DON'T DIE AT THE END OF THE STORY EITHER IS THE BEST F*CKING PART. Her mother goes to jail, but she won't stay in there long because "Lin Chujiu is trying to be nice" or something s*upid like that despite poisoning her, the poison which has mostly destroyed her body and made it hard for her to get pregnant and has made her incredibly weak (never mind all the other BS her body went through) and the sister and younger brother get to stay alive too because if they go with the father, he'll sell the daughter off and probably the son too and Lin Chujiu is like oh no, you were only a little annoying this entire 1000 chapters, so I'll let you live cus I'm so nice! THE MOST UNSATISFYING ENDING EVER. GOOD GOD. SHE SHOULD HAVE JUST LET XIAO TIANYAO KILL ALL OF THEM. GOOD LORD.

Anyways let's move on. The ML is Xiao Tianyao, and he is probably in lead for Worst Male Lead I've Ever Had The Misfortune To Read About™. He is a cold hearted b*stard who does not know how to be interact with women, therefore, all of his things can be excused. Right? Right. That's basically what the author says and what all of Xiao Tianyao's companions say.

Everybody looks down on Lin Chujiu over and over, despite the fact that she has incredibly medical abilities and cures Xiao Tianyao and a bunch of other people of their problems. But like, cus she's a woMenZ she doesn't deserve respect? Whatever.

Lin Chujiu falls in love with Xiao Tianyao despite him being a giant flaming turd. Despite the fact that she nearly DIES because of him, because he uses her as bait. Despite the fact that she is harmed, schemed against, poisoned, literally anything and everything, she has ENDURED for him. She is used by him, which she has stated she is OK with at multiple points in time, because she knows that for Xiao Tianyao, she is nothing more than a pawn that is insignificant in the big picture of his Big Plans™, whatever they are because he never tells her until like, way later.

There are a sprinkling of scenes in between where they have some kissy interactions that can be considered romantic, but all of that is INSTANTLY DESTROYED when Lin Chujiu ONCE AGAIN gets injured, f*cked over, almost dies, bleeds, suffers etc etc for Xiao Tianyao and HIS RESPONSE?

Well, the woman who married him (a marriage she had LITERALLY 0 CHOICE IN) MUST be strong enough to stand next to him!!! He can't protect her all the time, so she has to be strong enough to deal with everyone!! Also, his plans ARE PERFECT. NOTHING WILL EVER GO WRONG IN HIS PLANS. THEREFORE, WHY SHOULD HE BE BOTHERED THAT LIN CHUJIU IS HURT? IT'S ALL FOR THE GREATER GOOD! AKA HIS PLANS AND AMBITIONS, WHICH ARE THE GREATER GOOD™!!!

Part of his logic I understand. She DOES need to be strong so she can defend herself. BUT SHE SHOULD NOT BE ab*seD THIS BADLY, SHE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO ALMOST DIE FOR HIM BECAUSE HE USES HER AS BAIT, NOR SHOULD SHE BE TREATED AS AN OBJECT TO BE TOSSED AROUND. But to Xiao Tianyao, all Lin Chujiu is is a PAWN. She is NOTHING MORE than a PAWN he occasionally kisses.

Several times during the story, Lin Chujiu has several mental breakdowns where the pressure and everything gets to her and she in turn screams at him, telling him she has done all these things on her own, she has gained prestige and everything on her own, she has healed these people all on her own, she has done it all without his help. How is it that she is not worthy of him?? It's more like, he's not worthy of her! She screams and cries, hoping that he'll say something to her, but he doesn't.

All he does is basically say, so what? You're not dead, are you? Why are you so mad anyways? It's not like I'll let you die cus my plans R peRFECt nOThinG can Go wRoNg bEcUz I iZ p3rFecT. Basically, he thinks that her bleeding, almost dying for him, and doing everything she does is just something she ought to do because otherwise, she isn't worthy of being his wife.

Mmkay. Lmao mmkay.

At one point one of his right hand men is like "You shouldn't treat her this way, because one day, she will hate you for it" and Xiao Tianyao is like "Lmao whatever this is for her own good."

Mmkay. Whatever.

And this same person tries to convince Lin Chujiu that Xiao Tianyao isn't so bad. He's had a hard upbringing! His life has been hard boohoo!! She should have some pity on him! And Lin Chujiu's response, which I was so happy about at first, was simply "well he didn't die, did he?" ThE SAME F*CKIN WORDS XIAO TIANYAO SAID TO HER. But of course, he keeps talking and says some other s*upid stuff and Lin Chujiu is a dumb bleeding heart and doesn't say anything else and promises to try to help but that was it.

Lin Chujiu, I wish she had more backbone. The entire time during the story, she loves Xiao Tianyao despite bleeding for him, almost dying for him etc etc and although she does rebel against him occasionally, Xiao Tianyao never actually does anything to make up to her. He has his subordinates try to convince her and never puts any effort into coaxing her himself or apologize to her. He just thinks everything he does is justified and therefore he does not need to apologize for almost letting her die or letting her bleed or letting her get captured or like, anything else. And Lin Chujiu, with her s*upid weakness, Xiao Tianyao like tries to kiss her and makes bedroom eyes at her after she freaks out at him 2 chapters earlier and she's like omGGG sw000) 00noOoonNN he is sooOOO HOT I just can't even help myself what was I mad at him about again???

AAAUUUUGGGGHHHH WHY DID I READ THIS STORYYYY?????

Anyways Lin Chujiu eventually gets to the point where she's like, I know Xiao Tianyao cares about me, but I'm over his sh*t, and I'm just gonna do whatever. It's not like he'll beat me anyways.

And she does that, basically, kind of, not really, but what does Xiao Tianyao do? He doesn't bother trying to coax her at all, he has his subordinate convince her he's not so bad or something like that. Like wow lol such a great guy. (sarcasm over 9000!)

Eventually at one point, he does realize he loves Lin Chujiu and that the way he's treating her isn't good. At one point, Lin Chujiu is caught up ONCE AGAIN in some dumb scheme and she escapes it, only considering herself basically.

Xiao Tianyao looked really angry, and Lin Chujiu was like why was he so mad? I don't think I did anything wrong, and I think I made the right choice. He comes over and she asks him why he looks so angry at what she did, did she ruin his plans? Because she doesn't give af if she did, because her life was in danger.

And he looks at her and is like it was a good plan, but you only considered yourself.

And basically the entire point was that Lin Chujiu had become too independent, not considering anybody else but her own life, and he gets upset because he wants her to depend on him more, when this entire time ALL HE'S WANTED is for her to be INDEPENDENT and to NOT RELY ON HIS NAME TO GET OUT OF THINGS.

And she's like LOL what are you f*cking with me right now you giant flaming turd bag?

Anyways he doesn't get even remotely good until like maybe 900 chapters in and by then I just wanted to kill myself.

Ah, oh right, were you wondering about the overarching plot of the story? Right, right. So basically Xiao Tianyao is actually a prince from the Shengyuan (I think, can't remember) Empire that was destroyed in the past and that's what caused the fracturing into four kingdoms. His goal is to reunite his old Empire. Lin Chujiu is actually a daughter of the Lin family from the Central Empire who are a big power that dominate over the four kingdoms of Bei/Nan/Xi/Dong (cus I can't remember their full names rn) because they're like super powerful. And her family, the blood that runs through her, are the family that betrayed Xiao Tianyao's original kingdom and is his big enemy as a result. The only decent thing he does is separate the Lin Family in Central Empire from Lin Chujiu, who told him basically as soon as she found out so it didn't cause misunderstandings between them.

Anyways, Xiao Tianyao does it. He does it! He reunites his old kingdom, fights against Central Empire to get the land they took from Shengyuan Empire back to him and becomes woooo the KiinnnnGggGGG!!! And all of this happened in the like last 10 chapters.

Yeah, that's right. Basically the last 10 chapters is the highly spark notes version of how Xiao Tianyao conquered the four kingdoms, fought the Central Empire and reunited everyone under one banner and became Emperor wow!

I think the most infuriating part of all of this was just how much of a major d*ckwad Xiao Tianyao was and how, despite how much Lin Chujiu said she'd keep away from Xiao Tianyao and not just fall all over herself for him, it didn't happen. I cannot tell you how many times she'd freak out on Xiao Tianyao, he'd be confused as to why cus like everything he does is for her own good amirite and then he'd do one thing like try to make out with her and she'd roll over like the dumb b*tch she was and I'm -

GOD HAVE SOME DIGNITY. AT LEAST IF HE'S GONNA TREAT YOU LIKE SH*T TREAT HIM LIKE SH*T BACK FOR GOD'S SAKE. AT LEAST MAKE HIM WORK FOR IT FOR GOD'S SAKE I'M -

Anyways, that's it, that's the plot.

The end.

like when we understand step by step that she starts to like the male lead.. how sad she feel for his distrust, her hopelessness

sister wants to steal her sisters husband (twice) (edit: make that 3), doctor of remarkable skill (not omnipotent though) meets crippled prince, attempted poisoning/wounding/crippling/mu*dering of characters, framings etc.

They get attacked by assassins on their wedding night just as Xiao Tianyao is threatening to kill her (for being a humiliating pawn in the Emperor's scheme), and instead of hiding and screaming for help or fainting, as one would expect a regular spoiled and sheltered girl to be, she walks around cool as a cucumber giving first aide to allies and enemies alike (allies who aren't actually her allies, since they are his men and he intended to kill her) and eventually uses a powder in self-defence that puts everyone to sleep (except Xiao Tianyao who has built a kind of immunity against poisons and sedatives).

She's aware she's being watched by his highly skilled secret guards despite not having any fighting ability herself, she apparently can predict when her room will be searched (he has her medical box stolen several times to try and see her strange tools up close, but the only thing in there is a note addressed to him every time, and the tools are nowhere to be found), and he knows there's a lie somewhere about her explanation on how she got her medical knowledge and tools but as he can't find a trace of the truth he can't disprove her either (her master was a kind but secretive man who never told her his name but saw how she was truly treated in the Lin household and decided to help her by sneaking into her courtyard at night to teach her his skills... really?). Again as readers we get to know how and why she does all this, but Xiao Tianyao literally doesn't have a clue.

amongst other things, he leaks information to the enemy country so that they will start a war to force the Emperor to return his military power

She interrupts the treatment of his legs by the divine doctor he's been looking for and has had thoroughly vetted since before he knew her, making his recovery even less likely

didnt trust the MC who already went beyond to get him to tolorate her and trusted a 'divine doctor' out of despararion to heal his legs when MC was falsely accused.

when she ran from ML cuz she couldnt stand him (for a good reason)

Meng Xiuyuan (may be translated differently), the sexy young scholar whose throat she healed. Or even the fact that she had the central empire prince prepare an identity for her in the central empire for if she decided to leave the prince. Would have LOVED to see the MC just up and leave, and the ML having to chase after her. But, nope, the author just planted these expectations in my head then never delivered.

The MC risk her life for a male lead that doesn't even believe her. He said he knows when she's lying, but he doesn't believe her when she's trying to save his life. The MC was dying on the prison floor after trying to save the ML. He told the doctor not to help her, and he was too arrogant to take back his words after hearing she needed help. When the ML heard that she had a 30% survival and he should request a better doctor. He told them to "make do" with what they got. She pretty much only lived because of her self-care and medical system.

AFTER her innocence was proven. He now "believes" and trusts her completely. He never apologizes and he demands her to heal his legs. He treats her attitude as a tantrum. The author repeatedly tells us his heart is in so much pain and he feels like he lost something. Okay, if you weren't the ML I would be so happy. But it's pretty obvious she's sticking with this douchebag

The author says the ML was trying to protect her by keeping her locked up prison. It's said he believes she may have betrayed him. However, the ML is trying to trust her and is searching for evidence to prove her innocent. Although one of his subordinate keeps saying that the MC is guilty. The author keeps emphasizing that the ML would've killed the person if it wasn't the MC. Maybe he didn't trust the other doctor to save her...? He also didn't communicate because the ML needs to be character development. But I am so angry. I don't want all these excuses. I would drop him. Bye Felicia nah, she almost died. This doesn't float in my boat.

When he thought that LCJ is stopping the treatment of his legs, he put her to jail. Imagine the frustration of having crippled legs and when you thought that someone's stopping your treatment, you'd be angry as hell, right? But ofc, we know that that is not LCJ's intention. So instead, our rage for XTY intensifies because of what he did to the MC. But XTY is only being realistic. And he can do that because he ain't got deep feelings for MC, so why would he be lenient to someone he has seen as an enemy? Though our innocent MC is really pitiful, I almost cried T_T