One of the men exemplifies the kind of wealth that looks down on others. MC had some great words and reactions to give him. He eventually has an epiphany and stops looking down at people of lower status than him.

The author set it up in a very believable way--even so-called "random encounters" and "unexpected events" felt very natural. The way the MC was able to turn many potentially dangerous or negative events her way were very convincing.

And what's better, things don't always go to plan. There are plenty of unexpected moments, exposure, and missteps that MC has to workaround.

Although I wasn't a fan of the author defaulting to "make MC cry -> all ML fall for it and feel really bad even though MC was in the wrong" type plot, the other parts were well-written enough that that issue didn't get too annoying until much much later in the book.

Resolution is extremely daytime soap melodramatic including suicidal tendencies, depression, self-harming to make other people feel bad, and etc.

Prior to the revenge resolution, the novel was so damned interesting ! : (

The author tried to approach it realistically which is: vengeance doesn't lead to happiness.

While I liked the spin and the step-by-step dismantling of the rival, I could also see how it could also be a disappointment for readers. The entire novel was building up to a successful face-slapping, but readers didn't really get one because of the super heavy angst-drop in the middle of the emotional payoff.

Speaking of the unecessary super-heavy angst, it was actually due to the author giving the MC's personality a complete transplant, which was the worst choice.

Basically, during the revenge-climax, the MC's character did a u-turn and completely collapsed, going from strong to ultra fragile in an instant (extreme self-harm, depression, unnatural collapse, etc). The MC's new escapist/suicidal mindset came out of nowhere to seriously undermine her prior unrelenting personality.

The author could have written the MC owning up to her mistakes and taking responsibility for them and stay true to the MC's character instead of forcing MC toward overdone su*cide/running away resolution. BUT, there was a bit more after the attemped-su*cide about the MC dealing with her problems and trying to re-discover how to live, which rescued the ending a tiny bit.

Female lead was originally called Tang Xi. She met her first boyfriend, Zhuang Ye, at the age of 18 when she started university. She became pregnant with his child at the age of 22, which was when Zhuang Ye's sister (the main antagonist, Zhuang Yi-Qing) forced her to abort the child since the Zhuang family was from the upper class, and Tang Xi was from the lower class. Tang Xi already wanted to abort the child, but her mother didn't want her to. Zhuang Yi-Qing, in the process of trying to convince her to abort, somehow ended up having Tang Xi, Tang Xi's mom, and Tang Xi's best friend (Yu Jin), all pushed off the stairs together. Due to renovations in the house, Tang Xi's best friend and mom both died when they fell on construction stuff, and Tang Xi lost her baby from the fall, which also caused her to lose her uterus when they operated on her.

After the surgery, Zhuang Yi-Qing forced Tang Xi to betray the boyfriend (Zhuang Ye) by letting him catch Tang Xi sleeping with someone else so that Zhuang Ye will stay far away from Tang Xi and the lower class. Otherwise, Zhuang Yi-Qing will also kill Tang Xi's godparents (her dead best friend's biological parents). So Tang Xi sleeps with her boyfriend's best bud (Ling Jian-Wei, who is 2 years younger, and already has a secret crush on Tang Xi for years. Tang Xi tells him she just broke up with Zhuang Ye so when she seduces him, he falls for it).

Zhuang Ye doesn't know Tang Xi was pregnant and lost their baby, and that her mother and best friend died. He walks in when Tang Xi and Ling Jian-Wei are sleeping together (this was timed by his evil sister Zhuang Yi-Qing), Ling Jian-Wei ended up fighting with Zhuang Ye, and both get injured. Tang Xi runs away from the scene, but then meets Shang Lu on her way to the hospital and stays with him for 3 years under his care and helps her change her name to Zhao Yu so she can start her revenge at the age of 25 under a new identity so Zhuang Yi-Qing won't be able to detect her as easily. The revenge takes around a year to complete and involves Zhao Yu sleeping with a lot of guys. After she succeeds in taking down Zhuang Yi-Qing, she spends 3 more years recuperating from losing her goal in life (revenge), and that's how the story ends with 7 dudes in her harem.

Trigger warning: Zhao Yu/Tang Xi attempts committing su*cide after her revenge. There is also dubious consent in some parts throughout the story.

List of male leads: in the order of their appearance in the story (all of them tall, handsome, and rich...I'm kind of sick of this description, quite honestly)

Shang Lu - it's obvious he's the author's favourite as he is the first to appear in the novel and has the most weight in the female lead's heart. He first met her 3 years before the revenge begins, when they were both at the lowest point of their lives. He lost his mother and almost died due to sabotage from his conniving brothers, and it was the female lead who saved him when she found him on the street.... yeah, the coincidences are strong for this one. On the other hand, when she found him, she had just lost her mother, best friend, and fetus&womb, as well as forced to betray her boyfriend by sleeping with her boyfriend's best bro. Shang Lu also knows that the female lead is plotting revenge but can't help her, so resigns himself to the fact that she'll be sleeping around with a bunch of guys to get to her goal. Before her revenge starts, she spends 3 years in the States with him, being his live-in lover in exchange for money. He doesn't request this of her, but she feels like the only way to pay him for his help is to sleep with him. He helps her by changing her name and buying the Zhuang family's company stocks when stock prices plummet due to rumours started by Zhao Yu/Tang Xi. After she gets her revenge (which took around a year), he resigns himself to her sleeping around with her harem of guys since she "may never love again." And since he loves her, he also cancels his engagement with his fiancée. After Zhao Yu's revenge, he gives her a café to run in order to pass her days peacefully with something fulfilling to do. He understands Tang Xi/Zhao Yu's character very well, to the point where they know each other's thoughts without saying anything. He is perceptive but doesn't speak much.

Xue Zi-Ang - a handsome playboy who is the grandson of the chairman of HuaCan, the company that competes with Zhuang Yi-Qing (the main antagonist) 's company. He was the female lead's first target in her revenge plan, and he eventually falls for her fake personality pretty hard because she imitated his first love's personality. At first, she was like a replacement for his first love, but she guilt-trips him because of this fact quite a few times. He also feels that he owes her quite a bit due to his drunken dubious consent on her (even though she purposefully allowed this to happen in order to pull his uncle's heart strings and guilt-trip him, he still shouldn't have done that). He discovers her deception (that she purposely manipulated things so that he would do those things and feel guilty/indebted towards her afterwards) and eventually comes to terms of still loving her despite her manipulation by using him as a stepping stone to get to his uncle. (It's kinda unrealistic how he's still into her, since he was a playboy for a long while and doesn't actually love the real her). He matures a lot at the end when he starts working from the bottom of the company instead.

Xue Zhan - he is Xue Zi-Ang's uncle, and is older by 8 years. He is the female lead's main target since he is the one who runs the company (HuaCan) that can help her take down Zhuang Yi-Qing's company (since Xue Zhan's company is the main competing rival company of the antagonist's).

Xue Zhan is the only dude I really can't see how he fell in love with her. It went from him doubting her lies, doing background checks on her, to dubious consent (since she was trying to seduce him, and he knew she was trying to seduce him, he was like "you want it so much? then I'll give it to you forcefully"), to finding out her tragic past.... then he's already deeply in love, and you're like "when did that happen???"

He's one of the main reasons for the revenge being successful when he agrees to help Zhao Yu/Tang Xi by buying up the main antagonist's company when its stocks plummeted due to the female lead's manipulation. Basically, Xue Zhan's personality is like Shang Lu: smart, perceptive of the female lead's true character, and reticent, except more prideful.

Xu Cheng-Yan - he was Zhao Yu/Tang Xi's 3rd target because he was Zhuang Yi-Qing's fiancé. If ZYQ married him, their two companies will become close and would strengthen the Zhuang family. To prevent that from happening, Zhao Yu seduces him. He had the most character development because he started off as being this rich stuck-up person. Female lead Zhao Yu/Tang Xi pretended to be a hooker who was only after his money so he looked down on her. He wouldn't care if his family had poor people killed for the sake of personal gains. By the end, he realized what an awful person he was when he discovers Zhao Yu's tragic past, and stopped looking down on poorer folks and even started being a front-line volunteer in disaster areas and starting a charity. This huge change was because he learned of Zhao Yu/Tang Xi's tragic past and saw her suffering / bullied by the upper class. I can see how she had a huge impact on his change in character, but not really on how he fell deeply in love with her so much.... especially since he fell in love after they stopped interacting with each other much. Before he found out about her tragic past, they only had a physical relationship. After he found out, they only talked very briefly when she was hospitalized or at her café for some coffee (and this was at the very end).

Ji Sui - He is a straight-forward military kind of guy, tall and handsome. He is rich with Zhuang family's stocks and high paying job working in the Zhuang family company. He was adopted by the Zhuang family after his father died from saving the Zhuang family's patriarch many years ago. He had secretly been in love with Zhuang Yi-Qing since childhood so Zhao Yu (our female lead) wants to seduce him too. Even though ZYQ doesn't love Ji Sui back, Zhao Yu wants to make sure ZYQ won't have Ji Sui's help and love when she takes her down.

Ji Sui fell for Zhao Yu's fake persona even harder than Xue Zi-Ang, since for Ji Sui, she wasn't a replacement for a previous love (Zhao Yu took his v*rginity, btw, and he is 3 years older than her). He got over his childhood crush on Zhuang Yi-Qing the main antagonist, and truly loved Zhao Yu (albeit it's her fake personality). Consequently, out of all the dudes, he was betrayed by the female lead's fake persona the most. He still loves her after finding out her deception, because Zhao Yu makes him feel guilty for realizing he wouldn't have stopped his adoptive family (the Zhuang family) from mu*dering innocent lives for personal gain because he feels indebted towards his adoptive family for raising him. (So he wouldn't have cared about Zhao Yu's situation as much if he hadn't fallen in love with her). Valid point, but still kind of weird how he loves her so much afterwards when he doesn't actually know the real her very well.

Ling Jian-Wei - he's the most innocent one affected by the female lead Zhao Yu/Tang Xi's actions (she also took his v*rginity, btw). Since he was manipulated by Tang Xi into betraying Zhuang Ye 3 years before the start of the revenge, he detests Tang Xi for deceiving him that she broke up with Zhuang Ye (since he did not know she was forced by Zhuang Yi-Qing to do those things). However, whenever Tang Xi needed help, he will still help her even if it meant his own loss, since he still loves her. In fact, he didn't even tell Zhuang Ye that it was Tang Xi who seduced him and lied to him that she broke up with Zhuang Ye so that he would sleep with her. You can say he is the one who loved her from beginning to end like Shang Lu, but he doesn't really understand her personality very well, so he loves her blindly and sees her through rose tinted lenses all the time as this perfect beauty he is not worthy of.

His brother, Ling Jian-Yuan (who runs the Ling family's company), helps out on Tang Xi's revenge plan by buying the stocks of the Zhuang family's company (along with the buying help of Shang Lu and Xue Zhan's companies).

Zhuang Ye - he's Tang Xi's first boyfriend. He was "betrayed" by Tang Xi when he saw her sleeping with his best bro Ling Jian-Wei. He didn't know what his sister Zhuang Yi-Qing did to her. He also didn't know that Tang Xi was pregnant with his child until 4 years later when she was about to take down his sister. Even though he hated her betrayal (when he didn't know the truth that she was forced to betray him), he still couldn't get over her, so he never dated anyone after her betrayal. In the end, after everything is revealed and he finds out the truth, he feels guilty for what his sister did to Tang Xi and her loved ones, so he decided to live in remorse for the rest of his life. He probably doesn't get back together with Tang Xi in the future since he believes he is indirectly responsible for all her sufferings and so he believes he no longer deserves the right to love her. He still helps her out whenever she needs help though, like helping out with running her café or making sure she's safe by secretly guarding her (like the other dudes). At the end of the story, he stays in their old apartment when they were dating (back when they were in university) as a form of self-punishment by reliving those memories and being reminded of all that he has lost.

Zhao Yu, birth name Tang Xi, originally a bright and cheerful girl, but became a ruthless avenge woman because of the lost of her mother, close friend, baby (and womb).

Shang Lu

- unfavored son of Shang jia, MC's gold mine during her 'escape' to United States

- have the same revenge mindset and circumstances with MC, that is why he understand her the most.

- also the most tolerant about other men bedded her as long as she live well.

- Xue Zhan thought he's MC favorite and I think so too.

Xue Ziang

- spoiled Young Master of Xue jia

- MC's first chess piece, her immediate superior

- usual playboy type, but became 'yes' boy after he fall in love with MC.

Xue Zhan

- Xue Ziang's uncle, top boss at the company MC work at.

- first target that uncovered MC's mask, as observant and calculative as MC.

- the only acknowledged son-in-law by MC's godparents

Xu Chengyan

- Zhuang Yiqing's (antagonist) fiancee.

- arrogant, scum, rich CEO that solves everything with money type. (Will have amazing character development later)

Ji Sui

- Zhuang Ye's brother (not blood-related) and the antagonist's spare tire.

- oppa next door, calm, caring, reserved, gentlemanly.

Ling Jianwei

- youngest young master of Ling jia, Zhuang Ye's close friend.

- have an affair with MC when she's dating Zhuang Ye, this pitiful boy love MC since college days

Zhuang Ye

- MC's first boyfriend, the father of MC's dead child and the antagonist's full-blooded brother.

- love MC very much although after he knew MC's betrayal. (But he doesn't know she betrayed him under his sister's threat).

- ironically, in the end he's the one that doesn't end up with MC because of extreme guilt.

I seriously get why she got all depressed and suicidal later on. And for me, it's quite realistic and not that far from her character.

I mean, after her tragedy she just lived her life for her revenge and now that it's done she just basically lost what has been driving her to live for years. She was seriously tired from everything that she badly needed a break. She was already just an empty shell previously that's been hanging on for so long that I can't even imagine myself doing that. Would've yeeted myself early on.

To begin with, the fact that so many men, I think 8 in total, all fell in love for one girl and could accept her being together with 7 other guys at the same time, is ridiculous.

They all seemed like normal, sane people who wouldn't like or willingly become part of a harem.

MC wasn't that amazing either, to make so many man fall for her and continue loving her. She was a normal nice girl who went through some bad stuff. There are other kinder girls and who had worse experiences.

They refused to move on even if she didn't love them back.

Let's say, for the sake of the argument, that she could really make EIGHT men fall for her. If it was real love, then they couldn't have accepted her caring for and sleeping with 7 others.

The above were plot holes in this otherwise logical novel.

And the ending just doesn't work.

You can't keep having these ambiguous relationships with 8 men in real life. I just imagine them becoming old and some of the men will hava some heirs and they'll all know their adoptive fathers all have a relationship with the same woman. Ha... disgusting

Zhao Yu- original name Tang Xi

She's a mysterious woman who sought for revenge. At first she was a very interesting woman who selected her target based on their usefulness and power in the conglomerate. She wanted a man who can bring down her enemy, Zhuang Yiqing, the woman who destroyed her everything.

-Later on, as she hooked and cuckold and even created plays and lies just to reach her goal, you would think you'd hate her, but truthfully, no. Her character is very brave, upfront and engaging. She knows what she wants and she knows how to get it. Every man she set her sights on she has a plan to bring down. She knows that she'll go to hell but revenge has blinded her. I actually liked her best when she was a scummy woman.

-The moment where she will get exposed or how she'll get exposed or what if her plan backfired was one of the main reason I wanted to read it. And it was worth it.

Okay there's going to be a lot, so hang on.

1. Shang Lu

- her gold master, she was kept for 3 years in the US. This man helped her a lot. And later on become a pillar that would support her.

- he's also very pitiful

- Out of all her man, he is her rock. The one person who knew her at her worst, they were fellow sufferer who lost everything they held dear. He supported her as best as he could and gave her a life that she deemed acceptable.

2. Xue Xiang

- first target after coming back in China

- young master of Houcan Company

- playboy turned into a hapless loyal man

- this pitiful boi was played as a fiddle in her hands

- The MC's road to revenge started from him, he was supposed to be a ladder to connect to her real target, Xue Zhan, but this boi fell for her hard. He had a white moonlight, and by imitating her, she fooled him into falling into her.

- he's a very rascal man who likes to have fun, after being heartbroken again and again by her, he still accepted her whole heartedly in the end after knowing her past.

3. Xue Zhan

- Vice President of Houcan Company

- Xue Xiang's uncle, originally her first target but was busted having s*x in the office so she backed off.

- He's a very cautious man. A very unpredictable man. Even MC, with all her scheming and calculations fell into his hands. He was the first man who saw through her mask.

- Their relationship was one of the most highlights, in my opinion. At first, he was merely her first target but because she was busted having office s*x with his nephew, decided to recalculate how to move him. Every step, every plan was carefully laid out to move him, and by helping her when she was the most vulnerable, she used his morality, and care for the weak to create a play, one that effectively landed her in his bed.

- Seriously, their relationship was very hard to describe, but the most meaningful scene was actually connected to him, cause he was the man who bared the real her. He exposed her so thoroughly, her past, her pain, even her revenge. And after knowing everything, he was so lost on how to move on because at the end he still loves her.

- He was the first of MC's man to admit and accept her revenge, despite knowing she will sleep with other men to achieve it.

4. Xu Cheng Yan

- Xu Conglomerate heir and CEO

- her fourth target, fiance of her enemy

- cold man but inwardly just a very pe*vert scummy man

- He's the most complicated man out of all the ML. MC approached him very directly, that is, all she wants is his money and his body as well as to ruin his wedding. To him, that was a jest. But to her, that was her real goal.

-She was very bare (she wear a mask) in approaching him, letting him see the worst of her, being a gold digger, a sl*t, a manipulative two-faced woman who would do anything for money and adventure (sex). That was his first perception of her. That was the package she created to hook him. Their relationship was very clear, she is his mistress, they have fun s*x, he pay her.

-They have the most engaging dialogue out of all MLs. Their play in bed was also the hottest. He's sort of an exhibitionist, and their back and fort teasing was my favorite. But as I mentioned, he is a very complicated man, I have a love-hate perception of him, because he's the common type of wealthy man who treats woman as a toy. Buuttt... as the story progressed, the MC and him are actually just as scummy, and her manipulation of how she hooks him, makes him want more will impress you. In the end, he's also the ML I rooted for to be with her, his character development was one of my favorite out of all the ML.

5. Ji Sui

- step brother of her enemy

- a very sweet and loyal man

- he's a very simple character, and the most innocent ML out of everyone. He was the one picket fence and barefoot kind of husband type. He was orphaned and was adopted by the Zhuangs, there he became the stepbrother of MC's enemy.

- He was actually the antagonist spare tire. Since young, he loved his step sister and was having a hard time going out of that love. That was the MC's main reason why she chose him. Because she wanted her enemy to have no back-up, fallout support. She knew he would do anything for the antagonist, so she also created a play. A pitiful orphan who has the same sad experiences like him. He's also a virg*n when they did it.

- Out of all her man, he was my least fave, if Xu ChengYan represents the blue blood cold blooded nobility that treats life like a toy that can be broken in a whim, Ji Sui is the brother next door who just aims to have a normal life. He was the warmest ML who exuded safety but because he is so normal, he seems to be the strangest. Moreover, I feel like he is a replica of Zhuang Ye. Now that there could be no more between MC and Zhuang Ye, is the author insinuating this new warmth as replacement into her life? Or maybe I just feel pity of Zhuang Ye, clearly, he's also a victim, why was he not redeemed?

6. Ling Jianwei

- 2nd young master of the Yiyang Group, one of the tragic young man of her past

- this was a boi who had a crush on her and was destroyed by her.

- this man is connected to her tragic past. One of the victims 4 years ago. He was a naive boy who fell hard because of hormones (lol). She was his first love. MC at that time was the girlfriend of his best friend, Zhuang Ye. And that forbidden love led to a disastrous ending.

7. Zhuang Ye

- Luxi Group first young master, MC's first love and first boyfriend

- the root of her tradegy, their past was very sweet and innocent, just two people meeting and falling in love in college. But then she got pregnant and Zhuang Yiqing, Zhuang Ye's older sister destroyed her because of that.

- He was innocent, a very naive young master who was also manipulated by her elder sister. In the end, I just hope he finds his own salvation. He blames himself for everything that had happened.

- up until the recent chapter, they never got back. He was almost driven insane by his family. There was just more pain and regret for him.

We have the good-natured ex-soldier, Ji Sui, who is Zhao Yu's current target (Ch. 85).

The aloof, cultivated-for-centuries-no-desire-will-shake-me Xue Zhan who had some thoughts about Zhao Yu after a kiss.

Xue Zhan's nephew, Xue Ziang, a bratty and playboy bastard who couldn't forget his first love ahem but then Zhao Yu happened ahem. Then, he either cultivated for a century in secret or he had enlightenment because his personality went 180 for Zhao Yu.

The I'm-just-30-not-an-OLD-MAN president of some bigshot company, Xu Chengyan. It's always fun whenever he appeared, because ugh damn. Damn.

Yet another guy from bigshot company, Shang Lu, who is the fan favourite (?) because he understood Zhao Yu like no other and shared a (buried) past with her.

There's also a young man who seemed to be hmmm mysterious, Ling Jianwei. This guy just appeared out of thin air and had uh, 3 seconds appearance...

AND THE EX-BOYFRIEND WHO UNDERWENT PSYCHOTHERAPY CUS OF A SHE-DEVIL, Zhuang Ye. Again, 3 seconds appearance with this guy too.

But all these 3 seconds guys... hm, well. I don't want to spoil too much.

it's either you are useful or not.

Every time she is hurting- her self harm- her tragic past.. etc... brb gonna go cry~

I was a bit disappointed that the author decided to slow everything down at the end (I had to stop reading around chapter 217 before picking it back up later), but I did appreciate that the author told the character's story the way it should be told: everything had come to an end for the MC and she had to try to find a new path in a life that she had originally planned to end with her revenge, so the slowness coincided with how she was living day by day as a zombie until she recovered.

Tang. Xi asked him if he's in love with her, and he admitted it in an awkward but cute way. Dang it if only this weren't a reverse harem.

And I know they're never getting together, so Zhao Yu, just give me Xu Chengyan!

I do admit that Xue Zhan is my personal favorite, I felt like he was probably the male lead that she needed. Also, it was him whom she introduced to her godparents (though technically it was part of her scheme). I also felt like he was the one who desperately wanted her to live, so he was the one who told the godparents the truth so that MC will feel responsible for them and won't try to kill herself anymore. Then again maybe because I'm biased towards older male leads. I like Shang Lu too but Xue Zhan takes the cake for me.

i only read untill the chapters when whe tried to leave after her revenge and the men tried to get her back on her feet.