Our female protagonist is Wen Jin. Wen Jin fell in love with Shen Rang and made it her life's goal to marry him. She pestered him relentlessly, and when she finally schemed to get him drunk and baby trap him, she actually succeeded. Bad news for her, Shen Rang still treated her coldly after their marriage, so she tried desperately to please him, seduce him, throw tantrums, monitor his relationships and overall be a clingy, hopelessly obsessed mess.

Learning that Shen Rang had been cheating on her and schemed against her loved ones in the past, she died and regressed. She then determines she must break off the marriage and get a divorce, meanwhile protecting her loved ones from their misfortunes and be a better mother to her son.

Sounds fine so far, but author utterly tanked this. The male lead described her as s*upid (yes the male lead) and her own father described her as naive and sheltered. All I can say is, they're not wrong.

Putting aside her questionable actions in her past life, chasing after an uninterested guy she barely knew because she fell in love at first sight. The way this is written, literally anyone else in this story is canonically smarter than her. The ML, his buddies, her father and the 2nd ML are all smart, ruthless business tycoons pulling strings in the back to shift things in their favor. Even the villains had once deceived her in her past life, and the only reason she was cautious against them now was because she had experienced that past life. That, and without the ML manipulating stuff in the background, she would be faring way, way worse.

The MC also dumbly insists on ignoring her gut feelings and following through on shallowly built plans. This plan is going too smoothly, and that guy who once treated me moderately respectfully now seems to be looking at me coldy and with disapproval? Huh, that's weird... But keep going. What? The male lead is suddenly acting weird and totally out of character? It can't be... Maybe he, too, regre... No, I won't even think about it. This, and she's fallen into EVERY. SINGLE. TRAP. Ok, maybe not every, but definitely most. She insists on meeting with the villains alone, she has bad feelings about people but doesn't actively do... Anything. She is quite literally warned by someone not to underestimate someone and keep her bodyguards by her at all times and-- guess what? She sends the bodyguards away and gets kidnapped for two whole months! While all she can do is act sullen and wait for the ML to come save her.

As an actively useless MC, it's a wonder why the ML even likes her. Not to mention her personality/actions is not all rainbow and butterflies either. While admittedly these are towards bad people who deserve it, she almost stabs someone and she is constantly scratching and kicking (hard) the ML. I almost feel like she should be medically diagnosed with some sort of mental illness.

Shen Rang, the ML, is a mysophobe who hates women and basically everyone else in the world. He treated the MC coldly because he hated how clingy and obsessed she was in his first life. Later, he gets reborn and becomes a changed man (?) after experiencing a life after he loses the MC. He didn't realize just how much he liked her, and only found out after she was gone. When he regresses to the past (later than the MC), he tries to win over the MC.

Literally one of the worst MLs I've ever seen.

This guy is not in love. This guy is in LUST. Every time he sees the MC, he gets h**ny. Often, he will push and blatantly cross her boundaries. Things don't escalate to full on seggs but time after time, he will push for more. He only stops if the MC is actively disliking/stopping him, and sometimes he doesn't even stop. There is a scene (pre- ML regression) where he almost forces her, but stops because she is crying. There is also a scene (post ML regression) where, while they do not go all the way, the ML pleasures himself with the MC's feet because she was confused and drunk. And, he pretends to be drunk to manipulate and take advantage of the MC, which he later plans to blame on his drunkenness. This guy is a s*umbag lol

He has the emotional capacity of a rock and hates everyone but the MC and maaaybe his friends. Note, this does not exclude his own biological son. He has threatened MC before that he would send his FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD abroad. He often disparages his son in his head for being s*upid and dirty, not even wanting to touch him because of his mysophobia. Multiple times he has sworn in his heart to send his son away to be raised by his Father-in-law so that when he and MC get back together, they can shaboink without limit. He has seriously considered baby trapping the MC with ANOTHER baby he'll probably hate just so she'd go back to him.

He is basically what the MC was before she regressed. His love (if it can even be called that) is a selfish one, and he has no personality outside of being a massive douche bag, ruthless business mogul and obsessed (ex) husband. His begging for forgiveness isn't even that good either, because he's so stuck up. He refuses to kneel to a woman due to his manly ego, and genuinely believes all he has to do is coax his little wifey and all will be good again. He will readily admit he did wrong, but he won't believe it in his heart. No self reflection, no regret. Just, "oh no, I must've did something to make her mad at me again. I must repent and make her happy so she'll maybe let me get into her pants again." Not to mention he is possessive and obsessed. Stalking, monitoring... Don't get me wrong, I love me some good Yanderes, but this guy ain't a yandere... He's just a creep.

The characters are flat and boring. Not even the main characters are saved from this. They feel hollow, with no interests or character outside of what the plot seems necessary.

When their child first appeared, I thought that this might have some childcare influence, and the MC would become a good mother and the ML would in turn become a good father. No, did not happen. The child is an afterthought most of the time, and scenes where he does appear, often he is just there to be used as a plot device, parroting, "Mother is nice to me now! Father was cold and mean, but now he is pitiful! Father promised me things, so I will tell Mother good things about Father!"

I am also baffled why there is a 2nd ML... Outside of lineage, almost everything about the 2nd ML is better than the ML, and even the MC acknowledges this. He's a good businessman and employer, her father approved of him and tried to matchmake them before the MC fell in love with ML, he is gentle, kind and devoted to her, he is good with and treats her son kindly and keeps the MC at a respectful distance (mostly) and adheres to her boundaries. Like, what? Why isn't he the ML? He literally ran into a burning building while his leg was broken to save the MC first, then the real ML came. Author, I don't understaaaaaand!

The same issues with the villains and other side characters, they are shallow and 2D. Outside of their important plot relevant characteristics, they hold no significance otherwise. The writing itself is fairly weak, opting for vague details and focusing on the MC/ML's thoughts that make them less likable (MC's s*upidity and ML's horniness/cold indifference). Vague! Everything is just vague!!