to have her say ''Wan-er is willing'' in the end

All the children die early on, at like age 4 or 5. MC's children are the only ones that survive... I feel like Cheng Yu should have died instead of the author playing the dead body swap card. I'm glad he survived but why did the author kill off everyone else's children except for MC's?

I didn't like Chenghuan at first due to his cruelty - minor/petty reasons were enough for him to kill his siblings. Like DAFUQ? How can one be THAT cruel at such a young age. Death was the only thing that could absolve him of his guilt but I SOBBED SO HARD because he really didn't deserve to be in so much pain. ;;

I also liked that as Song Zhao struggles to come out on top, she also grows as a character and doesn't remain static. She realizes that the other ladies in the harem are also brilliant and there are traps that she accidentally sets off or falls for; she's not impregnable. She also has to take time to reflect on whether achieving all those nominal honours aka harem promotions actually make her happy/satisfied, despite becoming the Empress being her initial goal.

a typical start on harem stories. The emperor's attitude and the flow that the story has already been showcase on some of the stories here on NU. It gives you this illusion that you can at least know what to expect on the story, then you're presented with a different kind of twist (that all was planned and calculated by the female lead), the audience were not kept in the dark on what is happening and how the other women in the harem moves. I would mark the end of the first part of the novel after the FL's child was taken by the dog emperor.

the depth of the other women in the harem, they were given stories, motivations, and all the key players were now out in the open. The audience are given a wake-up call on the emperor's attitude and the unity of the other women in the harem was shown. Although as mentioned by other fellow reviewer, the kids are the most pitiful in the scenario, they can't seem to get a break, they're always targeted, and most of them suffered a gruesome ending. I am not gonna lie, the death of the first prince was particularly heartbreaking, especially his last conversation with Consort Chen. The ending was great, and so does the extra chapters.

I really like the progression of her character throughout the novel. She's not innocent, but I thoroughly enjoyed her characterization midway through the first 100 chapters. She's super th**ny on the outside, but she's soft for the kids on the inside. Her character just hits the spot right. Although I am sad for her original ending on the novel, the extras made everything better.

is a piece of sh*t. I can't say anything more. He's just sh*t. Don't expect anything from him, and don't expect that everything will be better as long as he's breathing.

for the first two hundred chapters it’s your typical revenge harem drama, maybe a little more violent, the MC is intelligent but her enemies are also so smart and the MC is in real danger at time...

but then there a point where the empress dowager asks the MC something like “Do you really wish to spend the rest of your days shackled to a mad man?” And the MC is like, Nope! And then the story becomes quite fun.