the emperor & his male empress

The author had been planning for the baby for a long time so it's not an unexplicable magic baby either, kind of. But I really think the baby was not necessary at all. It is just there so the ML could get the throne without opposition and get to keep the guy too. I'm all for happy endings, happy the emperor could get his way too after going through all the trouble of paving the way for his son, but one of the other princes could have just gotten the throne for once.

Not really how it happens but it really feels like it in two cases.

• First is QinXin. She is one of the two concubines (cefei) of the ML brought by the palace a bit after his marriage with MC. ML never slept with them or had any interest in them. The woman was at worst a wishy washy person who went this and that way trying not to step on anyone's foot and trying to please all, deriving joy from other's troubles sometimes; she was a woman who the MC thought of as too hard to deal with and/or scheming because of his experience with his father's concubines. Her ending? Who knows. She disappeared from the household supposedly. The prince drives her out and her fate is anybody's guess. Whether she went back to her family or decided to live on her own, ML and MC didn't really care.
• The second one is ML's fully blood-related brother, QingYu. The MC didn't like him becuase he held some unexplicable enmity towards MC since the beginning. I honestly thought it was just a matter of time and that the reason QingYu hated MC was because he basically brcame an obstacle to his brother's possibility to ascend as an emperor. Of course not. He was later made into an actual villain behind the scenes, not quite QinXin's level of just-there-to-exist, but it was a conclusion that left a bitter taste and I didn't care for it. I was expecting the familial relationships to actually be good ones so maybe it's on me for getting disappointed on my own. Still when thinking about the magic baby, there was another bitter taste added, becuase I really felt the author could have followed that initial thrown line somewhere in the beginning where the ML says they'll just adopt from his blood-related brother if it comes to it.
  
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someone sends a spy to seduce ML and he wants to find out who sent her. He decides that the best way to do this is to act like he's in love with her and like he doesn't like MC. He also doesn't tell MC that that's what he's doing until much later on, so MC (very reasonably!) thinks that ML doesn't like him. It would be tolerable if this only went on for a few chapters, but it started in chapter 32 and now I'm at chapter 58 and it's still going on. At this point I feel like no matter how it ends it's not going to be worth the wait.

There are four characters with a given name similar to "Yu". Which is Yu, Yun, Yue, and Yan. In the beginning, I got confused as all hell, especially since 3 of those are Xiao Qing Yan, Xiao Qing Yue, and Xiao Qing Yu (thankfully Qing Yun was barely used). I'm sure in the original Chinese version would have been easier to read since it's written in different Chinese characters.

He was barely the one who's taking revenge for his mother. He pretty much depended on ML and the Emperor for it.

The MC is passive halfway in. It irritated whenever the ML 'punishes' MC for Nanhoe (Nan Xi). I am fully aware that he was acting... but honestly? He went too far. He and MC could have just... I don't know.. ACTED??? LIKE IT WAS WHAT HAPPENED? FOR REAL DUDE. Since the ML and MC are the masters of the house, they should have full control of the servants. So even if they (servants) doubt that ML was punishing MC, either MC or ML could just threaten them to believe it. they have power over them do they not? Plus, they could have just used their power to tell the servants to spread some lie to make Nanhoe believe that she was favored. So Nanhoe's 'loyal' maid wouldn't have been a pain in the ass.

That Nanhoe subject was dragged out, although I can see that it was a device for the MC and ML to bond and realize their feelings. I'm not talking about the 'punish' part. Nanhoe subject could have ended a lot sooner. Could just be me talking since... I really, really hate her.

I'm just gonna call it the Nanhoe arc... readers do get some fluffy moments between the couple in it. I think the readers should have gotten more chapters dedicated to 'wonderful, beautiful' scenes between them (but I guess the extra could made up for it?)

I was looking forward to the divorce line... But it was honestly very disappointing. I wanted some angst for the ML bro. And the moment that MC realized his feelings? It felt very out of place.

Enter the ever-obligatory intrigue: a duplicitous enemy agent in service to a rival prince, whose singular aim is to infiltrate the male lead’s household. And infiltrate she does—quite easily, one might add. And why? Because rather than subjecting her to the standard interrogations or brutal scrutiny so often reserved for male suspects, the esteemed ML chose instead to ensnare her in a ‘honey trap.’ The result? An agonizingly prolonged subplot that strained both patience and belief.

what is wrong with all the damn concubines? Everyone is drooling to climb the gong's bed!

plus the MC is a useless being who can't even defend himself and keeps putting the gong on a silver plate to offer to any and every bit*h in sight!

I don't even know when the hell or how the hell they cultivated feelings!

I'm not fond of the gong either cause he keeps neglecting the shou in daylight and then climbs the shou's bed secretly at night since he's developing a damn so called plan for deceiving the enemy country plus he gave up on the throne way too easily and keeps shoving it to his not so good siblings!