One has to emphasize how important her viewpoint toward love is. She has no room for the struggle against someone like ML. He treated the original QQJ horribly, took one of her maids as his concubine, and let a higher-ranked concubine mess with her til the point she died and the MC transmigrated. You can argue it wasn't intentional, but it is what it is.

ML isn't a good person. He may love her but she knows that this love can change at any time.

She can only give back as much as he's willing to share. She can't afford to make herself miserable by falling head over into a pit. The society in which she now dwells won't free her from him even if he's one to grow tired of her. She can't just pack up and leave, she never had a choice but to settle with the marriage of the original QQJ.

She's lucky that ML and she hit it off well, and that he appreciates her good and bad.

There are enough of his concubines that set a good example of how they can have a sweet phase and once he saw something better, be ignored and turned away for good. If MC falls out of favor as a wife, she may keep her status but what's a lonely heart good for other than pain?

She's in love with him but she's fully capable of drawing clear lines if she needs to.

Negative comments on her lucid attitude towards ML make no sense :D

"Han liangdi has served Emperor for so many years, but her appearance hasn't changed at all." Han Qing He had been serving by He Heng's side since she was sixteen. Right now, she was just twenty one. In her previous life, it would have been the best years of her life. In this era, her age was slightly old.

"Really, zhen doesn't remember what she was like before, " He Heng glanced in the direction of Fu Shou Palace,

Not gonna lie, this is kinda sad. She was with him since she was 16 and this is all the affection left for her and she's only 21.

Also so far, the main character is 16..

"Jing's territory is high up, so the majority of people's skin are dark colored, so how beautiful could they be? Compared to our Da Long's females, they must be severely lacking. It's all just unfounded rumors to deceive ignorant people."

It happens again... man this is why I hesitate in reading these historical novels. I understand there's a cultural difference and white skin is preferred over there but I get disappointed every single time.

My favorite scene is in CH117 where someone tries to stab FL with a hairpin and ML rushes to cover her and she completely breaks her usual calm facade and explodes in anger out of concern. I think this is a reflection of how she really feels for him.

"Emperor, are you alright?" Qu Qing Ju stood, her face fearful as she examined He Heng from top to toe. She released a breath, and then in a voice filled with anger, she shouted, "What are you doing, there's so many people, what are you doing in front of me?!"

The entire hall instantly became silent, all those that were shocked, that had been pushing Qin Bai Lu down, been asking for mercy. At one point, it was as though their necks were being strangled so that they were unable to make a sound.

"There's so many people in the hall, who let you go in front of me, showing off how long your legs are?! Ah! Do you not have regard for your life, who needed you to save me, I'm not an idiot, would I have just sat for her to stab?! Do you have brains?! Ah!"

Mu Jin stared with wide eyes and mouth at the Empress flipping out. As she watched the Emperor unconsciously step back as the Empress ranted at him, her shoulders couldn't help but shake as she swallowed.

At the side, Qian Chang Xin, Ming He and the others also stood with dumbstruck eyes. Who had seen the Empress be so valiant?! Who had even seen the Empress scold the Emperor? As the personal attendants of the Emperor, they should stop the finger that the Empress was poking onto the Emperor's chest, should reproach the Empress for her disrespectful conduct, but..... for some reason, they didn't dare speak, and didn't dare to even breathe loudly.

after becoming empress, she goes out of her way to encourage the young, unmarried girls brought into the palace that instead of wasting their youth to serve someone who will never have any feelings for them, it was better to go back home. She remind think of themselves first and get married to someone who will treat them well.

there's a scene where when she becomes empress she sends a personally embroidered handkerchief (?) can't remember exactly to a widow who saved a bunch of orphans in a fire so that she would be able to remarry as one with the empress' favor because being a widow in those times was pretty worrying since women didn't have many rights. There are other scenes, but that's the one I remember off the top of my head.

If people believe that the MC's family or the 4th (?) prince have incomprehensible motives/reasoning personally I don't agree. The MC's family didn't cherish the MC because the father didn't like the MC's mother anyway and as the first legitimate daughter from another mother the stepmother didn't like her either since she was a risk to her own children, therefore treated her badly as a way to show her superiority because she was insecure. Her children unfortunately just grew up in that environment and came to believe that they too were above the MC. Their motives aren't very logical, but they are understandable for that time period with its strict family hierarchy and arranged marriages. As for the 4th (?) prince well, he's a spoiled twat (though I enjoyed his character even if he was a twat because he was interesting) so his actions aren't logical by any means because he was so used to the emperor's favor that logic can't really apply to him (he does however grow as a person which I liked) If anything I pity him since he was spoiled since birth to believe that no matter what he did he would become emperor so when that rug was pulled from under him it was a pretty big slap of the real world for him. He was not a good person by any means but it's not like I cant understand why he acted as he did.

two faced

She keeps this view for most of the story, and it's only towards the end that He Heng really notices her own love for him; like she was basically saying, talk is cheap, but she'd rather listen to actions (obviously I'm paraphrasing rather badly, but that's the kind of impression I got ?). This was a huge part of why the epilogues felt so meaningful to me, because it really felt genuine. Yes, He Heng became infatuated with her, but their mutual respect and loving actions towards each other built such a beautiful relationship out of an arranged marriage. I really think that Ru Wang's relationships, the Emperor's between himself and his Imperial consorts, and even that of Qu Qing Yu's parents' really served a great purpose as a literary foil/comparison to emphasize the beauty, the rareness really, of the FL (Qu Qing Yu) and the ML's (He Heng's) relationship for its era.