For viewers who are frustrated or confused about the ending, please kindly follow the link to the article below for a more detailed exposition on the ending:-

http://jolecole.blogspot.com/2011/11/guide-to-understanding-final-episode-in.html

Also, for those who are interested to read, the author of the C-novel wrote a few epilogues which give an interesting insight to a couple of characters. 

Epilogue from Mo Shaoqian's (Hawick Lau's character) perspective: http://jolecole.blogspot.com/2011/11/mo-shaoqians-monologue-chapter-exerpt.html

Epilogue from Mu Yongfei's perspective: http://jolecole.blogspot.com/2011/11/mu-yongfeis-monologue-translated.html

I love JoleCole's translations and her explanation for why the ML ended up that way (tl;dr: embezzlement is a touchy political matter and he was serving his "punishment" for not reporting it properly), but it does appears she only translated a few chapters and some epilogues. After digging around, I found another group (Tumble Into Fantasy) that appears to have translated through Chapter 9:

https://www.novelupdates.com/series/twilight-upon-a-thousand-snow-capped-mountains/

The heroine definitely has more spark in the novels, so it's an interesting read! JoleCole also pointed out in the novel the heroine spends too much time sulking over her first love, far more than in the drama.