Liliana06

Oh I'm not at all worried about the drama, all the trailers I've seen have a very different tone from the novel. I'm excited to see the changes they've made & hope we get an airing date soon 🤞🏻

Thanks so much for the reply, guess I won't be continuing then. It's a pity because I was really enjoying it.

Can people who finished the novel spoil me please. Does she eventually fall in love with the ML? I don't think I can continue reading if she does. I already despised him for being a lustful creep who sees women as disposable playthings , now that they've added rape and domestic violence to his rap sheet I don't see how he can be redeemed. Please don't tell me he gets to live happily ever after with his rape victim...

[She's hated for not facing whatever the yu family faces and getting exiled as one of them.] She enjoyed her share of the benefits so why shouldn't she get her share of the consequences?

[Apparently then the son would have a great loving upbringing and future.] Ji is a young child who's just lost his entire world. He's experiencing the level of trauma that would break even an adult (it certainly broke his grandmother). But yeah sure, the kid is already screwed anyway, why not add the trauma or being abandoned by a parent on top of everything else.

[As if she hadn't tried one last time to accompany yjx and her son to be an ordinary family in ganlin when he applied for a transfer but he dismissed and treated her like dirt anyway.] Since marrying into the Yu family she’s done nothing but behave like a money-grubbing social climber, spending lavishly to ingratiate herself to members of the upper class. She betrayed her best friend to climb up the social ladder, what right does she have to feel aggrieved because her husband sees her as a shallow gold-digger? It's hardly an unfair assessment of her character.

[Clearly a woman needs to cling to her cheating abusive husbands thigh to keep their family intact] When did YJX ever abuse her? YJX could’ve been someone else's problem, but she fought and schemed to have him at all costs. When she heard TY had died at the nunnery she blamed her for being too proud to suffer the grievance of having to marry an evil man who used vicious tactics to coerce her into marriage. If she thought such a marriage was good enough for TY, what right does she have to pity herself? What injustice has she suffered other than being deprived of her husband’s love (which she's done nothing to earn)?

[Yjx grew up in his loving mother's care and turned out to be such an exemplary human being after all.] Not sure in what world a woman who told her son he should have died instead of his corrupt father can be described as a loving mother...

Calling people misogynists for criticising a male-centred Pick-Me who tried to destroy another woman for a man is the height of irony 🤣

As for Yake being forced into motherhood, what a dangerous, reductionist way of thinking. Continuing the family line was an expectation imposed on both men and women. Yet you aren't treating YJX like a helpless victim who was forced into fatherhood. Why is that? Just because our choices are shaped by the cultural expectations we're born into doesn't mean we have zero agency and can't ever be held responsible for the harm we cause through said choices.

Patriarchal standards shape the thinking and actions of both men and women. But we would (hopefully) never absolve misogynistic men of their actions just because they were indoctrinated into that kind of thinking by society.

The only victim is here is her son, who didn't choose to be born or the kind of family he would be born into. Saying 'well, he'll be well taken care of' is just Yake's way of rationalizing her own selfishness. The parents who tried to cannibalize their own son to protect their interests are suddenly going to be loving, selfless grandparents? The jokes write themselves 🤣

I actually don't mind a redemption arc as long as it's well written. That smuggler-turned-salt merchant's redemption made sense because he was actually tormented by his choice and was willing to sacrifice his life to make things right.

Was there even a second where Yake showed genuine remorse or apologised? All she does is whine and play the victim. Giving someone so unrepentant a redemption arc actually sends a really bad message, I doubt It's the censor board's doing.

As I've said before, I'm very aware of all the social realities that would have made it impossible to take the kid. But again my question is: if it's impossible to leave with him, why not stay in the Yu family with him? Anyone with a shred of decency would have chosen that instead of just dumping him.

The ending from the novel is exactly the ending I wanted and the only one someone as vile and unrepentant as her deserves.

Welp, guess you're not interested in arguing in good faith and just want to have the last word. Otherwise why bother with such a nothingburger reply? Even a good ol "let's agree to disagree" would've been more civil. Anyway, deuces✌

I'll give that one a try too. Thanks!! I think I'm on my way to becoming a YSJ fan 🤭

I don't get why people keep assuming I don't understand the historical context. It's a bit patronising honestly.

She ignored every moral standard of the time by 1. Having private contact with a man, 2. Marrying against her father's wishes 3. Betraying her closest friend and ruining her reputation. Being unfilial, disloyal and without virtue were some the worst sins according to Confucianism. Yet she was able to commit every single one of them with ease to get what she wants. Furthermore, a mother sacrificing herself for the sake of her husband and her children was the height of feminine virtue back then (and once again she was able to go against moral convention for her own selfish motives).

Why is it that the moral standards of her time can't hold her back when it comes to securing her own happiness but suddenly when it comes to putting her child's happiness first she's suddenly a helpless victim who can't do anything because she's constrained by the social norms of the time?

I think the ones judging her by modern, toxic girlboss standards are the writers and the people making excuses for her. The framing of her actions both in the drama and in the commentary is laughably modern. It indulges in the worst parts of 4th-wave feminism ("I can't ever be held accountable for my actions because a man/the patriarchy made me do it~")*

*Before anyonone comes for me, I'm a proud feminist, I just don't think it's useful or helpful to encourage women to see themselves as perpetual victims with no agency.

I don't understand why people keep making excuses for her and acting like she had no other choice. There was a perfectly good 2nd option: staying and taking responsibility for the innocent child she selfishly brought into the world for no other reason than to secure her own wealth and status.

I think it says a lot that Tingyun has an entire community of women willing to walk through fire for her whereas Yake hasn't made a single friend since leaving Huaiying. She's unlovable because she only sees people as tools for her own benefit and is genuinely incapable of caring for anyone but herself.

Thanks so much for the recommendation! I was looking for something new to watch and this sounds perfect. I like both the premise and the FL!

"If she stayed with the Yus for the sake of her child, she would have gotten worse and even more self destructive, effectively hurting Ji in the longrun too."
And this is precisely why I despise her more than her husband. The reason she would've gotten worse is because she's selfish, immoral and incapable of reflecting on her own actions and choices. Like all narcissists she only ever sees herself as a victim. If She had an ounce of moral fibre she could've reflected on herself and tried to be a better person for her son.

Even after nearly getting her best friend killed she never seemed to show any shame or regret. She never spared a thought for how scary and awful it must've all been for Tingyun. She tried over and over again to push her back into the abyss.

Even in the breakdown of her marriage she only blamed her husband like she's some hapless victim who was tricked into a bad marriage.

The show didn't need to explicitly explain the context because patriarchy isn't that hard to understand. Children being the property of their father was the legal standard in most Western countries until the middle of the 20th century.

Concubine Wu's status and circumstances were far worse than Yake's and she still managed to remove herself from a terrible situation without harming anyone. If she really cared about her child she would have tried against all odds to get him out. Failing that, she could have stayed to protect him. If she could give up her worldly desires to secure her own freedom and peace of mind, why couldn't she use the same philosophy to stay and focus on protecting her son? The answer is because she's an entitled narcissist who's never cared for anything or anyone but herself.

Can't say I hated it but it suffered from trying to be too many things all at once. The ML and FL were great though, they had a warm and cozy chemistry which I really enjoyed. This was my first time seeing YSJ and I look forward to seeing him in other things.

Not Yake discarding her son like a snake shedding its skin...It would be one thing if the Yus were good people, but she really just left her baby in that den of tigers and wolves without a care in the world. She was so smug and self-righteous about it too like??? She was a selfish and morally bankrupt arsehole from beginning to end and I hate how the writers made her lack of morals into some empowering girlboss moment. I wanted her to lose everything and be despised and spat on by the entire world. Her unearned redemption kinda ruined the ending ngl.

Remember YY's pompous younger brother who placed 2nd in the state exams? He wanted to gloat by inviting his study mates who failed the exams to his victory party and a servant asked him to reconsider. He allegedly had the servant beaten to death out of anger. I believe XC was the one who did it.

Ugh, ungrateful little tw*t. YY nurtured and protected him, used his power to help him in his career, never judged him for being the son of a murderer/traitor and he actually has the audacity to betray him?

Lol I think the Ji family wealth might have gone to his head. He got high on his own supply and forgot that his career was bought and paid for by his wife's money.

I knew that mentor was a treacherous, power-hungry wolf in sheep's clothing from the get-go. Now I'm waiting to see if my suspicions about Chen Xuan Qing are accurate. I believe he murdered that servant to frame his uncle.