This review may contain spoilers
Everything about it feels completely unnatural. This is a truly awful adaptation of the novel.
If they were going to change this much, they might as well have given it a new title and written an original plot from scratch.
In the historical context of that era, a woman couldn't just remain stuck in fiancé limbo for five years, leaving the man free to set the wedding date whenever he felt like it. Unless they were observing a mourning period, the marriage should have taken place as soon as possible after the betrothal. A woman in that position—where a man freely comes and goes from her home the way the male lead does—would face extreme vulnerability if he were to die. She would have zero protection. All properties and businesses would be claimed by male relatives of the clan. In her case, she has no such backing because she forged a new identity as a woman from the Xie clan [ her mother's clan ], which essentially makes her shop an illegal, unregistered business or can registered only by Xie's man and belongs to them.
This makes the male lead look utterly selfish. He only cares about pursuing his ambitions and climbing the career ladder, without giving a thought to what would happen to the woman he loves if his high-risk work got him killed.
Furthermore, the female lead pulling strings to secure an official post for her sister-in-law's brother just to help him is completely out of line. They aren't even married yet, and he never asked for her interference. Doing that merely as his lover is a massive overstep.
When adapting the script, they clearly wanted to delay the wedding and pile on obstacles just to force a "slow-burn" romance. But instead of being satisfying, it opened up glaring plot holes, ruined the core personalities of both leads, and completely disregarded the historical setting.
In the historical context of that era, a woman couldn't just remain stuck in fiancé limbo for five years, leaving the man free to set the wedding date whenever he felt like it. Unless they were observing a mourning period, the marriage should have taken place as soon as possible after the betrothal. A woman in that position—where a man freely comes and goes from her home the way the male lead does—would face extreme vulnerability if he were to die. She would have zero protection. All properties and businesses would be claimed by male relatives of the clan. In her case, she has no such backing because she forged a new identity as a woman from the Xie clan [ her mother's clan ], which essentially makes her shop an illegal, unregistered business or can registered only by Xie's man and belongs to them.
This makes the male lead look utterly selfish. He only cares about pursuing his ambitions and climbing the career ladder, without giving a thought to what would happen to the woman he loves if his high-risk work got him killed.
Furthermore, the female lead pulling strings to secure an official post for her sister-in-law's brother just to help him is completely out of line. They aren't even married yet, and he never asked for her interference. Doing that merely as his lover is a massive overstep.
When adapting the script, they clearly wanted to delay the wedding and pile on obstacles just to force a "slow-burn" romance. But instead of being satisfying, it opened up glaring plot holes, ruined the core personalities of both leads, and completely disregarded the historical setting.
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