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he's definitely not having a fun time, that I can tell lol

In this case, she really can't just ditch YK. he's been fundamental to stabilizing her rule and being able to take breaks, not be overwhelmed with work. Frankly, she needs both left and right "hand" assistants and it's logical that she forgives their bs. Like an emperor putting up with the antics of their most powerful & capable general.

He doesn't become weaker. We just leave the mortal world, to a place where everyone is hundreds of years older than him. It's reflecting the reality of the 2 characters. So much less irritating than I often see in dramas - when a character canonically has less power (which anyone with common sense understands) and yet they somehow beat everyone up and save the day all the time. That always bugs me, because it's the "protagonist halo", where the ML or FL just win and get to show off because they're one of the leads. This drama is smarter - Duan Xu IS smart and strong and awesome, but he is always still limited by being a mortal. As he should be.

It frustrated me SO much. but tbh it also makes him more 3 dimensional and real of a character- not perfect, can make mistakes. we've seen him as so diobolical and brilliant in past episodes... he can't always be right and always win.

IMO there are many options to watch strong women in cdramas. So it's ok and even interesting to show us different types of women. Some women are less assertive and have less strong personalities. They can still grow and find love and live interesting lives.

he might not have STAYED in power (because our leads are pretty op) but he would have had more midterm sucesses.

I didn't disapproved of her replacing him, because it took away his choices - but he was pretending to be seriously injured and so she assumes he would be walking to his death. We see male characters knock out their friends in situations like this and stop them from throwing their life away. No reason to make this about gender or even romance. This is how some people act when a person they care about taking unreasonable risks with their life.

I wish I felt like you. I'm the type that a bad ending ruins the whole drama for me forever. and a really solid ending otoh will make me excuse other weaknesses.

Yep, that kind of ending is a total waste to me. Only exception was "How Dare You" which was transporting into a book - and it's a struggle just to survive so you can eventually return to rl together, so it didn't feel pointless to me. In time travel like this, I want the protagonist to STAY THERE.

Worried about it being a transmigration - the ending of those often leaves a lot to be desired. I was looking forward to this one but now I might wait to see how they handle the end...

The novel is quite cute and fluffy, very similar to the drama. You get more Qin perspective. It has basically no plot lol but as long as you just want "cute boy who really enjoys chasing another boy, who really enjoys being chased" then you'll have a good time. :) I can't really rate such stories. Is it a 2? Is it a 10? I dunno. It's exactly what it intends to be.

I've read the novel and he's not explicitly labeled as such. Personally, nothing about novel Duang reminds me of someone on the spectrum. Of course, there's nothing wrong with people having headcanons. But this is not representation like, for instance, the Attorney Woo kdrama. Duang with You is a good romance drama but I wouldn't watch it for the purpose of seeing an autistic character - there are more suitable dramas for that.

He falls first because at first she isn't thinking of romance. Things are not "even" at first because they're not on the same page at all and she is focused on economic factors, bettering her life. But once they are a real couple and she falls for him too, then they're partners and both support each other. It's that in the start, we can't expect her to be devoted when she doesn't see him that way yet.

"comes back to her" refers to the start of the drama. ml knew her as kids and is returning to the village.

The reason she keeps being passed over is that there are only a few university spots at this time. And getting a spot isn't based purely on test scores, you need to be nominated/selected. It's basically true throughout history, everywhere in the world, that people will start scheming and lying to get ahead whenever there are a limited amount of something that is life-changing.

So what's happening is that she keeps being told "next time" because someone else gets the spot that year. Why someone else? Because other people had better connections, timing, or popularity. It's not some vast conspiracy against HER personally in all the past years. It was that someone else always won the place. This year, when the drama opens, she finds a way to stand out and get noticed. It really SHOULD have been her year! But that mean girl had it out for her and did actively sabotage her. :(

if you watch 1980-90s era dramas, you can see that was the time of transition

Tale of Thousand Stars and Bad Buddy are both solid rom coms without too much childish characteristics. (I mean, besides the normal romcom petty antics)

TBH the novel really dragged for me in thay aspect (it goes on FOREVER) and I hope the drama speeds it up. It's not that Qin was totally unresponsive (he gave positive indications that he enjoyed being chased) but at some point it just wears on me. I understand the Duang character isn't bothered but ME, I'm bothered. I'm like you where I want to see balence in my ships and I don't like one-sided chasing for so long. I am hopeful that the drama writers want to accelerate things.

The novel has a happy ending for the 2 leads

It's a period drama. The late 1970s-1990s period is the "Reform and Opening-up" period of chinese history: 改革开放