It is a very long series yet it is absolutely worth reading( For me, I don't know about you guys reading it)
but I always love reading about strategist of the old political world and a women who is great at leading people and who has a smart mouth. What is kind of dissapointing is that the heroine( The Virtuous Wife) is not properly executed in the story. Her origin unknown, How did she get in that time(oops, is that a spoiler?) How come that she have accepted the fact that she's not going back?! Well...For me it's a minus point but the story us great and may the author was focus on how to make the crown prince and the heroine to be together. It will be very boring for you guys who wants to read some action.(well, it will be verbally attacking) or the romance ( through the whole story until last part do they really fall in love with each other?). It's kind of hard to understand cause there are those deep words such as Chinese worss for a father-in-law, the other woman of your husband, your grandmother-in-law...It's kind of hard...but if you like some Chinese government-slow romance kind of story. this novel is for you.

I hate the main guy. There is nothing overly terrible about him but his actions in the beginning towards his wife (the plain one, not the main girl) are simply irredeemable. To make it worse, he falls for his wife after she dresses up so it's all based on appearances. The author tries to fix this by writing about how much he loves her "grace of a queen" or something like that but all this serves to show that he likes girls that play hard-to-get. His love is too shallow for me to enjoy. Like father, like son, I suppose. All the male characters are really fickle and the only likable man is the fourth son (utter sweetie pie, I need more scenes with him and his wife; screw the main couple).
At the same time, the author tries to make the main girl sound smart and sophisticated. She is, to a certain extent. Honestly, when she started showing her petty jealousy, I got pretty annoyed. I feel like she has completely forgotten her place and is spoiled by all the good treatment he gives her. Enjoy the fun while he lets you? How about preparing behind his back for the moment he abandons you so that you can show him up and live a comfortable life in the future? It's a pity she's not as smart as she used to be in the beginning.
In my honest opinion, I wish there were more scenes about that one girl who was the wife's servant before becoming his concubine. After all, it would have been a nice conflict point between his treatment of the old wife and new wife. I think the author tried to end it really fast to prevent readers from hating on the main guy while showing how smart the main girl is. All it showed was the guy's shallow side though, dumping a pretty girl for another when he's bored or she's not pretty anymore. In the end, according to this book, the only important thing to a girl is her appearance. If you're pretty, he'll love you and, if you aren't/don't dress up, he'll wander off to be with another girl.

I just love how this series is not the typical love story where it is blatantly obvious the girl falls in love for the guy or the guy falls in love with the girl. It is all subtle and that's the way it should be, not boom I am in love kind of thing. As you read further and further along you begin to realize the increased affection the characters have for one another. That and all the subtle insults are great, I mean I really love it when they try to insult the main character (Qing Ju), but she changes the tide. She throws everyone off and this is why this is one of my favorite series.

Short answers:
The characters are great.
The romance is develop at a nice pace, no sudden turning points
People do not know their place, but mc will show them
and lots of subtley
if you don't like any of that, don't read it. I understand why some people won't like it, it requires to much memorization and comprehension skills of Chinese literature.

I won't say anything bad about the author or his work, but the translation of this novel is horrible.
The translator does not translate a lot of Chinese terms in the text, only translating them in foot notes. Worse, in future chapters when the terms reappear, the reader is assumed to remember their meaning since there won't be any translation on the page.

If you do not enjoy a lot of talking with very subtle insults and undertones, you WILL NOT LIKE THIS. If you do not like lots and lots of different status' ranking words or addresses, YOU WILL NOT LIKE THIS.

So please don't try it and rate it down when you find out you don't like this kind of story.

It's beautifully written and translated, I found it very interesting. Rather than the usual "chick gets reincarnated and marries a prince who likes her even though she's not lady-like at all" kind of story;
this one has a MC that is really rrreeeaaaalllyyy good at court political intrigue. And a main male lead who seems more realistic, in that he doesn't give a crap about petty girl drama. He's also busy with his own work most of the time. Which his wife does not mettle in. Because it is not her place to one up him in everyway.

You would think this would make the story seem sexist, but rather, it makes you respect ancient chinese women far more. These chicks are really intelligent, respected, and they get stuff done like bosses! They smite enemies with words and compliments! This is "women are scary" the novel!!

I used to read previous novel of this author:"This Profession - A Consort".

That novel is super fun and interesting. It sure have many scheme in the palace and the heroine is so funny and crafty. So sure want to read this second novel of her! I will come back to give you guy a review!!

---------Yep! come back to tell you now-----------
I must admit the translation in the first chapter is quite confusing but if you can make yourself accustom to it. You can enjoy the next next chapter of this novel. (Since I am a fan of this author I can make myself into LoL)
---Though I understand, it can't be help since this novel is about protocal and the palace. If they don't use that chinese pronoun in transliteration then you can not get the meaning of those dialog completely. And these kind of dialog is the appeal of this story so you can't miss it.

Let's go into the detailed.
This female lead is still have the same kind of character I love in "This Profession - A Consort".
She is level head, know herself well and know her enemy better. Her view of life is too realistic which will make you think that she's so unromantic and cunning: kind of like a fox~~ virtue fox? Eh?

You can find many dark um.. politic humor in this work. Which can make you want to both laugh and cry at the same time~~~~

The interesting point in this novel is the inner meaning dialog that the reader must guess what the character really mean when they said that sentence. What this move is all about? Why did they do that? For what's benefit them?

This make the appeal of this novel come out more unique than all the other chinese love novel out there.

I recommend it!!

... Last updated on October 19th, 2015, 8:37am