(*title is mtl'd)
Summary: Living 10 years in a suppressive marriage Ye Zhiqiu, who wasted his youth, talent and mentally was withered faced his husband who asked him to give his White Moonlight a home, because his ultimate love was "tired and wanted a home". That day when Ye Zhiqiu had a car accident he suddenly returned to 10 years prior, the very moment when his "husband" Qi Xin was confessing his love to then naive Ye Zhiqiu. Betrayal of the closest people, relatives, friends, husband, Ye Zhiqiu survived it all, but now with his heart hard as stone he has an ultimate goal, lie low and play along, while he plans how to destroy every each one of those who betrayed him, used him and destroyed him.
SUPER COOL! It's an ultimate revenge story. So the main theme and storyline will revolve around Ye Zhiqiu planning and executing everything step by step. But the difference with many rebirth stories that I've read (and I like the rebirth theme in general) is that often characters stay away from those who ruined their lives, but Ye Zhiqiu didn't even want to. He survived such psychological pressure and torture of his husband constantly PUA him, he had so many bad debts with other people who helped to realize this plan of destroying him mentally, that it was impossible to get away. Under his shining eyes and beautiful skin the rage and hate were bubbling and simmering. But he couldn't be impulsive. And this is why I pretty liked him, he executed each step of his plan meticulously, but he had to stay put, he had to play along not to be discovered, he had to keep his image and not be impulsive and show any flaw, otherwise what would be the point of his plan. This is why when you reach some points, you'll understand why he waited. Why it was important to reach his goal. And it was right for him to wait, because the consequences of what he did caused an avalanche.
The other side of the story is the actions of the villain. You'll be surprised but the ultimate villain is his - stepmother. You'd not be surprised as outsider, but for Zhiqiu it was. Contrary to many "villains" which are nothing more than clowns to me to be honest, Tao Ruoqing (stepmother), was much more vicious. It's not even a spoiler because it is explained in first chapters. Her goal was to control Zhiqiu psychologically and only when Zhiqiu was much older he had a wake-up call. Why this happened? This has something to do with the first Mrs. Ye, his biological mother committed suicide and he was only few months old then, Mr. Ye, his father, cheated on his first wife with Tao Ruoqing and shortly after the death of his first wife he married Tao Ruoqing. Zhiqiu grew up with her since he was a child. For others she was a perfect stepmom, but only grown-up Zhiqiu knew that what Tao Ruoqing did were all deliberate actions and psychological moves to control and destroy a child. Zhiqiu had no idea she was not his mom, while their driver "accidentally" revealed this information. Zhiqiu always felt insecure and always wanted to belong to this family, what he didn't know was the more he played along, the more he was trapped. He had no idea that Qi Xin was sent by Tao Ruoqing, she used this move to alienate him and be exelled from the family (because his father did not admit such a poor boy like Qi Xin and chased Zhiqiu out of the Ye family), then used Zhiqiu as a money-maker, because Zhiqiu was exceptionally gifted in clothes desing and the next step is to destroy him mentally. Qi Xin used Zhiqiu's designs as his own, Zhiqiu helped the business grow and when Zhiqiu exhausted his talent the company was already pretty big, had its' own design team and his cheating husband did not need him anymore and could finally join hands with the person he loved all these years, Jiang Nan.
You could say that Zhiqiu was attacked from all sides and I can't even imagine how he survived, even if many times he recalls the moments when he just wanted to jump off the balcony. Eventually he gave up. And the winners were all those who betrayed him. So you could guess he didn't want to give them a way to survive.
What I liked is that the background work was very profound, you could feel the consequences of those actions of all family, friends and husband and you did not feel sorry for them when they were destroyed.
Because when Zhiqiu met with Qi Xin he was only 19, after living with his stepmother like this, his insecurity was quite strong and he attached a great deal to the word "home", because he did not have a home as he thought and felt. And Qi Xin striked and exlpoited his weakness under the guidance of Tao Ruoqing. This is why Zhiqiu, who had not build needed coping mechanism and analitical ability of a mature person jumped into this trap, he had no idea that someone could be this vicious, but Tao Ruoqing was more than vicious, her ultimate goal is for her children to live in wealth, to get the Ye family in the end.
This is why I think she is not on par with average "villains" of the stories. Many characters are simply bad or they act openly bad or they are openly biased etc. Some do have a stroke or two, but becuase this novel explores the situation so much it feels more profound I think and more striking. Even if you know there are undercurrents and you might get annoyed why things are going this way, but when you think this is "an eye for an eye" you will understand that it's quite cool. He destroyes them not out of the blue, but he has all the reasons to do so.
Characters (there are many actually, but I will include the mains, so you could get the gist of info and motivation behind these characters)
Ye Zhiqiu. Our MC is the goal of others when it comes to clothing design, he's gifted. But he is also beautiful in person (like any MC, come on))). He went through thorny way before he returned to his most innocent era of 19 years and this is the moment when he chose wrongly, to believe someone's love and be betrayed, he chose not himself but others. Now he wanted to get everything, get revenge and get a career. I applaude that he is mentally like a rock, but contradictory to it he still stays insecure and scarred by those years, he can be completely cruel, but there are stil vulnerable bleeding wounds all over his heart. Only time and love could heal him. His journey it's a long journey of letting go.
Ye Hongxian. YZQ's father. Basic example of a narrow-minded and face-loving person. Everyone is wrong, but not him. He feels like he is never satisfied, but when problems arise he blames everyone around. For his first wife he blamed the child, for all the troubles he blamed the child and later too. I have no idea how such a low-level character like Tao Ruoqing could get together with him. But because he's so conceited he had never cared what happened to his children, how they grew up and could not even see the actions of his new wife, while they were pretty not that smart to be honest, but considering the child's age and indifference of the father, she had best conditions for her actions.
Tao Ruoqing. Came to the Ye residence when YZQ was 3 months old. She was already pregnant with a baby (Ye Zhixia) back then. She also had an older son Ye Zheng. Her goal was to become a welcomed lady in a circle of welthy and she worked hard for her children to be accepted. Spoilers, but she is a high school drop-out, she has no idea whose child is Ye Zheng so you can guess her conditions when she grew up, she comes from a small place and suffered and did not want suffer anymore. She wanted to destroy YZQ for several reasons, Mr. Ye still had feelings for his late wife (more like nostalgia), she wanted only her children to inherit without hindrance. In last life she indeed succeeded, but this life did not go as planned.
Ye Zheng. With unknown father he came along with Tao Ruoqing to the Ye family, for Tao Ruoqing he is more of a tool person tbh, because her love was more concentrated on her youngest. Ye Zheng was transparent person who worked at Ye's and helped Ruoqing to embezzle money, so she could eventually invest it (which she did, or where do you think her money came from). Because he lived through hardest times he was like a docile and filial person shackled to the debt of being raised.
Ye Zhixia. The youngest master. Although Ruoqing tried to ruin YZQ, but she had no idea that her youngest was simply a maniac. He grew up in comfort, always arrogant, coinceited and above all else. But because he was so spoiled he decided to marry someone 10 years older, because he had strong feelings ("best actor" Gao Wenye). Zhixia was always envious of YZQ's beauty and talent, all people he liked, liked YZQ, so he had a twisted mentality and always wanted to compete. This is why in his last life he happily sent people to Qi Xin as lovers and took part in the plan of destroying YZQ. Eventually he indeed inherit the Ye family. But big spoilers, he is actually not the biological child of Ye Hongxian. This is why I say Mr. Ye is too full of himself, he did not even check whose child is Zhixia and because he never cared about his family, he never found out, until very late.
Qi Xin. Agreed to Tao Ruoqing's plan because he wanted to use Zhiqiu as a foundation for his brand. They were just a small family with factory, nothing significant. It was Zhiqiu's painstaking work that allowed them to thrive in the last life, but they did not cherish it. He used the rhethoric that he is not on par with YZQ so he used his designs, later when the brand grew they had designing team and YZQ was not needed, so he was removed and everyone had no idea who was beind the scenes. But when the brand became big he did not shy away from cheating and eventually decided to divorce for his white moonlight. Basic scumbag. Even in this life he tried to use pity and PUA too many times even when his feelings for YZQ changed. But it was now his time to fall into the "love trap" weaved by YZQ. So he and his father who humiliated him as a waste could feel what it's like to reach the peak and fall into mud.
Jiang Nan. Oh this perv. Reading you will get that he has feelings for Qin Jianhe right away, he keeps Qi Xin just as a fish. Qi Xin was used as irrtation method in his last life, like sending ambiguous photos that only YZQ could see or doing ambiguous things. Because he used all the small moved to annoy YZQ and make him suspicious. Eventually when the Jiang family fell and Qi Xin was higher in position he decided to settle down. But reading you know he got some screws loose, because his feelings for Qin Jianhe are morbid obsession.
Tang Le. This is the friend that was bought by Tao Ruoqing to follow, instill some thoughts into YZQ and lead him. he was actually saved and helped by YZQ, but as any person with low self-esteem he thought those were charity and hypocricy, so he hated YZQ for his beauty and talent. Eventually he entered entertainment world and became a great stylist, but many of his works were nothing more but traces of YZQ, but at that time pointing it out was pointless. This time YZQ wanted Tang Le to feel the same, defeated, but having nowhere to go, knowing no one will believe him. Making him know what it feels like to be a rat in the ditch, which he is.
Qin Jianhe (ML). This person is the savior of Zhiqiu, but emotional savior. Like many cold-blooded CEOs Qin Jianhe ruled the Qin family with his iron wrist, he was rumored to be devoid of emotions, but it had something to do with the marriage and divorce of his mother. Like in many stories and the situation similar to him and YZQ, his mother feel in love with the Qin father, but eventually when their brand grew thanks to his mother, Qin father eventually cheated. This caused her to go through depression before she could finally return to normal. Qin Jianhe witnessed the entire thing, so he had faint feelings for others and especially for relationships. Only meeting YZQ helped him realize that he can love and this person he chose he will stay with for the rest of his life. Qin Jianhe was very accurate when it came to measure, he found out that YZQ was tense and repulsive to anything outside of just bed friends, which they became at first. He knew that only slowly infiltrating YZQ's world and feeding him love and feeling of security bit by bit will bear fruits. And this is what happened, from bed frieneds to lovers. He loved YZQ maybe not for any particular reason, but because it was YZQ, he could accept him and understand him. It felt like YZQ hit all the right spots of his heart. With Qin Jianhe Zhiqiu could finally truly fall in love, get a true home and have someone else's true heart.
Romance (few words about it)
Although both MC and ML come together quite early, but it's still a long way to go. Because YZQ was scarred too hard in his relationship that his trust was the lowest. He did not want to risk his heart again, but he could do with being just bed partners. He did not shy away from things he did when it came to Jianhe, he even used it to test the bottom line of Jianhe, he wanted to see if he could see how deeply disgusting he is now, plotting everyone. But Jianhe saw it differently. He knew what people could go through, because he saw his own mother in such a low state, so he realized that for such strong hate the other side must have done something that could not be easily forgiven. Eventually with his constant love and care, showing his love with actions than empty words, Zhiqiu finally could say that he was ready. He finished all the bad debts on his own and now could face future.
/~!SPOILERS!~/
It's spoilers, but more like a brief explanation of what and how Zhiqiu achieved his goal and how he dealth with people.
Again, I must admit, it's really hard not to show fault when acting with people who betrayed you, but he managed it and this is what left me amazed. He did many things on his own and achieved such a great success.
Which line should I start. Because they are interconnected. So basically let's go with the central figure who pulled the strings, Tao Ruoqing.
Being invited by big brands YZQ chose the small one, the reason is his stepmother, but it was contrary to joining Qi Xin, but he did it to not make things too showy. This brand VIA faced predicament and with YZQ it rebounded. When facing backstabbing by the Jiang family (Jiang Nan), he used his connections and connected to another brand to reverse the situation. This was the biggest blow to the Jiang family under the lead of Jiang Nan.
When it came to Qi Xin, YZQ played along, but not much, he mostly trained him as a dog and emphasized that without his designs his home will be nothing. Qi Xin believed that YZQ had feelings for him, but if you think about it, it may be just his fantasy, YZQ did not cross the line, they acted not even as friends, it was one-sided "Xiao Qiu I miss you" from Qi Xin's side. His brand indeed grew, but then he got too full of himself and did not aim for stability and did not really research those he collaborated with. Thus he fell into trap set by Zhiqiu when Zhiqiu introduced him to meet Qin Jianhe's half-brother, Qin Wei'an, the one who almost ruined the main brand of Qin family - QL, but because Qin father was so partial he got mid-range brand which was also having problems, Qin Wei'an's brand also had the same problems of quality and plagiarism and was the worst partner. At the critical moment they filed for bankruptcy and Qi Xin was left with big financial gap (this is important). At that time Zhiqiu was alienating the Qi family a lot, but still held them on the hook with ambition of "marrying YZQ and using him for the brand growth". Qi Xin's brand was heavily invested by Tao Ruoqing, who got the sweetness of money, so she even got a loan, only at this moment YZQ got Qi Xin to know Qin Wei'an because he knew the problems of Manqing (Qin Wei'an's brand). Tao Ruoqing lost money, Qi Xin was also chased by creditors. The only one who survived this predicament was his friend, only because in last life he was the only one who stood on YZQ's side and criticized Qi Xin for his actions against his spouse. Zhiqiu remembers kindness, so he allowed him to survive.
This allowed Zhiqiu to implement his plan for Jiang and Qi to become in-laws forever. Because Jiang Nan was so obsessed with Qin Jianhe, he drugged him in last life and it became a stain for Jianhe, nothing happened, but he was wounded during the process, but it became a scandal non the less. This time Zhiqiu used this event to his advances and instead of Jianhe it was Qi Xin who entered the room and was drugged. To shush the scandal and not be targeted by Jianhe, they used the premise of loving couple having fun to brush this event off and eventually two families united. And it would solve the financial crisis of Qi family. This was a big move, since Jiang Nan despised Qi Xin at this moment, same goes for Qi Xin, he was so deeply in love and even when he saw Zhiqiu and Jianhe together he still felt that two are not on par and he will wait for him. Zhiqiu paid him back what he owed him in last life, he destroyed his mentality and trampled his love. Eye for an eye.
By this moment Jiang Nan actually tried several times to get close to Jianhe but it was futile. When Zhiqiu only started being together with Jianhe he stopped stimulating Jiang Nan through the same way as Jiang Nan used in last life, he used criptic photos of Jianhe to showcase their love. Jiang Nan did not want anyone to find this out, so he kept it a secret. Eventually Zhiqiu came together with Jianhe and he did not want to use him (he used like two or three photos at max), because he did not feel any pleasure in it, he treasured Jianhe as a person, even if they were just bed partners at that time. Later there were several moments when Jiang Nan saw them together and once even followed them, because he was drunk he got into an accident which left him with scars and he was traumatized and didn't want Jianhe to see his disfigured self, but later still plotted to drug Jianhe just to get him into the muddy water. When it was late his only choice was to quelch the scandal and stay with Qi Xin.
Tang Le is another participant of the plan so his fate can be imagined. At first Zhiqiu acted as usual, but eventually did not go along what Tang Le hinted. As follows he used his work and brilliance to stimulate Tang Le several times, eventually when Tang Le entered the competition that will allow him to step closer to his dream, Zhiqiu used the knowledge of his last life to lay a trap, meaning he used the draft that was very close to Tang Le's (but actually was nothing more but collection of things he did in school and Tang Le was influenced by him) to make everyone believe that Tang Le plagiarized him. Tang Le's career and life in school became even more unbearable. He already had bad reputation because to create a situation for him to live together with Zhiqiu he destroyed the graduation work of a senior in dormitory, play himself as a victim of bullying and not being able to live together with others (Zhiqiu just changed apartments), but it did not go as planned. Zhiqiu instead worked with this senior to help him as a favor and used this senior to spread the news that Tang Le did it on purpose, so when it came to plagiarism the rage of opinions was even stronger. This time he had nowhere to go but to blackmail Tao Ruoqing to get him a place. But Tao Ruoqing had no connectons at all, and by this time Ye Zhixia who was her connection to entertainment was also riddled with scandals and had to lay low. Blackmailing actually backfired, Ye Zhixia found out about it and was crazy enough to hit Tang Le with a car. Because Zhiqiu was ready for some action Tang Le was helped and survived, but lost his leg. In previous life one of Zhiqiu's closest friends lost his leg in similar predicament, he wanted to get justice for Zhiqiu, but was wounded so badly and also lost his leg. Eye for an eye.
Tang Le wanted to use Zhiqiu, but it was futile, by that time only the closest people knew that Zhixia is not Ye's biological child, but Tang Le had no idea. But Zhiqiu still got him lawyers to sue Zhixia to shreds. After all Zhiqiu was not the only one he hated. He also used the blackmailing material to publicize the true face of Tao Ruoqing, the perfect stepmother. Which actually helped Zhiqiu gain sympathy despite him being the winner of the situation. This wasn't Tang Le's goal, he just wanted both sides to be notorious.
Zhixia is a crazy guy, we know, with his twisted mentality he sent lovers to Qi XIn in his last life. This time he also fell in love with best actor Gao Wenye, but Wenye actually was like an old leecher, he indulged in sex and saw Zhixia as means to fianlly get a better status. And eventually Ye's business. This time Zhiqiu helped them get together earlier. Who asked Zhixia to be such a competitive guy so he wanted to show off that his marriage is better than some Qi Xin guy. But Zhiqiu used connections with one person from last life, Li Ling. Li Ling had to sell himself as means to survive, but he wanted to change his life, Wenye was the way. He was the only person who apologized to Zhiqiu in last life, because he had no idea Qi Xin was married. This time Zhiqiu showed Li Ling the way, use his connection with Wenye to sign a company and later act and thrive. So Li Ling was on Zhiqiu's side actually, he is a person not without a bottom line. They sent a guy Zhixia used to send to Qi Xin in last life, but now he sent it to Wenye, as well as many others. They waited for a long time and only when both got married, collected traffic from their married "happy" life, they sent the videos of many men with Wenye to the Internet. This scandal completely ruined Wenye's reputation, but also touched upon Zhixia who tollerated all the cheating he knew well about. Even if they soon divorced, it still hit Zhixia a lot to be constantly betrayed in a relationship (same as what he did to Zhiqia). An eye for an eye.
Because it hit so hard the Ye family reputation the face-loving Ye father was outraged. But it wasn't the end, because the Ye family as business in energy faced a predicament. They were openly targetted now.
Back to beginning. Zhiqiu was from the future and new about new energy, which elliminated load of old companies. He used this knowledge to create company and with a person he knew from last life he took a step forward ahead of others. This allowed new energy to enter the market earlier. But the timing was so perfect that it made the Ye family face a situation. New "old" equipment could be as well scrapped, they have no idea about new energy and will be elliminated soon. But they had no idea that the one behind the company is Zhiqiu. Only when the timing was right he disclosed his identity not only as a successful designer of the Qin brand QL, but also as a new face in the new energy. Of course it hit the Ye family hard. But Zhiqiu didn't care. He knew they will be hit hard, but will hardly repent on their actions. This is the moment he also told Zhixia that Tang Le blackmailed Tao Ruoqing. So it created the following car accident situation and because the situation was vague it allowed Ye Hongxian come across their old driver Mr. Wang begging the nurse to show him where Zhixia was, whom he believed was greatly wounded and disclosed that he was his father. Mr. Ye was hit too hard and seeing Zhiqiu he also knew that Zhiqiu knew a long time ago that Zhixia was not his, only he was humiliated by bringing Zhixia as his own for so many years and be betrayed as a fool. Mr. Ye was hit hard and Zhiqiu added salt to the wound when they were on the way to emrgency room. Although he survived, but was paralized and couldn't talk properly. Zhiqiu remembered that in last life the same happened to his father and he also believed that at that time he also found out that Zhixia was not his and saw true face of Ruoqing.
Because Zhixia faced the jail time, Mr Wang and her stayed with Zhixia all the time. Zhiqiu admitted that as a mother Tao Ruoqing is a great mother, she does everything for her children, but she failed to bring them up correctly and Zhixia was nothing more but an arrogant boy who thought everything will be done his way and the Ye family will be his and everyone else is just a foil.
From heaven to hell. From wealthy to notorious. Tao Ruoqing not only failed to protect both children, they all faced jail time. Zhixia for intentional homicide and Ye Zheng for embezzlement. Her life was over and no intrigue could save her. She also lost her money and was indebted to others. And everyone knew her true face. She lost everything she cared for so much. An eye for an eye.
/~/
Although some parts were a bit ideallistic, how Zhiqiu managed to have research on new energy when his major doesn't fit, but it's because of last life and his family being involved he knew and cared. The other part a bit ideallistic is how some men believed in Zhiqiu's feelings in them, but maybe it can be explained that they were too vain to think otherwise.
Zhiqiu used everything others used on him, he even found it funny how these people broke so fast, unlike him who managed to survive.
You could also have question about the length of this novel, but I personally was quite involved and didn't feel it was long. It may have some repetitive parts and also character suffer from beauty description which is used quite often and the emphasis is strong, but sometimes it actually made sense, because Zhiqiu was originally beautiful, but now he has charisma and charm, he has strong inner core and stability that others don't have so it's understandable that he's different. Qin Jianhe has the same style of beauty, not only outer beauty but inner stability. And their relationship is truly great with slowly coming out of the shadow and opening up. I like it when authors lead not only characters but readers to light and make it step by step.
So shaving off these little nuances the novel itself was truly involving and deeply touched upon a topic of malicious upbringing and not describing it in two sentences. But you can actually feel the depth of viciousness of such an act.
RATE: 4,5 / 5.
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