Aug 15, 2024

[Chinese BL novel] 万人嫌养子被迫联姻后[穿书] by 惗肆 / Thuosands of people suspected that adopted son was being forced to marry

Summary: Genius investor Bai Xu enters a novel and becomes the disliked adopted son of the Bai family, shortlived. He was adopted because a master said that Bai Xu will lead their family to prosperity, but when Mr. Bai who believed in it passed away his son and daughter-in-law for benefits instantly used their connection to give a "happy" wedding to Shang Yanxiao, who recently got into a car accident and became comatose. Bai Xu couldn't be happier, he cheated the Bai family out of money to use it for future gains and now he has a handsome husband who lies there and does not obstruct him living his life. Shang Yanxiao was in coma before he woke up, but he knew that his accident that killed his parents and made his younger brother disabled was man-made, to dig those people out he pretended to be in a coma, but now he had to handle this new husband who always teased him.
I'm simply copying the summary I wrote myself for the short reviews. Finally, this novel was completed recently and I had a chance to read it, but you will never guess how polarizing my impression currently is.
✨Disappointed~
The vibe of it is surely close to the Blind villain and pretending to be a fool MC by the same author. Maybe it's my own problem, but despite the fact that this work is solid, you can feel that author tries to make her latest works better, I still stumbled upon several places that really dampened my mood quite a bit. So I liked this work less then the previous one.

    1. Expectations (not my own). When you set your character as this genius investor, which is not really utilized in the book itself. The fact that he invested into a small studio, was done simply because he wanted to pay back to original owner. Next he negotiated a contract, but if it wasn't a stroke of luck and circumstances I truly doubt it was his genius who would win the contract. Another instance is how he invested in a film studio, it was "just because" reason. When they decided to join a project and were refused by suppliers of materials, since the rival company released a verbal order, they joined an outing where they could showcase themselves. I just get either "invest in whatever" or "hardworking" image, which is far from genius. 
    1.1. Expectations about the story. Let's be honest, the plot did not bring anything new to the table. It's a story about wealthy family infighting. That someone created a car accident, which led to the third room of the Shang family end up in such a devastating situation, both parents are dead, Yanxiao is the one unscathed, but Queyan lost his legs. So we know someone is responsible for this, but we need to uncover the truth. Actually, there was no need, the author manages to make it too obvious from the start, because the second room is too obvious at being hostile, but they act a bit not as villains, a bit stupid even. When the first room has all your suspicion, especially the description of Shang Qishun. 
    2. Characterization / portrayal. I found that all characters are to my liking, except MC. Often time someone on the side will comment how great MC is at communicating, that he can talk with anyone, but I simply don't like when someone says that someone is cool when nothing special is happening. He may stay collected in fights, wait for his own chance to pay back, whatever. But just because he can talk to someone is made into this special trait. If you remember the review I did on 前任破产后我绝症痊愈了 back in April, you will know the reason why I liked MC there, this is what I call act like fish in the water, fox in a coop full of chicken. He was described like that almost in deragotory way, and these thoughts were only floating in ML's head and were not spoken outloud. Here, someone constantly follows-up with a phrase how great MC is at communication skills. It becomes a bit tedious. Again, the way summary says he's a genius investor, but it is also not delivered doesn't help. The other part of the problem is "be / act oblivious". When characters like his do not understand feelings, while they lived for so long. And only later they will confess to themselves that they covered it up by excuses, in case of Bai Xu he said to Yanxiao that they can be sex friends at first. The only thing Yanxiao could do after being frustrated that their relationship was described as such is to agree and slowly win over Bai Xu. Like he refused to become closer to a person he was attracted to, but honestly I saw no deep reasoning as to why he decided to do that. Everything is changable, especially relationships, there is no need to be so rigid and stick to your initial decision of leaving the Shang family, because they're all characters and you don't want to have anything to do with the content of the book. Honestly, I felt so weird about Bai Xu, you could see his human side a lot, like with relationship with the old man Shang, since he also had a grandfather who brought him up, or Queyan, whom he helped to cope with disability. But at other times that childish desire to win or the way he treated love relationship was not my cup of tea. While other people were pretty well portrayed. Although Yanxiao acted a bit like awe struck, but he was responsible, strong and resilient. Queyan (althought did not get as much time) went from despair to hope in his condition, which was hard. In general the cast of this novel was quite diverse in terms of friends and foes, smartness and a bit of brain damage.
    3. Brother relationship, Zhang brothers. I didn't pay attention if they were too close for brothers, but when things started to develop into a romantic direction I was like - oh, you decided to do that. I'll be honest, my biggest pet peeve in novels is actually relationships between non-blood related relatives, but who lived under the same roof for years and years and considered each other relatives. Zhang Changning is the adopted son, who knew that he is adopted, but played a role like he had no idea. Zhang Changxu is his older brother, who always paid attention to him. I think they would have continued to be like this if the real young master who was lost for years was not found back. Spoilers, but it is Bai Xu. And the ending was a bit sobby, since both are actually good friends and Bai Xu acted like a matchmaker for the two of them. But honestly I could do without it.

I do not deny that I indeed was waiting for this story with a bit of excitement, I stuck with this author for several years now and finished like at least 8 books they wrote, but with their latest novels this author moved away from their previous style of creating more silly conflicts for MC or stumbles that will keep you upbeat and wrote more seriously. Like there is a dive into characters, their problems etc. I'm not against it, in terms of discovering MLs I even appreciate them a lot, since not many pay attention to MLs portrayal. But I admit that the level of entertainment fell a bit due to that. To me at least, I'm sure others may not find it as such.

RATE: 3,75/5. It's all personal opinion.

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