非天夜翔

相见欢 [Joyful Reunion]

➺ 
  5/5 🌟


This novel has one of the most heart wrenching scenes I've ever read in my whole life, and that specific scene was not even the fifth of the way through the story. I literally bawled my eyes out, I actually had a splitting headache for hours. The first arc of this novel gave me so much sincere familial warmth and love but also also gave me the most heartbreaking parting, and just by thinking about it, I can already feel my eyes stinging. 

The betrayal of a certain character in this novel hurts so much, that I really have a complicated feelings about him. I hated him, but I felt that there was more to his actions than straight up deception, so I don't exactly know what to feel about him. That's why I fully understand the MC's indecisiveness to judge him but also not willing to be near him. For once, I was actually glad to be spoiled about who the ML is from the start because I think that betrayal would have been so much worse if I thought 'he' was the ML when it happened. But it still stung, nevertheless, especially when they have this irrefutable bond that no one, not even the MC's father and the ML themselves can cut off. 

The ML is actually very unexpected for me. He didn't fully appear until the second arc, but his appearance in MC's life is very much fated. I can actually say that both their initial and official encounters are pretty much in the right place and the right time. The event that both changed their lives connected them and they found the comfort in each other despite all the pain. I loved their relationship so much, and I admire their growth both individually and as a couple. 

This historical danmei is actually quite different from all the historical danmeis I've come across. This is not the typical imperial brothers fighting for the throne or protagonists overthrowing the cynical but incompetent emperor or the emperor's harem using their imperial sons to fight for the power or some revenge plot. It is actually very unusual to have the royal clan very likeable in this kind of setting. It's rare to have the imperial brothers, who are both worthy of the throne, pushing the position to the other. They were like, 'You be the emperor' 'No, I don't want it. You be the emperor'. They have this sincere familial bond that even the treacherous officials couldn't severe. Rather, this story is about the protagonist claiming his rightful position as the crown prince after someone stole his identity, crawling his way up to prove his identity. 

This novel managed to become one of my favorite danmei, maybe up there with QJJ, when it comes to plot and characters. This has my most favorite father-son relationship that absolutely broke me, even much more that the father-son relationship in QJJ. The actual difference is that here, we actually get to see the details of their relationship from the start and it makes us loved every single scene of the MC and his father together, so it's much more impactful. This character only appeared very briefly but gave me the most impact, and both his existence and absence affected the story so much. But not just this specific character, all characters have their own role to play in the plot and each has their own charm. Fei Tian is very intricate with his plot and characters that I almost have no major complains. There are some nitpicks, but nothing serious that can lower even a half of my rating. This hit me so much right in the heart, I don't know if I can even recover from this. 

I would like to recommend this to anyone who loves historical novels, but I just want to remind that this has an age gap romance, maybe 6 or 7 years gap, and the romance started when MC is 16 years old, so the ML is around 22 or 23 years old. I saw some people complaining about this issue and it makes me want to complain about them instead. Since this is a historical setting where people are already engaged when they're 13 years old and married when 16, very much normal back in this time period, the couple's set up is hardly unusual. This is a kind of setting where a rich man in his 40s can get a 16-year-old maiden as a concubine. It's sometimes aggravating, but it's a historical fact. Someone who frequently reads historical novels should have been used to this setting, so stay away if you're not. It personally didn't trigger me since I'm used to reading historical fictions, so that's that. If you still want to continue because of the plot, you can stay but try to swallow your complaints about the age gap romance because you've been warned.


[MC and ML's first encounter when MC is only 8 years old]