WOW! There was only one "bitch" in this chapter!

WOW! There was only one "bitch" in this chapter!

The Rate My Nemesis Calls Me "Bitch" Is Slowly Falling

I think I'm only sticking with this because I want to see Ni Shang humbled before Yu Wan. The power imbalance between them needs to shift the other direction at some point, or else the dynamic between their characters remains so one-sided that Yu Wan will simply end up the possession of Ni Shang if they ever get in an actual relationship.

Maybe that does it for some people, or maybe there's some implicit cultural angle that I'm just not going to identify with wherein that sort of relationship isn't rife with problems. But I feel like the only stories I've seen of these that seem to work, has a moment where the character who's "below" the other eventually come out on top, putting the "aggressor" in their place and bringing things to an even footing.

It's one thing for them to talk things out and actually rectify the misunderstandings between them. But I'd argue that stories like this only work if the clear imbalance between characters is reversed at some point before finding equilibrium, because otherwise any relationship that would form would see that imbalance persist, which doesn't strike me as healthy at all.

Yu Wan needs a giant win to offset all the times she's "lost" up to this point (and likely going forward), and Ni Shang needs a big serving of narrative crow to knock her down to Yu Wan's level and see them more balanced against one another. They both also need to grow more--Yu Wan's way too childish and more than a little shallow, and Ni Shang is a horrible interpersonal communicator, for all her apparent success in the business world. But they're a godawful toxic fit as they are now, and I'd argue part of rectifying that is humbling Ni Shang a good deal while raising Yu Wan up.

That, and while I realize the Dad is likely reacting to how obnoxious his Yu Wan is being, he's just insufferable, so I want to see some sort of comeuppance for him. It's one thing to want your child to reach their potential, but his method of doing it is far from healthy. I don't want him to die or anything, but I just hope he chills the fuck out with trying to force his daughter into some predestined box of his choosing like she's not her own person with agency.

Yu is really just throwing away her chance to get into Ni's good graces by inviting Li huh

But I'd argue that stories like this only work if the clear imbalance between characters is reversed at some point before finding equilibrium, because otherwise any relationship that would form would see that imbalance persist, which doesn't strike me as healthy at all.

it works better if you read it as a horror. like 50 shades of gray

I don't want him to die or anything, but I just hope he chills the fuck out with trying to force his daughter into some predestined box of his choosing like she's not her own person with agency.

first time?

But I'd argue that stories like this only work if the clear imbalance between characters is reversed at some point before finding equilibrium, because otherwise any relationship that would form would see that imbalance persist, which doesn't strike me as healthy at all.

it works better if you read it as a horror. like 50 shades of gray

Horror stories at least tend to frame the narrative with intent toward negative sentiment, if not for the characters then for the reader/viewer. A "bad ending" is seen as cautionary, or at least framed as undesirable. This ending with Yu happy with Ni, and the framing of that being a good thing, wouldn't be horror so much as celebrating something that (to me) wouldn't be healthy, assuming Ni's character doesn't get a transformation and see her relative position to Yu become less unbalanced.
Of course, this assumes Yu doesn't learn the truth and then decides she's happy being "beneath" Ni in a relationship hierarchy. If she is....well, that's the author's call since they're the ones writing the characters. Just feels not-great, to me...like all the stories and historical events where one person (usually a man) has power/sway/dominion of their partner (usually a woman), and how in contemporary terms, that's not really treated as a good thing.

I don't want him to die or anything, but I just hope he chills the fuck out with trying to force his daughter into some predestined box of his choosing like she's not her own person with agency.

first time?

....what do you want me to say to this? There's being pithy and there's having a cogent point.