Half - Ch. 55 - The Final Labyrinth (2)

[MangaDex]

 

[Kitsune_115]

What. Girl.

 

[shemper]

Thank you for your work!

 

[T-sama]

No wonder being called emotional manipulator hit her so hard, her actions were more calculated than we thought, really interesting how the cultural differences change their dynamics for us filthy laowai.

What. Girl.

She feels bad about it, that makes it ok

In all seriousness, although what she did is arguably not nice, is it really outright bad? Maybe I'm just cynical, but I find her mentality extremely realistic and pragmatic, unfortunately after a certain age you can't really just wing it and expect everything to end fine, at some point you need to start calculating what you want and what you'll sacrifice to get it, how you'll get it, it just happens that she learned that earlier than most.

I think it's not as bad as it might feel because there's not an ounce of malice, it's not like the relationship is abusive or anything, is it really that much different from doing a bunch of things for your crush in the hopes they'll fall for you? It simply has extra cultural weight on it, otherwise I don't think it's that different from trying winning someone heart like we would do in the west.

 

[shadoWman942]

Actually, I also think that it's because the way Xiaoyu was brought up. She's not used to being pampered by someone which makes her feel even more guilty when receiving so many favors from Mu Ye.

 

[Andigo]

Huh. It really went there! The story admitted it! Heck yeah. Mu Ye has been dabbling in spicy territory from early on.

Special thanks, dear translator, for the note how the formalized Chinese relations add more color to this timelessly dubious older sponsor romance.

I expected the series would mostly blow over Mu Ye exploiting the power imbalance against Xiaoyu. The bond accumulated toxicity as Mu Ye's loneliness and ineptitude continued, but romance stories can be so forgiving, especially when the start was fully understandable and entirely or nearly innocent. There was no double standard with the disgusting boss, we got actual exploration of why Mu Ye is less bad but genuinely abusing power and obligation. And stated outright, with full self-awareness! Woo!

Hopefully there's some consequences with the reconciliation, since Xiaoyu is handling her own frustration and immaturity really well this chapter, and refusing to be a pushover. This chapter.

The similar lonely rich lady in this creative team's next work doesn't have this degree of an issue so it's great to see.

These latter chapters have had wonderful payoff.

 

[nyannibalism]

thanks for the translation!

didnt expect for all of it to have been rigged from the start to the point when random integers started coming in she could even use them to her advantage. what a way to write a character who knows what she wants and how to get it

 

[JKTV]

Oof heavy

 

[kahoshi]

"I treated you with love and care, because I was selfish and wanted you to owe me love and care." Like, I get it, but also, doesn't seem bad to me at all lol.