10/10 novel! Very nicely paced, and the ending was great.
This is a coming-of-age story for the side characters, focusing on the female lead (FL) raising her young scholars. The overall flow of the story is excellent, with well-executed time skips that keep the narrative engaging. There was even a plot twist that was both unexpected and unique to the novel!
While the author can be a bit verbose when explaining the exam content, you can easily skip those sections without losing much. Everything else is fantastic!
I initially expected elements of cooking and business based on the summary, but this novel is strictly about child-rearing and scholar education.
We get to follow the children all the way to their marriages and the birth of their own children, which is just perfect. The ending was also great, concluding on an unexpected but satisfying note.
Some parts of the translation were a bit off, but overall, it was okay.