In the following, I want to talk about Maggie's love interests and the possible endgame for them.
If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read it.
The candidates in the beginning are.
The guy from the Garden, Reynald, Solentine and Lord Ballon (I only heard the audiobook and therefore sadly do not know how his name is written).
And after their reveal, there are Everard and Arvel, respectively.
I expected the guy from the Garden to be someone, maybe the author, but I was pretty sure that he was no love interest, especially as the book went on. Therefore, I will cut him from this roster.
Reynald is dead. Everard, as Reynald, was clearly written to be read as a love interest, but still, Reynald is obviously dead and is therefore cut from the roster.
I felt like Solentine was alluded to be a love interest in the beginning, especially as a rival to Everard. But after the adoption, he is also cut from the roster.
Lord Ballon felt to me like a fun little guy Maggie can spend time with and develop a little bit of feelings for, but not really, just enough to realise that there are nice people who are nice and charming. But he does not exist, at least not really and is therefore cut from the roster.
That leaves us with Everard and Arvel, but I don't think this is a legitimate question of who it will be.
The promo material features Maggie and Everard (which was initially why I was really confused about Reynald acting as a love interest). Writing-wise, it is also very obvious that Maggie likes Reynald, and he kisses the ground she stands on.
Therefore, I will just pivot my thoughts from Lord Ballon to Arvel. He is kind of nice (would have been nicer if he hadn't lied) and is very charming on a clean, polished, not Shadow™ kind of way. (Everard is not. He is only charming in the Shadow™ kind of way)
But still, neither Lord Ballon nor Arvel feel like a real love interest.
Not in the way it was obvious that Jacob would not end up with Bella in Twilight, but in the way that everyone - including authors and readers - knows that Arvel will not be the endgame. The only people who do not know it yet are Arvel himself (living in his little delulu-world) and Everard.
And motivating and stressing Everard out is Arvel's only role regarding the romance subplot of the series.
Because those two doofuses are blind.
I imagine he could and maybe will be an actual problem if he can't get what he wants (aka Maggie), but he is, in my opinion, not even a real option.
Great to get this off my chest, because I read a review somewhere where the reviewing person mentioned that Arvel is a love interest, and I wanted to tell the internet my opinion without leaving a comment on that review that could be read as me being mean. 😇☺️
Spoiler thoughts are very welcome in the comments. Please tell me what you think, and if you think Arvel has a real chance.
Based on the literally every single one text by this authorial team, there is only one possible endgame:
The man who will not only respect, but also actively protect heroine's will and independence even against his own interest. Particularly against his own interest.
This makes the question of endgame deliciously easy.
Solentine was obviously posed as a potential love interest. Then he flipped the script by bringing his whole family into it and making it non-romantic. He passed The Test – actively protected her ability to act as she wills by granting her irrevokable social status basically equal to his own... he just did it by becoming her cousin.
I'm pretty sure Damarrs are going to love Marigold truly and genuinely: they've already decided to support her, protect and trust with no strings attached. The only factor they lack is time together to actually get to know her, and she's very easy to love. And it will be mutual: Maggie very much needs someone who she can allow herself to be accepted and loved by. She won't be able to resist loving them in return.
Personally, I'd grant Solentine the title of honorary non-romantic love interest; familial love isn't any less real than romantic one.
.
Then, we have Arvel. I don't see how he could pass The Test at all. He knows he's hot, he knows he's powerful, he knows he's the dream of basically every woman in the realm, and never stops to ask himself "what this lady would want for herself" or "what are her goals" or "what does she value". I'm not even sure he asks himself "how to make her want what he wants". He seems to just... assume that he's too objectively attractive to be resisted. Like... if he just shows his interest in her persistently enough, it'll just work because it always does.
He's interested in her because she made him feel seen and understood, but he's not interested in understanding her as a person in the slightest.
Which means he's actually hot garbage and not a valid love interest. He could be in any other isekai, but not this one. And, as OP correctly noticed, it is blindingly obvious to anyone but Arvel and Everard.
.
And then we have Everard. Guy who's for now trampling her independence every other day, and yet working his ass off to understand her and entice her into wanting herself to do what he needs her to do. He respects her. He protects her. The sheer amount of work he puts in to manipulate Maggie by using her own values, wants and goals is already proof of more respect to her individuality than Arvel could possibly muster if he tried.
He might potentially pass The Test. He's ruthless, but, crucially, he's also ruthless to himself. If he'll decide the only way to conquer her is to ensure her freedom forever, he just might snap his own soul in half, shred his dignity into confetti and remake himself into someone else.
My bet is that he will. It'll take him lots of time and effort to even acknowledge that she won't surrender. But he'll get there.... eventually.
I think there is also a bit of how we see characters interact with her plans and respect in the book.
Solentine's familial love is 1,000% there and going to exist in such a satisfying and kind way. And I really appreciate that they added more layers of love than just romantic in their stories. Because Ilona Andrews really hit that familial / platonic love in such a satisfying way.
As for Romantic Love:
We have Everard, who is willing to trust her reasoning and try. Even from the beginning when he was suspicious of her. But, we also have multiple instances where he expresses interest (standing closely, expressing interest in kissing her, etc), where he does not pressure Maggie when she changes her mind. Once she indicates she is not available in that way, he smoothly moves on so she isn't embarrassed or has to worry about conflict in their relationship. Even if she views it as manipulation since 'he can't have feelings' or some bullshit.
(The only instance I can think otherwise of this pattern is when Everard tries to pressure her into joining Solentine's family. Which stood out to me as odd given the rest of the ways he supports and navigates his relationship with Maggie. I think it was fear based).
And we have Averl. Who says all the right things, and does all the chivalry right, but completely misses who Maggie is as a person and as a power in the city. I agree with @distracteddaintydemon that he has fallen for the thought of being seen, rather than for the person who sees him. Also every one on one interaction he pressures Maggie in ways that make her life actively harder. Showing up unannounced when she was using this as a way to get information, giving her 0minous invites to dances, and assuming her honor needed defending from Solentine without bothering to figure out more about this person he has 'fallen for'. But he expects to be the knight on the white horse to save the day, and doesn't think about the ways that he needs to be part of a partnership rather than a bulldozer.
Super odd to read people liking him as a romantic interest when most of his screen time with Maggie made my skin crawl. He just subtly pushed at her boundaries over and over again with out thinking of how she might need aid or other supports.
I’d like to add to this, I don’t think Everard really pressured Maggie all that much in the chat about her joining Solentine’s family. He made his opinion known but accepted her decision and clearly reworked his idea of the future and his plans after she made this decision. It’s specifically noted that he shows his disappointment in her decision without threat.
The only time I can think that he really didn’t consider her thoughts on something was when he raced after her when she left the Jorderar (also listened to the audiobook lol). And that overture by the kiss came after he overheard her telling Sol she had feelings for him. And when he got told off he affirmed that she always has the final say and absconded.
I very much agree that Arvel is the opposite. He has to have Maggie because he wants her and thinks she would be he equal and ultimately would be useful to him. He enjoys her empathetic nature and assumes this means she will be able to understand him. She would be insanely effective as his lady Arvel. He never gives a thought to what he will add to her life as he is Lord Arvel. Nevermij that to his knowledge she is a sheltered lady who doesn’t seem to want the limelight. He is selfish and vain in such a specific way.
“The medieval warrior, realizing the consequences of his impulsive act, immediately approached the owner of the drone and offered to pay for the damage.
The owner of the drone was so impressed by the brilliant attack that he suggested organizing a competition for bringing down “dragons” with short spears next year.
Drone owners have another year to develop a unique “dragon-like” design for their flying machines.” (x)
I am 100% cooler with this knowing that the spear-thrower realized “oops maybe I shouldn’t have done that” and tried to make it right, and that the guy who the drone belonged to was cool with it
Keep thinking about this Austin Walker post that now lives in my brain. It's a reply to people saying genAI can help creators 'develop concepts' and waste less time on research (x)
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Fuck off and give me the ball . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
So you can avoid them stealing things from you, the artist/writer, etc.
Pro GenAI websites/Programs:
Facebook
Instagram
X/Twitter (Remember, Grok gives people cancer)
Threads
Pro Writing Aid
Grammarly
Duolingo
Google Docs
Microsoft Word/all Microsoft products Takes from and will feed their machine.
Youtube (taking advantage of people who are hearing impaired. ==;;)
Adobe Products. All of them. If you HAVE to use them (Some businesses require it), save offline because there is a film of at least some privacy protections there, so if you have to sue, you can say it violates US privacy law. Remember, contracts do not circumvent US law.
Corel won't feed the machines, but still uses AI stolen from other artists. Which sucks since Corel Draw is the second best overall for vector programs. (Plus I love Painter, but I bought the offline version to avoid AI). (Canadian company)
Canva Takes and feeds their machine.
Deviant Art Not only supports AI, but put a tool in and said they are going to steal your work if you like it or not for their machine.
Sketchup went Pro-GenAI. The thing is that you can do the same thing in Blender these days with precise measurements.
Autodesk has stated they are Pro-Gen AI here. It is not clear if they will use your models to feed their machine. But be on guard. They make Maya and 3Dmax. You can replace it with Blender.
Neutral ground:
Tumblr (there is a way to opt out [Link] and they don't have an active AI machine.) https://www.tumblr.com/dookins/743519550598987776/heres-how-to-disable-third-parties-like-ai
Etsy allows GenAI, but still has some (minor) restrictions. I'd still be cautious. (Also be cautious of drop shippers). Complaints about too much AI and AI images+patterns made by Ai still exist on the website. They lean slightly more pro-AI, but still won't let it run completely amok, say like Facebook. They won't feed your work into a machine, but also don't ban it through robots.txt.
Bluesky They don't use an AI algorithm except for in the "Discover" section of their website, but while they are anti-GenAI strongly, they don't seem to block the Gen AI bots from entry, so you'd still have to use Nightshade or Glaze (links below). There is no opt-out because they don't need an opt out. (Leaning towards strong position on AI, but I wish they would block GenAI bots).
Searxng- If you super want to screw over Google, in general, and have some tech savvy, you can set up your own search engine through searxng. It's easier on Windows and Linux than it is on a Mac. (Mac you need Docker), but if you're determined on privacy, Searxng adds a layer of privacy. Some of it sometimes uses bits of AI, but most of it doesn't and you can fuss with the settings so it doesn't spit out AI results. At sheer minimum Google will stop spitting out weird videos on Youtube at you because in your private browsing, you searched for the origin of ball bearings while not logged in for a book and Google likes to break privacy laws.
Strong positions against AI:
Scrivener (Creator vowed against AI) Writing program. There is an active forum, and versions for Mac, Linux and PC. It is paid, but at ~60 USD, it's cheaper than most programs. There is usually a holiday sale around Christmas. It has a learning curve, but with an active forum with the programmer of it there to ask obscure questions it's not a dead zone. They often take suggestions and implement them over time. (Especially if you rank the importance, applications, etc) US company.
LibreOffice Open source and free Spreadsheet and Word processor program that can replace Microsoft Word. Some people might have seen older versions where it was called Neo Office (now extinct) and Open Office. LibreOffice is still populated, plus the forums are super helpful if you get stuck. The UX is pretty intuitive if you've used Microsoft Word. Scrivener, BTW, supports exporting to odt (the native file) as well as .doc, and this can open both. The slight thing is that sometimes it doesn't export to .doc smoothly. And I DO wish more magazines, and agent (big clue here) supported .odt files since it is free. Part of the reason .odt isn't as supported is because Microsoft and Adobe have a deal with the devil with each other, so Adobe's Book formatting program InDesign doesn't support ODT. (BTW, if you have a good open source replacement for InDesign that supports ODT, let me know.)
Dabble (as suggested by SF stories, see reblog) is a writing program. Similar to Scrivener. Has vowed against AI and to resist it. 108 dollars a year for Basic. It is almost twice the price of Scrivener who lets you update for fairly cheap. 29 dollars a month, v. 59 dollars for the whole program (Scrivener) for the same features of Premium. You choose.
yWriter is a free Writing program and like Scrivener, and has vowed against AI Last I looked it had some UX issues, but some people swear by it. The learning curve is higher than Scrivener which is saying something.
Ellipsus is an online writing program and vowed against AI. The main feature I like (which Scrivener doesn't have) is the ability to change spellcheck based on region/language. It is a requested feature of Scrivener, but lower priority. So if you have a Brit, you can get the spelling for the character. They are a British-based company.
Cara.app (The creator of the website sued GenAI there is no chance they'll convert) is an artist website. Cara is trying to institute an auto Glaze/Nightshade into the website if given enough funds. People see it as a soft replacement for deviant art. (which went fully AI) If you believe in human art, please donate if you can. Zhang Jingna, the Creator,is Chinese-Singporean. She lives in Singapore.
Clip Studio Paint added AI, but saw the light and decided to protect artists instead because of protest and removed it. There are tutorials and a good forum if you get super stuck. Based in Japan, so the UI and UX is really clean.
Davinci Resolve Pro is a film editing software that's super good. There is a free version and a paid version. The forums are responsive. The programmers aren't always present. There is a healthy group of tutorials. US company. Clean UX. It does take a little bit of time to remember the shortcuts.
Tahoma2D is anti-AI and open source animation program. Takes a little getting used to, but is good for animations and doesn't crash as often as Animate. Programmers are in the forums and some bugs are fixed within hours. The forums are super responsive and helpful.
Krita open source and free, no AI. I'd rank it secondary to Clip Studio Paint (which is paid) I haven't tried the forums, but it's pretty intuitive and can stand for a lower level replacement for Painter, and do a lot of the basics of Photoshop. It's usually ranked higher than the equally open source Gimp.
Writer P AKA Writer+ (app for when you're on the go) is a simple word processor app for your phone that doesn't use AI. The original programmer stopped updating, so Writer+ person took over and isn't out to make a profit since it's free in the spirit of the original app. It has subfolders you can use. Since it was programmed before GenAI it doesn't have AI. Intuitive, easy to use. Fairly easy to upload the files through three dots->share. The files can save to your card or phone with some settings fussing. Simple word processor.
Inkscape is a free vector program and no AI. It is harder to use than illustrator and has less features. But if you're doing smaller vectors for one-offs with less complexity, it'll do you after some learning curve. Best of the lot. I hate Affinity Designer which is the same thing, only paid. (Neither Affinity program was worth the money paid)
Affinity (Designer, etc) swore to be AI-free and does Vector and Photos. The UX is messy, I dislike the program and regret paying for it. Inkscape and Krita are better UX and do the same thing. The forums aren't as friendly since there has been an onslaught of people seeing it's supposed to be a replacement for Photoshop and Illustrator, but the programmers aren't present. The people on the forums are often on edge about this assertion. And the capabilities of the program don't outshine basically Krita or Inkscape capabilities (both free). What is usually intuitive is not. UK company. If you're going to pay for a program, go for Clip Studio Paint which rivals Corel Painter.
Blender is a 3D art program and does not use GenAI. It can do 2D animation, but Tahoma is easier to use in this regard. It's open source and free. Plus there are plenty of tutorials. The forums can be touch and go sometimes, but there are plenty of sub Blender communities that might be responsive. It can also do animation.
Handmade vowed against AI and promised to never sell itself for stock prices to prevent AI (as a replacement for Etsy.)
Discover a world of creativity and craftsmanship through Handmade, an innovative platform connecting passionate artisans with discerning buy
Proton (to replace Google Suite) as suggested by SF Stories (see reblog) Vowed against AI. They are missing a spreadsheet, but have online and offline capabilities, plus a built-in VPN.
But you need a pro website...
Look up robots.txt and AI bots: https://www.cyberciti.biz/web-developer/block-openai-bard-bing-ai-crawler-bots-using-robots-txt-file/
Use cloudflare:
Use Nightshade:
https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/whatis.html
which will poison the algorithm
Use Glaze:
Take Away:
The thing is you think you doing it alone will do nothing, but the more AI feeds on itself, AI images, the worse they become, and the less detailed so, denying it the images, adding poison or not being able to read the human text is eventually going to lead to an AI collapse.
Analysis shows that indiscriminately training generative artificial intelligence on real and generated content, usually done by scrapi
And why not help that along?
I don't want to give cancer to poor people [Link] or make the planet burn faster [Link]. So GenAI collapse is everything I dream of. GenAI apocalypse is not.
I test before I add, and also make sure you understand that the original post will not update upon reblog.
💬 0 🔁 1 ❤️ 2 · Tumblr DOES NOT Update the original post after it's reblogged. · I'm trying to explain this for the n00bs that keep posting
The cost to Vivaldi is that it's based on Chrome's base code. While they report that they won't add AI, you still are dependent on Google resources in order for it to work, and it's possible for Google to try to find ways to block it in the future, as they have actively done with Phone GUIs that have tried to skirt around google rules.
In addition, like Chrome, Vivaldi also asks to add something to your computer, to be able to give you pop ups, though it is missing the annoying Chrome watch all of your activity ever, it's still unclear since it's based on Chrome's tech, how much they were able to flush the Chrome's watchdog effect from the code (i.e. everything you do on Chrome is watched by Google.)
While Vivaldi does not have its own search engine, like Brave, which puts me on edge where it bugs you every time you don't use the search engine, which is wholly annoying and just spam to the nth degree, or Ecosia's browser/search engine combo, I'd still caution to not be too reliant on it, because Google has blocked base code before and also fundamentally changed the code on its products to make sure it watched the user and buried it in the user agreements, which you may not be able to see through Vivaldi's user agreements.
(For example, Google docs, etc)
Theoretically, it's better to not ride on Google's base code, and ALSO not have a search engine attached, because that's a recipe for enshittification fast. And also sending all of your data to a third party.
Firefox deciding to add AI wasn't great, but it also doesn't have its own search engine or built-in way to watch your every move.
So it's user's choice at this point. There are ways to build browsers as far as I'm aware to send all search data to the programmers and monetize YOU as the product, i.e. why every time I turn on Chrome, it slowed down my computer to hell. And I run a mac. (Turn off that watchdog program they automatically turn on every time you use Chrome and can't delete.)
Google LLC, below, last item. That slows your computer to hell.
After I turned off the watchdog program, my Firefox browser sped up. Those Google ASSHOLES were stealing my data. That is next level evil, some virus shit of the early 2000's.
I have to do a few more tests to run, but I'd keep backup browsers in case things go south. (for example, I have to test if searching for random thing on Vivaldi produces results on Youtube a few times.)
As my Dad lectured patching programming is tricky and often also opens the door for bugs and programming wars. (This was a lecture on why Microsoft patches were terrible and never worked for defense against cyber attacks versus finding the original bug and fixing the base problem. This applies here too.)
IF Vivaldi built the browser independent of Chrome, AND didn't have a search engine attached, AND was open source, then I would declare it safe. But it's in that grey area because Google are assholes and have most definitely turned evil.
I'm aware this is programming and UX heavy, so I've tried my best to simplify it, but I'll simplify even more here:
tldr; Google is evil. Google has programs to watch you at every turn and even will force you to download things that watch you that you can't delete. Vivaldi is based on Chrome, built by Google/ Google can cancel Vivaldi or build in virus to watch you and your activity at any time.
People insisting that the writers of Pursuit of Jade actually did write Qi Min x Yu Qianqian as the dark nonconsensual hostage relationship that it was in the book are pissing me off so much - is that why gifmakers keep doing gifsets paralleling their scenes with perfectly consensual scenes of canon romantic couples? Because it was so OBVIOUS that what happened between them in the show was nonconsensual?
Yup. And sure, YQQ is faking in front of Qi Min. That's why you have her look away and have an expression of disgust. That's why you see her afterwards trying to block it out.
Oh? They never included that? The accepted shorthand for "I had to do that willingly but I didn't want to." How could that be??? Almost like they didn't bother framing it as SA
I’ve been worried about people recently in regards to reading and media comprehension—because there is a distinct difference between what the text says, and what you want it to say.
I’ve been seeing a lot of self-gaslighting (for lack of a better term) from people who enjoyed something, or want something, from a text or piece of media that simply wasn’t there, but try to re-contextualize their desires into cannon.
Like, you are allowed to enjoy trash without trying to “well, actually…” it into a Michelin starred meal. You owe nobody any explanations for what you enjoy. But for the love of god, don’t lie to yourself about it.
(Also, unrelated to PoJ’s nuclear wasteland, but unless a book has been framed as a harem romance, no—the main character thinking that people other than the main love interest are attractive isn’t proof that the MC has no clear main love interest. Ship to your heart’s content, but bay-BEE. Words mean something, and I’m worried that you had some type of health event while reading, or listening to, them. Just because you want something to be true doesn’t mean the text supports it. This isn’t the damn Bible. You can’t tell me the words in it mean something different than it does. It was written in the same modern english we both speak, girlie.)
It happened with both Pursuit of Jade and The First Frost. Remember all the insistence that the Hong Kong arc was absolutely crucial and important for Wen Yifan's story, because she was oh so traumatised...? and that, I guess, meant she could stop adulting for more than half a year and drop her responsibilities in the lap of her ex, whom she had unceremoniously dumped.
I’m trying to work out if these people have been indoctrinated into accepting shitty writing because they haven’t ever been exposed to good writing, or if they know it is bad writing, but because they like it, they feel the need to defend it.
This could turn into a psychological exploration of why human beings respond to the assertion that the thing they like is objectively Not Great (but maybe fun) as an invitation to a gladiator-style death match. I’m too tired, though. And I’m sure someone else has already explained it.
People insisting that the writers of Pursuit of Jade actually did write Qi Min x Yu Qianqian as the dark nonconsensual hostage relationship that it was in the book are pissing me off so much - is that why gifmakers keep doing gifsets paralleling their scenes with perfectly consensual scenes of canon romantic couples? Because it was so OBVIOUS that what happened between them in the show was nonconsensual?
Yup. And sure, YQQ is faking in front of Qi Min. That's why you have her look away and have an expression of disgust. That's why you see her afterwards trying to block it out.
Oh? They never included that? The accepted shorthand for "I had to do that willingly but I didn't want to." How could that be??? Almost like they didn't bother framing it as SA
I’ve been worried about people recently in regards to reading and media comprehension—because there is a distinct difference between what the text says, and what you want it to say.
I’ve been seeing a lot of self-gaslighting (for lack of a better term) from people who enjoyed something, or want something, from a text or piece of media that simply wasn’t there, but try to re-contextualize their desires into cannon.
Like, you are allowed to enjoy trash without trying to “well, actually…” it into a Michelin starred meal. You owe nobody any explanations for what you enjoy. But for the love of god, don’t lie to yourself about it.
(Also, unrelated to PoJ’s nuclear wasteland, but unless a book has been framed as a harem romance, no—the main character thinking that people other than the main love interest are attractive isn’t proof that the MC has no clear main love interest. Ship to your heart’s content, but bay-BEE. Words mean something, and I’m worried that you had some type of health event while reading, or listening to, them. Just because you want something to be true doesn’t mean the text supports it. This isn’t the damn Bible. You can’t tell me the words in it mean something different than it does. It was written in the same modern english we both speak, girlie.)
International cdrama fandom, I’m begging you as an ex-mainlander Chinese immigrant whose parents and grandparents lived through the cultural revolution AND Tiannanmen Square
You can enjoy cdramas, learn Chinese culture, and defend the drama and also say that censorship from an authoritarian dictatorship is bad.
Born in a brothel, growing up doing hard labor in prison, collecting debts in gambling houses to make a living—he had never complained about any of it, never felt that heaven was unfair.
But in this moment, he thought, why was he illiterate?
She had told him her name, yet he didn't know it.
The distance between them was as vast as that between clouds and mud.
She’s a princess so normally I’d say it’s true but you look like this and are played by Zhang Linghelen of Troy so:
I think one of my least favourite arguments from the PoJ drama enjoyers has to be "they changed Fan Changyu's motivations in the show" spoken as if it's this huge reveal that it's supposed to make me like the show more. Yeah, I know they did, it's no secret, it's actually one of my main issues with the writing in that goddamn show.
@allmyawesomeness gonna reply here in order not to write an entire essay in the comments.
The issue, in my opinion, is twofold.
For whatever reason (the streets are saying that the production company was much to blame here), the writers got weirdly attached to certain settings (Lin'an town) and certain characters, that ended up either overstaying their welcome in the show (the pig butcher gang and Sui Yuanqing - and yes, you can quote me on this) or having such repetitive and/or nonsensical scenes that the overall plot suffered thanks to them (Qi Min and Li Huaian, the latter being a composite of two characters that were in opposite political camps in the book, just in case you were wondering how much thought the show writers put into the political part of the show; not much).
Now, if you're a good writer, this should not pose a problem. If the character motivations, or the characters themselves change in your adaptation, you can still end up with a good, solid story, assuming that you factor in the aforementioned changes in your plot. And here the second issue pops up. The writers wanted to both expand on and change things according to whatever subplots and characters they favoured, but they also wanted to keep as many scenes from the novel as possible, and so they ended up with a complete mess, because you can't introduce random changes to the show plot and then expect the book scenes to still fit in smoothly.
If Fan Changyu is solely driven by her desire to return to Lin'an and rebuild it, then she doesn't need to stay in the army at all; she doesn't even need to enroll in the army in the first place. Her army career in the show comes across as just a temporary thing she does before she returns to Lin'an, and (presumably) resumes pig butchering, up until the very end, when the viewer is surprised to see that she is in fact still in the army, alongside Xie Zheng. Similarly, there is no need for Xie Zheng to ever mention revenge in the show, since it's not what it drives him forward; we don't spend much time on how his father's death affected him, and Fan Changyu's identity reveal barely has an impact on him.
Moreover, the writers seemed to have a huge issue in distinguishing what was important and what was not. We ended up with many crucial book scenes that were not included, or were shortened, with other book scenes that were included, but had their impact and meaning severely diminished by the changed circumstances of the overall plot (the whipping scene is probably one of the best examples), and with a lot of irrelevant scenes that could have been omitted with no issue (Fan Changyu's wannabe comedic tutor montage).
pixelskylines
janainaart
romaincrisis
kianamaiart
snowghoul
