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baihe_mediaThings I Didn't Know is the third novel I've read by Ning Yuan; I chose it because I wanted to go for a lesser-known one, after I've already read two of her most popular novels (The Creator's Grace and At Her Mercy). Things I Didn't Know seemed like a good choice, since I've never really seen any discussion about it and it was written right before At Her Mercy. It was also locked on JJWXC, which added to my curiosity.
The novel is an urban fantasy centered on You Xinnian, a hotel empire heiress, and her quest to find out who killed her. On her 24th birthday, her house was set on fire, leading to the death of both herself and her parents. You Xinnian kicks up a fuss in the underworld, demanding to go back and fulfill her last wish. A civil servant of the underworld ends up agreeing to let her go back (for reasons she isn't disclosing), but warns her that she only has two years and if their actions are discovered, both of them will be harshly punished. But due to a mishap, when You Xinnian wakes up in the body of a recently deceased woman, she can't remember the events leading up to her death, or what her last wish was. So, she has a change of plans: she decides to investigate her death so she can avenge herself and her parents. The suspects? Her two-faced friends, her younger twin siblings, and her seemingly loving and devoted girlfriend.
This mystery is the core of the novel, as You Xinnian tries to use her new identity to get close to the people she knew from her past life and find out if they had any involvement in her death. But she soon realizes that her death might not just be a normal murder, as she gets entangled with the powerful exorcist*, Fu Yuanyi.
*Exorcist might not be the best word for Fu Yuanyi, but I'm using it because a significant part of her clientele are people getting harassed by ghosts who need her help to get rid of them.
One of the things I enjoyed the most about the novel is the suspense. It did a great job at keeping me at the edge of my seat, watching You Xinnian work her way up as an employee in the hotel chain her family owned and get closer to the people she knew. It starts out with mundane work drama, but after Fu Yuanyi is introduced, things become more dangerous as You Xinnian has to encounter evil ghosts, exorcists, and underworld cops. The stakes escalate emotionally too; the very first person that You Xinnian investigates is a woman she only has a shallow friendship with who, whether or not she had anything to do with her death, is already established as cruel and vindictive. But later on, she gets close to the people who mattered the most to her: her siblings and girlfriend, Lu Man. It's clear how anxious You Xinnian is about the idea that they're involved, how pained and hurt she is, but she stays determined to find out the truth even if it's painful.
And of course I can't go on without mentioning the characters. I enjoyed You Xinnian and Fu Yuanyi a lot. You Xinnian is prideful with a bad temper, but she can put that aside to accomplish her goals. Fu Yuanyi is playful and irreverent with a strong sense of morals. Their banter is fun, with Fu Yuanyi teasing You Xinnian, while You Xinnian snaps back at her. One amusing incident is a time when the two separated, so Fu Yuanyi's best friend makes her You Xinnian puppets that Fu Yuanyi proceeds to have sex with. When the real You Xinnian comes back, she gets mistaken for a puppet, and she tries to seduce Fu Yuanyi while getting more outraged at being mistaken for a puppet.
I also liked the development of their relationship and the understated conflicts between them. For the most part, the two are devoted to each other and stay on the same side, but Fu Yuanyi makes her feelings clear to You Xinnian, in a way that still gives her an out if she doesn't want to respond. You Xinnian usually does take the out, not out of a lack of affection for Fu Yuanyi, but because she's troubled over her limited lifespan. I will say, a critique I've had for the writing here is that the main story took place over three months, and You Xinnian and Fu Yuanyi only knew each other for two. That was an unnecessary decision that I think took away from their relationship, but I enjoyed them enough that I kind of mentally edit that part.
There is also the side cast, who are all fun in their own way. There is a side ship between Yuzhi, the underworld civil servant who helped You Xinnian, and Linqiong, the ghost king bonded to Fu Yuanyi. Their interactions usually involve Yuzhi being lazy and Linqiong getting mad at her for it, but they share some sweet moments. I wasn't a big fan of how their dynamic changed later on, though, because I found it too abrupt. There's also Lin Zexiao, Fu Yuanyi's stingy secretary who stresses every time Fu Yuanyi makes an extravagant purchase, and Liu Kunyi, Fu Yuanyi's aforementioned cold and aloof best friend who will still do her best to help anytime Fu Yuanyi needs it. I really liked Fu Yuanyi and Liu Kunyi's friendship and consider it one of the highlights of the novel. And lastly, I'd be remiss not to mention Lu Man; she's a mystery for most of the novel, but the payoff when we get her perspective is definitely worth it. Ning Yuan says that the scene was her first image of the novel and I can see why.
But on to some negatives, and this is the thing that impacted my enjoyment of the book the most: the book is really bad about fatphobia. The woman You Xinnian is possessing, Wang Fang, is significantly bigger than she is (because of course, the original You Xinnian was very thin), and the book makes sure to point that out in cruel ways and unnecessary ways. This stands out more, I think, because Wang Fang commits suicide from how badly she was being bullied for her weight (amongst other things). It's jarring to see the book criticize her bullies for their actions when it does the same thing. There was another plotline, involving a woman who commits suicide after she gets paralyzed and facially scarred, that made me think the book was unpleasant about women's appearances. I will say, this is basically over after the first third of the novel but that's a very lengthy period.
(I was also gonna comment on Fu Yuanyi being blind and how that's handled but this review is already very long.)
There are also some arcs and plot points that I found unnecessary. The one that stands out the most to me is a section around the middle of the novel, where this isolated village is being haunted by the ghost of a woman because the whole village participated in her rape and abuse. I mean literally the whole village, the kids gathered around at one scene and laughed at her as she got assaulted. The way they were portrayed was comically evil and it didn't add much to the story. All the book needed was a way to delay the main characters and I'm sure there are other more interesting options out there.
The novel is an urban fantasy centered on You Xinnian, a hotel empire heiress, and her quest to find out who killed her. On her 24th birthday, her house was set on fire, leading to the death of both herself and her parents. You Xinnian kicks up a fuss in the underworld, demanding to go back and fulfill her last wish. A civil servant of the underworld ends up agreeing to let her go back (for reasons she isn't disclosing), but warns her that she only has two years and if their actions are discovered, both of them will be harshly punished. But due to a mishap, when You Xinnian wakes up in the body of a recently deceased woman, she can't remember the events leading up to her death, or what her last wish was. So, she has a change of plans: she decides to investigate her death so she can avenge herself and her parents. The suspects? Her two-faced friends, her younger twin siblings, and her seemingly loving and devoted girlfriend.
This mystery is the core of the novel, as You Xinnian tries to use her new identity to get close to the people she knew from her past life and find out if they had any involvement in her death. But she soon realizes that her death might not just be a normal murder, as she gets entangled with the powerful exorcist*, Fu Yuanyi.
*Exorcist might not be the best word for Fu Yuanyi, but I'm using it because a significant part of her clientele are people getting harassed by ghosts who need her help to get rid of them.
One of the things I enjoyed the most about the novel is the suspense. It did a great job at keeping me at the edge of my seat, watching You Xinnian work her way up as an employee in the hotel chain her family owned and get closer to the people she knew. It starts out with mundane work drama, but after Fu Yuanyi is introduced, things become more dangerous as You Xinnian has to encounter evil ghosts, exorcists, and underworld cops. The stakes escalate emotionally too; the very first person that You Xinnian investigates is a woman she only has a shallow friendship with who, whether or not she had anything to do with her death, is already established as cruel and vindictive. But later on, she gets close to the people who mattered the most to her: her siblings and girlfriend, Lu Man. It's clear how anxious You Xinnian is about the idea that they're involved, how pained and hurt she is, but she stays determined to find out the truth even if it's painful.
And of course I can't go on without mentioning the characters. I enjoyed You Xinnian and Fu Yuanyi a lot. You Xinnian is prideful with a bad temper, but she can put that aside to accomplish her goals. Fu Yuanyi is playful and irreverent with a strong sense of morals. Their banter is fun, with Fu Yuanyi teasing You Xinnian, while You Xinnian snaps back at her. One amusing incident is a time when the two separated, so Fu Yuanyi's best friend makes her You Xinnian puppets that Fu Yuanyi proceeds to have sex with. When the real You Xinnian comes back, she gets mistaken for a puppet, and she tries to seduce Fu Yuanyi while getting more outraged at being mistaken for a puppet.
I also liked the development of their relationship and the understated conflicts between them. For the most part, the two are devoted to each other and stay on the same side, but Fu Yuanyi makes her feelings clear to You Xinnian, in a way that still gives her an out if she doesn't want to respond. You Xinnian usually does take the out, not out of a lack of affection for Fu Yuanyi, but because she's troubled over her limited lifespan. I will say, a critique I've had for the writing here is that the main story took place over three months, and You Xinnian and Fu Yuanyi only knew each other for two. That was an unnecessary decision that I think took away from their relationship, but I enjoyed them enough that I kind of mentally edit that part.
There is also the side cast, who are all fun in their own way. There is a side ship between Yuzhi, the underworld civil servant who helped You Xinnian, and Linqiong, the ghost king bonded to Fu Yuanyi. Their interactions usually involve Yuzhi being lazy and Linqiong getting mad at her for it, but they share some sweet moments. I wasn't a big fan of how their dynamic changed later on, though, because I found it too abrupt. There's also Lin Zexiao, Fu Yuanyi's stingy secretary who stresses every time Fu Yuanyi makes an extravagant purchase, and Liu Kunyi, Fu Yuanyi's aforementioned cold and aloof best friend who will still do her best to help anytime Fu Yuanyi needs it. I really liked Fu Yuanyi and Liu Kunyi's friendship and consider it one of the highlights of the novel. And lastly, I'd be remiss not to mention Lu Man; she's a mystery for most of the novel, but the payoff when we get her perspective is definitely worth it. Ning Yuan says that the scene was her first image of the novel and I can see why.
But on to some negatives, and this is the thing that impacted my enjoyment of the book the most: the book is really bad about fatphobia. The woman You Xinnian is possessing, Wang Fang, is significantly bigger than she is (because of course, the original You Xinnian was very thin), and the book makes sure to point that out in cruel ways and unnecessary ways. This stands out more, I think, because Wang Fang commits suicide from how badly she was being bullied for her weight (amongst other things). It's jarring to see the book criticize her bullies for their actions when it does the same thing. There was another plotline, involving a woman who commits suicide after she gets paralyzed and facially scarred, that made me think the book was unpleasant about women's appearances. I will say, this is basically over after the first third of the novel but that's a very lengthy period.
(I was also gonna comment on Fu Yuanyi being blind and how that's handled but this review is already very long.)
There are also some arcs and plot points that I found unnecessary. The one that stands out the most to me is a section around the middle of the novel, where this isolated village is being haunted by the ghost of a woman because the whole village participated in her rape and abuse. I mean literally the whole village, the kids gathered around at one scene and laughed at her as she got assaulted. The way they were portrayed was comically evil and it didn't add much to the story. All the book needed was a way to delay the main characters and I'm sure there are other more interesting options out there.
