Tian Jiang Xian Shu Nan (天降贤淑男) is a manhua title I randomly picked up to read when I was looking for completed series to read. I haven’t read too many manhua (and TBH if it’s a Chinese comic then I would rather read a wuxia title) but it was complete and I was bored so I gave it a try. The title Tian Jiang Xian Shu Nan literally means “Goddess of Mercy” according to Google Translate. Yeah… that doesn’t help but thanks anyway.
Story: It’s the story of a love triangle between tomboy martial artist Su Jia Ao, her ultra-submissive fiance Ji Chun Qing and wild guy Xiao Yao Jing. You see, Su Jia Ao is from a tribe where women are expected to be rough and tough while the men passively obey. Having been brought up in the city, Su prefers macho bad boys like Xiao Yao Jing. And yet there’s something about that Ji Chun Qing…
…and that something is an almost-stalkerish level of persistence. Talk about Dogged Nice Guys. From start to finish it’s never clear what he sees in Su Jia Ao besides tradition demanding that he marry her, but that doesn’t stop him from hanging in there anyway. In the real world the police would have to get involved, but in Tian Jiang Xian Shu Nan it’s almost funny after a while.
This could have been a good, funny love triangle series. Could have been, and almost was. I read up to chapter 95 out of 129, skipped to 120 and read to the end. Even that required me to force myself at several points.
The problem? Su Jia Ao herself. A love triangle series only works as long as the feelings of the key players are clear to the audience but not clear to the persons concerned. There should be room for doubt if not wholesale denseness. If Girl likes Boy A but isn’t sure how he feels about her and Boy B likes her but isn’t sure how she feels, that can work. But when the feelings of all parties are clear and Girl likes A but keeps stringing B along and pulling him back whenever he tries to pull away… Su Jia Ao, die in a fire.
What happens is that Su has a huge and obvious crush on Xiao – and he likes her back – and she knows it – and they’ve even dated and almost kissed. But Ji Chun Qing and her family keep putting pressure on her. That’s hard for a teen to deal with, so I was sympathetic up to that point.
Then Su got the chance to break the engagement with Ji off cleanly, no hard feelings. But noooo, for the sake of her pride she decided to fight for Chun Qing’s hand. And she won. That means she likes him, right? Nnnnot quite. When Xiao’s parents arrange a fiancee for him, Su goes crazy and does everything in her power to interrupt that deal as well. Then right after that Chun Qing gets kidnapped. And of course she runs after him again. I’d had enough of her fickleness by then and skipped to the end to find out which guy she ends up with… But I won’t tell you to avoid spoilers.
The good thing about Tian Jiang Xian Shu Nan is that it’s short, colorful and action-packed with pretty nice character designs and a likeable cast. Yes, even Su when she’s not being a horrible two-timer. The bad side is how frustrating it is to see a main character cruelly toying with people’s emotions. She’s a prime dog in a manger – doesn’t want him, but doesn’t want to see him date someone else. What do you want? Luckily the situation doesn’t drag on too long before the series ends so it’s worth the read if you’re looking for something short, light and romantic – for a given definition of romantic.