https://novelhi.com/s/Historys-Strongest-Husband
Wow, just wow. Can I say that Webnovels are like the fanfics I used to read as a kid, but with a better sense of professionalism, and on roids. Definitely a different medium/genre.
So far, thanks to YouTube recaps and a site site called Novelhi, I have finished reading 2 Chinese webnovels, and maybe I will read more in the future- but for now, the two I completed have allows me to satisfy my cravings for resolution/closure on the ongoing YouTube recaps. While I had finished “All my Disciples are Big Villains (AMDABV)” some time ago, and it was definitely a lot of fun, not to mention helpful in revitalising my own martial arts development, it is in finishing “Ultimate Son in Law (USIL)” that I have started to deconstruct why I liked these 2 novels.
Firstly, the premise and plot development are well suited for my tastes, though “AMDABV” is more of a power fantasy, and I found it quite straightforward in comparison to “USIL”. I’ve already covered the former in a previous blog post, so I am going to focus on the latter in this one.
Plot-wise, this is one of the most diversely intellectual stories I’ve read, which is why I compared it to a fanfic on roids. Synopsis:
Shen Lang, our MC, is isekai’ed to an ancient alternative Chinese world, into the body of a very handsome but otherwise unremarkable young man. Before the MC’s new life in this new world, Shen Lang was an outstanding field doctor who was renowned for his skills and humanitarian work, which he began as a form of compensation for his severe disfigurement; during college, his handsome features were destroyed in an acid explosion that made him grotesquely disfigured, though not disabled. However, his search for noble distinguishment could not overcome the physical barrier, causing him to feel lonely and unloved. During a field operation, an enemy missile attack caused Shen Lang to be sent into the body of a [dying] young man, but also imbued him with all the knowledge of Earth as well as X ray vision (due to a supercomputer and X ray machine being present in the explosion). He doesn’t have any martial arts though, and thus is forced to outwit his opponents until later on when he develops powerful means to protect himself. After living such a philanthropic prior life, our MC decides that his new mission is to live hedonistically (though not immorally) off the most beautiful girl he can find, which kick starts to the titular reason the novel is called “Ultimate Son in Law”.
Of course, he is incredibly, almost unfairly, smart, and helps people overcome various challenges which leads to his pattern of endearing himself to progressively more and more characters. This series does include a harem trope, but there’s so much going on that we aren’t detracted from this element, and most of the time the harem aspect is more politically/unwittingly derived, rather than it being a consequence of the MC’s desires.
Be warned that while the premise is straightforward enough in the beginning, the plot becomes intricate and multifaceted about a third into the story. Despite the MC claiming that all he wants is to live a careful life with his wife (and harem), he constantly gets involved with so many intrigues as well as greater bids for power by a myriad of other characters. Be cautious, or perhaps excited, by how this story turns from our MC dealing with his new family’s problems, to him getting involved with international politics, and then eventually him realising his greater destiny to the whole World! We go from comedy and mental Olympics to pioneering unseen technologies, super soldier research, ancient Iron Man suits, lost civilizations, and the the culmination of our MC becoming a more human version of Doctor Manhattan, all while exploring grand metaphysics and philosophical Anthropology… this in particular reminds me of the better fanfics I read as a teen, which sometimes attempted to shoehorn intellectual subjects into the plot, though I don’t dislike it, and as smart guys, I enjoy it when done well.
*Super spoilers*
Oh, and did I mention that the Big Bad End Game Boss is his dad…
Again, I want to state how much I’ve enjoyed this bizarrely eclectic story: in fact, I am understating how much I’ve enjoyed the twists, turns, and development ever since I initially discovered it on YouTube. There are several levels to this:
- I am a pioneer philosopher, which means that I’ve grappled with rationalising the Human Condition, and travelled on numerous paths to understand this. On that note, I daresy I am a cultured and well versed intellectual, so I was able to engage with the spiritual, scientific, philosophical, and literary elements of the story, including the more esoteric elements.
- The webnovel site I used isn’t translated as well as it could have been: there’s also the fact that Chinese webnovels tend to mess around with pronouns, and that can get confusing… almost as much as idioms and references that a Western audience wouldn’t get unless, like me, you have been somewhat familiarised/acquainted with oriental literature. The fact that the novel culminates in what is essentially Metaphysics, before concluding in a powerfully poignant manner, left a deep and perturbing impression that still lingers on my mind hours after finishing the novel.
- This novel is the first to remind me, in decades, the feeling of reading something and not being able to immediately be able to reference what I am reading with my existing academic database. In short, there was an element of the unknown, a combination of the errors in translation, cultural references, and plot development… which was refreshing!
So to summarise- I enjoyed it because it touches on being smart, reflective, different and variable, and resonates with an elegantly simple romance that resonates with me. It’s a story that I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate if I had not grown to where I am today, reminding me of how much I’ve progressed.
Perhaps it will do the same for you too?
Solosopher & Solosophy 