Is Li Xun a Red Flag? My arguments why this Cdrama is top tier

I've rewatched Lighter & Princess 4 times in a row now (yikes I just can't move on) and here's some things I've noticed regarding why some people think Li Xun is a red flag but viewers who pay a little bit closer attention will realize the real meaning behind his actions. So I decided to make this post - which contains spoilers!

First of all, L&P is a Cdrama that differs from a few popular clichés and tropes that many Cdrama-watchers love:
- both ML and FL have character flaws, aren't perfect, act out in human ways and have character development that feels more realistic - which all of these can throw people off when they're used to the flawless, spotless MLs and FLs of Cdramaland!
- majority of the obstacles the FL and ML face in the storyline were created by their own mistakes and character flaws - not many "forced" obstacles as in lack of communication or misunderstandings or 2FL barging in to separate the couple etc - since these characters make mistakes, this can also throw people off but it's also the reason many people loved this particular show.

Li Xun's "red flags" dismantled
- Many people say that Li Xun is mean to Zhu Yun but:
1. When they meet in college, she's acting very confrontational towards him from the start. Both of them have been like cat and mouse from the very beginning. Zhu Yun was basically the leader of the anti-Li Xun-Club lol. They both enjoyed provoking each other and seemed to have a subconscious notion of what would tick the other person off the most. Most of the times, once he provoked her she clapped right back and vice versa. So to me, it never felt like he was mean to her just to be mean, it was more like he had met a worthy opponent who'd be able to keep up with his sense of humor or his flirting style. To say that Li Xun was mean to her as if Zhu Yun was a weak FL who never clapped back or provoked him on her own is actually not true. Even when they've become friends and later start dating they keep provoking each other. These two were basically united by rage - towards each other and other people (him confessing to her while ending her enemy for her was iconic). So, him being "mean" - well it's just their dynamic. If you are an Aries person (Aries Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Venus) you'll likely enjoy this kind of relationship vibe.
2. Even after everything that happened, Li Xun never once blamed Zhu Yun for anything and he always assumed all responsibilities for his actions. Even in the first episode, Li Xun sees that Zhu Yun is with a promising guy, and he doesn't want to hold her back, so he tells her what happened to him has nothing to do with her and that she shouldn't feel sorry. Then he says that whoever she's with has also nothing to do with him, as he made that clear 3 years ago - he's referring to the fact that he broke up with her and that she shouldn't feel sorry and just move on and be happy with her new guy. Zhu Yun misunderstands this as in "I don't care about you, my life is none of your business" but even when she says that he's a heartless jerk, he realizes she misunderstood and says she's "thinking too much", but isn't actually mean, he's just trying to not get her involved with him seeing that she's possibly in a new relationship with a successful man, which would be better for her than to be caught up with an ex-convict like him.
3. Li Xun knew who Zhu Yun was from the start, which we only figure out later when there's the flashback to his memory of standing in front of her house on her 17th birthday. He knew she was wealthy and to him she seemed like a well protected princess. It seems like he was intrigued by her and at the same time also annoyed by her because of her wealthy background and her parents/mom. There was also this insecurity within him that he knew that she was out of his league (in terms of their social status) and that she could have a "better" guy (a wealthy, stable man) by her side. So at times he intentionally pushed her away not necessarily out of meanness but out of self protection ( to avoid being rejected/hurt later on).
4. Li Xun actually treats Zhu Yun better than anyone else, which is often remarked upon by people in the show and Li Xun/Zhu Yun themselves. Even when he was still officially "not liking her" he designed a whole video game just to annoy her. He hacked into the university's class schedule to protect her from being caught for missing the base assignment. When he's too harsh with his criticism towards her work, he goes after her to tell her there were parts that were good, invites her to work at the base, makes a whole file with corrections to her project so she can improve and gives her important projects from the start - which is also a sign that he sees her as intelligent and capable enough and highlights the equality in their relationship from the beginning. He listens when she confronts him about being too harsh to Gao. And she only has to say one word and he works days on the project to humiliate her enemy in front of everyone. So the whole argument that he is mean towards her is null when you actually understand their dynamic and their love language. Li Xun is just way more lowkey than other MLs, he's more of a "show don't tell" type of guy.
5. What I think many people also don't realize when watching the show is that for Li Xun, they would've been together right from the moment when Zhu Yun makes that school performance where she roasts Li Xun. After the show he dares her to be with him saying "We can be together in the open". But after that Zhu Yun acts all offended and annoyed when people assume that they're dating. She goes out of her way to prove to everyone that they aren't an item. She somewhat humiliated him by announcing to everyone and their mother that they weren't dating. To any guy, that would've been losing face, let alone to someone like Li Xun. It makes sense that he, the smart guy that he is, doesn't want to confess to her anymore and schemes to have her confess to him first. After all of this, Zhu Yun still won't give in and treats Li Xun like her enemy who stole her space for the interest group - while actually, the teacher simply prioritized Li Xun's work base which is totally reasonable because they'd be making money for the university. Zhu Yun's behavior was petty, childish and entitled (but we forgive her because she's way too cute and honestly I'd be upset too if I was her), and when she challenged Li Xun he showed her with just one move that it was no use fighting against him, as he was way above their level. True, the virus situation was a bit mean from his side, but frankly, I believe he thought Zhu Yun would ask him to remove it which he would've done right away - but instead she went to the teacher and ratted him out. LOL No wonder he didn't want to help anymore (even though he did, through Gao the next day). Anyway, it was clear in the story that both Li Xun AND Zhu Yun did things that upset the other or made their blood boil, but the storyline was focused on Zhu Yun's POV so, many of the things that Li Xun did or how he saw things were shown much more subtly. Later on, after the time jump, he asks her at one point to tell him her thoughts clearly and not let him guess again - and that's pretty telling for his POV; Zhu Yun often refused to tell Li Xun things or communicate clearly, or just assumed things without actually asking (for example, she didn't tell him what Fang ZhiJing did to her best friend) which is also why he often prompted her "Ask what you want to ask" or "Say what you want to say" because he knew that otherwise she wouldn't.But when she didn't want to say it, he wouldn't push on, respecting her boundaries - something she, on the other hand, wouldn't do (especially before they were close and he'd sometimes snap at her for it because she was in fact being rather nosy).
6. Another thing that I really loved in L&P and that I don't see often in Cdramas: Lack of problematic jealousy. The fact that both ML and FL had platonic friendships with people of the opposite sex and it was never an issue and no love triangle involed. Li Xun is close friends with Ren Di and even though there was a short moment when Zhu Yun thought they were an item, it never created any tension between the three and it was refreshing to see a friendship between the ML and a girl without a love triangle. Zhu Yun is close to Gao and even tho Li Xun gets a bit upset when she keeps taking Gao's side, but there's never any jealousy involved. The only times Li Xun gets jealous is with guys who are actually trying to hit on Zhu Yun. Another thing that was refreshing to me was that both FL and ML make it clear to the people interested in them that they want nothing from them. In other dramas it's often infuriating when2FL or 2ML are courting agressively and the leads don't speak up clearly and signalize that they aren't interested.
Also, even though Li Xun is jealous towards Xiu Zhu, he also treats him with respect and invites him to work on the video game design with them. It shows his character development, as in the past, when Zhu Yun was getting courted by the volley ball player, Li Xun couldn't easily accept the fact that this guy was better than him at something. Later on, he not only accepts that Xiu Zhu has a talent that he, li Xun, doesn't have, he even goes out of his way to ask him to work with him, despite the fact that Xiu Zhu would in this way also be closer to Zhu Yun through their work.
7. Another subtle kind thing that Li Xun did: when he's waiting outside of Zhu Yun's house on her birthday, wanting to talk to her mother about the school cheating incident, he sees through the window that they're having a party and he waits until they sang for Zhu Yun and only then does he knock on the door. He didn't want to interrupt their moment and that was very thoughtful.

Li Xun was "mean" to others and unlikeable
Some viewers said that about him as well and I want to give some other perspectives:
1. Some things about Li Xun are pretty subtle and the writers didn't spill them out, so only if you pay close attention you'll get it. For example, Li Xun comes across as really arrogant when he tells people to pick up things for him that fell on the floor - but the reason behind this is his spine injury. It hurts him to make certain movements and they at times show that he's in pain. To avoid pain, he asks others to help him and it comes across as arrogance. There's a reason behind it though.
2. Even though he has a cold and aloof demeanor, he's nice to people who are more like underdogs - he's patient and nice to Wu Meng Xing, who's a bit of a pushover and loser but Li Xun was never mean to him like he was with Gao; he tries to help Fu Yizhou to not get expelled and is a good friend to him. Yizhou with his latin dance obsession was probably not the most popular kid at school. Li Xun is also a good friend and supporter of Ren Di i, who's also a bit of an underdog. He seems to feel drawn to people who aren't at the top of the popularity game and prefers to help them instead of surrounding himself with people like Xu Lina. This is also shown later, when he chooses to work with the underdog startup company instead of trying to work with a bigger company.
3.  He's used to doing things his own way and isn't used to team work. The fact he creates this work base and surrounds himself with people seemed like he actually didn't want to be lonely all the time.
4. When he's mean to Fang Shu Miao, it's because he senses that Zhu Yun is keeping her distance because Shu Miao is interested in him and on top of that Fang Shu Miao isn't really invested in the work of the base. Because Shu Miao is jealous, Zhu Yu isn't willing to fully work closely with Li Xun and he notices that. He provokes Fang Shu Miao and the two girls end up having a heart to heart - it was as if he ripped the band-aid off in one go rather than having to watch the two of them be passive aggressive towards each other.
5. When he's mean to Gao, it's like in his head it's silly that Gao is even competing with him because there's no way Gao would ever win and it's like he sees it as a waste of time. This is where his character flaws come in, he's way to harsh with his words and arrogant, and doesn't share his feelings. I think he would've wanted Gao to be his friend rather than have him constantly compete with him, and I think it upset him that Gao couldn't just see him as a friend but always as competition. At the same time, he disrespected Gao many times and ended up creating a villain...
6. Even after he's expelled from school because of Yizhou, he never blames him and even tells him he's going to ask them to not have him expelled. Li Xun is smart enough to know that he is the one to blame for his own decisions and he doesn't blame others unfairly.

Other things about this drama that are different and amazing:
- the FL is actually rich and has power thanks to her parents and she does NOT do the noble thing and suffers in silence when being bullied; instead, she chooses to play her card and asks her parents for help when being mistreated by the university teacher-lady. This is a rare occurence in Cdrama, as most FLs and MLs are noble and sacrifie themselves easily. I loved that L&P have more realistic people.
- the ML is not perfect in everything; he has lots of weaknesses that could make him look not as strong or cool, which is a contrast to other Cdramas where the ML is talented in every area. Here, Li Xun is a genius but he's not athletic, he also has phyisical limitations, he can't cook (how come every single ML is always a 5 star chef LMAO), he isn't rich, not to mention he's an ex-convict lol. Even when he buys a house, he takes a loan from a friend and isn't rich yet. It's just very refreshing.

++If you've made it this far, thanks for coming to my TED talk!! lol