I also read that gesun and haoyan relationships in drama were very different, even contrasting each other... Well,…
I agree with this too but the major difference was that gesun are unique to this drama while haoyan are somewhat typical but interesting with cold lead/warm woman, damsel in distress saved by cold man then she grew up, FL scared of ML at first etc tropes. Each have their own place though in the drama. It can't be denied that their added part was for purpose too, the viewers who want romances like this can be hooked to long ballad too while enjoying the plot.
I read some people see it as if Leyan fell for Hao Du because he rescued her, out of gratitude. And that's weird…
It's me who found something off between them. Leyan was trying to make herself ready to fall in love with just anyone having feelings for her, I agree. But there are some points which are off like she was only expecting Shuyu to fight for her, she only asked him. Hao Du never crossed her mind but it could be that the fight made her realize bit of her feelings for him ,out of gratitude or whatever it was. She must have felt something for him then but the confession and acceptance of the relationship was too quick to digest, the sudden closeness and the romance was too quick hence making viewers feel unsatisfied. I wasn't able to connect with them since that fight. Maybe we needed few more episodes to develop them more. I was curious and excited for them until that point. Things after ep 26 were good for them, building on their relationship nicely. I think perfection cannot be everywhere so it's fine too.