he's not a villain like xiao xun but more morally grey! his major conflict with chu zhao later on is pretty fun…
hmm in the novel deng yi is in his 30s so it's not explicit, but if you put on shipper goggles you can say he's kinda fond of her LOL.
for xie yanfang (i liked him a lot) i think he loves her in his own way! they have a really interesting conversation at the end about their feelings for each other. XYF realises that CZ can't bear to kill him, just like he also can't bear to kill her (so romantic <3) and throughout the novel, XYF sees CZ as a version of himself / almost like a perfect mirror? match? he wanted to shape her into an empress according to his standards.
tl;dr the only confirmed romance is between CZ and XYL but you can take it as a reverse harem HAHAHA
in the novel, xiao yu's mom often praised xie yanfang as a role model, which made xiao yu admire him, but XYF…
uhhh he's not outright Bad like xiao xun, because he doesn't want to harm great chu but just gain more power so the xie clan becomes stronger. a very morally grey character!
One thing I'm kinda confused about. Xie yanlai's half sister was the crown princess right? So that makes him the…
in the novel, xiao yu's mom often praised xie yanfang as a role model, which made xiao yu admire him, but XYF never made an effort to visit him or bond with him (before his parents' deaths)
then, on the night that CZ saved him, XYL was at the gates to help her + CZ purposely introduced XYL to XY as another of his uncles. after that, XY ignores XYF to show he no longer acknowledged him as an uncle (though their relationship does improve a bit later on in the second half of the novel)
for xie yanfang (i liked him a lot) i think he loves her in his own way! they have a really interesting conversation at the end about their feelings for each other. XYF realises that CZ can't bear to kill him, just like he also can't bear to kill her (so romantic <3) and throughout the novel, XYF sees CZ as a version of himself / almost like a perfect mirror? match? he wanted to shape her into an empress according to his standards.
tl;dr the only confirmed romance is between CZ and XYL but you can take it as a reverse harem HAHAHA
bts clip with eng subs of chu zhao begging for her father's life :""")
they broke the record for the highest first-day heat index score
then, on the night that CZ saved him, XYL was at the gates to help her + CZ purposely introduced XYL to XY as another of his uncles. after that, XY ignores XYF to show he no longer acknowledged him as an uncle (though their relationship does improve a bit later on in the second half of the novel)
watch here https://weibo.com/l/wblive/p/show/1022:2321325305316937171053
OR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzqj9zv-5c8