We know at this point he didn't really care about her, yet.
He didn't even regret after the fact. If I remember correctly, I think he said something along the line of "of course, I had to save the qin instead of you." Now, THAT made me laugh.
I think you're right because I think it was mentioned that he's triggered when it's snowing. When the "300 lost souls" incident happened, it was snowing.
In ep 1, when she's empress, XW seemed to be unsettled when she slit her throat. Maybe XW did fall for her in…
Maybe he did, just as Yan Lin did also who ended up hating her. Whatever happened in the 1st life, we know she's scared of him because even in the second life up to the latest ep, she's afraid of him and there's no sign of her fawning over his character based on her previous knowledge about him.
I can’t wait for Zhang Zhe to appear. The fact that she cares deeply for him says a lot about this character. It also says so much more about XW because he didn’t fall for her previously until supposedly her second life, that is assuming they do fall for one another. She never got to know the real XW before and him her. There certainly is more than meets the eye for ML/FL this time around.
What I like about this show is the theme on women independence and chase after what they want in life, especially a love partner. We now have three capable men worked up by three resilient women. Can't wait to see them fall. Each couple is unique with their story.
At ep 4 now, and the story is still at a set up phase. Regardless, I'm really curious how FL is going to right all the wrongs and navigates her way around danger while handling ML. Exciting!!!
This would also explain why ML seems protective of Yan Lin and Yan family.