#But that wouldn't explain Lu Guangs role.

[sterkeyra]

Link Click Theories - Li Tianchen's Powers / True Culprit

So with the last episodes as always there have been many new theories swirling around. We got to see more instances of Li Tianchen controlling other people in the last episodes.

However what struck me as curious is that compared to the previous incidents, he didn't control his victims from afar by photos (okay there are not really photos of LG or CXS) but he had to touch them. I've been wondering whether he has two abilities then. Controlling by touching someone but also by diving into a photo. Or is his ability connected/activated by other factors?

It's also possible that he is able to team up with his sister, similar to how Lu and Cheng work together. She might be able to create a connection with pictures or maybe she somehow inherited Chengs powers when he controlled her. However after todays episode we saw that Li Tianxi is quite helpless and back to her broken self. So either she still has an ace up her sleeve or instead of her it was actually her brother that inherited the ability in this moment. Maybe by betraying her brother and giving Lu the photo, she accidentally created a perfect loop, where Cheng controlled her body. When shit is about to hit the fan and he hugs his sister, which might have lead to Cheng to being thrown out of her body. Probably because Tiangchens powers awakened then and he controlled his sister. However, maybe thats not all that happened. Maybe he also learned to steal/inherit a part of Chengs power and is then able to use photos as well. We still don't know how the siblings parents died but I'm very curious.

When the person that controlled Ling Quiao in S2 Ep1 confronted Cheng they also mentioned something about interest in taking away his power. So I've been wondering how would they take powers? By touch? Is Li Tiangchens power not to control people but actually to copy powers? Would he be able to use Chengs photo powers after he touched him, or Lu Guangs ability to view the future? Or would he have to kill someone to take the power? Maybe he gained the control power from his sister? Or maybe from his mother? After all their father was crazed that she was often followed by other men and betrays him? Maybe there's more to that if that were her ability?

However, it's also possible that someone is puppeteering everyone from the sidelines, like the character with the hat from the cover art of Season2. That person could be the true culprit and might have the ability to take away powers and just watches what Tiangchen is able to do with his powers. That or it could actually be Cheng's future self, after he breaks the flow of time in the next episode. He might end up meeting himself and his opponent or ally could be himself. It's possible that Cheng caused everything that happened and activated/gave the power to the person that commited all crimes, so maybe he was pushed to unravel it all and give everyone a happy ending.

This is still very speculative but it's made me suspicious. What is everyone else thinking? Head filled to the brim, too many thoughts.

[pastorfutureletthembe]

Nah don't worry, it didn't come off as a disagreement, I always enjoy your inputs! I merely used it to explain why this analysis, while interesting, doesn't reflect my opinion but is still a valid interpretation.

Shiguang is really is a peculiar case, both because they indeed work well as friends/partners/queerplatonics/lovers and because the cultural context makes the storytelling different from what we're used to as an occidental audience.

Fans of american shows have been cursing over queerbaiting for decades while I personally was fed nicely with subtil japanese bromance since middle school. Imagine my surprise when I discovered chinese male friendships through 19DAYS and later Link Click. The no-gays-allowed policy really made me giggle because of course people would get ingenious in their writing to go around it.

The fact they thought that if Link Click was about two dudes it would be enough to make this story 100% aromantic is ludicrous, though. While the genre of Link Click is far from romance, it still started as a family show, character centric, and then turned into something of a thriller.

The story was always about two guys uncovering mysteries and helping people.

I personally would break space and time for friends and family, no questions asked, but isn't it natural to think only true love deserves the honor after all? I personally think the idea of time travel has been romanticized too many times to be free of the concept of the Ultimate Form of Love™. I mean, in the name of saving a dead wife AND a man's ego of course lmao.

So yeah, even chinese censorship or homophobic chads can't do much against, like, a century's worth of literature and cinema about going back in time for love. People can believe what they want, shiguang being gay or not is absolutely not the point: if the genders were different, they would also ship it, because that's just how the story goes and went in all previous media in the history of Time Travel. Regret might be the reason but you usually only want to go back so you can have happiness with someone again.

That's my take as far as canon goes: let it be, the story writes itself 😂

Now, about Lu Guang and his role in Cheng Xiaoshi's death, I have many, M A N Y theories actually.

The possession route is very plausible. Actually there are several threads about it on twitter supporting it. I cannot find the one where OP removes the red filter and Lu Guang still has red eyes but it's out there. Hard to say if dream sequence or memory, if original timeline or repeat.

A part of me is convinced that Lu Guang wasn't even part of Cheng Xiaoshi's life in the original timeline. Maybe there actually is a Time Agency and Lu Guang was part of it and he kinda grew fond of CXS while investigating his missing parents. Or maybe he was Vein's pupil until he realized how much of a psychopath he was and tried to bail, meeting CXS on a turn of fate.

Liu Xiao himself is a shady character who seems to have an interesting and tragic backstory. I wouldn't rule out the theory of him being an alternative version of Cheng Xiaoshi. Betrayed and left in a failed repeat.

There is still a tiny possibility that they pull a Kaishin on us and Lu Guang reveals himself as CXS's father. And if Lu Guang is actually Cheng Xiaoshi's friend since the beginning, could he be the one who gave CXS his powers one way or another? If so, wouldn't it save him to just... Keep them both from using their powers? Or did they gain their powers while on this post graduation trip after Cheng Xiaoshi's death? Are these powers only acquired after nearing death?

The darkest theory I have is that Cheng Xiaoshi has to die first for Lu Guang to reset the timeline... And there might have been times when Lu Guang killed him with his own hands in order to get a new chance at a better outcome.

Many secrets in Lu Guang's head and I'm pretty sure Yingdu Chapter won't give us the answers we seek. My take on all this is that if Lu Guang really wanted to save Cheng Xiaoshi's life, he wouldn't be in his life. But, you know: Man's ego, as I said. One of my theories is that he actually tried that one but failed (and the flash backs we saw of their meeting is actually Lu Guang failing at staying away).

But mostly: people tend to forget Qiao Ling's involvement too often. Her being in danger would be enough to make Cheng Xiaoshi risk it all, losing her would be enough to strip him from hope, sacrificing everything to save her is way too in character not to consider.

Why I think Shiguang can be canonically read as romantic

(I will only be using the donghua for reference, so no Studio Lan retweeting those fanarts (lmao) nor those especially gay manhwa panels (lmao x2) nor even the songs ("chase you to the end of the world, just to say your name once more" my beloved).

It's important to start off by saying that I'm aware Director Li said they ended up not making Lu Guang a girl because they didn't want romance to be seen as a must in Shiguang's relationship by the audience (and because he feels that "bros can have a good heart-to-heart connection with each other"). In my opinion that was a great move since it allows more freedom with how they write them than they'd have otherwise. I also think viewing Shiguang as queerplatonic is a great read too and it doesn't diminish their love for each other nor the importance of their relationship at all.

With that said, despite Director Li's words, there's been things that had me going 🤨 as someone who likes to adhere to canon relationships and read into the writer's intentions, so I wanted to share why I personally see them as romantic.

EPISODE 2

We've all seen this coming, right? Most obvious parallel ever, and in the second episode no less. We all know the similarities between both relationships, so I will just touch on those I consider the most important ones.

Lin Zhen and Yu Xia have gone to college together, and since then decided to start a business of their own - named after a mix of their names. They've been shown as being really close and having no romantic relationships. Lin Zhen also says that Yu Xia's happiness is her own, and then it's shown to us that she's gone through years of unhappiness just for Yu Xia. I believe you can replace their names with Lu Guang's and Cheng Xiaoshi's in your head without me writing all this again. And I'm not even going to get into the most obvious parallels like the special noodle recipe for each pair.

I think it's safe to say that Lin Zhen and Yu Xia are implied to be romantic. From that "one noodle" scene, to the close shot of Lin Zhen grabbing her hand, etc.

Now, I want to get into a writer's point of view and pose two questions:

1. What's the purpose of this episode, when even those which seem episodic connect to the overarching plot of season 1 (even the missing kid's case, as it leads to the involvement with the police)?

2. If we answer the previous question with the conclusion that it's meant to show us the nature/development of Cheng Xiaoshi's and Lu Guang's relationship, what does that say about it?

"Partner" in Link Click

Continuing with episode 2, what really got me thinking about the romantic intentions in their writing was the constant mention of marriage and anything in relation to it.

(may I remind everyone that the driver's comment was said when Cheng Xiaoshi was complaining about Lu Guang lmao)

They're telling us through "show don't tell" (for example, when Lin Zhen kept on eating the noodle despite knowing they'd kiss) and, also, connotations. They are presented to us as business partners, but then the entire episode goes on to tell us that there's more to them by tying their relationship to things percived as romantic. So what they want to really tell us is that beyond simple business partners, they're life-long partners.

And then, after establishing this kind of connotation to the word partner, Cheng Xiaoshi says this to Lu Guang in the next episode:

This doesn't stop at them. While it's the most obvious example, I think partnership in Link Click is intended to be seen as romantic, or at the very least dancing somewhere close to it. Let's go even further and take a look at our fully canon, heterosexual relationships and see briefly how their story is written:

1. Dong Yi and Xu Shanshan: both of them chose the comfort of each other's presence over moving on with their respective futures. Dong Yi had so much faith in their relationship and their love that he couldn't choose a life/future that didn't have Xu Shanshan - choosing to not go back to his family home nor go to that interview, and instead waiting for Xu Shanshan to define their relationship.

2. Liu Siwen and Ouyang: Siwen spent his entire life training with the purpose of getting his father-in-law's respect and marry Ouyang, going every year over and over to fight him. His perseverance and his undying love for her allowed Siwen to do the (seemingly) impossible.

3. Chen Bin and his wife: they're a tragedy. His wife understood Chen Bin the best, enduring feeling lonely because she loved him and wanted a future with him. But their relationship was cut short, so they promised each other to be together in a future life to make up for the time they wouldn't be in this one.

With this + the pictures I attached, it seems like Link Click has set this theme of "love is a life with you" for its romantic relationships, a partner that will fight to stay because they can't see a future that doesn't have their beloved. Going back to episode two, this applies even to the noodle ladies. When Yu Xia remembered what actually matters to her, she went back home - to the start, to her hometown. And, most importantly, to Lin Zhen.

So why is Shiguang romantic? Why aren't they queerplatonic, or just best friends, or bros or whatever else? Because besides what I said at the start of the previous paragraph, Shiguang's relationship mirrors a lot of the romantic ones. Each story and author writes romance and other kinds of relationships differently, portraying them in the way they perceive "this is what this kind of love is like". And beyond life-long partners, I think that the key elements of romantic relationships in Link Click are the ones I highlighted in bold above in the 3 canon relationships part - which Shiguang shares, too.

(I didn't mention this before with the het couples, but I find it a little amusing that season 2 happened because a man wanted to go to the past and get his wife back (still fuck you Qian Jin) and then we find out Lu Guang did go back to the past and got his boyfriend partner back lmao).

"Friend" vs "Partner"

So where is the boundary between platonic and romantic? What marks the difference between a (best) friend and a partner?

There is, for example, Liu Xiao and Li Tianchen's relationship. They aren't shown to have any kind of romantic undertones and there's even the very real possibility of manipulation on Liu Xiao's side. They're also never labeled as nor call each other partners, but instead Li Tianchen says he "met a new friend" and Liu Xiao says he's "going to meet an old friend" years later. So we could say for now that they have a somewhat close relationship (we see Li Tianchen go against Qian Jin to give the phone to Liu Xiao), but never cross that "friend" label.

We can even bring Qiao Ling and the boys' relationship. She's never labeled as a partner despite taking part in the side job and, more importantly, being super close to both of them. She is very important and a cherished friend to Shiguang, so why not call her partner too? I think it's intentional. Since she's been given a familial role already (calling Cheng Xiaoshi her brother when talking to Li Tianxi), she can't fill a partner role. I wonder why? because it's supposed to be a synonym for a romantic relationship. who said that.

So even best friends (Qiao Ling, arguably what Liu Xiao is to Li Tianchen) don't enter this close space that is being a partner. It's different, it's beyond platonic. Or at least that's what they've been showing us for the past two seasons.

I could go soo much more into this honestly, because I do think the little hints thrown here (the music videos) and there (tiny seemingly inconsequential details) are worth to be looked at too, but I wanted to get into the core reason that makes me go "woah so they're In Love fr". I hope I expressed myself well ^^

tldr; the series shows us a divide between having a (best) friend and a partner, giving "partners" romantic connotations.