#this was so cathartic ty vero :)

[llycaons]

🔥 tgcf! im intrigued to know what u might have abt this

well vero I am home and I am so glad you asked because *pulls up a chair* hua cheng is a bad person and the failure of the story to genuinely reckon with that dramatically weakens it. he is a very good love interest - full of chemistry, exciting and mysterious, sexy and competent, with just a dash of insecurity that brings out people's protectiveness. he IS underdeveloped, and that's not controversial - I couldn't hope to improve upon the paragraphs upon paragraphs of speculation and complaints my lovely mutuals and others have committed to this very space. but that's not my argument here, as underdeveloped mxtx characters such as jyl are among some of my most cherished

MY argument is that hc is a shitty and unlikeable PERSON. and this isn't an objective fact, but it is my opinion and I don't think it's a very popular one. hc is constantly laser-focused on xl to the exclusion of other people, even other people in xl's life who love him and who he genuinely trusts. his grudge against mq (who had a MOTHER to care for! and the rice!) and fx (who xl TOLD to leave) comes off as petty and despicably immature. his virtues such as 'being a good mayor' are conveyed by word of mouth by the text and implied by the inhabitants of the city, but when he actually interacts with ghost people he treats them like shit- I distinctly remember jl bowing her head in gratitude and I don't think he even LOOKED at her. like. what an asshole!

and you can argue that's the point, he's supposed to seem like a bad boy and people are supposed to distrust him, and at least he DID give her shelter, but this isn't about him torturing qr (I respect it), or about him offering shelter to abused and murdered ghosts (his sole redeeming quality and even then arguably for profit) it's about him treating the people around him (including these ghost citizens he's apparently such a great leader for) like they don't matter, holding grudges against genuinely innocent people or people whose situation he didn't understand for eight HUNDRED years, summoning dancers just to treat them like set dressing and pointedly ignore them when xl shows up, and allowing fathers to trade their daughters' actual lives away, with the argument that 'they know what they're risking' NO THEY DO NOT!!!!THE FATHERS ARE TREATING THEIR DAUGHTERS LIKE TRADING GOODS!! the actual women whose lives will be lost have no place at this table! how the FUCK was this never followed up on? how was xl, legendary compassionate figure, so quick to overlook it? and for profit! for power! the story can put in all the little asides it wants about hc charmingly ruffling guzi's hair or that one time he sacrificed an eye to save a bunch of mortals (oh sure, big DEAL. 🙄) but his actual day-to-day actions tell the story of a man singularly obsessed with one person to the exclusion of literally everything else, who sacrifices and mocks and ignores and trades away and profits from every single other person in his life, given the right incentive.

I do enjoy him in a lot of scenes. I don't like most of the officials he insults, and I don't thnk mq or fx really need defending. the romance scenes are usually very good when he's an ADULT, he's very charming and funny and clever in a scandalous way that makes you giggle, I think he's hilarious and justified when he's taking revenge on the assholes in heaven. but look at how he treats everyone else! truly! fuck hua cheng, fuck his sad little story about losing an eye, fuck his insecurity complex, fuck his willingness to be a literal gangster of the ghost city in the absolute worst sense, and honestly? fuck the other characters for seeing all this and just thinking it's cool or sexy or whatever. this bitch is one of the WORST characters we're supposed to find fun and perfect I have ever read