#ziyu's a pretty chill nice kid you could've just asked instead of plotting 7 diff ways how to kick him out.

[mikorens]

in gong ziyu's defense...

he wouldve gave the sword wielder position up in the first few eps to shangjue if they just asked him without berating him every 10 seconds. everyone and their mothers KNOW he is not fit to rule, hell even he knows he isn't. he's one night called by the elders and told his dad and brother are dead, shangjue is m.i.a and he's going to be the next sword wielder. i don't even think his spirit has woken up yet in that carriage ride with zishang and the next thing he knows is he's getting a good old back tattoo that prohibits him from ever going out of the valley.

ziyu grew up thinking he wont ever need to train that hard or be as good as his brothers, huanyu was there fully capable and responsible, shangjue was also there, even yuanzhi despite being the youngest. zishang and him were the outcast, though zishang kept on trying; ziyu stopped caring. what ziyu lacked in skills in fighting and lack of knowledge about ruling he was extremely kind. he's the exact opposite of what they expect a gong man should be. the man has no mean bone in his body, he has some snarky remarks sometimes but never really says anything demeaning. like that scene where they were prying his mother's medical chart and found out that it was shangjue's mom instead, he could've said something to shangjue, something mean, something that would hit shangjue like truck; but he didn't. (noticed this too with zishang in the scene with yuanzhi in the workshop where yuanzhi said something about her dad hating zishang, she could've said something about yuanzhi not growing up with a mother and father bc they're deceased, she just weeped).

we've literally seen him want to give back the sword wielder position to huanyu when he came back, he was going to give it back 100% if huanyu wanted it. what ziyu wants in the beginning was to be the next hot malewife in jiuchen valley not to be the sword wielder.

yes, ziyu had doubts and was suspicious of everyone, especially gsj and gyz, he was grieving. but literally everything would've been cleared up if (1) they just sat down and spoke to one another without trying to one up each other. the front hill gongs have this animosity between them even if they do try to deny it, you can see how much of a better-fit zishang and ziyu are when they're with the back hill gongs. if anything shangjue and yuanzhi's consistent berating of him, made him want to become a legitimate sword wielder. he just went "well damn, might as well!", spite being one of his motivations to become better is sooooo funny to me, because same. "how about the tattoo?" idk he probably would've gotten it lasered or had a matching tat with shangjue if he did give the sword wielder position to him in the first few eps lol.