I know most people in the fandom prefer one or another ship, but I’ve been seeing a complete erasure of Wen Xiao and her romance with Zhao Yanzhou and it just drives me nuts.
Let me remind you- aside from everything else (like sharing half a token with her, being of “one mind/in love” with her as a prerequisite of repairing the token, him making a love token for her, him promising to marry her, him dying for her sake), this is what Zhao Yanzhou imagined as his heaven, his dream of peaceful existence:
Literally only him and Wen Xiao, in their own little world, being cute and domestic and whatnot.
And it’s not just his human side, not just Zhao Yanzhou, but his demonic side Zhu Yan as well. Being with Wen Xiao is what ZYZ imagines as an escape when he is at his lowest, and being with Wen Xiao is what his “bad” side uses as a benefit of going “bad”.
Both ZYZ and Zhu Yan look longingly at Wen Xiao:
Not to mention, he is down so bad he imagines himself and Wen Xiao being happy in all four seasons 🤣
Spring, summer, autumn and winter. I didn’t even realize until I rewatched a couple of days ago.
And to finalize my essay 🤣 ZYZ spends 8 years peaceful and content on being a tiny speck of a soul because he is kept safe and warm next to Wen Xiao’s heart. But when he is left alone on a cold stone, he goes to find Xiao Zhuo to complain about Baize Shennu bullying him
And, last but not least- Wen Xiao is far from “useless”. My girl spent 300 years alone, in solitude and torment, just to fix the flute to save Zhao Yanzhou, and doesn’t go crazy. Even LIES to him saying it was only 3 days ,so he won’t feel guilty for causing so much pain.
All I want to say is, please ship whomever you want, but don’t discard Wen Xiao or her role in Zhao Yanzhous life. Their romance, albeit done poorly, is central in the show, and she doesn’t deserve the disrespect.
P.S. I’ve noticed that while Wen Xiao’s role always gets erased, Li Lun and his role in ZYZs life never suffer the same fate. Same with ZYC - ZYC spends 8 years looking for ZYZ and it is hailed as heroic/romantic/noble/whatever else (and it is noble and heroic, don’t get me wrong) - but Wen Xiao spent 300 years ALONE to save him, and it just gets brushed off like a footnote. Makes me wonder if the whole issue is rooted in internalized misogyny, tbh.