The OTHER reason Xichen and Mingjue are perfect for each other is that had they been willing to have one(1) boyfriend fight about the merits of collective punishment they could have solved the whole stupid plot, because Xichen knows that genocide is wrong and Mingjue has the absolute courage of his convictions and together they have a very respectable chunk of political, social and military clout. They love and respect each other and feel safe in each others’ regard, so nothing too bad is going to happen if they’re mad at each other for a little bit while Xichen proves his point from first principles, but noooo it’s marital harmony and compromising on work camps all the way to Chief Cultivator Jin and his very bad no good policies regarding POWs.
