Imagining Hua Cheng getting hit with a truth serum mid-canon (between the Black Water and Mount Tonglu arcs, let's say). He is panicking, because we all know this man's mind is a non-stop loop of "gege's so beautiful, gege's so kind, gege's so clever" and so on and so forth. And it is being forced out of his mouth in an endless stream, much to his horror.
Xie Lian's getting more and more flustered, because he's fairly certain one doesn't normally compliment their bros like that? But then, he has been alone for like 800 years, so maybe he's just not as in-tune with how guy friends interact nowadays? Strange that he's not mentioned his beloved at all though. What's up with that?
And then it takes a turn for the freaky when Xie Lian smacks Qi Rong around a bit (for being an annoying little shit as per usual), and Hua Cheng blurts out: "Sometimes I wish you'd hit me like that. Choke me out like you did at Lang-er Bay. Just fuck me up, Your Highness."
Fucking. Chaos.
Qi Rong is screaming in disgust. Hua Cheng's just muttering to himself like, "Shit, I fucked up, shit, I fucked up," and wondering if there's a way to disperse himself without his ashes. Xie Lian's making noises like a dial-up modem as his brain tries to process all of that, before catching on the detail of, "Wait... what was that about Lang-er Bay‽"