Shen Yuan's problem is that he is still thinking as a reader when dealing with Luo BingHe, so he still doesn't get that the guy is completely different from the Demon King he read about, and has different motivations and feelings, so he takes everything Luo BingHe says at face value and from his previous knowledge. Of course, there's also the fact that he is deep in denial on how much he cares about him.
Bless you for saying this so perfectly.
I think I expressed something similar somewhere in my screams, probably during one of those scenes where shizun shows all his denial and keeps thinking of himself as a reader.
Mostly, the point is:
-Lbh has been in love with him for years, has been betrayed by his shizun, rejected and then saved by the same person, who ended up dying. He mourned and had to endure it all for five years, just to find out shizun is not dead. Of course he feels dejected; of course he feels angry and frustrated and needs answers and tried to find everything he can to gain those answers. Mind it, this doesn’t justify eventual violence, but lbh has never been one to bottle things up that well, and it’s starting (FREAKING FINALLY!!!) to show.
-Meanwhile, Shizun is a reader who ended up in a novel he read, so he feels giddy and excited, but detatched from the events that occur, and he thinks that it’s okay to act as long as the only thing changing is him staying alive, which is amazing and legit and everything a reader would love to have the chance to do?! He goes on with the plot, does mostly what the plot commands -and all this suppressing his feelings, because he lets himself enjoy the little things (his spiritual powers, his sword, sqq’s home), but the rest (relationships with people in the sects, with his disciples, with lbh, the events in general)… he almost always lives it all as if he is just a bystander with a script, as if those things can’t and shouldn’t touch him, but they do. Above all, he just doesn’t get that he has direct influence on the main character, how the people all around him care about him and that the world he lives in is his world now! And that causes him to be in absolute denial about his own feelings.
So how can sqq trust someone who he sees as destined to kill him? How can he see past the facade and understand how deep and complex lbh’s thoughts and feelings are? How can he go past his reader self and allows himself to fully live where he is right?
is it strange that lbh and sqq can’t seem to sort their problems out? not at all! i’d be surprised if they ended up making it work! (tho we know they will, my babies).
