Trop thoughts today: am I the only one that ships Ning Cheng and Gu Nanyi...
In episode 43 when Zhiwei is to be executed, Ning Cheng goes to Ning Yi, worried that he seems un bothered by her death scentence and tries to get a rise out of his master to do something about it. While doing so, Ning Cheng says he won’t be able to fight with Gu Nanyi any more. I assume that this means sparing and bickering. This implies that not only do these fighting matches happen, they happen often enough for Ning Cheng to enjoy it and miss it if it were gone.
So obviously my mind went straight to flirty Ning Cheng pestering an oblivious and irritable Gu Nanyi... Sparing whenever they meet, Nanyi always wining and Ning Cheng unable to stop trying to best him.. Eventually, Ning Cheng realizes he goes to Nanyi quite often, using “sparing” as an excuse to spend time with him.
Like, I’d be fine with unrequited love.. Nanyi clearly has affection and love for Zhiwei, even if he doesn’t know what to call it, and Ning Chengis devoted to Ning Yi, but I can just see him looking at Zhiwei and Ning Yi’s relationship and not understanding it until he goes searching for Nanyi and realizes that maybe his fondness for Nanyi is quite similar to Ning Yi’s fondness for Zhiwei. They both have exceptional skill— intellect for Ning Yi/Zhiwei and physical/martial arts skill for Nanyi/Ning Cheng— and Ning Cheng understands the search for an equal, for a challenge, when everyone else pales in comparison.