⚣男♂

Shuai is a doctor who works at a clinic and owns his own apartment and has his shit together. That's awesome. He doesn't need money from Chengyu. He doesn't need his power. He doesn't need his protection.

Which makes Chengyu's acts of love even that more pronounced.

He hears about Mengtao because of the aphrodisiac. And he deals with him. He sends sweet deserts because, who doesn't love those? He feeds Shuai gossip because it's obvious that that's what will help Suwei (Shuai's friend).

None of it has to do with the fact that Shuai is In-Desperate-Need-Of-Money ™.

This allows Chengyu to come to Shuai on Shuai's terms. It's not some power imbalance that renders their entire dynamic icky. It's two guys who just happened to click.

I mean, even our resident pauper manages to get by without being sad, and dependent on his boyfriend's money. He has a mother who has a comfy home. He's living with his bestie sometimes. And he doesn't approach Chicheng because of money. The money just happens to be part of the scheme.

And this doesn't even last long. Because soon enough, Suwei has his own money, his own business and control of Chicheng's money.

Poverty isn't part of the story line. Neither Suwei nor Shuai need Chicheng nor Chengyu's money.

I was trying to figure out why this scene had so much power to it and I realized this is the moment Ray figures out Sand’s feelings for him. It is so beautifully written and executed… I have so many thoughts on this:

Firstly, Sand is the one to bring up the elephant in the room that is RayMew. This is not surprising, given Ray’s lack of accountability and avoidance of serious matters.

What IS surprising is Ray’s immediate reaction to this - he completely discredits the seriousness and validity of RayMew’s relationship to Sand:

“… we need to see if it’s gonna work.”

He’s (consciously or unconsciously) trying to reassure Sand that he’s not entirely unavailable - that him and Mew are just “trying things out”. That there’s still room for Sand and this thing between them.