never to be parted.

It's the care and affection he shows for Changning. He saw how important her sister was to her and resolved to be her big brother, to care for her and look out for her like Changyu does, to play with her and let her drag him around as she likes. A small child dragging around the fearsome Marquis of Wu'an. It's the way that when they are attacked his first priority is to protect Changning, when he has to fight he tells her to look away and count to ten like Changyu did, and when Changyu finally arrives he tells her to grab her sister and run, knowing that he will die facing those men alone but still understanding that whatever budding relationship they have, it will never come close to the responsibility she has for her sister.

It's the interest he takes in her job, reassuring her that is doesn't scare or disgust him, asking to help so she can show him how it's done, buying her hand cream so that she can continue working without hurting herself. It's the way that he sees her powerwalking across town followed by a gang of thugs and follows her, not to stop her, not to fight her battles for her, but to quietly step in at the very last moment to make sure that the conversation ends when she wanted it to.

It's how he immediately promised her to help her against her uncle in court and then followed through on it, almost exposing his identity for the sake of protecting her.

It's the way he writes an itemized receipt of everything the Song family owes her so that he can back her up the next time she has to ask them for her due.

It's the way the narrative constantly mirrors them, making Xie Zheng take his cues from her. We see her fight off people trying to steal her house; the next time they come he does the same. We see her tell Changning not to look; when he is forced to fight in front of her he does the same. We see her standing up for herself over and over again and rather than trying to fight her battles for her he simply stands to the side and gives her whatever support she might need.

even as the story progressed, i would register in the back of my mind that even if Changyu and Zheng go back, it will never be anything like it was before. they were forced to move forward and would never be able to even pretend to go back to their old lives because it was destroyed along with the massacre. You can rebuild homes, but you can't rebuild the lives lost. I can't lie to you chat, ep40. where Changyu came back and we saw everyone, including those who had been slaughtered welcoming her back? i sobbed gang. like i lost it when Man Di showed up, like, are you shitting me right now? how dare you pull at my heartstrings like this??

Why aren't you the Fan Changyu I know?