Li Boze and Murong Qingyi Parallels
I'm actually in awe of how the tragedy of Li Boze unfolded - despite him being one of the more functional ppl in the show, the Murong/Li drama has bent his character, too, but in a different way, compared to other Murong brothers.
He's the other side of Qingyi, quite literally. Whereas the first one got the abuse and his hinges removed early on, Li Boze got molded into a Good Boi - mostly by the illusion of normalcy he wanted to protect so much, not belonging to any one family in particular (just like Qingyi). It's just that the little brother MRQY got all the abuse and blame and bad attitude (one side of the polarity), and Boze got the other side (the love and support and whatever good stuff they could give to him).
Both, as I understand, were sent to study abroad at some point, escaping the hot mess of their families altogether, and would have probably done better if they didn't have to return. We know a lot oabout MRQY and his unhealthy tendencies to earn love, seek love, and when he's betrayed continuously - to have a breakdown that often turns into self-harm and some grand sacrificial gestures (as always, aimed at the ppl that either harmed him or he wanted to please in some way, even unconsciously).
Well, isn't our bro Li Boze pretty much the same? It's just taken him longer to understand the scope of his own damage and the ways of his two pretty wicked and broken households that he was sorta protected from for different reasons. It was still unhealthy by the very notion of what happened to these two kids right after birth, changing their lives forever as they were swapped.
And what does he do when the truth unfolds and he finally sees (in relation to him now, and not Qingyi) the 'true faces' of da'ge, the Murongs, the who did what and chose whom to kill. He was pretty much brainwashed by da'ge and Mama Murong into believing that family comes first, even if it's a hellish one. And he put it on himself to become a bridge between the two, which never worked, and never would - because both families were too damaged, did a shitton of bad stuff to their members, and it's never about one 'kid who can save his parents', and we all know that that's impossible.
When 'parents divorce', or in this case, two families reach a certain undoable falling out after da'ge's decision to kill Papa Li, there's nothing anyone can do. But our Good Boi still tries, believing in whatever illusion of a 'good family' that he was brainwashed into - but also, because he didn't know the horror sides of these two fams, either choosing to ignore them to maintain his illusion, or really being a naive child till the very end, when he could no longer be one and had to step up.
So, then da'ge 'betrays him', in a way, destroying his world much like Qingyi's was destroyed after the betrayal and fake death of Ren Susu, and Li Boze retaliates in a truly Murong-esque fashion, with self-sacrifice and murder therapy that might have helped if only he didn't end his life so abruptly 'for the greater good' - and wasn't it the same reason for Qingyi who threw himself into helping RSS and her vengeful agenda once he had the chance?
I think, if he didn't die, there could be a sorta healing curve for him, much like for Qingyi, where he'd live through his broken illusion and would find a way to live a life for himself (which da'ge could never do, and Qingyi sorta tried to do when he severed his ties with the Murong fam). In the end, he was truly the brother of his da'ge and didi, and ended up exactly like his Papa Li, finally filling up the gap between the two families and becoming the bridge that connected them - albeit posthumously.
Boze was torn between and by two families, which didn't want to let him go, whereas Qingyi was rejected by two families, none of which wanted to have him.
In retrospect, I find Boze's character very fascinating, too, and the parallels between him and Qingyi are truly chef's kiss :D
