Does Qi Rong "Deserve It?"
Before I dig into this, I want to explain context. This meta came about because of a few tweets and tiktok comments I saw recently that said Qi Rong deserves how he's treated by Xie Lian and Hua Cheng in canon, and I want to look at that, specifically pointing out the arguments I see people raise often; namely, that he deserves how he's treated because of all the atrocities he's committed. The atrocities listed are usually some combination of the four I talk about below: the carriage, Lang Qianqiu's family, cannibalism, and humiliating the main pair.
I want to look at all of these a little closer, with canon source quotes and my own experience with working with kids, to see if how he's treated is justifiable, or not.
1. Dragging Hong-er behind his carriage intending to kill him
The novel directly contradicts this and says that his intent was not to kill him. Vol 2, ch 26 shows Qi Rong saying explicitly that he "was careful," and that Hong-er "won't die."
If you don't trust Qi Rong's words, there's further proof. Despite the doctors being shocked by the fact that Hong-er is sitting as if uninjured, they further confirm that Hong-er's injuries will be healed without problem. While they are severe injuries, Hong-er was not injured grievously enough that he was going to die, which helps with believing Qi Rong's own words.
Now don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying Qi Rong shouldn't have consequences for what he did or that it was okay. He absolutely should have some kind of punishment for it! And he does get punished for it!
The first thing is he gets his carriage taken away, the object that allowed him to cause hurt in the first place. This is a great consequence, because of how much he hates it, on top of it being the thing he used to hurt. He is also to be confined to his room in solitary confinement for a month to "reflect."
Neither of these consequences will erase the hurt that's been caused, but nothing can. However, as the goal of consequences is to keep an unwanted behavior from repeating, both of these are actually very appropriate consequences for his actions. They keep him from being able to repeat the behavior, and if he had the correct tools to understand what he's reflecting on, he could do better in the future.
Unfortunately for Qi Rong, he doesn't have the tools to understand, and no one asks him why he did that or explains to him what he could have done differently. Since Qi Rong likely already has PTSD and has been spoiled and indulged in the palace after his father's abuse, when no one explains, he genuinely cannot understand what he did wrong, so he does not get better.
The point here though, is that he's already received a very fair consequence, even if he views it as unfair. Bringing it back up and punishing him later for it, repeatedly and violently, is not going to do any good, and actually will make him worse. It's the same reason you don't punish a child six hours after an action that needs correction, because they've moved on already and don't remember it or relate the consequence with the action.
(It's understandable why, I'm not talking at all about whether Hua Cheng is justified in his anger and hate for Qi Rong. I'm only talking about Qi Rong.)
2. Killing Lang Qianqiu's family was to hurt Xie Lian
Not even sure where this came from considering we know from Vol 2, ch 22 that Qi Rong didn't even know the identity of Fang Xin. He didn't know it was Xie Lian; none of his actions were even remotely done with Xie Lian in mind.
Killing the Yong'An royal family was revenge for Qi Rong, both for the fall of Xianle and subsequent treatment of Xianle citizens, and revenge against his father, who he hated. An eye for an eye. And Lang Qianqiu is entirely justified in seeking revenge for that, even expected to, cultural speaking.
Qi Rong does deserve to be punished by Lang Qianqiu.
He does not deserve to be punished by Hua Cheng or Xie Lian for this. The only one who deserves to punish him is Lang Qianqiu. The only one justified in deciding how to do that is Lang Qianqiu. Point blank.
3. Cannibalism (sub point - even the heavens think of him as gross, so it's justified)
Qi Rong is a ghost. I don't know why fandom seems to think cannibalism is unique to him only? This scene from Vol 2, ch 13 shows ghosts thoughts on eating humans pretty well.
Certainly, if Hua Cheng were against cannibalism in general, or if he thought ghosts deserved to be punished for cannibalism, he wouldn't allow it in his city. He's one of the most powerful ghosts, the ruler of the city, I don't believe that if he disliked it, he couldn't get rid of it.
So if he doesn't dislike it enough to get rid of it or punish any of the ghosts that live in Ghost City, why should he be allowed to punish Qi Rong for cannibalism? I don't understand why fandom thinks it's Hua Cheng or Xie Lian's right or duty to punish him for that.
Not only that, but even the heavens don't call him vulgar just for the cannibalism. They call him vulgar because they think of him as a copycat. They're proud, arrogant assholes who become gods based on their own actions (which is why Shi Qingxuan's ascension is a scandal and covered up). A copycat is classless.
They also call him vulgar for being loud and annoying and cursing. Basically, he has bad manners. How does that justify being beaten?
4. Repeatedly humiliating Hua Cheng/Xie Lian
I'm not even going to expand on this for long, but seriously?
Qi Rong is humiliated and talked down to constantly, for the laughs. But he does the same back and now being punched into the ground is justified?
Qi Rong is treated horribly in the novel, repeatedly and cruelly. It's vicious, vindictive, and not justified at all. I'm all for him having consequences for his actions and being held accountable for the shit he's done wrong, but these examples fandom uses are not it. They're just revenge gone too far.
The thing I think people don't realize about Qi Rong is that it's SO hard to see accurately how he's treated, because he's so often used as the comedic relief character. His dramatic reactions disguise the severity of his other people treat him. To me, that's what makes him so tragic and compelling as a character. It's not on purpose, but the use of him as a literary tool disguises so much of his actual treatment, just like it disguises his childhood and past by burying it in plain sight.
And that's part of why he's such a tragic and compelling character.
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