The most important thing about hualian is that they were always going to be in each other’s lives and like each other to some capacity. It’s not that Hua Cheng waited and searched for Xie Lian because he was pining for some long-lost prince he'd once seen.
He’s looking for the kind soul that made him eat so he wouldn’t die. He’s looking for the older soldier he protected during a hard fight, who told him he wanted this kid to train under him. He’s looking for the man who got drunk and spilt his sorrows to a ghost fire and talked to him like he was a person. He’s looking for his fellow war orphan, who was self-destructive and suicidal when he last saw him. He’s looking for his general, whom he followed into a ghost rage. Xie Lian is all of these things to Hua Cheng, and more importantly, Hua Cheng is all these things to Xie Lian.
He never forgot that kid he wanted to protect, that young soldier he wanted to train. He remembers the devoted ghost fire fondly, and Wu Ming is the wound on Xie Lian’s soul that never healed. They were always thinking about each other. They always cared for each other to some capacity. They like each other. They are friends. Like, yes, greatest love story ever told, he looked for him forever, but Xie Lian had no idea!! Like, if Xie Lian had known Wu Ming lived, he would have looked for him, too.
They care for each other so much, they really do. Xie Lian isn’t like a prize to be gained for waiting; he’s his long-lost friend, whom he’s met again, and they are reuniting. It’s beautiful. They are beautiful.
