#ji chong

You know, I’ve always been susceptible to Second Lead Syndrome, but Jesus fucking Christ, I think this is the ultimate example. Ji Chong just moved to the top of the SMLs-who-should-have-won list.

I’ll also announce the podium, because why not:

🥇 The Wolf - Ji Chong. Aka Li Juyao. Aka XIAO ZHAN. Undisputed king.

🥈 True Beauty - because Hwang. Fucking. In Youp.

🥉 Love Like The Galaxy (lol) - haters gonna hate, but I’m smitten with Li Yunrui and that smug, sexy elegance. Look, I love Wu Lei, too, but he’s in my Tier-2 rated husbands list. Tier-1 of all of my husbands deserves a separate post.

ANYWAY. Ji Chong is the definition of the syndrome. He’s a tease. He’s charming. He’s smart, he’s hot, he can fight and flirt at the same time, and he’s a PRINCE. And most importantly, he is so in love that he’d do literally anything for her. OH. MY. GOD.

Xiao Zhan, the man you are. (Yes, some of the yelling was a bit too theatre-kid but still better than 98% of men.)

So yes - THIS is the actual ending of The Wolf for me. Because wdym Zhaixing actually agrees to leave Ji Chong and goes back to Chu Youwen?

I really don’t care that Xing’er dies in the end (oops, spoiler - DEAL WITH IT) because she’s actually the worst. I mean… Prince Bo has been brutally humiliating her for episodes - yes, yes, for her own good, I’m sure there were no other options (🙄). And even when he’s the worst, she just stood there with her eternally sad eyes like, “but I LUV him, the puppy sad boy wolf angry kid”… BITCH, if a man calls you a prostitute, badmouths you every chance he’s got, ridicules you like every five second, giving you a leaf as a sunshade isn’t a redemption arc. Be serious.

Also, Darren Wang’s orange tan. I have questions. That was NOT his skin tone, and it distracted me from the tragic love story between the aggressive sad dog puppy wolfie boy and the spoiled (and honestly, kind of dim) princess. The only time I found Zhaixing tolerable was when she was around Ji Chong. That’s my foolproof metric for Second Lead Syndrome, thanks.

Anyway. Moral of the story?

Ji Chong deserved the girl, the crown, the ending, and a 16-episode spin-off where everyone worships the ground he walks on.

ChongYun [Ji Chong and Xie Yun]