“Feng Xin and Mu Qing only saw themselves as Xie Lian’s servants,” ok so there’s this thing that doesn’t really register in contemporary English because we no longer have the distinction, but Mu Qing rarely and Feng Xin never addresses Xie Lian with the formal “you” reserved for people you consider of a higher status than one’s own and, thus, deserving of more respect. However, what can be noted in English is the tone in which the duo speak to or about Xie Lian vs. how they speak to or about, say, Jun Wu or Guoshi Mei Nianqing. Mu Qing throws tantrums around Xie Lian. Feng Xin cusses around Xie Lian. Both of them joke with, tease, and even mock Xie Lian at different turns. Neither do that with anyone else they consider above their rank. Mu Qing won’t even talk back to Mei Nianqing after 800 years of being a god despite his former guoshi insulting him to his face, but he has no such issue with Xie Lian? Who he considered his boss??? Hm 😑
So to say that Mu Qing and Feng Xin only considered and treated Xie Lian as a(n unpleasant) boss they couldn’t wait to be rid of, you’d have to literally ignore how they interact with other characters they do consider their actual bosses. And then it would be real easy to understand why all three of them view the idiot duo’s actions during Xie Lian’s first banishment as a friendship betrayal and not just “seeking new employment.”
