Im making this based on a recent post on this sub, but the conversation always comes up of ppl asking if hua cheng is "xielan sexual" or whatever or insisting he's bi/pan cuz "he would still love xie lian if he were a woman" and as a gay man myself this conversation genuinely pisses me off and needs to stop happening. There are MANY obvious moments in the novel that show that he's gay and NOT ATTRACTED TO WOMEN, and I'm sure y'all are aware of them, hes's literally canonically gay so idk why ppl still try to deny it 💀 but despite that I'll address some of the very dumb points people make. Firstly, there is no reason why anyone should be making hypothetical situations where xie lian is a woman, HES A MAN, its a GAY DANMEI NOVEL, LEAVE IT AT THAT. nobody ever does this with straight novels so why do yall do it with gay ones, do yall seriously not see how problematic that is?? ALSO, gay men can be devoted and loyal to their boyfriends/husbands without being bi or pan, do yall think gay men irl don't actually love there partners cuz there not attracted to women??? Its giving "would you still love me if I were a worm?" trend, like yall need to be fr 😭. But sure, let's say that xie lian is a woman (cuz ppl just love forcing heterosexuality onto gay media); after getting rescued, I'm sure hua cheng could and would appreciate and admire xie lian the same, just not on a romantic level, it wouldn't make much of a difference cuz romance isn't the ultimate form of admiration and respect, this shouldn't be that difficult of a concept to grasp. These types of conversations are plainly homophobic and are always used to erase gay rep, and they imply harmful stereotypes abt gay men. Now obviously anyone can read danmei and bl, but PLEASE don't erase the gay representation or try to force heteronormative roles onto the characters. Hua Cheng and Xie lian are both men, they're both gay, and that's okay!!! it really pisses me off that I even have to say this

edit: it seems some of the xieliansexual ppl found this, and ill just add a few more points. Hua cheng only showing attraction to xie lian and no other men doesn't erase his gayness. Gay men can be devotedly in love with one man, they don't have to be attracted to multiple men to be gay. I have never been in love with a man and I'm still gay. Secondly he's canonically NOT interested in women and this is showed in volume two. He's in love with a man (xie lian is a man whether yall like it or not), and he's not attracted to women, this makes him NOT bi or pan 💀 it makes him gay. This obsession that some of you ppl have with wanting hua cheng to be attracted to women is genuinely strange and feels like borderline homophobia. He's gay, let it go. And his gayness and 0 attraction to women isn't something that's "up for interpretation" iff its literally canon