They both were mixed blood.

They both liked someone much older than them.

They both have inappropriate Relationship. One with his Shizun another with his Yifu. The former one is better than the latter.

One is all about "Shizun" and other is all about "Yifu". Everytime CG calls GY "Yifu" I end up remembering LBH.

They both have something inside them that they aren't able to control. Thank god, this didn't end up like SVSSS where uke sacrifice his ass to bring Seme under Control from exploding.

ㄟ (-᷄ ω -᷅) ㄏTheir level of shamelessness

How they can so seductive.

Good at flirting and impressing girls

They both carries flute and can use it against the enemy, although the way they use it is quite different.

And they both are so narcissist

Well, it's good that GY was not totally like WY. it's good that he found out about CG feeling pretty soon on his own, unlike my clown WY, making us wait almost until the end of the novel

like the guy, the small soilder, who died while protecting CG in watch tower. His death was so sad. Only his arms were left. He was only 15 at that time.

Spoiler.................................................

They also have a fight at some point that you don't often see in danmei, and it is- satisfying? There is love even in the way they argue, they know each other's weak points and never ever attack there. Gu Yun always pushes Chang Geng, who is significantly younger, to be a better person and value himself more. Even as equals, (and even him being the- well- the uke) he never stops being a father figure.

I can't help but love how wholesome it goes in the end. They grow old together but Gu Yun stays as beautiful as ever, just how he wished, even as his hair begins to grow silver. They both let go of some habits that upset the other, making a mutual and wordless understanding.

the thing that I don't really like it Book3. We got the war build up for 2 big ass books. We got the chilling war, the devastating state, I got goosebumps at some point.

but the following inner struggle court politics is very weak.

it wad okay if Priest want to spotlight on how smart Yan Wang is. I know Priest want to show us the Reform giant plot.

But to make someone smart they need to win real threat. here we got many easily solve politics. make one think that if the bad nobles are this s*upid why didn't they fall on their skirt faster?

i don't know... It fun to read but couldn't help feel boring to read similar situations through out the book. At last it does pick up a bit at the end of book3

In fact, one of my favorite scenes is that first New Years celebration in the capital. The city in lights, the red kites, the crowds, the colorful descriptions, the atmosphere. It was all brilliant. So perfectly executed.

Did the adoptive father\adopted son relationship give me issues? No. Well, not after the time jump at any rate. Once Chang Geng was older I was good. They spent so much time apart that - short of the yifu kink sprinkled in here and there - their relationship always felt lightyears away from an actual father/son relationship.

My favorite moments between them came from the added extras. Those scenes hit the hardest and made me feel the most. Especially Chang Geng's response to Gu Yun's letter. My heart ached for him. For both of them honestly because Gu Yun's reaction through the whole scene was pure gold. It was honest and raw and it made me hurt for him.

However, the line in the book when Chang Geng said he could no longer tell what was a lie and what was truth when it came from Gu Yun - I felt that. Every time Gu Yun lied to him, or kept the truth from him, I hurt. I understood Gu Yun's reasoning. I really did. But when you've told so many lies to the person you care about that they can no longer decipher real from fake - that's not healthy. That's not okay. And that Chang Geng simply went along with it because he knew in his heart that the man loved him, I can't say that was especially healthy either. But they both had their flaws. Chang Geng told his own lies and held back his own truths. Though never, I feel, to the extent that Gu Yun did. There's saving face and wanting to appear indestructible, and then there's simply not trusting your lover enough to know that they can take hearing the truth. Chang Geng, I think, in my heart, could have weathered more than Gu Yun believed he could. But I understand why Gu Yun felt he couldn't. Felt that neither of them could. And it breaks my heart a little.

Basically there was no father-son love at the beginning. ML has never known what the love of a father was like and consequently didn't know how to be a father either. He raised MC just the same way his father did to him: let him do whatever he wants and doesn't interfere with anything. ML's love for MC since the beginning has always been guarding and protection for the weaker and has nothing to do with the father-son love, thus, created a room for the romantic love to develop. As for the MC, he never loved the ML like a father/parent. He actually had a crush on him since they first met, even.