People tend to forget Cheng Xiaoshi's quick temper.

(If someone posts this on tumblr and credits me @anulithots, I'll be forever grateful)

This is a slight nitpick. Otherwise, I think the Link Click fandom is utter perfection. (It's been so much fun; we just like to make each other suffer).

But Cheng Xiaoshi - while being highly empathetic - also has a quick temper that fades just as quickly depending on the person. (Mutli-faceted, much nuance, his hyper-empathy and his quick anger are one in the same.)

It's most obvious in the first episode with Emma's dive (Emma's own dampened annoyances and Cheng Xiaoshi also not liking her current life definitely play into this.).

With those he knows - like Lu Guang and Xu Shanshan and Qiao Ling - he's overdramatic and silly about it. He'd much rather insult himself than those he cares about. (As seen in the chibi short where the master - forget his name - wants Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi to fight each other.)

The joint annoyance is so funny. Cheng XIaoshi and Emma would've been great friends. writes it into my forever WIP fanfic to cope

I might be slightly projecting here - I'm also using the auDHD headcannon because BY THE STARS, there's so much evidence that he's neurodivergent - but I think he often acts overdramatic with people he cares about because he's siphoning the energy. He'll snap at people otherwise. With Lu Guang, he seems to be okay with bickering. Lu Guang will proceed to tease him later.

(Listen, on the ninth rewatch it becomes so obvious that Lu Guang is constantly teasing Cheng Xiaoshi)

Okay... well the manhwa makes it more obvious but STILL.

(*proceeds to loudly slurp up noodles to a very hungry Cheng Xiaoshi*)

Cheng Xiaoshi tends to make quick deductions about other people's moral quality (he initially blames Lin Zhen for the whole noodle situation before getting to know her and wondering why Yu Xia doesn't like her. He also despises Liu Min and the 'Aunt' that stole Doudou pretty much immediately), which allows him to completely write them off as bad people. (Both the noodle lady episode and the whole Li Tianchen/Li Tianxi incident showed that he's not stubborn in his beliefs though. He'll quickly adjust to new information, especially when his empathy is involved.)

All this is to say - Cheng Xiaoshi's quick anger and quick empathy are two sides of the same coin, strong in the moment, quicker to fade with new information, differing depending who he's with and LKDJFlkSDJf.

THIS LINE

I could've worded this better but the way Cheng Xiaoshi's kindness and anger are the same thing and manifest in differing manners make way for so many complexities. Time to go crazy about this for the next five hours.

Thanks so much for reading! (Seriously, it means a lot. I'm currently working on this longer analysis on Cheng Xiaoshi's arc throughout season one, so if you're interested, feel free to subscribe to the email list. It'll give you updates when new posts release and stops this silly little site from fading into obscurity <3)