I had a eureka moment last night

So I was having a discussion with a friend on the traits that makes a story and characters shippable (which started as me complaining that my obsession with HSR is actually just a desperate want for some low brow period drama that has lots of political machinations and shippable hot men), then, long story short, we got to talking about Water Margins (水浒), and then got onto the subject of 卢俊义/燕青.

And then I was like: OMFG 燕青=彦卿!
(The two names are homophones.)

OK, that's the main gist, so let me explain 卢俊义/燕青 and how Water Margins probably infected an entire country of BL shippers with a specific BL kink:

( Ming Dynasty Queer Baiting )

So...kinks. Obviously there's master/servant, older man/younger boy, guardian/ward, teacher/student, possessiveness, literally marking his person, crying...so much crying...

But also, a very specific thing that I've noticed in HSR fandom is the desire for multiple social identities all mixed up into one love interest (this is a common thing that happens to Jing Yuan). I was actually a bit confused why that was such a common trope until last night and was like "Right...that ship."

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But man, 彦卿 is such a fucking downgrade from 燕青.