OK, I'm seriously baffled by genre categorization in the CN circles

Thing the first, there's this genre called 耽改剧, which is a riff on 耽美剧, and the closest translation I can think of is "queer bait" or "BL bait". The basic concept is that the TV show took an original BL/耽美 work, altered the romance into a censor-friendly relationship (usually friendship, brotherhood, or mentorship) and is populated by good looking male actors as the selling point.

So, 《陈情令》 is somehow classified as this, but from what I understand the canon gay was preserved? Or maybe I haven't watched far enough. But my understanding is that 《陈情令》 is a 耽美剧. So like...what is happening?

And even if the changes were big enough to qualify 《陈情令》 as 耽改, I'm baffled by why 《君子盟》 is classified similarly when the original work is explicitly not BL. One guy is married with a child, another guy is married with concubines and 3 children, and then there's the main character, who, OK, is a single guy but like...that does not a BL ship make. Plus the original author even explicitly labeled it as NO CP, aka there is no romantic main/subplots. (Not to mention the original work was a complete mess plotting-wise with really poorly written mystery arcs, so if anything the TV show improved that aspect of the story.)

On a more shallow point, the show casted very much average looking male actors, which goes against the general principle of 耽改剧, so like... What in the world is the CN circle bitching about? It was always meant to be a mystery series and never intended to pull in the BL audience. The fact that the series lends itself well to slash shipping is another matter altogether, but it's very clear that BL bait was never the intention of the production. The fact that the most popular ship in this fandom (both book and TV show) consists of two married dudes (who have kids on top of being married in the original work), says basically everything. (Again, I get why people ship the two male leads, but the fact that the emotional stakes of male lead x male support is the biggest slash ship really says everything.)

So, girls, no, the show is not baiting you. There was no bait. The bait is a lie. 《君子盟》 is a regular mystery series that has zero romantic subplot. I know it's rare to find a period drama devoid of romantic subplots these days, but like...it exists. It used to be more common, but ever since the 古偶 genre took over the period drama circles, it's become harder and harder to find one, but trust me, there is still a reasonable market for shows that avoid romance as a plot device altogether.