Fine, it's not like Shang Qinghua isn't used to this kind of ice queen act. But does he have to be exactly Shang Qinghua's type?? He could easily have written this character himself, the beautiful man with the broad shoulders and the total lack of facial expressions—oh. Wait. This is all ringing a bell too. A guy who never smiles, who wears robes like that, with a blue ribbon around his forehead—

"Lan Wangji!" he says aloud, snapping his fingers in recognition. "From Gusu Lan! You're"—Wei Wuxian's husband!—"Hanguang-jun." Mo Dao Zu Shi was not a direct competitor of Proud Immortal Demon Way, of course, but he'd have to have been living in a hole not to have heard of it. And not only was he not living in a hole when MDZS was published, he was a successful webnovel author!