Hot take, will delete later: there are some CQL only stans who think drama version wwx is the most masculine wwx, which makes him superior to OG wwx (ooh sexism jumped out there). Now that is BS because OG wwx's arc is more about him unlearning his toxic masculinity

through his willingness to rely on lwj more. E.g. I was surprised to find out he PRETENDED to faint during the 2nd siege of the burial mounds (or... THE seiege at the burial mounds) just so that he could be held in lwj's arms (what a gremlin). Now in the drama, either because

nothing is subtle or because they really wanna drive home the angst ow wwx's character, he shows himself as way more vulnerable. He faints more, as much as your typical female lead in a Chinese period drama, he cries a lot more when one of OG wwx's main flaws is his unwillingness

to show too much vulnerability. He cries once in the whole novel, twice in the audio drama, instances when he is at his lowest point (I think he also cried once during sex but we're not going to count that). I also watched a Chinese review of CQL and it is mentioned that one

criticism is wwx acts "too feminine", the word used is "sajiao" which doesn't really have an english equivalent but basically he acts too coquettish sometimes. I would recommend giving a listen to the japanese dub of the audio drama, wwx is such a fuckboy in that.

This isn't to say I dislike the changes made in CQL, I really like them actually. wwx always striked me as a character who is a mixture of masculine and feminine traits, to say there is one "correct" version of wwx is impossible at this point and it basically boils down to taste.

Typing this thread made me rewatch this review again, I recommend it it's hilarious. I looked up the word used to be sure and yep, it's 撒娇 which is quite gendered afaik. In my culture we have a word for it too and while men can 撒娇