Su Xiangcheng—Chu Fei

Su Xiangcheng—Chu Fei is a cousin-like family relationship whose importance lies in its unstable border between kinship and desire. Chu Fei enters Su Xiangcheng and Su Qingrou’s life as the relative they have been missing, offering practical protection and openly treating them as sisters. At the same time, his interest in Su Xiangcheng is not merely familial: he calls Lu Xun an eyesore, admits that he likes Su Xiangcheng, and frames their future as a chase. The relationship therefore supplies both refuge and a new source of romantic conflict.

Kinship and Introduction

The relationship is established through Shen Yiyun’s explanation that she is the child adopted by Lu Xun’s uncle and Lu Xun’s cousin, while Chu Fei is presented as Su Xiangcheng’s legendary cousin. His arrival gives the family structure a new shape. Chu Fei spends an entire night caring for Su Qingrou and treats Su Xiangcheng with the same warmth, making his kinship visible through action rather than title alone.

For Su Xiangcheng and Su Qingrou, this matters because they have long depended primarily on one another. Chu Fei’s assurance that they should not shoulder difficulties alone, because they have him, becomes one of the most moving things either sister has heard from a relative besides their grandfather. Their bond changes from a two-person survival arrangement into a larger family alliance: the sisters now believe they have a brother who can stand beside them.

Protection and Family Solidarity

Chu Fei’s support is especially significant amid Su Qingrou’s vulnerability. When Su Xiangcheng sees the marks on Su Qingrou’s body and understands that Lin Yanche has harmed and confined her, the sisters’ private suffering becomes part of the wider family crisis. Chu Fei’s care for Su Qingrou and his promise of protection offer a counterforce to the coercion surrounding her.

The family role also appears in discussions of Su Qingrou’s proposed engagement to Jin Zhengnan. Su Qingrou explains that she and Jin Zhengnan may hold a preliminary engagement ceremony to serve the interests of their two companies. Her concern is whether Lin Yanche will interfere, but she answers that fear by invoking their brother. Chu Fei’s presence thus has a practical as well as emotional function: he strengthens the sisters’ confidence when marriage, corporate interests, and an old abusive relationship threaten to overwhelm them.

The Boundary Between Relative and Suitor

The relationship becomes more complicated when Su Xiangcheng asks whether Chu Fei will attend her wedding. He readily agrees to attend Su Qingrou’s engagement as her brother, but refuses to bless Su Xiangcheng’s marriage. His reason is severe: he does not want to watch her walk toward what he regards as a grave, and he later tells her that her husband is not worthy of her. The statement converts family concern into direct opposition to Lu Xun and makes Chu Fei’s judgment of Su Xiangcheng’s marriage unmistakable.

Chu Fei’s conduct toward Su Xiangcheng also carries a possessive tenderness that exceeds ordinary cousinly behavior. When she appears to be withdrawing from him, he asks whether she truly wants to hide far away from him, places a hand on her shoulder, and says that he likes talking with her and watching her. Su Xiangcheng answers with innocent denial, while Chu Fei is satisfied that she does not intend to escape him. The exchange presents closeness as both comfort and pressure: his affection is gentle in manner, but it expects continued access to her.

Chu Fei later states the difference between his relationship with Su Xiangcheng and the apparently similar relationship that once concealed another attachment. He points out that a woman may seem to be a close relative without any actual kinship, and says that he liked that woman greatly; in his view, Lu Xun is therefore an eyesore. He insists that he will not force a woman and is not eager simply to obtain her, because he prefers the process of pursuit and wants the chase to last. This declaration makes his position explicit. The cousin identity is not the whole relationship but a social boundary around an active romantic interest.

Recognition, Conflict, and Emotional Meaning

The kinship label remains important even when its limits are exposed. Su Xiangcheng repeatedly treats Chu Fei as a brother and expects him to participate in the family milestones that define belonging. Her serious request to invite him to her wedding reveals how much she values his recognition. When he hesitates, she worries that she may not count as his real sister, showing that the family bond is emotionally genuine from her perspective even though Chu Fei’s feelings complicate it.

The contrast is sharpened by Su Xiangcheng’s marriage to Lu Xun. In one intimate scene, Lu Xun tests whether she knows who he is, and she identifies him as her husband. That recognition reinforces the marital bond Chu Fei refuses to bless. Chu Fei’s opposition is consequently not an abstract preference: it places his protective and romantic claim against the existing marriage and against Lu Xun’s authority as Su Xiangcheng’s husband.

The relationship also operates through comparison with non-blood relatives. Lu Xun’s family explains Shen Yiyun’s presence through adoption and cousinship, while Chu Fei’s own language distinguishes a named relative from a blood relative and argues that a man and woman cannot be treated as harmless kin merely because they share a family title. The story repeatedly uses kinship terms as both genuine bonds and protective disguises. In Chu Fei’s case, the title offers entry into the sisters’ trust, while his pursuit exposes the desire that the title cannot contain.

Narrative Role and Development

Chu Fei’s relationship with Su Xiangcheng performs two opposing narrative tasks. It enlarges her support system after danger and isolation, particularly by giving her and Su Qingrou an ally who acts like a brother. Yet it also destabilizes the security that family language appears to promise. His care for the sisters is sincere in the evidence shown, but his preference for pursuing Su Xiangcheng means that protection cannot be separated cleanly from personal desire.

The resulting relationship is neither a simple sibling bond nor an ordinary romance. It is built from adopted and extended-family terminology, shared loyalty, corporate and marital pressures, and Chu Fei’s declared attraction. Su Xiangcheng receives from him the reassurance that she is not alone, while also facing his refusal to accept her marriage and his continuing wish to remain close. Chu Fei therefore embodies the story’s recurring tension between family status and emotional truth: a relative can become a brotherly protector in practice, yet the same relationship can turn into a contested space when affection crosses the boundary that kinship is meant to enforce.