he really packed all his childhood trauma into a sword to carry on the will of his beloved god to save the common people, ascended to godhood through that selfless act, and then jumped back down on his own because he refused to be part of the same corrupt group of beings that tore down his beloved like. AND THEN he went on to become top bitch in the ghost realm after YEARS AND YEARS of fighting in a goddamn cave system just to become powerful enough protect his beloved god from everything and anything and anyone that could ever try to hurt him again. AND he learned to sculpt and created countless statues of his beloved god in that time too. like. come on now. that’s my beautiful son and i love him so much.
Gosh the way Hua Cheng treats Xie Lian is so lovely. Xie Lian is so used to being shamed and mocked and whispered about (directly) behind his back. The contrast where in Heaven all those officials were following right behind him gossiping and mocking. And then he goes to Ghost City, and the feared and respected king of the city calls him up publicly and gives him time and attention and respect. And the ghosts follow suit, because they adore their king, and anyone he calls "gege" must be worthy of their admiration too. Hua Cheng not only offers Xie Lian his own affection; he gives him a city's worth. Suddenly Xie Lian has a place where he's loved because Hua Cheng loves him, and it's such a warm and ridiculous and chaotic place, all rough edges and blood and laughter. The perfect place for a scrap god to call home.
(Also interesting how Jun Wu boots everyone out and then does his skeezy little affectionate gaslighting thing, while Hua Cheng guarantees all eyes are on him and then basically declares "this is my friend, he is to be treated well.")
"Do you think I have anything on me that's worth betting?" Xie Lian trusts his San Lang so much already. Leaving aside anything like "Muahaha you can bet your body," 😂 Hua Cheng knows about Rouye. That's a unique and interesting spiritual device/weapon that a ghost king might like to get his hands on.
Plus while I'm a little unsure as to whether he would know why it had so much value, characters like Hua Cheng tend to have a kind of magical sixth sense for what matters to a person. It goes along with the whole supernatural gambling den/spooky wish-granting shop thing. So I'm guessing he would also know that that bamboo hat has a lot of value to Xie Lian, if not intrinsic value. And very often in fantasy there tends to be some magical value associated with the things that matter most to someone. So really, Xie Lian has at least one and quite possibly two things which are worth betting and which he would not want to let go of. And yet Xie Lian opens the floor to Hua Cheng first, and it's only after Hua Cheng is all "You can bet whatever," that Xie Lian offers up the half-eaten bun.
(Hilarious, of course, that Xie Lian's like, "Um, I have some leftovers?" when we all know that of everything he could have offered, something that's recently had his own lips on it is the one thing that 100% has Hua Cheng crying and screaming on the inside lmao.)
Donghua animators sat down and decided to really emphasise Hua Cheng’s “Girl sitting on her bed kicking her feet in the air and writing Xie Cheng or Hua Lian in little love hearts” energy.