She is a cunning cold hearted woman, but smarter than the rest of the Gu Clan (save Jizhao). I don't think it…
It's simply different degrees of selfishness and calculating how many benefits they can take. FL's father is the same way as we saw in the very first episode. So I'd say it's Madam Gu's Very Good way of raising her children and grandchildren that has infected the whole Gu Clan like rot.
Ep.24: I really dislike the type of character who forces their feelings on others and think it's cute. In the past this used to be a male character but now they made it into a female one.
Fandom veterans can ship anything and anyone!