The trope subversion is shown with Mei Lin and MRJH too. Mei Lin is the mostly the cold tsundere here and she cares for her man body and soul. Mei Lin actually does most of the direct killing. She protects her man after she knocks him out so he could sleep soundly. Many other examples :).
Here is the link in Other Topics for those who want to put in their thoughts about Episodes 1-4 and be able to return to it. The board moves so fast we often lose our interesting discussions! I have named the first four episodes Se Bu Liao (Can't Die), just like the flowers because I think it summarizes the characters for this first "phase." https://mydramalist.com/discussions/chun-hua-yan/131182-episodes-1-4-discussion
Continue watching… lol Yue Qin didn't kill them. Pretending to work with the Crown Prince gives him an advantage…
That's why I changed my mind earlier when he was playing go with the emperor and the emperor lost and said he (GreenTeaXiyan) was finally showing his true face. I knew then that he was indeed a planner/player but chose not to win...until he went delulu and want to win Mei Lin for himself.
I have named the first four episodes Se Bu Liao (Can't Die), just like the flowers because I think it summarizes the characters for this first "phase."
https://mydramalist.com/discussions/chun-hua-yan/131182-episodes-1-4-discussion