I honestly feel like Jian Yi and Zhan are or they are toeing the line. Jian Yi not only called their outing a date but later is shown calling his plans for other outings with Zhans “dates.” Zhan doesn’t deny it and only blushes. They share a bed now and Zhan is more cuddly and okay with touching now. They’re toeing the line. Something with these two is definitely up. :V It doesn’t seem like plain friendship anymore.
well yeah ppl know it’s not plain friendship just like it isn’t with he tian and mo either, these boys all have feelings for each other but there is obviously something keeping them from moving forward (jian yi confessed but xi hasn’t and they don’t move forward and feel stagnant — tho that may be due to the fact that the author doesn’t focus on developing them more bc she likes the other two more and prefers to focus on them ~my faves he tian and lil mo~) (and then mo is aware of he tian’s feelings so there isn’t need of a confession from he tian and he likes he tian back too but his lack of trust in other ppl sorta prevented him from admitting his own feelings, although I think we can see here within the last few chapters that he tian and mo have definitely advanced a lot and little mo fully trusts him now.. he tian is the only one he has ever done this with which shows how special he tian is to him and mo blushes around him and didn’t shy away from the head kiss he tian gave, it’s clear he likes him back too etc.) but overall it may be that’s probably because the author doesn’t want the couples together until later when they’re older after the time skip. at the moment, they’re all sorta toeing that “it’s complicated” line where it’s hard to define their relationships but none are officially boyfriends yet.
They’re literally holding hands next chapter like a couple. It’s legit. There’s no platonic excuse for that.

so jian yi and zhan xixi are dating?