Yeah, the characters for Qingdi say "green (or azure/blue and sometimes black I think) emperor" but I'm pretty sure in English we would just say "green" because of his dominion over plants and gardens, right? And qing di said out loud is a homophone for 'love rival' which is honestly pretty hilarious.
Lol, "love rival" hahaha, really? I thought Qingdi was overprotective of lil' flower because he saw him as his adoptive child (since lil' flower kinda looked like a baby back when Qingdi tried to stop Ao Gu from going inside some room and interrupting Lil' flower's cultivation). But maybe Lil' flower had also been an adult who'd been turned into a child, like AoAo once was, for whatever reason...
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Qingdi does seem almost parental, right? I think the 'love rival' thing is meant as a joke, and I'm like... 95% convinced by their interactions that Qingdi is Grandpa's brother or some other relative, but I'm not *totally* sure. Going by the theme of brotherly love in the story, their being brothers would make sense. But then, tragically separated lovers or an awkward father-son relationship would also make sense in this narrative. I believe you're right about Li'l Flower having been an adult previously--it really looks like he was actually a god who 'fell' for some reason, doesn't it? At this point, my guess would be, he died in the battle with the previous demon king? Or maybe he did something really naughty and got flung out of heaven? The latter option is pretty exciting but I can't imagine what that sweet Li'l Flower could have done wrong!
And then Qingdi--who possibly has just as big of a Brother Complex as Ao Gu (LOL)--brought Li'l Flower/Hosta God back to life, or back from the brink of death, at the cost of a heck of a lot of chi and maybe even a heavenly punishment, to grow up again in a little jade pot in his bedroom. That could explain why Li'l Flower 'smells' so much like Qingdi--he's literally made out of Qingdi. As we've seen, a brother can be just as much a hindrance to one's love life as any other more obvious rival, heh. I am pretty sure Qingdi would position himself squarely between Li'l Flower and any, say, big doofy dragons who come sniffing around. After seeing the wreck Ao Gu made of Dr. Sun's garden, I can't say as I blame him for being protective. He lost track of Li'l Flower for a while and when he finds him he's even knocked up?? The outrage. (≧∀≦)
I'm dying to know how Li'l Flower ended up flower-napped and dumped in the wilderness. Did Ao Gu steal him and then (with heavenly intervention) forget all about him? Or did Qingdi enlist Dr. Sun's help to secret the wee fairy somewhere safe from prying eyes? Was it a plot involving half the cast?? Haha I just can't guess.
So, Lord Qingdi = Azure emperor?
Aw, Ao Gu's really cute, doing everything he can to stay beside little flower and help him. Poor guy, had it bad already with his lil' bro's problems and now also with his beloved.