AlexBBB:
Good thinking!!! I didn't think about the waiting part:)
That's what I've always believed, that their admiration for each other started very much early. The waiting part is an important clue to Lan Zhan's feelings towards Wei Ying. Lan Zhan always sleeps by 9:00 pm promptly. But by the time Wei Ying returned with his liquor, it's way passed the curfew time (that's why he broke the ground rule), and yet Lan Zhan was still up, waiting there. Why was he up, if not for Wei Ying? But he could have had someone else catch Wei Ying instead of himself. Why didn't he? I've always felt that Lan Zhan was interested in Wei Ying from the very beginning, and so was Wei Ying for Lan Zhan. Look at how Wei Ying treated other boys as compared to how he treated Lan Zhan during their studies at the Cloud Recess. There's a huge difference. With Lan Zhan, he was tender. With other boys he was like, er, another boy, doing boys' stuff like roughing each other up. And then, when Wei Ying was back to the Lotus Cove, on his headboard for his bed, he has a carving of himself and Lan Zhan. The taller figure has to be Lan Zhan.