Character	Li Cheng Yin/ Gu Xiao Wu
Appearance	Goodbye My Princess
Media	Chinese Drama
Type	Yandere
Love Interest	Qu Xiao Feng

Li Cheng Yin is the 5th prince of the Li Dynasty. While he appears naïve and pure-hearted, it is shown that Li Cheng Yin is shrewd and manipulative. He is a man that is willing to do anything to achieve his goal.

SPOILERS AND PERSONAL OPINION

Li Cheng Yin first met Xiao Feng when he was seriously injured on his trip to Western Liang, and Xiao Feng saved his life. He later colluded with Gu Jian, Xiao Feng’s master, to exploit Xiao Feng and use her to infiltrate Dan Chi, the kingdom ruled by her grandfather.

During the process, Li Cheng Yin tried to befriend Xiao Feng and gain her trust. Xiao Feng lived a relatively sheltered life as the ninth princess of Western Liang, and was naïve and pure-hearted. Hence, she was easily tricked by Li Cheng Yin.

Through the time spent together, Li Cheng Yin fell for Xiao Feng, and Xiao Feng slowly began to reciprocate his feelings. This made it all the more painful for Li Cheng Yin, knowing full well the hurt Xiao Feng will have to bear later on as a result of his actions. Nevertheless, he still proposed marriage to Xiao Feng, and Xiao Feng, without knowing anything, agreed.

Li Cheng Yin succeeded in his plot. On the day of their marriage, armies arrived to corner Dan Chi’s troops, and ambushed them to score an easy victory. Xiao Feng’s close ones, relatives and fellow clan members all died due to the unexpected war. On the same night, Xiao Feng saw with her own eyes as Li Cheng Yin personally beheaded her grandfather to claim war merit. The mental suffering was too great for Xiao Feng to bear, as she realized that her letting Li Cheng Yin into Dan Chi was the cause of the calamity.

Xiao Feng tried to leave him, but as the ninth princess of Western Liang, she was required to marry the crown prince of Li Dynasty for political purposes. The original crown prince was recently assassinated, so the seat was left vacant. As Li Cheng Yin just got great merits from war, he would score greater chance to ascend as the next crown prince. Should he also succeed in escorting Xiao Feng to his country, he place as the crown prince will most likely be guaranteed. Knowing this, Li Cheng Yin conveniently went along with his supporters’ intent to keep Xiao Feng with them.

They kept Xiao Feng locked up in the tent, and even fed her drugs to weaken her and prevent her from escaping. Li Cheng Yin knew of this, but did nothing to stop Xiao Feng’s suffering. Ultimately, he just wanted to bring her back with him to Li. It was only when Gu Jian came and threaten to go all out against his soldiers and himself did Li Cheng Yin let Gu Jian take Xiao Feng away. He almost wanted to fight Gu Jian for it, and only stopped as Gu Jian was his cousin, and had also helped him tremendously along the way.

Even so, Li Cheng Yin’s subordinate, Pei Zhao, sent soldiers to keep a close watch on Xiao Feng at all times. And when Xiao Feng finally escaped back to the palace in Western Liang, she discovered that Li Cheng Yin’s supporters have drove her mother to commit suicide, and caused her father to go mad in a vicious attempt to force Xiao Feng to go with them for the political marriage. Not long after, she was forcefully captured and sent back to Li Cheng Yin again.

Luckily for Xiao Feng, her closest friend and skilled servant, Ah Du, managed to break into her residence and helped her escape. As Li Cheng Yin’s party realized this and chased up to them, Xiao Feng chanced upon the mythical Wang Chuan River, which is rumored to allow people to forget their sorrows.

Xiao Feng, who was already heartbroken beyond repair, felt relieved at her discovery. She wished to drown herself in the river. Li Cheng Yin quickly caught up to her, and threatened to bury her entire kingdom with her should she attempt to jump. Xiao Feng was unconvinced by his threat, so she proceeded to jump anyway. Ultimately, Li Cheng Yin ended up jumping into the river with her together.

Fortunately, Pei Zhao managed to rescue them and bring them back to Li. Due to the Wang Chuan River, both of them lost all memories related to their sufferings, and of each other.

Xiao Feng was brought back as the future crown princess, soon to be married to the future crown prince of Li. The massacre of her close ones and clan members were kept secret from her to prevent her from escaping the Li kingdom. Li Cheng Yin met her again as the 5th prince of Li, and the two slowly fell in love again, while those close to them who retained the memories of their past pretended that everything was fine for their sake.

Li Cheng Yin was later named the crown prince, which meant that Xiao Feng will be married to him. Both of them were initially happy about it, until Xiao Feng learned that Dan Chi had long been annihilated, and Li Cheng Yin was the one who led the invasion. Xiao Feng eventually chose to stay in Li out of her obligations as the ninth princess of Western Liang, to ensure peace between the two nations. However, this marked her hatred for Li Cheng Yin, and yet another beginning of their love-hate relationship.

Despite knowing Xiao Feng’s hatred for him, Li Cheng Yin still loved Xiao Feng, and was possessive of her on multiple occasions. He came to know of the close relationship between Xiao Feng and Gu Jian in the past, and was visibly upset about it. When he suspected that the relationship between Xiao Feng and Pei Zhao may be more than meets the eye, he pushed for a marriage between Pei Zhao and Luo Xi, the eighth princess of Li who had long adored Pei Zhao. Despite Pei Zhao clearly not bearing romantic feelings for Luo Xi, Pei Zhao was in no position to reject the marriage, and so the marriage went through. Now, Li Cheng Yin can have a peace of mind that Pei Zhao and Xiao Feng can never be a couple.

Later, Gu Jian saw an opportunity and took Xiao Feng away from Li Cheng Yin and the Li Kingdom, as he sensed that Xiao Feng had probably longed to return home to Western Liang. As Gu Jian knew of the heinous deeds Li Cheng Yin had did to Xiao Feng and her loved ones in the past, he became even more adamant to get her away from Li Cheng Yin. It also contributed that Gu Jian had always loved Xiao Feng, and wanted to protect her with everything he has.

When Li Cheng Yin witnessed Gu Jian’s action, he flew into pure rage, and demanded that Gu Jian return Xiao Feng immediately. Gu Jian refused. Although Xiao Feng initially sought to return to Li, she later admitted that she longed to return to Western Liang and went along with Gu Jian’s plan. This infuriated Li Cheng Yin even further, which prompted him to order his soldiers to bring Xiao Feng back by force if need to.

Xiao Feng and Gu Jian almost managed to escape Li and return to Western Liang, but was stopped by Li Cheng Yin purposely setting fire to the city, causing unrest and the rapid closure of their city gates. Xiao Feng was brought back by Li Cheng Yin, but at this point, she had already recovered the memories she had previously lost. Her desire to leave the palace grew even stronger; staying with Li Cheng Yin was beyond suffocating for her after knowing what he had done in the past.

At the same time, Gu Jian vowed to bring Xiao Feng back to Western Liang no matter what. This greatly angered Li Cheng Yin, and he no longer cared that Gu Jian was his cousin, the only remaining member of the Gu family bloodline. Worse, Li Cheng Yin misunderstood Xiao Feng and thought that she loved Gu Jian, when it was him that Xiao Feng loved all along. Li Cheng Yin now declares that he will make killing Gu Jian his priority.

Li Cheng Yin was true to his words, and in the most despicable way possible. He knew of the secret signal used between Xiao Feng and Gu Jian for communication: the whistling arrow. So, he stole Xiao Feng’s arrow and shoot it into the sky, and ordered the army to ambush Gu Jian when he arrived. Then, he brought Xiao Feng to the scene, and forced Xiao Feng to watch as dozens of arrow pierced through Gu Jian. Ah Du, who was protected by Gu Jian in his last moments, was stricken by grief, and subsequently suffered severe illness as a result.

Following this, Xiao Feng also entered depression and refused to eat or drink. All she does was to stay by Ah Du’s bedside, as she was all Xiao Feng has now. Li Cheng Yin could not stand to see Xiao Feng starve, so he threatened to remove Ah Du from Xiao Feng’s side forever should she miss even a single meal. This finally prompted Xiao Feng to force down a bowl of porridge in front of him.

When Ah Du had recovered, Xiao Feng confessed that she could not stand living in the palace with Li Cheng Yin anymore, and sought to kill Li Cheng Yin for all he had done to her and her loved ones before escaping to Western Liang. She set her plan into action, and indeed stabbed Li Cheng Yin, injuring him. However, despite all he had done, Xiao Feng could not bear to kill him. Li Cheng Yin, sensing Xiao Feng’s hatred for him, was heartbroken. However, he did not defend himself against her or blame her, and even in his delirious state during high fever as a result of the injury, he kept calling out for Xiao Feng.

Subsequently, Xiao Feng attempted to escape the palace and Li several times, with her last attempt finally in success. After convincing Pei Zhao to open the city gates, Ah Du managed to cross over before Li Cheng Yin arrived and ordered for swift reclosure of it. However, Xiao Feng was adamant on going pass no matter what, and would rather die than remain within the gates. So, she climbed up the city gate and jumped down the other side, ready to face death. Li Cheng Yin tried to stop her, and even attempted to jump with her had Pei Zhao not pull him back. Luckily, Xiao Feng was saved by Ah Du, who was waiting below the gates for Xiao Feng.

The heavy blow suffered by Li Cheng Yin due to the loss of Xiao Feng finally got to him, and he regained the memories of their past and understood why Xiao Feng’s hate for him was so great. Even so, he still wished to be together with Xiao Feng.

However, the departure of Xiao Feng from Li Kingdom also accelerated the tension between the two nations, which eventually led to an incoming war between the two nations. While Xiao Feng was not the direct cause of the war, she felt the guilt and responsibility for it. Seeing how neither going back with Li Cheng Yin nor staying in Western Liang was viable options for her, she decided to end her life in trade of stopping the war for peace for their citizens.

Li Cheng Yin was terribly distraught over her death, and even after many years as he ruled the Li Kingdom, he did not take in consorts, nor have any heirs despite becoming the new king of Li. Keeping Xiao Feng’s wish in mind, he ruled the kingdom well and ensured peace between nations during his reign. And when he resigned, he went to Western Liang in search for Xiao Feng. Delusional, he believed that Xiao Feng is alive and waiting for him in the desert plains.

As a yandere, Li Cheng Yin pass the evaluation with flying colors. But as the male lead, he is seriously too much of a scum for me to like. This guy really stooped too low on so many occasions. He is so cunning and manipulative, taking advantage of so many people who loved him to achieve his aims.

Let me just make a brief list of his bastardly deeds. First, he made use of Xiao Feng to lead him into Dan Chi, where her dearest family and friends resided. Then, he brought upon armies to wage war and ambush them, killing off her dearest grandpa, her uncle, friends, and clan members. He then insist on his marriage with Xiao Feng, for both personal and political reasons, forcing Xiao Feng against her will. Later, his subordinate drove Xiao Feng’s mother into suicide, and her father went mad. Even after they lost their memories, he still used her as a tool for political purposes on several occasions.

Towards Pei Zhao, he forced a political marriage on him despite Pei Zhao’s loyalty towards him, knowing full well that Pei Zhao did not want it. He killed Gu Jian in cold blood out of jealousy, even when Gu Jian had played a paramount role in his ascension towards the seat of Li Kingdom’s crown prince. He also made use of Zhao Se Se, who loved him whole-heartedly, only to end up throwing her away when her actions annoyed him. I could list even more, but you will have to watch the show yourself to feel just how despicable this guy is.

I think Li Cheng Yin truly loved Xiao Feng, but he was just too selfish, which ended up hurting everyone around them. Nevertheless, this show is more than just romance. Even if you come only for the yandere, you will stay gripped by the story. I recommend you watching the show. The male lead is a unique kind (of douchebag) that is rarely seen in any other shows, and the plot is also interesting on its own.