Naír

I came away from reading the novel with the impression that Yan Wushi betrayal was also him wanting to ride himself off his nascent fondness towards Shen Qiao. I said outloud kid you not: “you idiot!! this isn’t how we ride ourselves of emotions!!” So it’s almost worse in a way; because he’s starting to care somewhat about Shen Qiao, he betrays him so brutally to San Jingxing, as if Yan Wushi is proving to himself he’s still able to do whatever it takes and putting himself first regardless of those pesky emotions.

I mean, it could be the english translation or that the previous moments/the road they took together to the city were filtered with Shen Qiao unaware PoV and his own fond feels for Yan Wushi but I got the impression the two were starting to get truly along for the first time, so Yan Wushi just. Tries to cut his own new attachement by making Shen Qiao die in a horrendous way by handing him over to San Jingxing. And then justifies it to himself by using his curiosity which had guided his interactions with Shen Qiao during their acquitance; not that it was feigned I bet he was curious legitimately about what Shen Qiao would do, but in this case it covered other things too.