Well here comes the idea that's been rolling in my head for some time. I look into the character analyses on the internet and they are mostly accurate, even with the cognitive functions. Maomao is your typical INTP; Jinshi is ENFJ; Gaoshun ISXJ; Loulan ESFP; The Emperor and Granny ESTJ; Ah Duo ISTP; Basen ISTJ; Gyukyou ENFP; Lihua ISFP and so on. The community is fairly accurate for once. BUT of course there is something I must criticize: Lakan and Lahan.
The community is insistent that Lakan is ENTP and surely, he behaves like it if one doesn't delve deeper. He is weird, with no concern for others and a great strategist, with a few interests...except that these things are not exactly ENTP. To me, as an INTJ myself, he is a rarely accurate representation of a somewhat unhealthy INTJ. Lemme explain
In many instances, Maomao betrays some jealousy towards her father. She thinks that he figures things out intuitively but is too lazy to follow through and people say ah, lazy and no interest? That must be ENTP. Actually, it's INTJ. Isn't that the exact description of Ni anyway? You see things somehow and you feel that something is off. However, if you don't care for it, you won't follow the thread. An Entp, with Ti, would be more interested in getting to the root of it, if only for the mental exercise or the joy of proving sth to someone or themselves or even just to appear savvy. But not Lakan. When something doesn't interest him, he just "perceives" it, somewhere deep in his mind and moves on or delegates the task elsewhere. That's exactly how his thought process is usually described. Also he tells his mysterious stories that seem to be getting nowhere and making no point at all but all converge on one point. He is taking a very long, leisurely arc to get to his point, something I have been guilty of. Seems entirely unrelated but combining all of it, a certain truth usually comes out. Even his mastery of the games is tainted by his intuition. He is an excellent player but can be beaten by someone who plays with more 'reasoning' (Fengxian)
Now to Te: he sees people as go and shogi pieces. That's a very unique and subjective method and yet, every piece (and person) has a preset value based on an objective set of rules. High ranking people are more important pieces and less important ones are pawns. It's pretty straightforward and objective for a man of his disability. He just moves people on the board, saying himself that as soon as he knew where each piece should be places, all works out.
Tert Fi: He only follows threads he is interested in and that's Fengxian and Maomao, and of course putting every piece in the correct place. His world and morality centers on these very simple, highly personal principle/people. Nothing socially oriented about it. In fact, lemme derail a bit just to say that this man is absolutely Fe blind. he doesn't care what you think of him. He literally wiped his hands on a guy. An Fe user would be more effortlessly charming, even if tertiary. But he isn't. He comes and goes as he pleases, without regard whether anyone wants him to or not. He tells his mysterious stories that seem to be getting nowhere and making no point at all. When he visits Jinshi, he is trying to curate an image of himself, a misleading one that he cannot even hold up for a long time. His conversations with Jinshi remind me of my conversations with my friend, who is also Fe dom. It's amusing when you're blind in something and it's all the other person is. Also, the man is socially blind. He literally cannot see faces. Are we gonna ignore that?
inf Se: The man is clumsy and not aware of his surroundings. He falls multiple times, breaks his back when trying to rescue his daughter, is bothered by extreme visual stimuli, has certain physical fixations (no drinking, balsamic red). Sleeps and wakes in random places (same, man), bad with money (man literally doesn't care and when you don't, you don't. Also, same), behaves in physically erratic ways (the door incident)
Then why does he seem like an Entp? He is shadowing a bit but it's an odd look on him. Appearing relaxed when he is clearly not (referring to his convos with Jinshi)
A short piece on Lahan:
We didn't see much of him but based on the little we know, he is the true ENTP. He uses numbers (objective, right?) but he evaluates subjective things with it (appearances). He analyzes the data about the Shi clan and immediately comes to Jinshi with an offer because unlike his uncle, he knows money is important and they are running short. As for Lakan, he wouldnt bother with such analytics simply because he doesnt care for it. It's not his area of interest.
Also, the boy uses Fe. When he sees Lakan arguing with Jinshi, he immediately goes to summon the only person who can manage the social situation. I don't think he approves of Lakan's behaviour either, simply because it's socially counterproductive. However, Lakan, the Fi user, wouldn't care.
Anyway here are my ramblings. What do y'all think?