Yesss, you are totally right, the denial is very strong in that ship (and I love it).

I don't know why it didn't occur to me to think of the romance as a parody when the rest of the book is already so satirical, but it makes total sense. Really neither of them understand who the other is, so that's going to be a fun for them as time goes on...

The thought that the only person with any knowledge of SY/SQQ's real personality is Shang Qinghua, who he hates, is both tragic and hilarious XD