This is about the free-spirited highschooler who grew up with his artist mother (now deceased) in Switzerland, cared for but somewhat neglected, who is now living with his father (who his mother was only briefly together with) in China. His dad seems well-intentioned but is also a successful and highly busy bank owner.

The other character (I guess he's the MC, but MC/ML feels ambiguous at times in this, he's probably gong, at least, if we're going by usual stereotypes) is a slightly older boy from a remote "ethnic minority" who is excellent academically but grew up in an extremely undeveloped traditional community. The dad also built himself up from being a poor rural kid, so now sponsors lots of kids like these and this one in particular is scholastically talented and sincere and disadvantaged, so the dad brings him to the city to live with them and study at the same school as the son.

This MC guy is a type that I don't have objective problems with - he's devoted and thoughtful and considerate and sincere and hard working and selfless. But I'm finding also that he's a type I don't really enjoy reading, except in rare instances. He's big, he's tanned, he's rustic, he's naieve, he's socially awkward, he tends to be silent and reticent and slow to catch onto things in a fast-paced-highly-developed society, he tends to be somewhat rigid in principles etc.

Characters like these might grow and learn over the course of the whole story, but they spend a long time being s*upid and slow to catch into things, to adapt to socialising etc. They tend to stick determinedly to their modest ideas of what they should do and end up suffering or being looked down upon or not fitting in. And they tend to become blindly devoted to the MC/ML and end up being treated more like a pet than a human, being led around or manipulated or cared for by the other person except for when they're occasionally stubborn - in which case they'll be mulishly stubborn like a simpleton. Of course, they'll be smart or talented at some things, and if it's a good enough story the pair will both become smarter and more equal, but it will take a long time and often won't happen at all.

Even when it's an otherwise good story, I've become quite tired of this type and the way they get treated by the author. It's a bit tedious and un-fun to read.

I think a good example of this type of character, one where he's quiet and not quick and lively, devoted, hard-working, selfless etc. is the ML from... what's it called... First Love of The Male Lead's Rival? Something like that. Though a het novel. In that, right from the start, the MC not only values the ML's qualities, she even admires and trusts him - and the author writes him in a way that we do, too. He's not frustrating to read and although be mightn't be as impressive in terms of status and academic achievements, though he might be humble and self-effacing at times towards the MC, he's also shown to be very capable of understanding situations, making clear-headed and aware decisions, exerting his will with others, and achieving things on his own modest path that you feel may lead to great things over time.

The little snippet of Switzerland mentioned by reviewer above is glossed over by the author but honestly has no effect on the actual story. Maybe it's the phrasing of the translation as it seems to be edited mtl. The original sentence is less blunt albeit still questionable. Feels like the reviewer who was outraged was overly harsh in their review using "brainwashed" to describe people. Think it's just overwhelmingly narrow to not take into account the stereotypes that surround European countries like Switzerland from a perspective of someone who literally lives behind a firewall. Obviously author is not well-versed in whatever is going in Switzerland (as they are quite literally 1 in HDI for 2021) but to use brainwash really rubs me the wrong way.