Lets talk more on whether Shen An loves Song Ning or when did he fell for her. If Liu QiQi did not pretend to have saved his life, just like how it played out in the Hua Xu fantasy, when Shen An learned Song Ning saved his life and he is indebted to her, all his initial pleasant first impression of her would explode, blossoming, subliming instantaneously into love, and this pair would make quite a happily ever after couple. But because there is a Liu QiQi, everything is shifted. Imo, even before we know what love curtails, we have a certain frame of reference of a type in our mind, influenced by our upbringing, our education, our aesthetics. SongNing is clearly the type Shen An is attracted to: gorgeous as what drop dead gorgeousness should be defined, bold and brave to the point of scaring an army of men. The most unfortunate snag is Shen An is a guy obsessed with noble morality, his life’s responsibilities, on top of being clueless as to what love is about, he has made up his mind stubbornly what he has towards Liu QiQi is love. Since he married Song Ning, he has been mentally flagellating himself: never fall for Song Ning, can not cheat on QiQi. But Song Ning’s breathtaking beauty, her gallant tenacity, her headstrong stubbornness, every facet of her vivid character has been screaming at him, most attractively. He is in a tremendous inner turmoil, he wishes to sever any ties with Song Ning to prove his virtuous loyalty towards QiQi, but the last thing he wants is for Song Ning to hate him. Therefore, he is actually deeply emotional when Song Ning showed him any hint of care, even he would never show it on his stoic calm front, for instance, we can take a better look at his regard towards the mirror armor/护心镜.