Love You Forever, Xiang Liu.

Xiang Liu is such a tragic character.

I found this really good quote on Tumblr.

"yes yes characters doomed by the narrative always slap BUT what about characters saved by the narrative? characters who have already given up hope and don't know they have a happy ending? characters who believe they are a lost cause, characters who feel irredeemable, characters who think there's nothing left for them, but the narrative does provide a way out? what about the characters who don't expect anything good, who don't even remember how to wish for it anymore, who get the things they need anyway? what about the characters who actively run from being saved getting saved in a way they can't stop or control. what about being saved by the narrative!!!"

I wish the narrative provided XL a way out.... 😭😭😭

 Elise:

"yes yes characters doomed by the narrative always slap BUT what about characters saved by the narrative? characters who have already given up hope and don't know they have a happy ending? characters who believe they are a lost cause, characters who feel irredeemable, characters who think there's nothing left for them, but the narrative does provide a way out? what about the characters who don't expect anything good, who don't even remember how to wish for it anymore, who get the things they need anyway? what about the characters who actively run from being saved getting saved in a way they can't stop or control. what about being saved by the narrative!!!"

So much this!!

It's what I wrote on the other thread, based on a Redditor's comment. It's such a cliché to have the good guy get a happy ending. But the doomed ones? That's so refreshing.

Imagine waking up to this every morning:

 nathsketch:

and they did. Pororo made another happy ending YaoLiu video 💞

"Xiang Liu cooks? Xiaoyao gave birth to a daughter? YaoLiu was buried together? The love story of Northeast Wilderness is here!" 

Pororo's edits are always gold ahahaha.

Kokuto, where are you?

 Elise:

lol

Yeah, I was thinking about this.

When I first joined MDL, my intention was to engage more in the XL thread.

Time to do this here :)

Leaked Script:

liddi

17 days ago

This is based on what I quickly read so far from the leaked script. Haven't read everything yet - I picked and chose episodes that I was most interested in.

Things retained:

• the questions Xiang Liu asked Xiao Yao when he probed her mind, her refusal to answer that final question and her plaintive question to him
• Xiao Yao sending Xiang Liu the ice crystal ball, and waiting for him in vain by the sea for him to come

Things changed:

• Cang Xuan colluding with Hou to kill Jing is just a product of a illusion created by his grandfather, to remind him of the consequences should he give in to his inner desires and kills Jing over Xiao Yao
• Xiao Yao's hair apparently turned white after Jing's death, but was restored in the end
• Xiao Yao never sees Xiang Liu's true form, and by extension her clinging on to Xiang Liu afterwards because the assassination attempt was omitted.
• After Xiao Yao passed out due to extensive loss of blood extracted by Xiang Liu, he kissed her wrists to heal the wounds and held her unconscious form in his arms in grief
• A Nian brought the unconscious Xiao Yao to Jade Mountain at Xiang Liu's request, with the knowledge of the Royal Mother. Xiang Liu later extracts an oath from her never to reveal anything to Xiao Yao
• Xiang Liu's true form appears when he destroys the bug - 8 heads at first (because he lost one life saving her after the Plum Forest assassination). We do see how indeed each head is tied to each life, when he killed one life to lure out the bug, and sacrificed two more lives to finally kill it
• The copious amount of blood he took from Xiao Yao was not to save Jing, but for Xiao Yao to recover after he forcibly lured the lover's bug out of her and killed it
• A Nian was grieved when the clam shell disintegrated in a sudden snow fall, leaving no trace of Xiang Liu ever being there
• Jing survives not because Xiang Liu saved him, but of Xiao Yao's blood pill and him using a puppet which took the arrow during the attack. He was trapped in an underground cave, and would not have survived if he had not taken Xiao Yao's pill to regain his strength and clawed his way out
• Xiao Yao found out about Xiang Liu's death before the wedding. This time the scene ends with the song she sang to lure Fei Fei
• A Nian's sadness while giving the big bellied doll to Xiao Yao, reminding her specifically to bring it with her wherever she goes, so that a part of Xiang Liu is forever with her, even if she doesn't know it 
• Xiao Yao and Jing leave for Qingshui town after their wedding, instead of going to the ocean to settle down in one of the many uncharted islands

Things I like:

•  We get to see Xiang Liu's POV, his heartache when he pushes her away; upset when he felt Xiao Yao and Jing kissing passionately, which also confirms that he feels her every emotion; how he treasures the tear pearl, even to his very last breath.  
• We hear his thoughts, which explains why he does the things he does
• We get scenes of the Chenrong army as they prepare for the final battle to the last man, despite Hong Jiang (Gong Gong) giving them permission to leave without fear of dishonour. 
• His final stand, even after he dies which has me tearing up just reading it

Things that are questionable:

• By taking Xiang Liu's role of saving Jing out of the picture, it makes no sense how he could have thought it possible to ensure Xiao Yao has someone to rely on for life. Unless it is explained in the sections I skipped, this doesn't sound very plausible, and is regrettable that they would sacrifice logic just to allow Jing to have a more active role in his survival and subsequent return back to her
• Her not settling down at the ocean, but at Qingshui town negates all that Xiang Liu prepared to enable her to always have a place to go, including preparing the map of the sea for her. Unless they are planning to go down the route of she will always be able to breathe under the ocean and retreat there whenever it suits her, the script effectively demolishes 2 out of the 3 things Xiang Liu sacrificed to prepare for her

I might add on or amend this list after I get the chance to read it properly. Either way, the changes do not  appear as bad as I initially feared and I look forward to see how the final version plays out.