Tushan Jing and Xiao Yao, here's to a Happily Ever After

 AH :

And I felt like the added dialogue between TSJ and his astral fox in S2 Ep6 basically made that same point (showing that TSJ was being unselfish), but in a much more straightforward way (by actually having TSJ verbalize his thoughts) instead of just showing us that he didn't try to find XY.

Thanks again for the analysis - I'd never have the time or ability to do this myself! I'm quite ok with the added dialogue/scene in the drama because as you pointed, it just puts into words more plainly how I viewed the 15 year promise.

 soTreeD:

For the fans to say Jing forced her to promise - they can't see that it is his own promise to Xiaoliu. He didn't ask for to wait indefinitely for him. It is reasonable to set a deadline. In fact, he felt he needed 20 years but he thought it was too long and he cut it down himself.

When watching the scene in the Dragon Bone prison from S1, I always got the sense that this promise Jing has XY make is not really about tying her down to him but more of a reflection upon his self-doubting and insecurity. He's sure of his feelings for her, but he can't be sure at that moment if WXL/XY would fully accept him. And at that time he can't really guarantee either that he can resolve the engagement issue with FFYY. So the rational part of him understands all this, but his heart really wants to be with XY.

And sure enough, in the following 15 years (and more), he doesn't bring up that promise again in a way the says "hey, you broke your promise, etc" He sees XY go off to hang out with FFB, and he doesn't force her not to.

And so, in the novel, when he has FFB steal XY from the wedding, it is more to save her from a lifetime of unhappiness. I believe Jing tries to have FL break off the engagement, but that didn't work (unfortunately, this wasn't shown in the drama), so the next plan was FFB. And I agree with AH, after FFB leaves with XY, Jing doesn't try to find where they are. He seems surprised that XY came to look for him later on. Hence, I quite like the added dialogue, it shows more plainly that Jing is putting XY first, letting her decide (he thinks she's moved on as well). More importantly, it shows how his love for her has matured, that he is willing to let her go if that would make him happy.

 AH :

He still had it in chapter 20. But I wonder if maybe his limp might have been healed (fully or partly) thanks to one of XY's general treatments for his other health issues / injuries? Like the long-term prescriptions she gave him in chapter 33 or the life-saving pill she made for him in that chapter as well, which he ended up taking in chapter 42?

Awwww...thank you for this. 

After seeing Jing's wounds in EP2 in S1 and then Jing telling XY to leave his knee be in EP 28, it is always a niggling thought at the back of my head that he should get it fixed. LOL 

@Winny24
This was my guess, not proof, you didn't understand me at all, I didn't say that XY loves XL, and I personally think that XY loves TSJ. I just didn't understand how bugs work, based on their name "lovers" , that's all. 

So I asked those who figured out how bugs work to respond. 

Please be kinder to people. 

Thank you all for the answers!)

 ChunTian:

After seeing Jing's wounds in EP2 in S1 and then Jing telling XY to leave his knee be in EP 28, it is always a niggling thought at the back of my head that he should get it fixed. LOL 

In the novel, Pimply very sweetly gave up his 老婆本 ( money he saved up for marriage ) to ask Shiqi to get properly treated at a 'proper clinic' because they felt Xiaoliu's skills for bonesetting was no good LOL
At the time, Shiqi turned him down and said as long as Xiaoliu doesn't mind it, he doesn't mind. ( aaaw )
Too bad the drama didn't show this.

When they first reached Haoling, Xiaoliu mentioned that there should be good stuff in the palace that can cure his leg. ( pretty funny considering at that point, she was still pretending to be Xiaoliu but totally acting like that is her house to make such offers ) ... Later at the Chenrong mansion, she wanted to relook at it again and asked him if he wanted to fix it again, before they had their kiss when Jing confirmed she is not the one who minds his leg.

Even his father-in-law, the King of Haoling, mentioned later that he should get that leg fixed as well.

At the time, I think Tushan Jing felt that his inner wounds were still there, so it didn't matter about his outer wounds. Eventually, my guess is, once he is finally enjoying his happily ever after with Xiaoyao, he will fix it. It will be a nice way to show that he has been healed, both in spirit and now in body.

PS and I standby my fic that Jing needs to chase his naughty children down, so he will have to fix it sooner or later. heehee

 AH :

Although I think TSJ wouldn't want XY to choose to risk dying for his sake in either case. ^^

Exactly hahah Xiaoyao was being quite stubborn about it lol
A dead gf or a live one who received CPR from another man, I am sure Jing would never mind and always choose the live gf hahaha

But I think in the novel, after Xiaoyao became a woman/girl again, she became very 'hyper-vigilant' about the boundaries of the sexes, compared to how she was back when she was Wen Xiaoliu.

The two extra characters we never got to see in the drama, Bi Jun and Lie yang, were also there to show her new shyness about her new body and identity now. She hugged them out of joy but after she  remembered they have male bodies and its mentioned she felt shy doing it as well.

In addition, no matter how afraid she was of Xiangliu, she actually dared to voice out and no longer allow him to bite her neck. All these showed that Xiaoyao was determined that as a woman, she will maintain that boundary with other men except Tushan Jing.
 
In the novel, she was already hugging him by the waist on literally the first day they met again as man-woman... on the boat after their little tiff. When she said he was cunning, she was running her fingers through his hair, a very girlfriend move, which... probably not possible to do for the drama wig, and the drama team wanted to make drama ver of Xiaoyao seemed more frustrated than the novel version.
She is shown to be insecure, and I think she was worried if the reason Jing didn't want to kiss her, was because he didn't find her attractive enough. While poor Jing was dying to kiss her, but he thought she didn't like him enough...

So instead of the couple bugs/ love bugs that is full of messy legend and lore, just look at how Xiaoyao behaves and we will know who is her true love. 

English is not everyone's first language here in MDL and sometimes misunderstandings occur. It is good that it has been clarified. 

I will be the first one to vouch for the folks in this YaoJing thread as kind people. =)

 soTreeD:

In the novel, Pimply very sweetly gave up his 老婆本 ( money he saved up for marriage ) to ask Shiqi to get properly treated at a 'proper clinic' because they felt Xiaoliu's skills for bonesetting was no good LOL
At the time, Shiqi turned him down and said as long as Xiaoliu doesn't mind it, he doesn't mind. ( aaaw )
Too bad the drama didn't show this.

A very sweet moment.

 soTreeD:

The two extra characters we never got to see in the drama, Bi Jun and Lie yang

I was very sad that these two were excluded from the drama.

 soTreeD:

But I think in the novel, after Xiaoyao became a woman/girl again, she became very 'hyper-vigilant' about the boundaries of the sexes, compared to how she was back when she was Wen Xiaoliu.

The two extra characters we never got to see in the drama, Bi Jun and Lie yang, were also there to show her new shyness about her new body and identity now. She hugged them out of joy but after she  remembered they have male bodies and its mentioned she felt shy doing it as well.

In addition, no matter how afraid she was of Xiangliu, she actually dared to voice out and no longer allow him to bite her neck. All these showed that Xiaoyao was determined that as a woman, she will maintain that boundary with other men except Tushan Jing.
 
In the novel, she was already hugging him by the waist on literally the first day they met again as man-woman... on the boat after their little tiff. When she said he was cunning, she was running her fingers through his hair, a very girlfriend move, which... probably not possible to do for the drama wig, and the drama team wanted to make drama ver of Xiaoyao seemed more frustrated than the novel version.
She is shown to be insecure, and I think she was worried if the reason Jing didn't want to kiss her, was because he didn't find her attractive enough. While poor Jing was dying to kiss her, but he thought she didn't like him enough...

Hmm. I sort of agree and sort of disagree. 

XY was definitely mindful of the fact that she was in a woman's body after her transformation and she didn't act anywhere near as bold as WXL acted. 

And I agree that XY was comfortable being physically intimate with TSJ (but also blushing and nervous like a young woman in her first relationship too) in a way that was unique for him / not how she behaved with anyone else. 

But I'm not sure if I'd say she maintained a boundary with all men except TSJ. 

She didn't have any scruples about being physically close with CX in her new body (she used her body to shield him from FFB's arrow, she used her bodyweight to help calm him down during his detox period nights, and she held him as she hummed lullabies to him during the worst initial nights) even before CX was married (and there was still a chance that her childhood promise to marry him could be fulfilled). Although, of course, to XY CX was basically a family member and not someone she considered to be a serious marriage candidate even at that point, so he's probably in his own category and doesn't really count.

And before XY found out that FFB was XL, she allowed him to stand directly behind her and hold her hand to adjust her archery form during her archery lessons and she rode the same winged mount with him after the lesson. 

And when she found out that FFB was XL, she didn't allow him to bite her neck (where his bite would leave a very visible mark that looked like a hickey, which would be difficult to explain to CX and terrible for her reputation as a woman and a princess) and instead asked him to bite her wrist (where the mark could be more easily concealed) and allowed him to self-heal / sleep in her bed where she also slept. 

She even tightly embraced Left Ear the first time she met him when she tried to give him hope as a slave fighting in the death match arena. 

-----

Chapter 16:

After shooting a few successive arrows, Xiao Yao’s arrow was stronger than before but nowhere close to the big tree. Xiao Yao sighed. “Looks easy, hard to do.”

Fang Feng Bei walked in back of Xiao Yao and grabbed her hand, guiding it to follow his movements. “Body straight, senses calm, focused and relaxed, pushing forward and following behind, bow cocked arrow flying!” With the word “flying” the arrow flew out and solidly embedded in the tree.

“How does it feel?”

“Thinking of nothing, eyes not on the target, focused only on the arrow movement.”

“You have natural aptitude.”

Xiao Yao smiled wanly. It wasn’t that she had natural aptitude, it was that her body reacted the same way when Xiang Liu got close to her. She felt that he would bite down on her neck so her mind was blank. But if it was Xiang Liu, even if he was in cahoots with the Fang Feng family, there was no way the family archery skill would be passed to a Nine-headed demon.

Fang Feng Bei guided Xiao Yao to shoot another arrow. “Maintain this feeling and continue.”

Xiao Yao released another arrow which still didn’t hit the tree but got close. She really got interested and immediately released another arrow which struck the tree. She was incredulous “I hit it?”

Fang Feng Bei smiled and Xiao Yao grabbed another arrow and mimicked the sensation but it fell midway just like her first arrow. Fang Feng Bei said “You are too overeager.”

Xiao Yao didn’t believe it and wanted to try again but he stopped her. “This is enough for today.”

Xiao Yao didn’t understand. “I want to practice more.”

“If you practice more, you’ll get worse. The mistaken feeling will be repeated until you remember it. Trust me, things are better when one knows when to stop early.”

Xiao Yao put down the bow. “If you want to be a Master, your disciples will love you.”

Fang Feng Bei laughed. “Everyone is different, my method only works on the smart.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Fang Feng Bei vaulted on his winged horse and the two rode the horse slowly down the mountain. 

...

Xiao Yao took off her dog mask and smiled at the slave before suddenly tightly embracing him and whispering in his ear, “This world has something beautiful in it that is worth you remaining alive for.” She put on the mask again and walked back. The bloodied slave stared at her confused like he had no idea what just happened.

 AH :

Although, of course, to XY CX was basically a family member and not someone she considered to be a serious marriage candidate even at that point, so he's probably in his own category and doesn't really count.

Yes you are absolutely right! But with CX he was really the childhood sweetheart and she really had no boundaries with him because her trust with CX was determined by blood. There was a chapter where she told Jing that they ate together, slept together as children, and although its strange for me to accept that a grown up Xiaoyao still doesn't have that sense of boundaries with CX now that she has grown up, perhaps its just due to the fact she feels extra sorry that he was a 'total orphan' now and had no one left.

Hence when she was betrayed by him she 'felt like she was ripped apart and wished she could die immediately'. This was also a different reaction compared to when she lost her will to live when TSJ died, which was less extreme compared to this description. Yet we all know, her bond with CX to her was never romantic.

Not allowing Xiangliu to bite her neck and leaving a mark, is just her preference as a woman now.
Xiaoyao could have used spirit power to remove the mark and nobody would know. She just don't want XL to because that would be too intimate. She can make use of Fangfeng Bei to make Jing jealous for a reaction but she won't do things that will really make Jing sad or misunderstand. In the drama I like the little detail in Ep27 where Xiaoyao steps away from FFB when she saw Jing standing there.

I don't mean that Xiaoyao will never touch a man but she is still Xiaoyao. So there will be times she will just do warm and kind things like hug another be it a friend or a stranger or even fight to survive. When she thought she pissed off Xiangliu after 'disrespecting' him and stealing a look at his demon form, she used her entire body to wrestle him to prevent him for leaving her in anger and leaving her stranded once again. I didn't see that moment as romantic either. Especially not when she would ask him sadly after he had saw Jing, and even shared a wistful moment about how her last meeting with Jing was...

I don't want to blame Xiaoyao, but sometimes her closeness with CX might have fed into his deluded and possessive streak. Since he had always thought he was her number 1, he thought that as long as he waited long enough, she could come to love him romantically.
In the end what was innocent and sweet words from childhood 'We will be together forever' became a scary thing to promise anyone lol