insideout91:
I'm curious about this poster, it's moment from drama or just creative decision
In S1 Ep2 of the drama, they added a moment where YSQ used his bandaged hand to protect sleeping WXL from being burned by dripping candle wax through the night until the candle burnt out. That scene wasn't in the novel.
Perhaps this is meant to be a related metaphor - giving a visual representation of the extent to which XL endured pain in order to protect WXL / XY?
And in this case, perhaps the flame is meant to represent XY / her heartbeat / her life, which XL protected and kept burning? I'm reminded of her weakening heartbeat being compared to a flame that was about to go out in chapter 21.
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Chapter 21:
Xiao Yao felt that the last thing she saw before she died was a thick wall of cherry blossoms flying towards her. It wasn’t scary and instead was so beautiful!
Such dazzling cherry blossoms wrapped around her body like a cloud and after the sudden sharp pain, as the blood from her body quickly seeped out, everything turned numb.
She could vividly sense her heart slowly weakening, but just as it was about to stop, she heard another heart beating. It was strong and powerful, leading her heart so that it wouldn’t completely stop. It was like a sole flame in the palms of the hand, seemingly about to be extinguished at any moment, but still flickering weakly with life.
Xiao Yao felt that she heard Xiang Liu snarking at her: Just this and you’re going to give up?
Xiao Yao retorted back at him: What do you mean just this? If you’ve been poked so many holes in like a sieve, air passing through both top and bottom, even if I don’t want to give up I have to give up.
She really had no strength left, so that even the weak sole flame that was keeping her heart beating was too much to sustain. Even with another heart guiding her heart, still the heartbeat grew weaker.
Suddenly power coursed through her, unending streams of power that allowed the weak heartbeat to continue beating.
She couldn’t hear it, couldn’t see it, couldn’t even feel it, but she felt sad because the spiritual power was so sad and devastated. Even the power was crying and Xiao Yao couldn’t even imagine how heartbroken the owner of the spiritual power was.
Xiao Yao wanted to see who was so sad but didn’t have the strength. She could only follow the guidance of the other heart and slowly locked herself up. Just like a flower blooming, the reverse process was to return to being a bud, into a seed, back into the soil, laying in the Winter to wait for the Spring to arrive.
Xiao Yao couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, couldn’t feel, but she still felt unbearable.
It was like sleeping, except in real sleep one couldn’t feel the passing of time, but when one’s body was sleeping but the conscious wasn’t, then it was like being locked up in a coffin and buried into the ground. Conscious sleeping was so unbearable!
In the pitch black darkness, time had no beginning and no end, and everything became forever.
Xiao Yao didn’t know how long she had been in the darkness, and she didn’t know how much longer she needed to be there. She was trapped in forever, and Xiao Yao realized for the first time how scary forever was. Just like eating duck neck was a really enjoyable thing to do, but if eating duck neck became something she did forever without an end, then it’s not enjoyable at all and would instead be a truly scary torture.
In the unending darkness, Xiao Yao felt like a hundred years had passed. If her conscious could commit suicide, she would have killed herself. But she could do nothing other than stay like this forever. She started to hate the person who saved her.
One day Xiao Yao suddenly felt something, like a little bit of warmth entered her body from the outside. It slowly took away the icy cold and Xiao Yao greedily clung onto that warmth.
Every so often the warmth would flow into her. Even though the waiting was long, but the warmth always came so even the long wait wasn’t scary anymore.
The warmth entered her time and time again. She didn’t know how much time passed but her heart gradually got stronger. It was like the flickering sole flame had a cover placed over it, so even if the light wasn’t as bright at least the flame was no longer in danger of being extinguished.
One time as the warmth entered her, Xiao Yao felt another heart beating. Her heart soared as if she was encountering an old friend.
Xiao Yao wanted to laugh: Xiang Liu, is it you? I’ve healed you that many times, now it’s finally your turn to repay me.
Time and time again, Xiao Yao didn’t know how much time passed but she felt time was so slow!
In the unending darkness, every time Xiang Liu came to heal her became the only time she felt like she was still alive, because she felt another heart beating.
Not sure how much time passed but one day when the warmth was entering her body, Xiao Yao suddenly felt a sensation, she felt someone was embracing her.
It was strange, she couldn’t hear or see, and couldn’t even feel her own body, but perhaps because of the voodoo bug within and their two hearts were as one, she could vaguely sense his movements.
He seemed to be tenderly caressing her cheek, and then he fell asleep and didn’t move beside her. Xiao Yao was sleepy and fell asleep too.
When Xiao Yao woke up, Xiang Liu was no longer there.
Xiao Yao didn’t know how long she waited, perhaps just a few hours, but when she felt Xiang Liu again it was like he was coming home. He first touched her forehead and greeted her, and then later he laid down next to her.
He fell asleep again so Xiao Yao fell asleep again.
Because of Xiang Liu’s daily coming and going, Xiao Yao no longer felt frightened. Because it was no longer unending forever, she could sense time passing through him and could feel the changes.
Every twenty or thirty days Xiang Liu would heal her. When he was healing her, they ought to be very intimate because Xiao Yao could feel he was tightly embracing her. She could feel him from top to bottom. But during normal days Xiang Liu wouldn’t hold her, at most he could caress her forehead and cheeks.
More time passed and Xiao Yao guessed it was many years because Xiang Liu healed her so many times she lost count.
Gradually Xiao Yao felt more and more alert. When Xiang Liu was embracing her, she could feel his body heat, and could also clearly feel what the warmth was that was flowing into her body. It was Xiang Liu’s blood, and it was different than normal blood. It was scalding hot, and every drop felt like a little flame. Xiao Yao guessed it was Xiang Liu’s essential soul blood.
Xiang Liu fed her his essential soul blood, but because he was poisonous all over, even his blood was poisonous, so he needed to suck the poison out of Xiao Yao afterwards.
Xiao Yao had heard of a voodoo spell where a person could use their life in exchange for another. If Xiang Liu used his life to save hers, she hoped that he really had nine-lives because then if he gave her one it wouldn’t be too detrimental for him.