Elise:
I'm sad about that leaked script. I had a small hope it wasn't legit... all those moments Xiang Liu had with Xiao Yao just gone. For people who are only watching the drama and haven't read the novel, they may believe Xiao Yao only loved Jing. Some have to read between the lines to see it.
You know, I haven't read the novel (and probably won't ever read it), but it's really upsetting to see this butchering of the story. As a drama watcher, I really thought that Xiang Liu would eventually be the endgame. Everything was set up in such a way that the other dude never stood out in any aspect for me.
They even sing one of the songs together. The first kiss thing (ok, air-kiss, but whatever). I remember thinking that Jing was an interesting character back in episodes 2 or 3, with the whole saving thing and him getting better gradually, but the moment that XL showed up, I could swear the story would be completely different. Then I went for some spoilers and my world collapsed. To this day I cannot wrap my mind around this ending. People keep saying it's more memorable this way, that his epic death is what makes him so special. Not really. He can still be unforgettable even alive. That whole epic justification is nothing but a heavy dose of Copium being injected into our veins.
Even with the cuts and watering downs, XL is too much of everything to not be the endgame. It will never make sense to me. The whole "three things that he'll give to XY", his "I'm dying with my army bros", that's the biggest nonsense I've ever read. I know that Tong Hua has a flair for the dramatic, but it's just so infuriatingly absurd. Just go for the full-blown tragedy, kill everyone. I would be okay with XL dying if there was no Jing. The moment there's a Jing in this, then screw it, it's just plain terrible. The dude constantly needs others to safeguard his happy ending. Boo-hoo. Shame on me for not researching more about this novel in the first place.
Rant over.