Okay, that was ... emotional. NGL. It's also how I know I would react, to having to feel your love kissing someone else.
That said, here's my water bucket on that scene.
It makes no sense within the set up of the PLB. The initial premise of the PLB is women gave it to their lovers to make sure they stayed true and didn't cheat on them. If the lover did cheat, it turned into the Poisonous Heart Break Bug and could kill them both. XL knows this.
In fact, I surmise that scene way back in Episode 19 or 20, when XY rejected him and he left her to swim back to Dragon Bone Prison and Jing was STILL waiting there, and XL saw Jing carrying XY away. In that scene we see the PLB acting up, and XL forcing it to settle down. I think that was a moment, much like this one, where he felt his love turning to jealousy and heart break. But realizing what was happening, he controlled himself, remembered his feeling of true and pure love, and with spiritual power, forced the Heartbreak Bug to stay the Love Bug.
This scene, as emotional as it is, can't occur, without the PLB acting up again and becoming the Heartbreak Bug.
Also, this doesn't quite sound like XL to me. But more on that later.
I don't know, maybe because în the novel I didn't feel like Jing is stalker-like on purpose and I honestly had sympathy for him, but in the drama, I not only see him as a stalker, but also as a control freak. The added scenes also doesn't help, în the novel I felt as if he aknowledged and respected XL-XY relationship, hence he even thanked XL for comforting XY, but in the drama I kinda see him as controling. XY too, if this is the final script, she has lost all my sympathy. Hence, I can't even have much sympathy for XL either, where îs his dignity???
liddi:To be honest, my mood has been sinking since I properly started translating the script, seeing my hopes gradually slipping away.
</3
liddi:It didn't help that the Xiao Yao of the drama feels more distant than the Xiao Yao of the novel.
Yes I felt so too.
liddi:I still balk at how Fangfeng Bei was made to look as if he was begging for crumbs when he sought refuge in her chambers.
Yes. The changes seemed minor but they really changed the tone.
liddi:I already did not like that Xiang Liu threw the wine bottle in anger after realising Xiao Liu's identity
Same. That's one of the scenes I was thinking of specifically.
liddi:I also concur that the difficulty might be in the medium - it is one thing to read the vivid, searing descriptions, but another thing altogether when it is a visual experience, especially when he has so few lines as it is.
liddi:However, I am not sure how else they could have portrayed his internal anguish in situations we already know he must go through.
I think it would be possible, but it would require very good, nuanced acting, careful directing, and very intentional, tailored music choices and editing. And the writers would have to trust the actor, director and music editor to convey their intentions properly.
liddi:My only hope is that the direction and delivery is nuanced enough that we see suffering rather than petulance.
Yes, precisely.
AH :I don't remember how their conversation went in the drama, but in the novel XY was confused by ZX's words and distracted by his invitation to come drink with ZX at his wine shop sometime. His words definitely didn't help her realize that a person with the bug in them might be able to feel her kissing another person.
That's sad she couldn't understand what ZX was trying to say. She knows XL can feel her physical pain and heartache but she can't guess that he can feel the physical intimacy too.
btw the episode with CX and XY is here. I set the timestamp to when he talks to her about him feeling the bite and for her to restrain her desires: https://youtu.be/1pMvcY6-5gE?si=fAkcAhneQ2Vpo8_E&t=1575
Thank you for your work translating so much for us.
I have a question about the format, however. Does it actually have those signifiers of emotion and tone, like (nervously)? Does it have location and stage direction or camera shot direction? And is the stuff in blue, like a block of text complete with descriptions of emotions?
Did the leak script you are translating from look something like this:
Kokuto:It makes no sense within the set up of the PLB. The initial premise of the PLB is women gave it to their lovers to make sure they stayed true and didn't cheat on them. If the lover did cheat, it turned into the Poisonous Heart Break Bug and could kill them both. XL knows this.
In fact, I surmise that scene way back in Episode 19 or 20, when XY rejected him and he left her to swim back to Dragon Bone Prison and Jing was STILL waiting there, and XL saw Jing carrying XY away. In that scene we see the PLB acting up, and XL forcing it to settle down. I think that was a moment, much like this one, where he felt his love turning to jealousy and heart break. But realizing what was happening, he controlled himself, remembered his feeling of true and pure love, and with spiritual power, forced the Heartbreak Bug to stay the Love Bug.
This scene, as emotional as it is, can't occur, without the PLB acting up again and becoming the Heartbreak Bug.
The phrase used by the Voodoo King in Koala's translation of chapter 37 is "turn on each other".
XY loving TSJ doesn't cause the bugs to turn into Heartbreak Bugs, I assume because that doesn't constitute her "turning on" XL.
XL feeling heartbroken or jealous over XL and TSJ also wouldn't necessarily cause the bugs to turn into Heartbreak Bugs, unless that heartbreak or jealousy constituted him "turning on" XY. Which, in this case, I don't think it does.
But the bugs causing XL pain when XL watches XY and TSJ on the beach is something that was added in the drama. It's possible that the rules are different in the drama.
-----
Chapter 37:
“All living things that have a benefit must also carry a harm. The greater the benefit then the greater the potential for harm. The Lover’s Bug is exactly that. It can lead two people to be connected in life and emotions but it is just like a pair of lovers in love with each other. It is tempermental and hard to control. If the Lover’s Bug turns on each other then both people will die. Which is why the Lover’s Bug also has another name, the Heartbreak Bug.”
-----
Kokuto:Also, this doesn't quite sound like XL to me.
This I agree with 100%.
blabla100:I don't know, maybe because în the novel I didn't feel like Jing is stalker-like on purpose and I honestly had sympathy for him, but in the drama, I not only see him as a stalker, but also as a control freak. The added scenes also doesn't help, în the novel I felt as if he aknowledged and respected XL-XY relationship, hence he even thanked XL for comforting XY, but in the drama I kinda see him as controling. XY too, if this is the final script, she has lost all my sympathy. Hence, I can't even have much sympathy for XL either, where îs his dignity???
As I've said before, I hate to use labels like stalker or toxic abuser, because they lack context. They are simplifications of actions that strip them of nuance and that ignore the complexity of the characters. That said, Jing definitely gave off stalker and manipulator vibes to me, from the very beginning. When XY told him he was healed and get lost, and he refused and pleaded pitiful to stay, the hair on the back of my neck went up. Him saying he can't help himself when he follows her or does things to sway her, doesn't help either.
But, like I said, there's context. I think Tong Hua meant these to be flaws, not character assassinations.
liddi:Oh no... looks like I shouldn't have translated it after all - sorry to have left disaster in my wake! Gotta turn in now. Stay safe, stay strong, and when all fails, there is always the novel to go back to.
Don't be sorry, we are very grateful to you! Thank you so much! <3
liddi:To be honest, my mood has been sinking since I properly started translating the script, seeing my hopes gradually slipping away.
Cheer up, we're on the same boat, sending comforting vibes and waves of love at each other to keep up the hope!
AH :If they had to show him feeling those moments,
While they're at that, I hope they'll make that two-way by also showing us that XL can feel XY's love for him...
Tbh Jing following XY hasn't really bothered me that much because he also did that in the novel. The part that is sad though is them changing, or it seems like they are changing, the somewhat mutual (not sure if this is the correct term) understnading Jing and XL had especially in their roles with/towards XY. For example, in the novel when Jing comforts XY when she's grieving for XL. I liked that scene coupled with XL's last thoughts/wishes for XY because it showed that they both understood and accepted how important the other was to XY. Idk...from the leaked script I feel like that aspect is now going to be lost/missing and it was one of my favorite things.
Kokuto:I have a question about the format, however. Does it actually have those signifiers of emotion and tone, like (nervously)? Does it have location and stage direction or camera shot direction? And is the stuff in blue, like a block of text complete with descriptions of emotions?
This is what it looks like. You can check out the entire 20 episodes worth of script (485 pages) on the original Weibo poster's account.
fancy:Lmao, the likelihood of them showing us that is slim. We can dream but if they had to do that they would have shown us that in s1 too.
They did show us that in season 1, IMO. That amazing scene in the alley after Left Ear wins his freedom and leaves. Part of the reason XL reacts so strongly to what XY said, is he can also feel how she feels. He can feel how much she wants him to be Fang Feng Bei and free and with her. It's why he almost loses it there and almost touches her. That scene, IMO, is FFB / XL being overcome by her love for him.
Ditto when he leaves her in the brothel after eating her delicious poison fish pond dish. He can't say anything but you can see him physically react to her feelings and they are like an arrow to his heart.
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