Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

I think another issue is that in between the seasons, a lot of people read the novel and they already pictured  the second half în their minds according to their own interpretations, so some of their expectations kinda got ruined by how the drama played some scenes.

I personally didn't find the second half of the novel that great either, but the drama really starts to bore me.  Guess it all went downhill with Bei's death for me.  ATM i am just waiting for the ending, when the focus îs going to get back on XL and XY. 

 AH :

Weirdly they felt it was necessary to add a scene where Xing Yue went to spy on XY. 

Xing Yue told her maid that she was worried about being spotted by TSJ (a master tracker who can see through most transformations)... but apparently she wasn't worried enough to avoid very loudly and obviously knocking over a pole of wood right after her presence caught TSJ's attention in the moment you mentioned. 

It seems that TSJ decided not to tell XY that he had noticed Xing Yue stalking her. 

Ah, thanks for explaining. That makes sense.

 blabla100:

I think another issue is that in between the seasons, a lot of people read the novel and they already pictured the second half în their minds according to their own interpretations, so some of their expectations kinda got ruined by how the drama played some scenes.

Yes.  I think the spoilers, especially the major one, put some people off.

 Sssnoopyyy:

This is not the first drama where things kinda go downhill midway, but it is unfortunate because they had to split LYF into two parts and wait a whole yr. There was probably high anticipation before the script was leaked

Yes, all of this too.

 blabla100:

@Sssnoopyyy

To be honest what angers me the most are 2 things, that XY never gets to find out the true meaning of the bugs and the fact that jing saves himself at the end. It makes no sense. 

Yeah unfortunately she never understood the bug in the original story. The part with Jing saving himself in the end makes it lame and diminishes the things XL did. Think they tried to force a pure happily ever after than the novel

 Kokuto:

That said, it looks like we are going to get the XY and mother reunion!

Yeah! I spoke too soon until I skimmed to the end of today’s episode. It is lame tho (to have the meeting at the house? But guess better than nothing), hope they explain how Haoling does or does not know of Ah Heng being in the house. I do want Ah Heng being the one to tell XY what happened

Eps13-14 end at what should have been halfway through Ep15 (S02E23) scene 12, and for once, I do not know what to expect when at last the drama diverges from the script. 

It will be tricky to gauge where we are now, since the scene when Xiao Yao visits Chi Chen's home in Bai Li is now markedly changed. This should be the rumoured scene change that Yang Zi fought for, for Xiao Yao to actually talk to her mother at last. At this point in time, she has not recognised that this disfigured woman crouching in the shadows is the mother she has desperately missed for so long, though it should change soon enough. Does that mean that we will get an equivalent scene from the novel with Xiao Yao introducing Jing to her mother, and the pointed question A Heng asked her about the reason for her choice? Does it also mean that Xiang Liu visiting Chi Chen's home is removed, since it would not make a lot of sense for him to have been the one to pay his respects, when A Heng is already there and would not have easily allowed him to intrude into her home. Wonder why Qing Yang's maid Zhu Yu is also in the credits - could it be she is the one who saved A Heng during the final battle at Ji Province?

And since they are now at Bai Li, will we get a scene with the Shaman King after all, and she learns the truth about the Lovers bug? The credits list the Shaman king as one of the characters after all.  Questions questions.

A Nian is the highlight in the two episodes tonight for me, when at last we see her growth (right, @Kokuto?) I love how we are taken through her baby steps, reading but unable to understand the memorials; to painstakingly memorising the art of war; to making an attempt on Yu Jiang's life; being unable to take Cang Xuan's life; reconciling with Xiao Yao, her heartbreaking confession to Ru Shou about her ineptitude and inability to forget Cang Xuan; and at last taking her father's place in war. The scene with Ru Shou and her had me tearing up, her no longer hiding her vulnerabilities and pain, and him grieved and angered to see her thus, which prove to be the impetus for his decisive strike at the Xiyan forces.Not for the first time, I ship her with Ru Shou though I don't see any indication that the man cared for her in any way except as a sister, similar to Cang Xuan. Dai Lu Wa beautifully portrayed A Nian's journey from the unlikeable brat who was spoilt rotten, to the woman she become, rising above her own inadequacies for the love of her father and her people, willing to kill Cang Xuan if it came down to it.

I also love the all-too-brief scene between Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao at the gambling den when she clings to his arm, refusing to let go. For a brief moment, they were back to their easy-going banter, when she proudly declares that she still recognised him in spite of all the different faces he used. And Yang Zi's delivery of the way she stammered when he asked what she wanted, before grasping at straws and asking him to remove the poisonous bug was spot on, showing clearly that it was the furthest thing from her mind in her joy to have seen him again. 

That being said, the battle scenes are lacklustre and I can't even tell what was so brilliant about Ru Shou's strategy that would set Yu Jiang and Chishui Xian up for defeat. There is also little context to explain why the Gao Xin court is split into different factions and why Chang Xi and Bai Hu decided to defect. The scope and the backstory is too vast, and the drama has not been providing viewers with sufficient context to help understand the motivations that drive different or changing loyalties, which in turn unfortunately results in a disjointed, incohesive viewing experience. Hopefully the last 9 episodes addresses these issues.

 Kokuto:

Yes, it certainly does make him look devious and callous.  Especially given he KNOWS Hou's responsibility in the mess, but punishing Hou gains him nothing.  Locking FFYY up and sacrificing her (while telling the world she's sick), frees him from that marriage and allows him to have his fluffy happy hugs and marriage to XY.  "Saving" the kid allows him to become Ye Shi Qi and abandon his clan responsibilities.  It's all very convenient for someone who makes a living off deals.

I never saw it that way but when you put it like that, it almost seemed as if he planned it out all along. I think this theory might work more in the drama, because certainly, I don't get that impression from how Jing handled the situation with Yi Ying in the novel.

 Kokuto:

I'm sure I will get alot of hate, but I've always been fascinated by her character, and of all the women, except XY, I found FFYY to be the most interesting, independent and strangely non-elitist.

 Kokuto:

Thinking about her now, she strikes me as one of the great medieval queens ... she could have been an interesting match for CX.

Love everything you said about Yi Ying - thank you very much for sharing your thoughts about her, which never occurred to me but makes perfect sense. The drama had her archery skills to be inferior to Fangfeng Bei, but in the novel, she was better than him, as Fangfeng Bei readily admitted. I don't recall a scene in the novel about her maid taking the blame for her when they caught the servant she arranged to doctor his medicine. It also appeared that she had a good relationship with Fangfeng Bei, though how much of it was because he was never a threat to her and her brother within the clan itself. 

 H19279:

Some funny clips that I saw on facebook:

XY met XL in the casino: https://fb.watch/tmEVMHXUbf/

Old people who want to sever CP: https://fb.watch/tmFuORQOLv/

I love that Old People Breaking up CP.  lol