Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

@AH

Did Ah Heng ever tell Yun Sang that Qing Yang was already dead before her marriage?

No. She only told her before she left for the last battle 

 AH :

The fact that Yun Sang had to agree to marry "Qing Yang", her brother's killer, after this is truly insane...

Did Ah Heng ever tell Yun Sang that Qing Yang was already dead before her marriage?

My apologies! There was clearly a disconnect between my brain and fingers! What I meant was, Yu Xiang was killed by the Yellow Emperor, while Qing Yang who was disguised as the Yellow Emperor as a decoy, was killed by Chi Chen.

What happened was that Qing Yang, disguised as the Yellow Emperor, engaged Chi Chen in battle. Taking advantage of the distraction, the real Yellow Emperor used this opportunity to assassinate Yu Xiang, and holding up the severed head, announced it at a calculated distance that he knew could not be immediately reached - shattering the morale of the Shen Nong army. What he did not anticipate was that Chi Chen's roc  which was transformed from Kun, could fly ninety thousand li with one flap of its wings. Chi Chen snatched Yu Xiang's head from the Yellow Emperor and delivered a killing blow towards him, but was blocked by Qing Yang who took the blow in his stead.

Yun Sang never knew that she married a dead man until just before the final battle, when A Heng finally told her the truth, and asked her to leave, because even by staying, she could never become queen and control the Xuan Yuan politics to help her people. It was at the same time that Zhu Yu overheard and felt heartbreak for the first time, realising that Qing Yang was dead, but continued to convince herself that it was just a lie.

 AH :

I didn't realize they came so close to winning the war.

What do you think would have happened if Chi Chen had succeeded?

After Ban Quan was taken back by Shen Nong, Chi Chen told Yun Sang that once all the lost Shen Nong territories were recovered and the Yellow Emperor surrendered, he would hand over the military power back to Yun Sang. Everything he did was out of his promise to the Seventh Flame Emperor, and his love for Yu Xiang, the Eighth Flame Emperor - the only person who treated him like a brother with no hidden agenda, even from their youth. Yu Xiang's death made him all the more determined to fulfil what Yu Xiang could not during his lifetime. 

As such, if Shen Nong had won, based on Chi Chen's plans, Yun Sang would be the leader if not monarch of Shen Nong, and Xuan Yuan a conquered nation. Perhaps she would finally be able to be openly reunited with Nuo Nai, since his identity had been exposed over ten years ago, and was revealed to Feng Bo and the rest during the final battle. Would she be able to control the vassal lords and have them all swear allegiance to her, with only Hong Jiang and Luo Jia left out of the 4 great generals? I never had the feeling that she was a strong leader, so it's hard to tell.

Chi Chen would finally be able to take A Heng and Xiao Yao and leave. A Heng already wanted to leave  Xuan Yuan before the Yellow Emperor's manipulations, because everyone she stayed for was already dead.

There would have been no need for a Shen Nong resistance army.

It would have been too late for Xiao Yao to have saved Xiang Liu from the death match arena even if she wanted to, since that happened during the reign of the Seventh Flame Emperor. At this time, Xiang Liu was probably still in the North Pole, and would later come back as Fangfeng Bei to look after his ailing mother. 

This means that if Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu crossed paths later, both of them would have been free to be together - be it as Fangfeng Bei or Xiang Liu.

Jing would not have survived after being left for dead following the years of torture.

For a fiercely ambitious man like the Yellow Emperor, I am not as certain he would be willing to let Xuan Yuan stay a conquered nation. Cang Xuan, whom the Yellow Emperor had already started training after the death of his parents, might instead be the one to rise up and revolt against Shen Nong when the time comes.

There is still Gao Xin. Shao Hao and Qing Yang once said that when both of them were rulers of their own nations, they would go to war against each other next, until the other nation was defeated. So, unless Shen Nong had a strong ruler in place capable of checking the two other kingdoms, war would inevitably break out once more in the Great Wilderness.

 AH :

Thank you for taking the time to put this together liddi. Super helpful!

You're welcome! It did me a great deal of good documenting it as well.

 AH :

Yikes. Sticking to your own principles even unto death is one thing. Forcing your subordinates to die with you against their will for the sake of your principles is something wholly different. The kind of evil that comes from unbridled dogmatism run amok, with no room left for reason or compassion. 

Exactly. He was cruel to the end, be it his men, his enemies or himself.

 AH :

Was there a reason that Qing Yang remained unmarried for so long? Wasn't he over a thousand years old? Was it simply because the marriage of an eldest prince was of such strategic importance that he had to wait for the perfect candidate (which I imagine was difficult in the midst of so much war...)? Or did it have something to do with the wood demon woman by his side?

He never had any real interest in women. Both him and Shao Hao, their focus and priority was their ambition and their brotherhood. Qing Yang was perhaps more compassionate and he was a good older brother to his siblings, and did his best to protect them against the threats from Consort Tongyu and her sons. Ultimately his death was in part because he could not bring himself to poison his father, despite having the means to do so (though even if he had gone through with the plan, the Yellow Emperor was well aware of it and had already changed the poisoned water). Shao Hao was far more ruthless compared to him, though he would live with the guilt of his deed after that. We never have any clear indication that he loved Zhu Yu, but A Heng's internal monologue indicated that he did, but never expressed it to spare her from grief in case he could never be free to take her away to wander the world. Does that sound similar to someone else we know?

Yun Sang stared at her retreating figure. “What a foolish girl. It turns out she has feelings for Qing Yang... Not only did we not discern it, she does not even understand it herself. Do you think she understands her feelings for your eldest brother now?”

“Now that Eldest Brother is gone, it no longer matters whether she understands or not.” Although A Heng said it did not matter, her tears flowed down her face. Perhaps Eldest Brother did understand. But Eldest Brother who understood always kept Zhu Yu ignorant, just because he had unfinished responsibilities. Perhaps he once thought that one day, when the responsibilities on his shoulders were fulfilled, he would take Zhu Yu to wander the world, just like when they first met. If that day never came, he would rather Zhu Yu never understood, never knew what sadness was. But he did not know that Zhu Yu was finally sad after all.

-- Once Promised Vol 2 Ch14  (originally Chapter 17)

 AH :

I remember that the Yellow Emperor ordered CX to deal with Yu Jiang's older brother, but if the Yellow Emperor entrusting CX to choose the person who would become the next lord of Zhi Yi / governor of the Middle Plains was covered in LYF I've forgotten about it. I'm kind of surprised that the Yellow Emperor would have entrusted CX with such an important decision all the way back then. 

Cang Xuan did not choose the next Zhi Yi city lord. Rather, he gave a recommendation to his grandfather, who ultimately went with his recommendation. This took place during the time Xiao Yao went missing from Jade Mountain and a widespread search was launched for her. Cang Xuan asked Luo Jia to recommend someone to take over as Zhi Yi city lord, which he would then recommend to his grandfather: 

Cang Xuan said, “Uncle, you should be very familiar with Zhi Yi and Ze Province, and should know what kind of official can govern Zhi Yi and Ze Province well. Do you have any good candidates in mind? If so, please tell me. I want to recommend an official to Grandfather in my name. I hope that when I come back decades later, I can see the fabled prosperous, wealthy capital of the Central Plains.”

Luo Jia looked out at the Central Plains outside the carriage window and said slowly, “It will definitely happen.”

-- Once Promised: Side Story 

I previously translated the side story here:

Once Promised:Side Story Part 1

Once Promised:Side Story Part 2

 liddi:

My apologies! There was clearly a disconnect between my brain and fingers! What I meant was, Yu Xiang was killed by the Yellow Emperor, while Qing Yang who was disguised as the Yellow Emperor as a decoy, was killed by Chi Chen.

Ah, that makes more sense all around. 

 H19279:

@AH

Did Ah Heng ever tell Yun Sang that Qing Yang was already dead before her marriage?

No. She only told her before she left for the last battle 

 liddi:

Yun Sang never knew that she married a dead man until just before the final battle, when A Heng finally told her the truth, and asked her to leave, because even by staying, she could never become queen and control the Xuan Yuan politics to help her people. It was at the same time that Zhu Yu overheard and felt heartbreak for the first time, realising that Qing Yang was dead, but continued to convince herself that it was just a lie.

Thank you, both, for the confirmation!

Yun Sang just seems to be surrounded by tragedy heaped on top of more tragedy. 

Or maybe that's less of a Yun Sang specific thing and more of a general Once Promised thing. 

 liddi:

After Ban Quan was taken back by Shen Nong, Chi Chen told Yun Sang that once all the lost Shen Nong territories were recovered and the Yellow Emperor surrendered, he would hand over the military power back to Yun Sang.

Would that have worked? Long-term?

 liddi:

As such, if Shen Nong had won, based on Chi Chen's plans, Yun Sang would be the leader if not monarch of Shen Nong, and Xuan Yuan a conquered nation. Perhaps she would finally be able to be openly reunited with Nuo Nai, since his identity had been exposed over ten years ago, and was revealed to Feng Bo and the rest during the final battle. Would she be able to control the vassal lords and have them all swear allegiance to her, with only Hong Jiang and Luo Jia left out of the 4 great generals? I never had the feeling that she was a strong leader, so it's hard to tell.

You anticipated my next thought! ^^

Hmm. I imagine Hou Tu would. And presumably Chi Chen would. What was Gong Gong's relationship with her like?

 liddi:

Chi Chen would finally be able to take A Heng and Xiao Yao and leave. A Heng already wanted to leave  Xuan Yuan before the Yellow Emperor's manipulations, because everyone she stayed for was already dead.

All of a sudden I'm wondering what FFB was up to at this point. 

 liddi:

It would have been too late for Xiao Yao to have saved Xiang Liu from the death match arena even if she wanted to, since that happened during the reign of the Seventh Flame Emperor. At this time, Xiang Liu was probably still in the North Pole, and would later come back as Fangfeng Bei to look after his ailing mother. 

Anticipating my next thought again!

But wouldn't XL already have been FFB by this point? He took over FFB's identity before XY was born and used that identity for ~100 years before he went to Gong Gong (when Gong Gong was abandoned by the world / after Chi You's death) and joined his remnant army. 

-----

Chapter 18:

Around four hundred and eighty years ago, the teenage Fang Feng Bei ran away from home to earn money to repay his gambling debts. He went to the North Pole to look for ice crystals. He was gone for almost fifty years, which wasn’t a very long time to be away from home for the Gods, but because he went to a place that was dangerous beyond comprehension, his family assumed he died there. Who could have expected he would suddenly return home with lots of ice crystals. One would call it returning in glory.

Xiao Yao felt those nearly fifty years were very suspicious. During that length of time missing, even if Fang Feng Bei returned changed people would assume he had endured great hardship in the North Pole and accept his growing up. But what made him accepted as the same guy was that he spent the next four years diligently taking care of his sick mother to the degree that was astounding, from feeding her every meal and medicine to sitting beside her every day. Even now four hundred years later, if people in the know were asked about Fang Feng Bei, they would still say very proudly “Bei is very filial.”

After his mom died shortly after he returned, in those four hundred years since he lived the perfect life of a rich family spare son and dissolute playboy. He wasn’t greatly used by the family and he also didn’t have a lot of money, but he was very easygoing and loved to spend money, so he would do all sorts of random things to earn his keep. He would disappear for chunks of time from months to even years, and his friends and family all got used to it.

Because Fang Feng Bei’s personality was very relaxed and didn’t like to fight for anything, his relationship with his brother Fang Feng Zheng and his sister Fang Feng Yi Yang was very cordial.

Xiao Yao sighed. If what she suspected was true, the real Fang Feng Bei died over four hundred years ago and no one knows the current one is fake. Because Xiang Liu had been living as Fang Feng Bei for over four hundred years, even if he was fake initially over time he was accepted as the real one – so the Fang Feng Bei everyone has known in his entire adult life has always been Xiang Liu.

But why? What was Xiang Liu trying to get out of it? Fang Feng family was prominent enough but he could have impersonated a son from an even more powerful family. Plus Fang Feng Bei was concubine born so he had no influence in the Fang Feng family. If Xiang Liu wanted anything, he would have chosen better.

Xiao Yao mulled it over for a long time but couldn’t figure out Xiang Liu’s reason for doing it. This was a pretense that wasn’t just for a year or two, he was already Fang Feng Bei before she was even born. Xiao Yao gave up trying to figure it out.

 liddi:

This means that if Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu crossed paths later, both of them would have been free to be together - be it as Fangfeng Bei or Xiang Liu.

Although they'd be different people, it's hard not to be drawn in by the "what if...?"s.

 liddi:

Cang Xuan, whom the Yellow Emperor had already started training after the death of his parents, might instead be the one to rise up and revolt against the Shen Nong when the time comes.

Well that would be quite the reversal. 

 liddi:

There is still Gao Xin. Shao Hao and Qing Yang once said that when both of them were rulers of their own nations, they would go to war against each other next, until the other nation was defeated. So, unless Shen Nong had a strong ruler in place capable of checking the two other kingdoms, war would inevitably break out once more in the Great Wilderness.

Sigh.

And I imagine Chi Chen and Ah Heng would inevitably be involved in that war too. 

 liddi:

He was cruel to the end, be it his men, his enemies or himself.

That's an eloquent way of putting it. 

 liddi:

We never have any clear indication that he loved Zhu Yu, but A Heng's internal monologue indicated that he did, but never expressed it to spare her from grief in case he could never be free to take her away to wander the world.

 liddi:

But Eldest Brother who understood always kept Zhu Yu ignorant, just because he had unfinished responsibilities. Perhaps he once thought that one day, when the responsibilities on his shoulders were fulfilled, he would take Zhu Yu to wander the world, just like when they first met. If that day never came, he would rather Zhu Yu never understood, never knew what sadness was. But he did not know that Zhu Yu was finally sad after all.

More parallels! </3

 liddi:

Does that sound similar to someone else we know?

Lol, more anticipating. You seem to know exactly where my thoughts will go! ^^

 liddi:

Cang Xuan did not choose the next Zhi Yi city lord. Rather, he gave a recommendation to his grandfather, who ultimately went with his recommendation.

That makes more sense. 

 liddi:

I previously translated the side story here:

I thought it sounded familiar but I couldn't remember the details or find it in novel... or even recall roughly where in the novel it  should be.

That's why! 

Eps 17-18 end at leaked script Ep18 (S02E26) scene 3. 

Is it terrible for me to say I dozed off for the most part of Ep18?

Looks like we are not spared everything being simply Cang Xuan's hallucination after all.

That being said...

Things I liked:

The unexpected scene of Xiang Liu overlooking the frantic search for Jing, and feeling Xiao Yao's grief. His words "If I had known.... if I had known... Tushan Jing!" are ambiguous. If he had known what? That Jing would get himself killed so easily and leave Xiao Yao without someone to rely on for life again? Whatever it is, I am suddenly hopeful that perhaps we will see Xiang Liu playing a part in Jing surviving in the ocean after being caught in the maelstrom? Will we see his role in ensuring Xiao Yao had someone to rely on, finally restored? Fingers crossed.

Feng Long 's conversation with little Yan Zhuan. While Xin Yue remains insufferable, in that moment I envy her her father and brother, who looked beyond her many faults, to understand the reason she turned out the way she did. While they did her no favours, it is still moving to see how treasured and loved she was by the men in her family, even when her husband did not.

Xiao Yao crying out to the sea, asking Jing to return to marry her in 7 days. The way she analysed everything they did, but could not figure out where they went wrong. I am not a fan of the dragged out repetitive "What did I do wrong? Tell me so that I can fix it" that we have been given over this season, but Yang Zi nailed Xiao Yao's desolation and sense of loss as she cried out for her lover to come back to her.

Things I disliked:

The wedding, which dragged on without end.

The screaming when Xiao Yao confronts Cang Xuan, with the repetitive "It's my fault", "It's not your fault". 

Why remove the most important dialogue that explains the reason for the Chenrong resistance army's unwavering persistence, and how it was their way to protect those who surrendered? Removing it simply made Hong Jiang and his men appear to be a bunch of fools who persisted for no good reason except the unwillingness to change, and I hated this omission. 

Deleted lines 
SNY (bowing): Uncle.
HJ: Take a seat.
SNY (nervous): Uncle, I have shamelessly come to visit you because...
HJ (interrupting): You don't need to say more. Back then I was filled with contempt when I heard that you had surrendered to the Xuan Yuan king. Your father rather died than bend his knee, his body totally obliterated, yet he had a coward for a son who brought shame to his reputation.

Ashamed, ShenNong Yi kept silent.

HJ: Later, I saw how you endured humiliation and became the lord of Zhi Yi city. Under your administration, the people of the Central Plains who suffered terribly from the war regained a new lease on life, and I felt that perhaps your choice seemed justified. Prioritise the people over the land, the identity of the ruler is unimportant. What matters are the people.

The acknowledgement of his intentions made ShenNong Yi tear up from aggrieved sadness and emotional joy.

:

Leaked script
HJ: A Yi, your choice to surrender was not wrong, but neither is my choice. (gaze at the large tree outside the window). Roots grow downwards, while branches grow upwards. The roots go into the darkness while the branches face the sunlight. Both appear to be in direct contrast, complete opposites, but it is exactly because one faces downward and the other upwards, one in the dark while the other is in the light, that this vibrant tree exists.

Drama
HJ: A Yi, you have your own choice; I have my own choice. (gaze at the large tree outside the window). Green moss grows close to the ground, the great tree grows towards the sky. One faces downwards, one faces upwards, both appear to be direct contrast, complete opposites, but it is because one faces downwards and the other upwards, one low and the other high, that the world complements each other.

:

SNY: Please accept my bow.

Xiang Liu immediately stepped aside.

Leaked script
SNY: Although Uncle Hong Jiang consoled me that the roots and branches each has its own place, the world only sees the branches and not the roots; they love the branches that are in full bloom, but do not care about the roots that are covered in filth. All these years, it was exactly because of your unwavering stance that those of us who surrendered were given preferential treatment.

Drama
SNY: Although Uncle Hong Jiang consoled me that the great tree and green moss each has its own place, but through the years, it is us, the Chenrong survivors who failed all of you after all. 

I am looking forward to Ep20. The teaser shows Xiang Liu visiting an abandoned Hui Chun clinic in Qingshui Town, smiling as he reminisced about when Wen Xiao Liu used to lie in the courtyard.  This is another new scene, which I suspect takes place after the Qingshui Town inhabitants had been evacuated, before the siege on the Chenrong resistance army began.

Some hilarious comments on Weibo about Xiang Liu's frustration as he looked at the people searching for Jing (is 3 boats really considered a widespread search?):

The code that took ten years to write, was deleted with one click.

Who killed the one I carefully selected? I clearly have helped fulfil Xiao Yao's wish, now I have to do it all over again.

I was already relieved but ended up furious that my carefully selected candidate is gone. If I knew he would die even earlier than me, what was the point of me going to all that trouble?

If I had known, I would have gotten Jing to learn archery along with the female lead.

I might as well die sooner on the battlefield.

Jing: Liu, I have no ability to protect myself, no one to rely on, no place to go.

 liddi:

Eps 17-18 end at leaked script Ep18 (S02E26) scene 3.

Is it terrible for me to say I dozed off for the most part of Ep18?

Looks like we are not spared everything being simply Cang Xuan's hallucination after all.

That being said...

Not at all.  I actually fell asleep in the scene with Jing, XY, and CX traveling, and only woke up in time to see CX horning in on Jing and XY's spiderweb star gazing scene.  Needless to say, because I am petty, I laughed gleefully to see Jing be on the receiving end of the stalker intrusion.  lol

Aren't we in the dream sequence now?  Though, I think all the stuff with Jing dying is real.

 liddi:

Things I liked:

The unexpected scene of Xiang Liu overlooking the frantic search for Jing, and feeling Xiao Yao's grief. His words "If I had known.... if I had known... Tushan Jing!" are ambiguous. If he had known what? That Jing would get himself killed so easily and leave Xiao Yao without someone to rely on for life again? Whatever it is, I am suddenly hopeful that perhaps we will see Xiang Liu playing a part in Jing surviving in the ocean after being caught in the maelstrom? Will we see his role in ensuring Xiao Yao had someone to rely on, finally restored? Fingers crossed.

I love all the XL scenes, even if they are little bits.  And YES, we were having fun with that scene in the comments.  I said:

He's patrolling on Chubby and suddenly realizes, Explicative!  Explicative!  Explicative! I've got a glorious battle and death to plan, and now I have to waste my time and go save this useless Explicative, AGAIN.

I can just see Chubby's eyes rolling back in his head, when XL tells him to turn around they got to save Jing AGAIN! Chubby is like, "WTF?  Just let me eat him.  Problem solved."

I bet this is when he dials up Left Ear and tells him to get his a$$ back to Dahuang and be the REAL person that XY relies on, cause this loser is NOT it. 

And for Xiang Liu's ambiguous statement...

Had I known this ... I would have married you and let you only hurt once.
Had I known this ... I'd have let Jing die, and kept you with me after 37 years in our clam shell.
Had I known this ... I'd have left you to marry Feng Long.

 liddi:

Some hilarious comments on Weibo about Xiang Liu's frustration as he looked at the people searching for Jing (is 3 boats really considered a widespread search?):

I love these!

 liddi:

Things I disliked:

The wedding, which dragged on without end.

The screaming when Xiao Yao confronts Cang Xuan, with the repetitive "It's my fault", "It's not your fault".

Why remove the most important dialogue that explains the reason for the Chenrong resistance army's unwavering persistence, and how it was their way to protect those who surrendered? Removing it simply made Hong Jiang and his men appear to be a bunch of fools who persisted for no good reason except the unwillingness to change, and I hated this omission.

Like I said previously, while appreciated Yang Zi's talents, I thought it was far too long a time spent in unhinged territory, especially over Jing.  Also, I wanted to roll out a list when she kept asking what did Jing do wrong. 

And YES.  I felt the Resistance Army camp scene was butchered.  It was perfect in the script.  But again, I'm happy we are getting these scenes with Hong Jiang, at last.  Though I do wish for another actor.  Tan Jian Ci had such good chemistry with the Donkey Meat Seller, in just their few scenes.  I was hoping for something more like that.

 liddi:

I am looking forward to Ep20. The teaser shows Xiang Liu visiting an abandoned Hui Chun clinic in Qingshui Town, smiling as he reminisced about when Wen Xiao Liu used to lie in the courtyard. This is another new scene, which I suspect takes place after the Qingshui Town inhabitants had been evacuated, before the siege on the Chenrong resistance army began.

Ah, is that what is going on?  It looks like the clinic has been abandoned longer than that.  Though, they really have done even worse in letting us know the passage of time in this half of the show.

 Kokuto:

Even as awesome as XL is, he can only handle one 'abandoned person' at a time.

Wicked fox, everytime I see him my blood starts boiling. XL should have just let the fox die. And marry XY

 Liu Yifei:

Wicked fox, everytime I see him my blood starts boiling. XL should have just let the fox die. And marry XY

I feel like he felt the same in the last episode when he could feel XY's grief over Jing.

 liddi:

Looks like we are not spared everything being simply Cang Xuan's hallucination after all.

I am not happy Liddi!!! Even though I knew there was no chance for this part to be false but I am still not happy!!! UGHH

 liddi:

The unexpected scene of Xiang Liu overlooking the frantic search for Jing, and feeling Xiao Yao's grief. His words "If I had known.... if I had known... Tushan Jing!" are ambiguous. If he had known what? That Jing would get himself killed so easily and leave Xiao Yao without someone to rely on for life again? Whatever it is, I am suddenly hopeful that perhaps we will see Xiang Liu playing a part in Jing surviving in the ocean after being caught in the maelstrom? Will we see his role in ensuring Xiao Yao had someone to rely on, finally restored? Fingers crossed.

Feng Long 's conversation with little Yan Zhuan. While Xin Yue remains insufferable, in that moment I envy her her father and brother, who looked beyond her many faults, to understand the reason she turned out the way she did. While they did her no favours, it is still moving to see how treasured and loved she was by the men in her family, even when her husband did not.

But the leaked script says Jing saved himself as the one who fought Hou was a puppet right? I only skimmed through the leaked script so not 100% sure. I mean they should've kept it as XL saving Jing because why else would XL ask for XY to give him all that blood? (it would otherwise be unnecessary)!

It was interesting to see FL's convo with his dad. TBH they didn't need to compare her and XY's situation, kinda weird to compare ppl's sufferings. But it is sad to see how miserable Xinyue is - she should've known this! Girl, you were MIA and expect CX to put you as #1 in his heart? I feel robbed of the scene where Xinyue and CX perform a duet together at a gathering with all his harem, and XY coming by to visit - I mean what was the point of the flute scene? I think having this would be perfect motivation before the really terribly executed 'assassination attempt on XY' (did Xinyue even try to kill XY lol)? I will say CX was literally asking for trouble because we do not see him with any of his women in S2 - ofc they will be suspicious haha!

 liddi:

Why remove the most important dialogue that explains the reason for the Chenrong resistance army's unwavering persistence, and how it was their way to protect those who surrendered? Removing it simply made Hong Jiang and his men appear to be a bunch of fools who persisted for no good reason except the unwillingness to change, and I hated this omission.

I can't believe they removed this part, when XY's wedding was literally dragging on and on. I still cannot believe they would have HJ sounding unsure about persisting previously. Makes it all wishy washy because the army was always resolute in their choices. Takes away the reason/essence behind their determination and perseverance, making it look like a foolish choice.

 Kokuto:

Here's CX's schedule... Lots of emoji!  Episode 21 has a bow and tears ... I'm guessing that's poor Feng Long.

So looking at the emojis there isn't much else to be covered. I am still very salty they omitted so many important things. The plot seems so weak. Both the main and CX schedules have poinciana flowers in the last ep - oh gosh I am so anxious about that one and how they will end up executing it. I am not looking forward to CX telling XY that he chose the throne over her (when they literally emphasized all this time that he wasn't power hungry but wanted it for a good reason). GIVE ME BACK A PROPER CX. Lol weibo fans are literally raging - and I am toooooooooo.