Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 H19279:

Some people have high level of delusion. 

DW fans will protect him as the only FL's love interest

YZ fans will protect her as a girl with all sort of good quality and fidel to her only love. There is no way that she had immoral roles who loves 2 men at the same time 

I guess so, though all of this is right there in the drama.  Ah well.

 solarlunareclipse:

Lol, she never romantically loved 2 men at the same time. She only loved XL romantically. Being with Jing made XY feel like a kid by her mother's side.

Xiao Yao said in a low voice “Jing, these days I feel like I’m a kid again, and being with you feels like having my mom by my side.”

They changed a lot in the drama. LOL. 

I think I overcome the sadness due to novel's Xiang Liu.
Just accept his ending as his choice and he might have been canonized in his next life.
Xiao Yao, good luck with your disable fox 

 H19279:

They changed a lot in the drama.

So much. Every change is killing me. Death by a thousand cuts. 

Finished all 4 episodes today - the 4th episode is available via pay-to-watch Express access on iQiYi.

As of now, all 4 episodes are pretty faithful to the script. It is notable that the script is actually slower compared to the drama in the sense that some minor scenes in the script did not make it in the final version. e.g. By the end of Ep4, we have covered almost up the end of Ep5 of the leaked script.

Rambling thoughts ahead.

The overall performances, especially ZWY, YZ and TJC draw me in from the get go and brings the script to life, while breaking my heart over and over. ZWY in particular slays every scene - capturing the nuances of Cang Xuan's bleakness and resigned longing. The interactions between Xiao Yao and Cang Xuan are one of the consistent highlights in these early episodes, and I hurt so much for him.

Xiang Liu / Fangfeng Bei's scenes are exactly, and sometimes even better than how I imagined from the script. The scene after the gambling den is far more tender than I expected - her plaintive hope that he had more to say to her apart from just congratulations.  The aching request for her to have a meal with him, the flash of pain in her eyes when she heard his request. It was different from how I imagined that scene to play out when I read the novel, and this interpretation works for me,

Then the meal at the Lirong old donkey meat seller's place - the mockery in his eyes when they spoke of when their time would come, the almost tender look he gave her when she defended him against Lirong Chang's attacks. And the pregnant moment when she asked him whom she should marry if not Feng Long - her carefully expectant hope and him losing himself in the vain hope that was his as well, before he finally tears himself out of it and reverts back to his mocking self, amid her obvious disappointment. And that last scene when she watches him walk away from her life again, and starts to call out to him but stops herself at the last minute. So much pain.

The longing look when he saw old Tian'er and Chuan Zi with their grandchildren, lost in his thoughts knowing that the simple joys of life would never be his. 

The unbridled joy of the old Lirong donkey meat seller when he thought Chi Chen had returned, and the deflation upon realising he was wrong  - which had me tearing up. Xiang Liu's reaction - a sadness he accepted long ago but still could not help feeling when he least expects it. 

And Chi Chen's song "Peach Blossom Blood" - which we hear the full version in Ep4 when he plays it for her. To be honest, from the moment I read about it in the script, I had reservations about how those lyrics would translate into a song that is actually accompanied by a qin, and how it would work within the drama itself. But composer Dong Dongdong delivered with a song that is both passionate yet sorrowful, all of which emotions TJC captured beautifully in his performance. The closing lines... "Let my blood spill in the wilderness, Like peach blossoms on the mountains, As long as it can enable me exist in your heart... for me to exist..." The way he trails off as he repeated the last words was so achingly poignant, because it is as much his song as it was Chi Chen's, a song that reflects his unspoken wish, which he wanted but would not allow himself to have. I now too have a new perspective on the rap he gave Xiao Yao at the end of that scene. It seemed that the real purpose of his visit was not to demand the poisons she had not been creating due to her malaise, but because he could sense it, and came to snap her out of it even if momentarily, by igniting her old spirited self, as well as test her reaction to Chi Chen by singing his song for her.

An interesting deviation from the script is Xiang Liu saying that he learnt Chi Chen's song in Bai Li, not Jade Mountain per the script. It makes sense for him to have heard it in Bai Li since there is no Sir Bi on Jade Mountain to have sung it for him in the drama. In that case, I then wonder what he was doing in Bai Li. Was he trying to find a way to remove the bug even then? He pointed out to the old man that the Bai Li folk were distrustful of and would not help  outsiders, something the old man refuted, but I'm not sure this scenario makes sense. If he did not already have some idea how he would remove the bug before he had it planted, and he clearly knew the fate that awaited him, why would he have chosen to plant it first which would have placed her life at risk when he died.

Anyway, long story short. The first few episodes do not disappoint, and I am drawn back into the universe once more. The faithfulness to the script thus far does raise some concerns that there would be very minimal changes. However with the extra two episodes, and the current pace being a lot faster than the script, I am hopeful that it would pleasantly surprise us all the way to the end. Please let it be so.

Xiang Liu singing Chi Chen's song "Peach Blossom Blood" in Ep4:

https://x.com/aleen__leen/status/1810326083449016411

 liddi:

Xiang Liu singing Chi Chen's song "Peach Blossom Blood" in Ep4:

https://x.com/aleen__leen/status/1810326083449016411

Painful but beautiful.

 Kikinaki:

I'm actually planning to rewatch season one again.......I miss that little village so much

Me too!  I started a re-watch but only got to episode 19.  Will pick it up again, soon, I'm sure.