Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

@AH

"I'll probably be giving it a try soon." 

I personally am a bit disappointed, the first 3 episodes were quite nice, but it went downhill after that for me. I was  expecting something else, i like the actor and I believe he îs quite talented, a waste that they didn't keep him dark and crazy till the end. 

 blabla100:

@AH

"I'll probably be giving it a try soon."

I personally am a bit disappointed, the first 3 episodes were quite nice, but it went downhill after that for me.

I'm a little bit disappointed with some things. The acting and narrative are a bit shallow or ham-fisted sometimes (it feels like the writers or the director can't bear to let an intended parallel or other message be so subtle that it might not be noticed by the audience, so it must be made painfully obvious - very different from LYF), and some of the secondary characters had the potential to be interesting but, for me, ended up being boring. I'm lamenting Baron Chen the most. I loved his over-the-top character in Bromance and I've been waiting almost a decade for him to get another enjoyable role and, for me, this... is not it.

I do think it's quite funny that the King of Xiyan in LYF is also the King of Xiyan in KMLM though. ^^

 blabla100:

I was  expecting something else, i like the actor and I believe he îs quite talented, a waste that they didn't keep him dark and crazy till the end. 

Oh, I had almost the opposite feeling. ^^"

I like a serious and decisive ML who has enough of a ruthless streak that he can do what must be done (like whipping the FL himself to save her from worse), but I'm not a fan of the unhinged laugh, the angry or disdainful looks, or the times when he was so focused on revenge / justice for his comrades that he didn't worry about incurring collateral damage / using innocents, like the FL and the peace-making beauties. I like him more now that those aspects are mostly gone, he's teamed up with the FL (and puts quite a lot of faith in her abilities), and it's clear that he regrets and has rethought his original approach. Also the fact that he's head-over-heels for the FL now is a plus for me. ^^ And I think he's still going to suffer a bit when the FL finds out about his role as the mastermind behind her assassin training / when the FL's unresolved poison becomes a plot point again though, and that might bring out a bit of his darker side again. Hopefully in a satisfying way.

That said, in these most recent episodes (I'm on 17/32)... the SML (and not the ML) saved the beauties from the crown prince, the ML's long-time comrade died to protect him, and the FL did a tonne of heavy lifting (literally and figuratively) to save the ML. Although I appreciate the ML's gender swapped role (as the more delicate one who must rest and recover, who thoughtfully sews gloves and cooks special meals for the FL) and the fact that he is physically and mentally healing (no more nightmares!) to a degree, I hope he'll be getting back to making meaningful contributions to their quest for justice soon, instead of relying on everyone else and not making much in the way of contributions himself. 

 blabla100:

@AH

I think I am just a bit frustrated, because I feel cheated. This drama was the one I was looking for the most, after lost you forever 2. The thing îs the synopsis and the trailers painted a very different tone than what they ended up delivering, so my expectations were not met. 

That makes sense. Totally get your frustration. 

 blabla100:

That said, I do believe it's worth a watch, but to me it's just an average drama, not too memorable, at least yet. I do like the actor a lot and the actress îs doing a good job too, but something is missing. I don't think they lack chemistry (or maybe they do?),  more like they lack tension. The first episode was  very hot, so I think the chemistry between them would have worked better if they would have kept the enemy to lovers trope longer. They don't work that well as a lovey dovey couple. I think în this aspect love of nirvana did better, altough I haven't watched the full drama, because the actor is not really my cup of tea. 

Agreed. The romance progressed quickly and it does feel like it lacks depth and intensity. 

 blabla100:

I personally do have a soft spot for darker characters, not really the antagonist type, but not the good guy who's getting misunderstood either. If I could name one, I'd say CX from lost you forever  fit my taste. Or the ML from rise of the phoenixes, Shi from ice fantasy. Or complex characters like the one from nirvana în fire. Characters that they do fall in love, but their end goal îs not love and they aren't willing to sacrifice everything for love or even embrace it. I don't see the ML from kill me love me being  that complex and that's what bothers me, because that's what they sold us în the first episodes. 

Ah, we have different taste then. My favourite MLs tend to be ones that are willing to make enormous personal sacrifices, including risking their life, for the one they love. Although there are aspects of CX and Ning Yi that I did like, both of them ended up frustrating and disappointing me.

If CX is more your cup of tea, have you tried The Rise of Ning? I've intentionally not watched it because I don't think it would suit my taste, but maybe it would suit yours? I've heard Zhang Wan Yi's character in it is pretty similar to CX. 

@AH

I haven't tried Rise of ning, but I have a feeling I would have enjoyed it more than kmlm. Still, these are just generic dramas în my book and don't really strike a chord în me, like lyf,  empress ki, the untamed etc did. I believe this year there's none  that I am really looking forward to.

@Meow

After detaching myself a bit from lyf and thinking of it with a clearer mind,  all my pity still goes to XY.  Regardless of how epic XL îs and how much I fell for his character, at the end of the day he did have a choice, XY never had one. She was never meant to have him forever. 

Ooooh, I just remembered their first meeting. Why did XL decide to show her his face without a mask so soon? Even with his soldiers, he always wears a mask.

 plor20:

(ಥ﹏ಥ) So cute even with his hair everywhere.

Nothing can detract from his good looks - not electrocuted hair, not grumpy face!

 HeadInTheClouds:

Here's my fluff ball. He's a little chub :-)> Finally reunited with his grumpy master :-)

 HeadInTheClouds:

He is super soft and adorable! I would sleep with him except I'm afraid I'll squashed him :-).

Yay! So glad your Mao Qiu is here! Love the mask on his master too. Did you make it yourself? Thus far my girl's Mao Qiu is still relatively unscathed despite her sleeping with him, so think he should be pretty durable in that sense. My real concern is that he would turn into a black condor with all the handling though he is still relatively pristine.  Not very sure if he responds well to a good wash if that happens!

 HeadInTheClouds:

OMG! What happened to his beautifully coiffed hair from the last picture that you posted?

Err... it's a little challenging maintaining a coiffed appearance when battling the elements. I put the blame on Xiao Yao for getting herself assassinated yet again. But! No fear... the coiffed look is back as you can see from my previous post, though no guarantees how long that would last! And you're right, whatever state his hair is in, he's still adorable.

 HeadInTheClouds:

And, the little family with mini FFB!

Mini-Fangfeng Bei's hair is another nightmare. How did you manage to tame it? The original sight of it in the box was almost Sadako-esque, very daunting!

Can't wait for mini-Xiang Liu to arrive too. 

 liddi:

Returning the Heart of the Ocean came at exactly the right time when I badly needed a balm from the gaping wound that LYF the novel left us, for which I will always be grateful to you!

When I first joined MDL 13+ months ago, it was simply to ask if anyone knew the differences between the 2013 and 2019 novel editions. I certainly never expected that journey to have evolved the way it did! It has been an engaging experience - exhausting and exhaustive at times, but ultimately very fulfilling. I know I came out of it very enriched, having met some awesome people and learnt far more than when I first started in the process, thanks to all the discussions and shared knowledge. Thank you everyone!

Thank you liddi! I'm so glad you ended up staying and participating in these discussion threads. Your translations, observations and insights have been invaluable contributions that massively enriched the experience and our understanding of the story. ^^

 liddi:

This scene reminds me of when Chi Chen saved A Heng from drowning during the flooding of Ze Province, and while here, we did not get a passing of air scene, what unfolded in Chapter 43 after that is arguably far more intimate and moving:

Definite parallels. 

 liddi:

If only! When my son was much younger, he was taught by his friend that if he kept writing what he wished for, it would come true. Would this work here?

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 liddi:

Thank you very much for your well wishes. Life is still hectic but has slowly eased up and will hopefully slow down even more in coming weeks.

Glad to hear that liddi. I do hope things continue to quiet down so you can get more R&R, and maybe spend some more time on MDL too. ^^

 AH :

Thank you liddi! I'm so glad you ended up staying and participating in these discussion threads. Your translations, observations and insights have been invaluable contributions that massively enriched the experience and our understanding of the story. ^^

Thank you very much for your kind words too <3

 AH :

Glad to hear that liddi. I do hope things continue to quiet down so you can get more R&R, and maybe spend some more time on MDL too. ^^

Am slowly returning to MDL and dramaland - currently watching Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty S1 after dragging my feet for a long time, and was pleasantly surprised how engrossing it is. Have marathoned 14 episodes in the over these two days, and truly enjoying it. The cases are interesting, fast paced, but does not tax me emotionally which is a great boon. Fingers crossed it remains good to the end. Have you watched it?

 blabla100:

I started to read once promise out of boredom and frankly it's quite addicting.

Congratulations on starting Once Promised! I dragged my feet reading it for the longest time because Chapter 1 was off-putting in how they introduced Chi Chen, but when I finally committed to reading it, I regretted I did not do so sooner. Are you reading the translation from the 2011 edition, or the 2019 revised version? Please do share your thoughts as and when you read it. Can't wait for you to read up to the end of Vol 1 and hear what you think of it. I have translated excerpts here and there in this thread, if it helps. I've noticed that Google translate can be misleading at times, but the gist of the story should be evident. The 2019 edition has a side story at the end describing Cang Xuan's search for Xiao Yao during the years she was missing, which I previously translated here - Part 1 and Part 2.

Interesting that you linked Xiao Yao's love for green with A Heng. Yes, Jing is often related to the colour green too. Actually LYF stated that Xiao Yao loved green and white. From Once Promised, these colours are associated with A Heng and Shao Hao respectively. It is then doubly interesting that these two colours are also intrinsically tied to the two men she described as potential husbands to her grandfather - Jing (green) and Xiang Liu (white). It goes without saying that Xiao Yao loved Shao Hao unreservedly and vice versa. Still, I don't think that this influenced her own love for Xiang Liu in any way in the years to come. Do you feel that it is related?

 blabla100:

Also, the way shaohao came to rescue ah heng from jade mountain îs very similar to how jing came for XY at the end of lyf.

I never thought of it that way until you mentioned it. Perhaps it is similar in that Xiao Yao and A Heng were saved from being incarcerated in Jade Mountain but I don't feel that it is quite the same. That was the first time A Heng met Shao Hao, while in LYF, it was their reunion after a long separation. 

However, there are quite a lot of notable parallels between Once Promised and LYF. Still, for me, Once Promised stands well by itself even without the ties to LYF, and I personally found the backdrop and politics far more grandiose and fascinating than LYF, which is narrated on a very intimate scale.