Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 blabla100:

@kokuto

"Why would XL accept the bug only to protect XY, while still planning on dying with his troops?  That's not protective, that's forcing her to share his pre-mature death."

But at that point in time he had no choice but to accept the bug in order to protect her.  XY would have probably died within a few weeks if not for XL taking the bug in. She was set on removing the bug from CX, XL was the only suitable one who could, at least have her life prolonged. 

If you believe he planned on dying with his troops at this time (which I don't) then he either planned on letting her die with him or he had figured out the way to kill the bugs before he accepted it (which I don't believe he knew at that time).  Which leads one to ask, why didn't he just use that method with CX and XY if his reason was to protect XY?  He could have killed XY (and gotten CX dead too), then revived her with one of his lives.  This would have been ideal for him, killing two birds with one stone, pun intended.  In fact, XY had brought up this possibility herself, when he nearly drowned her to facilitate FFYY's assassination atempt on CX.

 blabla100:

@kokuto

He specifically asked if he could remove the Love Bug, and was told that he could not, once it was successfully planted.  

Also, why would he specifically ask the if he could remove the bug, if he didn't think of removing it? 

He asked about ways to remove the bug, because that was what XY asked him, and what she wanted, since she promised CX she would remove the bug before he left town.

 HeadInTheClouds:

You beat me to it, Kokuto. Thank you. I'm disappointed. It looks so small. I was expecting something bigger. 

Also, just a little clarification. It's Lovers bugs, not Love Bugs. Lovers makes it even clearer what kind of love it is supposed to be :-).

Given what we've seen of the fat bellied doll, it's about the right size, I think.  Though I thought the doll was kind of small.

Thank you for the clarification.  I probably keep calling it the Love Bug, cause of the old movies.

 H19279:

it seems to have the man in green inside the ice globe. And the green man looks way bigger than sth gray/white in the middle. I don’t know if it was the real ice globe used in the drama. 

And if it fits the belly of the laughing doll, the the doll will be tiny 

The doll is small.  We saw the pic of XY holding it against her breast.

I was trying to figure out what was inside.  Is it a man?  Why is there a robin blue green patch on the side?  I thought the whole thing was supposed to be an ocean blue.  I can't see the clam shell at all.

Actually, I'm surprised he isn't holding up a green ball that they can CGI.

 blabla100:

Wow, thank you for posting this. 

Happy to share!

 Kokuto:

Given what we've seen of the fat bellied doll, it's about the right size, I think. Though I thought the doll was kind of small.

Thank you for the clarification. I probably keep calling it the Love Bug, cause of the old movies.

Ah! I haven't seen those pictures with ZY holding the doll. I guess I always imagined it to be bigger since it was described so clearly and with such details in the novel. And it was such an important prop (for lack of a better word).

The only Love Bug related movie that I saw was Herbie, Fully Loaded with Lindsey Lohan. They belongs to the same universe, right?

 HeadInTheClouds:

Nathsketh and I agree on that front already. If nathsketch feels that I was suggesting that she lacks reading comprehension because of my comments, I will apologise to nathsketch.

Nope, I'm cool. We are usually on the same page, pun absolutely intended :D

But if you mean my Mandarin reading comprehension, then yes, homie. It's a mess. I need to work on that but I promise I'm trying.

@Kokuto

"Which leads one to ask, why didn't he just use that method with CX and XY if his reason was to protect XY?  He could have killed XY (and gotten CX dead too), then revived her with one of his lives."

OK, I am genuinely confused. Did XL having 9 lifes means that  he  had the power to revive people? I thought he was able to revive XY through the bugs, indeed - by losing one of his life, but I didn't think he could have done the same without being tied togheter by the bugs. I mean, if that's the case, he could have just revived Jing without all the trouble he went through with the mercouple and getting XY's blood. 

"He asked about ways to remove the bug, because that was what XY asked him"

The reason why he asked about ways to remove the bug is beside the point. The fact that he specifically wanted to know how to remove them points to him having the intention from the get go to remove them, either from CX or from himself later on, it doesn't matter. He did try to find a different solution before having no choice but to accept it. I mean, if it wasn't for XL to agree to the bug, what do you think it would have happened to XY? What other solution was there for her at that point in time? 

@H19279

Now I'm still talking about the drama. In the drama, he clearly says "All are lies" in the scene where he's drinking in the tree, and it's obvious that he's angry, isn't he?

@Kokuto

I'm only talking about the drama. In the drama, Xiao Yao obviously only regards Jing as her real boyfriend, because she is just a woman who "doesn't believe first". As long as Xiang Liu doesn't give her a clear confession, she won't allow herself to sink deep, and Xiang Liu won't allow her to sink deep. While some (including me) think her love for Jing is just a story she tells herself, she does believe the story. We think it's ridiculous that she believes this story but not her desire for Xiang Liu, but that's just the person she is.

As for why Xiang Liu knew that he would die with a high probability, it was because he knew that if he remained loyal to Chen Rong, Xi Yan would eventually use the power of an entire country to ensure that he disappeared forever. Do you remember how he died in the end?

 nathsketch:

Nope, I'm cool. We are usually on the same page, pun absolutely intended :D

But if you mean my Mandarin reading comprehension, then yes, homie. It's a mess. I need to work on that but I promise I'm trying.

You should see my Vietnamese reading comprehension :-). It has been great to follow some Vietnamese fan boards for this novel; it helped with my Vietnamese vocabulary a lot. You've only studied Mandarin for a few months, cut yourself some slack.