Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 solarlunareclipse:

Personally, I find the trope of a knight in shining armor riding in on horseback (or swooping in on Mao Qiu) to rescue a damsel in distress to be unsatisfying. I don't want to view XY as idiotic and completely undeserving of XL's love. I would much rather believe XY and XL are true soulmates who share common interests and core values.

Weeeelll, that trope IS just part of LYF, given the power levels of XY.  But it isn't the whole of LYF.  XY was pretty resourceful, even before she met XL.  And she spends alot of time playing the knight to other characters.  Plus a large part of XY / XL's story is how he empowers her and she enriches him.  So, I'd hardly say XY is a damsel in distress. 

I am a bit harsh in my opinion of XY, because she frustrates me to no end, and while I understand why she does many things, I don't agree with or like it, especially when she's dishonest with herself.  But we all have our coping mechanisms.  And it doesn't change the fact that XY and XL are soulmates, even if they don't agree.   And "deserving" isn't something that factors in love.

 solarlunareclipse:

Since XL is devious enough to orchestrate his own "best ending", why shouldn't we believe that Xiao Yao is also capable of doing this? This idea sits with me better than the idea of XY waiting passively for XL to rescue her and arrange a non-tragic ending for her.

Sadly, XY is passive, when it comes to relationships.  She made Jing do most the heavy lifting in their relationship, which is amazing, considering how passive Jing was.  That said, I don't think she ever expected XL to do anything for her, and XL went out of his way to make sure she never realized what he did for her.

Didn't XY arrange most of her own non-tragic ending?  I mean, look at how she bent over backwards to repeatedly give Jing a chance to get his life together and do what he promised?  Fans complain, because neither she or XL chose the best life they could have had, as opposed the 'non-tragic' ending they were saddled with.

 solarlunareclipse:

All the main characters in this novel have character foils: XL and CX are foils; TSJ's foil is TSH; XY's foil is FFYY. Tong Hua extensively compares and contrasts XY and FFYY, examining their interests, behaviors, morals, attitudes toward status and wealth, treatment of others, reactions to betrayal, and the lengths they are willing (or unwilling) to go to in order to be with the men they love most.

Hmmm.  I'm not sure about those foils ... But if XY and FFYY are supposed to be foils, then having XY also drop a cuckoo on Jing seems to make her a parallel, rather than a foil.

 solarlunareclipse:

I believe Tong Hua respects this perspective and intended for XY to actively contribute to finding the strength to keep living, even as she knows that the man she loves is opting for death due to loyalty to his adoptive father and comrades.

I think there's more to it than that.  XY never admited even to herself that she loved XL while they both did their best to shove each other away.

 solarlunareclipse:

Tong Hua has stated that this novel was inspired by the contrasting stories of two women: one who forsakes her children to be with her lover in death, and another who chooses to carry on living for the sake of her children after her lover passes away. We know that FFYY abandons her child in order to die with her lover. Why wouldn't Tong Hua demonstrate what XY does in the same situation?

Except Tong Hua doesn't demonstrate XY doing that, quite the opposite.  We never see XY's kid but we do see her and Jing abandon Jing's kid for their 'love.'

The two mothers are CX and XY's mothers.  CX's mother kills herself for love, and XY's mother carries on without her lover for XY and her family and country.

Guys I finally finished it (Part 1)! Link here: 

https://mydramalist.com/discussions/lost-you-forever/124319-fan-fiction-thread-for-lost-you-forever

@HeadInTheClouds @liddi @Kokuto @AH I have to go to bed right now. Let’s talk tomorrow ~ Love you!

 ZYHLJ:

Guys I finally finished it (Part 1)! Link here: 

https://mydramalist.com/discussions/lost-you-forever/124319-fan-fiction-thread-for-lost-you-forever

@HeadInTheClouds @liddi @Kokuto @AH I have to go to bed right now. Let’s talk tomorrow ~ Love you!

Just finished reading. Nicely done. Can't wait for more.  Thanks for starting this new thread. I will also share my fanfic too. ?

@liddi

I found that Tonghua's description on the 解忧曲 page in Baidu Encyclopedia, and it didn't mention the release date. But I searched for this passage and it appeared at least in 2016. Tonghua seems to be quite mysterious now. Her Weibo has not been updated for at least half a year, you can't see anything when you click on it, so I can't know her thoughts either... But whenever I hear that she is preparing to produce another modern drama, my eyesight went dark... By the way, she recently participated in the Super Topic of Memories of the Scattered Starry Sky on Weibo. I wonder if she wants to turn it into a drama?

When I wrote these two fanfics, I first wrote them in Mandarin, then used Google to translate them into English, and then corrected the poorly or incorrectly translated parts myself, so that it would be faster. I wrote the New Year one directly on the Google Translate page, so I no longer have a Chinese version, but since you want it, I will translate it back to Mandarin for you after I finish writing the current one. This won't take much time :-)

 plor20:

Just finished reading. Nicely done. Can't wait for more.  Thanks for starting this new thread. I will also share my fanfic too. ?

Thank you! =3= I have also read your work, it is so beautiful! I'll write my feedback after finishing my meal~!

 ZYHLJ:

I wrote the New Year one directly on the Google Translate page, so I no longer have a Chinese version, but since you want it, I will translate it back to Mandarin for you after I finish writing the current one. This won't take much time :-)

I'm so sorry to cause you more work! Thank you so much for your generosity.

 ZYHLJ:

By the way, she recently participated in the Super Topic of Memories of the Scattered Starry Sky on Weibo. I wonder if she wants to turn it into a drama?

I know that the novel 散落星河的记忆 The Memory Lost In Space will be adapted into an English series and feature film, which could explain her participation? She used to interact with her fans pretty regularly, at least in the earlier days. Not so much these days, at least not on the 超话 threads. With all the short fuses especially surrounding the LYF fandom, it's perhaps a wise move on her part to stay low. And yes, it is a shame that her Weibo account settings are now set to display the last 6 months' worth of posts, which equates to no posts at all. Sigh. Now we can only depend on those who did screenshot her posts / comments in the past.

 ZYHLJ:

There are many impressive men and women with distinctive personalities in her novels, this is what attracts me most.

Yes, TH's ability to create and balance a host of characters and give them their own compelling narrative within the bigger world of the story is one of her strongest points. BBJX, Song in the Clouds, Once Promised and Memories Scattered Across the Galaxy are examples where she showcases this ability best. LYF pales in comparison in terms of scope.  

 ZYHLJ:

Her heroines always tend to be passive when it comes to love, but characterization is indeed what she is best at.

I feel like A-Heng and RX both make some decisive choices. RX was highly restricted in what she could do, but she made some pragmatic choices for herself. I don't remember much about YG from Song in the Clouds. Su Man from Secret Hidden In Time also made some choices - they just happened to be highly quétionable :-). The other thing about TH is that her characters are not idealized - she doesn't do Mary Sues or Gary Stus which I appreciate. It's just about which of her flawed characters is to your taste and which one annoys the crap out of you :-Đ