Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 Kokuto:

Nooooooo!  Donkey Meat Seller is Xiang Liu's friend!  Why is he helping Jing?  Please do NOT tell me XL is helping to clear up THAT mess too for Jing?

It is not explicitly stated (at least not that I noticed), but it does seem like that idiotic nine-headed demon (8 headed by then) was also responsible for providing him with this avenue to get down to the truth.

 H19279:

Lirong veteran played as if he was an witch king: he knew the magical bugs, and now the trick for recalling the past. huh

He is the convenient stand-in for the Shaman king and memory retrieval (which doesn't even happen in the novel). However, Xiang Liu also heard Chi Chen's love song for A Heng from him, which he then sang for Xiao Yao later.

 H19279:

Thank you for your translation.  what is your hope for S2 now?

I think the trailer is pretty accurate to the leaked script thus far. Still, I continue to hope, and keep fingers crossed for a last minute miracle.

 solarlunareclipse:

I guess they either clarified TSJ's intentions in the drama or made his intentions different than in the novel if he's trading his life to find out the truth.

Perhaps with Xiang Liu obviously giving 3 of his lives for Xiao Yao, it would reflect very badly on Jing if he is not seen as willingly giving his life more than once for her. The thing is with the artifact being tied to the Guifang clan and in the hands of the Lirong old man, both of which are linked to Xiang Liu, there is a hint that Xiang Liu is still the one secretly helping him to get down to the truth after all.

 solarlunareclipse:

Did the Jade Mountain rescue even happen in the drama or was it somehow part of the dream sequence?

Based on the script, Xiao Yao was considering (but had not yet agreed) to become the next Royal Mother because she was devastated that Cang Xuan and her grandfather knew Xin Yue was the one who masterminded Jing's assassination but kept it from her.  At that moment, Jing showed up as arranged by Cang Xuan.

 AH :

It doesn’t bode well at all. My expectations for S2 are so incredibly low now… which maybe is a good thing. In theory, I can’t be disappointed. I’ll either get what I expect or I’ll be pleasantly surprised. 

I am just waiting for key scenes (the questions at the gambling den, outside Little Yan Zhuan's manor, and at Qingshui Town; the final battle among them) while keeping everything I can think of crossed in hopes that "pleasantly surprised" scenario will happen.

 liddi:

My real concern is the montage we see of the three men with her between his first "Who do you want most to spend your life with" and his repeated question. I really hope that this is just in the trailer, and not actually in the drama because to include the montage of her with Cang Xuan, with Jing and with Xiang Liu at this juncture seems to imply that her headache is caused by her torn desires/loyalties between the three men. Please... NO.

Agree that it's distasteful. I also hope they don't show the montage with the 4th question. Do you recognize any of the scenes they showed in the montage? 

1. CX and XY in the phoenix forest
2. Jing and XY holding umbrella while it is snowing
3. XY unconscious leaning on XL

 liddi:

Leaked script Ep19  (originally S02E27 scene 17)

I think (hope!) this scene is deliberately shown out of sequence. Based on the leaked script, the sequence is as follows, which means that when he said "Aim here", he had already pulled out the first arrow (which presumably is the one we saw in the subsequent scene where he was shot):

I hope it's out of sequence as well. If I pause the video, I think I can see a trace of blood on XL's robe when he says, "Aim here" so fingers crossed.

 liddi:

Perhaps with Xiang Liu obviously giving 3 of his lives for Xiao Yao, it would reflect very badly on Jing if he is not seen as willingly giving his life more than once for her. The thing is with the artifact being tied to the Guifang clan and in the hands of the Lirong old man, both of which are linked to Xiang Liu, there is a hint that Xiang Liu is still the one secretly helping him to get down to the truth after all.

The drama does its fair share of making Jing look worse than in the novel, so maybe it decided to reverse course here to show that Jing underwent some growth and became less selfish as the story went on. Instances of where Jing looked worse in the drama than the novel:

1. After XL hurt WXL (when WXL suggested he betray Hong Jiang), YSQ said he would deal with XL going forward. It then cut to a scene in XL's army camp where one of his men collapsed from malaria. This made it seem like TSJ deliberately set up the malaria incident to deal with XL.
2. The drama make it more clear using TSJ's reactions to hearing that the shops along the river (including Rejuvenation Hall) would be taken back by Yu Xin, the Tu Shan family emblem in big banners outside of Yu Mansion, and TSJ looking in Jing Ye's direction before she recognized him that he orchestrated the entire situation to regain his Tu Shan Jing identity.
3. The drama had YSQ directly tell CX he was YSQ to prevent Xiao Liu from escaping when CX was sent to capture her and bring her back to Gao Xin.

 liddi:

Based on the script, Xiao Yao was considering (but had not yet agreed) to become the next Royal Mother because she was devastated that Cang Xuan and her grandfather knew Xin Yue was the one who masterminded Jing's assassination but kept it from her.  At that moment, Jing showed up as arranged by Cang Xuan.

Does this mean XY doesn't poison herself? So we still wouldn't know for sure whether XL had to give up one of his lives to revive her from the Jade Mountain poisoning.

 solarlunareclipse:

Agree that it's distasteful. I also hope they don't show the montage with the 4th question. Do you recognize any of the scenes they showed in the montage?

CX and XY in the phoenix forest
Jing and XY holding umbrella while it is snowing
XY unconscious leaning on XL

Not sure whether we should be moving the discussion to the S2 thread. Wish they had just kept to a single thread over multiple seasons...

In retrospect, I think this is just deliberately misleading editing on the part of the trailer.

My best guess for these three scenes are as follows:

Leaked script Ep20 (originally S02E28 scene 19) - Cang Xuan giving Xiao Yao the Ruomu flower at the poinciana forest on Zhao Yun Peak at Xuan Yuan mountain, just before her wedding to Jing

Leaked script Ep10  (originally S02E18 scene 13) - Jing and Xiao Yao at Xiao Yue Summit after Hou and Yi Ying's affair is exposed and he is free to be with her at last

Leaked script Ep19 (originally S02E27 scene 17) - Xiang Liu holding Xiao Yao in his arms at Gourd Lake when she collapsed and passed out after giving so much of her blood the last time they met (his chest wound from the arrow is just barely visible)

 solarlunareclipse:

I hope it's out of sequence as well. If I pause the video, I think I can see a trace of blood on XL's robe when he says, "Aim here" so fingers crossed.

Me too. And yes, I did catch a glimpse of the blood on his chest too.

 solarlunareclipse:

The drama does its fair share of making Jing look worse than in the novel, so maybe it decided to reverse course here to show that Jing underwent some growth and became less selfish as the story went on.

There are several instances I can think of from the leaked script. Among them,  he acknowledges his selfishness in exacting the 15-year promise, and implied that him asking Xiang Liu to take Xiao Yao away from her wedding was to allow her to choose between Xiang Liu and him, a choice he took from her with the 15-year promise.

He is also seen to respect the cause that the Shen Nong resistance army are fighting for in different scenes. He refuses when Xiang Liu offered to kill Yi Ying and her son when he tried to ask Xiang Liu whether he knew about Tushan Zhen's parentage.

 solarlunareclipse:

Does this mean XY doesn't poison herself? So we still wouldn't know for sure whether XL had to give up one of his lives to revive her from the Jade Mountain poisoning.

Her poisoning Cang Xuan and committing suicide only occurred in Cang Xuan's dream sequence. So no, Xiang Liu did not give one of his lives to save her from that. But he would go on to give up two of his lives to sever the Lovers Bug connection.

What did happen is that after the dream sequence:

- Feng Long requested to lead the army against the Shen Nong resistance army and was killed
- Xiao Yao confronted Xiang Liu about Feng Long's death, severed their relationship with each other, and passed out after giving of her blood
- Xiang Liu arranged for A Nian to bring Xiao Yao to Jade Mountain where he gave two lives to sever the Lovers Bug connection
- Cang Xuan ordered full on assault on the Shen Nong resistance army
- Cang Xuan realised the one Hou shot was not Jing but a puppet, and orders continued search for Jing
- Xiao Yao, still on Jade Mountain, realised that Xin Yue was behind Jing's assassination, and that Cang Xuan and her grandfather knew but did not tell her, which meant that they would never allow her to take revenge on Xin Yue because of the political sensibilities involved. As such, she considered taking up the Royal Mother's offer to be her successor, as she had nowhere else to go. Just as she was having her monologue, Jing (arranged by Cang Xuan) arrived and they were reunited 

 plor20:

All the changes still make Jing just as useless....and that they made Xingyue stoop that way [which makes no sense at all--whats does she gain from killing Jing?]

And making CX magnanimous by arranging Jing that way is rather incoherent with his set up as opposed to XL? His character growth occurs when he realized he was duped by Jing (by making himself a villian to XY's dreams), and as he walked away taking the high road, was where he decided to be the kind of ruler he needed to be.

The script merged Xin Yue's assassination attempt on Xiao Yao from which Left Ear saved her, with Jing's assassination at the hands of Hou. In the script, Xin Yue's real target was Xiao Yao all along. She colluded with Hou to poison Zhen and coerce Yi Ying to work with them and kill Xiao Yao in exchange for the antidote. Hou in turn used that opportunity to kill Jing. However, Yi Ying had a change of heart and killed Hou and herself.

As for Cang Xuan, he is whitewashed and spared the consequences of his actions had he chosen to kill Jing. 

Oh did I mention that Xiao Yao and Jing marry after Xiang Liu's death? And they leave for Qingshui Town, not the ocean after that?

 liddi:

Not sure whether we should be moving the discussion to the S2 thread. Wish they had just kept to a single thread over multiple seasons...

I'm fine with moving the discussion over there. When season 2 starts up, I'm guessing more people will be discussing the drama there.

Agree about wishing MDL set it up so multiple seasons shared the same thread. I'm lazy and don't love the idea of having to check multiple threads for updates. 

Moved this conversation to: https://mydramalist.com/discussions/lost-you-forever-season-2/119993-what-the-shell-lounge-bar-xiang-liu-s-underwater-luxury-lounge?pid=3077053&page=285#p3077053

 plor20:

the under water lounge is for really random stuff related to JC. Perhaps we just have the same name but just have it in the season 2 page?

I'd be fine with that if that's the consensus here. I don't want to inundate the underwater lounge with boring novel analysis if that's not their intended audience.

 HeadInTheClouds:

OMG. They are using industrial-level bleach on Jing's character. LOL! I guess they can't portray him as is from the novel because all of his character flaws will be plain to see. Got to make Jing looks better and XL worse to /sell the shitty official couple for the broader audience.

Apologize for the tone, liddi. It's not directed at you. 

No offence taken at all.

To be honest, the changes to Jing doesn't bother me all that much. What bothers me (sounding like a broken record now) are the changes done to Xiang Liu and the three things he prepared for Xiao Yao. That is a travesty.

 plor20:

the under water lounge is for really random stuff related to JC. Perhaps we just have the same name but just have it in the season 2 page?

Sounds like a plan. Just drop a line when the new thread is created.

Though I wish again we could merge the two threads. It will be a fine balancing act because there are posts on this thread that I  have not replied to. Gah.

 solarlunareclipse:

Moved this conversation to: https://mydramalist.com/discussions/lost-you-forever-season-2/119993-what-the-shell-lounge-bar-xiang-liu-s-underwater-luxury-lounge?pid=3077053&page=285#p3077053

Guess I'll respond when the new thread is up. Until such time, guess the chatter remains here.