Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 Elise:

I'm still salty XY isn't drunk so XY-TSJ do get to have a wedding night. AND there's another YaoJing make-out session that the YaoLius have to watch Xiang Liu be in grief over?! I'm going to feel a sharp pain in my chest watching this all play out. Like those thousands of arrows.

I‘ll need a drink to survive those scenes, pop the wine bottles girls and drown our pain away???or maybe I‘ll just skip them and pretend they never happen. This is the right time to be delulu IMO.

@H19279

‚@AH & @liddi,
I think XL would never take XY’s live or safety to exchange for his own benefit even it is his live. Actually he already chose his best ending - to die on battle field. His dignity didn’t allow him to do so. As Sir Bi said, his heart was as bright as lapis.
The first time he saved XY, he asked for a mount in Shen Nong mountain. This is not for his own sake but for the dignity and respect for the died rebel soldiers as well as to cover his help as a transaction. He did want her to feel indebted to him.
Therefore in eps 29 in the drama, i was very disappointed and felt it unacceptable that he hinted to take XY’s safety in exchange for the transportation of goods for the rebel to QS town. Jing said he would never take XY as condition for business. Then Jing granted tge transportation as gratitude for teaching XY archery. XL was bitterly forced to accept this. it is really as Jing bought the archery lessons. So in a way, it stripped off XL’s role to teach XY the self protection skill. And if the leaked script is correct, they stripped all three important things that XL gave to XY as in the novel.‘

Yes, I also find Ep 29 so out of XL‚s character to use XY to bargain with Jing, if he‘s bargaining with Jing using XY safety. My take on that scene is a bit different, that he‘s not bargaining with Jing using XY´s safety but indirectly saying that he‘s not competing with Jing for XY (like Jing can have her basically), so I take it more like another ‚hit two birds with one stone’ thing he always do, because with this ‚bargain‘ he nudged Jing to XY, give him motivation to pursue XY because XL/FBB is not in competition (XY still available) and solving the transpo problem for his army provision.

TSJ: What can you possibly offer me?

XL: Xiao Yao, why are you here?

and then later…

TSJ: You’re threatening me with Xiao Yao?

XL: I‘m just telling you what I can only offer.

Jing then proceed self righteously not wanting to ever use XY to bargain, but then take it upon himself to bargain XY archery lesson without asking XY is presumptuous in my book. He‘s not her husband/fiancee  at that point. TCJ wonderful acting later shows how conflicted and torn he was in taking this bargain?. But maybe he thought, well it‘s better this way then if XY find out about this bargain, she really won‘t feel indebted to him for the archery lessons, because let‘s be real, their bargain for time spend in archery vs. time accompanying FFB playing around is a so thinly veiled excuse, that only someone so blind or intentionally ignorant like XY would buy without question.

Another reason I think this way is because if I‘m not mistaken, the last scene with XY-XL-TSJ triangle was the bow buying scene, where XY coaxed XL to pay for her the bow instead Jing paying for it and then XL farewell with XY at the brothel. So while XL busy securing the provisions, XY and Jing are getting cosy with each other ?. So it‘s possible from XL perspective that he want to clear the ‚misunderstanding’ Jing might has from the bow buying scene and make sure Jing keeps pursuing XY. XL doesn‘t know though, that in his absent, XY and Jing were getting so cosy with each other. That scene where XY-TSJ-FL-XY dancing and partying while XL fighting was breaking my heart. 

I don‘t know if I read to much in that scene, because I can not accept XL really using XY as bargaining chip. Or maybe this is another attempt from the drama production team to downplay XL integrity and character and make Jing more chivalrous for the audience (showing how callous XL is for bargaining with XY safety, how noble Jing is for refusing and even one upping XL by forcing him agree to bargain his archery lesson for the  provision transpo?‍♀️? Let’s wait maybe the others have another thoughts/insights on this?

@luv2bafangurl
for archery lessons, as XL told XY, it was fair trade between them. He did mind sharing Fongfang’s archery technique. He spent time teaching her, she spent her time  hanging out with him. So, XY did not feel indebted to him. Jing always tried to pay XL everything XL did for XY. i think Jing detected sth in the relationship between XL and XY. For example, he offered to pay XL to rescue WXL. at that time, XL refused and said that he would ask Xiaoliu for that. As XY said in the part of buying archery bow, if she lets Jing pay, it means Jing himself gifted the bow to her. On the scene, XL was very uncomfortable, with Jing’s offer but he had no other choice. he looked very bitter

 blabla100:

",if he‘s bargaining with Jing using XY safety. My take on that scene is a bit different, that he‘s not bargaining with Jing using XY´s safety but indirectly saying that he‘s not competing with Jing for XY (like Jing can have her basically),"

That's how I interpreted that scene when I watched the drama.  

It was a bad scene. I was confused on what exactly it meant other than XL feeling hopeless and sad about his XY situation. We already know that. I didn't understand how it moved the plot. Jing could have easily left to go home because it was new year just like in the book. 

For all the script amendments in S1 that I balk at, there is one scene that I felt beautifully summed up what Xiang Liu planned and prepared for Xiao Yao. In the novel, Xiao Yao never asked Xiang Liu for blood during the bow recognition because she knows his blood now flowed inside her as well. However, the drama had her preparing poisons in hopes he would agree to give her the blood she required. 

What I really loved about that scene was what Xiang Liu said to her - the lesson he was subtly drumming in to her:

XY: I need three drops of blood from you to help me make the bow recognise me as its master.  May I?
XL: Why would I help you for no reason at all? 
(Xiao Yao purses her lips in disappointment)
XL (smiles): I taught you archery not for you to beg others. If you want something, you need to get it yourself.

With these few words, he was reminding her that 

1. She should never assume that help is around the corner as long as she asked (in other words, she had to be self-sufficient)
2. He had empowered her so that she need no longer beg others or be at the mercy of anyone's whims
3. She should be brave enough to reach out and claim what she wanted

In doing so, he is ensuring that the day he is no longer in her life and unable to quietly protect her, she is strong enough to never have to rely on others, and could boldly claim the kind of life that she truly wants.

 MengXiang:

@liddi

I liked that scene too for the same reason that he was empowering her. 

It looks like it was 2 drops of blood from him and 1 from her. What does everyone see?

Yes - two drops came from him, which merged and transformed into the bird, which later pecked her palm to make the 3rd drop.

@windiaaa

Are you able to post in the original language. The English translation is a bit funny sometimes. 

@liddi

‚However, I am of the opinion that Xiang Liu was deliberately ambiguous - he never specifically said that Xiao Yao's well-being was at stake, but he allowed Jing to assume that was what he meant, since Jing pointed out that he used Xiao Yao to threaten him.  As such, Jing countered by using this transaction as payment for Xiao Yao's archery lessons, in other words removing any debt of gratitude Xiao Yao has towards Xiang Liu for being her teacher.  This in itself is ironic because there was never any debt to begin with since Fangfeng Bei told her from the start that her repayment for his time was in the time she spent with him to alleviate his boredom, and that had been going on for years. What is doubly ironic is that for all Jing's proclamations that he would not use Xiao Yao as a bargaining chip for anything, how was his payment for Xiao Yao's archery lessons any different? In that one scene, Jing displayed presumptuous arrogance, particularly for someone who was still stuck in an engagement he could not disengage from. Xiang Liu would have known it too, but had no choice but to accept because he had nothing to bargain with, and could not, would not risk the well-being of his men. So no. I don't see it as diluting what Xiang Liu gave Xiao Yao in terms of the ability to protect herself - that would never be taken away, no matter how much Jing tried to use his far superior position - wealth wise, influence wise - to invalidate.‘

Yes, agree to all that! Sometimes I wish XL/FFB was not so ambiguous with his words. I think I am bitter because that scene give Jinger another ammo to assassinate  XL character and praising TSJ to the moon while they missed all the subtle details of how presumptuous TSJ actually is.  TCJ rocks this scene as always. He shows so many different expression from smugly unaffected at the beginning to deeply conflicted, anger and sadness as he accepted the bargain while DW shows only one expression in the whole scene (sorry,  not sorry)

And like you @liddi,  I love that scene where XY asked FFB for blood to activate the bow for all those reasons you stated above. We‘re really in love-hate relationship with this show. It gave us some really great scene addition about XL but also watering down XL-XY sweet/romantic moments as well and also some questionable scene like this ‚FFB-TSJ bargain scene‘. Does the censorship in China really ban skinship and romantic portrayal of FL with SML just because they are not the Endgame and it makes FL looks promiscuous ? It‘s ridiculous. On the other hand they allowed the portrayal of basically an ‚Affair‘ between XY and TSJ. How backwards is THAT?‍♀️! Sorry I‘ll stop my rant before I am boring you guys with repeating the same thing all over again, which I guess must be already said by you all thousand times here.