Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 liddi:

He had been with them for hundreds of years before Xiao Yao was even born.

XL was with the Sheng Nong remnant army for hundreds of years before meeting XY, but not for hundreds of years before she was born. He went to Gong Gong after Qi Yo died / after Sheng Nong was conquered by Xuan Yuan. Which was the same point where XY and CX were separated from each other: 300 years before the events of chapter 1 take place. 

XY speculated that XL escaped the death match arena 500 to 600 years before the events in chapter 23, and she noted that she hadn't even been born at that time. That's when Gong Gong saves XL's life, but then XL spends 100+ years in the far north and another ~100 years being FFB before going back to Gong Gong. 

 liddi:

I agree. It is also not just the greater good of the Shen Nong army or filial duty and a son's affection for Hong Jiang, but because he treasured the bonds formed with his brothers-in-arms and could never forget each and every one with whom he fought together with, had to personally cremate, he took upon himself their longing for a homeland that is long lost, and gave his all for them, even if he knew it was a futile cause. He had been with them for hundreds of years

---

 liddi:

That is not a bond that can just be thrown away easily, much less someone like Xiang Liu who would repay a small of kindness with his own life.

I agree with this :)

 nathsketch:

So beautiful. So pure.

That would be the solution. Someone please put me in that story so I can smother him with so many acts of kindness that it would take him way more than 9 lives to pay me back. No dying allowed until then :D

You've hit the nail on the head! Quick! Another AU is in order! 

 AH :

XL was with the Sheng Nong remnant army for hundreds of years before meeting XY, but not for hundreds of years before she was born. He went to Gong Gong after Qi Yo died / after Sheng Nong was conquered by Xuan Yuan. Which was the same point where XY and CX were separated from each other: 300 years before the events of chapter 1 take place. 

You're right. Thank you for the clarification!

Tong Hua posted this back in 2013, when Lost You Forever was first published (thank you @windiaaa041293 for bringing it to my attention!) . It has a lot of insights - her own viewpoints of dying for love with no regard for the children left behind (ironically I cited the same example just the other day before I ever read this); her belief that one should live one's life well even if love is lost; that love is not everything in life. It is noteworthy that we hear her exposition of Lost You Forever through Xiang Liu's admonitions for Xiao Yao to continue on living, and to live on well. One more point of interest - who fits the description of a mutual love that cannot be together but unable to be forgotten? 

《Eternally Yearning for Each Other》(English title: Lost You Forever) -- A Mutual Love That Cannot be Together, Yet Unable to Be Forgotten

桐华tonghua   2013-02-26   09:35:53


Many readers remember Mrs. Hu from Jin Yong's "Flying Fox on Snowy Mountain". After her husband died, she committed suicide, a very soul-stirring love that follows in life and death.
I was also very moved and liked this woman very much. However, although I was very young at the time, I still had doubts. She committed suicide, then what happened to her child? How would a child who lost both parents live on? Even if the child was entrusted to the most famous hero in the pugilistic world, what of it? Who can replace the parents' place in this world? (Facts proved that Hu Fei [the orphaned child] did undergo many hardships)
Therefore in comparison, [author] Liang Yu Sheng's Wu Xuanshuang moved me more. The imagery of her taking Li Yi's children and walking step by step in the wind and snow after Li Yi died, will forever be imprinted in my heart. Her love for Li Yi was deep and surpassed her own life, yet she chose to live on and take care of Li Yi's children.
(These are stories I read many years ago, but as I write this, I suddenly realised that I cannot remember Mrs. Hu's name except that she was Hu Yidao's wife, but I can clearly remember Wu Xuanshuang's name. This seems to indirectly imply how one woman made her life dependent on a man, while another woman lived out her own life regardless of how strong her love was.)

What Lost You Forever conveys is a kind of love that "lives [on]". I always feel that in this world, while love is soul-stirring, it is not everything in life.

Familial relationships, friendships, ideals, responsibilities... people have all kinds of ties in this world, and there are a lot of blessings and happiness that do not come from romantic love.

Eternal yearning for each other happens because there is profound love, because it cannot be obtained, because it cannot be forgotten. However, I am willing to bear with all these emotions and live well.
Life is a series of encounters and partings; it is a series of forgetting (leaving behind) and beginnings.
You were once here, you have left.
Even though I find it difficult to stop missing you, I will still smile when I see the beautiful rainbow.

I have not published a new book in two years. This is my new story "Lost You Forever" for you -- my beloved readers, my companions on my journey!

Without you, I will not have story after story [to tell]. Thank you!

Tong Hua

cr. YOLO苏璎 Weibo

 AH :

This is also a good point. XL had been possessive and loved XY selfishly, he might've tried to pursue a romantic relationship with XY regardless of the pain that choice likely would have caused her. Instead, he loved her selflessly. Alleviating her loneliness and replacing it with companionship and happiness. Teaching her the skills to protect herself. Comforting her in times of sadness. Saving her in times of peril. Even bringing her fiance back from the dead because he knew that she loved him and that he could be the kind of life partner that she wanted. Selfless choice after selfless choice.

XL may have felt that TSJ was in a better position than he was to give XY the life and the happy ending that she wanted. He may even have felt like it would not have been possible for XY to have a happy ending with him. 

Beautifully described. And this is the reason why it is very difficult to move on. To quote my girl, "Why is he so selfless? Why??"

Based on the timeline, do you think there was ever any point in time where he and the younger Xiao Yao might have met on Jade Mountain, during one of his visits there on behalf of Hong Jiang? She was there for 70 years, and by then, the Shen Nong kingdom had fallen, so technically Xiang Liu had probably already joined the resistance army. I would have loved to be a fly on that wall if they had met even briefly then, never knowing just how their lives would intersect 300 years hence.

Thank you Windia and liddi for the translation, IMO it is obvious that TH is reffering to XL and XY, I always thought this book is about them. 

 MengXiang:

Eternal yearning for each other happens because there is profound love, because it cannot be obtained, because it cannot be forgotten. However, I am willing to bear with all these emotions and live well.

Is the term "Eternally yearning" used exclusively for romantic feelings. I can't help but feel that the story is about XY lost love and eternal yearning while reading this. It can apply to her feeling for CX if it captures non romantic love. I do see the book as he story as it's written from her perspective.

相思 Yearning actually refers to two people who miss and yearn for each other romantically (lovesickness in other words). So 长相思 is eternally yearning for each other.

 liddi:

And this is the reason why it is very difficult to move on.

Yep.

 liddi:

Based on the timeline, do you think there was ever any point in time where he and the younger Xiao Yao might have met on Jade Mountain, during one of his visits there on behalf of Hong Jiang? She was there for 70 years, and by then, the Shen Nong kingdom had fallen, so technically Xiang Liu had probably already joined the resistance army.

You're right about the timing, and I love that idea. I can picture little XY (xiao xiao yao ^^"), desperate for someone fun and interesting to talk to, meeting XL 230+ years younger. Making him the first snake demon she meets instead of the second. And if Ah Bi were there (not able to take a human form yet), the two of them could be her first snake and fox duo. 

Maybe they'd be at odds at first. XY's mother was killed in battle with Sheng Nong, and Sheng Nong was conquered because of XY's mother's victory in battle, after all. But something would happen to make younger XL have a soft spot for younger XY. Maybe he'd see XY overhear someone speaking disparagingly about her mother, and also see XY using poison or her powers to take revenge on that person. Or maybe he'd be able to relate to her sense of feeling trapped, constrained, lonely and like an outsider in an austere and regimented place like Jade Mountain, given his transition from living as FFB (and probably moonlighting as a free demon) to military life with the remnant army in the mountains near QS Town.  

XY would've been at the height of her powers at that point. I can picture her asking XL to teach her one of his moves (from the fighting style he developed from Gong Gong's healing technique). That would be a nice bit of foreshadowing for him teaching her archery later on. 

Younger XY also could've met younger XL/FFB or younger TSJ at some point in the 180 years she spent wandering the Middle Plains (and the far north) after killing the nine-tailed fox but before she settled in QS Town.