Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 liddi:

I know right? It was my very first happy pill after all the pain. Since you have access to Weibo, do read YOLO 苏璎's 相思结 too. While we only see her interacting with Xiang Liu in the last chapter, we do see Xiao Yao's regrets and growth, which is very cathartic, after everything she put us through. And Hong Jiang gets to redeem himself in our eyes too through that last act of his.

The FOMO is real. I can't read this because I don't have a Weibo account :-(

 liddi:

If I do finish translating the rest of the leaked script (with the reactions, is anyone even interested now or am I just wasting my time??), I will go back and compare the script to the last 9 episodes of S1 and see if there are any differences between them in terms of delivery.

I'm very interested in your translations of the leaked script and very appreciative of all your efforts here.  They've always provided a springboard for enlightening discussion.  I'm also curious to see the comparison of the script to what's aired, but as always, completely at your convenience and desire.  The holidays are always busy and it's a time for family.

Regardless, thank you!  You've provided so much clarity and information with the translations.

 liddi:

This is what she said:

Has Xiao Liu ever loved Xiang Liu? I feel this question...

Hi Liddi, 

Can you help me to give clearer and better translation. I don't think that Kaola did good job with this text. This is what XY told FL when FL asked her if she regreted to marry him

小夭道：“我不后悔，我从小流落在外，一直在漂泊，看上去，随波逐流，很是洒脱，可其实，我真的厌烦了漂泊不定的日子，我想停驻。可我遇到的人，有心的无力，有力的无心，只有你肯为我提供一个港湾，让我停下，谢谢！” (chapter 28)

Kaola translation: 

Xiao Yao said “I have no regrets. I’ve been wandering alone since I was small and on the surface I seem very carefree but I’m actually very weary of wandering. I want to stop, I want to have a home. But the people I meet – the one with the feelings has no ability, the one with the ability has no feelings – only you are willing to give me a safe harbor where I can anchor myself and stop. Thank you!”

有心的无力: having a heart but no strength / strong in will but weak in power 

有力的无心: having strength but no heart/ strong in power but no intention

One is Jing and the other is XL. If I understood correctly she meaned the one who had feeling (heart) for her  was unable (since he was married) and the other one who was strong but seems to have no intention with her. So, How did she view XL and herself in this context? 

I think in the coversation with FL, she said with the literal meaning: But the people I meet –one with heart but no strength, one with strength but no heart. So, it was said in general, vague meaning. 

The one with heart but no strength is Jing. It's quite easy to interpretated as he had feeling, intention for her but he could not marry her due to his marriage with FFYY

The one with strength but no heart, no intention is XL. No heart in this case can be understood has XY thought that XL didn't love her or intention to marry her. But how to interpratate "streng, or power". Does it mean he had ability to marry her/ love her?.

Actually these phrase is quite interesting. It could be considered from XY's feeling as:

• The one I have heart for (have heart), but I can't get married (no strength/power)
• The one I could have married (have strength) but I don't love him (no heart)

 H19279:

Actually these phrase is quite interesting. It could be considered from XY's feeling as:

The one I have heart for (have heart), but I can't get married (no strength/power)
The one I could have married (have strength) but I don't love him (no heart)

I brought this text up back in Sep 2023 because those same words caught my eye too.

I don't believe that the 有心 should be considered as Xiao Yao's feelings. Rather, it should only be applied to the two people she was referring to, and her hopes with regards to them.

Xiao Yao's description of the two kinds of people she met in the context of her wanting to stop wandering and have a home -  有心的无力，有力的无心  - has an intriguing subtext, and can be interpreted in various ways.

有心 can mean "willingness" or "have feelings for"
有力 means "have the ability / strength"

As such, the obvious meaning of those two lines is:
the one who is willing is powerless, while the one who is able to is unwilling

In other words, the person who is willing to give me a home (Jing) is powerless to do so (because of his marriage). The person who can give me a home (Xiang Liu) has no intention to do so.

However, there is also a hidden connotation to her words:
the one who has feelings (for me) is powerless, while the one who is able to, has no feelings (for me)

In other words, Jing loves me but cannot settle down with me. Xiang Liu, who can give me a home, has no feelings for me.

小夭道：“我不后悔。我从小流落在外，一直在漂泊，看上去，随波逐流，很是洒脱，可其实，我真的厌烦了漂泊不定的日子，我想停驻。可我遇到的人，有心的无力，有力的无心，只有你肯为我提供一个港湾，让我停下。谢谢！”
Xiao Yao said, "I have no regrets. I have been wandering since I was a child. Although I appear to be carefree, drifting with the tide, I am actually very weary of wandering, and want to stop. However, the people I meet, the one with feelings for me is powerless, while the one who is able has no feelings for me. Only you are willing to give me a safe harbour for me to stop and settle down. Thank you!"

-- Vol 2 Ch11  (Chapter 28)

Since she is describing two people she hoped she would be able to settle down with, it also implies that she nursed this hope even though she believes the latter has no feelings for her, which in turn is a testament to where her deepest feelings lie even if she would not admit it, since in her mind, it is one-sided.  

Remember that at this point in time, she only learnt from Se Mei Er the name of the bug she planted in Xiang Liu, but not the full nature, nor the implications that would allow the bug to be planted since she had not visited Bai Li yet:

蛇莓儿说：“...但传说中有一种极其难养的蛊，蛊分雌雄，养蛊很难，比养蛊更难的是种蛊。若是女子养的蛊，必须找个男子才能种蛊，若是男子养的蛊，必须找个女子才能种蛊，常常养了一辈子都种不了蛊，所以这种蛊只在百黎的传说中。”
“究竟是什么蛊？”
“究竟是什么蛊我也不知道，只知道它的名字，叫情人蛊，据说‘情人蛊，心连心’，和王姬说的情形很相似。”
Se Mei Er said, "... However, according to legend, there is a kind of bug that is extremely difficult to raise, with male and female bugs. It is hard to raise, and even harder to plant. If a woman raised the bug, she must find a man to plant it. If a man raised the bug, he must find a woman to plant it. It is common for someone to have raised the bug for their whole life but never be able to plant it, so such bugs remains as a legend in Bai Li."
"Exactly what kind of bug is it?"
"I don't know what kind of bug it is either. I only know its name. It is called Lovers Bug. As the saying goes, 'Lovers bug, heart joining heart'. It sounds very much like what Your Highness described."

-- Vol 2 Ch9  (Chapter 27)

It makes it even more ironic then that she would still take the initiative to appeal to that person to take her away from a marriage she clearly did not want despite refusing chance after chance to cancel her marriage, first by Feng Long, Cang Xuan and even her father.  It also gives context to her mute refusal to answer Xiang Liu's last question when he probed her mind after forcibly taking her away from the wedding.

 MengXiang:

I found a link

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/665573199?utm_id=0

Thanks, MengXiang.

 H19279:

有心的无力: having a heart but no strength / strong in will but weak in power

有力的无心: having strength but no heart/ strong in power but no intention

From the common Vietnamese translation of these two phrases, I understand/interpret the first to mean someone who has the desire/intention but does not have the ability to carry out said desire/intention. The second is the opposite, has the ability, but no desire/intention (this is not a literal translation.)

The first can often be used mockingly to denote someone who talks a good game and makes big promises, but when the time comes to follow through, they skedaddled. Whichever way you apply this phrase, it fits Jing very well :-)

So Xiao Yao essentially sees Xiang Liu as not having any desire to be with her.

 liddi:

However, there is also a hidden connotation to her words:
the one who has feelings (for me) is powerless, while the one who is able to, has no feelings (for me)

Heh, posted my reply before seeing yours. It's good to see that my interpretation is similar despite not being a literal translation of the text. Besides literal translation of the text, deeper meaning can also be derived.

 liddi:

In other words, the person who is willing to give me a home (Jing) is powerless to do so (because of his marriage). The person who can give me a home (Xiang Liu) has no intention to do so.

 liddi:

In other words, Jing loves me but cannot settle down with me. Xiang Liu, who can give me a home, has no feelings for me.

The juxtaposition between Jing and Xiang Liu is clear, IMO. Jing is the one who wants to give her a home and loves her, while Xiang Liu doesn't love her and isn't willing to give her a "home". The interesting thing is that she clearly wants Xiang Liu to love her and want a home with him, why else would she even be pondering these thoughts?

 liddi:

which in turn is a testament to where her deepest feelings lie even if she would not admit it, since in her mind, it is one-sided.

Yes! Her feelings for him are very deep and strong since they go against all her fears and rational thoughts. I remember there was a scene between her and Cang Xuan soon after she regained her female form where she talked about not believing in love since it's changeable like the wind, so between Jing and Cang Xuan she would choose Cang Xuan. And yet, she's still wistful for a home with Xiang Liu even though he's Cang Xuan's enemy and sends him the crystal ball even though she doesn't think he loves her. I said this before, but if Xiang Liu had shown up, she would have chucked it all behind and gone with him, effectively choosing him over Cang Xuan.

 liddi:

It makes it even more ironic then that she would still take the initiative to appeal to that person to take her away from a marriage she clearly did not want despite refusing chance after chance to cancel her marriage, first by Feng Long, Cang Xuan and even her father

The whole marriage with Feng Long comes across like Xiao Yao was just giving up. The person that I truly want a home with has no interest, the person that I'm willing to settle for because he meets my requirements can no longer be with me, so I might as well as marry whoever since it doesn't make any difference. Girl sounds hella depressed!

@H12979

I think your inference is reasonable and how I inferred it as well. The text itself doesn't say this, but reading between the line you could reasonably infer that Xiao Yao sees Xiang Liu as able to give her a home because she is willing to be with him regardless,  but the issue is that she believes he doesn't have any desire to do so because he doesn't love her.