Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 H19279:

3 edition i think. 2013, 2019 and 2023 which is similar to 2019 in term of content but new design and preface

Do you guys have the original Chinese link to the 2019+version

 liddi:

Yes I am. Do you know where it is available?

Here is the one that I used to check the original text. It is "old' edition with old names

Sauvignon Blanc Tonghua, Sauvignon Blanc Novel, Sauvignon Blanc Novel Full Text Free Online Reading - Luoxia Reading (luoxiadushu.com) which last update was made in 2017. Thus this version is published before 5/2017

 MayaDavid:

Heathcliff again :-)

I remember you mentioned that Wuthering Heights might apply (even though XL was not that obsessive) to XL since he is a dark character. I actually felt the opposite :)

Heh! Poor Heathcliff!

I don't see Heathcliff & Catherine as comparable to Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao. If Xiang Liu was anything like Heathcliff, LYF would have been a very short story. Gong Gong who? Jing and Cang Xuan would have been eliminated the minute that they posed a threat to him and XY being together. He would have locked her up in his seashell. Granted, I think Xiao Yao would have liked that :-). Personally, I think if Xiang Liu had pushed even a little, Xiao Yao would have caved. Sometimes when you're scared, you just want someone to take the decision out of your hands.

I used Heathcliff and Catherine and Wuthering Heights in the context of the kind of people/lovers for whom the extreme nature of the Lovers Bugs would be attractive. If he had access to the Lovers Bugs, don't you think Heathcliff would have used them? To me, these Bugs are extreme in nature so they would demand exclusive loyalty and devotion. You've read my interpretation of the Lovers Bugs, what are your opinions on them? This is one of the most, if not, the most hotly debated topics on this thread.

 MayaDavid:

XL did start as dark. I don't think his love for XY was selfless initially. I felt that he was quite possessive in the beginning. I think that he was jealous when XY transferred the bug to CX (this was more obvious in drama). I interpreted his action of biting XY in the pool as one of passion and retaliation coming from possessive love.

I've never thought about whether Xiang Liu's love for Xiao Yao started as possessive. Although, romantic love tends to have a high degree of possessiveness. I see the scene in the hot spring as him being angry that she'd thwarted his plan of Killing Cang Xuan. Him biting her had more to do with needing to heal and with his injury his demon instinct was at the fortfront hence the arousal that usually he might have suppressed. Regardless, the important thing is that Xiang Liu was able to let go - not many people who loved that deeply would have been able to do the same.

As to Xiao Yao's feelings for Xiang Liu being possessive. Hmm, I always sees Xiao Yao as avoiding/hiding from her feelings for him more than anything else. The only moment where I detect some potential jealousy and possessiveness was when she told him not to mess with Ah Nian.

 MayaDavid:

I also don't think that XY ever wanted to have the bugs removed. In my opinion, she liked being connected to XL in that way.

This I agree with totally. The whole scene with the Voodoo King, Xiao Yao continuously downplayed the Lovers Bugs and their implications while feeling decided guilty towards Jing who was sitting there. I don't believe that she actually belief in the bullshit that she was spewing. If I was engaged to one man and are linked to another by something called the Lovers Bugs, I would want to remove it asap - it just isn't a good optic at all. And yet she was going to marry Jing while still linked to Xiang Liu with these Lovers Bugs. Plus her reaction after being told by the Heavenly Mother that the Bugs have been removed wasn't exactly one of relief.

 HeadInTheClouds:

Thank you. So 2013 and 2019? It seems like the first edition has prefaces that give "hints" to the hidden meaning of the story, but these prefaces and hints are removed in the revised edition.

It seems so, TH removed all clues from the foreword and poetry behind the book cover.
I found this comment:  "If you want to read the original version, it is the 2013 version from Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House. After reading that book, you will know who Sauvignon Blanc is missing"

Hi everyone,

I still have struggle to imagine and understand the life of XY and XY during more than 1 month in QS town after the wedding robbery: the house, the daily activity (e.g., eating). TH just left blank space there: more than 1 month passed. 

She didn't get out of the house once (only the last day). So, it seems XL prepared everything: hot water, food etc. She seemed to do nothing, only poor sleeping, sun-bathing or sitting in daze. The first morning after arriving there, she could grab a piece of cake/pastry in the kitchen to eat. How about other days? How did the daily life go?

In the morning when Xiao Yao was still sleeping, Xiang Liu would go out. Xiao Yao never went out and when she slept she would toss and turn like she was still awake. When she was awake she was in daze as if she was dreaming. To say she hated Xiang Liu, but she never resisted and never tried to run away. To say she didn’t hate Xiang Liu, she never spoke to him and acted like he didn’t exist. 

They had their own room. She slept on a kind of couch which must placed next to the windows facing to the yard. So that in the scene where she opened the windows, reaching her hand out to catch the snow, he came in and closed the windows. The next scene of drinking happened in the same couch. 

It's normally said, blank writing is possible if supported information is available elsewhere. Untill now, I can not find any. Or it happened like any ordinary daily life of a family that someone cooked, they ate together (at least for the main meal - dinner)?

 H19279:

Here is the one that I used to check the original text. It is "old' edition with old names

Sauvignon Blanc Tonghua, Sauvignon Blanc Novel, Sauvignon Blanc Novel Full Text Free Online Reading - Luoxia Reading (luoxiadushu.com) which last update was made in 2017. Thus this version is published before 5/2017

Yes this should be the 2013 version, thank you. One of the best ways to tell is in Vol 3 Ch15 (Chapter 48), where Xiang Liu said he could not remove the bug but he could kill it:

"However, don't blame me for deceiving you. It was you who was useless!"  -- 2013 edition

"However, don't blame me for deceiving you. It was you who didn't ask!"  -- 2019 revised edition onwards

 windiaaa041293:

It seems so, TH removed all clues from the foreword and poetry behind the book cover.
I found this comment:  "If you want to read the original version, it is the 2013 version from Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House. After reading that book, you will know who Sauvignon Blanc is missing"

 liddi:

I believe the first printing of the revised 2019 edition had the character diagram which described Xiao Yao as 有情 having love for Xiang Liu etc. Unfortunately that diagram is not available in the 2023 edition that I own.

Are there any major differences between the 2023 and the 2019 versions, besides the diagram omission, liddi? It does seem that with each subsequent reprint/edition, clues to the true love line in LYF are removed. I remembered that 2013 edition is the one where the preface/intro talked about:

"the one you love quietly left before you were ready to notice

missed the chance while you were waiting, regrets after losing 

how to choose between the right person and the person that you love."

I guess she didn't want to make it too obvious.

@HeadInTheCloud

"the one you love quietly left before you were ready to notice

missed the chance while you were waiting, regrets after losing

how to choose between the right person and the person that you love."

yes..this is the 2013 foreword to the 2nd book Sauvignon Blanc: Telling the Heart

桐华最新长篇言情系列第二部,诉尽离别相思,刻骨深情。最好的年华,总在不懂得珍惜前就已消逝;最深爱的人,却在来不及用心前悄然远离。在等待中错过,在失去时追悔,却不知失去的便不再有,错过的就再也无法找回。爱情也许经得住生死分离的考验,却敌不过信任的阻隔。小天和颛顼如何在几方势力的夹层中求得生存,璟和小天又如何在重重阻隔下守护相守的诺言,对的人与爱的人又该如何选择,都将在《长相思2:诉衷情》中找到答案。