Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 Kikinaki:

Well, isn't the world filled with more tragedy than joy?

The younger me would have been absolutely devastated by Xiangliu's end ...

....but the current me accepts that such pain is unfortunately the reality of life

Yes, which is why people seek happy endings in their entertainment. I can just watch the news for tragedy :-). Particularly with romance novels (of which LYF is one), there's an expectation for a happy ending. Of course, if you've read Tong Hua's other works you would know that hers are not your typical romances and to expect in-complete HE, although out of the one that I've read LYF is probably the worst when it comes to the lack of HE. Most of us who've read the novel have come to terms with its ending; for the rest, fanfictions are great for the alternate HE that we would have liked to see :-)

 nathsketch:

Ok, wait a minute.

Sauvignon Blanc is mine now, so I can change the ending if I want.

LOL!  It's fate!

 nathsketch:

Just put some DuoDuo Lemontea on that shelf and bam. Roll credits hahahahaha

Ha.  You get killer sexy and adorably cute Tan Jian Ci represented.

 Kokuto:

I'm going to drop this here too, since it has that same melancholy vibe of warriors that we were talking about a while back with the wild geese.  The song is from Tan Jian Ci's fluffy romance, Love Me Love My Voice.  Besides Tan Jian Ci being the singer, it also shows fans, and Tan himself, just can't let XL go.

Awww the best of both worlds :)

Hey, the soundtrack is really stunning. I need to put them on my playlist.

 Kokuto:

She kept testing YSQ / Jing, because he kept failing. Dude got more make-up tests than anyone in existence. But tells you how desperate poor XY was for a companion.

The girl got the word "desperate" tattooed on her forehead. It goes to show just how deep her issues are, that she continued to go back to Jing when he showed that he was incapable of keeping his promises to her. She (and Xiang Liu) were the ones who had to put in the work to clear the way for Jing to be free to be with her. All Jing did was mope around in his helplessness, crying about how he loves her so much and can't let her go while doing jack-all. I guess when you have limited options and are incapable of being on your own, you would settle for anything. 

 Kokuto:

I can't believe I'm saying this, but she definitely targets Jing with when they were having their cozy illicit time at Feng Long's house. But she can't make fetch happen, no matter how hard she tries.

Was this another instance of her transferring something that is associated with Xiang Liu to Jing? Nevertheless, she tries too hard to make things happen with Jing

Someone should replace "fetch" with "Jing" :-)

 Kokuto:

given both euthanasia and seppuku have their own unique terms for the acts

Suicide is the intentional termination of a person's own life so both of these instances would be suicide. They would be categorised as something called "rational suicide".

 Kokuto:

Suicide doesn't have to be spontaneous or unplanned. One of the warning signs is people thinking / planning / talking, often very meticulously, about it. Murder suicide is the similar in that they both come from an overwhelming mental crisis.

I agree that suicide is typically not spontaneous or unplanned. Suicidal individuals show many warning signs, prior suicide attempts and a clear plan are two of the indicators of a high risk of suicide. Spontaneous here means opportunistic rather than meticulously planned out. Where we disagree is that suicide comes solely from a mental crisis; that only people who are not in "their right mind" are capable of such act. For some, it's a very deliberate act after weighing up the pros and cons, but because it's such an extreme act, it's difficult to accept it as an option.

 Kokuto:

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that XY's actions and words are already unreliable, but this moment is the worst for trying to understand her and her thoughts and feelings with regards to XL.

Agree that we shouldn't base her actions here as the sole means of understanding her thoughts and feelings concerning XL. It's an extreme situation, it needs to be examined in context with other less extreme circumstances.

 HeadInTheClouds:

Thanks for this Kokuto.

This is a nice song and very fitting for Xiang Liu. 

Fans of the novel haven't been able to let this character go for 10 years :-(

I wonder if seeing and working on the drama hasn't revived her love of the character and the world?  If we might get the long hoped for 4th book? 

 H19279:

seeing what would happen on the drama, i don’t think that would happen 

I don't know ... like I said, let's wait and see.   She certainly was happy enough with Tan Jian Ci's performance as XL, given she personally picked him, if not wrote the script for him, in Filter.

 Kokuto:

I wonder if seeing and working on the drama hasn't revived her love of the character and the world?  If we might get the long hoped for 4th book? 

It would be the 3rd book. I'm of two minds about this. I would like to see more, but only if Xiang Liu comes back and can have a true HE. I have absolutely no interest in reading about YaoJing's descendants. We should be careful what we wish for, if she wrote a book featuring YaoJing's descendants we would no longer be able to laugh at Jing's lack of a wedding night :-)