Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

View: Gokamiyama Myoseiden Seiden

People: Xiaotian, A Nian (Gao Xinyi), Miao Pu, Hu Hu

△Xiaotian pointed to the box on the ground and ordered Coral.

Xiaotian: This box of spiritual herbs and that box of medicinal materials are all put away for me. I will take them with me when I return to Shennong Mountain.

Miao Pu: (Wondered) Why did Wang Ji not want jewelry, but collected all the rare medicinal materials in the palace?

△Xiaotian smiled and touched the bow and arrow that he had not yet recognized his owner.

Xiaotian: You don’t understand. These medicinal materials are used to make medicine. Since you are asking for help, of course you must prepare gifts first.

Time: Outside at night (flashback)

Scene: Jintian Valley, Jintian Xingshen Weapon Foundry

Person: Xiang Liu (wearing a mask), Jin Tianxingchen

△ Jin Tianxingchen is forging iron with a big hammer in his hand easily. Wearing a black robe and a mask (a wind- proof mask), a mysterious man (Xiang Liu) came slowly.

△ Jin Tianxingchen put down the hammer excitedly and wiped his hands on his clothes. Jin Tianxingchen: Are you here to get weapons? Wait, wait!

△ Jin Tianxingchen carefully took out the bow and arrow and handed it to Xiang Liu.

△Xiang Liu took the bow and arrow, and hooked the bowstring with his fingers. The bowstring vibrated and let out a gentle whistle. △ Jin Tianxingchen was very proud.

Jin Tianxingchen: How is it? Are you satisfied? This is the proud work of my life!

△Xiang Liu threw the bow and arrow back to Jin Tianxingchen. Jin Tianxingchen took it hurriedly, with a puzzled look on his face.

Xiang Liu: (coldly) I don’t want this bow and arrow anymore.

Jin Tianxingchen: (Stunned) What? No more?

Xiang Liu: (sarcasm) I can't use your bow and arrow at all, and taking it back is just for display. Don't you waste my materials and want to extort another sum of money from me?

△ Jin Tian Xingchen wanted to explain, but Xiang Liu turned around and left, leaving Jin Tian Xingchen with a depressed look.

(end of flashback)

❤️

@H19279

Yes, I'm talking about drama.

And, yes, Xiao Yao already had special feelings for Xiang Liu when that conversation on the beach happened, but that doesn't contradict her not "wanting" to have special feelings for him. She expressed to him that you are very attractive to me, but I don't want to love you because that won't make me happy, so he respected her choice.

In addition, I don’t think teaching archery is the only reason why FFB approached Xiao Yao, and I don’t think he deliberately exposed himself as Xiang Liu. Maybe sometimes he can't help but reveal it, but there is absolutely no such plan, otherwise his calculations on Xiao Yao would be too much, and a bit annoying, but maybe this is just for me...

 Kokuto:

I don't know about the novel, but in the drama, it's made clear that XL has been meeting Chenrong Yi to get provisions and supplies for the Resistance Army.  He was leaving such a meeting in a boat, when XY was looking for a ride.  So, he shapeshifted into a woman, and picked XY up.

Good memory. The boat scene and the reference to XL meeting Chenrong Yi are new. They were created for the drama.

 Kokuto:

The Resistance Army is getting secret support from some of the major families in the Central Plains.  In the drama, we also see that one of the great clans, the Guifang, are supporting or connected to XL, who bears some sort of command token from them.

These details are covered in the novel. 

 Kokuto:

I think it is actually Chenrong Yi who reminds Hong Jiang that he and the Resistance Army had not led a futile existence.  Without the threat that Resistance Army posed to Xiyan all these centuries, he couldn't have gotten the better treatment and good conditions that enabled the Central Plains to be more of a prosperous partner, rather than an oppressed subject state of Xiyan.  And he formally thanked Hong Jiang, XL and the army for that.

From what I remember from liddi's translation of the leaked script, Chenrong Yi adamantly tried to convince Hong Jiang to surrender. Hong Jiang made a speech with the tree metaphor (Chenrong Yi's approach made him the branches of the tree that spanned across the sky in the light, while Hong Jiang's approach made him and his remnant army the roots of the tree that spread out through the mud in the dark - with both playing vital roles) to help Chenrong Yi understand why he persisted and the role his army had played. After that, Chenrong Yi understood and thanked Hong Jiang.

 ZYHLJ:

I'm not sure if the love bug's "if you die, I die" function is two-way, but its "if you hurt, I feel pain" function is obviously one-way, and Xiang Liu also specifically said this in his conversation with the old man. So I'm not sure either. Maybe Xiang Liu himself was not sure about this, but in the end he killed the bug for Xiao Yao to ensure she would not be harmed.

The nature of the lovers' bug in the drama was changed. Moreover, XL told Lirong veteran about the sympton on CX. However, in the case of CX, the bug was not planted successfully. The old man said in the case of no love "No, no, no. However, the art of poisonous bugs is mysterious and unpredictable. Perhaps it is possible. Even so, forcibly planting it will lead to endless troubles. Not only are they unable to join their hearts together and share the same fates/lives, but the poisonous bugs may retaliate against them and harm their lives."

XY and XL shared the bug for more than hundred years without any trouble. So, it can not be there no love between the couple. "Legend has it there are male-female poisonous bugs which are very difficult to cultivate. One is male, the other is female, with equal power. The one who raises them cannot control the poisonous bug. Mostly women raise it for their lovers, hoping for a love that is devoted (one heart, one mind), never betraying each other. Once it is planted, the couple's hearts and fates/lives are joined, living and dying together. As such, it is also called love poisonous bug.". And then why did XL have to spend 2 of his lives to kill the bug at the end of the story if that was the case of "no love between the couple". The bug was planted successfully on them. XY could feel XL going to the Dragon bone prison. Thus, she could feel his pain if XL did not block or supress the pain transfer

 In the novel, the detail of the bug was explained by the Voodoo King of Jiuli instead of the Lirong veteran as in the drama. 

The voodoo king said once the bug was planted successully, their life interwined, heart and soul were connected. He also gave example that if one had wound, the other would feel the pain. 

 blabla100:

Is this the airing date for season 2? 

I doubt it since Zhao LiYing's drama is planned to be released in March. 

 Kimiya78:

 ZYHLJ:
Also, I think the main reason Xiang Liu agreed to plant love bugs was because the old man told him that if the person being planted didn't love the planter, she would probably be attacked by the bugs and her life would be in danger, and the bugs cannot be taken out. He decided to pay this price for her safety.
Such a nice pov. Haven't heard this kind of take. Once I asked the question regarding  XL's intention of having XY transfer the Poison bug to his body, but did not get any answer as in yours.

The reason others have not phrased their interpretation of XL's reason for suggesting and accepting the bug transfer like this is likely because the details of the bugs are handled differently in the novel, so it's not clear that this interpretation would work in the context of the novel. 

In the drama, Old Man Li Rong tells XL that it might be possible to plant a Lovers' Bug in someone even if there wasn't love between the bug cultivator (e.g., WXL) and the recipient (e.g., CX), but there would likely be terrible and potentially life-threatening consequences (I'm paraphrasing from memory). 

In the novel, the Voodoo King tells XY that it would not be possible to successfully plant this type of bug  (i.e., use the bugs to tie two peoples' hearts and lives together) in someone if the cultivator and recipient were not "lovers" (others have provided analysis on the mandarin words that Tong Hua used here elsewhere in this thread) or if the recipient did not willingly accept the bug. He says that "lovers" produce Lovers' Bugs and "not lovers" produce Heartbreak Bugs that kill both hosts.

XL says that XY never successfully planted the bug in CX because CX did not recognize XY at the time and did not willingly accept the bug. Whereas it was successfully planted in XL (when XL and WXL transferred the bug from CX to XL) because XL wholeheartedly accepted the bug. Since the bugs did not turn into Heartbreak Bugs after the bug was successfully planted in XL, we can conclude that XL and WXL/XY met whatever the criteria would be for the two of them to be considered "lovers". Some of the participants in this thread (myself included) interpret that as meaning that XL had romantic love in his heart for WXL and WXL had romantic love in her heart for XL, which continued to be the case for the 100+ years that the Lovers' Bugs were in the two of them before XL killed them. 

There is no discussion in the novel of what risks, if any, there might be if bugs with the potential to become Lovers' Bugs or Heartbreak Bugs were planted in someone the way the bug was planted in CX (i.e., "unsuccessfully" because he did not willingly accept it). Would that produce Heartbreak Bugs that would kill the recipient and the cultivator? It seems unlikely that XL would be worried about that possibility in the novel, because the bug was in CX (despite not being "successfully" planted) for quite some time and yet the bugs didn't kill CX or WXL or show any signs that they might do so. 

I alluded to this a bit in my answer to your question earlier in this thread. 

 AH :

19 days ago
 Kimiya78:
What is XL's intention to have XY transfer the poison bug to his body !?
The text does not provide a definitive answer and there are many different theories.

Personally, I view it on a few levels:

(1) XL wanted to help WXL get the bug out of CX. While the bug was in CX, it was dangerous to WXL in a few ways.

 AH :

And maybe there were other potential concerns for Lovers' Bugs that weren't planted properly that we don't know about. XL said the bug wasn't planted successfully in CX, but some kind of connection was established. CX did feel WXL's pain through a bug connection. That being the case... if CX was killed while the bug was still in him, maybe that could cause WXL harm? We don't know enough about that type of bug connection (where a limited connection is established but the bug isn't planted successfully) to know what the potential risks were. And XL didn't know that CX and WXL had love in their hearts for each other (even they weren't really aware of it at the time when WXL planted the bug in CX, since they didn't recognize each other), and perhaps there was a reason for XL to worry that the bugs might still end up turning into Heartbreak Bugs? Although I think that last part is unlikely. The bug that was unsuccessfully planted in CX was in him for a fair bit of time. If the bugs hadn't already turned into Heartbreak Bugs by the time XL suggested the transfer, it seems unlikely that they would turn into Heartbreak Bugs later on.