Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 liddi:

Thank you very much for the article. Am reading it halfway, very moved by certain parts, not quite agreeing with others. Will share my thoughts when I do finally finish reading.

I can't wait to read what you think! This series of articles and @windiaaa041293's article about the possibility for the Sheng Nong army to continue to hold out/restore their kingdom complement each other well, although I don't think it's written by the same author.

@liddi Have you heard about The Spring and Autumn Annals writing style? I've read that Tong Hua also used it for Lost you forever.

 liddi:

No. They totally removed any scene with the shaman king. Any information about the bug is scattered between the old Lirong donkey seller, and the Royal Mother of Jade Mountain. So unless I missed the detail in the leaked script, Xiao Yao never finds out about the true nature of the bug either.

We also lose the scene where they both listened to the song of the merpeople together - her on the ship, him on the sea after she left Bai Li and the implications of their shared intimacy, and her trying to jump into the water after him but being pulled back at the last minute by a panicked Jing.

I think that's kind of a relief because this adaptation can therefore be stamped as "inspired by Lost You Forever" rather than "faithfully adapted". By making XY totally ignorant of XL's love and unconscious of her own feelings for him, it basically erases their unspoken love and hidden "grass snake love line". It uncomplex-ify and un-mature everything. Adding the fact that they've redesigned and enhanced TSJ's role, the scriptwriters made the choice to bluntly go all the way to a version of the novel as if it was read at face value and with a very restrictive mind. It's better than a fan-service script retaining a bit of everything and thus losing any coherence.

This leaked script sounds way too legit. We can have less waiting now and once the drama has been released, all we have to do is concentrate on the other aspects of the adaptation (acting, etc.). We're prepared. Which is kind of the point of leaking a script on the Internet in the first place...

By the way, I've read that the script of Till the end of the moon also leaked before the drama airing and that it was very accurate except for the ending. Had anyone been following this story? It would give us an idea of what to expect.

@windiaaa041293

The corresponding relationship is:

.Xiaoyao vs. Xiang Liu-Xuanxuan vs. Xiaoyao.

.Xiaoyao vs. Xuanxuan-Xuanxuan vs. A-Nian.

.Xiaoyao vs. Tushanjing-Xuanxuan vs. Xinyue.

The mirror effects are trully fascinating to dig!

So CX and XY have their happy ending (power to protect his loved one / a companion for eternity to share her life with) and they've succeeding in protecting each other. But in the process, each has Lost their Love Forever. 

Xiaoyao's lovesickness

When swimming:

<The surroundings were very quiet. Xiaoyao often thought of her mother while swimming. She once thought she would no longer miss her mother, but it turned out that she still missed her. And because she deliberately suppressed it, after returning to the familiar environment, the longing became more intense, but it was accompanied by pain. As long as there is a little missing, there will be a little pain, as long as there is a little pain, there will be a little pain. hatred.

Xiaoyao felt that she must be lonely again. She forced herself to think about other things, swimming, swimming... There must be other interesting things in her life related to swimming... Xiaoyao suddenly missed the Nine Life Signs. Liu, if he were here, I'm afraid she wouldn't have time to recall the past. However, Wen Xiaoliu had completely disappeared. Even if he saw Xiang Liu again in the future, he might not be able to recognize her.

<Xiaoyao lay on the water and sighed melancholy. >

Xiang Liu had already taken root in Xiaoyao's heart.

There is also a foreshadowing here, the last meeting between Xiaoyao and Xiangliu. She hated him for being cold and she vowed never to see each other again!

Xiaoyao learned that the memory in the mirror had been erased by Xiang Liu. She cried and said, "Nine-headed monster! I hate you!"

And this paragraph explains what "hate" is: <The longing is getting stronger and stronger, but it is accompanied by pain. As long as there is a little missing, there will be a little pain, as long as there is a little pain, there will be a little hate. >

Where there is longing, there is hatred.

@Kokuto

Yes, I think he should at least be remembered! TH is so cruel to him...
Agree. I think she should at least directly tell XL she needs him and want him to live for once. Also, I'm thinking, isn't she princess of Haoling? So why can't she send a secret letter to Hongjiang in an official name asking for a secret conversation, and then pretend to be a special envoy to see him? I don’t think Hongjiang would refuse. As a princess, there's a lot she can give the Chenrong army : How about one hundred years of army provisions in exchange for commanding XL to live for other missions before the last battle? Her father is richer than TSJ, and is willing to secretly support the Chenrong army. So why not give it a try? It would even be easier if she knew her true origin (the daughter of a Chenrong soldier) and could prove it to Hongjiang. But she did nothing except for asking CX...

 nathsketch:

I was just talking about this on our other thread. I’ll have to take a break from coming here because this is all getting more and more depressing. I wish they would just release the second season as quickly as possible so we can finally try to move on. 

I also feel depressed, but I don’t want to move on. I'm still looking forward to more appearances of XL in spin-offs and the third story in this series. I like stories that I can't forget, even if it breaks my heart...

 HeadInTheClouds:

I'm like a broken record by this point, but I cannot wrap my head around this loophole.

I know that based on what's presented in the novel, the texual interpretation is that as long as XY and XL love each other then the Bugs won't turn into Heartbreak Bugs regardless if XY loves Jing or is physically intimate with Jing. This has got to be a very easygoing Lovers Bugs. For the posters here, how many will be OK with their partner falling in love with another person, let alone being intimate with them? Will you be OK with it as long as your partner claims to still love you?

This illogical loophole is probably the clearest example to me of Tong Hua wanting to use the Lovers Bugs as a plot device, but still wanting to sell YaoJing in a way that won't make the audience dislike Xiao Yao.

Wait, wait. I think I found a way out of this. maybe these Bugs should be called Swinger Bugs or Polyamorous Bugs. AH a name change is in order after all :-)

Well, polygamy WAS the standard and acceptable form of relationships at that time.

It depends on your view of love, and how secure one is in that love. 

Here's two loopholes:

1) It's the man who has to be in love and not cheat.  IIRC, they state woman raise the bugs with the intention of keeping their men loyal.

2)  XL controls the bugs, so his love is enough, as long as he doesn't feel betrayed.

Xiaoyao's lovesickness

<Xiaoyao wanted to run away, but in mid-air, her only direction was downward. She could only watch helplessly as she and him got closer and closer. Just when she thought she would hit him directly. When he was on Liu, he sank and she fell into the sea. He grabbed her hand with both hands and she could only be dragged to the bottom of the sea by him. >

It is hard to say that this is not a symbolic technique: 

when Xiaoyao saw that the destination of her flight to freedom and comfort was Xiang Liu, her first reaction was to run away, but facing Xiang Liu, she could only fall involuntarily, with nowhere to escape. Instead, she sank soberly, unable to extricate herself. Just when she thought the sea was the end, Xiang Liu grabbed her hand and led her to fall deeper in love.

 nathsketch:

I was just talking about this on our other thread. I’ll have to take a break from coming here because this is all getting more and more depressing. I wish they would just release the second season as quickly as possible so we can finally try to move on. 

So sorry that this thread is making you depressed. You are right... we need S2 soonest possible so that we can face whatever they have changed, mourn or be comforted, and hopefully be able to finally move on. Am not quite sure about the last part, but at least we have closure of some sort, at least as far as the drama goes.

 HeadInTheClouds:

As frustrated and annoyed as I am with Xiao Yao's refusal to be honest and true to herself, I personally don't think there was anything that Xiao Yao could have done that would have changed the path that Xiang Liu had chosen. I think Tong Hua had written Xiang Liu in such a way, that pointed to her intention for how his story was going to end.

Yes I think so too. I recall reading somewhere before that Tong Hua once said that she thought of making Xiang Liu the male lead, but the characters wrote themselves as the story evolved, and in the end, it ended the only way it could have. I wish I could find it, but Tong Hua's Weibo account settings no longer displays any posts earlier than 6 months which are practically non-existent, so a lot of these are either hearsay or from Weibo user screenshots of her earlier posts / comments.  Will try and share it if I ever do come across it again....