Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 windiaaa041293:

? The red beans that XY uses to process exclusively for the XL are called Abrus Precatorius, also known as Acacia red beans. According to iNEWS “ There was a legend that in the Han Dynasty (China), when a husband stayed on the sidelines and did not return, his wife looked at the distance day and night under a tree, sickened with thoughts, and died crying blood. After she died, the tree produced red fruits, as if the wife's blood and tears were condensed, so the red beans were consigned to Acacia, also known as Acacia.

There is a problem with the English auto-translation of this article which you shared. You can see the original Chinese article here.

红豆 (red beans), otherwise known as 相思子 (seed of lovesickness / yearning) are not acacia beans, but rosary peas. The entire plant is toxic, but especially the seeds:

Abrus precatorius beans (also known as rosary peas or jequirity beans) are distinctive-looking red seeds with a black spot that are commonly used in jewelry and toys, especially from foreign sources. The entire plant is toxic, but the beans are highly toxic to humans. 

cr. poison.org

Acacias look very different, and the seeds are actually edible.

The correct translation of the legend behind the red beans in the article is as follows:

Since ancient times, red beans are often used to describe lovesickness or love and there are many legends about red beans. In the beginning, it was said that during the Han dynasty, a man from Minyue kingdom was forcibly recruited to the border, and his wife longed for his return every day. In the end, those who went with him had returned, but there was no sign of her husband. The wife missed her husband even more, and often leaned against a great tree on the mountains to pray. Due to her longing for her husband at the frontier, the wife often cried under the tree. In the end, her tears dried up, and what flowed were drops of bright red blood. The wife longed for him day and night, and eventually died from weeping tears of blood. After her death, the tree suddenly produced many pods, the seeds of which were half black and half red, shining and  vibrant. People regarded [the seeds] as the condensed blood and tears of the faithful wife, and called the red beans "seeds of lovesickness".

@liddi 

Ah, so that's how it is.
Thank you very much liddi for the correction.^^
So does what XY use also include red beans?

 liddi:

红豆 (red beans), otherwise known as 相思子 (seed of lovesickness / yearning) are not acacia beans, but rosary peas. The entire plant is toxic, but especially the seeds:

Are you aware of the poem that referenced this bean and its symbol for yearning, liddi? There is one part of this poem that gets referenced regularly in Chinese dramas. I can recite it by heart in Vietnamese :-)

 HeadInTheClouds:

Are you aware of the poem that referenced this bean and its symbol for yearning, liddi? There is one part of this poem that gets referenced regularly in Chinese dramas. I can recite it by heart in Vietnamese :-)

There are several poems that reference it. Which one are you referring to? 

One of the most famous is 相思 Lovesickness / Yearning by Tang poet 王维 Wang Wei:

I personally know red beans very well, it being a symbol of love and yearning for my husband and I during our courtship days when we were both in different countries at the time.

 liddi:

There are several poems that reference it. Which one are you referring to? 

One of the most famous is 相思 Lovesickness / Yearning by Tang poet 王维 Wang Wei:

相思	Yearning
红豆生南国	Red beans grow in the Southern kingdom
春来发几枝。	New branches grow in the spring.
愿君多采撷	I hope that you will gather more
此物最相思。	These that represent the greatest yearning.

I personally know red beans very well, it being a symbol of love and yearning for my husband and I during our courtship days when we were both in different countries at the time.

That's the exact one :-)

Long distance relationship will bring out those feelings of yearning. Such a complicate emotions - sweet and bitter - but more bitter when there's no hope of a reunion :-(.

Sounds like there is a happy ending to all that yearnings for you and your hubby. 

windiaaa041293, that is an interesting suggestion. Personally, I did feel that XY genuinely wanted to go find Jing when she left for the sea after receiving the message from the little white bird. However, I strongly felt that her behavior was very contradictory when she met XL. Tbh, it felt like she forgot all about Jing and her grief once she met XL. She only seemed to remember when XL was harsh to her. 

Kokuto, your guesses about the seasons make sense to me. Especially the spring season being tied to “love confessed” and the first book with winter and all the suppressed emotions. That is a beautiful description of the characters’ journey btw.

 MayaDavid:

Hi all, thanks for the wonderful discussion. Visiting this thread has now become a daily routine of mine. I saw the three book covers that Windiaaa posted in the other thread. Does anyone know what plant is in each of the book covers? The one in volume 3, miss you forever, is that acacia?  Also there seem to be two dragonfiles in that cover. Is there any Chinese symbolism attached with dragonfiles? 

Oh! A new friend! Hi Maya! Welcome!

Wonderful gifs made by our wonderful  Elise <3

 windiaaa041293:

@liddi 

Ah, so that's how it is.
Thank you very much liddi for the correction.^^
So does what XY use also include red beans?

The red beans shown in Ep19 of the drama are the lovesickness beans I mentioned, also referred to in Wang Wei's poem.

I can't find any exact reference to the poisons she actually used in the novel. The only time we see an actual description was when she created the crystal globe, which used 雪山冰魄 ice soul/spirit from Snow Mountain that wrapped around an injured ice silkworm demon and absorbed its poison; as well as various types of rare herbs and poisons. 

However, I love how the novel describes the evolution of her poison-making process:

小夭开始花更多的时间炼制毒药，夜深人静睡不着时，她在榻上摆弄毒药，边摆弄边思量如何才能把毒药做得更好看。是更好看，而不是更有毒。

她脑中有被天下人尊奉为医祖的炎帝留下的《百草经注》，高辛和轩辕珍藏的医书随她翻看，小夭并不怀疑自己做的毒药的毒性，她现在喜欢做好看的毒药。看到凤凰花，她琢磨了几日，又花费了几日几夜，做了一朵栩栩如生的小小凤凰花，花色明艳、花香迷人。看到晚霞，她做出了熙彩流金的毒香屑，犹如将潋滟晚霞从天际采了下来。

每一份毒药，都是她的一个念想，一段心情，她把它们做出来，看它们在她手中盛放，再将它们仔细装好，送出去。

小夭猜度着相柳收到这些毒药时，不知道会是什么感觉，会不会骂她变态。

Xiao Yao started spending more time refining poisons. In the dead of night when she cold not sleep, she would sit on the pallet and fiddle with poisons, thinking of how to make the poisons look appealing. That was, to make it prettier, not more toxic.

From memory, she knew the "Hundred Herbs Manual" left behind by the Flame Emperor who was revered by the world as Yi Zu [Ancestor of Healing] . She had read through Gao Xin and Xuan Yuan collection of medical journals. Xiao Yao did not doubt the toxicity of the poisons she made, but now her interest was in making pretty poisons. When she saw poinciana flowers, she would ponder for days and spend several days and nights to make a delicate lifelike poinciana flower with vibrant colours and intoxicating floral fragrance. Upon seeing the sunset, she made poisonous flower petals of glorious gold like the glowing sunset plucked from the sky.

Each one of her poisons encapsulated a thought, an emotion. She created them, watched them bloom in her hands, then carefully packed them to be sent out.

Xiao Yao wondered what Xiang Liu would think when he received the poisons. Would he label her as a pervert?

-- Vol 1 Ch16