Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

The bedroom scene is quite an iconic scene, not that hard to remember :D

 blabla100:

"In chapter 37, XY learned more about the bugs from the Voodoo King. After that visit, she told XL that the bugs connected their lives, so if she was in trouble, he wouldn't get off scot free."

I might be wrong, since I haven't checked the novel în a while, but didn't she know that XL was able to save her from merlin's assasination thanks to their bugs?

When CX asked XY how XL saved her, she speculated that, through their bug connection, XL's life likely acted as a thread that kept her alive temporarily until XL was able to use a voodoo blood spell and exchange one of his extra lives in order to save her life. 

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Chapter 22:

Zhuan Xu asked Xiao Yao how Xiang Liu saved her.

Xiao Yao answered, “I was unconscious the entire time so I don’t know the specifics. Likely due to the voodoo bug connecting us, so his life was the thread that kept me alive, and then he used a certain type of voodoo blood spell and exchanged his life to continue mine.”

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XY also mentioned the life that XL sacrificed to save her in chapter 26.

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Chapter 26:

Xiao Yao continued to natter. “You’re a Nine-headed demon, you have nine-lives and you spent one on saving me. I can swim in the ocean freely like you now. If I die again and you give another of your lives to save me, will I become even more like you…….?”

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Based on what Tong Hua told us directly about what XY sensed in the aftermath of her assassination, we also know that XY knew that XL was able to guide her heart to keep beating, to communicate with her, and to guide her into hibernation through the bug connection. She was also able to sense XL's movements, when he was close, through the bug connection, after she started to regain awareness in XL's clam shell. 

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Chapter 22:

She could vividly sense her heart slowly weakening, but just as it was about to stop, she heard another heart beating. It was strong and powerful, leading her heart so that it wouldn’t completely stop. It was like a sole flame in the palms of the hand, seemingly about to be extinguished at any moment, but still flickering weakly with life.

Xiao Yao felt that she heard Xiang Liu snarking at her: Just this and you’re going to give up?

Xiao Yao retorted back at him: What do you mean just this? If you’ve been poked so many holes in like a sieve, air passing through both top and bottom, even if I don’t want to give up I have to give up.

She really had no strength left, so that even the weak sole flame that was keeping her heart beating was too much to sustain. Even with another heart guiding her heart, still the heartbeat grew weaker.

...

Xiao Yao wanted to see who was so sad but didn’t have the strength. She could only follow the guidance of the other heart and slowly locked herself up. Just like a flower blooming, the reverse process was to return to being a bud, into a seed, back into the soil, laying in the Winter to wait for the Spring to arrive.

...

One time as the warmth entered her, Xiao Yao felt another heart beating. Her heart soared as if she was encountering an old friend.

Xiao Yao wanted to laugh: Xiang Liu, is it you? I’ve healed you that many times, now it’s finally your turn to repay me.

...

Not sure how much time passed but one day when the warmth was entering her body, Xiao Yao suddenly felt a sensation, she felt someone was embracing her.

It was strange, she couldn’t hear or see, and couldn’t even feel her own body, but perhaps because of the voodoo bug within and their two hearts were as one, she could vaguely sense his movements.

...

Gradually Xiao Yao felt more and more alert. When Xiang Liu was embracing her, she could feel his body heat, and could also clearly feel what the warmth was that was flowing into her body. It was Xiang Liu’s blood, and it was different than normal blood. It was scalding hot, and every drop felt like a little flame. Xiao Yao guessed it was Xiang Liu’s essential soul blood.

Xiang Liu fed her his essential soul blood, but because he was poisonous all over, even his blood was poisonous, so he needed to suck the poison out of Xiao Yao afterwards.

Xiao Yao had heard of a voodoo spell where a person could use their life in exchange for another. If Xiang Liu used his life to save hers, she hoped that he really had nine-lives because then if he gave her one it wouldn’t be too detrimental for him.

...

Xiang Liu saved Xiao Yao by feeding her his essential soul blood and then used his powers to push life through all her vital organs. Then he bit down on Xiao Yao’s neck and sucked the poison out from his own blood that was now in her body.

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There were a few other instances where XY was aware that the bug connection had some association with their hearts, or where the text alludes to XY and XL/FFB's hearts beating as one or recognizing each other as old friends, before XY learned that the bugs were Lovers' Bugs in chapter 26.

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Chapter 7:

Xiao Liu indicated for Xiang Liu to raise the hand that was bloody and point it towards Five Gods Mountain. Xiao Liu said, “You relax, and if possible, feel genuine happiness to welcome the bug to your body.”

Xiao Liu tightly clasped the walnut to his chest and started chanting, summoning the bug in his own body. After some time, Xiao Liu felt his own heart start to beat wildly, and incredibly he felt another heart beating as well. The two hearts were like friends who had not seen each other in a long time, beating wildly in joy to be together. Xiao Liu reached out his hand and pressed it on Xiang Liu’s chest, and it was indeed the sound of Xiang Liu’s heart.

Xiao Liu couldn’t believe it. “The bug is planted into your body? That fast?”

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Chapter 8:

Xiao Liu opened her eyes and they were walking along the edge of the cliff. To the right was the vast ocean, waves and waves were pounding the black rocks. Xiao Liu suddenly felt her heart sense, she sensed someone was calling her. She said to Shi Qi “To the edge of the ocean.”

...

Xiang Liu laughed. “This time I’m not here for you, Prince.” He looked at Xiao Liu. “You got your legs broken? What did you do that sent all the Gao Xing soldiers running around like headless chickens?”

Xiao Liu suddenly remembered that Xiang Liu had the bug in him so when her leg was broken, he must have felt it. 

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Chapter 16:

Xiao Yao put one hand on her heart and slowly extended the other hand and placed it on Fang Feng Bei’s heart. His heart was beating at the exact same rhythm as her heart.

Xiao Yao was confused. She once thought he was Xiang Liu, who had nine-heads and eighty-one forms. So perhaps one of his forms was Fang Feng Bei. But Fang Feng Bei was so different from Xiang Liu.

...

But as time went on, even if she still had that niggling feeling, she had accepted Fang Feng Bei was just Fang Feng Bei. But right now….she felt again that he was Xiang Liu. No reason, impossible to explain, but she just felt that he was.

She said, “Our hearts are beating as one.” She raised her head to look at Fang Feng Bei and waited for him to give her an explanation.

Fang Feng Bei’s hand closed around her hand and he smiled. “Yes, it sure seems like it’s really beating together.”

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Chapter 25:

Xiao Yao suddenly felt her heart beating wildly and was so unexpected she couldn’t catch her breath and it banished all the images in her mind.

...

Why did Xiang Liu suddenly make her feel his presence? Did he feel her pain? Or was it because he was currently in Qing Qiu watching Yi Yang and Jing get married and remembered she might not be happy about it? Was he mocking her? Or trying to console her?

Zhuan Xu asked, “What are you thinking about?”

Xiao Yao said, “I suddenly remembered the voodoo bug I planted in Xiang Liu. My body’s pain, he has to feel all of it. But what about my heartache? Does he also need to endure it? He said he has nine bodies so my pain isn’t too much for him to endure. But what about the heart? He only has one heart!”

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Chapter 26:

“The pain in my heart, do you feel it?” Xiao Yao’s face turned red, not clear if it was over embarrassment or frustration. The reason the heart was tucked deep inside the body was so that people’s feelings, whether it was happiness or sorrow, would remain concealed. But right now her heart felt like it was stark naked before Xiang Liu, like she was stripped naked before him to observe.

Xiang Liu softly chuckled. “If you’re afraid I will feel everything, then stop tormenting yourself. If your heart doesn’t hurt, then I’ll be better off as well.”

Xiao Yao heard the last thing he said and immediately perked up “If my body hurts 9/10th, then you hurt 1/10th. But if my heart hurts, does your heart hurt just as much?”

Xiang Liu honestly said, “Yes! If your heart hurts, my heart hearts just as much. What of it? Are you planning to use that to reckon with me?”

 blabla100:

If that's the case, than I can't belive that XY didn't think of transfering the bug into Jing out of love for him, giving that he too wasn't that safe either, with his brother always on his back. Iirc she was quite worried about his safety on a few ocassions.

When XL saved XY in chapter 22, part of the process involved sacrificing one of his extra lives. Something XY didn't have. 

The novel told us that as long as one breath remained, a host's life could be extended through the transfusion of essential blood. So it seems that giving up a life is not always required in order to use a Lovers' Bug connection to save the life of a host, which makes sense since most hosts wouldn't have any extra lives to spare. 

Before chapter 37, I'm not sure that XY would have realized that the bug connection could be used to save the other host without necessarily needing to sacrifice an extra life. 

After chapter 37, would XY think of transferring the bug to TSJ so that she could potentially use the bug connection to save his life, if his life was in jeopardy? Maybe. But I can't really picture it. XY always seems to view the bug connection as something that inflicts pain on XL or puts his life in danger, or that XL can use to inflict pain on her (as he did in chapter 32) or that could put her life at risk (as XY retorts to XL in chapter 43). When XY worries about XL's safety, it never seems to occur to her that she might be able to use the bug connection to save his life, if necessary.

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Chapter 48:

Xiang Liu tightly embraced Xiao Yao in his arms and sat down cross legged on the seashell. He bit down on his own tongue to draw blood and then kissed Xiao Yao, feeding her his essential blood. The Lover’s Bug connected the hearts of lovers. As long as one breath remained, then life could be extended if essential blood was transfused.

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Chapter 37:

“To outsiders voodoo is considered mysterious and bad, but really it's a craft and magic that the Jiu Li tribe has passed down through generations to protect and heal us. Jiu Li has lots of deadly insects, deadly plants, deadly gasses, to live here our ancestors had to learn to understand it and control it. Voodoo is seen as a harmful power but we actually mostly use it here to save lives. The Lover’s Bug keeps two people’s lives connected, which means when one is injured as long as the other is healthy then the injured person will survive. This is a very good thing. Even if the Lover’s Bug is notoriously hard to grow, it ought to still be relatively prevalent since many people will try to grow it. So why it is so rare to see?”

Xiao Yao asked, “Why?”

“All living things that have a benefit must also carry a harm. The greater the benefit then the greater the potential for harm. The Lover’s Bug is exactly that. It can lead two people to be connected in life and emotions but it is just like a pair of lovers in love with each other. It is tempermental and hard to control. If the Lover’s Bug turns on each other then both people will die. Which is why the Lover’s Bug also has another name, the Heartbreak Bug.”

Jing stared in dismay at Xiao Yao who quickly said, “It can’t be as scary as he makes it out to be. It’s been over seventy years and I’m still just fine.”

...

Jing was stunned and after a moment of silence he slowly asked, “What happens if one person who has the Lover’s Bug dies? What happens to the other person?”

The Voodoo King sighed. “Our Jiu Li folk ballad sings ‘The twisted roots of the parasol tree entwine on land, the doves do not fly alone in the sky, the pair of mandarin ducks in the water always die together.'”

Jing stared at Xiao Yao and tightly grabbed her hand.

...

Xiang Liu laughed. “Why do I need to do anything? Your dad is Qi Yo, there are plenty of people who will make your life difficult.”

Xiao Yao laughed back. “I just came back from a trip to Jiu Li. The Voodoo King told me all the specifics about the bug inside our bodies. I don’t remember any of the specifics of what he said but the one thing I do remember clearly is that the two bugs live and die together. Which means our lives are connected. If I’m in trouble then you’re not going to get off scot free!”

Xiang Liu smiled at Xiao Yao and didn’t seem surprised at all.

Xiao Yao was shocked and asked, “You’ve known all along since the beginning what kind of bug this was, right?”

“What if I did?”

“The Voodoo King said ‘the doves don’t fly alone in the sky, the pair of mandarin ducks in the water die together’. If I die then how can you live?”

“Why don’t you ask the question in reverse – if I die, then how can you live?”

Xiao Yao tried to stay calm and plead with him. “I don’t know who dies and who lives so that’s why I’m asking you. Tell me!”

 blabla100:

About her intention of removing the bug from CX în order to protect him, I am not sure if that's actually the case. I know that în chapter 31 she said that în order to protect CX she would have done it again, but back then she didn't know that if one dies, the other will die too and her insight from chapter 7 says something else.

"With Xuan’s real identity, that bug might not hurt him, but it was more likely one day it’ll kill Xiao Liu since so many people wanted to kill Xuan. Xiao Liu also didn’t want people to use him anymore against Xuan so was genuinely racking his brains for how to remove it.

I think, to avoid inconsistency with other parts of the novel, "it was more likely one day it’ll kill Xiao Liu since so many people wanted to kill Xuan" has to be interpreted to mean "it was more than likely that one day someone who wanted to kill CX would try to use the pain-transferring affect of the bug connection to make CX vulnerable, and in causing XY pain for that purpose, that someone may very well end up killing XY". 

Take XL and FFYY's assassination attempt as an example. In order to give FFYY an opportunity to assassinate CX, XL dove from a great height with XY into the water - which stunned XY and caused her to be in pain for a while. That caused CX to also be stunned and in pain, and FFYY used that moment of vulnerability to shoot her arrow at CX. 

In that case, XL already had feelings for XY and didn't want her to die. Before they crashed into the water, he flipped XY so that she was on top of him, and he bore the brunt of the impact of their fall. But someone else who wanted to kill CX using the same method might not care at all about XY's well being, and might end up killing her if they took similar steps to cause her extreme pain that would be transferred to CX.

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Chapter 7:

The white condor flew to the same lake they once came to. Before the condor could descend, Xiang Liu suddenly grabbed Xiao Liu and vaulted off.

Xiao Liu was stunned and could only grab onto Xiang Liu with a tentacled creature grasp. The wind whistled past and Xiang Liu stared coldly. “Shall I use you as a cushion?” Xiao Liu violently shook his head with his eyes full of pleading but Xiang Liu didn’t appear moved. They were descending so fast as if they were going to be smashed to smithereens. Right at the moment before impacting the water, Xiang Liu suddenly turned and flipped Xiao Liu on top.

With a giant plop, the two of them entered the water and a giant wave rose up. Even though Xiang Liu absorbed the brunt of the impact, Xiao Liu was still rocked by the waves and his head was spinning and his entire body ached. Because his limbs were in such pain, he couldn’t grab onto Xiang Liu and his body sank into the depths.

...

Xiang Liu fell backwards and laid on the surface of the water. Xiao Liu's whole body was still aching so he couldn’t move and could only lie on top of Xiang Liu.

Xiang Liu pulled Xiao Liu's arm. "Does it hurt?"

"He will be in great pain."

Xiang Liu laughed. “This voodoo bug is decent but not good enough.”

“If it was a life-linked voodoo bug, you wouldn’t even hesitate and would kill me, right?”

“Yup, too bad it just shares pain.” Xiang Liu’s voice shared his regret.

...

Xiang Liu thought about it. “If you don’t want to die, then don’t try calling it back. The only solution is to find a way to transfer the bug to another person.”

Xiao Liu sincerely said, “The only person I want to make miserable is you.”

Xiang Liu softly laughed. “Then put the bug inside me.” Xiao Liu scoffed, “Like you would be so nice.”

...

Ah Nian turned around. “Gege is injured. The doctor can’t stop the bleeding. Gege asked me to come find you.” Xiao Liu grabbed clothes and put them on as he ran out. He now understood why Xiang Liu came to see him yesterday. It wasn’t for a moonlight heart-to-heart. When he was in so much pain he lost all strength and couldn’t move, the same thing happened to Xuan. But Xuan was well protected, and Xiang Liu was with Xiao Liu. Who could break through the Xuan Yuan guards and harm Xuan?

...

Wu Cheng explained. “Last night an assassin came. The guards protected the young master but suddenly an arrow came from the sky when the young master was also suddenly struck with extreme pain. Thank god a servant pushed him aside so the arrow didn’t hit a critical organ. The problem is that it won’t stop bleeding.”

...

“If it wasn’t for the voodoo bug in your body, that arrow wouldn’t have been able to strike you. This situation arose from me, how can it have nothing to do with me?

...

Xiang Liu asked, “What are you thinking?”

“How to remove that voodoo bug. Xuan’s follower came by once to ask.” With Xuan’s real identity, that bug might not hurt him, but it was more likely one day it’ll kill Xiao Liu since so many people wanted to kill Xuan. Xiao Liu also didn’t want people to use him anymore against Xuan so was genuinely racking his brains for how to remove it.

Xiang Liu said, “I told you, find another person and plant the bug there.”

‘”Who would be willing? Maybe one of Xuan’s men?”

Xiang Liu very casually said, “It can’t be just any person.”

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Chapter 8:

After removing the voodoo bug from Xuan, Xiao Liu resolved a big worry and soundly slept for three days.

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Chapter 32:

Xiao Yao was taken aback because Xiang Liu was absolutely correct. Their deal was completely fair. Even if she could do it over and knowing the consequences of today, to protect Zhuan Xu she would still choose to move the voodoo bug into Xiang Liu. It had simply been too long since Xiang Liu asked her to fulfill her end of the bargain. She had also seen Fang Feng Bei as real, so their relationship was covered by this tender sweet layer like a gauzy veil. Xiao Yao simply forgot that their relationship was always just a transaction, so no matter what he chose to ask of her, she had no right to be angry.

 luv2bafangurl:

And then the high praise on Jing‘s intelligence and strategy while he at the same time failed spectacularly to deliver his promise to XY makes me roll my eyes, sorry not sorry. Like I said I do judge drama Jing quite harshly and the character‘s inconsistency is not helping.

I think it was the same in the novel too, this inconsistency between his intelligence and inability to deal with his family issues. Maybe he is good with ideas, but not so good with executing says ideas. At first, I thought that maybe he was being deliberately manipulative, but it's probably just plot holes for the narrative to work. Ironic, since his inability to deal with his family affairs is one of the things that I disliked about this character.

seriously ...
is it possible that if the lovers bug is planted in tsj it will be successful, like xl? ◑.◑

 windiaaa041293:

seriously ...
is it possible that if the lovers bug is planted in tsj it will be successful, like xl? ◑.◑

if XY loved him and both were willing to host the bug wholeheartedly . i doubt that XY did love Jing. Thus it is not possible for successful planting. and it is not possible to move the bug when it found a stable, love nest (host). the bug is aim for loyalty, not betraying for the whole life

I can't remember, is that part with "you have 9 lifes, but only 1 heart" in the novel as well, or only în the drama?  Because to me the comparison between 9 lifes versus the emphasis of having only 1 heart it's just another way of saying that the bugs are exclusively, meaning it's impossible for either of them to love someonelse. Once you give it to someone it's a sealed deal. Fell în love with some body else and they turn into Heartbreak bugs. How do lovers turn on eachother, by falling out of love or by falling for someonelse?  In the drama, why did the bugs acted up when XL saw XY with Jing? Again, I honestly don't think that what XY felt for Jing can be called love în the traditional sense, more like attachment, IMO. 

 Kokuto:

Family is tough to deal with so Jing's inability to deal with his family didn't bother me as much as his  ineffectiveness and his woeful lack of perception.  But, I don't really count FFYY as his family and boy did he bungle it with her.  I mean, as a master merchant and negotiator, he should have been able to find a way to bargain with her.  And if not her, than with HER family, who should have been able to put the screws to her, like Jing's family did with him.

Maybe I should have said his inability to deal with his family issues effectively :-). Yes, family are tougher to deal with compared to strangers, but his ineffectiveness here showed that while intelligent he is weak and lacks resolve  - still under the control of his Grandmother and unable to assert himself. And yes, I'm well aware of the concept of filial piety. He could have dealt with his brother in a way that would have been merciful, without leaving him around to create more trouble. The fact that Xiao Yao  "seduces" Hou to help him was a choice by Tong Hua.