Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 blabla100:

Maybe knowing how XY was when she was little and giving that she is her mom's daughter, jing's profile doesn't really fit to what she thought XY would want as a love partner. Too weak, too obedient. I belive that if it was XL who was sitting next to her în front of her mom, AH Heng wouldn't have had this conflicted emotion, because XL would never sit behind XY, but next to her and he wouldn't have kept his head low with no intention of getting up, allowing others to speak on his behalf. 

That is a very real possibility - thank you for pointing that out. His passiveness might also have been a cause of concern, especially during turbulent times. Xiang Liu would not have been so ingratiating - respectful certainly but never meek. 

 blabla100:

Hm, furious is even worse than crying, I could have understand his crying, altough that's not something novel's XL would do, but furious over XY and Jing sounds so one-sided, especially because în the novel he kept supporting their relationship.

 liddi:

I don't feel quite the same way. What riles me most is how Xiao Yao is portrayed to act around Xiang Liu, her apparent cluelessness and callousness really rubs me the wrong way.

Perhaps these two things are not mutually exclusive? I hate the addition of this particular scene precisely for both the reasons that you ladies mentioned. It's like they compound each other to push for YaoJing as the OTP and have Xiang Liu's love as one-sided.

I will say that from a psychological point of view, anger is typically what's known as a secondary emotion. It's the tip of the iceberg that hides the more primary emotions underneath. Emotions such as pain and sadness. It has a protective effect - it allows you to protect the more vulnerable emotions beneath the veneer of anger. It's the preferred emotion for men who are often taught not to cry or express sadness.

"Now, in retrospect, there is a realisation that this may have been a projection of what she could not, dared not do with Xiang Liu"

There are at least 2 scenes that I remember of that quite obvious points to this aspect. Three if I take that scene from chapter 3, when she wanted to poison XL, but ended up poison Jing into consideration too. In fact I think that's the scene that started this habit of hers. That kiss from chapter 14 comes to mind and also that underwater scene from chapter 17, when Jing told her that she didn't have him în her eyes. I am sure there are more, but some are more subtle.

 blabla100:

Maybe knowing how XY was when she was little and giving that she is her mom's daughter, jing's profile doesn't really fit to what she thought XY would want as a love partner. Too weak, too obedient.

 blabla100:

because XL would never sit behind XY, but next to her and he wouldn't have kept his head low with no intention of getting up, allowing others to speak on his behalf. Jing didn't have the courage

 liddi:

Xiang Liu would not have been so ingratiating - respectful certainly but never meek.

Great observations that could potentially explain Ah-Heng reaction to Jing. More and more, I feel like Tong Hua was deliberate in her crafting of Jing as a foil to Xiang Liu. I need to post my little write-up about Jing soon.

Having Jing position behind instead of besides Xiao Yao is a bit of a visual presentation of their relationship dynamic isn't?

To this day, I still hate watching the scene with Fangfeng Bei in her chambers, because we know from the novel how that scene should have played out, one that showed the extent of Xiao Yao's feelings for him, not to mention them sleeping together, a decision Xiao Yao consciously made, rather than just being conveniently unconscious at the time.

Are there differences  between  Xiao Yao  and Xiang Liu's story in the drama??

I know we have spoken about the Hibiscus flower  symbolizing love etc. I have recently read in Chinese culture it actually symbolises fame and glory as the word sounds like wealth.

Flowers have different meaning in different culture. Does someone who is Chinese can confirm the meaning?

 MengXiang:

I know we have spoken about the Hibiscus flower  symbolizing love etc. I have recently read in Chinese culture it actually symbolises fame and glory as the word sounds like wealth.

Flowers have different meaning in different culture. Does someone who is Chinese can confirm the meaning?

This was a translation of a write-up @windiaaa041293 previously posted about the significance of hibiscus vs osmanthus flowers. According to the poster, 

Your interpretation is correct. I just looked up the flower language of hibiscus (木槿花) and osmanthus (木樨花), and it turns out that there is indeed a difference between the two. Hibiscus represents resilience, steadfastness, courage and the eternity of love. Osmanthus (also known as 桂花), represents companionship, victory, loyalty and stedfastness and friendship, and is often given to friends. When comparing the two, the implied meaning can be said to be very obvious. When she was Xiao Liu, she loved the fragrance of medicinal herbs. After her archery lessons, hibiscus flowers suddenly appeared. Combine the fact that Xiang Liu dyed his hair, with hibiscus leaves could be used to wash hair in ancient times, [the meaning] is very deeply buried. Readers should dig [the hidden details] for themselves until they are able to find some modicum of comfort for the heart which is traumatised by the ending.

From what I read up, the flower language of hibiscus is as follows:

Tenacity - although its blooms appear gentle and beautiful, it is tenacious and can persevere in harsh conditions. So it symbolises the quality of being strong despite hardships
Everlasting beauty - after a hibiscus flower blooms and withers, more blooms will follow one after another, Continuous blooms represent everlasting beauty
Gentle perseverance - hibiscus flowers bloom in the morning and wither in the evening. The withering gives way to another glorious bloom, so the flowering period lasts a long time, as if it never ends, like gentle perseverance.

 Svetlanchik89:

I am very grateful to the one who created this forum, I am also grateful for your discussions. I've been reading you for a long time and I've understood a lot thanks to you =) I'm from Russia. I've been wanting to write this to you for a long time =)

I'm 2 days late to this reply but welcome. Always nice to see new people here. Also, I wonder whatever happened to Fei Fei, the creator of this forum.