Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 liddi:

A spotless, crystal-clear pearl was held between his fingers, his eyes filled with tenderness.

The black fog grew thicker and thicker, dissolving everything in the vicinity. Xiang Liu's body slowly collapsed, and the pearl between his fingers transformed into a string of tears, falling down drop by drop on Xiang Liu's face.

I've decided that I don't like that they continue to emphasize Xiao Yao even till his last moment, particularly since the drama had downplayed (IMO) her feelings for him to such an extent. I'd prefer to think that he'd done all that he could for her and when he stepped onto that battlefield, he'd let everything go and was at peace with his decisions. This thing with the pearls just makes it seem like he still couldn't let her go. Can they please stop making him come across as so lovesick and sad?

 AH :

Bonus points to anyone who recognizes those hands and sleeves. ^^

My daughter says it's Inuyasha and Kagome. 

Can we use the bonus points to redeem Xiang Liu from being butchered literally and metaphorically in S2?

 Svetlanchik89:

The key is how to read a book 

check the discussion folder ABOUT LONG LOVESICKNESS "YAOLIU"❤️❤️ - Lost You Forever - MyDramaList 

There are some posts in this discussion but it is nightmare to search for information in MDL. Maybe you can try using google search, @liddi translated some which was posted by windiaaa041293

 liddi:

legendary male-female bugs from Bai Li, not that these are called lovers bugs:

So, they try to avoid the name of "lover" bug as much as possible. It sounds so similar to XY that she faked on how she knew raising bug but without the name of the bug (of course, XY wanted to hide that she had the book and she knew nothing about the bug)

 liddi:

What the princess has is likely the legendary male-female bugs from Bai Li. If a person is wounded, the other person will also be implicated.
TSJ (worried): Implicated to what extent? If a person dies, will the other person die too?
HZ (hesitant): No one has personally seen this happen. It is a possibility... that they will die.

C'mon, XY thought it was ordinary mother-kid bug and it could do the same trick of causing the host to feel the pain. There is nothing legendary, special with such kind of sharing pain. And if he knew the male-female bug, and legendary, sharing pain and maybe life but not knowing the name? how vague is that? Then none of them bother to go to ask witch king? how difficult is that?

 liddi:

My daughter says it's Inuyasha and Kagome. 

Can we use the bonus points to redeem Xiang Liu from being butchered literally and metaphorically in S2?

We're really hitting desperate territory :-)

Tong Hua based Xiang Liu's image on Sesshōmaru from Inuyasha didn't she? If only she'd also gave him a happy ending like Sesshōmaru had :-(

 AH :

Seems strange to change the details so that XY makes that promise, only for her to not keep it. 

For someone who is fixated on broken promises, she is certainly contributing to her fair share of them.

 AH :

Hmm. I'm going to tell myself that this cannot be trusted at all. I'm pretty sure my only hope of not hating S2 is to go in with expectations that are so incredibly low that it would be impossible for them to not be exceeded.

I am keeping my expectations tamped down, while hoping for a miracle. I know that I will be approaching each new episode with fear and trepidation. Gah.

 AH :

Oh no. Liddi I think you need a safer bubble. This one isn't reliable enough to hold onto :(

I can't think of anything else..... helppp....

I am really curious how Chi Chen's song will sound like. The song is the preface for Vol 3 in the novel, though it was sung by Sir Bi instead of Xiang Liu. Am almost certain TJC will be the one singing it too, and can't wait to see how that scene plays out. The music director Dong Dongdong also mentioned on Weibo that Zhang Wanyi's rendition of Cang Xuan's theme will also be used in S2, so definitely excited to see which scene it will be in.

 H19279:

So, they try to avoid the name of "lover" bug as much as possible. It sounds so similar to XY that she faked on how she knew raising bug but without the name of the bug (of course, XY wanted to hide that she had the book and she knew nothing about the bug)

I've always been curious about this as well. She has the Poison Bugs book, I find it hard to believe that the Lovers Bugs would not have been recorded there. The Voodoo King mentioned that they are difficult to raise and yet, Xiao Yao managed to raise them successfully. I imagined that because they are quite unique, they require special methods of growing/cultivating compared to your garden variety mother/child bugs. Kinda like how you need to raise Orchids in a very particular way otherwise, they'll die. So did Xiao Yao get lucky and raise them successfully or did she perhaps suspect all along that they were Lovers Bugs?

 H19279:

I already said before that the drama introduced the line that the poison bug is mysterious and unpredictable (which could be XY's opinion in the book but moved to LROM). And this opened the door for 1 sided love is still possible to move/plant the bug.

 liddi:

According to the script, Jing only knows that these are possibly the legendary male-female bugs from Bai Li, not that these are called lovers bugs:

They are doing the absolute most to downplay the nature of these bugs as Lovers Bugs, aren't they? They wanted to leave as much ambiguity as possible so a one-sided love could be plausibly interpreted. 

 liddi:

My impression is never that he could not let her go. Rather, I see the pearl as the last part of her that she gave him - the tears she shed for him

I think it's because I see that there is more to him than just his relationship/love for Xiao Yao so I don't like this emphasis on her 'till the last moment. I wanted him to be truly free of all the mortal ties and burdens as he headed off on his last journey in this lifetime.

@AH

"That's interesting. I always thought that this scene (when XL forces the window closed so that XY won't get sick from the cold, even though XY clearly wants the window open) was intentionally juxtaposed with the window scene in the next chapter (when TSJ wants to close the window for the same reason"

For sure those 2 scenes are related, I interpret the window as a metaphor for "hope". XY kept trying to have that window open, while XL kept closing it. His answer after he had that window forcibly closed was "What kind of person I am, you’ve known all along.” - (it's similar to his answer from chapter 29"  “Every word he said is the truth. I’m not a guy suitable for a woman to follow. Isn’t that something you already know?”) which  again, points to the beach scene, when she told him that she is afraid to let him in her dreams, because he is not suitable to ever enter into a girl's dream, so closing the window was his way to remembered her yet again that and pushed her to let go already. After she accepted that there is no hope  for her and XL to be, she met with tianer who restored some of her hopes în Jing. Jing's window though, even though at that point wasn't open wide, giving the circumstances, can be described as open, because Jing did make a compromise with her, Jing was still open to fight for them, unlike XL, who was the dominant one between them. Also, în XY-XL's relationship, she was the giver, while în XY-Jing's relationship, she was the taker. She kept sending XL poisons every 3 months the same way and for the same reason Jing sent her wine every 15 days, as a reminder of one's feelings. 

"You're referring to the conversation they have in chapter 29 after leaving the restaurant owned by the one-armed veteran whose specialty is donkey meat?"

Yes, I always had the impression she wanted to tell him more în that scene, but she couldn't find her words and XL didn't encourage her either.