nathsketch:

No problem, it's better to be ready and brace for impact. I've got my oxygen mask on, even if the chance of survival is very low 😭

But seriously, thank you for taking the time to translate all this for us. You're the best. Sleep well ♥️

Thank you! Just keep breathing! And you might wanna turn to mackerel Xiang Liu to keep you in one piece!

 liddi:
If anything, knowing he went through all this heartache, and still proceeded resolutely to do what he set out to do despite what all that it cost him, just makes me love and hurt for him more.

Exactly. "Just makes me love and hurt for him more" - I didn't know this was even possible.

This is really bad. They turned XL into a frustrated almost victim-like SL, XY into an annoying ungrateful FL and Jing into an annoying obsessed stalker. I honestly can't find anything I like, there are no excuses IMO. I have no sympathy for neither of them. 

 liddi:

Thank you! Just keep breathing! And you might wanna turn to mackerel Xiang Liu to keep you in one piece!

I really want a mackerel Xiang Liu plush toy for me to hug while I sleep *sobs*

 blabla100:
XY into an annoying ungrateful FL and Jing into an annoying obsessed stalker.

I'm fine with that lol

No, but, really.

This is the ultimate gif


 fancy:

I'd prefer this. I like seeing his side of things but I don't want to see him super upset about her intimate moments with Jing. It takes aways from the whole "leaving her with someone she can rely on thing" for me at least. 

Yeah. If they had to show him feeling those moments, I'd prefer to see him look sad and maybe even a bit pained but mostly controlled, resolved and stoic. Not throwing his momento of her feelings away like that.

There were so many moments that emphasize his internal feelings with very minor external indicators (e.g., a small smile, a sad smile, a false smile that fades away, or eyes filled with "a darkness of eternal loneliness") or no external indicators at all. The new scenes feel out of character by comparison. 

---

Like when XY sees XL after TSJ's disappearance and asks him if he knows anything, and XY cries when XL doesn't give her any hope:

Xiao Yao lowered her head and her tears came down silently.

Xiang Liu turned around to stare at the ocean expanse, with his back to Xiao Yao, but even then he clearly heard her tears falling. One drop after another, so soft and bunched together, the sound entered his ears like a sharp thorn prick, each drop a stab to his heart.

Or after XL drives XY away and creates the pill from her blood that will save TSJ:

Xiang Liu watched the merman until he disappeared from view. He then lowered his eyes and looked at the arrow protruding from his chest. He touched it lightly with his hands before taking a deep breath and pulling it out of his chest with one move. As the blood gushed out of the wound, Xiang Liu seemed exhausted and finally just collapsed on the lake surface. He looked up at the sky as the smile was slowly wiped away.

The black clouds covered the bright moon so all that shone in Xiang Liu’s eyes were – a darkness without light, a darkness without end, a darkness of eternal loneliness.

 liddi:

Oh no... looks like I shouldn't have translated it after all - sorry to have left disaster in my wake!  Gotta turn in now. Stay safe, stay strong, and when all fails, there is always the novel to go back to.

I appreciate the translations. All of them!

 liddi:

I am fine with seeing his side, because knowing the nature of the lover's bug, it is always apparent how difficult it would have been for him to be privy to everything she was going through.  I don't feel that his reactions make him any less dignified or mature. If anything, knowing he went through all this heartache, and still proceeded resolutely to do what he set out to do despite all that it cost him, just makes me love and hurt for him more.

It's not the showing his side or his heartache that I don't like... (nathsketch knows I'm crazy enough to actually kind of enjoy these types of scenes) but I'm not a fan of the way these things are shown in the drama. I know novels are a different medium than dramas and it's harder to convey internal suffering and emotion on screen than it is on the page, but I preferred the portrayal in the novel and I wish the new scenes they added in the drama were closer in tone to the portrayal in the novel. 

 blabla100:
Jing into an annoying obsessed stalker.

I didn't feel like the changes in the leaked script added anything new about him following her / watching her that wasn't in the novel. I actually felt like they toned it down a bit. 

 blabla100:

This is really bad. They turned XL into a jealous almost victim-like SL, XY into an annoying ungrateful FL and Jing into an annoying obsessed stalker. 

I agree with what you said about XY and Jing. They turned XY into someone ungrateful. In episode 37, XL told her he can feel what she's feeling... it makes her seem like she doesn't care that he can feel her kissing Jing. In the earlier episodes, when Cang Xuan still had the bug in him, he told XY he could feel XL biting her neck too. So can't she infer XL can feel that physical intimacy she has with Jing too?

For Jing, he's always been an annoying obsessed stalker lol. 

 AH :

I didn't feel like the changes in the leaked script added anything new about him following her / watching her that wasn't in the novel. I actually felt like they toned it down a bit. 

Yeah, they seemed to tone down his stalking a bit.

 Elise:
For Jing, he's always been an annoying obsessed stalker lol.

I was going to write this, but then I successfully refrained myself from it.

I second that, though.

 Elise:
In episode 37, XL told her he can feel what she's feeling... it makes her seem like she doesn't care that he can feel her kissing Jing.

He told her he can feel her heartache. The two of them acknowledge that this isn't something that she can use against him, because she can't control her own heartache. He didn't clue her into the full scope of what he can feel through the connection.

 Elise:
In the earlier episodes, when Cang Xuan still had the bug in him, he told XY he could feel XL biting her neck too. So can't she infer XL can feel that physical intimacy she has with Jing too?

I don't remember how their conversation went in the drama, but in the novel XY was confused by ZX's words and distracted by his invitation to come drink with ZX at his wine shop sometime. His words definitely didn't help her realize that a person with the bug in them might be able to feel her kissing another person.

---

Chapter 6:

Xiao Liu laughed “If you died, then the voodoo bug in your body dies. It took me a lot of work to raise that bug, I don’t want it to die.” Xuan looked at him and Xiao Liu poured him water. “I kidnapped Ah Nian but didn’t hurt her and just teased her a bit. Your men tortured me and I also didn’t let you off easy. Xiang Liu used me as a trap but I saved you. Let’s consider it even, okay?”

Xuan asked “When are you removing the bug from me?” Xiao Liu thought and said “When you leave Qing Shui Town.” Xuan’s hands pressed down on the table “Why not now?”

“You have great ambitions and ought to be leaving town soon. When you leave, I’ll remove the bug. This bug has no ill effects other than when one of us hurts the other hurts. So if you don’t harm me, then you won’t hurt. This is to keep me safe.”

“Fine.” Xuan got up and left, and when he arrived at the door, he suddenly turned around “When you have time, you can come drink with me at the shop.” Xiao Liu smiled “Sure.”

Xuan raised his eyebrow and smirked “And when you’re hurt, you might want to restrain your urges.”

“………..” Xiao Liu was thoroughly confused. When did he ever have urges?

Xuan touched his neck and left with a laugh. Xiao Liu stared confused and then after some time he started to smile. Can I really go drink with you? There was a voice that told him not to, but another said that he was leaving town soon, so if not now then he’ll never get the chance again.

 AH :
but I'm not a fan of the way these things are shown in the drama. I know novels are a different medium than dramas and it's harder to convey internal suffering and emotion on screen than it is on the page, but I preferred the portrayal in the novel and I wish the new scenes they added in the drama were closer in tone to the portrayal in the novel. 

To be honest, my mood has been sinking since I properly started translating the script, seeing my hopes gradually slipping away. It didn't help that the Xiao Yao of the drama feels more distant than the Xiao Yao of the novel. I still balk at how Fangfeng Bei was made to look as if he was begging for crumbs when he sought refuge in her chambers.

Back to Xiang Liu. I also concur that the difficulty might be in the medium - it is one thing to read the vivid, searing descriptions, but another thing altogether when it is a visual experience, especially when he has so few lines as it is. I already did not like that Xiang Liu threw the wine bottle in anger after realising Xiao Liu's identity, but that was just one part in an otherwise excellent characterisation in S1. However, I am not sure how else they could have portrayed his internal anguish in situations we already know he must go through. My only hope is that the direction and delivery is nuanced enough that we see suffering rather than petulance. 

 nathsketch:
I was going to write this, but then I successfully refrained myself from it.

Lol, this feels like character growth ^^