Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 AH :

But every once in a while someone comes along and, IMO, somehow does manage to make it work for them.

Wait I forgot about Rise of the Legend!

I found the other fishmonger picture

Is he selling more expensive wares here?

 Kokuto:

LOL!

Well, he has MORE buckets and is better organized, so I'd say, yes!  Heck, it looks like he even has a boat.

I just noticed the Chinese in the bottom right corner.  Is his ware talking to him?

 liddi:

I clearly just posted a response to you, but somehow the entire post is missing. Argh.

I noticed another poster posted something yesterday, but I couldn't see it. Their name showed up as the latest post when you look at the main page of the LYF's discussion, but there was no post to speak of. Is MDL glitching?

 liddi:

However, she would come to realise that her fear of allowing such a man into her dreams meant that she was too late anyway, even if she tried to convince herself otherwise.

Convinced herself of what? That she wasn't too late?

 liddi:

I will definitely give it a try one day. However, I am less competent when it comes to scientific or futuristic terms, so I truly hope an official English translation would be available as a companion piece by the time the series and movie is released.

I read it in Vietnamese and my Vietnamese isn't the best, particularly when it comes to more specialized terms. I don't remembered it being too much of a hindrance when i read it. I think the sci-fi elements were just the setting/backdrop. I don't think plotting or details into how certain things work are TH strongest suit. The Lovers Bugs in LYF,  for example, are full of holes and require readers to gloss over the details. Her strongest suit is her characters and romance - and her prose, IMO.

Do you have any idea how long they option the rights to the novel for?  

 liddi:

Yes. These were strong women who inspired respect exactly because of how fearless they were in their love, even when their men were questionable to me. I love too their decisiveness, knowing when to walk away, which Ruoxi did twice, even if the second time would claim her life.

9th was extremely questionable, but Yu Tan clearly knew that and still did what she did. I thought that she was utterly foolish, but she made her choice knowing full well what she was in for. I liked Ruoxi pragmatism and decisiveness. It was quite fitting with being a modern woman.  It has been a long time since I've read the book, though, so whose knows if my views on it would change if I read it now.

 liddi:

The premise around which Xiao Yao's character was crafted meant that she was caged (metaphorically or literally) for the majority of her life.

For me, XY's cage was a psychological one from childhood trauma. Even as WXL, she was never truly free - she exercise more freedom, but she was very much psychologically caged in - her interaction/relationship with YSQ was a manifestation of this. I never sees her reluctance to return to her true identity as fear of being caged, but rather her not wanting to face the past - very much an avoidance of her trauma. Even her refusal to regain her spiritual power was because she didn't want to stay on Yu Shan - the nightmare of her childhood. As Grand Princess, she has options and choices that she really didn't make the most of. Her father and grandfather's guilt means that they pretty much was incredibly indulgence of her. If she had wanted to leave or pursue a life away from the royal palaces, I highly doubt they would have stand in her way. She chose to stay because of CX, but she never fully utilized the power that she could have, instead taking on that passive role of "beauty trap" (can't think of a better term) to help him gain support. All the while, she wait for Jing to free himself so that he can "wifed" her. 

Breaking free, to me, would mean breaking free from her psychological cage - not breaking free from royal life (she was barely active in that royal life as it was). And as of late, I'm no longer convinced that she managed to unshackled herself from the psychological cage. The way that she handled her relationships, particularly her relationship with Jing played a huge role in this. And yes, a good chunk of this is how i view her choice of partner. Her act of running away to the sea at the end is another form of avoidance. Particularly when this act was achieved by co-signing the dumping of responsibility and abandonment of a child. Buying your "freedom" by caging another person doesn't sits right with me. Such urgently to get away just comes across like running away to me.

Obviously everyone interpretations will be different depending on how we sees things. I think my view on this belongs to the minority, just as my view that the outcome of XiaoLiu relationships came down in large part to XY's fear and reluctance. Most readers tend to have the opposite opinions :-). It was better when I didn't see things this way. I felt less frustrated :-).

 HeadInTheClouds:

Eddie Peng!!

It has been a while since I've watched him. The man seems to focus on movies and doesn't do dramas.

Yes :(

 HeadInTheClouds:

The last drama that I saw him in was in Sound of the Desert, another TH's adaptation.

Ditto.

 HeadInTheClouds:

The last drama that I saw him in was in Sound of the Desert, another TH's adaptation. I remember that there were some very unhappy fans when he was cast as the male lead because they wanted Hu Ge in the role. The dream cast was HG for Huo Qubing and Wallace Hu as Meng Jiu. Instead, Hu Ge wanted the role of Meng Jiu since I wanted to move away from idolish romance into more serious acting work. Meng Ji was a nice practice for his eventual role as Mei Changsu. I thought Eddie did a good job.

I haven't read the novel (partly out of fear that it might make me like the drama less), but I'm happy the casting worked out the way it did.

@HeadInTheClouds,

Did he also have to do another life exchange to save her this time? We were not told anything this second time around and XY appeared to not be aware that XL was the one who saved her. I don't know, I feel like this is either a plot hole or XY knows, but she pretends not to know. After all, she would be aware by this point that they are connected via Lovers Bugs and what that means. This isn't out of character for YX to play stupid.

With regard  to her 2nd  “death”, i wrote an analysis long time ago, comparing her status with the Plum forest case. I think she fully awared that XL saved her.

https://mydramalist.com/discussions/lost-you-forever/121043-about-long-lovesickness-yaoliu?pid=2857065&page=3#p2857065

https://mydramalist.com/discussions/lost-you-forever/121043-about-long-lovesickness-yaoliu?pid=2857067&page=3#p2857067

 HeadInTheClouds:

Thanks for the translation, liddi. Is this $45 per 500gm of deep sea prawns? 'Cause he might be undercharging. A quick Google search told me that Spanish Deep Sea Prawns are selling for USD$215/kg. They may not be the same thing, but some marketing may fetch him better prices :-)

i could buy Argentinian sea prawn (naturally caught size 12-20 pieces/kg”) for about 15-20 euro/kg in NL which is 117-157 Chinese yuan. The prawn sold in Chinese supermarket here is much more expensive (about double price if i remember correctly, same size)

 HeadInTheClouds:

I noticed another poster posted something yesterday, but I couldn't see it. Their name showed up as the latest post when you look at the main page of the LYF's discussion, but there was no post to speak of. Is MDL glitching?

I noticed the same poster. At first I thought the poster deleted it soon after posting, but after the Mystery of my Disappearing Post, like you, I am beginning to wonder whether it is an issue with MDL after all.

 HeadInTheClouds:

Convinced herself of what? That she wasn't too late?

Too late to stop him from entering her dreams. The fact that she actually had qualms basically meant that he had already  entered her dreams, which she tried to deny to him and herself.

 HeadInTheClouds:

I read it in Vietnamese and my Vietnamese isn't the best, particularly when it comes to more specialized terms. I don't remembered it being too much of a hindrance when i read it. I think the sci-fi elements were just the setting/backdrop.

That sounds encouraging. Will see if I manage to read it without too much trouble, though I don't know yet when that will be, seeing I'm on a Three-Body Problem roll. If I don't get there in time, fingers crossed an official translated novel is available by then.

 HeadInTheClouds:

9th was extremely questionable, but Yu Tan clearly knew that and still did what she did. I thought that she was utterly foolish, but she made her choice knowing full well what she was in for.

Agreed. Yu Tan loved him in spite of it all, and readily accepted what her fate would be - her letter to Ruoxi clearly stated that she was merely an infatuated, foolish person who has no regrets nor resentment. Still, her punishment was horrific beyond belief, a terrible price to pay for her love.

 HeadInTheClouds:

For me, XY's cage was a psychological one from childhood trauma. Even as WXL, she was never truly free - she exercise more freedom, but she was very much psychologically caged in - her interaction/relationship with YSQ was a manifestation of this.

Yes, it was a mental barrier that she had not broken free from, even in Qingshui town. Nonetheless, her life in Qingshui town was one where she was the most free, enjoying the warmth of a makeshift family, behaving as she willed without fear. Her times at Qingshui town showcased her (sometimes reckless) courage, to the extent of deliberately provoking the feared Nine-headed Demon of the Great Wilderness over and over again. It may be her loneliness talking, or her finding a kindred spirit, but the point remained that she was relatively unconstrained by concerns and misgivings, and she lived from day to day with no care for the politics that raged outside of their little town.

 HeadInTheClouds:

As Grand Princess, she has options and choices that she really didn't make the most of. Her father and grandfather's guilt means that they pretty much was incredibly indulgence of her. If she had wanted to leave or pursue a life away from the royal palaces, I highly doubt they would have stand in her way.

Not quite. She may have had the option to stay apart from them, as was the original intent upon her marriage, but her ties and responsibilities to the royal family would forever bind her. And despite chaffing at those ties - ties which unsevered, meant she would always be on opposing sides to Xiang Liu, ties which meant that no matter how much she wanted to spend her entire life roaming the world freely, she could never be free to do so because she would have to return exactly because of who she was - she could never find the fortitude and courage to break away. Xiang Liu always wanted her to be brave enough to reach out and embrace the kind of life she wanted for herself. It was only his death that gave her the final push to finally sever those ties and embrace the life she wanted, even though it would be one without him. 

 HeadInTheClouds:

Her act of running away to the sea at the end is another form of avoidance.

I don't see it that way. It was not avoidance that made her leave for the ocean. It was her seeking, retracing the place that would remind her of him, which gave her the impetus to do so, finally following her heart's desire to leave for his home, a home she once shared with him, to seek out uncharted islands that she once wanted to visit with him but he never responded. At last she acknowledged her love, and acted upon it, even though she knew that he would no longer be there. For someone who had been bound by fear most of her life, it was a breakthrough that was a long time coming, and the first step to grasping the life she wanted.

 HeadInTheClouds:

Particularly when this act was achieved by co-signing the dumping of responsibility and abandonment of a child.

However abhorrent Jing's actions were of foisting Tushan Zhen into the role of clan leader and shirking his responsibility as the only father the boy had ever known, that had absolutely nothing to do with her leaving for the ocean. It was an act that was done before her wedding, before she severed ties with her family. Before then, there was no indication that they had any intention of totally disappearing, only leaving to make a home for themselves. Also, with her frame of mind and grief when at last she chose to depart for the ocean and disappear, I truly doubt Tushan Zhen would have been anywhere in her thoughts at the time.

 HeadInTheClouds:

I think my view on this belongs to the minority, just as my view that the outcome of XiaoLiu relationships came down in large part to XY's fear and reluctance.

As @AH and I discussed in the Fan Fiction thread recently, we are all entitled to our own interpretations, especially if it is not clearly spelled out by the author, as long as our views are canon-compliant. I am just sorry that your interpretation is frustrating you, and hope that the frustration would ease over time. I think any interpretation that had to do with Xiang Liu is an invariable source of pain. Tong Hua really needs to take responsibility for all the stress her novel has caused.