Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

The compilation of 入戏 interviews with the LYF cast from S1 is finally available on Youtube. The following is TJC's interview：

 AH :

Okay this made me want to do a thing.

^^

Thank you so much for this! Seeing these oh-so-familiar, well-loved, poignant prose just brings the feels and heartache rushing back all over again.

Here are among the many lines in the novel that bring such a pang to my heart:

Xiao Yao involuntarily slowed down her pace, watching him come closer to her through the dense thrum of bustling ordinary life in the mortal realm. She knew there was no hope, but she still fervently wished that the passions and attractions of this world could keep him in it.

-- Vol 2 Ch8  (Chapter 25)

In the past, she used to feel they had so many opportunities to see each other, but it was not clear when it began that Xiao Yao started to feel that each meeting was one meeting less. By this night, the feeling had become even more evident.
:
With a smile, Xiao Yao curtsied to Xiang Liu then turned to knock on the door. The door creaked open and Xiao Yao stepped inside. When she turned around, Xiang Liu was still standing outside, white robed black hair, extremely refined and elegant, yet like the white waters and black mountains of the North, even when the mountain flowers were in full bloom, there was a lingering sense of desolation.

Unable to take another step, Xiao Yao stood rooted in place staring at Xiang Liu until the door slowly closed and Xiang Liu disappeared from sight.

-- Vol 2 Ch12  (Chapter 29)

Xiao Yao gave up asking and closed her eyes, murmuring, “I hurt so much... Xiang Liu, I hurt...”

-- Vol 2 Ch15  (Chapter 32)

She stared at Xiang Liu. The man before her was clearly that dissolute wastrel but just as confusion began to cloud her mind, a strand of white hair slipped out from under his hood, reminding her exactly who he was. Xiao Yao tenderly touched his white hair and said, “This place is not safe for you to stay for long. Leave after paying your respects to your old friend!”

Because she just cried, Xiao Yao’s eyes were extraordinarily clear and bright and Xiang Liu could see himself clearly reflected in her eyes. He reached out his hand and closed her eyes with a gentle caress. “I’m off!”

Xiao Yao felt a soft cool sensation brush over her forehead, a gentle touch that immediately vanished. Xiao Yao clasped her forehead in shock and opened her eyes to see the room was already empty before her.

Illusion! It must be an illusion!

-- Vol 3 Ch2  (Chapter 35)

It was not clear how much time had passed when Xiang Liu stopped drinking her blood. Xiao Yao drowsily opened her eyes. “You can drink a little more. I am fine.”

Xiang Liu gazed at the starry skies overhead, confusion in his eyes. “Are you not frightened in the least? You should know that demons are demons after all. Once severely injured, they lose their sanity and are driven by instinct. I could very well have sucked you dry!”

Xiao Yao gently touched the corner of his blood-stained lips, and said tenderly, “You are the one who’s afraid!”

-- Vol 3 Ch10  (Chapter 43)

Dark clouds obscured the full moon and what was reflected in Xiang Liu’s eyes was—a sky devoid of stars, boundless darkness, unending loneliness.

-- Vol 3 Ch13  (Chapter 46)

Sir Bi took out the Jade Mountain elixir he always carried with him. “Do you need me to help you heal your wounds?”

Xiang Liu smiled and replied, “Thank you, but these medicines are no use on me.”

Anxiously, Sir Bi asked, “Your injuries….what can I do for you?”

Xiang Liu responded calmly, “Don’t be like this. You should understand that facing down the Xuan Yuan Great Army, one more or one less life makes no difference!”

-- Vol 3 Ch15  (Chapter 48)

Outside the palace walls, a bright round moon hung in the sky, cold and desolate.

Xiao Yao thought of the moon in Qing Shui Town. When Xiang Liu died, was the moon in the sky also shining silently down on him like this? Did he remember the moon that they once looked at together?
:
Xiang Liu, why? Why? Why do you treat me this way? Why won’t you even let me keep one memory of you…..so our hundreds of years together, it was always just a transaction to you?
:
“I am the fool! He did not care at all, so why should I be sad? I don’t want to be sad…”

Xiao Yao cried as she talked until her words gradually trailed off.

-- Vol 3 Ch18  (Chapter 51)

 Kokuto:

CX didn't have any plans, cause he never found out, did he?  lol  Like some fans, he only sees YaoLiu as friends.  lol   Though he did have plans to wipe XL off the face of the Earth for different reasons and that would have interfered with XY having a happy ending with XL.

CX confirmed with XY that XL was FFB after XY's wedding to TSJ when she begged him to spare XL's life. 

So by the end he had some inkling (since he knew the bug was transferred to XL, XL saved XY's life in chapter 22, FFB and XY were the subject of romantic rumours, and FFB took XY away from her wedding with Feng Long) but not the whole picture, and by then CX had presumably learned his lesson about taking drastic measures to keep XY apart from any romantic interests and XY was already married to TSJ anyway.

-----

Chapter 50:

Walking them out, Xiao Yao suddenly called out “Gege, can I speak privately with you?”

Everyone continued walking, leaving Xiao Yao standing there with Zhuan Xu as she said, “I heard that Ru So’s relentless attack has backed Gong Gong’s army into a corner.”

Zhuan Xu said, “I was planning on a slow attrition to minimize casualties, but Feng Long’s death has left me no choice but to launch a full on assault.”

Xiao Yao said, “Gege, can you……can you……spare Xiang Liu?”

Zhuan Xu was shocked. “He killed Feng Long, don’t you want to avenge his death?”

“Killing Xiang Liu won’t bring Feng Long back.”

Zhuan Xu stared long and hard at Xiao Yao as she continued, “I know you are in a tough spot, but I’ve never asked you for a favor when it’s difficult for you. This is my first, and last time, begging you for something.”

“Is Xiang Liu Fang Feng Bei?” Zhuan Xu appeared to be asking Xiao Yao but his expression was certain.

Xiao Yao didn’t want to hide it anymore and woefully nodded.

“So that’s it! No wonder I’ve felt that certain things were so odd, but now it all makes sense. Are you two still seeing each other?”

“We’ve severed all ties. I never want to see him again in this lifetime and he certainly will also never want to see me. But no matter how he’s treated me……..I…..I still want him to stay alive.”

Zhuan Xu took a deep breath. “Xiang Liu killed Feng Long and I need to give a reckoning to the Chi Sui clan and Sheng Nong tribe, otherwise it cannot appease the Middle Plains. But, as long as Xiang Liu is willing to stop, I can give him a chance to disappear.”

“Disappear” doesn’t mean “die”, so this meant Zhuan Xu agreed with her pleading. Xiao Yao smiled brightly. “Thank you Gege!”

“Don’t thank me. Grandfather and I tried countless times to bring Xiang Liu to our side and I even gave him carte blanche to name his terms. But he would never abandon or betray Gong Gong. Actually all this time it’s not I who wouldn’t stop, it’s him who wouldn’t stop. If he vows to fight to the death, then there is nothing I can do. I can’t sacrifice Ru So and the soldiers. His life is a life, but so are the lives of those fighting for me.”

Xiao Yao bit her lip and lowered her head as she quietly said, “I know.”

Zhuan Xu patted her on the shoulder. “He chose his path and now you’ve chosen yours and have done all you can do. I think you’ve done enough for the friendship. No matter what happens, you can forget him and forget it all!”

Xiao Yao nodded her head.

Zhuan Xu got on the cloud carriage and Xiao Yao said, “You take care!”

 Kokuto:

Hmmmm.  The first is a It's a subtle difference, but I guess I can see it.

I agree, the difference is subtle. But I personally like the YaoLiu version (a fun, ordinary life with plenty of excursions to the ocean but otherwise continuing to live as a participant in the world - not running away from it entirely) more than the YaoJing version (running away to live a secluded life removed from the world). The YaoLiu fantasy seems healthier. 

 Kokuto:

Cause these gems just grabbed my heart and squeezed!

 Kokuto:

I'm going to enjoy the synopsis while we have it.  lol

Same here. ^^

 liddi:

Thank you so much for this!

You're welcome. ^^

 liddi:

Here are among the many lines in the novel that bring such a pang to my heart:

Love these! Thanks for collecting and translating them!

 AH :

Love these! Thanks for collecting and translating them!

You're welcome. It amazes me how the same lines still evoke such emotions, despite having read them multiple times, and even more so over the past year.

Have you rewatched S1 recently? I am hoping to do so before S2 starts - no idea whether I will get sufficient time to cover all 39 episodes in time.

The drama is releasing S2 character features one by one, starting with Xiang Liu, followed by Feng Long, and now A Nian, driving home that we are nearing the end, and ironically, I find myself unable to help but start to mourn the end even before its broadcast. Even watching the BTS of a battle-weary Feng Long and a teary Cang Xuan reminds me that this character too will soon be dead, and I get emotional just thinking about it.

 AH :

I haven't encoutered that error yet. Maybe try signing out of your account and signing back in? 

Have done that several times, but still no luck unfortunately. I have created a ticket for this issue - hopefully it will be a quick and easy fix.

EDIT: Issue is resolved - yay!

 AH :

I find that I've become a bit of an old grump about the drama. I go back and watch bits if I have a reason to (I re-watched a few scenes so I could include them in my synopsis proposal for LYF S2) but rewatching just for the sake of rewatching too often just leads to more grumpiness on my part. ^^"

To be honest, I haven't rewatched the entirety of S1 more than twice in the past year (the 2nd time was with my girl), though I do revisit certain scenes every now and again. What does keep me company most is the soundtrack, and I find myself reading the novel and listening to the audiobook more. I would like to revisit some time and compare it against the S1 script though...

Oh dear. If rewatching makes you grumpy, that is certainly a good reason to abstain! However, for me, S1 does deliver on the whole even though I am sore about some of the changes, particularly the cut YaoLiu scenes. Let's hope S2 will give us a pleasant surprise.

 Sssnoopyyy:

I am still very salty about S2 changes, grieving over them taking away the main plots and iconic scenes, dampening the character development and relationships, and grieving the end of it all even before it has even aired! I have been rewatching S1 and rereading the novel to comfort myself even tho the novel always leaves me feeling melancholy, but I refuse to accept the leaked script and trying to tell myself the novel is the story hhaa

The novel is the story, as heartbreaking as it is. At the moment, the leaked script is a dreaded possibility... for which I am crossing everything I can think of in hopes what we do finally get addresses all the issues we were concerned about. 

I caught a snippet of a S1 refresher video, and there are certain nuances that I had totally forgotten between Cang Xuan and Xiao Yao when she told him that she decided to be the Hao Lin princess after all (after seeing him walking off and remembering how his mother died, and how they lost their grandmother and her mother in succession after that). Let's see how far I manage to get with S1 viewing with a little more than 5 days to go.  My audiobook progress is not that impressive either... with Xiao Yao having just moved to Little Yan Zhuan's residence.