Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 blabla100:

Liddi, I am going to bother you again, when and if you have time, can you translated this passage too, please? I am curious how the moon was described the last time Jing and XY met.

It was the night of the full moon when they parted. Jing planned to marry her on a full moon day, but in the end, that did not materialise the first time, nor on the day they finally did get married.

小夭扑哧笑了出来，凝视着月亮，说道：“璟选了满月之日成婚，我本来想问他为什么，但有些不好意思，想着成婚后有的是时间，就没有问。我们最后一次见面，是在三十二天前，孟夏之月的满月日。他下午来小月顶和我辞行，说是晚饭前走，可用过晚饭后依旧没走，一直到月亮攀上了山顶，我们依旧在山涧踏着月色散步。那一晚的月亮很美，我拉着他月下踏歌，他不会，我边唱歌边笑他笨拙。后来，他骑白鹤离去前，指着月亮，对我说‘下个满月之日后，不管月亮阴晴圆缺、人世悲欢离合，我和你长相守、不分离。’”

Xiao Yao burst out laughing, and said as she stared at the moon, "Jing chose to marry on the day of a full moon. I initially wanted to ask him the reason, but was little embarrassed to do so. I thought we would have plenty of time after the wedding, so I did not ask. The last time we saw each other was thirty-two days ago, on the day of a full moon during the first month of summer. He came to Xiao Yue Summit in the afternoon to bid me farewell, and said he would leave after dinner, but he still had not left even then. We strolled under the moonlight along the mountain stream as always until the moon had risen high over the peak of the mountain. The moon was very beautiful that night. I dragged him along to sing and dance under the moonlight but he did not know how to, so I sang while laughing at his clumsiness. Later, before he left on the white crane, he pointed to the moon and said to me, 'After the next full moon day, regardless of the waxing or waning of the moon, the joys and sorrows, partings and gatherings in the world, you and I will be together forever, never to part.' "

-- Vol 3 Ch10  (Chapter 43)

 HeadInTheClouds:

Haha! I loved how you're thinking of stunning cinematography and an epic score, while I was thinking of one of those ridiculous Bollywood movies with physics-defying scenes that would put Hollywood to shame. Complete with the dancing and shallying set to synchronize choreography.

Lol, well any Bollywood adaptation would need to have some big song and dance numbers and some logic-defying scenes of some kind or another. That's a given, even for films that are more on the serious side. ^^

 HeadInTheClouds:

But, I'll take that O Saiyyan scene. Don't care if it will be a deviation from the novel. But, will it be with XL or FFB?

Condensing the novel into a movie (even a 3.5 hour one) would necessarily require massive changes to the story anyway. Like cutting out the TSJ loveline entirely. If this theoretical adaptation still insisted on keeping XL's death despite the changes, then they should give the YaoLiu fans a boon. 

Hmmm. I think it would definitely need to happen after XY had confirmed that FFB was XL, so the lines would be blurred. At that point it's partly a question of what colour his hair would be, and also partly a question of whether his "armour" would be on or not. If they spent a night together, I feel like that would be the version of XL with his armour off. Calling back to all the times that XY wished that XL would be FFB (and stay with her in her world) forever, I think even if his hair was white for the scene there would be a case to say that he would need to be at least partly FFB for such a scene. 

@liddi

Thank you very much, liddi! 

 liddi:

It was a full moon on the night she found out about Xiang Liu's death, similar to the night she and Xiang Liu gazed at the moon and he told her that life was precious as long as sights like these existed.

Neither "一轮明月" that describes the moon Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu watch rise from the ocean, nor "一轮皓月" that describes the moon the night Xiao Yao found out about Xiang Liu's death necessarily mean there is a full moon.

"轮" (lún) does not necessarily mean round. It can also be used as a measure word to help quantify wheel-shaped or cyclic things like the moon. In the above descriptions, it is used as a measure word since it appears right after the word “一” (yī), which means one.

"明" (míng)  and "皓" (hào) both mean bright; "月" (yuè) means moon.

So "一轮明月" and "一轮皓月" both mean "a bright moon".

The reason we know that there was a full moon when Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu watched the moon rise from the ocean is because of this passage:

小六抬头看去，白雕驮着相柳从圆月中飞来…
Xiao Liu looked up and saw a white condor carrying Xiang Liu flying from the full moon…

-- Vol 1 Ch 4

In contrast, if we do the math from when Xiang Liu saved Xiao Yao on Jade Mountain, we know that the night of the YaoJing marriage, right before Xiao Yao found out about Xiang Liu's death, there was a waning crescent moon. More details here.

 solarlunareclipse:

"轮" (lún) does not necessarily mean round. It can also be used as a quantifier to modify wheel-shaped things or cyclic things like the moon. In the above descriptions, it is merely used as a quantifier.

While 轮 can be used as a quantifier, in the case of the moon, it should be used to quantify a full moon. The quantifier 一轮 was mentioned 4 times in the novel, each time to describe a moon that was round. Just because it doesn't say 圆月, it does not mean that it wasn't a full moon. In the case of the term 一轮皓月, the descriptor itself indicates the shape of the moon at that point in time. By the same token, other descriptions of the moon such as 上玄月 first quarter moon when Xiao Liu first saved Shi Qi, had no such quantifier. 

 HeadInTheClouds:

That's it! Not only is she masochistic, she's also sadistic. She inflicted pain on herself. She knew how bad it was, and she still inflicted on the rest of us!!!!!

Misery loves company much?

 HeadInTheClouds:

I'm afraid we are beyond hope, liddi. I would be driving in my car, thought about a little detail and tears up. I should take my own advice and go outside and eat some grass :-)

Beyond hope sounds right for us. Perhaps going cold turkey would help. Or a grass diet, as you prescribed. Not sure I am partial to either option. I am counting on S2 broadcast as my hope for moving on at last.

 HeadInTheClouds:

I remembered reading comments about how TH wanted to change XL's trajectory and give him a different ending (maybe YaoLiu ending up together somehow), but I never came across any primary sources for it so it's always just "rumours".

I did read about that too on Weibo, but can't trace back the post after that though I am very sure I did not imagine reading it. Would Tong Hua ever give a definitive statement once and for all?

 HeadInTheClouds:

Anyhoo, I've left a comment for that person. Hopefully, they'll respond.

Fingers crossed!

 liddi:

No, Xiao Yao was not lying. At the time when she sang the song to Jing at the sea, it was not to a full moon, but not long after the day of the full moon, which collaborates her 32-day statement. 

The text before it says this:

太阳渐渐落下，月儿从海面升起，刚过满月之日不久，不仔细看，月亮依旧是圆的。 

The sun gradually set, and the moon rose from the surface of the ocean. The day of the full moon had just passed not too long ago, so without looking closely, the moon still appeared to be round.

-- Vol 3 Ch10  (Chapter 43)

Just to double check, Meng xia means june without a doubt or summer? 

The full moon was the night right before, the night she met XL. It was supposed to be her and jing's wedding night and we know Jing picked the full moon day to get married.