Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 AH :

but I haven't read the original scene. As far as I am aware, this part hasn't been translated. I hope it does get translated one day. I'd love to understand Ah Heng's thoughts and motivations at this point.

you mean this part in Once Promised? Yellow Emperor was very artful, ruthless ruler.

Chi You and Yellow Emperorhad had a direct fight. Huangdi got a serious injury caused by Chi You although Chi You did not use 100% power. Ah Heng was in Xuan Yuan (not in the battle). to take care of her mother. Her mother died when Huangdi was fight against Chi You. Her mother allowed her to live with Chi You at dead bed. At this point all of her brothers had died although Quing Yang's death was kept scecret. They (A Heng and Shao Hao) informed people that Quing Yang needed the long-term healing from injury (also caused by Chi You, but it was a very long story, Chi You just played the final nail on the coffin as the direct cause for his death). Huangdi was brought back to the palace.  She inspected Huangdi's injury, there were 2 injuries. The royal doctors could not cured him. So Ah Heng took care of him and treated him. She did not want to lose her father. She decided to stay and treated Huangdi. It took 4 years (?) (I don't remember exactly).  Latter, during the final battle, it was revealed that one of Huangdi's injuries was caused under his own order or by himself. The trick to keep Ah Heng to stay in Xuan Yuan. Later Huangdi also used trick to force/motivate Ah Heng to lead the army for the final battle because only She could contain Chi You.

 AH :

When Ah Heng went through with the marriage,

She had gone to Jiu Li to meet Chi You and tried to seek the solution (Chang Yi escoted her there or at least did not stop her). Unfortunately for both of them, Flame Emperor died on that day. Chi You had to come back. Chi You missed the "promise". A Heng returned and accept the marriage. 

 AH :

Notably, Qi Yo also tried to stop Ah Heng's wedding with Shao Hao in the middle of the ceremony but wasn't strong enough to be able to do so on his own. He wasn't able to convince Ah Heng to change her mind, and didn't have a promise / blood oath that he could invoke like XL. 

Yes. Chi You came to the bridge crossing the border between 2 countries (I remember the bridge and Shao Hao made a lot of fog around them so that people didn't know what was going on. It was not inside a Hall in front of many people from the most noble families in the Great Wildness like XY's wedding with FL. 

 AH :

Ah Heng's second tragic fate was that she fell in love with a demon general who was loyal to, and fought for, Sheng Nong. While she was a deity princess general who was loyal to and fought for Xuan Yuan. They couldn't give up their respective loyalties, so they couldn't be together in life (only in death). 

I am not quite sure that Chi You was demon. He grew up among animals in the wild. He was abandoned child I think. Latter he became Animal King. 

 AH :

Shao Hao's ruthlessness (particularly his decision to not save Ah Heng's brother) ultimately led to Ah Heng divorcing him.

She was about to leave Shao Hao since she and Chi You reunioned and solved their issues. she was just waiting for suitable time to step down. Quing Yang died by Chi You (direct cause but there were other factors). Chang Yi disagreed her reunion with Chi You. Ah Heng needed Shao Hao's  help to keep secret about Quing Yang's death (Shao Hao transformed to Quing Yang, staying inside the water stream when Xuan Yuan doctor and Ah Heng's mom came for visit. She stayed with Shao Hao. Chang Yi died in the fire battle by Zhu Rong.. If Shao Hao had helped, if her half brother had not hidden the request for assistance, Chang Yi might have been rescued. Then she decided to divorce him.  Ah Heng and Chi You were very unlucky. It is their destiny that they could  not live together in life time. Anyway, they had XY. Their love bears fruit. 

 H19279:

In Vietnamse, yes

Can you link it or send it to me.

 AH :

I remember CX and XY talking about this, but I haven't read the original scene. As far as I am aware, this part hasn't been translated. I hope it does get translated one day. I'd love to understand Ah Heng's thoughts and motivations at this point.

Here is the link of Once Promised in Vietnamese. I just let  Microsoft Edge translated the page automatically. It is pretty decent. It can give you an idea:

Ever vowed (truyenfull.vn) 

It is not ideal as 2 time translation. But for curiosity, that may help

 liddi:

The script changed it so that he is less selfish and we get to see him acknowledge his selfishness back in Dragon Bone prison, and wanting to give Xiao Yao another chance to choose whom she really wanted to be with. But I don't see him telling her this was his reason, when she came knocking on the door of Qingqiu after leaving Qingshui town.

So this is yet another change from the writers to make him look better...

And I agree, I don't see him really giving her a chance who she wants to be with (him or XL). It's not like he gave her that much of a choice based on what you translated from the script.

 H19279:

Chi You and Yellow Emperorhad had a direct fight. Huangdi got a serious injury caused by Chi You although Chi You did not use 100% power. Ah Heng was in Xuan Yuan (not in the battle). to take care of her mother. Her mother died when Huangdi was fight against Chi You.

Okay. So then in terms of timing, Ah Heng treated the Yellow Emperor's injuries after she divorced Shao Hao, after she took XY to live on Xuan Yuan Mountain with Empress Lei Zhu and Cang Xuan, and after Chang Yi, Chang Pu and Empress Lei Zhu had all died? But it must have been before the final battle between Ah Heng and Qi You / Chi You and the events immediately before the battle covered in chapters 17 - 19 of Volume 2. Was it right before that? Like chapter 16?

 H19279:

At this point all of her brothers had died although Quing Yang's death was kept scecret. They (A Heng and Shao Hao) informed people that Quing Yang needed the long-term healing from injury

That's interesting. Were Ah Heng and Shao Hao the only people who knew about Qing Yang's death at that point? What about Qing Yang's wife, Sheng Nong Yun Xang? Or Zhu Yu? Or Empress Lei Zhu? 

 H19279:

Quing Yang's death was kept scecret. They (A Heng and Shao Hao) informed people that Quing Yang needed the long-term healing from injury (also caused by Chi You, but it was a very long story, Chi You just played the final nail on the coffin as the direct cause for his death).

I remember CX touched on this a bit in chapter 38 of LYF.

He said:

• Ah Heng created a potion for Shao Hao that would cause a god to be unable to use his powers for a few months. 
• Shao Hao handed the potion to Qing Yang, who drank it, causing Qing Yang to be unable to protect himself against Qi Yo. And Qi Yo mistakenly killed Qing Yang.
• Ah Heng did not know that Qing Yang would end up taking the potion.  
• Ah Heng told XY that Shao Hao wanted to use the potion to force the former Grand Emperor to abdicate the throne of Gao Xing, and that Qing Yang drank the potion accidentally.

So Ah Heng was either unaware of the truth or she lied to XY? Ah Heng seemed to blame Shao Hao for not coming to help Chang Yi (although she later stopped hating him after finding out that he sent Qi Yo to help), but it seems like she didn't hate Shao Hao for causing Qing Yang's death and still believed that he would help Chang Yi for the sake of his friendship with Qing Yang... Did she really not know that Shao Hao was responsible for Qing Yang's death?

Based on what CX and Shao Hao said, it seems like Shao Hao did still end up killing the former Grand Emperor somehow. Did Ah Heng create enough potion for Shao Hao to incapacitate both Qing Yang and the former Grand Emperor?

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Chapter 38:

“Xiao Yao, listen to me.”

“Listen to you what? Are you going to say that when our four uncles were trying to kill you back then you ran to Gao Xing and it was the Grand Emperor who took you in? Are you going to say that he took you as a disciple to teach you the zither, to govern, to train your secret guards?”

“Xiao Yao, you don’t understand!”

“I don’t understand what? Tell me what! Did I say anything that wasn’t true?”

“What you just said is all true but there is a lot more you don’t know. If it wasn’t for him then I wouldn’t even be an orphan in the first place, why would I need him to take me in? You also wouldn’t have needed to wander the world alone for three hundred years.”

Xiao Yao was stunned. “I don’t understand.”

“When Auntie told you about the past she must have been very detailed in telling you all about your real dad. But she must have said nothing about what happened in the past with the Grand Emperor, right? Maybe Auntie already forgave him or maybe Auntie wanted to protect you and not let you know.”

“What past things? What are you trying to say?”

“Do you know why our Eldest Uncle was mistakenly killed by your real father?”

“Mom said Eldest Uncle wanted to force Grandfather to abdicate so he had Mom concoct a potion for him that would cause a god to be unable to use his powers for a few months. Who knew Eldest Uncle would accidentally drink the potion himself and that is why he couldn’t protect himself against my father?"

“It’s not Eldest Uncle who wanted Grandfather to abdicate. It was Master who convinced Eldest Uncle to do that! He also was the one who got Auntie to make the potion and he handed it to Eldest Uncle. When Auntie was making the potion she didn’t know Eldest Uncle was going to use it. That was a potion that Auntie made for Master so that he could successfully force the former Grand Emperor to abdicate. When the former Grand Emperor was forcefully locked up in his palace and then mysteriously died, do you know why there was the Five Prince Rebellion afterwards? Or why Master used such a bloody approach to deal with his own brothers? Now there is no talk about how Master became the Grand Emperor but Xiao Yao, back then you lived on Five Gods Mountain so look deep into your own memory. You must still remember the former Grand Emperor, the one you called grandfather as well. He was murdered by Master! That is why the Five Princes revolted!”

Xiao Yao wanted to deny it that but the broken memory fragments in her mind confirmed for her that what Zhuan Xu said was true. She remembered the former Grand Emperor that she used to call grandfather. She actually witnessed the moment he died and she remembered that her mom tearfully slapped her dad hard afterwards.

Zhuan Xu sorrowfully continued, “If it wasn’t for Master then our Eldest Uncle would not have died. If Eldest Uncle didn’t die, then the chasm between your mom and real father wouldn’t have been so impossible to bridge!”

Xiao Yao leaned against the door and wearily said, “It’s not all dad’s fault.”

“Then what about my dad! When Auntie discovered Zhu Rong’s nefarious plan and went first to beg Master to help her, it was Master who denied Auntie!” Xiao Yao shook her head and yelled, “No! That’s impossible!” That was the dad who loved and adored her, the dad who tirelessly taught Zhuan Xu everything.

How could he have said no to Mom’s entreaty to go save her Fourth Uncle? But then he was indeed the same Grand Emperor who brutally killed his own five brothers!

Zhuan Xu said, “When you were small, didn’t you ask Auntie why she was missing one finger all of a sudden? Didn’t Auntie tell you that she accidentally misplaced it? You know that Master always wears a white bone ring on his left pinky, right? Do you know what that ring is made from? That’s Auntie’s finger! When she was crying and begging on her hands and knees for Master to save my dad, she severed her own finger to make a blood oath to him. But he still said no!”

Zhuan Xu’s raspy voice said each word clearly, “Xiao Yao. He. Said. No!”

Xiao Yao tightly clasped her hand over her mouth and sank into the ground. She remembered the day when she discovered her mom had only four fingers left on one hand, she asked why mom was missing a finger. Her mom said she accidentally lost it. She asked her mom if it hurt? Her mom said, “No, it doesn’t hurt. The persons who are hurting the most right now are your Fourth Auntie and Zhuan Xu gege. Xiao Yao be good and spend more time with your Gege.”

If her Fourth Uncle didn’t die, then her Fourth Auntie wouldn’t have committed suicide. Then her Grandmother’s illness wouldn’t have taken a turn for the worse. Then her Mom wouldn’t have needed to go to battle….. Maybe, just maybe everything would be different now….

Zhuan Xu added, “And your real father! Even now the world continues to marvel at Qi Yo’s subordinates, the two most capable were Feng Bo (Uncle Wind) and Yu Shi (Teacher Rain). Do you know who Yu Shi’s real identity was? He had another name, his real name was Yi He Nuo Nai. Now no one knows anymore, but thousands of years ago he was a very well known handsome powerful young Gao Xing noble who was also the Great General of Gao Xing’s Yi He tribe. He was also Master’s dearest friend since childhood. So much time has passed now that no one remembers anymore and I can’t discover what Yu Shi was actually doing working for Qi Yo. But do you think that Master would send one of his best friends to your father’s side for no reason whatsoever? Yes, maybe you’re right and we can’t blame everything on Master. But Xiao Yao……every time I think about how my Dad didn’t need to die, my Mom didn’t need to commit suicide in front of me. Our Grandmother could have lived a few more years. Auntie didn’t need to go to the battlefield. You didn’t need to leave my side. I…” Zhuan Xu’s breathing was labored. “I really can’t treat him as just my respected Master!”

Xiao Yao kept her eyes shut and felt her throat constricting so she couldn’t breathe anymore.

Zhuan Xu said, “Master always told me ‘You don’t need to feel gratitude towards me, this is what I owe Qing Yang, Ah Heng, and your dad.’ I never took what he said seriously and thought he was just being modest. Until I discovered the truth and now I know, Master was completely truthful to me!”

Xiao Yao remembered that on the Chi Sui river when she thanked her dad for saving her in the desert, he also said very clearly to her, “This is what I owe Qing Yang, Chang Yi, and your mom.”

“Xiao Yao, I haven’t forgotten that he’s my Master, but I also can’t forget…..Xiao Yao, do you remember the dagger?”

“The dagger that Fourth Auntie used to commit suicide?” That dagger that gave Zhuan Xu nightmares every night, yet he insisted on wearing it daily.

“Yes.” Zhuan Xu scoffed, “That dagger was hand-forged by Master and given to my parents as a wedding gift. Mom chose that very dagger to commit suicide. When Mom died, she must have hated Master so much.”

“Are you invading Gao Xing because you hate him?”

“No! Towards him I feel both love and hate. But he is the Gao Xing Grand Emperor and I am the Xuan Yuan Black Emperor. My decision is based solely as a ruler.”

------

Once Promised Volume 2, Chapter 17:

Ah Heng walked up to the Yellow Emperor “Father, did you ask Uncle Zhi Muo to come convince me to lead the Xuan Yuan army into battle?”

“I did.”

“I’m willing to lead them into battle, but it’s not for you. What happened to you now, you deserve it all! If Xuan Yuan belonged to only you, then its existence or extermination would have nothing to do with me. But the Xuan Yuan Kingdom is not just yours. It was built on the blood sweat and tears of Mom and Uncle Zhi Muo. It was built on the sacrifice of the Xuan Yuan soldiers, it belongs to the Xuan Yuan people.”

The Yellow Emperor said, “I know.”

“When Fourth Brother was trapped in Ju Mountain, I asked Shao Hao as the Grand Emperor for his military assistance. I thought he would do it for the sake of Eldest Brother and their friendship. But he said no… Later, father, you must know that Qi Yo came. He wanted to help me but he could only give me half his strength. It was only the Xuan Yuan soldiers who wanted to save their brother in arms who went into battle knowing they would die and still they did it. That was when I truly understood how deep the blood ties of an entire tribe run - the meaning and power of a kingdom so vast. Even if I don’t acknowledge you, I’m willing to protect this kingdom you rule and die for it! I just learned Uncle Zhi Muo’s only son died on Ju Mountain as well, like Fourth Brother did. All over Xuan Yuan Kingdom there are dead sons leaving orphans and widows. I once couldn’t understand why Fourth Brother went into battle to die. Did he not love sister-in-law? How could he also leave little Zhuan Xu behind? But now I can understand Fourth Brother. The people of Xuan Yuan did not fail me, so I cannot fail them!”

Ah Heng kneeled before the Yellow Emperor. “Father, if I protect Xuan Yuan for you, will you protect Zhuan Xu?”

The Yellow Emperor solemnly replied, “I swear on the empire I am building, no one will ever harm Zhuan Xu. I will teach him well and everything you are protecting will one day belong to him.”

With such a solemn oath, Ah Heng had no further lingering worries. So she bowed her head three times before leading Zhuan Xu out the door.

-----

Once Promised Volume 2, Chapter 18:

“Ah Heng.” Shao Hao could say nothing more but he held onto Ah Heng and wouldn’t let go.

Ah Heng took out a blood stained handkerchief. “You copied my writing and wrote this note asking Qi Yo to go to Ju Mountain to save my Fourth Brother, right?”

Shao Hao saw the blood and glanced at Ah Heng’s missing finger and his body shuddered slightly.

Ah Heng saw that he didn’t deny it and smiled, “Thank you. Actually…I don’t hate you anymore. You aren’t our Eldest Brother so asking you to save my Fourth Brother was asking too much to begin with.”

“I promised to take good care of you and Chang Yi and it was I who didn’t fulfill my promise to Qing Yang. If you hate and loathe me, that’s only to be expected.”

-----

Chapter 40:

The Grand Emperor appeared exhausted and closed his eyes, but when both Xiao Yao and Zhuan Xu thought he had fallen asleep his voice rang out, “Every night I will dream, one piece after another. Sometimes I dream I’m a blacksmith, forging weapons when Qing Yang walks in smiling and laughing. Sometimes I dream of Yun Zhe and Chang Yi, they are both still little boys, just the same age as Zhuan Xu when he came to Gao Xing. They call me “Shao Hao gege!”, one asks me to teach him swordplay, the other asks me to teach him the zither. I sometimes dream of my father, when I was born my mom died and he was afraid I would forget her face so he often drew her portrait for me. One night I dreamt that my father carried me to the garden to learn the different types of peach blossoms. I woke up from the dream and couldn’t go back to sleep. I sat up on the pallet and recited the various peach blossoms: green blossom, white peach, beauty peach…..over a hundred different peach blossom varieties that I thought I had long since forgotten and turns out I still remember it all.”

The Grand Emperor continued, “Those dreams are all very happy, and when I dream them I don’t want to wake up because I know the reality behind those dreams are all a wasteland of pain where everything is gone. Sometimes all I dream are nightmares. I dream Qing Yang died in my arms, glaring at me and berating me for not keeping my promise; I dream of Chang Yi screaming in horror in a fiery inferno ‘Shao Hao gege, why didn’t you come save me?’; I dream of the ground entirely covered in blood and my five younger brothers heads ringed in a circle as I stand in the center and they are all mocking me; I dream of my father and he laughingly pushes me onto the throne and asks ‘You want it? You can have it!’ He takes off his crown and robe and hands it to me, then he rips his skin and flesh and hands it to me, he’s just a fleshless skeleton and he still reaches out his bony hand and asks ‘You want it? You can have it!’”

Zhuan Xu, Xiao Yao, and Jing listened in collective horror, unable to make a single sound, as if a skeleton really was before them in the residence holding forth his skin and flesh in his hands while asking with a smile “You want it? You can have it!”

The Grand Emperor covered his eyes “The world pities that I don’t have a son but they don’t know that I am grateful and relieved not to have a son. I’m afraid my son will be like me, if he’s like me who killed my own fa...”

“Your majesty!” Jing’s voice rang out and cut short the Grand Emperor.

 H19279:

Huangdi was brought back to the palace.  She inspected Huangdi's injury, there were 2 injuries. The royal doctors could not cured him. So Ah Heng took care of him and treated him. She did not want to lose her father. She decided to stay and treated Huangdi. It took 4 years (?) (I don't remember exactly).  Latter, during the final battle, it was revealed that one of Huangdi's injuries was caused under his own order or by himself. The trick to keep Ah Heng to stay in Xuan Yuan.

Four years! Oh wow, that's an awful trick. How manipulative. And then he went on to manipulate her into fighting and dying for ambition. Awful. 

 H19279:

Later Huangdi also used trick to force/motivate Ah Heng to lead the army for the final battle because only She could contain Chi You.

Asking Zhi Muo to convince her to lead the army?

Pretty awful that he knew about Ah Heng's relationship with Qi Yo and decided to use that to his advantage, knowing how much it would hurt Ah Heng.

 H19279:

you mean this part in Once Promised?

Thanks for the details! ^^

 H19279:

I am not quite sure that Chi You was demon. He grew up among animals in the wild. He was abandoned child I think. Latter he became Animal King. 

I'm also unclear on this point. He's constantly referred to as a great demon or a big demon in Koala's translation of LYF. But from the bits of Once Promised that I've read, there was no reference to what type of demon he would be (i.e., what his true, non-human form would be). 

He was referred to as the Beast King when he was in Jiu Li (before becoming the Flame Emperor's disciple), but he seemed more like a feral deity that was very close to nature than a demon. As you said, like an abandoned child... like a deity version of Tarzan or Mogli. I wondered if he was maybe just part demon? Like TSJ who is party deity, part descendant of the Original Nine-Tailed Fox. 

 H19279:

She was about to leave Shao Hao since she and Chi You reunioned and solved their issues. she was just waiting for suitable time to step down. Quing Yang died by Chi You (direct cause but there were other factors). Chang Yi disagreed her reunion with Chi You. Ah Heng needed Shao Hao's  help to keep secret about Quing Yang's death (Shao Hao transformed to Quing Yang, staying inside the water stream when Xuan Yuan doctor and Ah Heng's mom came for visit. She stayed with Shao Hao.

Oh they kept Qing Yang's death a secret so that Ah Heng might still have a chance to be with Qi Yo? That's interesting. 

 H19279:

Here is the link of Once Promised in Vietnamese. I just let  Microsoft Edge translated the page automatically. It is pretty decent. It can give you an idea:

Ever vowed (truyenfull.vn) 

It is not ideal as 2 time translation. But for curiosity, that may help

Thanks for this!