Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 Dramadoggy2021:

Well they need to get rid of some scenes like with Fenglong’s sister ?

Unfortunately, I don't think they're going to remove her scenes since she's integral to the later half of the story.

 Dramadoggy2021:

Man what’s with Jing watching her through a water mirror? Stalker .gees ..

lol I'm not surpised ?. He's the kind of person to do that. This song is kinda like his theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGWF3ZsZPYs

AH  VIP

4 hours ago

 blimarch:XL doesn't seem to be sincerely fixed on his choice. Otherwise, why:

would he often tests XY love for him?

"Which scenes are you referring to? When XL asks XY who she most wants to spend her entire life with? In the novel he hesitates before asking that one but can't help himself. He's curious. I don't think that means he wasn't still committed to his choice"

Right, and I'll also add that he put a spell or something on her afterwards so she couldn't remember having this conversation with him next day.  The reason for that I don't know for sure, either because he didn't want her to know that he was interested în this topic, either and most likely because he didn't want her to remember how conflicted / torn she was with the last question. 

 AH :

XL doesn't seem to be sincerely fixed on his choice. Otherwise, why:

would he often tests XY love for him?

Which scenes are you referring to? When XL asks XY who she most wants to spend her entire life with? In the novel he hesitates before asking that one but can't help himself. He's curious. I don't think that means he wasn't still committed to his choice.

 blabla100:

AH  VIP

4 hours ago

 blimarch:XL doesn't seem to be sincerely fixed on his choice. Otherwise, why:

would he often tests XY love for him?

"Which scenes are you referring to? When XL asks XY who she most wants to spend her entire life with? In the novel he hesitates before asking that one but can't help himself. He's curious. I don't think that means he wasn't still committed to his choice"

Right, and I'll also add that he put a spell or something on her afterwards so she couldn't remember having this conversation with him next day.  The reason for that I don't know for sure, either because he didn't want her to know that he was interested în this topic, either and most likely because he didn't want her to remember how conflicted / torn she was with the last question. 

@blabla100  @AH

I  just think that XL/FFB is very complex and full of contradictions. The elements I pointed on my previous posts are, for me, evidences that he wants XY to tell him she loves him. The  "Who do you most want to spend your life with?" even erased from XY's memory, still happened for him. 

Speaking about "contradictions", XL goes to great lengths to erase every traces of his life from XY and yet shows several times that he wants her to remember him:

• XL was first attracted/moved (even allured) by WXL's song. "A song about missing someone forever and never being able to forget."
• FFB writing on XY's palm his name like engraving it in her heart while saying "I want you to remember me"
• on the beach, XL rejoicing when XY didn't forget him and made poisons for him. And then him asking her to continue making poison for him -notably- as a way for her not to forget him
• underwater (chapter 26) "Xiang Liu asked “Do you want to remember or forget?”  Xiao Yao thought about it “Remember, even if it’s painful and a burden, I still want to remember.” "
• To XY, about FFB, "Left Ear asked “Do you miss him.” Xiao Yao sighed and didn’t answer. Left Ear was persistent and stared at Xiao Yao to ask again “He’s not here anymore, do you miss him?” Xiao Yao cried out “Yes!” Left Ear smiled “That will make him very happy!” Xiao Yao stared at Xiang Liu as she said to Left Ear “You’re not him, how do you know whether he cares that someone misses him? He totally wouldn’t care!” Left Ear’s express was dead serious, and he normally spoke so little and cared not to explain anything, but now he was very agitated and said “I know! We slaves are never scared of death! We’re not scared of anything, other than being scared of the dark! If I died and someone missed me….” Left Ear used his fist to hit his chest “then it wouldn’t be dark here, it would be very bright and very happy!” Xiao Yao asked Xiang Liu “Is what he’s saying true?”  Xiang Liu smirked at Xiao Yao and teased “You actually want to believe that? I totally don’t care!". And we totally know that XL saying exactly the opposite of what he thinks is part of his strategy to make himself unpleasant to XY
• the bellied laughing doll is still a souvenir for XY to keep, even with its real meaning hided. XL didn't have to leave XY anything, but still did
• loyalty is remembrance. XL is a very loyal person. He remembers everyone of his comrades and each time comes to pay his respects. "Xiang Liu looked over at the altar “For hundreds of years, do you know how many of my fellow soldiers I’ve have to personally cremate?” Xiang Liu laughed and pointed at his head “I’ve lost count but they are all here.” " But XL also said before "Carrying all the memories of those who perished, it’s easier just to have died.” Xiang Liu smiled “Actually, to a General, the best ending is to die on the battlefield.” " Remembrance is pain and XL doesn't want to burden XY...

XL words are profounds, meaning is twisted and often carry double entendre. And with him being this complex and full of contradictions, their relationship is also always full of contradictions "One moves back when one steps forward"... Never being able to forget... isn't it the essence of true love?

 blabla100:

@kokuto

"“But it's pretty clear after leaving the wedding, that XY only wanted to be rescued, and the second half of the message was how she would continue their relationship.”

To be rescued from what? No one was forcing her to get marry, în fact everyone told her to think carefully before making a decision, It just doesn't make any sense. 

Rescued from an unhappy marriage.  Her fear of being alone is forcing her to marry.  Her desire to help CX, who will use the marriage to help him politically, is forcing her.

 AH :

Good point. She had several opportunities to call off the engagement herself. Why wait for XL by the ocean at all? She doesn’t need him to end the engagement.

Someone else posted the words already, but XY tells Feng Long herself: she wants to settle down, but the one with feelings does not have the ability (TSJ) and the one with the ability does not have feelings (XL). If XL won’t choose her, she’ll keep her promise to Feng Long and settle for a life with him, even though she doesn’t love him. 

No. She doesn't need XL to end the engagement.  And yet, why does she send her crystal ball message and wait for XL?  You yourself said, that she asking XL to give her a reason to break off her marriage to Feng Long.  She wants to break it off, but she needs someone else to do it for her, to make the choice for her, and to hopefully replace Feng Long.

Yes, but what she is telling Feng Long isn't true at all and she knows it.  BOTH Jing and XL have feelings for her, and BOTH can't marry her because they BOTH have commitments.  And as I pointed out, she tells others, she wants to settle down, but she tells XL that she wants to wander the world with him.  Which is what she ends up doing, with Jing in the end, wandering the world, not settling down.

@AH

“A declaration is stating she loves him and wants to be with him.  She knows exactly what a declaration of love is, cause Jing has made them repeatedly.   She's not declaring, but as you said, she's asking.  She's asking him to come rescue her from a fate her other two loves have trapped her in.  That's why I said she's hedging her bets.  She's still afraid to declare her love for XL.”

Declaring one’s feelings only requires making one’s feelings known to the other person. The scene in the ice crystal ball is a visual embodiment of XY’s feelings, and she sends it to XL. I’d call that a declaration. 

She also sent XL a note with the crystal ball that said she was getting married, so this was her last poison gift and please accept it with a smile.  Really?  That's like the opposite of declaring one's love.  But that is in line with the mixed messages of the crystal ball. 

And I agree.  The scene in the crystal ball is the embodiment of XY's feelings,.  And her feelings are saying something very close to what she said on the beach.  "I have feelings for you, but you are a cold distant bastard who is looking at something else (Gong Gong) and not looking at me."  The major difference, is that this time she at least wants him to look at her.

Do you think XL took it as a declaration of her love?  Given how he focused on being separated by the crystal from the mermaid, and from two different worlds, I don't think so.  I do think he saw in her confused message, that there might be, just the smallest possibility, that she could choose him... if her situation were different.

“Yes.  XL does get XY's message. And that message is that she still thinks they belong in two separate worlds.  That's half the message she sent with the crystal ball.  So, not only is she afraid, but she's confused.”

I don’t read it that way at all. Up to that point, neither of them have been open about their feelings. They are very aware of their opposing loyalties, which put them in different worlds. When XY woke up in XL’s clam shell as a daughter of the sea, XL left her behind and did not greet her. He sent her to TSJ.

Now, IMO, XY is calling to him. She puts the mermaid inside the clam shell, which represents a place that a mercouple makes a home together. The mermaid’s hand is outstretched: asking the merman to turn around and come be with her in the clam shell they shared for 37 years. She wants the current situation to change. The outstretched hand is a plea and an invitation. 

XY couldn’t have the merman be close to her or facing her because she can only extend an invitation. It’s up to XL to decide whether to accept it or not. And he cannot accept it. He leaves things as they currently are, with the mermaid’s hand outstretched and the merman facing away from her.

XL sent XY to Jing, because Jing was dying and he didn't want XY to hate him.  I admit, he totally dropped the ball on that decision.

So what has exactly changed in their relationship that makes her think they could be together?  Her crystal ball message STILL has them in the same situation they were in before, where they have opposing loyalties.  Is the invitation the same, FFB made to her?  Lets both leave everything behind and wander the world?

The ironic thing, is XL did accept her invitation, and he totally got his heart stomped on again.

“But it's pretty clear after leaving the wedding, that XY only wanted to be rescued, and the second half of the message was how she would continue their relationship.”

I had a different interpretation here as well. I don’t read XY’s reaction after XL takes her away from the wedding as signifying that the ice crystal ball was only a request for a rescue and nothing more. 

She confirms that XL received the ice crystal ball two months before her wedding, and he ignored it. He didn’t go to her.  He didn’t send a reply. He waited until her wedding day and then humiliated her and Feng Long, ruined her reputation, and put her in a position where she had to hurt Feng Long very publicly. Then he declares FFB to be dead. Collectively, how should XY take that? Certainly not as XL accepting her outstretched hand. 

What was the point of immediately responding to the crystal ball message?  Had he shown up, was she going to say, I'm dumping Feng Long and running away with you to the Rebel Camp?  Did she think that wasn't going to be humiliating to Feng Long?  Or CX?  Or would she tell him she loved him and ask him to wait 15 years as she eased her way out her engagement to Feng Long and CX consolidated his power without her marriage?  I mean, what did XY expect to happen?

Yes, he waited, because he actually had a goal and a plan.  Humiliating Feng Long and driving a wedge between him and CX worked well for XL and the rebel army.  And more importantly it left XY in a position where it might be a plus to cut ties with her family, aka his enemies.

Fang Feng Bei.  Don't get me started.  XL sacrificed the best part of himself to get her out of that marriage and take a chance on them, and SHE is the one who is upset?  Not a word of sympathy for him, but she's mad and sad for herself?  I know she's afraid and confused, but in this particular mess, I think we have to add completely self centered.

Thank you @liddi ! Seems like XL did recanted at the last minute and that he could well have killed the woman he loves...

@kokuto

I think I am missing something. So what you actually belive îs that she expected help from XL, who îs actually CX's enemy, to save her from the mariagge she had agree to în order to help CX and nontheless expecting XL to give up his duties and wander the world with her, even though she îs still planning to keep him at a distance, because she still thinks that he is a cold distant bastard? I am genuinly confused, I don't really understand her plans / expectations according to this theory.  Like you think she was actually genuinly hoping for XL to give up everything for her on her terms, like we can wander the world togheter, because I know you love me, but for that to happen I do expect  from you to give up everything  and you shall not have any expectationa from my part, because you and I both know that we don't belong togheter?

"The blue ocean depths, the isolated peacefulness, the mermaid sitting on her beautiful clam shell home reaching out her hand to beckon, to plead, to summon. But the merman just coldly looked out at the world outside the ice crystal ball." 

So the merman coldly looks away, because he belives she is offering to little, while the mermain is begging him to accept the offer as it is all while she is sitting on her clam shell home? Why the mermaid was looking at him and not outside the crystal ball as well? Her hand reaching out to him was enough to state a point. 

 AH :

He goes for her neck because that's what he always did. This is just my speculation, but I think XL enjoyed having the excuse to be physically close with XY when he bit and stroked her neck. And for some of the bites there was definitely an erotic element to it.

As for XY's reputation when she regains her true form... why would her reputation be relevant to XL's decision to bite her on the neck or on the wrist? If he was caught in her bed biting her anywhere, or not biting her at all, her reputation would be in the gutter. XY stopping XL from biting her neck definitely wasn't about her reputation. It was about drawing a personal boundary. One that XL respected. 

My take on this part is not because she wanted to draw a line between them, but because as a woman, any bite mark on her neck would be apparent for all to see. As Wen Xiao Liu, she could afford to walk around with a bite mark which could be mistaken for something else, but not as the Gao Xin princess Xiao Yao. Still, regardless of where he bit her - be it the wrist or the neck, the novel describes Xiao Yao as feeling a shiver of pleasure when he does so, and docilely accommodating him.