Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

"YES.  It also shows how she keeps treating XL as second or third rate.  It isn't till she can't have Jing, and she turns to Feng Long ... and then she turns to XL." 

 I personally don't believe it's about Jing and Feng Long, but about CX. IMO she sticks to both Jing and  Feng Long mainly because of CX, the help CX got from them and the debts he owns them. Sending the crystal ball without canceling the marriage to Feng Long doesn't put XL as the second option, but as her first option, while keeping CX's interests on the second place as a backup plan, if that makes sense. I mean she obviously didn't want to marry Feng Long and she was at best willing to marry 17, but that's because she couldn't have XL, not the other way around IMO. 

 solarlunareclipse:

Agree with this as the overt interpretation. That said, TH does often include hidden interpretations, so I think it's plausible that TH added a well-hidden glint of hope in what would otherwise be one of the saddest lines on the novel. Anyway the theory didn't come from me: it came from someone whose profile said they had a Master of Chinese Linguistics from Beijing Language and Culture University. Not sure if someone can make up fake credentials on https://www.zhihu.com/ , however, in my opinion, only someone extremely well-versed in the Chinese language could have come up with this. The main reason I find it very plausible is because we know TH's character names often contain hidden hints. I can't think of a better reason why Xin Chen would have this specific name.

Unfortunately, I still disagree with the original poster, regardless of their qualifications, because for me, it feels a little too forced, using the moon up in the sky (not even setting), obscured by the clouds as an indication of “It's always darkest before the dawn”, and in turn, heralding Xiang Liu's imminent reincarnation / resurrection. As for the blue shell used to store the blood pearl, it only states it was specially forged by the Jintian family, so it may not have necessarily been done by Xing Chen. She was certainly not the only forger in the Jintian family. What we do know is that the Jintian family is indebted to the Guifang clan, which is why the clan leader insisted that she forged the bow when Xiang Liu came, bearing the token of the Guifang clan leader. The only reason she accepted (after refusing it initially) was because it was an unusual request and challenge for her. 

On the other hand, I am more convinced that there is a hope of his reincarnation / resurrection through his ties with the Guifang clan, which we already know, are in possession of Soul Restoring Grass; and the fact that there is no mention of what became of his demon core. And who knows, perhaps his demon core was stored in a container specially forged by the Jintian family (possibly 星沉) before the final battle. 

So while I do think there might be a sliver of hope of this happening, I am not as convinced that hint is embedded in, to quote your words, one of the saddest lines (and scenes) in the novel.

 solarlunareclipse:

I agree that helping CX was not XL's main objective, but the effect is that stealing the maps might have helped CX.

I agree that seeing Cang Xuan's state during the ransacking of his own manor would have reassured Yue Liang and co. that Cang Xuan is indeed of little threat to them. though I am not as certain that Xiang Liu chose to hide out there to help Cang Xuan go to the Central Plains. However, I think it would be difficult  for Xiang Liu not to know that Cang Xuan had been hanging out with his cousins, leading the life of a wastrel and drunkard. His cousins had suffered 60 lashes because of it, and he even caused a ruckus with General Ying Long in public. Though, is it obvious from his behaviour that he wants to be sent to the Central Plains? I am not sure.

 solarlunareclipse:

Better for the Central Plains, but worse for the Shen Nong Remnant Army, who would lose support if the Central Plains were well-governed. If XL did have a hand in convincing Gui Fang to support CX here, I'm sure he realized this, but made the selfless decision to support CX anyway. XL's loyalty to the army was only to his comrades, not to the cause itself, which he thought was idiotic.

How can Xiang Liu claim to have loyalty to his comrades, and not to their cause, when they are giving their lives for that same cause. As such, I don't believe Xiang Liu would ever do anything to jeopardise the cause his comrades are fighting for, even if he thought it was a foolish, hopeless one.

The Shen Nong resistance army had been at war with Xuan Yuan for hundreds of years by the time the Guifang clan showed their support for Cang Xuan at his wedding. Xiang Liu knew way back even before Xiao Yao's Plum Forest assassination, that Cang Xuan could very well be the next Xuan Yuan king one day. He is a far-sighted man, and he knew that that one day, unless things turned out differently, they would all perish. If so, who did he arrange with to honour the remains of his comrades after they had all fallen, and allow them to return home? It was Cang Xuan. As such, at that point in time, having the Guifang clan throw their support behind Cang Xuan was yet another step in ensuring that his comrades could one day go to the home they long for, dead or alive. And now I am struck by this ridiculous ache in my heart as I am reminded yet of how Xiang Liu prepared everything for those he loved, and nothing for himself except a general's death.

 solarlunareclipse:

The arguments you made for targeting CX are reasonable. There are reasonable arguments for targeting FL as well. I'll address them later in a separate post.

I look forward to reading them!

 HeadInTheClouds:

What I always have a problem with was that she didn't end her engagement to Feng Long before sending out that crystal ball. Does it make sense for her character? Yes. But it also suggests to me that she is still playing it safe - leaving a net for her to fall back on. Perhaps. she thinks that if XL doesn't accept her confession then she might as well marry FL since there aren't any other options out there, but it doesn't fill one with confidence about her own confidence in her decision to send that crystal ball.  

I second @blabla100's opinion, which is so well explained here. She was hedging her bets, though not for herself, but for Cang Xuan. She was going out on a limb asking Xiang Liu to take her hand and allow her into his life, despite knowing full well how resolutely he had shut her out and shut her down. If he agreed, she would have willingly left her family and her position to be with him, no matter how temporary. However, if she broke the engagement before Xiang Liu gave an answer, she risked Feng Long and by extension, the Chishui clan's support for Cang Xuan. By maintaining the engagement, she hoped to ensure that if Xiang Liu still rejected her, her marriage with Feng Long would serve to further strengthen the Chishui clan (and Central Plains)'s support for Cang Xuan.

Unfortunately for her well-laid plans, Xiang Liu chose to destroy both any hope of her being with him, and her decision to be used as a political pawn via a marriage alliance with Feng Long. 

 HeadInTheClouds:

The next thing is her reaction/attitude when he comes to stop the wedding. She wants him to come right? Just because he didn't do it the way that she wanted she automatically jumped to the worst conclusion. If he didn't use the promise to force her to leave, she was just going to go through her marriage to FL? Her reaction to his killing off FFB and the whole month in QS town.

I don't quite see it that way. She sent the crystal globe two months ago (which later he readily admitted that he received it soon after she sent it to him), giving him ample time to respond. Yet he deliberately chose not to respond, electing to show up at the worst possible time, on the day of the wedding, and have the whole world despise her as a woman who broke off her marriage at the altar. There was no apparent good reason for him to have done what he did, except that he wanted to humiliate her in the eyes of the world, and by extension potentially undermine the Chishui clan's support for Cang Xuan. In other words, that was his reply - I don't want you, but I don't want you to have a semblance of a good life henceforth either. So was the conclusion she jumped into unreasonable? I am more inclined to understand why she did. Her reaction to him during that one month in Qingshui Town also stemmed from his confirmation that he knew two months prior that she had been waiting for his reply, but chose to use his Fangfeng Bei identity - the very last possibility of him being able to openly be with her, even on a superficial level - to take her away and kill that identity off for good. His actions made it clear to her in the harshest way possible that he did not want her to be a part of his life, nor did he want to even entertain the possibility of being in her world through Fangfeng Bei.  

 HeadInTheClouds:

Because she was never confident about his feelings for her, everything he does is a confirmation that he doesn't love her. She also tends to view things negatively and assumes the worst in people's intentions.

To be fair, he ensured that she never had a clear indication that he loved her. The closest she would get to know that he did love her was when she finds out the true nature of the Lover's bug from the Shaman King. Everything leading up to that time had a lot to do with her guessing, testing, even appealing, but never getting a confirmation. So you're right. They both need an intensive course in Communications 101.

 HeadInTheClouds:

The reason why I tend to err on the other possibility is that XL works hard to help her to be strong and to fight for what she wants. He wants her to be able to make her decision and pursue the life that she wants; so if she was firm in her conviction of choosing him; ready and able to deal with the outcome, then I think he would have given in eventually. I think he fears that she wouldn't be able to deal with his death and he certainly doesn't want her to die along with him. And perhaps, once he's gone she would have been left with no-one as she would have effectively turned her back on her family if they had been together. 

That is an excellent point which didn't occur to me before - thank you! Knowing that he cannot be with her for her lifetime, if she had left her family for him, she would have no one when he died. Hence his concerted efforts to ensure that she had a companion who can be with her for life, with whom she need not be cut off from her family as well. 

Going all out to make her hate him was definitely his way of helping her cope by minimising her grief over his death. Did he really think it would have worked seeing the Lovers bugs never retaliated, even when their relationship was severed beyond repair the last time they spoke? Clearly it didn't...

 liddi:

Her reaction to him during that one month in Qingshui Town also stemmed from his confirmation that he knew two months prior that she had been waiting for his reply, but chose to use his Fangfeng Bei identity - the very last possibility of him being able to openly be with her, even on a superficial level - to take her away and kill that identity off for good. His actions made it clear to her in the harshest way possible that he did not want her to be a part of his life, nor did he want to even entertain the possibility of being in her world through Fangfeng Bei.  

I have wondered if XL could have used his XL identity to rob the wedding. Would she still follow him? She pledged for XL (not FFB) as sending the ice crystal ball. Unfortunately, XL could not approach the wedding site if he was in white outfit with white hair and ice crystal mask. He could not fight agaist all the deity masters who worked for Chi Sui clan as well as the guests since XIANG LIU was the enemy of the whole Xuan Yuan kingdom. 

Thus, if XL wanted to rob her on wedding day, he had to use FFB appearance. 

In my opinion, FFB identity must be killed in any case. If XY wanted to spend her life with XL, it must be the most authentic, true to the core of XL, the nine head demon  XL. XL would never accept living with her as FFB. Thus, she must be very committed to accept his "evil" side. He said "Since you dared to make a deal with the devil, you ought to have the courage to accept the consequences.” . He would not pamper her like Jing. He was a righteous guy who did not do stealing or taking girl at someone's back (haha, in fact, Jing stole his best friend's fiancee and paid someone to do it for him). XY just did not have enough courage to face all the consequences. For the whole month she behaved as if he was not there. Many people say that they are not scared of quarreling wife/girlfriends but emotionlessness, ignorance is more scarier. 

 liddi:

How can Xiang Liu claim to have loyalty to his comrades, and not to their cause, when they are giving their lives for that same cause. As such, I don't believe Xiang Liu would ever do anything to jeopardise the cause his comrades are fighting for, even if he thought it was a foolish, hopeless one.

So I've seen some of your translations for the drama, and I agree that they made it seem like the Remnant Army had a greater cause besides relentlessly refusing to surrender. However, I don't think the novel explains it that way. Based on the following passage, it sounds like Xiang Liu believed that what Hong Jiang and the Remnant Army's cause was pathetic and that unification was better for the world.

“You have some sort of principles?”

“To Sheng Nong I do.”

“Laughable!”

“It is laughable, and even I think I’m pretty pathetic. If I didn’t have principles, then I would go talk to the Yellow Emperor and personally lead him to destroy Gao Xing.”

Xiao Liu was silent and looked up at the crescent moon like a biscuit with a bite taken out of it. After a long time, he asked “What is General Gong Gong like? To lead to a demon like you giving him your allegiance?”

“He’s an idiot!” Xiang Liu quieted down for awhile and then said “He is a pathetic idiot. He leads a bunch of idiots, doing something pathetic.”

Xiao Liu said “The most pathetic one is you! They are all willing to do it, they don’t think they are idiots. They think they are doing something they would be proud of to tell their family in the grave. To let their descendants be proud. They are happy to go down in a blaze of glory. But you – you mock it yet you do it.”

“Who let me have nine-heads? Of course it gets complicated and contradictory.”

-- Vol 1 Ch 7 (Chapter 7)

Certainly, CX was already treating the Central Plains fairly, so  even if the Remnant Army's greater cause was to look out for the welfare of the people of the Central Plains, they didn't need to continue fighting after CX took power. 

If XL only cared about maximizing the Remnant Army's chances of winning, he would have killed CX when he had a chance. Instead, XL repeatedly spared CX for XY. Similarly, if something is better for the Remnant Army, but worse for the world, I don't think XL would send the world into chaos just to buy the Remnant Army more time, especially since he was well aware that they had no chance of winning in the long run.

In the novel, the Remnant Army's cause seemed to just be to honor their ancestors and their fallen comrades and not give up fighting. XL saw it as his responsibility to make sure they died on the battlefield according to their wishes, instead of from illness or starvation. So I think it's possible that XL could be extremely loyal to his comrades and sacrifice his life for them, but still not believe in their cause, and also think twice about jeopardizing the greater good for their cause.

 H19279:

Thus, if XL wanted to rob her on wedding day, he had to use FFB appearance.

In my opinion, FFB identity must be killed in any case. If XY wanted to spend her life with XL, it must be the most authentic, true to the core of XL, the nine head demon  XL. XL would never accept living with her as FFB. Thus, she must be very committed to accept his "evil" side. He said "Since you dared to make a deal with the devil, you ought to have the courage to accept the consequences.”

I believe she sent him the crystal globe because she did want to be with XL, not FFB. Certainly, the scene inside the globe was meant to appeal to XL. Her plan probably was to have XL take her away outside of Dragon Bone prison. Meanwhile, it would look to everyone else that she committed suicide by jumping into the ocean because she couldn't get over Jing. Eventually, her loved ones would come to terms with this tragedy and stop looking for her, allowing her spend the rest of her life with XL.

XL foiled this plan by publicly forcing her to leave with FFB and then killing off FFB. In this scenario, CX would certainly never stop looking for her, so there was no way for her escape. Also, at this point, she couldn't use the face forming flower to change her appearance. Unless she wanted to live in the army camp with XL, there would be no place she could go without getting captured.

All this is to say that XL didn't leave her any option to be with him. Her "firmly choosing" him wouldn't have made a difference at this point. Suppose XY did answer, "You XL, I want to spend the rest of my life with you," to his last question. What do you think XL would have been willing to do to grant her wish and undo the damage he had already done?

 blabla100:

Didn't she say that she would rather never marry and just take in some orphans than tying the knot with the wrong person? To me Feng Long was just another sacrifice that XY would have been willing to make for CX's sake, if being with the person she loves was not achievable. 

Her status now is princess, the most respected woman in Da Huang. She just could not do whatever as WXL. She just needed long term companion and Miao Fu could fill that role too. The core issue is her desire for someone to rely on because she already felt tired or she would feel tired one day. 

She dreamed of Jing, Xiao Yao had never seen his son,  but she didn't see his face in the dream. He laid in Jing's arms, called Daddy sweetly, and Jing was smiling gently back.

Xiao Yao ran and fled, in the blink of an eye, escaped from Qingqiu to Qingshui Town, Xiao Yao jumped into the river, paddled hard, she swam into the blue sea, boundless, free and happy. However, she was really tired! In this busy world, where should she go? FFB appeared on the sea, he sat on the white seashell, looking at her with a smile, his black hair fluttered in the sea breeze, Xiao Yao swam towards him, but suddenly, his hair turned white little by little, he turned into Xiang Liu, looking at her indifferently, white shells, white Xiang Liu, like an iceberg floating on the sea.

Black-haired, white-haired, near and far...... Xiao Yao turned around abruptly and swam towards the landing, paddling while tears rained down......

Xiao Yao woke up from a dream, there was a cold wetness on the pillow, and when she touched her cheeks, she found that her face was really full of tears.

(Chapter 27)

XY was not willing to marry FL but she also found no reason of not doing so if anyway she would have to marry someone. Jing was out of consideration. She had two options: XL or someone else such as FL. And she told CX among all the men that she knew, none was better than FL. FL promised a stable life, respect to each other and her as the only woman in his life. As @solarlunareclipse made some points in her analysis about marrying FL, FL's offer was very attractive. 

As said in my previous post, CX did not want her to marry FL. At that point, he already married Xing Yue. He built strong bond with Chi Sui and Sheng nong families. He could help FL realize his career ambition. Indeed XY had agreed to marry to FL (in chapter 27 before CX became King) because of CX. However the situation in chapter 31 was different. 

Xuan Yuan king once told her that   “Actually you think too much. People need to pretend to be clueless sometimes. If you pick the right person, treat him well and it’s not hard to grow old together.” (Chapter 16). Deep down in her heart, she was not willing to marry FL but she did not express that explicitly. She still let fate to decide her future. She knew the pros and cons of married life with FL. She weighted a dull, peaceful  life without joy in her heart with her "heart wenchingg pain " ("也不会有撕心裂肺的伤痛") that she had been suffering.

The action to send the ice-crystal ball has double meaning as many people pointed it out. She not only sent farewell gift to XL but also to Jing by going to Qing Qui. 

 solarlunareclipse:

However, marrying Feng Long would mean that Xiao Yao would have to cross paths with Xin Yue and would inevitably incur her wrath, putting her in a miserable and dangerous situation.

I don't think so. Xing Yue wanted to XY to get married as soon as possible. She even urged her brother to accelerate to wedding. She understood well the relationship between CX and FL. Thus if XY got married to FL, she would not be worried with the threat for queen consort role  by XY. CX would not try to take XY back. She even paid a visit to XY which she had not done so in the last 2 years

But Xing Yue still couldn’t feel relaxed so she went to see Feng Long and asked when her brother was going to marry Xiao Yao. Thank goodness her brother’s answer made her happy because he said he was just thinking the same thing.

Feng Long sighed “If I want to marry it ought to be now otherwise it’ll have to wait until the war is over and by then it’s not clear if Xiao Yao will marry me.”

Xing Yue asked “What do you mean?”

“You have to keep this secret.”

Xing Yue nodded “Gege you know you can trust me to keep silent.”

Feng Long said “Seeing Zhuan Xu’s moves recently, I think he’s planning to attack Gao Xing.”

Xing Yue’s eyes widened and Feng Long smiled “That’s why I told you to never underestimate Zhuan Xu. He is a very scary man!”

After her shock passed Xing Yue felt ecstatic, like she was already able to sneer at Xiao Yao’s upcoming fate.

When Feng Long told Xing Yue that Xiao Yao agreed to get married she asked “What did His majesty say?”

Feng Long replied “Both majesties gave their consent.”

Xing Yue finally felt relieved, she really did conjure up too much in her own night. That night it was just Zhuan Xu’s passionate sigh that she heard wrong.

Xing Yue went to Xiao Yue Summit to visit Xiao Yao with a feeling like she was above Xiao Yao’s fate in life, feeling happy and pitying her at the same time. Xiao Yao didn’t know why Xing Yue’s attitude was so odd this time but she felt Xing Yue was suddenly nicer to her because she was marrying Feng Long soon.

 solarlunareclipse:

I imagine that FL would pretty much ignore Xiao Yao most of the time because he's a workaholic. CX would then continue to spend a lot of time with Xiao Yao, causing Xin Yue to become jealous and feel threatened. This might cause her to try to harm Xiao Yao.

XY imagined her life with FL in Chi Sui. And if FL spent a lot of time outside and ignored her, the chance that she lived in Chi Sui, opening a clinic was even higher. Thus, she still stayed away from CX. 

 solarlunareclipse:

So if Xiao Yao married FL and had to interact with Xin Yue fairly regularly, in the long term, at best, Xin Yue would make Xiao Yao's life miserable because she would resent Xiao Yao for not giving her proper respect. At worst, Xin Yue would start to feel insecure about her relationship with Cang Xuan again and decide to take action against Xiao Yao.

Xing Yue did not care much about XY's attitude to her. What she was afraid most if CX would marry XY and promote XY as empress, kicking her out. Xing Yue loved her status of empress/queen consort more than CX himself. 

And about what Ah Nian said about XY's social skills might be applied to any clan leaders' wives (also in the case of marry to Jing). However, as FL said he would tell other that he was afraid of her. And she in general did not care what other said about her. 

Keep in mind that XL and XY had the bug which connected not only their lives but also their soul. The key factor that he did so is XY's lingering unwilling thought that showed by the ice-crystal globe as well as he could read her mind. He wanted her to have a free, happy, worried-free life. And if Xing Yue could feel pity for XY due to marrying with FL, XL could feel much clearer since he understood her more than anyone. He knew that FL was not the guy who wholeheartedly treated her well, making her life more interesting. In FL's view, XY was just a side piece in his life. 

Fang Feng Bei said “Finding a person isn’t hard, finding a person who shares the same interest, genuinely treats you well, and makes the journey more interesting, that is what is hard.” (Chapter 29)