Kokuto:
That seemed to be FFB's tactic. Laugh when it gets serious.
When I first watched it, I thought the same. Rewatching, however, I wonder if she meant it kind of like a test. Like her constantly asking him "Who are you?" Like, challenging him to take up the dare.
Had he, who knows what she would have done.
“That seemed to be FFB's tactic. Laugh when it gets serious.”
Definitely. Both XL and XY hide their feelings behind laughs and smiles often.
“When I first watched it, I thought the same. Rewatching, however, I wonder if she meant it kind of like a test. Like her constantly asking him "Who are you?" Like, challenging him to take up the dare.”
I viewed the scene in the drama more that way. More of a test / challenge / call out like the novel.
Where her “Okay. If you give up everything, I'll go with you.” Basically meant, “What would you do if I actually said okay right now? Would you really be able to give up everything and leave with me? I don’t think so, and I’ll prove it.” Not “Okay, I’m genuinely ready to leave Cang Xuan behind to go wander with you, if you can also give everything up. Will you?”
And when he can’t answer her with anything more than a laugh she doesn’t look disappointed. Her face says “That’s what I thought.” And out loud says “Don’t try to fool me. Don’t think you’re more bold than me.”
“Had he, who knows what she would have done.”
Even if he had made his offer 100% seriously and was prepared to give everything up at that point to disappear and wander with her (which he clearly wasn’t), I don’t think XY was ready to abandon CX and the rest of her family at that point. Her loyalty was as much of a barrier as XL’s, even though she didn’t know he was XL at this point.
blabla100:
100% agree with you on the drama version, when I watched this scene în the drama that îs exactly what I felt too and I still belive that is what they went for. About the novel though, I think AH îs right, altough I think at that point în time she kind of knew FFB îs XL, I mean what responsabilies did FFB have to gave away în the first place? I felt as if her answer was meant towards XL, not FFB.
“…I think at that point în time she kind of knew FFB îs XL, I mean what responsabilies did FFB have to gave away în the first place? I felt as if her answer was meant towards XL, not FFB.”
I don’t think she did. In the novel, Tong Hua told us what XY was feeling and thinking at the end of that conversation: “She felt like she called him on his bullshit. When she was wandering the world being a con artist, he was likely home tickling his maids!” That last thought is clearly about FFB, not XL.
Koala’s translation of the scene the morning after XY found out that FFB was definitely XL made it seem like XY kind of knew that FFB was XL all along, but liddi provided a more accurate translation that didn’t have that implication, which fits better with how XY interacts with “FFB” after finding out that he is XL.
And I think the drama is the same. Think about how XY behaves when she sees XL/FFB for the first time after that reveal in the drama. In episode 26, she treats him differently, and when he offers to continue teaching her archery, she is surprised and questions the idea of learning archery from the great Xiang Liu.