Snowdrop Meadow:
I think Tong Hua was pretty cruel to XY in this regard... In fact all of XY's three weddings are/will be forever associated with a death of someone precious to XY and can count as death anniversaries
And I quote this:
AH :
XY is absolutely damaged. The person she was supposed to be married to for the rest of her life died in chapter 42 right before their wedding. The zhiji who always alleviated her loneliness drove her to cut ties with him in chapter 46. And in chapter 47 she realized that the man she considered to be her most important person, her closest and most trusted family, betrayed her in the cruelest possible way. He inflicted the kind of abandonment that he knew she feared most upon her. And her grandfather was in on the lie. All the people she cared about the most abandoned her or turned on her. I 100% believe that XY intended to die when she poisoned herself. At that point, she did not want to be saved.
By the end of the novel, XY have already cruelly suffered from all the things she feared the most (physical pain, abandonment, betrayal, loss...). The everlasting ones being:
- waiting: the worst type of waiting "the waiting that can't be waited for" being her eternally yearning for XL
- solitude: 1. eternally missing XL. Having lost her soulmate, who can fill the loneliness left by the death of her other half? 2. Despite the betrayal, maybe also missing CX, her childhood bestfriend. They supported each others and went through thick and thin together 3. she doesn't seem to have many similarities in hobbies/conversations with TSJ
I wonder: unless Tong Hua writes a sequel, we don't know if XY really had her happily ever after. The final line in the novel says:
As long as the entire world was at peace, then their Xiao Yao would be living happily.
But that's from the POV of the Grand Emperor.
The third volume of Lost You Forever is called "Miss You Forever". Sounds like the worst possible ending to me.
The novel description says:
Life is the encounter and separation, is the starting time and oblivion, but there are always things that once happened, will leave traces, and always have a person, once appeared, will be unforgettable. The fated meeting at the town of Qing Shui has changed the destiny of everyone, even change the destiny of Da Huang. The desire for a little warmth, a little of company, at some point decided a shattered heart. It is similar to a cup of poisoned wine, when it gets to the throat, it becomes sweet, melting hearts broken bone, and until it reaches the heart and lungs, no medicine can cure. The poison is discovered and it is paralyzing the heart and lungs. Only the smile of one’s beloved can eliminate it. If it can’t, the only thing left is the engraving of missing. It won’t stop even after death.
Sounds like the description hints on an eternal pain that's quite far from anybody standards for a happy end.
I know Tong Hua herself said in an interview that the novel is not a tragedy and that every character had their fulfilling/chosen ending but after reading the novel with all its unspoken, hidden, parallel subtext, I can't be convinced by this interview...
If we sum up, by the end of the novel, we know that XY has resolved some issues:
- she can count on a reliable and devoted life companion
- she has a place to go, a world to explore and if necessary, to hide far from the madding crowd
- she can protect herself
- she has reunited with her family (and she left them...)
- she can wander the world, especially the sea that she likes so much
- she made peace with her parents
- through Left Ear and Miao Pu she can realize the life she wanted for XL/relieve her guilt I guess
- she seems to have superficially resolved her abandonment/trust issues
But, even if XY has obtained the seemingly tranquil living environment she aspired to, does the author hint on the fact that, without XL, she will be able to appreciate it?