Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 blabla100:

@AH

Thank you for posting these fragments, I have re-read them all because I had kinda forgot some details and once again you strengthened my belief that everything was meant to be temporary.

You're welcome. Thanks for validating the thought process. ^^

 blabla100:

@AH

"The funny thing is, despite all the time I spend sort of defending TSJ in this thread, most of the time I don't like him much either. I just don't dislike him as intensely as most of the participants in this thread"

I am with you on this one, AH, probably for different reasons, but I agree.

Here too. ^^

 plor20:

so exciting that you have a whole community to discuss this. I remember when I finished LYF I had no one to talk too, and everything was just in my brain! hahaha I lost a lot o

My English is a lot stronger compared to my Vietnamese. I discovered MDL first - this was in October last year - and only ventured into the Viet's LYF fandom a little later. The discussion style is very different and the use of Vietnamese and the cultural aspects definitely impacts my understanding of the work.  

 plor20:

They translated what thier brain capacity can interpret. Don't hold it against them. lmao.

You don't even need to be some literature genius; just the willingness to be fair and honest. You may have your particular interpretation, but at least be honest with the information. 

 Kokuto:

Hahaha... well, I knew the line was long, so I went with a friend like XL. But I had no idea you'd be bringing the knives! lol

I do love me some Raul Julia.

On the ground of our friendship, I've gone easy on you with knives. Otherwise, I would have brought out the bazooka :-)

Raul Julia as Gomez Addams *chef kiss. His and Morticia's relationship is GOAL!

 Kokuto:

Ah, so the CP fans, yes, I heard it wasn't uncommon. I was reading some interesting things about the CP fans, and how that plays in with the 'growth' of fandoms, but how they resulted in fan fights and 'purges.'

Yes. There is always gossip about how actor A wanted to play up the "couple/pairing" while Actor B is not keen. You can try to gain fans for yourself by playing up the couple and gaining goodwill with the fans from your co-stars and hopefully gaining them as your own. How many of them will become primarily your fans (ditching their original) is to be seen. But the act of generating "heat" for through tying yourself to a more well-known, established star is super common. People who say that it doesn't make sense for an idol to encourage fan-war with other fandoms don't really understand CDrama fandoms and how they work, IMO.

 AH :

Love this and LOVE that XL rendering!

I wonder if it's intended to capture a time shortly after the scene at the end of chapter 31, where the misty rain has now turned to snow? Or if it's intended to capture another moment, not described in the novel at all, when XL held the ice crystal ball in his hand and contemplated it. 

Glad you love it too. It is such a stark representation of how alone he is, a solitary figure against a bleak backdrop, holding the one thing  that spoke eloquently of her love and her longing to be with him even when she would not verbalise it; the only thing of hers that he allowed himself to keep until the very last, when he finally gave back to her with his wishes and blessings for her and the life he wanted her to have.  

I don't believe this was meant to represent a time shortly after Chapter 31 when he first learnt of her impending wedding, which was set for the 22nd day of the mid-Autumn month. Remember that he told her that he received the crystal globe 2 months prior to the wedding. I am more inclined to think that this was very likely a scene during or after their stay in Qingshui Town in Chapter 32 - it was early winter and snowing during their stay there. I can imagine Xiang Liu taking out the crystal globe and looking at it  every so often as he considered his decision to let her go, ensuring that she would leave him for the arms of another man; and later when he missed her. Ah, just thinking about it brings such an ache to my heart all over again.

 HeadInTheClouds:

I was thinking about picking this one up. Sounds like the leads have some common sense and won't make me want to throttle them - the bar is pretty darn low these days :-). Would you recommend this?

The main leads in WOL were smart, decisive. There are kind of love triangles created by outsiders however the main leads only paid attention to eachother. Female lead was a bit manupulative, more practical and a bit more spoil than male lead. He tolerated her, a bit idealistic and he was forced to pursue power for people's good. The most annoying character in the drama is the male lead's stupid father. 

I would recommend to give it a try.

 AH :

First - The lines that immediately proceed that line refer to XL/FFB's availability to hang out with XY and XL/FFB suddenly disappearing for three months and then reappearing without an explanation, which seems to effect the entirety of their relationship - not just their relationship as archery teacher and student.  

No, the part followed the style of teaching archery. And in both 2013 and 2019 edition in chinese the paragraphs are as below.

防风邶并不是每天都有时间，每隔五六天，他才会要小夭陪他一天，恰恰够小夭把上一次学习的射箭技巧巩固。有一次他甚至消失了三个多月，才再次出现。

小夭没问他去了哪里，他也没解释。小夭和他都很明白他们的教授与学习只是一种很短暂的关系，随时会因为一个意外终结。

但在外人眼里，防风邶和小夭算是走得很近了，而且因为传授箭术，小夭和他之间有一种若有若无的亲密。

Fangfeng Bei didn't have time every day. Every five or six days, he would ask Xiaoyao to accompany him for a day, which was just enough for Xiaoyao to consolidate the archery skills she learned last time. Once he even disappeared for more than three months before reappearing.

Xiaoyao didn't ask him where he went, and he didn't explain. Xiaoyao and he both knew that their teaching and learning relationship was only a short-lived relationship that could end at any time due to an accident.

But in the eyes of outsiders, Fangfeng Bei and Xiao Yao were very close, and because they taught archery, there was a vague intimacy between Xiao Yao and him.

All the fun stuffs such as going to jewelry shop, restaurant, cosmetics shop were mentioned before those above paragraphs (right after she mentioned about how her life turned into busy). Moreover, in XY's POV she stated and distinguish very clearly 2 things that she did with FFB: "Xiaoyao's life suddenly became very busy. She had to refine poison and practice archery. When Fangfeng Bei was free, she had to learn archery from Fangfeng Bei and accompany Fangfeng Bei to have fun. "

FFB used her accompany to pay for his archery lesson. However, XY did not consider their accompany to discover the city as two people enjoying life, not teacher- student relationship which refers to archery lesson. The accompany helped them (mainly XY) understand each other and develop kind of friendship/playmateship/confidant between them. It would not disappear when he stopped teaching her archery (as proved later in some occasions that he took her out without the excuse of payment for teaching) 

Xiaoyao was a little confused and didn't know what Fangfeng Bei wanted to do. She thought that he taught her archery was just an excuse to pick her up. She thought that taking her around was just a way to open a woman's heart. However, he taught very seriously, so Xiaoyao really respected him as his teacher every time he learned archery. Eating, drinking and having fun with him is more like two people enjoying life. Two people who didn't care about anything, didn't mind trying anything, but didn't want anything, became companions, looking for a little fun in the bustling world. There are many things that are completely different between one person and two people. For example, eating, no matter how delicious the food is, it will lose its taste when eaten by one person. Xiaoyao believed that Fangfeng Bei felt the same way, so he unhesitatingly revealed all the interesting things he knew and took Xiaoyao to experience them together. 

 HeadInTheClouds:

Dear Lord! Did he walk too close to an electric socket :-)? Or did your daughter decide to play hairdresser with him? He looks like my poor Barbie that one time I decided to give her a haircut :-). He's still an adorable grumpy pants, though. I placed an order with that seller you gave me the link to. My own grumpy pants is crossing the ocean to me as we type!

LOL! Nope. You get a similar effect the moment you wave him around vigorously, or hold him upside down. See if you manage to recreate this look too when your grumpy pants arrive! Please do share photos of yours, including him sitting up. I still regret not getting the spine to this day. Wonder if they sold it separately... hmmm.

@liddi

I haven't seen labyrinth in ages, I did have it once downloaded on my old pc via pirate bay, but got lost over the years. Never saw dark crystal though, I know nothing about it actually, but it seems interesting. Not well known, since they are italian, but alizea and the dream prince and the fantaghiro series are also 2 of my favs. They just don't make movies like these anymore. 

 HeadInTheClouds:

Does anyone remember if there is an  interview where TH promising a different ending for LYF to made up for the ending of Once Promised?  Or the one where she talked about wanting to change XL's ending, but realised that she couldn't? 

I'm not sure if these are my imagination or if they are real. 

I remember someone saying that Tong Hua said in an interview that she tried to write a different ending for XL, like maybe he survived, but the character wouldn't let her, or something to that effect.

I believe this, cause the one time I tried to write something, XL proved immovable about what he would and would not do.  O_O

Not sure about the different ending because of Once Promised.