Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 liddi:

The title of the novel 长相思 literally means Eternally Yearning for Each Other.

The word 相思 means the yearning / lovesickness is experienced by both parties, so it is not unrequited love.

@liddi  @AH 

I've read somewhere (I forgot where, it's on a fan blog) what I think is a fan theory:

饰 相柳 = Xiang Liu

Chang Xiang Si / 长相思 = Missing Xiang (Liu) Forever/Eternally Yearning For Xiang (Liu)

The fan said that giving how detailed Tong Hua is, it's impossible for this not to be intentional.

Don't know if that's extravagant and far-fetched.

@liddi

As I mentioned in my original post, the changes (not having Xiang Liu being the one who kept Jing alive, and Xiao Yao and Jing's decision to retreat to Qingshui town instead of heading towards the ocean) undermine the entire context of Xiang Liu's sacrifices to ensure she has someone whom she can rely on for life, and a place to go.  

it does undermine XL arc. Like really he's sacrificing many of his 8 lives to kill love bugs??? I hope the actual drama has more than that at least.

Maybe because it's must be 21 eps for s2?  They are squeezing a lot. It should still worth our long wait. I'm sure many of all main characters scenes will be somehow cut down if it is 21 eps. But I hope they do justice for all main characters. I agree with Tong Hua. The essence must still be there. The first season is really good. And very much faithful to the novel. But oh well.

And I am in dilemma with CX arc too. It makes sense how they will still keep CX as good , not really going to be the one killing TSJ. But as melo as it is the way how CX/ZX has become in novel gives quite a sensation and ironic on how much he actually hurt XY several times and this one times biggest one. To me it makes sense how much CX has been repressing his emotion (putting politics above), and then everything burst out on Jing. And also how much XY felt betrayed and tried to kill CX.: shooting him with arrow and poisoning scenes are the ones I was very glued to. I felt my blood run cold. I want to feel that on screen too. But then everything will turn to be dream illusion is just something.?

But as for Xing Yue killing Jing. ..they can make it better by actually plotting to kill both XY and Jing but XY escape. Like that would be makes sense than just plotting to kill Jing alone.

@liddi 

I had the feeling that it is a theory that can't work for a native speaker in Chinese

 blabla100:

I even regret starting this or spending time reading the novel because I don't feel like I have any closure whatsoever.

I'll still be a fan of the novel, no matter how they handle S2. If you're not a fan of XL's end in the novel, it sounds like the fanfic liddi posted might give you closure.

@AH @blabla100

Reading the novel brought me back to a similar prolonged state of grief that I had experienced before 12 years ago with the very first Tong Hua work I was introduced to - 步步惊心 Scarlet Heart and its brilliant 2011 adaptation.  That is the beauty of Tong Hua's works, giving us exquisite pain that sears the soul, even as we rail against the fate of characters that we have come to love and root desperately for.  In that regard, the wonderful YaoLiu fanfic I found helped to soothe the pain, and allowed me a peek into the what-ifs that we were never given.

As such, I approached the drama, already knowing that Xiang Liu would die and that Xiao Yao will never know the extent of all he did for her. It did not make it any easier or less painful seeing every familiar scene brought to life, and loving and hurting for him all over again thanks to Tan Jianci's masterful performance. That is why YaoJing shippers are by far the most fortunate, their happy ending already etched in stone unless the adaptation decides to go wildly off course, which we already know it won't based on the leaked scripts and BTSes.

What pains me is not that Xiang Liu will die, and that Xiao Yao will never know. Rather, I am afraid that after a strong adaptation in S1, his sacrifices which made his fate that much more bearable, would be relegated to less than nothing, just because the script wanted to introduce a different narrative to differentiate it from the novel. I am fine with changes, but not changes that make no sense and makes his sacrifice meaningless. That would rob me of the closure I need. 

 Winny Aye:

Maybe because it's must be 21 eps for s2?  They are squeezing a lot. It should still worth our long wait. I'm sure many of all main characters scenes will be somehow cut down if it is 21 eps. But I hope they do justice for all main characters. I agree with Tong Hua. The essence must still be there. The first season is really good. And very much faithful to the novel. But oh well.

 Going by the leaked script, our S1 ended in the script's S2 Ep9, which makes me think that the original intent was to end S1 on a cliffhanger, with Xiao Yao's death in Plum Forest. Thankfully that did not happen.

Based on the novel, S1 covered 28 chapters, which leaves us with 24 chapters left in S2. In other words, we should have had an almost equivalent number of episodes in S2. Seeing it was slashed down to 21 episodes, it is obvious that there will be substantial omissions. I only hope that the narrative will be as well executed as S1. Though what I have seen so far has me worried, I am keeping fingers crossed that we will be pleasantly surprised when it does air.

I was surprised that they chose to whitewash Cang Xuan with an illusion sequence, rather than be brave enough to show us the extent that his obsession consumed him, and trust the viewers to still empathise with him. I don't know whether it is because Cang Xuan is billed as the 1st male lead. I know that regardless of what he did in the novel, I ached for him and wished fate were kinder and he had not been forced to go down the path of no return.

@liddi 

Now I am very curios to know what other novels of this writer did you enjoy and în what order.  I wanted to read Scarlet heart, but I couldn't find the complete translation and Ballad of the desert, but to be honest I didn't enjoy the drama much, it might be because of the cast, I like each one of the  actors but separately, so at this point it's pointless give the novel a go.