Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

I was re-reading the leaked script and came across this scene. What do you guys make of XY's words "determined to take XL down by poison, but who knew I ended up poisoning shiqi". I personally really doubt she said it în the literal sense, but kinda suggest that since the beggining till  her last poison to him, XL was her main  goal. Her words to yellow emperor while starring at the crystal ball "this is the last time" are so meaningful. 

"XY: Beyond the back door of Hui Chun clinic, there is a plot of land growing medical herbs, and not far from it is the West River. By the West River, I saved a beggar and gave him the name Ye Shi Qi. In order to get wives for Ma Zi and Chuan Zi, I entered the mountains to catch Fei Fei, encountered the white condor Furball, was treated as a spy by Xiang Liu and whipped forty lashes, and Shi Qi carried me home on his back. I was determined to take Xiang Liu down by poison, but who knew I ended up poisoning Shi Qi..."

 blabla100:

Guys, what's the airing schedule for next week? Anyone knows? 

I think: 2 eps each day from Monday to Thursday, then the last 3 days of the week no new eps

@H19279

"Note: can it be consider as a parallel for the love triagle between them. The wine with poison as love. XY first gave it to XL. He recognised and taste the poison but was not poisoned by her. He walked away and YSQ took the leftover, got poisoned."

Yes, that's my take on it. IMO she used the poison and that particular incident  to draw the line and emphasize between what she wanted (XL) and what she got (shiqi). IIRC the description of the book also compares love to a glass of poisonous wine. 

@kokuto

" It's entirely metaphorical, where poison is love.  XL was her target, and she actually DID poison him, with the Poisonous Lovers' Bug. "

Exactly. Too bad she found out all about the bugs when was already too late for them.  

 liddi:

Ep7-8 ends at what should have been Ep9 (S02E17) scene 14 of the leaked script, and remains faithful to the script by and large. At this rate, I really wonder what additional scenes would take up 2 (3 if based on leaked script) extra episodes. Whatever these are, I really hope that it improves on the remaining episodes in the script.

So, they've been cutting things?  Enough for a whole episode?

 liddi:

The flower that Jing unceremoniously jumped into the lake to pick for Xiao Yao is 海棠花 crabapple blossom, not begonia or water lily as seen in different translations.

Yes, I figured it was something other than a begonia -- they don't grow as trees, but as annuals.

 liddi:

TJC's performance as Xiang Liu watched Xiao Yao leaving Qingshui Town was a tour-de-force - perfectly capturing how I imagine Xiang Liu to be when he is alone and allows his mask to slip.

I loved that scene with the camera panning out and then in and nothing but Tan Jian Ci's expressions.

 liddi:

We finally meet Hong Jiang, and see what Xiang Liu's sacrifice of his own personal happiness exchanged for Hong Jiang and his comrades - a very effective contrast of their excitement over the provisions contrasting against his recollection of the time he asked Xiao Yao to go away with him, and she agreed as long as he would leave everything behind. We also know that he kept even Hong Jiang in the dark about the lengths he went for them. It was a simple, brief scene, but it moved me immensely.

YES!  Hong Jiang!  Thoroughly unimpressive, but at least he exists!  And we even got an interaction.

That is exactly what I loved about that scene.  I would hope, seeing how much his men needed that food and were happy that they could get through the winter, that folks would understand their glib, 'XL isn't willing to put XY first,' is ridiculous, given all the people depending on him literally for their lives.

 liddi:

On the other hand, the diminishing of Xiang Liu's role continues. References to Bao Zhu, the long-term neighbour of Hui Chun clinic was totally removed, while Shi Qi's role in visiting them regularly like family was emphasised.

Yes, that was sheer robbery, that could have easily been fixed with one sentence, since we saw XL at this house twice.  I mean, you could pick up on it, if you knew about from the book, or wondered why XL was looking out the window at the grandkids, or understood it was the same house that he brought XY ... but that's asking a lot of a casual viewer.  That said, I'm fine with giving Jing his due about keeping in touch with his Qing Shui Town family.  It is one of the few truly kind things he did that didn't seem to have an ulterior motive.

 liddi:

The glow of lovers bug was added to this scene when she felt the pain in her heart due to Xiang Liu. Likewise, we see it glowing as he walked away from her, with him grimacing in pain though she could not tell from the back. I wonder whether we too will see it happening again during her confrontation with Xiang Liu on Gourd Lake in future.

I wish they had gotten closer or showed it like it was written, where he was out of her sight and practically fell to his knees in pain.  I felt they cut his part short.  They also took out the glow of the Lovers Bug when Xiang Liu was asking the questions.  I wish they had left it in then, to make clear what was going on.  Even though we got another long moment of silent acting from Tan Jian Ci.

 liddi:

I disliked too that they had Jing making it snow to keep Xiao Yao at Qing Qiu, just as she was ready to leave - a scene that did not exist in the novel at all. Snow was something associated with Xiang Liu, while Jing's was predominantly mist and blooms, so adding such a scene to his character feels incongruous.

We should be used to XL stuff getting appropriated by Jing by now, but NO.  It is still annoying.

 liddi:

However, every scene with Cang Xuan remains a highlight for me, thanks to ZWYi's masterful delivery. I particularly love the scene where they laughed and played as they drew on each other's faces, the laughter a much needed breather, knowing that things between them would deteriorate in the days to come.

Yes, agreed.  ZWY is acting up a storm himself.  I too enjoy their fun moments ... as well as his descent into obsession.  Grandfather Emperor is definitely the MVP of humor, though.

 blabla100:

I was re-reading the leaked script and came across this scene. What do you guys make of XY's words "determined to take XL down by poison, but who knew I ended up poisoning shiqi". I personally really doubt she said it în the literal sense, but kinda suggest that since the beggining till  her last poison to him, XL was her main  goal. Her words to yellow emperor while starring at the crystal ball "this is the last time" are so meaningful.

"XY: Beyond the back door of Hui Chun clinic, there is a plot of land growing medical herbs, and not far from it is the West River. By the West River, I saved a beggar and gave him the name Ye Shi Qi. In order to get wives for Ma Zi and Chuan Zi, I entered the mountains to catch Fei Fei, encountered the white condor Furball, was treated as a spy by Xiang Liu and whipped forty lashes, and Shi Qi carried me home on his back. I was determined to take Xiang Liu down by poison, but who knew I ended up poisoning Shi Qi..."

That is an interesting take.

The novel says this in Xiao Yao's internal monologue:

Beyond the back door of the humble Hui Chun clinic laid a plot of land planted with medicinal herbs. Further down the field was the West River, which would lead into Qing Shui, and the rushing waters of Qing Shui would flow into the East Sea. On the banks of the West River, she saved Jing. To catch the feifei, she encountered the white condor Furball, and was whipped forty times by Xiang Liu. The poison she wanted to take Xiang Liu down with, poisoned Jing instead. In order to help Cang Xuan remove the bug, she made a deal with Xiang Liu. Who knew it turned out to be the Lovers' bug that connected hearts and intertwined lives...

-- Vol 3 Ch13  (Chapter 46)

Because references to the Lovers bug were removed in the script, and the monologue ended up as Xiao Yao's narration to the old Xuan Yuan king, the "Who knew" ended up being applied to her poisoning Shi Qi.

It is also notable that every time she thinks of Qingshui Town, it was Xiang Liu who featured predominantly in her memories. Her life there remained the same when Shi Qi showed up. The real change happened with Xiang Liu's presence, and that was the life she missed desperately but could never go back to:

As she leaned against the railing and gazed at the stars, Xiao Yao suddenly remembered the days in Qingshui Town, the countless sizzling hot summer nights they spent sitting on bamboo mats to cool off; Lao Mu, Ma Zi, Chuan Zi chattering away; Shi Qi sitting silently by her side; her gnawing on a duck neck while drinking green plum wine, enjoying herself.

Back then, the only hardship in life was Xiang Liu.

The days in Qingshui Town were so far away, way beyond her reach, but remained vivid in her memories. Xiao Yao could not help the tears that welled up in her eyes.

-- Vol 2 Ch11  (Chapter 28)

 Kokuto:

So, they've been cutting things?  Enough for a whole episode?

Various scenes here and there were cut, but not any of the important ones. Thus far, we are consistently about 1 episode behind in terms of the leaked script, bearing in mind that the leaked script only covered 20 episodes if we followed how they ended each episode. In other words, there is probably about 3 episodes worth of footage unaccounted for. Which leaves me with hope that whatever extra scenes they filmed, might address the issues we were concerned about.

 Kokuto:

YES!  Hong Jiang!  Thoroughly unimpressive, but at least he exists!  And we even got an interaction.

That is exactly what I loved about that scene.  I would hope, seeing how much his men needed that food and were happy that they could get through the winter, that folks would understand their glib, 'XL isn't willing to put XY first,' is ridiculous, given all the people depending on him literally for their lives.

Yup. In Once Promised, he is described as a strong, seven foot tall man, a powerful, fierce warrior. Here, he does not appear imposing at all, and in later parts of the script, it appears Xiang Liu keeps him safe, refusing to let him even participate in any of the skirmishes. Is it just to keep him safe, or is he still suffering from old battle injuries from the final Xuan Yuan-Shen Nong battle at Ji Province? No idea. I don't even know how badly he was injured in that battle since I have not properly read that chapter yet.

But yes. if Xiang Liu had chosen to put his happiness before theirs, where does that leave his men? In an earlier scene, Jing Ye already mentioned to Jing that winter was coming, and with shortage of food and clothes on the mountains, the Shen Nong remnant army's lives will surely get even harder - something Xiang Liu was well aware of and did his best to alleviate their suffering, even if he had to pay a steep price for it.

 Kokuto:

I wish they had gotten closer or showed it like it was written, where he was out of her sight and practically fell to his knees in pain.  I felt they cut his part short.  They also took out the glow of the Lovers Bug when Xiang Liu was asking the questions.  I wish they had left it in then, to make clear what was going on.  

Agreed. I felt that there should have been a close-up shot of him when he walked away in pain with the glow of the bugs in his chest. I literally had to peer and see whether he was grimacing or not, because there was just too much happening in that shot.

And I definitely wish they kept the glow of the Lovers bug after the 4 questions for the exact reason you mentioned. 

 Kokuto:

Grandfather Emperor is definitely the MVP of humor, though.

He is all kinds of awesome. There was a very funny meme on Weibo of him behind bars, with a caption that said "Cang Xuan, don't worry. You go ahead and confess your feelings. This time we have restrained Grandpa", to which Grandpa's actor Hou Changrong said "Please remember to let me out after the drama has ended." LOL!

@Kokuto

Specially for you https://fb.watch/tfsuWxhrNu/

TJC sang Peach blossom blood in the promotional event today

P/S: ak ak, I want his huge diamond ear-ring. I heard that he is promoted as De Beers' representative. Thus that diamond earring can imply or represent something

Lost You Forever  is a group of patients with mental illness

When the story begins, each of them is sick.