Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

Oh thanks so much for the info, I think I didn't pay much attention to the bugs narrative when I was watching the drama. So this is how they work, but would they been able to hold the bugs togheter if they didn't love eachother? Or was that a condition only for the recipient of the bug and not for the  cultivator? Or îs it even possible to cultivate a love bug without feeling any love? 

 blabla100:

Oh thanks so much for the info, I think I didn't pay much attention to the bugs narrative when I was watching the drama.

The drama has not provided as much information about the bugs.

 blabla100:

but would they been able to hold the bugs togheter if they didn't love eachother? Or was that a condition only for the recipient of the bug and not for the  cultivator?

Both hosts must have love at all times or the Lovers' Bug will become Heartbreak Bugs, but it seems like it doesn't have to be romantic love. XY's love for ZX was enough to establish a preliminary connection. 

However, in addition to having love in their heart, the recipient must also willingly accept the bug for it to be planted properly and for it to stabilize. ZX didn't willingly accept the bug, so it didn't stabilize, which is why XY and XL were able to transfer the bug from ZX to XL.

 UnaSpenser:

From the perspective of the child, though, the emotional impact would be one of abandonment

That's true. I felt like both the drama and the novel did a decent job of showing us that XY was traumatized and did feel abandoned, hence her not revealing her identity to ZX or wanting to go back to see her father. But when her father made it clear that he did love her she accepted his explanation. Same for ZX. And she got back to a place where she did generally feel "safe" with them. There were ups and downs afterwards of course. When the Grand Emperor withdrew her title, that was a blow to their relationship that she had to recover from. But when she understood the reason for it, the relationship did recover. She has some very warm and loving moments with both of them. She also develops quite a good relationship with her grandfather.

 UnaSpenser:

Yes, she asked her father if she could not be a princess. Once. (as far as I know) She didn't challenge it. Also, if she ran off with XL and they lived in the ocean or something, she could probably avoid getting abducted by her family and being forced to play a role she finds deadening.

At that point, she couldn't abandon her title or run away with XL without abandoning ZX, which she was not prepared to do. And in fairness, XL was also not prepared to run away with her. 

 UnaSpenser:

As a reader/viewer, I kept thinking, "what is she getting out of giving up everything she treasured about her lifestyle when she wasn't a princess?" It wasn't safety. She was not safe. She gets assassinated, after all. The royal/noble life is actually very precarious one.

She's not getting much for staying loyal to ZX. Just like XL isn't getting much for staying loyal to Gong Gong and his comrades. Neither of them are safer for their decisions (quite the opposite), but they both stick with their decisions anyway.

XY's happy ending where she finally gets to wander and be free without status or obligations again wouldn't be much of a happy ending if she was free from start to finish. 

@AH

She's not getting much for staying loyal to ZX. Just like XL isn't getting much for staying loyal to Gong Gong and his comrades. Neither of them are safer for their decisions (quite the opposite), but they both stick with their decisions anyway.

Well said. It is notable too that their unswerving loyalty comes at the point when Zhuan Xu and Gong Gong are at their lowest ebb - Zhuan Xu a target of intrigue and assassinations on all sides; Shen Nong kingdom fallen and Gong Gong and his rebel army the last bastion clinging on to a futile dream. Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu are far more similar in temperament than they realise.

@AH

The term coined in the novel is 狐朋狗友  , which basically means good for nothing friends who only eat, drink and make merry, which is similar to the translation.  

There is certainly implicit trust between them despite being on opposing sides. He holds nothing back to save her, pulling her back from the brink of death multiple times with no regard for himself, while she  too has helped him time and again even from the early days as Wen Xiao Liu, even when she may feel aggrieved about being lied to.  

I particularly love the example you cited. By sneaking wounded into her chambers and revealing his true identity, Fangfeng Bei is placing himself in her hands, trusting her to help him despite risking the possibility of her wrath for being fooled. What moves me is that she helped Fangfeng Bei without question first before realising who he really was, which attests to the relationship that has grown and solidified over their past two years of companionship. I truly love how the scene unfolded in the novel as opposed to what we had in the drama - staring at him as he fed on her wrist until he caught her watching, her relief upon waking up and finding him still there, her softly calling out to him when she came back into the room, afraid of disrupting his healing, the peace with which she accepted what she subconsciously knew all along, that they were the same person, and being lost in her thoughts when she finally found that he had left, unconsciously touching the bow calluses on her fingers.

 AH :

The drama has not provided as much information about the bugs.

Both hosts must have love at all times or the Lovers' Bug will become Heartbreak Bugs, but it seems like it doesn't have to be romantic love. XY's love for ZX was enough to establish a preliminary connection. 

However, in addition to having love in their heart, the recipient must also willingly accept the bug for it to be planted properly and for it to stabilize. ZX didn't willingly accept the bug, so it didn't stabilize, which is why XY and XL were able to transfer the bug from ZX to XL.

 blabla100:

Oh, got it. I had the impression that the reason why the bug didn't totally work  on ZX was because while he did, she didn't love him în a romantic way, hence the name of the bug - "lovers bug" and what that Voodoo man said, that these bugs are grown by girls for their lovers. English isn't my first language so some details can go unnoticed to me. 

In the drama, it was time and mysterious chance, that allowed a bug stabilize, according to the old guy who XL talked to.  I'm not sure about willingness to accept the bug is a requirement.  He also uses the term affection, instead of love, for the initial planting, and to lure them out.  So maybe he means love both times?  Subtitle translations.

Given the idea that you have to lure the bug out of the first person, I wonder if that's where willingness to accept the bug comes into play.  I mean, to lure it out, you'd ideally have to offer it something better, right?  So if someone were more willing to accept the bug, or understood they had to offer the bug a stronger love connection, then it would leave the first person.  Not to say CX's love wasn't strong, but since he was completely unaware of the bug or XY, it's not like he would "offer" anything.

These bugs were really vague about their requirements and what met them.  It's amazing that they worked at all, given XY had zero idea they had anything to do with love.

 Kokuto:

In the drama, it was time and mysterious chance, that allowed a bug stabilize, according to the old guy who XL talked to.  I'm not sure about willingness to accept the bug is a requirement.  

It depends on whether you view the novel as a reliable source for explaining what happens with the bugs in the drama. In the novel, it's confirmed that the bugs must be willingly accepted in order to stabilize. But it could be different in the drama. 

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Chapter 48:

Xiang Liu sat down next to the raft and stared at the sleeping Xiao Yao before softly saying, “The tree grows old on land together, the mandarin ducks die together in the water – the Lover’s Bug connects heart to heart and our lives, and there truly is no way to remove the bug. Years ago I was only able to remove the bug from Zhuan Xu because he didn’t know it was you so he didn’t willingly accept the bug. So you never successfully planted the bug on him in the first place. But I….I was heart and soul willing, so the bug successfully planted in me. You asked me to remove the bug and I kept telling you I can’t do it, but you didn’t believe me. But I truly didn’t lie to you, I cannot remove the bug.”

 liddi:

The term coined in the novel is 狐朋狗友  , which basically means good for nothing friends who only eat, drink and make merry, which is similar to the translation.  

There is certainly implicit trust between them despite being on opposing sides. He holds nothing back to save her, pulling her back from the brink of death multiple times with no regard for himself, while she  too has helped him time and again even from the early days as Wen Xiao Liu, even when she may feel aggrieved about being lied to.  

I particularly love the example you cited. By sneaking wounded into her chambers and revealing his true identity, Fangfeng Bei is placing himself in her hands, trusting her to help him despite risking the possibility of her wrath for being fooled. What moves me is that she helped Fangfeng Bei without question first before realising who he really was, which attests to the relationship that has grown and solidified over their past two years of companionship. I truly love how the scene unfolded in the novel as opposed to what we had in the drama - staring at him as he fed on her wrist until he caught her watching, her relief upon waking up and finding him still there, her softly calling out to him when she came back into the room, afraid of disrupting his healing, the peace with which she accepted what she subconsciously knew all along, that they were the same person, and being lost in her thoughts when she finally found that he had left, unconsciously touching the bow calluses on her fingers.

Love this! Thanks for the direct translation ^^