Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

Thank you @AH, very sad for XY and XL. They reminded themselves endlessly about their positions but cannot control their hearts. I also feel for CX too because they did try to stop the fight, but as much as XY logically understood everything, she still couldn’t face CX in the end after the fact since he will remind her of XL’s death.

@Liu Yifei

Thanks for pointing out these details, I find them very interesting.

 About the wedding between mazi and chuntao and YaoLiu, it is not the first time I hear about this parallel. I am one of the people who 100% believe that Yaojing is a parallel to TianEr and Skinny, so to me it makes sense that the first wedding, the one between mazi and chuntao can be seen as a parallel to YaoLiu, especially since XL was also present. When TianEr and Skinny got married, I believe it was CX and Ah Nian that were present. A lot of the story is foreshadowed în the QS's town arc, IMO.  Far fetched for some, but I can easily see the lovers' bugs as being some sort of marriage between the couples. 

 Liu Yifei:

Has anyone noticed XY'a hair? According to Chinese customs loose hair is worn by unmarried women and usually married women keeps their hair in a bun.

Nice! Thank you, I haven't seen the hair one before and didn't know about mandarin ducks. Please share if you find any more symbols and hints of a HE in the future!

Other symbols that I know of in the drama:

• pumpkins, gourds, rabbits, pomegranate, grapes - fertility
• mushrooms, toads, lotus - rebirth
• colorful umbrellas - stand-in for colorful fish in the novel, symbolizing the cycle of forgetting and beginning anew (YaoLiu reunion)
• drums (鼓 - gǔ) - sounds the same as poisonous bug (蛊 - gǔ), representing YaoLiu's heart-to-heart connection and sometimes hinting that XL is in the scene
• wooden rocking horse - wooden Trojan horse -> Trojan virus -> poison; rocking horse found in Chi Chen's cottage and we see many children riding rocking horses throughout the drama, which means that YaoLiu will have children 
• spider - Jing trapping XY
• carrots, pearls - baby food, meaning YaoLiu will have children
• hibiscus flower - hope and persistence
• moon - yearning

 Janex:

I have a doubt. When I rewatched ep 21 there was XL monologue, where he is saying a shared feeling put two people in agnoy, is it just his saying or did somelse say something like that in the drama at any point when talking about lovebugs or something, the thing is I watched only XL portions and skipped rest. Can someone clarify?

So according to what I have read female bug can't be controlled by male bug. So hence the idea that XL controls the bug is stupid. There are many a times XY felt XL she just chose to not express it

 Liu Yifei:

So according to what I have read female bug can't be controlled by male bug. So hence the idea that XL controls the bug is stupid. There are many a times XY felt XL she just chose to not express it

Well, that scene-- I mean XL saying that, explcitly mean he knows that its a shared feeling? 

 liddi:

We discussed this two days ago.

Said it before and I'll say it again: love this context!

 Liu Yifei:

So according to what I have read female bug can't be controlled by male bug. So hence the idea that XL controls the bug is stupid. There are many a times XY felt XL she just chose to not express it

XL definitely controlled the bugs / connection in both the drama and the novel.

XY should have been able to feel XL's presence, heartbeat, pain, and emotions through the bug connection at all times, just as he could feel hers. But in the 100+ years that they were connected, XY only felt XL's heartbeat through the connection in chapters 21 and 22 (after her assassination when XL intentionally used his heartbeat to guide XY's heart to continue beating) and in chapter 26 (when XL accidentally slipped and didn't mask his rapid heartbeat for a moment after he noticed XY blushing). XL also sometimes used the bug connection to speed up XY's heartbeat in order to disrupt her sad thoughts (e.g., her sad thoughts about TSJ in chapter 25 and 26). There were other times that XY felt XL's heartbeat by putting her hand on his chest instead of using the bug connection to feel it. 

XY also only felt XL's pain through the connection once, in chapter 32, when he intentionally caused her to feel it. And most of the time XY could not sense XL's presence through the bug connection, but in chapter 8 he used the bug connection to call XY to the edge of the ocean when she was on Five Gods Mountain so he could tell her that he would rescue her if she wanted. 

The drama also added scenes that showed us that XL controlled the bugs when they began to retaliate / backfire due to his heartbreak (e.g., in S1 Ep19) so that the bugs would not turn into Heartbreak Bugs that would kill him and XY. 

 liddi:

This takes place at the same time that he was visiting the abandoned Hui Chun clinic, and reminiscing about their days together too. His internal monologue happened when he touched his heart because he could feel all her emotions. The words are from Song dynasty poet's "A Twig of Plum Blossoms: Fragrance of Red Lotus Fades on the Jade Mat in Autumn":

"一种心思，两处闲愁  A kind of feeling, puts two people in idle sadness."

which means, two people feel the same but cannot express it to each other and can only be sad in their own place.

Another line from the same poem, "此情无计可消除 - there's no way to eliminate this feeling," was used as the title of Volume 1, Chapter 14 of the novel. In this chapter, Xiao Yao returns from a meeting with Xiang Liu, where she refused to kiss him for air and told him she was afraid of him walking into her dreams. Although Xiao Yao met Jing at Dragon Bone Prison after seeing Xiang Liu, the sentiment expressed in the title about not being able to be with the one you love can only refer to Xiang Liu. This is because, in Chapter 14, Xiao Yao spends more alone time on a boat with Jing, using him as a substitute for Xiang Liu to suppress her feelings for Xiang Liu.

 Janex:

Thanks liddi,  also as I watch again I feel like two contrary narratives in the drama, like in some time they trying to downplay their relationship but some times explicitly through words and also visually gloryfing it. Its as if it is directed by two people with contrary views!

Do you have an example of them downplaying their relationship in the drama?