Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 AH :

The descriptions ("sad", "devastated" and "crying") match up with the actions and emotions of TSJ that are described in the text when he is transferring power to her.

I see. I would argue that despite the fact that it wasn't described explicitly, the knowledge of the Lovers Bugs would imply that Xiang Liu would have been just as devastated and probably even more devastated than Jing (if we're going play the devastation/suffering Olympics :-)). Because Xiang Liu is experiencing Xiao Yao's injuries and desperation he knows just exactly how frightened and close to death she is. Plus, he has to deal with his own fear and heartbreak of knowing exactly how much the person he loves is suffering. It's a double whammy of devastation.

 AH :

I also don't think anything in the text supports the idea that spiritual power can be transferred over a long distance via the bug connection. We know that others transferred power to XY, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that XL could transfer spiritual power to XY, and the transferred power is described in a way that seems (IMO) to intentionally tie it to TSJ. Unless I've missed something, this leads me to conclude that XL did not transfer that spiritual power to XY.

No, we didn't get any explicit mention of transferring spiritual power via the Lovers Bugs, but we know that XL could guide XY's heart via the Lovers Bugs, so it's not impossible to extrapolate that he could intervene in a similar, physical way. In addition, there was mention of being able to kill someone across vast distances using poison bugs, which would support this theory.

 AH :

This description occurs before XY locks herself up. Both before and after she locks herself up, she is completely unable to hear, see or feel.

Between the time before she locks herself up and the time after she locks herself up, only one thing seems to change: for a while, XY is not able to sense XL's heartbeat through the bug connection.

In my original post, my argument was that by the time Jing got there XY's body was cold and lifeless because she was already in hibernation and thus would not feel/experience anything that he did. 

Even before that though, XY's 5 senses were gone before the transfer of spiritual power. Not because she was going into hibernation, but because she was dying. I also don't read it as she stopped sensing XL's heartbeat through the Bugs, but rather because of her severe injuries, even with his support, her heartbeat was slowly dying because she was dying. This is when she "feels" the spiritual power + the devastated feelings of its owner. This rush of power was what helped her heartbeat to follow the guidance of XL's and took her into a state of hibernation when she could not sense anything (physical or otherwise), but is conscious of her own thoughts. 

Even if we say that Jing arrived before she went into hibernation, Jing's transfer of power would be a physical act so XY would have felt it via bodily sensation, but because XY could no longer physically feel, that power that she "feels" could not have been his, but through the intangible sensing via the bugs. This is not some clear, precise channel - but a nebulous, elusive thing.

 AH :

If XY was feeling XL's devastation through the bug connection, I would expect her to feel those emotions in her heart, and to feel them at least as early on as when she starts to sense XL's heartbeat through the bug connection. And not only when the spiritual power is transferred to her.

XL is very adept at hiding his feelings from XY. When she was struggling to keep on fighting, she could sense his snarkiness designed to tap into her stubborn desire to win. The moment that he transferred the spiritual power was also when XY was close to death; so in his devastation he let down his guard. Why did she not think that the spiritual power was from Xiang Liu? Maybe because she's an idiot :-)? Haha, it's probably because this wasn't something that crossed her mind - girl was too busy trying not to die :-)

 AH :

Instead, she feels that the spiritual power itself is sad, devastated and crying. Since the power is transferred into her and seems to be carrying the extreme emotions of the person it was transferred from, it doesn't seem like a bug connection is required for XY to sense that the transferred spiritual power is imbued with these emotions.

I'm not saying that XY needs the Lovers Bugs connection to sense the feelings, I'm saying that at this particular moment, XY is not able to feel anything that's not from the bugs connection because her 5 senses are not working.  The only thing that is working at this juncture is whatever is provided by/through the bugs.

 AH :

I like this point, and I think it's compelling, but I don't find it enough to convince me.

I get your rebuttal to this point, but similarly, I don't find it convincing either :-). I mentioned it in another comment to luv2bafangurl.

 AH :

I'm not following your train of thought here?

The bug connection allows XL to feel XY's pain. He wouldn't sense anything until XY was attacked and in pain.

The power that TSJ inherited from the original nine-tailed fox is about sensing that something bad is about to happen, so that it can be avoided.

My thought is that Tong Hua had set up the Lovers Bugs which allow a unique connection between XL and XY, and allow him to know when she's injured. This scenario is the perfect opportunity to showcase this connection. And yet, I'm asked to believe that Jing or CX was able to sense XY's danger first and with a lot of time in advance? I find it a bit difficult to swallow this supposition.

Nevertheless, I can say with confidence that my original thought about this topic turning into another Lovers Bugs one is 100% proven ;-)

As always, nice to be "splitting hair" with you. We both need some deep conditioning treatment after one of these back-and-forth :-)

@liddi

Whoaa I feel like a student who just got an A on my paper because you see the merit of our joined arguments😄.

Two possibilities come to mind. One, when she first recognised the heartbeat and thoughts as Xiang Liu, she still had some strength left in her. By the time the power surged through, she was so weakened that she no longer had the strength to try and identify the source of the grief and that power. She was barely staying alive, so everything else faded in comparison. The second, is that she might not have expected such an outpouring of grief to come from Xiang Liu, the person who just moments ago was still giving her snarky comments about giving up to agitate her to fight to survive. And by then, she no longer had the strength to figure out whether it was him or not. If either or both scenarios were true, then this no longer detracts from the possibility that the desolate power belonged to Xiang Liu.

Yes I agree, both scenarios are possible. I always take it as known fact that XL disguised his emotion from XY the beginning so XY never knew/sure that LPB actually connects their emotion as well. So maybe the moment where he felt XY heartbeat almost gave up also the moment where he finally let his guards down and concentrate only on transferring his power through PLB to save her. It‘s so true to their character and relationship how he first try to motivate her to survive with snarky comments that hides his deep worries and only when it reached the critical point that he dropped all pretenses of how actually scared and heartbroken he was at that moment. And it‘s also logical to assume that XY didn‘t recognize this emotion as XL‘s because she never felt XL emotion through PLB before, this is the first time that happened (pls feel free correct me if I‘m wrong) and like you said she can‘t imagine this is the real feeling of XL who was so snarky only moments before.

However, it could be explained that no matter how powerful he was, how much spiritual power he may have continued to transfer to her throughout his journey to Shen Nong mountain, it was still not sufficient to keep her body from dying. He had done what he could by giving her heart that last ounce of strength to keep on beating, so that she could follow his guidance and revert to a state of limbo, increasing her chances of staying alive until he got to her. In addition, could it be that the moment she reverted to that state, she could no longer sense the bug connection, and as such, is unable to respond to or receive any spiritual power he would have transferred via the connection? If that is the case, this would explain why he was certain she would not have survived until he got there had she not received more immediate spiritual power from those around her.

Agree! He might or might not  be able to feel that XY also received stream of spiritual power from other source through PLB connection, but when he arrived and finally saw XY on the water jade bed receiving power transfer from CX guards, he might come to conclusion that it was only the joined effort of them all that saved XY. Like you said I do acknowledge that every boys did their part to safe her. My main beef is who the desolate power belongs to, because this is the one who was there with her at her dying moment and saved her. I‘m petty and really dislike the idea that this person is Jing. On the other hand it really warms my heart to know that even at death door she feels XL heartbeat, heard his snarky comments, felt his power and felt his emotion and follow his guidance. Its like XL is enveloping XY with all his being at this moment.

Now I‘m going back hating XY because she didn‘t do the same for XL when he died😭.

@blabla100

I am not exactly sure why is that that important, but yeah, it makes more sense to be his, since that's one of the main purpose of the lovers bugs.

I‘ve just answered your question in my previous post. The gist of it is I‘m petty 🤣and my pettiness forced me to write long essay on this point. Gosh. 

What I am not really sure is why he needed to lose one of his lifes to save her, probably they did mention the reason în the book, but I haven't paid much attention. If he haven't had the 9 lifes to spare and he was just an ordinary man, he couldn't have saved her just through the bugs connection? The Voodoo king said that people who raise the bugs are able to save their  partner by using them, but how many of these people have more than a life to spare?

I guess it‘s because XY‚s condition was so severe like only a life sacrifice can save her (a life for a life thing). In the drama XL feed her his heart blood (where it gushing out like waterfall) and afterwards said he sacrificed one of his life to save her. Additionally XY spirit later admonished XL for being silly by giving her his heart blood because he could die if he lost too much heart blood. Maybe we can imagine it like pumping out all of the blood from one person to transfuse it to another dying person to save this person but then the donor is dead sucked dry. This is an extreme method which only worked because XL has more lives. Any other ordinary couple will be dead at this point because the strong one will not able to help/keep the wounded one alive with this method (the usual one is the strong heartbeat keeping/cheering the weak one to keep beating or maybe through power transfer as well like we discussed but that all will be of no use if one of them is mortally wounded like XY) and if one dies the other dies as well. RIP.

I see, thank you guys for your explainations, I thought that perhaps I missed something important. Honestly I am not really into the technical part of the story and I haven't paid much attention to this stuff, but I did get curious by following your discussion. 

I don't like Jing, but let's say I don't dislike shiqi. I wouldn't have picked neither of them if I were XY, but to each its own. After all he's not at fault for how things turned between XL and XY. Maybe it's a bit ironic, but I blame XL the most for their tragic ending, not XY, not CX and especially not jing. I just dislike him because he is a stalker and an emotional blackmailer. 

 H19279:

Honestly, I don't like FFB's outfit. I just think the costume designers tried too much to make his outfit contradictory to XL's white outfit. In the novel, many times FFB wore white outfit. The costume designers seemed to be afraid that other characters or audience could easily recognize him as XL if they gave him white clothes. Therefore, instead of white, pastel colors (with pale pink trousers for example) were used for some FFB's outfits. And the red-wine color outfit with flowers pattern on the shoulders is the one I dislike most. However, FFB on drama wore it so often. Yes, FFB was regarded as prodigal (by outsider), he was calm and cold inside, too. He said he  had always been himself for the last 400 years. 9-Lives, XL or FFB was just name. 

Actually I don't mind his more striking outfits. In a visual medium, I think it was a wise move on the production team's part to make the distinction clearer. The novel mostly describes him as richly dressed without specifying the colour so there is that. Also the prominent use of various shades of red for his outfits drives home that during his times as Fangfeng Bei, he is, albeit temporarily, a part of the mortal world with its attractions and daily affairs; a world Xiao Yao fervently wished would be able to keep him in it. Contrast that to his appearance as Xiang Liu, all in white - aloof, detached, otherworldly, as if untouched by the fleeting life of the mortal world. 

 HeadInTheClouds:

Hey now, I said the biggest obstacle. I didn't say it was the only obstacle ;-)

 blabla100:

Maybe it's a bit ironic, but I blame XL the most for their tragic ending, not XY, not CX and especially not jing. I just dislike him because he is a stalker and an emotional blackmailer. 

Oh, it seems that you blame XL for their tragic ending of their relationship. In my opinion, it's XY's requirement of a man who placed her as the utmost priority and accompanied in lifetime. Throughout the whole novel, XY was always consistent to it. Yellow Emperor was a wise old man. In the novel, he saw and understood what was going on with his grandchildren (XY and CX). His conversation with XY summarizes well XY's criteria for her partner and her determination to stick with that. Actually, that conversation lists all the reason why she didn't choose him and why their relationship spanned-out as such: Her selfish criteria and her characteristics of "scare of having and losing", and contrariness 

The Yellow Emperor stared at Xiao Yao “What kind of man do you want?” The Yellow Emperor did not come from a noble or imperial birth right or received such an education, he was born in an ordinary family so when conversing with him, he was much more blunt that the Grand Emperor.

This bold topic would have made any young girl blush but Xiao Yao. She really thought about it and said “Before I came of age I was already pretending to be a man. When young ladies are just noticing guys I was trying to just survive. I was alone for so long that really I just want someone to keep me company. Not someone I want to marry – I want someone I can live with, share happiness and sorrow with, fight and make up, I just don’t want to talk to myself anymore. But I’m scared because think about it, my own grandfather, mom, dad, they all abandoned me before. How can I trust someone won’t abandon me. I took in lonely elders and orphans because I know they need me so they won’t abandon me.”

Xiao Yao chuckled “People think I am kind but really I’m just weak. When I’m with those who are weaker than me, I feel like I am in control and am needed so I won’t be abandoned. That is when I feel safe.”

The Yellow Emperor rested on the pallet and stared at Xiao Yao.

She continued “When I became a girl again, I think marrying is so far away and never thought about it. But I know I’m scared of a man like you. In your heart, there will always be choices that are more important than the woman you love.”

The Yellow Emperor was expressionless and he said “Men like me are not suited to be husbands.”

Xiao Yao slowly said “I am too afraid of having and losing, so I would rather not have at all. Unless there is a man who, no matter faced with any choice, will always pick me first, who will never abandon me no matter what reason, then I will be willing to spend the rest of my life with him.”

The Yellow Emperor said “That’s very hard.”

Xiao Yao smiled “I know it’s hard which is why I don’t think about any man. I’m too scared of falling in and not being able to save myself…..” Xiao Yao sighed “Even if I have a bit of stirring, I do my best to rein it in.”

The Yellow Emperor said “The question you just asked me, there is actually an answer and you know what it is. If he picked another woman, that means you are not his first choice. If he chose to be the enemy of Zhuan Xu or myself, then it means you are not most important to him and he can give you up.”

Xiao Yao’s heart was jumbled and she sat with her arms around her knees and stared at the mulberry forest.

The Yellow Emperor said “Actually you think too much. People need to pretend to be clueless sometimes. If you pick the right person, treat him well and it’s not hard to grow old together.”

Xiao Yao mulled over what he said and after a few minutes smiled ruefully “I understand what grandfather is trying to say but I’m already this way. If I can’t find the kind of man I want, then I rather not marry and take in some orphans and live my life.”

Although XY was soft-hearted to most of people around her, her mind was rational, a bit selfish. As the time in QS town, she knew XL's loyalty to Gong Gong army. She also sympathized their righteousness. In her mind, she herself believed XL would never leave Gong Gong army and his fate attached to Shennong resistance army which would be perished one day. She knew it from day 1 when they first met each other. 

"Xiao Yao’s face was ashen white but she kept muttering the same lie over and over “I’m fine! I was already prepared…..when I first met him I knew this day would come! I always knew!

.... Xiao Yao murmured “Even though I always reminded myself that he was Zhuan Xu’s enemy, but I…..I was not prepared for this! I really wish it was all a lie…..he’s so sneaky, he must’ve found a way to stay alive!” " (Chapter 51)

XL didn't meet her prerequisite requirement. Therefore, in her mind she had never considered XL as candidate for her lifetime companion.  She was afraid of letting him in her dream. Jing/YSQ was always beside her. Thank to her rational mind, she knew Jing/YSQ is a safer choice. 

Didn't XL give her chances? In my opinion, XL gave her time and chances many times. 

1. The first time is when he came to see her as Princess of Haoling. She said he was not suitable to enter girl's dream, it was even worse than death. After that, did XL really give up? No. He tried to show her another side of him as FFB. That was his initiative. 

2. Although XY hang out well with FFB, felt some familiarity with XL, she did not fall in love with FFB. Later FFB revealed his true identity and companied her as kind of Fang Fang Liu. XY was always clear that she preferred him as FFB. However, she avoided thinking of a FFB with armor, duty, loyalty, righteousness, she hated Gong gong because  in her mind XL was not free due to Gon Gong. She didn't give him any chance. During 37 year under the sea, XL did millions of  stuffs for her. She knew all what he did. A normal person should understand that when a man treats a woman like that; it is just because he loves that person. XL woke her up before Jing could have died. He used drastic way, scarified his health (I don't know if he lost a live due to it). He wanted to give her the chance to make choice. Jing had asked her not to let any men into her heart before. But XL was not that selfish. He let her choose. That is why he was not there to meet her when she woke up. What did she do? Cried on Furball and then jump to Jing's bed. She vented her love to him with treating Jing the way XL did to her. How did he feel? If I was him, I would feel very disappointed and bitter, I would quit. I don't know if at that moment he already made decision to step aside. Maybe 70-80% out. 

3. The marriage robbery: Before the marriage with FL, she sent the ice crystal ball. I think there were a lot of discussion about her willingness, intention with this action on this site. In my opinion, the ball together with the message is a kind of invitation, testing him if he could come, if he could take the first step. But the one who makes the first step usually has to compromise more. That also means she still wanted to know if he could place her as top priority. Her action also reflected the "gain and loss" scare. I think XL was about to quit before he came to rob her. He killed his FFB identity. She ignored him the whole time during QS town. He offered her the last chance when he asked her the third question of "who she wanted as lifetime accompany". She refused to answer. 

Should he had to show his love, confessed to her that how much he love her? If he had done so, he pushed her in difficult situation: she has to choose between him and her family or she first had to compromise her wish. XL himself understood her very well. Without the Lovers' bug he already understood her, her wish. And with the lovers' bug he could even catch her thought, her feeling more clearly. Deep down inside him, he knew that XY was never ready to choose him. But he still wanted to help her fulfill her wish, protect her. He could only do it when he covered his manner with transactions, with ambiguity. 

Yellow Emperor gave her very wise advice that "People need to pretend to be clueless sometimes. If you pick the right person, treat him well and it’s not hard to grow old together". What if XY had tried to directly express her thought? Their ending might have been different. XL might have made different choice for his ending. As XY said "he was sneaky". So, he could find a solution that he could fight along Shennong army till the end but spare a live for her. 

 HeadInTheClouds:

Hey now, I said the biggest obstacle. I didn't say it was the only obstacle ;-)

Obstacles, obstacles. That's like a byword for Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao's relationship.

 HeadInTheClouds:

But this time around, what I find utterly frustrating about XY is her dithering and denial.

It took Xiang Liu's death for her to finally break free from the cage that she had found herself in, leaving for the one place where Cang Xuan has no power over - the ocean and the many uncharted islands there.

 HeadInTheClouds:

I was like this. Now, I'm probably one of the few who is more than OK with the way things ended in the novel. Reading how Tong Hua described his character gave me the sense that death was the inevitable outcome for him. That leak script is another story ?.

I waver. While I mourn his death, for the most part, I have slowly accepted that it was what he wanted, for the woman he loves, for the brothers-in-arms he would never abandon, and for himself. Nonetheless, all this going back to analyse the details often puts me in a state of melancholy again. Just not too long ago, I thought of him fighting that last battle alone while she was getting married, and that did not help. I really hope S2 airs and gives me some form of closure, one way or another. Or it might make me poke my eyes out. Whatever.

 H19279:

Honestly, I don't like FFB's outfit. I just think the costume designers tried too much to make his outfit contradictory to XL's white outfit. In the novel, many times FFB wore white outfit. The costume designers seemed to be afraid that other characters or audience could easily recognize him as XL if they gave him white clothes. Therefore, instead of white, pastel colors (with pale pink trousers for example) were used for some FFB's outfits. And the red-wine color outfit with flowers pattern on the shoulders is the one I dislike most. However, FFB on drama wore it so often. Yes, FFB was regarded as prodigal (by outsider), he was calm and cold inside, too. He said he  had always been himself for the last 400 years. 9-Lives, XL or FFB was just name. 

I like FFB's costumes a lot but I can get that they're not easy to be liked.

I think that the costume department had many challenges. They had to make charismatic clothes for no less than 5 love interests/male main leads (I count FFB and XL as 2) meaning to dress them without discriminating on the prestige of each.

For FFB, they indeed had to make contrasting costumes with XL so that people in Dahuang don't find out about him and simultaneously, so as to confuse drama viewers. FFB is XL's alter-ego: for the others, he is his disguise ; for himself, he is his "off-work/off-war" identity.

But the catch is that FFB is a lot more to XL than him just cosplaying: FFB is the identity XL longs for and XL's guilty pleasure. What XL can be if he is unrestrained. So, FFB isn't all an act. XL stays nonetheless true to himself. XL just conveniently indulges in FFB persona. That's also XL's strategist's genius in action: mixing up the true and the false ends up giving him the seamless cover-up ever.

Other challenges for the costume department: how to reflect FFB's attitude and personality with the help of clothing?

Time to quote excerpts to help us embrace FFB's personality and try to grasp a portrait of this mysterious man (TD;LR I sum up my thoughts below the exerpts):

On FFB's statut among the Fang Feng Clan:

Fang Feng Bei’s life was exactly that of a second son in a large family, living an ordinary life. He was good at learning the spiritual powers, but because his brother and sister were even better and they were born of the first wife, no matter how hard he worked his brother and sister were always more prominent. Because he was so bitter, he ended up with a gambling addiction.

Around four hundred and eighty years ago, the teenage Fang Feng Bei ran away from home to earn money to repay his gambling debts. He went to the North Pole to look for ice crystals. He was gone for almost fifty years, which wasn’t a very long time to be away from home for the Gods, but because he went to a place that was dangerous beyond comprehension, his family assumed he died there. Who could have expected he would suddenly return home with lots of ice crystals. One would call it returning in glory.

Xiao Yao felt those nearly fifty years was very suspicious. During that length of time missing, even if Fang Feng Bei returned changed people would assume he had endured great hardship in the North Pole and accept his growing up. But what made him accepted as the same guy was that he spent the next four years diligently taking care of his sick mother to the degree that was astounding, from feeding her every meal and medicine to sitting beside her every day. Even now four hundred years later, if people in the know were asked about Fang Feng Bei, they would still say very proudly “Bei is very filial.”

After his mom died shortly after he returned, in those four hundred years since he lived the perfect life of a rich family spare son and dissolute playboy. He wasn’t greatly used by the family and he also didn’t have a lot of money, but he was very easygoing and loved to spend money, so he would do all sorts of random things to earn his keep. He would disappear for chunks of time from months to even years, and his friends and family all got used to it.

Because Fang Feng Bei’s personality was very relaxed and didn’t like to fight for anything, his relationship with his brother Fang Feng Zheng and his sister Fang Feng Yi Yang was very cordial.

--

Zhuan Xu paused and said “Fang Feng Bei is concubine born and he has no real power in the Fang Feng family. You can play with him but…..don’t end things with Jing yet. I need him right now.”

--

Fang Feng Bei smacked her upside the head “Even if you’re not scared of offending the Li Jie tribe, I sure am.”

[...]

Bei wearily shook his head and quickly walked inside “Stay away from me! I don’t want to get beaten up as well when you get walloped!”

[...]

Fang Feng Bei used his finger to pinch her “doggie mouth” shut and begged “Little lady princess, stop causing a scene!”

--

"Zhuan Xu said “The second son of the family. The Fang Feng clan is very adept at concealment, and paired with their archery skills, that is why they are famous throughout the land. How did you know Fang Feng Bei was there?”"

--

"She saw the man from the dance hall who looked a lot like Xiang Liu, he was casually sitting on the pallet with his back to the pole, surrounded by flowers and hidden in the shadows, almost impossible to notice him."

FFB's reputation:

Every few days she would go find Fang Feng Bei to practice archery and afterwards head to the city of Zhi Yi and Zhe Province to play. Fang Feng Bei lived up to his reputation as a consummate ne’er-do-well playboy for the last four hundred years, he knew Zhi Yi and Zhe Province like the back of his hand. Whatever nook and cranny had something fun, he could find it, whatever was tasty, he would find it. The two of them were each other’s companion as they enjoyed life’s endless pleasures.

--

Even Zhuan Xu teased her “I just got you back and want you around a few more years. Don’t get lured off by that Fang Feng family playboy."

--

Everyone was stunned, no one could believe that a lowly born son of the Fang Feng family would dare interfere with the wedding of the Chi Sui clan leader. Chi Sui Zhen Tian thundered in rage “Guards! Drag this rude bastard away and hold him! Afterwards I’m going to ask Fang Feng Xiao Guai how he raised his son?”

--

Ah Nian excitedly said “Then what is your relationship with that Fang Feng Bei who stormed the wedding so dramatically? Everyone said you two already got it on before, when you guys were in Xuan Yuan Castle there was all this flirting and you guys hooked up then.”

[...]

Ah Nian got even more into it “The maids all say that the Xuan Yuan guards killed Fang Feng Bei and you were so devastated that you fought with the Black Emperor and ran back to Five Gods Mountain. They all say you collected all the rare ingredients and worked so hard to make a pill to bring him back to life and save Fang Feng Bei. They all say that Fang Feng Bei’s body was never found because you hid it…..”

Xiao Yao’s mouth dropped open “That’s the rumor going around?”

--

Xiao Yao was speechless – this guy’s personality was diametrically opposite to his little sister, he was so blatant it was refreshing “I hear your entire family are crack archers?”

Compared to the other men:

"Jing was taken aback, compared to Fang Feng Bei’s dashing charm, he really was too dull and staid."

--

"Zhuan Xu continued “Xiao Yao, I thought that I could wait, I could wait as long as it takes for you turn around and see me. But the more I wait the more I lose hope, I’m so afraid you’ll never look back, or when you look back you’ll see someone else who isn’t me! You can see Feng Long wanting to marry you, you can see Jing being good to you, you can see how charming and interesting Fang Feng Bei is, but in your eyes you see me arranging for you to date other men, agreeing for you to marry other men, and even doing so with a smile on my face. I did it not just once, but twice……..”

--

Xiao Yao couldn’t help but admit that Hou was a very attractive man. He was handsome, strong, hardworking, interesting, serious when working but carefree when playing. His carefree was different than Fang Feng Bei’s similar attitude. Fang Feng Bei really didn’t care about anything so he wanted nothing. Hou’s passion was because he wanted to dominate it all. His daring was not the same fearless as Fang Feng Bei who really wasn’t afraid of anything. Hou’s adventurous spirit was only within the confines of what he felt he could handle. He wanted the thrill but also protected his life. He was likely exactly the kind of man Fang Feng Yi Yang wanted. His ambition could fulfill a woman’s lifetime wants and his adventurous spirit could give her endless thrills but nothing that was life threatening.

--

Zhuan Xu was confused now – Tu Shan Jing was engaged, Fang Feng Bei was a profligate spare son, compared to both guys Feng Long was so much better. He was powerful and talented with a great family background. Yet Xiao Yas would rather spend all her time with Fang Feng Bei wandering the desolate mountainside looking at wild flowers instead of going with Feng Long to regal Sheng Nong mountain to view the famed peonies.

Compared to XL and what FFB means to XL:

The dancers at the dance halls were performers and not prostitutes so the dancer was pissed, but the second she saw the man’s face her face turned red and she docilely followed the man upstairs. The man laughed and put his arms around her to lead her up the stairs and Xiao Yao felt the man looked familiar. Due to the angle and the curtains, she didn’t get a good look at his face until he was on the second floor and Xiao Yao saw his face fully. Her heart thundered and her mouth gaped open – he looked just like Xiang Liu! But he was wearing fine clothes and his hair was pitch black, and there was mirth in his eyes that was nothing like the normally icy cold Xiang Liu.

--

"Every detail pointed to Fang Feng Bei was not Xiang Liu. He was the son of a powerful family so lots of people would have known him since birth and there was no way for Xiang Liu to impersonate him. But Xiao Yao felt he was familiar but her mind couldn’t rationalize that feeling of familiarity. She couldn’t explain it either, her body just instinctively felt it."

--

The man was wearing a mask and silently staring at Xiao Yao,

Her body tensed and her instinct told her this man was someone she knew well. She reached out, and the man didn’t stop her, and she slowly took off his mask. It was Fang Feng Bei.

--

But why? What was Xiang Liu trying to get out of it? Fang Feng family was prominent enough but he could have impersonated a son from an even more powerful family. Plus Fang Feng Bei was concubine born so he had no influence in the Fang Feng family. If Xiang Liu wanted anything, he would have chosen better.

Xiao Yao mulled it over for a long time but couldn’t figure out Xiang Liu’s reason for doing it. This was a pretense that wasn’t just for a year or two, he was already Fang Feng Bei before she was even born. Xiao Yao gave up trying to figure it out.

---

Fang Feng Bei smiled coldly with scorn “To fulfill my promise I put on a show for four years. But in the four hundred years since, I’ve just been myself. Which one of your eyes saw me continuing to pretend to be Fang Feng Bei? Regardless of whether it’s Fang Feng Bei, or Xiang Liu, or Nine-lives, it’s just a name.”

He’s right! The adolescent Fang Feng Bei was vastly different than the adult Fang Feng Bei, but with so long passed everyone had long forgotten what Fang Feng Bei used to be like. Xiao Yao thought back and realized that Fang Feng Bei appeared different than Xiang Liu only on the surface, but the way he didn’t give a damn about anything and didn’t want for anything was the same attitude. The only difference was Xiang Liu appeared to be him when wearing a battle armor and heading to war in the battlefield, while Fang Feng Bei was him who shed the armor and was enjoying exploring the world.

Fang Feng Bei mocked her “You’ve changed identities way more than me. Are all of them play-acting for you?”

Xiao Yao shook her head “No matter how I change, I am still me. Except I’m not as able to let things go like you are, and some things still matter to me.”

Xiao Yao stared at Xiang Liu and gingerly asked “Is this….your real face?”

“Who has the patience to wear a fake face for four hundred years. And every time I change I’ll need to worry about changing back wrong.”

--

Xiao Yao sighed. If what she suspected was true, the real Fang Feng Bei died over four hundred years ago and no one knows the current one is fake. Because Xiang Liu had been living as Fang Feng Bei for over four hundred years, even if he was fake initially over time he was accepted as the real one – so the Fang Feng Bei everyone has known in his entire adult life has always been Xiang Liu.

--

Xiao Yao sighed “Too bad you’re not a real useless playboy.”

--

[Jing] never even mentioned that Fang Feng Bei looked just like Xiang Liu

--

Jing slowly said “That night…..I felt that Fang Feng Bei was Xiang Liu.”

--

Xiang Liu smiled “People think it’s just a weird quirk that I wear white all the time. But it’s actually just a habit gleaned from survival. In the North Pole, white is the color that is best for concealment.”

FFB's attitude on life and activities:

"Xiao Yao was confused and didn’t know what Fang Feng Bei was thinking. She thought he taught her archery as an excuse to get close to her. She thought him taking her out to play was a technique to get into a woman’s heart. But he was very serious when he taught her and every time Xiao Yao was learning archery she really respected him as her teacher.

When they were out playing, it was like the two of them was just enjoying life. Two people who didn’t care about anything, who was willing to try everything, became partners venturing out into the dizzying world. Many things in life, it feels different doing it alone or with a companion. Dining, no matter how delicious, just doesn’t taste as good alone. Xiao Yao believed Fang Feng Bei also understood how she felt which is why he never hesitated and introduced her to everything he could think of and then took her to experience it.

Xiao Yao sometimes felt Fang Feng Bei was like a child who was lonely for too long. He had played with too many toys alone and it was no longer interesting. Now he had a companion, he couldn’t wait to take her to play, to experience what he tried. It appeared just casual but was in truth very sincere."

--

"After Xiao Yao hung out with Fang Feng Bei was when she truly learned what it meant to eat, drink, and be merry. She discovered Xuan Yuan Castle anew, so many places hidden in the small alleys that even her cousins didn’t know, Fang Feng Bei knew.

He was like an expert taking Xiao Yao along to eat, drink, and be merry."

--

In Xuan Yuan Castle, he was the dissolute playboy Fang Feng Bei, he was gentle and considerate, fun loving yet diligently and patiently taught her ten plus years of archery.

--

Fang Feng Bei was an old hand and took Xiao Yao to gamble at the tables. Xiao Yao always felt gambling and hard drinking was good stuff, able to numb a person’s heart so that no matter how unpleasant life was, a few cups of strong alcohol and the gambling table and everything was temporarily forgotten.

--

Fang Feng Bei took Xiao Yao to the dice table first and she spent five years in a casino before so she kept on winning as did Fang Feng Bei, though both knew when to stop and not upset the house.

They went to watch the slave fights and used their winnings to wager.

Fang Feng Bei said nothing and Xiao Yao said “Can you go find your play buddies? Why come to me?”

--

During the two years, the two of them were each other’s companion exploring every nook and cranny of Xuan Yuan Castle. He sometimes disappeared, and then would show up again, always with a whatever attitude. Xiao Yao felt like the two of them could have kept playing together like this for forever and an eternity. Because the two of them were just too similar – they didn’t care about anything, willing to try everything, interested in all, and whatever could make them smile. They appreciated all that was beautiful, but wanted to own none of it. Their life balanced precariously between darkness and light, if they chose light then behind them was thousands of miles of desolation, if they chose darkness then behind them was thousands of miles of glittering luxury. But even if they faced the light, they still had one step in the darkness so their light wasn’t completely pure but instead came from never forgetting all the pain they experienced before. The pain followed them forever which is why they were so strong, so brave, so independent, so cold, so no matter what happened, they knew they could keep on living.

--

Fang Feng Bei laughed “I may be shameless but taking you to a dance hall in broad daylight in public makes even me feel sheepish.”

FFB's physical description and demeanor:

"Fang Feng Bei dropped Xiao Yao off at Zhuan Xu’s residence “See you tomorrow.” Xiao Yao watched him ride off on his winged horse like a carefree rich boy sauntering down the street."

--

"Fang Feng Bei was riding a winged horse through the crowds, his expression gentle with a smile on his lips, just like any regular son of a rich family."

--

"Fang Feng Bei, wearing a white embroidered robe, was standing there with a lazy smile."

--

Everyone turned their heads and saw Fang Feng Bei dress all in white walking in from outside calling out in a strong voice “Xiao Yao, don’t marry him.”

--

"Bei was leaning against a pole and lazily drawled “You will never be able to learn that skill.”

--

Fang Feng Bei rested against the window staring out at the courtyard view while drinking wine.

--

Bei glanced over it and drawled “What’s that?”

[...]

Bei was still uninterested and continued drinking his wine and watching the dancer dancing.

--

Fang Feng Bei chuckled “All the things I came to do in Xuan Yuan Castle can’t see the light of day and has to wait until night. I really am supremely bored during the day.”

Xiao Yao was speechless – this guy’s personality was diametrically opposite to his little sister, he was so blatant it was refreshing

--

Fang Feng Bei smiled, picked up the wine and downed it, then lazily bowed to everyone “I’ll do some magic!”

--

Xiao Yao stared at him while he smiled down at her. She said nothing and he appeared to have no intention of speaking either.

--

Fang Feng Bei smiled as he walked over “Delivering something?”

--

Fang Feng Bei smiled and really made no move to introduce Xiao Yao.

--

Fang Feng Bei smiled “Wherever you want to do, we can go.”

--

So, to sum up FFB's personality in a few words: playboy, charming, dissolute, carefree, easygoing, lazy, smiling. 

What do these qualifiers imply? 

FFB is a dashing, suave and pleasure-seeker young master. He enjoys good food and wine, beautiful ladies, adventures and entertainment, especially gambling in underground casinos and watching dancers in dance halls. He appeals to women and is despised and envied by other men. Second eldest son of a rich family, he appears unambitious and without responsibilities. Yet, he is not a burden to his family: he accept odd jobs as he sees fit and squanders his own money. People pleaser, he is good company and has many buddies. FFB's non-threatening personality doesn't draw attention to himself and enables XL to enjoy the benefits of membership of a powerful clan. XL has to maintain this lifestyle to live up to this reputation. But it's not a chore and he does it effortlessly because it's a part of who he really is under his armor. To spice up things a little more FFB has himself 2 personas: the playboy and the killer on demand.

So, how do you translate this type of personality with clothing ?

• Fang Feng Bei is a bold playboy and girls like him > he ought to pay close attention to his clothes and dress with style, elegance and flair in order to romanticize women. He may stands out from the other men in order to nurture his reputation
• Fang Feng Bei is a smiling pleasure-seeker and he likes beauty > his sensuality and optimist outlook on life should be reflected in the way he dresses and the colors he wears 
• Fang Feng Bei is a gambler and has an irregular income despite being from a wealthy family, he is both spendthrift and not materialistic > he may not always be dressed richly
• Fang Feng Bei has no political ambitions > he doesn't have to conform to a particular way of dressing, and doesn't have to restrain himself to appear dignified and thrifty
• Fang Feng Bei is an accomplished archer and rider and a contract killer > he has to punctually dress for the part (discreet and practical)
• Fang Feng Bei is disguised as the opposite of Xang Liu but XL is a part of FFB > the tricky one: he can wear the tradermarked white, but not too much, so as not to risk the connection being made between the two (even if the risk is very low, he can't possibly dress himself the same way as XL). The fact is, as FFB, XL is not recognizable to the "naked eye", and those who know XL rely on his face and their intuition to recognize him, not really on his looks and the way he dresses.  

Which colors and patterns are best suited to FFB's wardrobe?

In the novel, apart from occasionnal white, we don't have informations on the colors FFB might like and wear.

In contrast,  in the novel, we know that XL is dressed all in white, symbolizing his purity and cleanliness, his untouchable out-of-the world aura ("no joy, no sorrow") and his attachment to the snows of the North Pole. He wears a jasper/jade green rope on his forehead, a color that also symbolises purity. We know that he is poor and not materialistic. Drama's XL wears also shades of grey/silver/metalic grey, and touches of light blue and red. For the patterns: cloud pattern (祥云 - a symbol of the celestial realm for our otherworldy lord), lace... He wears imposing outfits that have both martial and romantic tones.

Back to drama's FFB: he wears different shades of pink, purple, burgundy, white, gold ornements., cloud pattern and lots and lots of flowers embroideries. Pink is a shade of red. As such, it symbolizes joy, happiness and love. I like to think that FFB's outfits make him a living and vibrant love letter to Xiao Yao. We saw FFB giving actual flowers to XY (a yellow bud, a white daisy) several times and XY giving him flowers shaped poisons. It's like a silent, unspoken love dialogue between them (should we speak of a visual "gray line of grass and snakes" ;) ?).

I read somewhere on Twitter that the iconic white flowers embroidered is FFB's nod to XY to reminisce their date under the ocean. I don't know how much weight to give this analysis, but I like it. It's in the same vein as the wine bottle easter egg that XL has taken from WXL and has shown to XY decennies later.

Pink seems also to be a color related to women and by extension, to a womanizer behavior. I remember when I first saw FFB's costume, I immediately thought of another playboy: Jiang Xuan Yu from Unique Lady. 

I'm not a costume specialist, as you can see, but I really enjoy analyzing the costumes in a drama. And for me, the costume department of LYF achieved an astonishing result with XL and FFB's costumes. Each of these costumes tells a story and reflects XL and FFB's personalities and reveals their true feelings.

If you're interested to learn more, I also found an official chart on MDL detailing XL and FFB's wardrobe.