Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 Taspia:

Thanks a million for [email protected] 

Not a problem. Hopefully it helps.

 H19279:

@Liddi,

That is based on her not even knowing the full extent of what he really did for her. If she ever found the crystal globe tucked away inside the big-bellied doll, how much more pain will she have to endure. And something Xiang Liu tried his best to shield her from, so as to minimise her grief.

i hope when she settled down, she would felt curious and wonder why a low spiritual power person like her could play with the big belly doll comfortably.  Fuxang wood had strong fire nature. There must be water element somewhere to balance, inhibit the fire element of Fu xang wood

That's cruel H19279 :-). Without knowing everything, Xiao Yao already suffers from eternal yearning and regrets. How will she cope if she finds out the truth? Will it bring relief or will it cause her more grief and heartache? 

Come to think of it, Xiao Yao is a master of willful ignorance and self-deception, does she truly not know that the doll comes from Xiang Liu? Ah Bi dressed the doll in a bib with the symbol for Liu, did she not pick up that detail?

 liddi:

Thank you very much for sharing the parallels of Zhen Shi Yin's family in Dream of the Red Chamber. The same "snake in the grass, lines on dust" technique, also referenced in the introduction to Lost You Forever, is confirmation that there is more to the story than meets the naked eye.

You're welcome. I'm happy that we have another piece of confirmation that we're not barking up the wrong tree :-)

Speaking of names and their potential hidden meaning. Some observations about Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao's names that point to them being a pair:

-Xiang Liu and Xiao Liu; similar sounds 

-Jiu yao (Xiao Yao's official name) and jiu tou yao (9 heads demon) - sound similar. Jiu in both their names refers to 9; which also has the implication of meaning forever.

-Xiao Yao is represented by the peach blossom (her name and the blossom mark on her forehead); while Liu is the willow. Peach blossoms and willow are tied together through the term "red peach blossom, green willow" to denote the beauty of spring.

 liddi:

Please don't worry about that - any time I have spent here is time I personally enjoy. The great company and interesting discussions plays a massive role in that enjoyment - thank you all so much.

That's good. After so many translations, I'm glad it hasn't turned into work yet!

 liddi:

My problem is with the inability to move on yet. It's wild how I still get sad as I revisit certain scenes, or view them from a different angle thanks to the ideas presented here. 

Moving on doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing. You can spend some time away from LYF on other good dramas or with your kids over the holidays, and it will still be there if you want to revisit it later. Nothing wrong with still being moved by the more poignant scenes IMO. But hopefully a little more time and distance will make the pain less raw. 

 liddi:

In the event that you decide to share another fic with us, you can definitely be sure of an appreciative audience here too.

<3

 liddi:

In the meantime, let us hold our collective breaths - it's a shame we don't have a nine-headed demon to pass air to us when we are blue in the face!

LOL!

 HeadInTheClouds:

-Jiu yao (Xiao Yao's official name) and jiu tou yao (9 heads demon) - sound similar. Jiu in both their names refers to 9; which also has the implication of meaning forever.

Actually that's a good point.

The 玖 jiǔ in her name 玖瑶 Jiu Yao can either mean a beautiful black stone that is similar to jade, or it is another way to write the word "nine". The pronunciation is also the same as 九 jiǔ in Nine-headed Demon. And yes, the number 9 carries the meaning of long-lasting or forever.

Some similarity about the scenery in chapter 13 (when XY met XL in the sea) and chapter 46 (XY met XL in the gourd shaped lake

Scenery of these two events are very similar. It started when the moon was bright, shining on the water surface. 

The moment that XL approached XY, he both had a certain of joy seeing her. In chapter 13, it was the first time he saw her in the form of girl, falling toward him like a butterfly, an unique dance only for him. While in chapter 46, althought she had hatred on him because he almost killed CX, she could not killed him because of her feeling for him which made him joyful in his heart. 

the closing stage of both even, the moon was obscured, the sky was dark. They were the fullmoon, bright moonlight of each other. In chapter 46, XY swore not to see him in life anymore. She stepped out of his life. The moonlight was gone, reflecting in his eyes. And in chapter 13, that moment when XL looked at the black sky, the moon seemed to be obscured. Does it imply that for XL the moon of WXL had gone. He realized that WXL didn't exist in life anymore. 

 Kokuto:

They both tried to reassure / comfort each other when their true forms were revealed.  XY when he had to revert to his 9 headed form to save them underwater.  XL when XY learned about her true father.

Ooh yes. Good observation. And their positions were both foreshadowed earlier in the novel. 

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Chapter 7:

“Who let me have nine-heads? Of course it gets complicated and contradictory.”

Xiao Liu couldn’t help but laugh out loud and almost swallowed water and quickly grabbed Xiang Liu’s arm. “You…..you….didn’t you say you hate people mentioning you are a nine-headed demon? The nine-heads is your big sore spot. If anyone mentioned it, you would kill them.”

“You’re still alive.”

Xiao Liu mumbled, “For now….”

“What I loathe is that when they discuss me, they look down on me as strange and weird. I let you discuss it because…” Xiang Liu turned to the side and propped his arm under his head and looked at Xiao Liu “...you may laugh at me, but deep down inside you don’t think a nine-headed demon is strange.”

Xiao Liu smiled. “That’s because I used to be even more weird than you.”

“So you hid in the mountains and refused to see anyone?”

“Yup.”

Xiang Liu lightly stroked Xiao Liu’s head and Xiao Liu stared in shock back at Xiang Liu. “Is this considered having a heart-to-heart under the moonlight?”

Xiang Liu replied, “Until the next time you anger me, then yes.”

Xiao Liu sighed. “Peaceful times are short, just like happiness is momentary. Flowers bloom and wilt, the moon waxes and wanes. But the beauty in life is merely this.”

Xiang Liu snarked, “Who said once that even the most beautiful view would grow old with time?” Xiao Liu smiled and said nothing. It was sunrise by the time Xiao Liu got home soaking wet.

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Chapter 43:

“I told you not to open your eyes.” Xiang Liu’s icy cold voice rang out.

Xiao Yao opened her eyes and saw that they were now on a deserted island. Xiang Liu’s clothes were torn and messy, and his face and neck were covered in injuries.

Xiao Yao forced a smile and tried to act nonchalant. “I was just curious what your nine heads looked like.”

“Now you know!” Xiang Liu turned to leave.

“Xiang Liu……Xiang Liu…..” Seeing him about to disappear, Xiao Yao was so anxious she threw herself at him, and Xiang Liu didn’t manage to avoid her and was instead hugged straight on by Xiao Yao. Plus he couldn’t even stand up still and fell down on the sand taking Xiao Yao with him.

Xiao Yao worriedly asked “The injuries are severe, for real?”

Xiang Liu tried hard to push Xiao Yao away to swim off with the receding tide.

Xiao Yao grabbed him and twined herself completely around him, using all her strength so that he couldn’t leave. “I was wrong! I promised to close my eyes and not look but I welshed on my promise and secretly opened my eyes! I just……..just…….I admit it was my pathetic curiosity! I wanted to know what you really looked like. I was wrong! I was wrong……..”

The waves crashed on the beach with a roar and retreated with a howl, the two of them were covered by the waves and emerged again and again so Xiao Yao’s voice was sometimes audible and other times muffled. It wasn’t clear how much Xiang Liu heard but it was clear he wasn’t going to accept her apology as he continued over and over to push her off him.

He managed to shove her off once more and Xiao Yao got so frantic she hooked her arms around his legs and jumped up to pounce on him, using her body to tightly grab him and pull him down again. Xiang Liu had no strength left to push Xiao Yao off but he was like a terribly stubborn child and continued to wriggle under her.

The water around them was seeped with red, clearly Xiang Liu’s injuries were bleeding and Xiao Yao begged, “I’m wrong! I’m really wrong! If you want to hit me or punish me, whatever you want is fine! Just please stop moving around!”

Xiang Liu said, “Let go!”

“No! Not until you first promise me not to leave!”

Xiang Liu was furious and his fangs bared. “Don’t push me to eat you!”

“If you want to eat me then eat me!”

Xiang Liu jerked Xiao Yao into his arms and bit down on her neck in one move. Xiao Yao’s body shivered and then she fell slack, docilely nestled into Xiang Liu to accommodate him.

Injured Xiang Liu was like a dying of thirst traveler in the desert encountering an oasis, drinking up her blood in big gulps. Xiao Yao rested her head on his neck and closed her eyes, feeling only the rising and falling of the tides around her.

It wasn’t clear how much time passed when Xiang Liu stopped drinking her blood. Xiao Yao drowsily opened her eyes. “You can drink more, I’m fine.”

Xiang Liu raised his head to look up at the star-filled sky and the hazy moonlight. “Aren’t you scared one whit? You should know a demon is a demon. When gravely injured, a demon will lose control and revert to basic instinct. I could have sucked you dry!”

Xiao Yao softly touched the corner of his lips with a trace of blood on it and tenderly said, “You’re the one who is scared!”

Xiang Liu scoffed “I’m scared?”

“I saw your demon form, and it wasn’t hideous at all! And you didn’t suck me dry either!” Xiang Liu stared darkly at Xiao Yao and she got up her courage to continue. “Your form is larger than me……uhm, okay! So it’s not just larger, it’s much much bigger……and you have more heads than I do, just eight more only…..but the laws of nature didn’t say that a one-headed type like me is the norm, right? It just so happens that us one-headed types are the majority, if nine-headed types like you were the majority, I would feel self-conscious that I only have one head.”

“You have so much energy, clearly I should suck some more of your blood!” Xiang Liu’s expression was still dark, but when he leaned down to bite Xiao Yao’s neck and began sucking, Xiao Yao felt only a frisson of excitement and tingling, with no feeling of pain.

Xiao Yao said, “Hey! Hey! I was just being polite just now. And you’re really sucking again? A demon really is a demon…” And with that Xiao Yao fell asleep and finally stopped talking.

Xiang Liu stopped drinking and lifted his head to stare quietly at the sleeping Xiao Yao in his arms.

-----

Chapter 18:

Xiao Yao asked, “Who was that just staring at me?”

A young man staring at a beautiful young woman was nothing strange so everyone laughed and Xing Yue said, “That is one of my Mu family cousins. The Mu family was once a very prominent family but due to a dispute with Qi Yo, he destroyed the entire tribe and the only one to survive was him.”

Feng Long added, “The entire families Qi Yo wiped out wasn’t just the Mu family, plenty of families in the Middle Plains hate Qi Yo. Even though Qi Yo was a Great General of the Sheng Nong Kingdom, his death was celebrated by almost every tribe in the Middle Plains.”

Xing Yue said, “No wonder so many hate him, Qi Yo that big devil killed too many people!”

Fang Feng Bei suddenly interrupted. “The entire world can curse and hate Qi Yo, but no member of the Sheng Nong family can ever berate him.”

Xing Yue was very unhappy to be chastised and glared at Bei who just leaned back lazily on the pallet and calmly said, “If you don’t believe me, go ask your dad.”

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Chapter 35:

Xiao Yao opened her mouth to scream in pain, but no sound came out. The utmost pain mixed with her suppression caused her entire body to quake. “Old uncle, everyone hates him, everyone hates him! I also hate him…..but I just want to hear one person who didn’t hate him tell me about him. Tell me that I shouldn’t hate him. I want to know what kind of person he was….. Old uncle, no matter where I go everyone curses him and you’re likely the only person in the world who doesn’t curse him. But now you’re gone as well…… I hate him! I hate him……..”

Xiao Yao kept repeating, “I hate him” – she hated Qi Yo for bringing such shame to her mom and her. She hated that he never once gave her a father’s care and love. She hated even more that they abandoned her. If they didn’t want her, why give birth to her?

But coming here tonight, she didn’t want to say, “I hate him”, she desperately wanted someone to give her a reason not to hate, a reason so she could candidly face the world cursing and spitting upon her.

But, the last person was also gone! All she knew about her dad was the world’s curses!

In her teary eyes, Xiao Yao saw a shape appear from the corner of the dark room. Xiao Yao immediately used her arms to cover her face and wipe away her tears.

“Who are you? Why are you hiding there?” Xiao Yao’s voice was scratchy but she was already calm.

The shadow didn’t speak, but also didn’t leave. Instead it walked over to the pallet.

Xiao Yao didn’t raise her head, but clearly felt it. The other heart was walking towards her and beating with her heart. “Xiang Liu!”

Xiao Yao lifted her head and saw Xiang Liu dressed all in black with a black cloak covering him, wrapping his entire form snugly in pure black. He seemed like an imposing but ordinary person, until the slight gap in his hood showed a few white hairs.

Xiao Yao suddenly realized he saw her earlier crying and loss of composure and felt very awkward so she coldly asked, “Why are you hiding here? To see something you can mock?”

Xiang Liu said, “Be reasonable, okay? I came to pay my respects to a departed old friend and you suddenly barged in. It’s you who interrupted me. Furthermore, what is there about you that is worth mocking?”

“Didn’t General Xiang Liu hear that I’m the bastard daughter of Qi Yo?”

Xiang Liu laughed and his cold expression softened a bit. “So it’s that business! What’s so mock-worthy about that? Tell me.”

Xiao Yao angrily glared at Xiang Liu but with her cheeks still streaked with tears this glare was totally weak.

Xiang Liu sat down beside her and laughed. “Looks like the rumors are true, you really are the dear daughter of the Great General Qi Yo.”

“Shut up!” Xiao Yao lowered her head to ignore him.

“Suddenly changing a dad, and into one that is reviled by the entire world, that would indeed be hard to accept.”

“Shut up!”

“You might not know anything about Qi Yo, but you know your mom. Since she chose him, you ought to trust her taste.”

“I said to shut up!”

“No matter what, you know who your parents are and that’s better off than me. I’m a demon that came out of an egg. I have no idea who my parents are.”

Xiao Yao raised her head to look at Xiang Liu, trying to ascertain whether he was telling the truth. Xiang Liu earnestly said, “You know I have nine heads and at most I eat more than others. Since I was small, I scrounged around for food and my days were awful. I’d get beaten and chased and almost killed. My nine heads would sometimes fight with each other. One time I was so hungry one head almost ate another head…”

Xiao Yao’s eyes widened into saucers. “Really?”

“Of course not!”

“You——–” Xiao Yao was so exasperated she almost expired on the spot.

Xiang Liu kept on talking earnestly, “I remember someone said to me once “people are so weird, whether lucky or unlucky, happy or unhappy, it’s all based on comparing with others.” I’m just telling you about my even-more-horrible past so that you can see your life is pretty good in comparison!”

Xiao Yao remembered that the person was her and she grumbled, “I didn’t make stuff up though!”

“Coming out of an egg was true, having nine heads is true, the rest…..” Xiang Liu rapped himself on the head and muttered, “I was making it up so well…what else did I say?”

Xiao Yao didn’t know if she ought to cry or to laugh but the pain in her heart really had lessened a lot.

Xiang Liu asked, “Do you want me to tell you more about my pitiful past so that you can feel like having a big demon devil for a dad isn’t that big of a deal?”

Xiao Yao’s eyes opened wide and she asked, “Did you ever meet Qi Yo?” Maybe because Xiang Liu was also a world renowned demon devil, it was easier for her to talk about Qi Yo with him.

“No, when I started to follow my adoptive father, Qi Yo was already dead.”

“How was the relationship between Gong Gong and Qi Yo?”

“Really bad back then, almost hated foes. But after Qi Yo died and my adoptive father would pay respects to Zhu Rong, he would always also pay respects to Qi Yo.” Xiang Liu laughed in mockery, “You can’t have expected those guys to have been on good terms back then. If they got along, then Sheng Nong would have never been destroyed.”

 nathsketch:

Really? Congrats to you. 

The drama is interesting and I like the actors, but I feel like there's something missing.

When they said eternally yearning, they really weren't joking :/

Why don't you try the untamed?  Wuxian is very different than xiangliu, but belive me, he is awesome. You will love him, I am sure.