ZYHLJ:
By the way, in the drama, only from what I remember, Xiang Liu jealously mocked Xiao Yao four times for caring about Jing. If he believes Xiao Yao loves him more, why does he care so much?

Indeed that he mocked XY. However I don't think that he was jealous. He had the bug connection and he knew well how their bugs would react if one of their hearts changed. So, he knew XY loved him but he also undertood her choice. 


 ZYHLJ:
If he believes Xiao Yao loves him more, why does he care so much? "When you were thinking about someone", "Who else could you see just now besides Tu Shan Jing?", "How do you know what I was thinking about?", "Who else could be besides Tu Shan Jing?", "Of course you remember. That was Wen Xiao Liu's Ye Shi Qi. How could you forget?"

 In my opinion when he was about to wake her up, he mentioned Jing as YSQ of WXL. It was quite neutral. The next time after the promotion event when Jing became the clan leader. It was also the first time they met each other after 37 years consciously. Look at their face and hands, both of them didn't know how to face and treat each other. Thus talking about Jing was the way to avoid/divert the awkwardness. And it seems that after 37 years under the sea, he started to depart from her life and push her away. Thus he wanted to remind her about Jing. He even brought her to see Left Ear to encourage her to keep hoping. During CX's wedding, he felt her heartbreak but tried to behave normal, thus he caused her heartbeat increased to draw Jing's attention. I think he wanted her to face the reality instead of avoiding and predending. Later, he used quite harsh words but effective to comfort her, to remind her that she should take care of her heart, herself.

Note: the drama removed the scene when XY felt heartbroken on the moment Jing got married. She was in Zijin palace at that moment and imagined Jing and FFYY in the wedding ceremony. Suddently her heart beat increased. She felt that her sorrow was shared by another heart. And later she gradually recovered knowing there was always another heart sharing her sadness, she also vented her dark mood via making dark colored poisons and sent them to XL. Too bad that it was not inclueded in the drama thus some viewers would see his action as coming from nowhere and don't understand his intention. It is similar to the case of replacing the air-passing during 10 hour excursion under the sea after transplanting the bug by using huge air bubble. Thus viewers could feel his action in the episode where XY was pushed and falling from the cliff into the sea and XL wanted her to get air from his mouth. 

 H19279:
That sounds very similar to Lunar New Year celebration in my native country too. I miss such busy but precious moments with friends and family so much.

Happy Lunar New Year, the year of Dragon to all who celebrate this event!

Wishing you a very happy Lunar New Year too! May you be able to enjoy such moments with friends and families in coming years, be it in your native country or your current one. 

The leaked script included a flashback description of the beach scene when Xiao Yao tells Xiang Liu he is unsuitable to enter a girl's dreams, which has the added details of his perspective, pretending to be nonchalant, stunned by her response that she was afraid of him. These are details that the novel does not spell out literally in that same scene.

Leaked script

XL (trying to be as nonchalant as possible)You are afraid? What are you afraid of?
XY: You. I am afraid of you.

Xiang Liu was stunned. After a while, his lips curved, as if in a laugh, yet not quite.

XL: Is kissing me more frightening than death?
XY (speaking hesitantly): My brother, that is Cang Xuan. One night while we were talking, he laughed at me for being a girl who still dreams after all.
XL (coldly commanded): Continue.
XY (fake laugh): Although... the possibility is remote... I am still afraid that if I was not careful, you might enter my dreams. You... are definitely not suitable to enter a girl's dreams. That is possibly far more terrifying than death indeed.

--   S2 Ep19 flashback


Novel

Snorting coldly, Xiang Liu suddenly asked, "Why?"
Xiao Yao knew clearly he was asking why she rather died than kiss him, but deliberately pretended to be obtuse. "Why what?"
Once Xiang Liu grabbed her arm and they began sinking, Xiao Yao shouted out hurriedly, "Oh, I remember now, I remember now."
As Xiang Liu stared at her, Xiao Yao said, "I am afraid."
"Is it more frightening than death?"
Xiao Yao thought about it for some time before slowly answering. "My brother, that is Cang Xuan. One night while we were talking, he laughed at me for being a girl who still dreams after all. Although it's just, just... I am afraid that if I was not careful, you would walk into my dreams. And you..." Xiao Yao shook her head. "are definitely not suitable to appear in a girl's dreams. That, I fear, is really more terrifying than death indeed."
Xiang Liu softly laughed, which gradually grew louder and louder. He let go of Xiao Yao and his body drifted away into the distance.

-- Vol 1 Ch13

 liddi:
Xiang Liu was stunned. After a while, his lips curved, as if in a laugh, yet not quite.

sniff

That definitely came across in the drama.

Thank you for the translation.

 liddi:
Xiang Liu was stunned. After a while, his lips curved, as if in a laugh, yet not quite.


 Kokuto:
sniff

That definitely came across in the drama.

That smile was full of self-mockery :-(

If you're saying "I'm afraid of you walking into my dreams", you are effectively saying, "you're already in my dreams, but I don't want you to be there". It's a rejection to acknowledge/accept her feelings. Xiao Yao accepting Jing's 15-year promise was already a rejection of her feelings for Xiang Liu. Xiang Liu got her message loud and clear. 

@H19279

" In my opinion when he was about to wake her up, he mentioned Jing as YSQ of WXL. It was quite neutral. The next time after the promotion event when Jing became the clan leader. It was also the first time they met each other after 37 years consciously. Look at their face and hands, both of them didn't know how to face and treat each other. Thus talking about Jing was the way to avoid/divert the awkwardness. And it seems that after 37 years under the sea, he started to depart from her life and push her away. Thus he wanted to remind her about Jing"

That's exactly how I interpreted these scenes too.

"Xiang Liu was stunned. After a while, his lips curved, as if in a laugh, yet not quite."

IMO  the reason why he was stunned when XY told him that she is afraid of him waking into her dreams was because having  the bug, he knew already that that's a bit too late. She already crossed that line and got him into her heart. 

 blabla100:
"Xiang Liu was stunned. After a while, his lips curved, as if in a laugh, yet not quite."

IMO  the reason why he was stunned when XY told him that she is afraid of him waking into her dreams was because having  the bug, he knew already that that's a bit too late. She already crossed that line and got him into her heart. 

No. At this time, she has not even mentioned that she was afraid of him walking into her dreams, so his reaction would be due to her saying she was afraid of him.  It was only after that, that she elaborated her fear of him walking into her dreams. While extremely hurt at what she had to say and her rejection of him and her feelings, I agree with @HeadInTheClouds that it also served as an indirect affirmation that he was already in her dreams, even if the successful planting of the lover's bug had not already told him so before.

@liddi

I know I was referring at why he was stunned, so let me correct myself. IMO the reason for his mocking laught was because of what I said. I don't actually disagree with you guys, the thing is the drama and the novel are a bit different when it comes to this scene. The big difference is that în the novel, they used to kiss underwater before, so it wasn't something new, while the drama played this scene as XL trying to get a kiss from her for the first time. As to why he was stunned, I have no idea, would he have been less stunned if she gave him another reason for her refusal to kiss him or was he stunned because having the bug, he tried to kiss her being sure that that's what she wanted too? 

 blabla100:
As to why he was stunned, I have no idea, would he have been less stunned if she gave him another reason for her refusal to kiss him or was he stunned because having the bug, he tried to kiss her being sure that that's what she wanted too? 

I am of the opinion that it was due to the reason she gave for refusing to kiss him - her fear of him. I think out of any reason she could have given, that was the one reason that truly came out of left field. If anything, he had always known that she was never truly afraid of him, seeing how she would go out of her way to provoke him back in Qingshui town, and later, when they successfully shared the bond of the lovers bug. Coming from that to being told that she was afraid of him, would have come as a shock. Her elaboration of her fear was rubbing salt in the wound, because it basically told him that she dared not acknowledge her feelings for him, and considered him unsuitable to enter her dreams. It served a two-fold message to him though - her conscious denial of her feelings for him, which in turn confirmed that he was already in her dreams, to have evoked such a denial.  

 liddi:
I am of the opinion that it was due to the reason she gave for refusing to kiss him - her fear of him. I think out of any reason she could have given, that was the one reason that truly came out of left field. If anything, he had always known that she was never truly afraid of him, seeing how she would go out of her way to provoke him back in Qingshui town, and later, when they successfully shared the bond of the lovers bug. Coming from that to being told that she was afraid of him, would have come as a shock.

I have the same opinion. He was stunned because she said she was scared of him. 

During their time in QS town, WXL had never been scared of him. WXL explicitly told him that she was not scared of him (while he sucked her blood) 

After some time he released Xiao Liu but his lips remained on his bite mark “Scared?”

“Scared!”

“Liar!”

Xiao Liu candidly said “That night I knew you discovered the secret with my body. I thought you would think of ways to eat me, but tonight you came and all you want is my blood. I’m not scared anymore.”

XL told her that talking about his 9 heads was taboo topic but WXL was not scared and keep talking about how his heads were arranged and later she drew 7 heads on his face during his healing 

Xiao Liu whistled “They say you are a Nine-headed demon, and with your nine-heads thinking together it’s definitely working. Even what you say is so deep.”

“Don’t you know that’s a taboo topic?”

Xiao Liu wasn’t scared and continued “I’m curious, how are your nine-heads arranged? In a row? One one top of the other? Or three on each side of three in the middle? Which one goes first when you eat?…..” Xiao Liu suddenly couldn’t open his mouth anymore.

Because of no air-passing kisses during the sightseeing under the sea, the drama made XL's question about XY's fear of him more explicitly to rephrase or clarify her scare came from his attempt to make her kiss him. Moreover, the scene when he threw her into the water (to make CX hurt/stun so that FFYY could shoot him), in the drama they made WXL unconscious when he passed air (air-passing kissed) to her. However, in the novel, she was not unconscious. Thus, the drama aimed to make WXL/XY look innocent/unknown when facing XL's kiss  

 blabla100:

Thank you, I keep mixing them up. 

Speaking of which, I can help but notice that Jing is using the same tactics to keep XY tied to him as his grandma uses to keep Jing tied to her wishes. The debt card, the pity card, such a gross manipulation IMO. Both XY and Jing are weak when it comes to these things, but Jing, same as his grandma, kept taking advandage of XY's weakness over and over again while being aware of XY's kind nature, he knew what he's doing. 

Can you share with me some examples of these tactics. I know that there are a few readers/viewers who see Jing as quite manipulative. Thank you :-)

 H19279:

So do I. sometimes there is debate about Jing in this thread. I would like to participate with neutral stand and text evidence which requires me to re-read chapters involving Jing. But I really dislike reading the part about him or XY with Jing. Their contact, itimacy, reaction seems so vague and "theater playing". From start to wedding, XY's reaction remained "blushing" all the time. 

I've come across a few similar comments about YaoJing's romance and interactions. Kokuto thought that Xiao Yao was acting out how she thought she should behave. Plor20 called it "cheap romance". The Vietnamese ẽpression that I would use is sến sủa - I think the English translation is cheesy/corny/tacky. Kinda rote and lacking true sincerity - it's like what you think romance should be. Which is very much in line with all the other thinking here. 

 I think it's kinda track with the idea of Xiao Yao taking on Tian Er's advice on faking it until she makes it. She chose Jing as a romantic partner so she needed to do her part and play the role of the romantic, jealous, blushing girlfriend. Did any of you ladies feel like their interactions became less cheesy/theatre-acting as the story continued?

What I noticed is that in the early part of the story, YaoJing's intimate scenes are usually linked to Xiang Liu - such as XiaoYao attempting to kiss Jing after the confrontation with Xiang Liu outside Dragon Bone Prison, or the "You didn't have me in your eyes" exchange ̣̣̣(which she didn't deny). Or it was preceded by Xiao Yao's pitying Jing, such as the scene where she kissed the scars on his legs. Pity is pretty much the foundation that their relationship is built on, IMO. 

After the mid-point of the story, I don't think there were any other major intimate scenes between them, not even on their wedding night.

 ZYHLJ:

@HeadInTheClouds


What I mean is that Xiao Yao has been unconsciously acting that she loves Jing more, because this is the result she wants. So in the eyes of others, including Xiang Liu, this is what happened. Of course I'm talking about the drama only:-)

Bear in mind that my reply comes from the perspective of the novel rather than the drama. :-)

Yes, Xiao Yao consciously chose Jing because he promised to give her her greatest wish - someone who will never leave her. And yes, because she consciously chose him, she also consciously played her part of a willing "girlfriend". Particularly in the earlier part of the story.

Because of the Lovers Bugs, Xiang Liu knows that Xiao Yao loves him and not Jing. But Xiao Yao's behaviour showed him that she chose to deny/reject her feelings because she couldn't let go of her obsession with having someone who would never leave her. So he chose to not pursue their relationship further.

 HeadInTheClouds:
After the mid-point of the story, I don't think there were any other major intimate scenes between them,

I think there is kind of intimate scence when they travelled together they lied together on the spider web (chapter 36). However, XY said she felt like a child, cared-free. Jing said that comparing him with her mom was not a compliment. 

Jing smiled and then grabbed Xiao Yao in his arms to vault down and landed on the web. It was soft like resting on clouds. Xiao Yao marveled at how it even felt warm and laughed “Jing, you’re so clever even as a kid, to think of such a method of camping outdoors. Of course only the Tu Shan clan can afford it.”

Jing smiled wistfully at memories of the past “My mom and my brother really spoiled me.”

Xiao Yao laid on the web and stared at the stars above. Since wandering the world as a child, she slept outdoors countless times and it was never something she found fun. It was because she had no home so she had to sleep outside in a dangerous place where she had to always be on guard. But tonight sleeping outside became something different. Xiao Yao said in a low voice “Jing, these days I feel like I’m a kid again, and being with you feels like having my mom by my side.”

Jing coughed a few times and muttered “That doesn’t feel like a compliment.”

Xiao Yao flipped over and stared at him with a smile “I’m not saying you’re like my mom, it’s more….it feels like when I was small and didn’t need to think or worry about anything. Every day was happy.” Xiao Yao’s smile gradually disappeared “It all feels like a dream and I’m afraid I’ll wake up from the dream like when I was small.”

Jing softly kissed her “This isn’t a dream. We’ll walk the rest of our lives together.”

Xiao Yao smiled “Yes.”

The wind gently rocked their web hammock and the two laid next to each together staring at the glittering stars shining down on them.

Chapter 37, he proposedd XY and XY's face was blushing and she run into the lodge

They had a mirror scene of the scene between XY and FFB in chapter 38. Again, Jing was willing to let her slam/bully him while FFB teased XY

In chapter 41, Jing asked XY for the wedding and again her face turned red when he hold her hand.

Jing said “How about open a clinic in Qing Qiu?”

“But Zhe Province is closer, Qing Qiu is farther away and a hassle making a trip daily.”

“If you lived in Qing Qiu, then it would be close and convenient.”

“What? Me live in Qing Qiu?” It took Xiao Yao a few moments to understand as Jing laughed “The Tu Shan residence in Qing Qiu is all arranged and ready for a wedding.”

Xiao Yao’s face gradually turned red as Jing took her hand “Xiao Yao, let’s get married! From the moment we got engaged I’ve been looking forward to marrying you.”

Xiao Yao’s heart surged with sweetness as she lightly nodded her head.

Ah I forgot his kiss on her neck in the last chapter when he woke up in the morning while XY could not sleep because of XL's death

Xiang Liu died so boldly and left nothing behind, no parting words and even his body dissolved into poison. No one was there to answer Xiao Yao’s plaintive question.

When Jing embraced Xiao Yao from behind was when she realized it was gradually sunrise.

Xiao Yao realized she was cold from being in the cold all night and Jing used his body to warm her “When did you get up?”

Xiao Yao hurriedly wiped her tears and said with a twinge “Not long ago.”

Jing softly kissed her on the curve of her neck.

Xiao Yao weakly leaned into Jing’s embrace and after some time she said in a low voice “I just told you a lie, I’ve actually been up for a long time. I couldn’t sleep last night.”

Jing replied “Don’t worry, even the most loving spouses need time to themselves. I know you are very sad and pained right now, so you need to be alone even more.”

Xiao Yao said “I…..I…..”

Jing covered her lips “Don’t think your husband is a very jealous and small minded person. Xiang Liu saved your life many times, I am eternally grateful to him.”

Xiao Yao’s tears began to fall again and the drops landed on Jing’s hand. Jing said nothing and continued to hold Xiao Yao in his arms.

 H19279:
During CX's wedding, he felt her heartbreak but tried to behave normal, thus he caused her heartbeat increased to draw Jing's attention. I think he wanted her to face the reality instead of avoiding and predending. Later, he used quite harsh words but effective to comfort her, to remind her that she should take care of her heart, herself.

Well said. I always think about the reason that why XL was indifferent to her being heartbroken and even said that she was useless to get heartbreak. 

 H19279:
Note: the drama removed the scene when XY felt heartbroken on the moment Jing got married. She was in Zijin palace at that moment and imagined Jing and FFYY in the wedding ceremony. Suddently her heart beat increased. She felt that her sorrow was shared by another heart. And later she gradually recovered knowing there was always another heart sharing her sadness, she also vented her dark mood via making dark colored poisons and sent them to XL. Too bad that it was not inclueded in the drama thus some viewers would see his action as coming from nowhere and don't understand his intention.

So did he actually shared her sorrow?? Cuz in the drama she asked if he was controlling the bug and her heart ached.

 ZYHLJ:
"he mentioned sth about like killing sb. I did not get that he would kill whom for who exactly?" - This looks like a translation problem.

By the way, thank you so much for favoring my analysis about the drama. Forgot to mention it above... I'm really flattered! =3=

Oh yeah that specific part was the most confusing ones lol got enlightened thanks to the guys here :)
You're very welcome I'm waiting for more ;)