Fan Fiction Thread for Lost You Forever

 Kokuto:

Is this one you gave me links for?

Yes. I gave you to links - they are for the same story just on two different platforms. And the story is the little synopsis that I mentioned.

 ZYHLJ:

Teochew opera! I would like to ask, is your ancestral home in Fujian or Guangdong? I heard that many Malaysian Chinese are from Fujian and Guangdong, and many of them can speak Hokkien and Cantonese. How many languages can you speak?

Mine is Fujian. I speak 3 formal languages with varying fluency, and my mother tongue fluently, but I do understand Cantonese and Teochew reasonably well.  

 ZYHLJ:

Are you reading novels in Jinjiang? Do you have any fanfics that you would recommend? 

I haven't been reading much fanfics apart from yours and plor20's shared here these days. Actually I usually don't read that many fanfics - I blame LYF for leaving the readers with 意难平 which was the reason I first started reading its fics, to try and find a way to ease the pain. 

 ZYHLJ:

As for Chi You, it’s really hard to imagine who could play him. His appearance must be stunning! Wu Lei?

I always had the impression that Chi Chen towers over everyone in stature and aura, which is not my first impression of Wu Lei. Then again, I never thought TJC was the quintessential Xiang Liu, and see how wrong I was proven to be.

 ZYHLJ:

Also, I want to tell you about my progress in recommending LYF to my mother: I think she mistakenly regarded this as a good opportunity to find out what kind of man I would marry,

LOL! You know your mother very well. Looks like if you were Xiao Yao, your mother would make sure no upstart interrupted your wedding to Feng Long, blood oath or not! See if you manage to win her over to Xiang Liu's camp by the end of the drama!

My mother's reactions were different. She was drawn to Xiang Liu right away, 40 lashes notwithstanding, particularly his seemingly 亦正亦邪 character which reminds her a little of 金蛇郎君 from 碧血剑, but she never liked Shi Qi, even when my daughter and I thought he seemed to be the ideal boyfriend  in the early days of Qingshui town from the way he was so indulgent of Xiao Liu's every foible. She also loved the close bond between Xiao Yao and Cang Xuan, but found Feng Long to be just a boy. LOL

 ZYHLJ:

Therefore, Tencent focused on Cang Xuan and Jing in its early promotions

I only remember the Bazaar China pictorial during the early part of its broadcast with only Yang Zi and Zhang Wanyi. Were there others that were Jing-centric?  

Do you like audiobooks? I usually don't have a preference for them, but being able to listen to the novel while I was driving has been highly enjoyable. 

@Kokuto

I found the article analyzing Feng Long. After reading it again, I feel that the blogger may have praised Feng Long a little too much. It may be because the blogger herself has a preference for this character. But her analysis is good. The article is long, I may have to wait for a while to translate it. I will post the Chinese version first. You can try if Google can translate it first: 

之前看到一个剪辑，轮番出场的赤水丰隆、涂山璟、相柳和玱玹分别对应了风花雪月里的四句歌词。

风是穿山过水拂面而来
花是零落成泥常开不败
雪是日出消融檐上落白
月是咫尺天涯千秋万载

这四句歌词简直能成为四个人的命格诗。

赤水丰隆作为长相思中的一个配角，好像并没有后三个人那么高的人气，但如歌词中唱的一般，丰隆就好像穿山而过的风，清风朗月，本性率真，但最后也如风一般拂面而去，在战场上为玱玹挡下致命一箭，长绝于世。

金鞍美少年，去跃青骢马。赤水丰隆出生于四世家之首的赤水氏，是名副其实的掌中珠玉、天之骄子。他既有少年将军的意气风发，也有世家子弟的贵气。在小夭与赤水丰隆订婚后，连相柳打趣小夭时都说道：你那位天之骄子的夫婿呢？他的母亲是赤水氏唯一的女儿，祖父是赤水族长，父亲是辰荣王族之后小祝融，如果不是辰荣已灭，丰隆的身份可以说与玱玹所差无几，却比玱玹能享受到更多亲人的眷顾。

沉稳干练，目标明确，金玉窝里未生出朽木，赤水丰隆能清晰认识到当下局势与自身优势，善识人，也敢于结交，赤水秋赛上，即使玱玹没有表明自己的身份，丰隆仍不计身份将玱玹引进他所在的圈子，他交朋友不在乎对方的权利、地位，只看重一个人品行是否贵重、能力是否足够。他骨子里有不属于古老世家大族的叛逆与跳脱，有魄力有胆量，当时的玱玹可以说一无所有自身难保，丰隆却从未想过放弃追随。

世家的枷锁套住了涂山璟，却锁不住赤水丰隆。知道玱玹有谋夺天下的志向便誓死追随，一心想摆脱家族的束缚，不在乎外界所说的功高震主；知道初次见到的阿念是高辛王姬便投入更多的关注，知道小夭是轩辕王的外孙女且身份更高贵，他便从头到尾地献殷勤，征得小夭同意订婚后连夜跑回赤水，深夜把他外祖父从床上喊下来，让他外祖父连夜通知族人把族长之位传授于他。

相柳是九曲红尘世外客，出世的不在乎，丰隆却是另一种意义上的世外客，他虽是世中人，但心仍如赤子般真诚，如璞玉未蒙尘，你知道他的心思，但这心思不掺杂一点阴暗，光明磊落，霁月清风。丰隆的这些举动很符合他世家大族继承人的身份，做的事也与其家世地位相匹配，他清楚利益所在，凡事算的很清楚，会为自己谋取最大利益，却不会越过界限，不会为不相干的事情浪费丝毫的心血与精力。

但有时他也有一些天真率直的可爱。修罗场的交锋，全场的人都各有心思，只有他没眼色的喊防风意映“嫂嫂”，小夭吃醋一口气把面前的小玉瓜都吃完，他以为小夭爱吃，忙不迭的送上另一盘；和女孩子喝酒喝完了还要检查碗底干净不干净；众人一起出海，或谈情说爱，或眼神流转，只有丰隆一人在底下捉鱼；和小夭订婚之后皓翎帝写信让他来陪小夭，于是他连夜从轵邑飞到五神山，待了一天又连夜飞回去了……

大智若愚，丰隆真的有如大家所说，有一种清澈的愚蠢吗，正如小夭评价的，他的情人是他的雄心壮志，他有自己的追求，且心外无物。在丰隆眼里，自己的追求大于友情，更大于爱情。他追求权势并不是喜欢权势，他是在追求自己的理想和信念。

从头到尾，他都是自己忠实的信徒。

丰隆说：我想要有生之年，看到一个真正的盛世帝国！千秋留名、万世景仰！

高山仰止，景行行止，肃如松下风，高而徐引。

不拘小节不代表大大咧咧，聪敏而又不世故，世无其二的青丘公子涂山璟与他相处时，璟是处于被照顾的那一个；局势未明而他决定要帮助玱玹时，是他设法掩人耳目，会注意到去见长辈而身上会有酒气这种细微之处；在妹妹与防风意映产生龃龉时会向防风意映道歉：“你千万别往心里去，馨悦被我娘惯坏了。”

与小夭相处时处理的大方自然，即使小夭不喜欢他也会开心的把他看做朋友。

高风亮节又带有傲气的丰隆，有情有义，玱玹危在旦夕时他对玱玹说：我陪你走荆棘路；涂山璟因为小夭而沉睡的三十七年里，是丰隆护了涂山璟三十七年的安全；即使知道好兄弟和自己追求的是同一个女子，第一反应生气的点竟然是因为他兄弟涂山璟自己看轻自己，求娶小夭时紧张的说话都结结巴巴，把得失利弊都给小夭说清楚，却还是宽慰小夭道：“不行也无所谓，大家依旧是朋友”，活得骄傲又随性的丰隆，即使在婚礼上小夭当众逃婚，可面对最好的兄弟，曾经把酒言欢的朋友，他还是轻易的就原谅了这一切；最后，最后他也死在了情义上，在战场上冒然进攻是为了妹妹的亲情，为玱玹挡下致命一箭是兄弟之情。

赤水丰隆的一生应该没有遗憾吧，如山如河的君子最终才有了一点私心却也不是为了自己，光明磊落，濯濯春月柳，涂山璟难得，然而世上又有几个赤水丰隆呢……

In addition, the lyrics of the song ("wind, flower, snow, moon") mentioned by the blogger completely seem to be a metaphor for the four male leads of LYF. It fits to the extent that I suspect that the lyricist is a fan of LYF... The lyrics are as beautiful as poetry and have profound meanings. I have excerpted and posted them below. When I have time, I will translate the lyrics first: 

Note: The wind refers to Feng Long, the flower refers to Jing, the snow refers to Xiang Liu, and the moon refers to Cang Xuan.

风是穿山过水拂面而来
花是零落成泥常开不败
雪是日出消融檐上落白
月是咫尺天涯千秋万载

风是自息自生扰袖弄摆
花是摇乱玉彩沾衣未摘
雪是眉心微凉华发皑皑
月是移走寂空星云中埋

风是清歌不歇吹彻高台
花是折枝粉黛绽诗三百
雪是积帐饰晴雕弓懒开
月是良宵清光此夜难再

风是盾持缨动烽烟萦带
花是血溅五步抽尸踏骸
雪是尤及马革纷扬棺盖
月是寡言史官心思弗猜

风是只如初见沉吟徘徊
花是人间四月醉倚青苔
雪是浸染红尘命数两拆
月是阴晴圆缺只影常在

 ZYHLJ:

But Tencent is a for-profit company, how could it not want to make money? ? As long as they can ensure the product is worth its price, that's fine, right? ?

Heh! Tencent has nothing on the House of The Mouse. If The Mouse was running this show we would have gotten numerous toy lines, a motorised Chubby that you can fly like a drone, crystal ball and clamp shell, XL's sword. 

And importantly, we would have gotten a mid or end-credit scene where we get hints that XL is, in fact, not dead/could be brought back. And the sequel will involve XL's resurrection and adventure across Da Huang. There's no way that The Mouse would let a popular character like XL go to waste like that. 

 ZYHLJ:

Do you still have that video of naming star after Xiang Liu? T_T

I'll see if I can find it and send you a link.

 ZYHLJ:

After reading what you said, I want to travel to the Czech Republic :-). I have never been to Europe. I originally wanted to go to Greece a few years ago, and then the COVID-19 epidemic broke out... Now strangely I am more interested in spending the holidays at home

I was the opposite. The minute the travel ban was lifted, I was off like a rocket. I typically try to squeeze in an international trip every year, but after Covid I took 3 within 1 year :-).

I didn't get to travel through much of Czech except for Prague and two smaller towns/cities - it was a whirlwind trip with me visiting several different countries. Prague is definitely worth a visit. It managed to escape relatively unscathed the World Wars and the Soviet Union so many of the historical buildings are still intact. Unlike Budapest which had a chunk of the city destroyed due to numerous conflicts throughout the 20th century. There are still so much of Europe that I want to see. My goal is to be able to take a year off work and travel across Europe.

I haven't been to China and that is also on my list. I'm trying to rope in one of my best friends who hailed from the country to come with me (and be my interpreter :-)).

 ZYHLJ:

Wait, your home country is Vietnam, you live in Europe, but you can read Chinese novels? How did this happen? Or did you read it using Google Translate?

I don't live in Europe. I wish! It would make travelling throughout Europe so much easier instead of the long plane ride that I have to endure. I can't read Chinese, but I do read Chinese novels. Many Chinese novels have Vietnamese translations and that's how I usually read them. I read predominantly Wuxia growing up - Jing Yong and Gu Long mostly - read some Qiong Yao and later on Chinese romance novels that have been translated into Vietnamese. The LYF fanfictions I read using Google Translate.

 ZYHLJ:

I read the novel you recommended, and I can really tell that it is a good work, with beautiful writing and reasonable plot. Although when I saw Jing and Xiao Yao appearing together, I couldn't help but feel irritated. Maybe deep down I still kind of hate her and feel like she doesn't deserve a second chance.

I don't like reading YaoJing either - their scenes together always left me feeling icky. I disliked Jing which then makes XY just comes across as pathetic in that relationship. Sorry! But I think the author is trying to unravel everything slowly and keep the character as in-character as she could. My biggest wish in LYF is for XL to have that happy and carefree life that he works so hard to give XY a shot at. Most fanfiction will of course be YaoLiu, so I typically like the one where XY has character growth to make up for some of her frustrating behaviour in the novel. And XL already did so much for her, she should return the favour and does things for him for a change :-).

I'm glad that the story read well so far. I can't tell about the prose since it's Google Translation, but I think the writer had taken care to develop XY character and weave in some decent plotting surrounding XY's quest to resurrect XL. Regardless of you translating it or not, let me know what you think of the story once you read more of it. 

 ZYHLJ:

But in fact, among real Chinese audiences, the overwhelming majority like Xiang Liu. Tan also said in the interview that the entire crew likes Xiang Liu very much (before a Chinese crew starts filming, people from all departments must read the script with the actors together). On the set, the crew members called him "Liu Ge" :-)

It's nice that XL is appreciated. He's by far the best and most memorable character in LYF and probably one of TH's most memorable characters despite being "3rd lead" with limited appearances. I guess it's the quality rather than the quantity that counts. I don't think LYF would be as memorable or discussed as much without him.

 HeadInTheClouds:

Heh! Tencent has nothing on the House of The Mouse. If The Mouse was running this show we would have gotten numerous toy lines, a motorised Chubby that you can fly like a drone, crystal ball and clamp shell, XL's sword.

Can confirm. We would have a beautiful underwater castle and shell for Xiang Liu in this style:

It would certainly glow in the dark.

We would also have a theme hotel in Disneyland Paris, most likely.

Finally, my boss would present me with a potential storybook to be illustrated, to which I would reply: "Yes, sir, you know that mermaids are my thing, and so is this Xiang Liu dude you keep telling me about. When do I start?" :D

 nathsketch:

That's amazing!! No wonder you're so intelligent.

My exact same question lol Malaysian schools are in a league of their own.

I agree! My envy has no end. I don't know how American schools can close the gap on this strong cultural need to assimilate, and be able to give more classes in different languages. My own kids are already wondering if they can learn Asian languages instead of the usual Spanish and German.

I have finally thought of a title for my fanfic. It will be Eternally Yearning: a Butterfly—a Bee's Eternity Fade unto Divinity.  A tribute to the one and only Emily Dickinson, who often wrote about butterflies and bees, and likened them to love, yearning, lost and grief.

Here's the full poem:

'Twould ease—a Butterfly—
Elate—a Bee—
Thou'rt neither—
Neither—thy capacity—

But, Blossom, were I,
I would rather be
Thy moment
Than a Bee's Eternity—

Content of fading
Is enough for me—
Fade I unto Divinity—

And Dying—Lifetime—
Ample as the Eye—
Her least attention raise on me—