3 - Exactly that. Not just LXC who has the sharpest nose, but ALL OF THEM were aware LWJ was madly in love with…
Don't know... I can only hear the "three", but TBH I don't know how 33 or 300 should sound, LOL. Or maybe it is officially 300, as another censored reference (since it would lead to the 33 top disciples and what LWJ was doing in that cave in the first place, LOL.)
The first time I realised the NF TL was pretty much adapting the meaning so it came a lot easier in English (and a lot further than the Mandarin spoken) was when WWX meets JC in the forest in the second ep - when LWJ comes with the juniors, WWX hides behind that tree and muses "I'm so unlucky today, should've consulted my horoscope before heading out the door" in the fan TL, which comes to "how come my luck is so bad today" in the NF TL. Same general meaning, but so different strokes. The first one is a lot closer to WWX's carefree character, whilst the later is so much more neutral...
I'm just happy to have watched it in the fan TL, that coloured the way I saw the drama a lot, in a better way.
I just recommend the novel (the fan TL even), because the words are so beautiful and convey a lot more than some of the changed parts of the drama did. Or at least the donghua :)
3 - Exactly that. Not just LXC who has the sharpest nose, but ALL OF THEM were aware LWJ was madly in love with…
Yeah, well, I seriously do NOT appreciate how they twist the subs for an Asian movie/drama to fit the expectations of some Western watchers. Like how the F am I able to recognise banmal in kdramas by how it sounds, but none of it comes through in the TL?! Or the honorifics. NONE of them make it through. It's frustrating. And even if I'd accept that for kdramas (though I don't), it's such a shame for cdramas :(
And particularly with TU - I watched it first in a fan TL, and it was so beautiful and poetical and then NF got it and sanitised it all up til if you don't know the backstory it might be a pain to actually realise how this all goes down.
Oh well. I'm grateful they did get it, because it helped expose the world to danmei and wuxia and xianxia, and that got us so many more great dramas. But I still wish they'd have kept the fan TL (can't link to it, I don't know how to find it again...)
LOL, they played a mindf*ck on fans. The actual sequence of events at the end is made clear in the ending of the…
They DID show NHS's POV!!!! It's all in the Fatal Journey movie. (But it doesn't have the MLs, so TBH, I watched it for the nostalgia and it turns out it shows the relationship between the Nie brothers, how Meng Yao made himself Nie MingJue's sworn-brother and how he decided to get rid of NMJ because he saw through his many disguises.
It stops right before TU, with NHS deciding he has to do something to get revenge for his brother, and starting to plan.
He's an evil mastermind with the soul of a scared lil' kitty, our NHS. I think he's one of my favourite characters, after the MLs - he's incredibly smart, and cunning, and so sure of what he can do and how to go about it, and so thorough... and all the while everybody overlooks him because there's no red flag at all!! And still, he's evil because he's so ready to sacrifice others to get his revenge - a kitten with sharp claws.
All hail NHS!! (LOL, the crew called him "the director" because of how his chara plots everything :D)
The SE is on YouTube. It's not geo-blocked for me, I hope you can watch it too. It's only 20 eps (longer than the original drama eps). Just look at the ending scenes and see - they are together :)
I just finished it. I'm so stressed and frustrated right now. I have so many questions that mind is going to burst…
LOL, they played a mindf*ck on fans. The actual sequence of events at the end is made clear in the ending of the Special Edition (that has the plot streamlined and included a few longer scenes than the original. Very few).
So the original ending goes like this: LWJ ends up leading the Clans (he doesn't really, LOL), and LWJ goes Night Hunting because censorship. Later on, some time has passed and WWX is playing his flute (obviously WangXian) when LWJ calls his name from behind - he turns and smiles that special smile he has for LWJ. The End. (They're together again.)
The SE ending goes like this: no separation at all. They solve all that needs to be solved, A-Yuan remembers his mom, errr, WWX, then the juniors go Night Hunting with Wen Ning and LWJ takes WWX back to Cloud Recesses much to the dismay of all clan members minus LXC who, poor guy, is now secluded and trying to recover from what happened. They have the little threatening small talk with NHS, then they BOTH go to that rock in the middle of the river, play their instruments together (if that's not an euphemism I don't know what it is LOL), then they praise each other some more and remain smiling at each other while the focus is panning out. The End. (And this is the closest to the novel's ending, minus the racy scenes).
Proof of how it goes, LOL - their outfits for one. Look at what WWX is wearing in the final scene and then on the rock. Look at what he's wearing on that mountain ridge. And the fact that the SE gets it right while keeping it censored (but well, the actual final scene wouldn't have made it into the drama anyway LOL).
TBH I LIKE the original ending. I knew it won't end with them separated, and it's just sweeter to imagine LWJ wouldn't go after/to WWX ASAP. And his voice calling out to WWX completes the circle (the first scene with the two of them together opens with WWX calling out his name, and the last scene ends with LWJ calling out to WWX. Perfection.) Yes he's not in the picture, but that's his voice and no, WWX isn't imagining it.
Also - that final scene with them on the rock is in the ED sequence LOL. It's long been established that OPs and EDs spoil parts of a cdrama. And they included the ending on the ED LOL, just that nobody realised it's the actual ending :D
Okay, now you know everything (in the drama). Here's a short plot summary of TU, with images so you don't get it wrong, LOL:
3 - Exactly that. Not just LXC who has the sharpest nose, but ALL OF THEM were aware LWJ was madly in love with…
No, it's still 33 whips in the drama, or it should be (the Discipline Whip is the heaviest whip they have, the scars will never fade. The intention was to mark him forever.) Bed rest for three years after (presumably with treatment, LOL).
It wasn't that he didn't get the flute, he didn't want that flute, he wanted WWX. But WWX was gone and it seemed he'd never return, so he wanted to get a mark to fix him in his memory forever. A similar brand as WWX's. (And he was drunk, so it made sense to him at the time). His pain was so clear even Lan QiRen didn't scold him for it.
One of the fan discussions was about how LWJ never raised a memorial for WWX and he might've spent a lot of time playing the song or Recollection, trying to contact WWX's spirit or summon him from wherever he went. I don't remember it in the novel, but it made it's way into the chibi donghua - MDZS Q (and it's so sweet). LWJ yearned for him for all the years he'd been missing.
3 - Exactly that. Not just LXC who has the sharpest nose, but ALL OF THEM were aware LWJ was madly in love with…
LXC practically was LWJ's only friend (somewhat - LWJ maybe didn't see him as a real friend but as someone he loves and respects - but he has nobody else. At all. Except for WWX when he waltzes into his life and won't take no for an answer, LOL. He's a typhoon in LWJ's ordered life, that's what WWX is.)
He's the only one who knows how LWJ's mind works... and so he can put into words because LWJ won't.
So - spoilers (big time, if you intend to read the novel).
In the story, WWX doesn't die falling off a cliff. LWJ takes him from Nightless City after he loses control and hides him for a few days in a cave in YiLing. Lan QiRen and Lan XiChen take 33 top disciples to find WWX and punish him and LWJ fights them all off, seriously hurting them all (that flashback to him telling Su She - "you're not worthy to talk to me" when he's so badly wounded in the Burial Mounds comes from a version of what happened then.) So WWX still dies and his body is still never found, and LWJ is punished to 33 strikes of the Discipline Whip (that is the surest way to make the scars never disappear). He was so badly wounded he couldn't leave his bed for three years.
And then he would go on Night Hunts all alone and be aloof and cold to anyone - except LXC who gets to see him one night being drunk on Emperor's Smile (that WWX had hidden under his room's boards, LOL) and desperately rumaging the Lan Clan's treasure rooms for a flute - and when LXC offers him one, it's NOT the one he wants - he wants a dizi, he wants WWX's flute, he wants WWX. And so when he can't find it, he takes one of the Wen Irons (those used to mark a triangular burn on someone) and brands himself with it at the same point where WWX had been branded by Wen Chao's mistress.
Remember when they got back from wandering around (and getting married LOL) when LWJ chose to YOLO that night? At question time, WWX asks if he ever drank Emperor's Smile in Cloud Recesses and he says no? It should actually be yes, and it was that one time.
IMHO, one of the best FMVs about LWJ's love is this one - the music fits and they chose the perfect scenes to portray it. But it's a HEA anyway, so all that pain isn't for nothing.
Greattt lol. I see. They've not stopped flirting since they met eachother again. 😂I put together some dialogues…
3 - Exactly that. Not just LXC who has the sharpest nose, but ALL OF THEM were aware LWJ was madly in love with WWX. Everybody BUT WWX knew LOL. (Even Jiang Cheng was suspecting a lot, which is why he goes around all puffed up like a porcupine).
5 - YES!!! You saw it. First immediately after they got to Cloud Recesses (him watching WWX wearing his underclothes then even getting some skin shows LOL. He must've been in heaven). And even the next morning - the only time WWX is wearing white under black is when he's wearing LWJ's clothes LOL. Indirect skinship, yay!
7 - Just let me ask you. You know that second scene after the return to the present timeline, when WWX went out and found LWJ in the spring, and got to see the whip marks AND the burn mark on his chest? Did you ever wonder how LWJ got that burn mark? *waiting online for an answer LOL* (not really, seriously, that's just one expression I like from Chinese novels).
I guess you got to the Silence Room scene in the snow. That's my no. 1 scene in the whole drama. It's amazingly shot (WWX in the snow, LWJ under the cover, separated by nature in the night). And then the emotions - who WWX REALLY IS. Why it doesn't matter to him how anyone thinks of him - anyone but himself AND LWJ. He says there (and it's lost in translation, but you can hear the word if your ear got a little bit attuned to Mandarin) - "At least in this lifetime I have a true soulmate" (he's using the zhiji word). (They TLed like "at least in this lifetime someone understands me" or something like that, which, while not wrong, is pretty dry and doesn't convey the true meaning of what he's saying.)
And the second scene in my great-TU-scenes is the one just before it, where LXC explains to WWX what it means to LWJ to "take him to Cloud Recesses and hide him away". Remember he said that on the day of WWX's defection by going to rescue Wen Ning and the rest of the Wens?
Their father fell in love at first sight with their mother (even though LXC thinks she didn't love him back), and she even killed one of his masters (which is the equivalent of killing his parent). And he STILL took her home and married her and defended her from all Lan Clan members. But as punishment, he secluded her to one room/side house for the rest of her life, and secluded himself too in another part of the clan's domain. All for the love of her - because, says LXC, he would never love another in his life.
And that's what love means to LWJ - taking your one and only love in your life to somewhere safe for them, no matter what they might have done, and guarding them against the rest of the world for eternity. When he said he wanted to take WWX home and hide him away, that's what he meant, directly - this man is his one true and only love, and he'll take care of him no matter what, against everyone, EVEN IF it's unreciprocated.
And if THAT's not romantic, I don't know what is.
The censors either hadn't read the novel or it didn't make sense to them - but that's a direct love declaration from our man of few words.
That episode might be my favourite of all of them (though there are more great things coming :))
There are two extra movies but they don't involve the MLs, sadly. One is about Wen Ning and the juniors going…
IT IS!!!! They always do that, ships are combining half the names and bringing up these titles, LOL. It's just that in the novel it's WANG(JI)x(Wu)XIAN and in the drama they turned it into WU(Xian)x(Wang)JI.
As if they fooled anyone with it, LOL :D
*Also generally it's the gong's half name first then the shou's, so WangXian also shows you who's the dad in that family for when the kids come, LOL. (Just kidding. Though WWX is the mother duck to all the clans' juniors right now, he stole them all away EXACTLY like mother ducks do, LOL)
It's because of the rumour. Mo XuanYu was chased off the Jingling Tai because of having presumably been involved…
Yeah, the Yi City Arc is tragic. And that final scene where he had kept the candy for five freaking years, long after it went bad, just because it was the last candy someone (and particularly because that someone was XXC) had given him. His heart's desire.
There's a similar scene in the novel that isn't in the drama (I kind of think it's in the donghua, I don't remember right now) where WWX is up in a tree thinking that everytime he fell it hurt and there was nobody there to catch him but he let go anyway - and now LWJ is underneath the tree and what if HE would... and before thinking about it he lets go. And LWJ catches him.
That's one of the sweetest interractions where they don't speak about it but just act their feelings - and it's pretty similar to XY's wish for a candy, IMHO. He could have been WWX if he only had someone to care, in time.
I wonder what's the mask hiding. Everyone except the kids know that it's WWX. Stop kidding me. 🤦🏻Also, not…
It's because of the rumour. Mo XuanYu was chased off the Jingling Tai because of having presumably been involved with / trying to assault Mme Jin. He's just curious to see if she remembers MXY's face.
Xue Yang is the opposite side of the mirror to WWX - gifted, independent, doing his own doings but unattached and basically a psycho. WWX could have ended up being XY if Jiang FengMian hadn't taken him home.
There are two extra movies but they don't involve the MLs, sadly. One is about Wen Ning and the juniors going…
There's just a donghua for TGCF, though, I don't know what's on NF, probably the donghua (two seasons out, there's a lot of story remaining).
You do know that WuJi is actually WangXian, right? That's what LWJ named it, but it's too well-known so censors asked for a re-naming. As if it hides anything LOL. I don't know about crossovers, but I really like mixed FMVs on youtube. Especially when they can pinpoint certains things that are already tropes in danmei, LOL. It's cute. And they mix/match other authors' work, too, if there are any sources.
Like this one - WangXian, WenZhou (from WoH), SuiTang (from The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty) and WeiLan (from Guardian) - and yes, they're all adaptations from danmei novels.
And it's awesome even in donghua - like this one: MDZS, TGCF, SVSSS, Thousand Autumns (these last two are drawn in 3d, the other are classically animated, just so you know which is part of TGCF).
There are two extra movies but they don't involve the MLs, sadly. One is about Wen Ning and the juniors going…
... I have a looooong list. Danmei is so addictive (and most of them have no 18+ scenes at all, but the stories are mesmerising.)
MXTX wrote three novels so far - MDZS (5 volumes), Heaven Official's Blessing (or TGCF - 8 volumes), and Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (4 volumes). MDZS is an all-time favourite, but SVSSS is hilarious - these last two don't have dramas - they WERE filmed/filming but the censors basically banned danmei adaptation after WoH, LOL, they couldn't take Wen KeXing openly flirting. They do have donghua adaptations ongoing though.
And then there's the whole rest of them, LOL (there are some great ones that are not yet licensed by SSE or other publishers got their license and do nothing with them yet (yes Rosmei I'm looking at you, How to Survive as a Villain WHEN?!) They do have ebook versions too, but I ALREADY read most of these stories in fan TLs, I don't want them in ebook form, I want to feel real paper and smell that amazing book smell.
Here's a long list of what they have (completed or ongoing), just so you can follow it back to their site and look at the covers :D
I'm so sad that I've only 10 episodes left to watch. I don't wanna say goodbye to them. I'm deliberately trying…
There are two extra movies but they don't involve the MLs, sadly. One is about Wen Ning and the juniors going on regular Night Hunting missions, the other is about a very important pair of brothers but don't include WWX or LWJ *sad*
I highly recommend at least one of them - Fatal Journey - but not immediately after finishing the drama.
There are two donghua (animated) versions of MDZS - one is the serious one, with pretty much the same story as the drama / novel, but following the novel a bit closer (still censored, but not as much as the drama. They even included resurrected WWX opining that LWJ is his type so he'd rather go with him and not Jiang Cheng when they first met after the Mo Manor story ends, LOL. The plot flows more like in the novel, with more and shorter time flashbacks between the past and the present. The animation is amazing, the music is great, have a try at it!) The other one is a chibi short-form (some 5-mins eps) that is the cutest thing of them all, and has a lot of sweet moments from or inspired by the novel.
There's also an audio drama (links above, if you're interested). They cover pretty much the whole novel, and don't shy even from the riskier scenes, LOL. (The confession!!... and the aftermath of it, LOL)
There's obviously the novel - the fan TL still floats around the internet somewhere, but the novel has been officially TLed by Seven Seas Entertainment (they're amazing - the books aren't exactly cheap but they look worth the price. They have glossaries, inserted art, beautiful cover art, the works. I've spent more than I'm comfortable thinking about on those books - they are pretty good at keeping to release schedules and are publishing practically all my favourite danmei novels, can't help myself). MDZS has 5 volumes. SSE is also publishing a manhua (comic/manga) version that's not finished yet, but I don't have that one and I kind of don't want to read it.
So, you have options. The best would be the novel, IMHO, since it has a lot more story (particularly the romance) that isn't in the drama - plus the extras. But the donghua also rocks :)
PS I love it when this is the reaction of people coming closer to the end eps - before even starting it, there are usually quite a lot of comments on how the drama is so long, who can watch 50 eps. it can't be done, LOL. And then some watchers get so entranced they want more (we all do :D) and 50 is too few :D
Not all cultivators have tittles by the way, only the respectable ones.for example, Lan xichen was the clan leader…
You might be mixing it with the first two eps (where he does call him that). He first (chronologically) calls him that when they meet again at that Wen waystation after WWX returns from the Burial Mounds.
Not all cultivators have tittles by the way, only the respectable ones.for example, Lan xichen was the clan leader…
They probably just wanted to skip over the whole thing, it's simpler if LXC appears to be the leader from the beginning. But the thing is, he's not. And the story of why his father was secluded and everything carries a LOT of weight in LWJ's growth.
Also, it kind of skews the whole stratification of generations. All the older leaders have their own perspective, the younger ones another etc, and part of what makes this story great is the way it subtly (or not so subtly) presents the contrasts between generations.
3 
The first time I realised the NF TL was pretty much adapting the meaning so it came a lot easier in English (and a lot further than the Mandarin spoken) was when WWX meets JC in the forest in the second ep - when LWJ comes with the juniors, WWX hides behind that tree and muses "I'm so unlucky today, should've consulted my horoscope before heading out the door" in the fan TL, which comes to "how come my luck is so bad today" in the NF TL. Same general meaning, but so different strokes. The first one is a lot closer to WWX's carefree character, whilst the later is so much more neutral...
I'm just happy to have watched it in the fan TL, that coloured the way I saw the drama a lot, in a better way.
I just recommend the novel (the fan TL even), because the words are so beautiful and convey a lot more than some of the changed parts of the drama did. Or at least the donghua :)
And particularly with TU - I watched it first in a fan TL, and it was so beautiful and poetical and then NF got it and sanitised it all up til if you don't know the backstory it might be a pain to actually realise how this all goes down.
Oh well. I'm grateful they did get it, because it helped expose the world to danmei and wuxia and xianxia, and that got us so many more great dramas. But I still wish they'd have kept the fan TL (can't link to it, I don't know how to find it again...)
It stops right before TU, with NHS deciding he has to do something to get revenge for his brother, and starting to plan.
He's an evil mastermind with the soul of a scared lil' kitty, our NHS. I think he's one of my favourite characters, after the MLs - he's incredibly smart, and cunning, and so sure of what he can do and how to go about it, and so thorough... and all the while everybody overlooks him because there's no red flag at all!! And still, he's evil because he's so ready to sacrifice others to get his revenge - a kitten with sharp claws.
All hail NHS!! (LOL, the crew called him "the director" because of how his chara plots everything :D)
The SE is on YouTube. It's not geo-blocked for me, I hope you can watch it too. It's only 20 eps (longer than the original drama eps). Just look at the ending scenes and see - they are together :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlpEVsKiYCU&list=PL5mNV6MN8F8r52kcxCdwVWoLjJm7fozKb&index=1
ETA Here's Fatal Journey too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz5mmWE4bYc
(I rec' a laptop/PC browser with adblock for the best watching experience. I'm using Firefox+ublock myself.)
So the original ending goes like this: LWJ ends up leading the Clans (he doesn't really, LOL), and LWJ goes Night Hunting because censorship. Later on, some time has passed and WWX is playing his flute (obviously WangXian) when LWJ calls his name from behind - he turns and smiles that special smile he has for LWJ. The End. (They're together again.)
The SE ending goes like this: no separation at all. They solve all that needs to be solved, A-Yuan remembers his mom, errr, WWX, then the juniors go Night Hunting with Wen Ning and LWJ takes WWX back to Cloud Recesses much to the dismay of all clan members minus LXC who, poor guy, is now secluded and trying to recover from what happened. They have the little threatening small talk with NHS, then they BOTH go to that rock in the middle of the river, play their instruments together (if that's not an euphemism I don't know what it is LOL), then they praise each other some more and remain smiling at each other while the focus is panning out. The End. (And this is the closest to the novel's ending, minus the racy scenes).
Proof of how it goes, LOL - their outfits for one. Look at what WWX is wearing in the final scene and then on the rock. Look at what he's wearing on that mountain ridge. And the fact that the SE gets it right while keeping it censored (but well, the actual final scene wouldn't have made it into the drama anyway LOL).
TBH I LIKE the original ending. I knew it won't end with them separated, and it's just sweeter to imagine LWJ wouldn't go after/to WWX ASAP. And his voice calling out to WWX completes the circle (the first scene with the two of them together opens with WWX calling out his name, and the last scene ends with LWJ calling out to WWX. Perfection.) Yes he's not in the picture, but that's his voice and no, WWX isn't imagining it.
Also - that final scene with them on the rock is in the ED sequence LOL. It's long been established that OPs and EDs spoil parts of a cdrama. And they included the ending on the ED LOL, just that nobody realised it's the actual ending :D
Okay, now you know everything (in the drama). Here's a short plot summary of TU, with images so you don't get it wrong, LOL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrVNMEcPXws
What do you think of our little kitty cat porcelain doll now? :D
It wasn't that he didn't get the flute, he didn't want that flute, he wanted WWX. But WWX was gone and it seemed he'd never return, so he wanted to get a mark to fix him in his memory forever. A similar brand as WWX's. (And he was drunk, so it made sense to him at the time). His pain was so clear even Lan QiRen didn't scold him for it.
One of the fan discussions was about how LWJ never raised a memorial for WWX and he might've spent a lot of time playing the song or Recollection, trying to contact WWX's spirit or summon him from wherever he went. I don't remember it in the novel, but it made it's way into the chibi donghua - MDZS Q (and it's so sweet). LWJ yearned for him for all the years he'd been missing.
But yeah. That ep. (And LWJ stealing along with him, LOL).
He's the only one who knows how LWJ's mind works... and so he can put into words because LWJ won't.
So - spoilers (big time, if you intend to read the novel).
In the story, WWX doesn't die falling off a cliff. LWJ takes him from Nightless City after he loses control and hides him for a few days in a cave in YiLing. Lan QiRen and Lan XiChen take 33 top disciples to find WWX and punish him and LWJ fights them all off, seriously hurting them all (that flashback to him telling Su She - "you're not worthy to talk to me" when he's so badly wounded in the Burial Mounds comes from a version of what happened then.) So WWX still dies and his body is still never found, and LWJ is punished to 33 strikes of the Discipline Whip (that is the surest way to make the scars never disappear). He was so badly wounded he couldn't leave his bed for three years.
And then he would go on Night Hunts all alone and be aloof and cold to anyone - except LXC who gets to see him one night being drunk on Emperor's Smile (that WWX had hidden under his room's boards, LOL) and desperately rumaging the Lan Clan's treasure rooms for a flute - and when LXC offers him one, it's NOT the one he wants - he wants a dizi, he wants WWX's flute, he wants WWX. And so when he can't find it, he takes one of the Wen Irons (those used to mark a triangular burn on someone) and brands himself with it at the same point where WWX had been branded by Wen Chao's mistress.
Remember when they got back from wandering around (and getting married LOL) when LWJ chose to YOLO that night? At question time, WWX asks if he ever drank Emperor's Smile in Cloud Recesses and he says no? It should actually be yes, and it was that one time.
IMHO, one of the best FMVs about LWJ's love is this one - the music fits and they chose the perfect scenes to portray it. But it's a HEA anyway, so all that pain isn't for nothing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPFIhgntV5M
5 - YES!!! You saw it. First immediately after they got to Cloud Recesses (him watching WWX wearing his underclothes then even getting some skin shows LOL. He must've been in heaven). And even the next morning - the only time WWX is wearing white under black is when he's wearing LWJ's clothes LOL. Indirect skinship, yay!
7 - Just let me ask you. You know that second scene after the return to the present timeline, when WWX went out and found LWJ in the spring, and got to see the whip marks AND the burn mark on his chest? Did you ever wonder how LWJ got that burn mark? *waiting online for an answer LOL* (not really, seriously, that's just one expression I like from Chinese novels).
I guess you got to the Silence Room scene in the snow. That's my no. 1 scene in the whole drama. It's amazingly shot (WWX in the snow, LWJ under the cover, separated by nature in the night). And then the emotions - who WWX REALLY IS. Why it doesn't matter to him how anyone thinks of him - anyone but himself AND LWJ. He says there (and it's lost in translation, but you can hear the word if your ear got a little bit attuned to Mandarin) - "At least in this lifetime I have a true soulmate" (he's using the zhiji word). (They TLed like "at least in this lifetime someone understands me" or something like that, which, while not wrong, is pretty dry and doesn't convey the true meaning of what he's saying.)
And the second scene in my great-TU-scenes is the one just before it, where LXC explains to WWX what it means to LWJ to "take him to Cloud Recesses and hide him away". Remember he said that on the day of WWX's defection by going to rescue Wen Ning and the rest of the Wens?
Their father fell in love at first sight with their mother (even though LXC thinks she didn't love him back), and she even killed one of his masters (which is the equivalent of killing his parent). And he STILL took her home and married her and defended her from all Lan Clan members. But as punishment, he secluded her to one room/side house for the rest of her life, and secluded himself too in another part of the clan's domain. All for the love of her - because, says LXC, he would never love another in his life.
And that's what love means to LWJ - taking your one and only love in your life to somewhere safe for them, no matter what they might have done, and guarding them against the rest of the world for eternity. When he said he wanted to take WWX home and hide him away, that's what he meant, directly - this man is his one true and only love, and he'll take care of him no matter what, against everyone, EVEN IF it's unreciprocated.
And if THAT's not romantic, I don't know what is.
The censors either hadn't read the novel or it didn't make sense to them - but that's a direct love declaration from our man of few words.
That episode might be my favourite of all of them (though there are more great things coming :))
As if they fooled anyone with it, LOL :D
*Also generally it's the gong's half name first then the shou's, so WangXian also shows you who's the dad in that family for when the kids come, LOL. (Just kidding. Though WWX is the mother duck to all the clans' juniors right now, he stole them all away EXACTLY like mother ducks do, LOL)
There's a similar scene in the novel that isn't in the drama (I kind of think it's in the donghua, I don't remember right now) where WWX is up in a tree thinking that everytime he fell it hurt and there was nobody there to catch him but he let go anyway - and now LWJ is underneath the tree and what if HE would... and before thinking about it he lets go. And LWJ catches him.
That's one of the sweetest interractions where they don't speak about it but just act their feelings - and it's pretty similar to XY's wish for a candy, IMHO. He could have been WWX if he only had someone to care, in time.
Xue Yang is the opposite side of the mirror to WWX - gifted, independent, doing his own doings but unattached and basically a psycho. WWX could have ended up being XY if Jiang FengMian hadn't taken him home.
Meng Yao... he's a strange one.
You do know that WuJi is actually WangXian, right? That's what LWJ named it, but it's too well-known so censors asked for a re-naming. As if it hides anything LOL. I don't know about crossovers, but I really like mixed FMVs on youtube. Especially when they can pinpoint certains things that are already tropes in danmei, LOL. It's cute. And they mix/match other authors' work, too, if there are any sources.
Like this one - WangXian, WenZhou (from WoH), SuiTang (from The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty) and WeiLan (from Guardian) - and yes, they're all adaptations from danmei novels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icGyEwDdsYA
And it's awesome even in donghua - like this one: MDZS, TGCF, SVSSS, Thousand Autumns (these last two are drawn in 3d, the other are classically animated, just so you know which is part of TGCF).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px4kG4bYSKQ
... I'm kind of obsessed with TGCF s2's ED song, to tell the truth. It's... so sweet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2hjj4kfafw (no sequences from the donghua, no spoilers, just the song). I'm a fool for good music, haha~
MXTX wrote three novels so far - MDZS (5 volumes), Heaven Official's Blessing (or TGCF - 8 volumes), and Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (4 volumes). MDZS is an all-time favourite, but SVSSS is hilarious - these last two don't have dramas - they WERE filmed/filming but the censors basically banned danmei adaptation after WoH, LOL, they couldn't take Wen KeXing openly flirting. They do have donghua adaptations ongoing though.
And then there's the whole rest of them, LOL (there are some great ones that are not yet licensed by SSE or other publishers got their license and do nothing with them yet (yes Rosmei I'm looking at you, How to Survive as a Villain WHEN?!) They do have ebook versions too, but I ALREADY read most of these stories in fan TLs, I don't want them in ebook form, I want to feel real paper and smell that amazing book smell.
Here's a long list of what they have (completed or ongoing), just so you can follow it back to their site and look at the covers :D
https://sevenseasentertainment.com/danmeibooks/#home
I highly recommend at least one of them - Fatal Journey - but not immediately after finishing the drama.
There are two donghua (animated) versions of MDZS - one is the serious one, with pretty much the same story as the drama / novel, but following the novel a bit closer (still censored, but not as much as the drama. They even included resurrected WWX opining that LWJ is his type so he'd rather go with him and not Jiang Cheng when they first met after the Mo Manor story ends, LOL. The plot flows more like in the novel, with more and shorter time flashbacks between the past and the present. The animation is amazing, the music is great, have a try at it!) The other one is a chibi short-form (some 5-mins eps) that is the cutest thing of them all, and has a lot of sweet moments from or inspired by the novel.
There's also an audio drama (links above, if you're interested). They cover pretty much the whole novel, and don't shy even from the riskier scenes, LOL. (The confession!!... and the aftermath of it, LOL)
There's obviously the novel - the fan TL still floats around the internet somewhere, but the novel has been officially TLed by Seven Seas Entertainment (they're amazing - the books aren't exactly cheap but they look worth the price. They have glossaries, inserted art, beautiful cover art, the works. I've spent more than I'm comfortable thinking about on those books - they are pretty good at keeping to release schedules and are publishing practically all my favourite danmei novels, can't help myself). MDZS has 5 volumes. SSE is also publishing a manhua (comic/manga) version that's not finished yet, but I don't have that one and I kind of don't want to read it.
So, you have options. The best would be the novel, IMHO, since it has a lot more story (particularly the romance) that isn't in the drama - plus the extras. But the donghua also rocks :)
PS I love it when this is the reaction of people coming closer to the end eps - before even starting it, there are usually quite a lot of comments on how the drama is so long, who can watch 50 eps. it can't be done, LOL. And then some watchers get so entranced they want more (we all do :D) and 50 is too few :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8331QxSmWg (no spoilers at this time)
Also, it kind of skews the whole stratification of generations. All the older leaders have their own perspective, the younger ones another etc, and part of what makes this story great is the way it subtly (or not so subtly) presents the contrasts between generations.
It's a bit frustrating, LOL. Sorry.