Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 plor20:

I agree that the first half featured some truly beautiful film composition, particularly for YaoLiu. Everything with YaoLiu felt like a dream, a painting, and visual poetry. From the neck sucking, moon gazing, water pool, to the brothel scene—it was all a visual feast in terms of cinematography and composition. In contrast, the YaoJing scenes were ones we’ve all seen before, and since their relationship involved an affair, most of it takes place indoors. However, as we moved into the third act, much of this visual beauty was lost.

S1 was so captivating. The listed scenes were arguably the highlights of the drama with a lot of visual and emotional intensity.

 plor20:

Considering there were multiple directors, and since we don’t know who was responsible for which scenes or whether they all shared the same vision, it explains why LYF feels strangely pieced together. You can see that one or two directors were very good at shooting dramatic scenes but lacked visual composition, while one or two had a strong visual composition but focused more on the slice-of-life scenes. It’s rare for people to attribute the direction of a film or drama solely to the writer, and LYF’s fandom gave TH too much credit. The vision and direction of the live narrative through film composition is actually in the director’s hands, not the screenwriter’s.

I’d assume people are giving TH her due as the original creator of LYF, not necessarily as the screenwriter. Of course, the director(s) and production staff should be credited for their contributions in the successful components of the drama as well as its shortcomings.

 plor20:

There’s a source somewhere that discusses the unspoken censorship rules, such as the strong ethical principles expected of all protagonists—meaning a female lead can only truly have one official lover, generals and emperors must be magnanimous and put people first, etc.—all of which clearly impacted each character arc. I felt that the only one not affected by this was Xiang Liu, because TH wrote him to overcome his flaws with these magnanimous traits already in place.

Censorship creates such a tough environment for creativity and imagination. It does dampen the prospects for C-filmmaking in some ways. Creating true classics that will stand the test of time is hard enough without the added layer of difficulty. I wish I understood the rules and process better.

 plor20:

I feel that LYF is so layered, and TH struggled to focus on just a few of them, trying to cram everything in, and then suddenly had to wrap up the story in the last 23 episodes, causing it to ultimately be just better than the average drama. However, it never overcame the barriers in narrative and technical elements necessary to propel Chinese drama into greatness.

Based on the article about the conference, TH must have been under enormous pressure and sacrifices were made no doubt. It looks like her skills, as well as others', were tested and made necessary all the more.

 Snowcup:

I see the transition to Jing in the water after the crystal ball as intentional misdirection. The crystal ball was altered, and it’s meaningful.

Interesting, I had the same thought. Here are my two interpretations of the new merman:

Interpretation 1

Xiang Liu added a new merman to the crystal globe, one that lurks beside the big clam shell, creepily watching the two original merpeople like a stalker. This raises the question: which merman represents Tushan Jing—the original merman or the new one? At 32:56, the camera pans from the original merpeople to the creepy new merman, then the scene directly cuts to Jing floating in the ocean. The scene cutting from the new merman to Jing means that the new merman must represent Tushan Jing, and the original merman must represent Xiang Liu.

Interpretation 2

In the novel, Xiang Liu added a regular man representing Tushan Jing to the globe, who held the mermaid’s extended hand and smiled down at her. Meanwhile, the original merman was moved to the corner, still near the clamshell, but as if in another world. In the drama, a new merman was added instead of a regular man, and the original merman’s position remained unchanged. Since Tushan Jing is not a merman—at best, he can hold his breath underwater for a day or two with the aid of a fish core—the new merman is also Xiang Liu, but with a new identity. Xiang Liu knows he is the one Xiao Yao loves wholeheartedly and wants to accompany her for the rest of her life. He could not, in good conscience, replace himself with a completely useless Tushan Jing, who already had his lifespan drastically shortened by the Lamp of Time and would only be able to accompany Xiao Yao for a short while. Before going into battle, Xiang Liu left his demon core with the Guifang clan. After his death, the Guifang clan, who has the ability to bring people back to life, can use his demon core to resurrect him. Once reborn, he and Xiao Yao will finally be able to be together.

 Kokuto:

Yes, the white lotus has been a symbol for XL, but we really didn't see it much.  IIRC, there were lotus images under XY's steps, on the path to her marriage to Feng Long.  But I'm not remembering them elsewhere.

The repository used to collect Xiao Yao's blood during their last confrontation by Gourd Lake was a white lotus... her blood symbolically dripping on to and staining the white lotus red... a foreshadowing of his white figure, wounded and bloodied in that final battle.

 liddi:

The repository used to collect Xiao Yao's blood during their last confrontation by Gourd Lake was a white lotus... her blood symbolically dripping on to and staining the white lotus red... a foreshadowing of his white figure, wounded and bloodied in that final battle.

I'd forgotten that.  But given what happens to that white lotus in the drama, there could be a lot to unpack there.

 solarlunareclipse:

There is also a crescent moon in the sky instead of a full moon, so that event must have happened quite a while after the first scene with sending Chubby away.

Since the extended scene started with a full moon, it's likely a lunar eclipse portending the upcoming battle.

 solarlunareclipse:

Is the disappearance intentional? It seems really weird for XL to add a new merman and then immediately remove it before inscribing the ball and sealing it in the big-bellied laughing doll. I'm not sure how to interpret it.

 Kokuto:

Yes, stalker merman is Jing.  However, the figure disappears from the globe afterwards.  There's only the original male and female merfolk in the crystal globe when XL puts it in the doll.

Since this is filmed content, it's reasonable to assume only the close-up shots of the crystal ball would be valid. The visual imagery must be visible during a typical viewing, otherwise that wouldn't be fair to the audience. It's possible this is a continuity issue in that the production staff used the same crystal ball for the entire scene and later edited in the close-up shot with the extra merman as a segue for the scene with Jing in the water, which I thought was misleading. 

In the drama's crystal ball, we have essentially two mermans in the close-up. In the novel's version, we have a merman and a man. For the drama, TH removed the man next to the mermaid and added another merman instead, but why? XL inscribed the ball with his blessings, "The ability to protect yourself, someone to rely on, a place to go ...  and inserted it into the big-bellied laughing baby doll as a gift for XY. 

LYF is releasing 5 sets of official collection gift boxes - one for each main character. From what I see, it should only be shipped out in Jan 2025.

Assuming I did not read wrongly, the gift box should contain the following:

100+ HD stills
300+ art settings
Behind-the-scenes interview collection
Exclusive storyboard collection

Xiang Liu's gift box also contains the following:

Xiang Liu card album
Small bonus cards x15
Xiang Liu Impression bracelet
Big-bellied doll + ice crystal ball lenticular card
Shell scented sachet
SLA film
Xiang Liu mini PB

 Kokuto:

Oh, thank you for finding and translating this, liddi!  I was so intrigued when I saw it on twitter.  Now let me read your lovely translation.

 solarlunareclipse:

Thank you for sharing this, liddi. It was very interesting.

 Snowcup:

Thank you for providing this jewel of an interview. How great to get a confirmation that the additions and extra details in the drama are likely intentional and purposeful. Indicating she “revealed the buried lines in the novel,” basically encourages us to view the drama and novel as an amalgamation of the story she created.

You're welcome. I really wish there is complete footage of the interview with Tong Hua, since the articles only cover a line or two of what Tong Hua actually said.

 Kokuto:

Thank you so much for translating these videos, liddi.  I was very curious when I saw it referenced.

So, between this and the other post, it appears that Tong Hua was revising her story, yet again!  As well as dealing with adapting to another medium.

I can see what she is saying, but I'm not sure I entirely agree.  And it messed up XY's decisions and the ending, as well, IMO.

Plus, in no way, 'it was a dream' a suitable solution for this change.

 solarlunareclipse:

Thanks for sharing, liddi. It's very interesting to hear that TH intentionally deviated some characters from the novel version.

I think that by the end of the novel, CX understood that XY loved Xiang Liu, who was the one buried deepest in her heart. I wonder if Drama!CX had the same realization (since he knew that FFB is XL). If so, that explains why CX asked Ru Shou to try to get XL to surrender during the final battle and offered him very generous conditions. CX was doing his best to try to fulfill XY, knowing that XL was the one she truly loved.

On the one hand, Tong Hua clearly stated that the drama attempts to reveal the hidden lines of the novel. On the other hand, she also said that some of the changes in the drama was a result of her renewed understanding of her characters. I believe that there is a 3rd element at play here - which @plor20 described very eloquently - and these are extenuating external factors, particularly censorship. I am still not as convinced that Cang Xuan's arc was better served with this new reimagining in a dream sequence, but it allowed the scene to play out as the novel described it, while pandering to stakeholders' concerns. I wonder whether she brought up other characters as examples. Definitely the last 30mins was a hot mess - I wonder whether the production team themselves are painfully aware of that fact. To be honest, it played out exactly as the leaked script described it so... 

Life has become very hectic again and I've only just managed to settle down once more. In addition, to my surprise, I am back under a cloud of sadness again, reminiscent of the first time I read LYF years ago, so have not been very inclined to read or think about it in detail. There are quite a few earlier posts that I owe responses to, but have not done so for which I apologise.  Will try and respond when I am in the right frame of mind once more. Thankfully Go East airs tonight, so hopefully that is exactly what the doctor ordered to cure me of my malaise. Gosh, I am beginning to sound like Xiao Yao - argh.

Looking at merchandise as a way to destress. I wish they had an official ice crystal globe as part of the merchandise. Haven't seen it thus far.

 liddi:

LYF is releasing 5 sets of official collection gift boxes - one for each main character. From what I see, it should only be shipped out in Jan 2025.

Assuming I did not read wrongly, the gift box should contain the following:

100+ HD stills
300+ art settings
Behind-the-scenes interview collection
Exclusive storyboard collection

Xiang Liu's gift box also contains the following:

Xiang Liu card album
Small bonus cards x15
Xiang Liu Impression bracelet
Big-bellied doll + ice crystal ball lenticular card

Thanks for sharing this liddi!

Super interesting to see this version of the ice crystal ball scene.

It looks like they've changed it so that the updated version of the ice crystal ball (the one that XL added to) is a bit more closely aligned with the novel version of that updated scene.

Now, instead of having one mermaid and two mermen (as we saw in the drama), the scene has one mermaid, one merman, and one humanoid figure (like the novel). The merman figure is off to the side (somewhat like he was in the novel) but still facing / looking at the mermaid instead of facing away from her and looking out of the ice crystal ball (different from the novel). 

As in the novel, the figure closer to the mermaid is now humanoid and holding the mermaid's outstretched hand. And the added figure has blue robes. I view the blue robes as a visual indication that we are supposed to understand that XL added this figure to represent TSJ. In my fic, I specified that the added humanoid figure's robes were blue for that exact reason. In the drama and this image, all of the figures (both the merpeople and the humanoid figure) have black hair. 

Whereas the novel doesn't specify the colour of the added figure's robes or hair. It only mentions that the mermaid's hair is 青 and seaweed-like. Since the merman's hair is not described, I picture his hair as also being 青 and seaweed-like. Although the merman is supposed to represent Xiang Liu, I don't think that necessarily means that the merman's upper body would look just like Xiang Liu (including having his signature white hair). I think it makes sense for the merman to have a merperson's normal hair. And since the added humanoid figure's hair colour is not described, I picture him as having default black hair that is not seaweed-like. 

In the drama, the ice crystal ball looked like this when the second merman figure was added by XL:

And like this when it only included the original mermaid and merman that XY created:

In the novel, the original scene is described like this:

* From Chat GPT:

• 海藻般 (hǎi zǎo bān) = "seaweed-like". This simile compares the texture or appearance of the hair to seaweed. It suggests that the hair is flowing and perhaps has a fluid or wavy quality, similar to how seaweed moves in the water.

• 青 (qīng) can mean "green" or "blue," but in this context, it refers to the color of the hair, which is likely a deep blue or greenish shade, resembling the color of seaweed.
  

And the updated scene that included the figure that XL added is described like this: