Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 AH :

This source has text that does not include the question about TSJ. 

I checked my 2013 edition physical copy reprint and confirmed that the question regarding Jing was included. Could it also have been an accidental omission on this site? I see that this site also had the typo 茱萸姨 vs the correct 朱萸姨 for Aunt Zhu Yu...

 liddi:

I checked my 2013 edition physical copy reprint and confirmed that the question regarding Jing was included. Could it also have been an accidental omission on this site? I see that this site also had the typo 茱萸姨 vs the correct 朱萸姨 for Aunt Zhu Yu...

How odd. Ommitting multiple lines seems like a much bigger issue than a name typo. But it seems like the typos and ommissions match perfectly with Koala's translation. I feel like she must have used this text as her source.

 liddi:

However, I even checked your source site for Koala's omission in Ch6, but that part was intact.

So I am at a loss to understand what happened too. 

Hmm, so not a perfect match then. 

Did we cover Koala's ommission in chapter six before in this thread? That's not rinigng a bell for me. 

 liddi:

However, I will say this. When I translate/transcribe from the physical text, sometimes I accidentally skip lines, especially when the sentences are almost repetitive or similar. Perhaps this was what happened, both to Koala as well as the one who transcribed the novel for your source site..

That seems like the only logical explanation. 

 liddi:

I don't think I ever mentioned it in the past. It didn't feel particularly significant at the time, and I only really noticed it because my daughter started reading the novel using Koala's translation (she was convinced that reading from the original Chinese text would take her years to finish!)

Not significant. So then I'm guessing it wasn't that she ommitted multiple lines like in chapter 32?

 AH :

Not significant. So then I'm guessing it wasn't that she ommitted multiple lines like in chapter 32?

No. I believe Koala's omission in Ch32 was a genuine mistake. During the course of my own translations, I have personally experienced picking up at the wrong sentence because the line before it was similar to where I stopped. 

This is the original text - and the two sentences highlighted in green are questions asking whether she would marry Feng Long, and if she would marry Jing:

相柳问：“你愿意嫁给丰隆吗？”

小夭的表情呆滞，软绵绵地回答：“不愿意。”

相柳问：“你愿意嫁给璟吗？”

小夭的表情出现了变化，她好像挣扎着要醒来，相柳的眼睛光芒更甚，声音越发柔和地问：“你愿意嫁给叶十七吗？”

You can see from the original text that the two sentences "Are you willing to marry Feng Long" and "Are you willing to marry Jing" are exactly the same except for the name. As such, it would have been so simple to have accidentally mistaken the line "Are you willing to marry Jing" as the one that was already translated ("Are you willing to marry Feng Long"), and move on to the next sentence.

As we have discussed in the past, Koala's translations sometimes gloss over or summarise details (e.g. the description of the layout of Jade Mountain where Xiao Yao appeared to be waiting for someone as she absently plucked the petals of peach blossoms in Vol 3 Ch16 / Chapter 49). However, I find that these are only for details which she considers to be not as vital to the actual plot. Of course there are also some other mistakes such as having Jing summoning wood powers instead of the correct water spirits to counter the heat in the peach blossom forest (Vol 3 Ch3 / Chapter 36). However, these are understandable mistakes.

We also spoke about this scenario before - accidentally omitting a word in the text when reading too quickly, which can result in a totally different meaning :

昨夜，她知道他是相柳时，一点诧异的感觉都没有，就好似一切本该如此，甚至她心里的某个角落如释重负，可同时另一个角落又悬了起来。

Last night, when she realised he was Xiang Liu, she felt no surprise at all. It was as if that was how it was meant to be, and the heavy burden in one corner of her heart was lifted, but weighed down at the same time in another part of her. 

-- Vol 1 Ch17

which was what happened in Koala's translation:

Last night when she knew for sure he was Xiang Liu, she wasn't surprised or shocked in the least. It felt like it was always this way, and this heavy burden in the corner of her heart was lifted, thought another burden had arisen.

By accidentally missing out the word 该 in the highlighted text, the meaning changed:

Actual text:
就好似一切本该如此    It was as if that was how everything was meant to be

Text missing out the word 该:
就好似一切本如此          It was as if everything was always that way 

Again, these are commonplace and genuine mistakes that can happen in the course of translation.

 AH :

Oh wait, was it this text?

明媚灿烂的阳光，勃勃生机的鲜花，还有一位君子，如金如锡、如圭如璧，一切都赏心悦目，令人欢喜。

小六走到璟面前，微笑着轻叹：“我姑酌彼金罍，维以不永怀！我姑酌彼兕觥，维以不永伤！” 从死到生，让我姑且放纵一下吧，那些悲伤的事情就不想了

The text I cited as an example was actually in the beginning of the same chapter:

小六觉得和相柳说话就是找气受，不想再理相柳，一个人举着双手，在林子里跑来跑去，啊啊啊地惨叫。

相柳实在听不下去，索性策白雕，躲进了云霄中。

Xiao Liu felt talking to Xiang Liu was just making himself angrier and did not wish to talk to him anymore, so he ran around in the forest with his hands raised, screaming miserably.

Unable to stand the noise any longer, Xiang Liu used the white condor to hide in the clouds.

-- Vol 1 Ch6

However, the text you mentioned is different in that Koala glossed over the details (in green), and omitted Xiao Yao's musings (the segment highlighted in orange):

小六披衣起来，走到廊下，璟从花圃中站起，定定地看着他。

明媚灿烂的阳光，勃勃生机的鲜花，还有一位君子，如金如锡、如圭如璧，一切都赏心悦目，令人欢喜。

小六走到璟面前，微笑着轻叹：“我姑酌彼金罍，维以不永怀！我姑酌彼兕觥，维以不永伤！”从死到生，让我姑且放纵一下吧，那些悲伤的事情就不想了。

璟伸手，轻抚过他的脸颊，似乎确认着他真的完好如初了。小六微微侧头，感受着他掌间的温暖，璟抱住了小六，温柔却用力地把他揽在怀中。

Xiao Liu put on a robe and walked out to the corridor. Jing stood up in the courtyard and looked directly at him. 

The bright warm sun, the vibrant flowers, and a gentleman such as gold, such as tin, such as jade, everything was pleasing to the eye, bringing joy to the heart.

Xiao Liu walked up to Jing, smiled and sighed softly, “I just poured wine from that golden bottle, drink it to avoid missing forever! I only pour wine into a cup made of rhino horn; drink it to avoid suffering forever!” Having come from death to life, let me indulge a while and forget about all those sad things.

Jing reached out and gently touched his face as if to confirm he was real. Xiao Liu slightly leaned his head to feel the warmth of his palm. Jing suddenly embraced Xiao Liu, gently but tightly pulling him into his arms.

Koala

Xiao Liu put on a robe and walked out to the corridor. Jing stood up in the courtyard and looked directly at him. 

The bright warm sun, the vibrant flowers, and a gentleman. Like a painting, it was so utterly beautiful. 

Xiao Liu walked up to Jing and he reached out to touch his face as if to confirm he was real. Xiao Liu slightly leaned his head to feel the warmth of his palm. Jing suddenly embraced Xiao Liu, gentle but tightly pulling him into his arms.

-- Vol 1 Ch6

 AH :

This version is so much funnier! ^^

But I agree this ommission isn't significant in terms of plot implications. 

---

This one seems much more significant, especially given the poetic allusion that H19279 mentioned. But I get why Koala (and the drama) may have chosen to leave it out. I imagine many readers would find it confusing and feel that it pulled them out of the flow of the scene. 

TH used special writing method for LYF where she hid one of emontional interest (YaoLiu) and their feeling to each other. She used indirect way and scattered it. It is the clues for the "snake on grass,gray lines in dust" technique and the "writing without writing" that she used. Therefore, in many case leaving out odd words would lead to losing such hints, clues

Thanks @solarlunareclipse, Kokuto, Plor and liddi for answering my question. Sorry that I dropped a question and then disappeared :-). Slowly making my way through the thread. 

 solarlunareclipse:

A few more episodes in...

[Watching Jing is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Not since Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker, have I seen such an unconvincing portrayal of a character. Immediately jump ship to XL.]

After completing Season 1...

[XL is the best thing since sliced bread. Jing is the worst thing since...well, Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker.]

Was it the character of Jing or was it DW's not-so-good portrayal that got you jumping ship? It's interesting to see where and why some viewers abandoned the Jing ship.

Not Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker :-). I don't know what happened to him in those movies - particularly in Attack of the Clones - since his acting wasn't that bad in his early independent movies. Of course, he wasn't helped by the god-awful dialogue. Does anyone remember this classic...?

The level of cringe and second-hand embarrassment that I felt watching this scene :-)

 solarlunareclipse:

However, I find that behind her flippant attitude and attempts at self-deception are real, relatable emotions of loneliness, compassion, love, heartbreak, helplessness, desperation, and yearning. As flawed a character as she is, I empathize with her and wish her the best.

I get this, and yet, at a certain point, my patience gets exhausted and my sympathy runs dry. At some point, you have to start to take your medicine and face the issues. Can't play ostrich forever, can't say you know you have a problem, but brushed things off with "Well, that's just the way I am". If I have to wait until the final chapter for my main character to "hopefully" grow - and I'm not even convinced she did - I want my money back :-).

 solarlunareclipse:

I've read the novel in its entirety once and had no idea what to believe or think. Reading this and other forums/articles helped me better understand the novel and formulate some theories on it. Those theories are constantly evolving as I discover more and more layers to the novel.

Windiaaa bringing up the "snake in the grass, line on dust" technique opened up many discussions on this thread. If you ever have the time to read through the 300+ pages. I think Windiaa started posting around mid 200s. There is also a separate thread where Windiaaa posted many of the articles that were posted here. Here's the link in case you haven't read it.

https://kisskh.at/discussions/lost-you-forever/121043-about-long-lovesickness-yaoliu