FoxyFennac

But that situation also happened because of his insistence to not deal with his brother. His brother clearly had an irreconcilable grudge with him. Apparently no one in the Tushan family knew how Jing was tortured by Hou when he returned to the family. Jing's strategy to remain silent is questionable. If just by forgiving silently, one could regain love, a lot of issues would not occur even in real life.

Jing's silence was perceived as weakness by Hou and FFYY. It gave them open ground to play with him as they wished.

Jing was deliberately given this character to let everyone pity him and enshrine him as the kind, noble person who even forgave his cruel brother who shredded his self esteem to pieces.
In Jing's words, he loved XY because XY acted as a woman around him when he had the lowest self-esteem and validated his feelings.

The whole premise is very common in novels. It wouldn't have been problematic if he was the main character but XL gave him tough competition for that spot.

Both XL and Jing protected XY in their own ways. None of them was superior to each other. It was XY's choice. Both would have been right partner for her.

And it was Tian'er in the end whose words pushed XY to give another chance to Jing. Now that I think about it, the story was set in a way to constantly row XY towards Jing when the current wanted to take her to XL

Exactly this made XL so unforgettable!

Tushan Jing is a controversial character. Although he had suffered a lot as well in his pursuit of XY but compared to other characters' suffering, his fell short. His troubles felt like a filthy rich guy missing just one thing in his life. And he gets that in the end.

Less suffering, more reward!!

Yep. Jing was the person she could fall back on. With him, it cultivated feelings and love, just as XY described Tian'er. With XL, it was passionate, all-consuming kind of feelings. Even XY was scared of admitting her feelings to XL.

In an ideal world, XY would choose XL. Alas!!

Everybody knew that her marriage with Fenglong was political. No love there. He knew that she had feelings for TSJ but for him as well. It makes sense that he wanted to know where he stood with her.

Problem is that XY was so much conscious of her traumatic past that she no longer wanted to take riskier decisions. YSQ was her safe haven. And it really helped that YSQ was fully and only devoted to her.

Why did she stay silent when he asked if she wanted to marry TSJ?

Abandonment was her biggest trauma and fear. She always had feelings for YSQ and not TSJ. TSJ was burdened with his position. Even when they were making the 15-year promise, TSJ told her that he would come back as YSQ.

In the end, TSJ gave up his family position to be with her and spend a quiet life.

Not condoning XL's actions but every character and action has motivations. Infact after realizing his feelings for her and knowing that they could not be together, he deliberately portrayed himself as a cruel character.

I think even if there are other elements behind the scenes, based on the story alone, there is bound to be controversy. In other stories, usually the second/third male lead does not get enough development with the female character or at least gets less than the male lead. Here XL had great development with XY both in novel and in drama plus she sure had feelings for him. If she truly considered everything between them as purely transactional, she would not have been devastated upon his death. At one point, her feelings for XL were definitely stronger but Jing's persistence won over in the end.

Usually in xianxia novels, male lead is usually saddled with the burden of saving the universe, leaving the female lead devastated. Jing's character is breaking that trope.
If seen that way, it is an interesting take on xianxia novels

It is also ridiculous that none of his head could think of the possibility to leverage the unique position of XY to pacify both CX and the resistance army. It could have been a win-win but then it would be another story. Definitely would not have caused this much controversy😂

It should not be about a fight between two characters or two actors. This trope of one character going on the path of self destruction when more obvious choices are available, is ridiculous. Well fiction works this way so can't really blame anyone. But it would have been way nicer if characters and their entanglements are resolved satisfactorily.

The point of the whole thing. To be remembered. To be eternal!!

Exactly. The writer had made holes in all other ships. Only the Holy Jing and Pitiful XY have the first class ship😂

She had told him multiple times when she was WXL that she was afraid of being lonely, being abandoned. She wanted a stable and quiet life. She wanted to marry YSQ and not TSJ. XL's position didnot allow him that luxury so unlike CX, he let her go. He also asked her multiple times as FFB what she wanted him to be. They had passion but Jing was more stable for her and XL knew what XY wanted the most.

Essentially they were both cowards so they both lost each other forever.

In an alternate world, XY with her unique position of belonging to both countries could have acted as an ambassador of peace. The way Ah Nian's marriage made CX the emperor. But with the added benefit of XY and XL acting on their love for each other.

The writer gave XY, TSJ and CX the real world personalities. Only XL was given that dreamy, storybook lover personality.

TSJ, XY and CX's selfishness is very realistic.

XL's insistence on silent love, stubbornness to keep walking the same path doesnot happen in the real world.

In the real world, he would have negotiated for peaceful re assimilation of his army in the society. On the love front, he would have also put more effort to let his crush know at least.

No man in love would want to leave his woman to others if he truly believed that she would be happier with him. In his mind, he truly believed that they could not be together, he also had insecurities. He was bound by chains of filial piety, standing on the opposite sides and had a lot of baggage. He didnot want to dump his baggage on her. Essentially he had the same dark heart as XY from their traumatic experiences.

It's all for the story in the end. All the great loves in the world never ended up together like Romeo and Juliet. And that's what makes their love eternal.

One thing I absolutely don't like is how XY never knows the extent of XL's love. People can argue that XL didnot want her to remember him so that she could move on. But I think it's really flawed. She had Jing by her side. Even if she loved XL, Jing also had made his own place in her heart. She would be devastated but she would have Jing to fall back on. Like she always had. The only reason she was with Jing in the first place.

CX was never really an option for her since the drama brought them up as siblings and lots of traumatic stuff had happened plus she had other love interests before they were reunited in adulthood. In the later part, CX's choices took him farther away from her. He got what he wanted the most in the end, The Throne.

The only person who was left unfulfilled in every sense is Xiang Liu which is exactly what making him the most unforgettable person in the story.

The Author's purpose is brilliantly achieved. Kudos to her.

People keep saying that XL didn't love XY enough to give up the army. Delving deeper into his character, XL might have given up resistance had he thought he would have a chance with her. XY made it clear to him that she didnot want him in her dreams, she rejected him and had another man in her life plus the bloodline crap. His foster father was to him what XY was to TSJ. Why would he give up his foster father and the army for a woman who could never be his. Although XY hinted that she could be with him when he was FFB but he was not only FFB, he was XL. Out of all the tragic backstories, XL has the most tragic background. TSJ got what, only 3 years of torture and he is considered pitiful. TSJ had a loving mother, initially a loving older brother as well before Hou became cruel, a fiancee and the family chief position. Even CX had seen more tragedies than him. XY chose the safest option out of all the choices that she had which make sense realistically. However in an ideal world, XL and XY could heal together from their tragic past. They both had similar backstories being tortured for a long time, much longer than TSJ. Plus everybody around them was like "Dont repeat the tragedy of your parents". But if the world was really evolving and also in the end the continent was unified, it would have made a lot of sense that XY and XL could now be together.
This story is like multiple timelines kind of plot where the end could be different in each timeline depending upon the choice of MC vs the kind of plots where the both leads end up together regardless of choices and circumstances. Every person in this story has some redeeming qualities.