MTH123

Thank you for your reply too. :)

I was writing too loosely when I wrote that TSJ “seemed like such a doormat at times.” I meant that some readers/viewers may think of TSJ that way. I personally don’t think he was a doormat. I also don’t think he’s weak. At times, he underestimated how much people close to him could hurt him (Hou, his grandmother and CX). For example, after he learned that Hou hated him, he made sure that he could never hurt him again. Some people think TSJ was weak partially because of the way he responded to his grandmother. To me, he was being filial, which is a strong element in Tong Hua’s storytelling.

I don’t think XL is abusive in a clinical psychology sense. His nature, as a nine-headed snake demon, is more like a wild animal that readily attacks or kills others, like strangers. Once he learned that he could trust XY, he stopped being violent with her. If he were a true abuser, the violence wouldn’t have stopped. In the case of breaking the branch, that happened early on. I may be wrong, but I think he was taking revenge on XY for drawing on his face. I don’t think XY was surprised by his reaction. If you mess with a “wild animal,” then the consequences may be dangerous.

You disagree about XY preferring XL, and I respect your viewpoint. For me, even though I knew Tong Hua wrote three great love rivals, it took me a long time to fully understand what this means. We usually only get one great love rival in a story, so there usually isn’t much for people to debate. But, there’s a huge debate going on for a reason. I personally have been convinced by other commenters and posters that XL is the best one for XY, and I wish they had a happy ending together. By the way, in the prequel, the romantic ML had a tragic ending. XL’s arc is similar to that ML’s arc. So, Tong Hua is very capable of giving a romantic love rival a tragic ending.

I know Tong Hua said that LYF isn’t a tragedy to her, because everyone got what they wanted in the end. But, I still find a lot of the story to be tragic, including XL’s ending.

XL and most men probably wouldn’t want to be with me, because I’m a homebody. I can find endless things to do in my own home. For example, I’m always learning. That’s why I prefer a TSJ-type. But, I’m pretty sure most women would prefer to be with an XL-type (minus any initial violence of course). Yes, XY reacts as a woman to TSJ, because she started having relationship expectations of him. I think she would have done the same with XL, if he had fully opened that door to her.

Yes, we all have our personal preferences. In real life, my personal preference is a TSJ-type. My husband is closer to TSJ than XL. He doesn’t do everything I say, and I wouldn’t respect him if he did. I don’t think TSJ is naturally this way either. So, I don’t think TSJ would be this way forever with XY. I think they would eventually find a happy medium that works better for both of them.

In formal psychology, there’s a humongous difference between abusive and controlling. So, I’m not sure what exactly you’re trying to say about the second half of the story with XL. My husband is a little controlling. We probably all are. (I have about as close to a 50-50 relationship as any relationship can probably get. Both of us would be fine living alone. But, we’ve been lucky to find each other and far prefer to live our lives together.) We all have our boundaries of things we like and dislike. I believe that in good long-term relationships, there’s always a dance of compromising going on.

I don’t find XL to be very controlling of XY. He knew how independent thinking and living she was. I think it was a large part of why he was so attracted to her, was able to have deeper-than-normal discussions with her, and was able to spend so much fun time with her. But, I get your interpretation too. It seems like you are more experienced with controlling people than I am. This is something I’m not very sensitive to. There are things that I am particularly sensitive to, because I’ve been burned by them. But, controlling isn’t one of them. I am particularly sensitive to real-life abusers. (It happened to me indirectly with many people, not directly.)

I also don’t think anyone needs to underestimate XY’s ability to work a relationship into one that works better and better for her. In a good dance of compromises, overall, things work out better and better for both parties, even though little fights are frequently lost on each side. XY ended up with TSJ, who is an extremely capable, well-rounded person. She could understand why he seemed like such a doormat at times, even when it hurt her deeply. But, she helped him, which turned out to help herself too. Good begets good, sometimes in surprising and happy ways.

Relative to XL, I think the same kind of thing would have happened if XY had gotten together with him instead of TSJ. When XL pushed XY’s boundaries, she would have pushed back and maybe even have been able to articulate to him why, in a way that he could understand. An example off the top of my head is that after she transformed back into a woman, she told him not to bite her neck and to bite her arm instead. (Her blood had healing powers that helped XL. She wanted to help him heal quickly.)

Edit: Again, the author Tong Hua wrote three great love rivals in the very same story. If she had written them in three separate stories, we wouldn't be having this debate or at least not this level of debate. Peace.

Edit 2: I forgot to write that if XY had the option in the book, I think she would have preferred to be with XL for many reasons described in the book. But, the author chose to put her with TSJ. She is great at writing tragic storylines, and her favorite character, XL, got the tragic storyline.

Keep in mind that Cdramas frequently start with men being incredibly mean to women. It makes me cringe. But, it’s a common trope, so I hang in there to see the rest of the story. Historicals can be far worse than moderns, because they can stretch fiction a lot more. XL is a nine-headed demon. He starts off as a very scary one, especially to people he doesn’t know. But, it’s just an exaggerated trope to make a drama more interesting.

In real life, I agree that true “bad boys” end up with bad endings. I haven’t seen any exceptions in my real life. So, it saddens me to see someone go for a bad boy, no matter how charming and whatever else they are. I don’t think the following should be underestimated, even though it often is. The bad surprises never seem to stop with a bad boy. Having said that, many women need to learn things the hard way. I could go on and on about things I’ve seen in my real life. But, I won’t here.

XL isn’t a true bad boy. He’s an exaggerated trope at the beginning of a fictional historical story. He shouldn’t be compared directly with a real-life person. He went from someone with a very scary disposition to someone who could self-sacrifice to an extreme in multiple different ways. His character arc is absolutely huge and to be applauded greatly.

Tong Hua wrote three great love rivals in the very same story. She could have given any of them a happy ending. (My least favorite is CX, because he did something terrible at the end of the book, which may not end up in the drama. It made me wonder about his character arc in terms of romance.)

Peace.

In episode 13, from about 18:50 to 19:50, what card game are they playing? Does anyone know? It looks similar to a fun game I played a long time ago. I'd like to be able to look it up, including how to play it.

In episode 18, from about 13:00 to 14:30, what is the card game they are playing? It looks similar to a fun game I played a long time ago. I'd like to be able to look it up, including how to play it.

I see. I found the story gripping and thought the pace was on the faster side. It would help people understand your opinion if you provided specific examples for finding it very slow and overrated. It's fine it you don't. But, it would be more helpful if you did.

I like your breakdown of MDL ratings. I did a pretty detailed analysis and 7.8 is average for Cdramas. Having said that, popularity is a better metric for me. (I’m only speaking for me.) For popular dramas, a greater percentage of viewers don’t rate them. So, for popular dramas, the rating would probably be higher, if everyone rated them.

Are you aware that this is only half of the drama (half of the novel)? There’s a season 2. Not many dramas would get a good rating if they were stopped at the half-way point. We won't know the final rating of LYF, until season 2 ends. But, 8.7 is probably a good start, considering how great the author/scriptwriter is at storytelling and writing.

Phenomenal work, yet again!

lol!

lol! In Eternal Love, Bai Qian was a nine-tailed fox. She had a baby with Ye Hua, who was a dragon. Baby A-Li turned out to be a dragon. So, maybe XL and XY wouldn't have a baby who turned out to be Fured Fluffy Eggs, lol.

Edit: I meant if XY were a nine-tailed fox, which she isn't.

What would their babies look like? Nine heads and nine tails? That would be interesting!

I don't know how to tell who's heart'ing my comments. In case you don't know, I've heart'ed a lot of your comments. Keep up the great comments! It's helping so very many of us!

You're instincts are kind of close to what happens. Great instincts!

No. This drama has two seasons, each covering about half of the book. The ending won't happen until the end of Season 2. There are three great love rivals: TSJ, XL and CX. At the end of Season 1, she is engaged to a fourth love rival. At the end of Season 2, she'll be with TSJ (assuming the drama continues to closely follow the book).

This drama has two seasons, each covering about half of the book. The ending won't happen until the end of Season 2. There is tragedy along the way, but the ending is a happy one (assuming that the drama continues to follow the book closely.)

Edit: There are three great love rivals. The title is about the ML, who doesn't end up with the FL.

Thank you so much. Back at you! ::heart:: ::heart:: ::heart::

Someone else explained it better than I can. But, she couldn't regain the spiritual powers that she lost from years of torturing when she was a kid, because of the way she was tortured. So, she resorted to poisons as her main weapon.

Thank you and I appreciate your sentiments! You're a sweetheart! ::heart::

For sure!

Yet another great comment from you! I'm not articulate, even though I read the book. Please keep sharing your thoughts with everyone! I can't be the only one who appreciates your comments. They are so close to the book too.