Lotus

She refused because she had forgotten her real face. In the novel, she had a mental health crisis because she changed her face so many times she forgot who she is.

Fear of rejection is a bitch! The guy is severely twisted psychologically.

No, she didn't consciously try to kiss XL in the novel in the scene where she met him before meeting Jing to kiss him. XL tries to drown her so she is forced to kiss him for air, but she didn't prefer to drown instead and he saved her. When she tried to kiss Jing after, at first he rejects her at first. She complained to him that she almost died rejecting a kiss with someone she doesn't want.

Correct, Xuan will prove XY right by doing this.

This quote foreshadows in the novel the insidious actions that Xuan will later commit against his cousin. Xuan will hurt her more than anyone else will ever be able to do. I don't think he should be considered the male lead but the lead antagonist.

In the novel, Xiao Yao says to Cang Xuan: "I just can't trust that a person who is cruel to everyone else can always be gentle to just me." This sentence says everything about her evaluation of him and their relationship. This is why she loves and protects him when he needs her but can't trust him to give her vulnerable heart to him in romance. So far, CX and XL have behaved cruelly physically to her, but TSJ hasn't. Maybe TSJ will hurt her emotionally in some way or inadvertently or situationally, but I can't see him making a conscious decision to hurt her.

In the novel, the walnut disappears when the bug is fully embedded in someone who truly loves the spell caster. It foreshadows the difference between XL's love for XY and CX's love for XY. One is unconditional, one is not!

In the novel, XY wants nothing but a person who is faithfully devoted to her, always be there for her and her alone in love. Xiang Liu, although unconditionally loves her, he's faithfully devoted to his cause and destiny as a rebel commander. Xiang Liu cannot give her what she desires and he knows it. Xuan is faithfully devoted to his cause and desires for power to be a king, he has to do all kinds of political marriages, he cannot have her alone as a wife. Jing alone is the only one that satisfies her condition.

Small town! I think the ethical guidelines is flexible in that situation :) :)

Good catch. It's healthylove to choose to want someone rather than need them. XY and XL relationship is one of codependency.

Understandable since she feels most comfortable with him. He takes care of her every little needs and makes her feels safe. She can't never truly trust XL to consistently be reliable and makes her feel safe like TSJ. Then any slight betrayal of TSJ is a deep hurt. She's independent and never really relies on another person or opens herself up emotionally to anyone because of her trauma. TSJ makes her feel safe and loved, no one else did that before. Besides, they lived with each other an interacts everyday for 6 years. It grows on anyone if someone is that stable and reliable to you.

I like the scene in the alley when XY cornered TSJ about his two maids and teased him about what kind of girl he wants to be married to?! His gaze went from awkward to softening, and looking at her with endearment, and you could tell so loudly his eyes are saying "You're that girl". It made XY blush. That's superb acting skill.

Maybe it's the "special relationship" he refered to going on between TSJ and XY.

I concur it's unconditional love and devotion. XY did a lot of things for all the ML. Only TSJ's appreciated her wholeheartedly and saw what a gem she is that he's willing to put her above all else. He's the guy!

Cang Xuan's interactions with Xiao Yao is of a very different premise than the other two. Her interactions with Shi Qi and Xiang Liu are much more numerous and intimate in nature (physical closeness/ proximity)

I believed he made excuse to date her even more times and more often than any other ML as Feng Feng Bei.

As normal as constantly plotting to kill others, torture your neighbour, suspicious of someone who saved your life gets. I do agree that he's more complex and 3D than the other characters.

XL loves for her is definitely not one sided. She has affections for him, he just didn't want to develop it further. He has nothing but war and death in his future. He's a man of duty and can't leave that for her.

The bug only works that the receiver of the bug feels what the spell caster feels, not in reverse.

I think he wanted her unconscious so Xuan becomes unconscious too.

Not really, because the FL never saw Xuan as a potential romantic partner. She always sees him as a brother, while with Xiang Liu And Shan Jing, she has romantic feelings towards them. It's a strange story that the ML and FL don't have a romantic relationship at all.