For anyone who is interested in episode 14 where Gui Mudan (Jeremy Tsui) and Liu Yan (Alen Fang) had a conversation and couldn't grasp the two works which Gui Mudan was reciting from plus the context, here's the context and translation of the lines: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24049698
Turns out Tang Lici isn’t the only one who knows how to make a grand entrance and steal the limelight, because…
You're welcome. In episode 14, Gui Mudan is reciting lines of works which will fly over the heads of many people, so I posted a partial opinion of what he is doing to Liu Yan plus translations of what he is reciting from Wang Shifu's most-famous zaju.
Gui Mudan is reciting lines from《西厢记》just before he speaks to Liu Yan. "Romance of The Western Chamber"…
This is what some people will see in subtitles:
可正是 (I was indeed) 人值殘春蒲郡東 (in the waning spring in Pudong Prefecture) 門掩重關蕭寺中 (The temple gates are shut again)
Gui Mudan is singing the lines attributed to Cui Yingying and the translation for 可正是 (I was indeed) is correct because he is solo, waiting for Liu Yan. However, there is a translational error because Pudong Prefecture did not exist in the Tang Dynasty. The translation above is more literal and works in this context because those are the only lines Gui Mudan sings, before mockingly questioning Liu Yan as to why he is late.
The dramatist reciting the lines of Cui Yingying in entirety is as follows:
可正是 (Here we are) 人值残春蒲郡东 / 人值殘春蒲郡東，(east of District Pu, when spring is late) 门掩重关萧寺中 / 門掩重關蕭寺中；(shut up in lonely temple with barred door and gate) 花落水流红 / 花落水流紅，(The flowing stream is red with fallen blooms) 闲愁万种 / 閑愁萬種，(laden with glooms) 无语怨东风 / 無語怨東風。(Mutely I bear a grudge against the eastern breeze, blowing down flowers from the tree.)
[無語怨東風。(Mutely I bear a grudge against the eastern breeze, blowing down flowers from the tree.)] is perfect here rather than “Sullen, bereft of words to begrudge the eastern breeze” (which is what I would translate, if these were standalone sentences. But this is theatre and as a translation into English, the lines must capture and convey the essence of the original work yet conform to certain poetical structures in another language.)
MTL won't work for what Gui Mudan is reciting.
So as not to double-post, I have replied to the comment above yours as to why I believe Gui Mudan is mocking Liu Yan throughout the entire conversation.
Gui Mudan is reciting lines from《西厢记》just before he speaks to Liu Yan. "Romance of The Western Chamber"…
Gui Mudan is singing from a zaju based on the tragedy “The Story of Yingying” by Yuan Shen of the Tang Dynasty. Unlike that tragic romance, Wang Shifu’s zaju has a happy ending and can be seen as a love comedy containing observations of societal mores focusing on a couple managing to succeed in uniting individual passions to triumph over a strict Confucian hierarchy and Confucian values of that time. The setting is the first year in the reign of Zhenyuan in the Tang Dynasty.
How the original lines are translated by the likes of Xu Yuanchong also being more historically accurate (which I prefer due to him having an excellent grasp of the structures of English poetry and understanding of imagery conveyed by the skilful usage of mandarin by Wang Shifu), because Cui Yingying aka Oriole is in the presence of her mother and her maidservant Hongniang aka Rose in the first scene of the first act (simplified mandarin to the left, traditional mandarin to the right):
Gui Mudan is reciting lines from《西厢记》just before he speaks to Liu Yan. "Romance of The Western Chamber"…
The conversation with Tang Lici showcases certain traits of Gui Mudan: He is highly intelligent and intellectual. He wasn’t just testing Tang Lici, but also measuring Tang Lici as per how he would weigh up an object for usefulness or value. As to what kind of object, the conversation with Liu Yan has Gui Mudan likening Tang Lici to a plaything. Gui Mudan’s homicidal tendencies (and what is now labelled as antisocial personality disorder in modern times) became clear in that conversation with Tang Lici, and are cemented in the incident where the waiter dies.
Gui Mudan is the polar-opposite of Tang Lici, when it comes to perceptions of the value of life and death. Tang Lici is full of life and wanting to live, despite having slightly less than a year to live. Gui Mudan is hollow for cherishing death and devoid of empathy, which is why he can momentarily enjoy the taste of delicious food yet fail to appreciate the efforts and time needed to create them.
Why Gui Mudan is fundamentally different from Liu Yan is that his decision to kill or not to kill does not arise from grudges or emotions. He behaves like a cold-blooded observer or puppet master in his decisions. Liu Yan hates theatre.
Gui Mudan does exactly what Liu Yan doesn’t like, because Gui Mudan is mocking him and has no respect for him. As a dramatist reciting lines for Cui Yingying, Gui Mudan is well aware that Liu Yan is not scholar Zhang Sheng come to meet his lady love. Any honorary titles Gui Mudan purposely used with Liu Yan in the conversation here eg 尊主 is completely undercut by reminders of mutual usage and not overstepping boundaries, because Gui Mudan is not pleased at the setbacks suffered in the mess pertaining to Sword King City costing Fengliu Dian (ie House of Pleasure) and is also aware that further losses will follow if a certain female companion of Tang Lici at the Central Plains Sword Alliance knows the locations of certain bases which trade in the Nine-Hearts Ape Ghoul pills.
If Liu Yan does not get his act together to kill Tang Lici soon and Fengliu Dian suffers unacceptable damages which Gui Mudan is not duly compensated for or unwilling to further tolerate, Gui Mudan will cut short his play. Gui Mudan is the 班主 and will end any plays not worth continuing or keeping. The cost of doing so might involve Gui Mudan deciding to exert efforts to turn Liu Yan into a useful plaything for Fengliu Dian, until Liu Yan dies.
That final theatrical line in a mask was a point (once again referencing another moment in history and literature) to make within a threat, which is exactly why Liu Yan’s reply is to assure Gui Mudan that he knows what he is doing, by using the explicit analogy of a cat with a rat. Gui Mudan is warning Liu Yan not to continue being like King You who was the final monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty ie don't neglect the necessary and over-indulge yourself until you destroy everything for a woman such as Bao Si aka Tang Lici. Or else...
Liu Yan asks Gui Mudan why he didn’t do anything to Tang Lici. Gui Mudan wears a partial mask, before turning to face Liu Yan. Every time a mask is used, Gui Mudan is reminding Liu Yan of their respective places in this entire scheme, and Liu Yan had better not forget his part to play.
Gui Mudan is a grotesque parody of life. The impression of 鬼气 he gives off succeeded with me, because I would literally make myself scarce around Gui Mudan after seeing that one conversation he had with Tang Lici. The masks and conversation with Liu Yan using the theatrics of opera cements the intellectual devoid of empathy as inhuman menace in his 鬼气, whereby he is truly hollow due to cherishing death. I’d prefer Gui Mudan not to be aware of my existence or anyone I value.
Another account just below your comment asked for an understanding of what Gui Mudan is reciting, so I posted necessary translations and context of each line in a reply below.
Epi 14Liu Yan to Ghostly peony mask guy- 'leader you seem to have forgotten that I don't enjoy opera. May you…
Gui Mudan is reciting lines from《西厢记》just before he speaks to Liu Yan. "Romance of The Western Chamber" is by the famous playwright Wang Shifu of the Yuan Dynasty. This work consisting of 5 books and twenty acts is most representative of Yuan Opera literature while considered one of the greatest northern Chinese plays.
In the first book for the first act, part of the lines Gui Mudan recites frames the setting and lays the foundations of the place and time period. Whether it is in traditional mandarin or simplified mandarin, the mandarin subtitles wrongly reversed two words for Gui Mudan's recitation. As it stands:
{ 可正是人值残春蒲郡东，门掩重关萧寺中；花落水流红，闲愁万种，无语怨东风。}
In my opinion, the masks and lines using opera build upon certain aspects of Gui Mudan's persona, as seen in that conversation he had with Tang Lici.
Thanks, episode 35. I'll have to figure out how to retrieve my heart another day. That song which plays at 13:56, the camerawork for Ding Yi and Gu Yangshan and flashbacks until 17:15.... Perfection. Then flowing again into the tension and flow of this drama... The acting of Zhang Yishan, Elvis Han and Zhang Tian Ai is fantastic. The dialogues in this episode are amazingly maintained, even with the supporting cast.
And at the end... I'm not even sure how I'm going to write a review for what I have watched. What an experience. At this point, still my C-Drama of 2025.
have u seen the 26 mins trailer ( major spoilers for ep 19) ? it’s 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
You remember the dance in episode 18?
Luo Yunxi looks very good while in costume dancing for more than 2 minutes in rehearsal, even when the CGI hasn't been applied yet (I reckon this is the best version of him dancing, where everyone can see how gracefully skilled he is): https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5227872303188099
Turns out Tang Lici isn’t the only one who knows how to make a grand entrance and steal the limelight, because…
Thank you for the appreciation. Given the amount of layering and themes and details, whoever can add to the details of this drama is helpful. I added a link to a paper detailing the ethics of Chan Buddhism (mostly in English) but also with Mandarin terms and sanskrit), so people can read at their own leisure.
kwanto is definitely handy with data, small details, and all sorts of trivia, and I believe kwanto and/or Azure is most aware of what is in the actual final script (which I'm not).
Azure is very good at answering the confusion of others.
作者小楼 also included certain observations of details in their post for the previous episodes, a few of which I enjoyed specifically the one pertaining to Gui Mudan with Liu Yan.
Also, eat dinner before you watch episode 19. And make sure you have something nice to drink after. If you can survive his trials as TTJ in TTEOTM, you can survive this!
Luo Yunxi did four spins in one go as Tang Lici with the sword according to a BTS and now my head is spinning (in a good way). Is that in any of the upcoming episodes?
The more spoilers I see from ep19 the more I know this episode will destroy me.. I'M ALREADY IN TEARS
Even if you're using a towel already before episode 19 tomorrow, just remember: In episode 20 Tang Lici will be alright, because he'll be duelling with Puzhu in front of the leaders of the Central Sword Alliance.
Should I start this? Is this worth it? Just done LITC. Is this HE?
HE.
All the characters have complexity, and not one-note. Most of the acting is top-notch, because many of the ensemble supporting cast put forth strong performances. You'll feel a lot of emotions for different characters, and it's hard to find a boring moment.
You want a badass heroine who doesn't lose her wits and go stupid, that's Fu Yixiao. Just as Liu Shishi aced her role as a seasoned assassin, and Peng Xiaoran was an intelligent calm princess out for justice in Jun Jiu Ling, Li Qin puts in a solid performance which is fierce and vulnerable by turns. Chen Zheyuan was a wonderful surprise here for me.
Novel-Ming Yi and Novel-Ji Bozai were a good pair because both of them were intelligent and cunning and witty…
The important thing is to make your own judgment. If you liked my description of novel-Ji Bozai, then you should read the novel. He starts out as a misogynist and rake because of a sad past that made him cynical, but his changes into becoming a monogamist for Ming Yi is realistic and touching in the novel. He wanted to use her as a weapon, and completely screwed up there XD You might like novel-Ming Yi too.
I wrote a spoiler-free review for Fated Hearts focusing more on the technicalities and aspects, and added a link to my explanation for the ending of why three characters were important. Right now I'm over at Whispers of Fate where the themes are quite extensive and more complicated than LITC, so I'm helping with comment summaries.
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Partial dissection of that interaction between Gui Mudan and Liu Yan: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24049658
Translation here: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24049698
Partial opinion here: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-24049658
可正是 (I was indeed)
人值殘春蒲郡東 (in the waning spring in Pudong Prefecture)
門掩重關蕭寺中 (The temple gates are shut again)
Gui Mudan is singing the lines attributed to Cui Yingying and the translation for 可正是 (I was indeed) is correct because he is solo, waiting for Liu Yan. However, there is a translational error because Pudong Prefecture did not exist in the Tang Dynasty. The translation above is more literal and works in this context because those are the only lines Gui Mudan sings, before mockingly questioning Liu Yan as to why he is late.
The dramatist reciting the lines of Cui Yingying in entirety is as follows:
可正是 (Here we are)
人值残春蒲郡东 / 人值殘春蒲郡東，(east of District Pu, when spring is late)
门掩重关萧寺中 / 門掩重關蕭寺中；(shut up in lonely temple with barred door and gate)
花落水流红 / 花落水流紅，(The flowing stream is red with fallen blooms)
闲愁万种 / 閑愁萬種，(laden with glooms)
无语怨东风 / 無語怨東風。(Mutely I bear a grudge against the eastern breeze, blowing down flowers from the tree.)
[無語怨東風。(Mutely I bear a grudge against the eastern breeze, blowing down flowers from the tree.)] is perfect here rather than “Sullen, bereft of words to begrudge the eastern breeze” (which is what I would translate, if these were standalone sentences. But this is theatre and as a translation into English, the lines must capture and convey the essence of the original work yet conform to certain poetical structures in another language.)
MTL won't work for what Gui Mudan is reciting.
So as not to double-post, I have replied to the comment above yours as to why I believe Gui Mudan is mocking Liu Yan throughout the entire conversation.
How the original lines are translated by the likes of Xu Yuanchong also being more historically accurate (which I prefer due to him having an excellent grasp of the structures of English poetry and understanding of imagery conveyed by the skilful usage of mandarin by Wang Shifu), because Cui Yingying aka Oriole is in the presence of her mother and her maidservant Hongniang aka Rose in the first scene of the first act (simplified mandarin to the left, traditional mandarin to the right):
Gui Mudan is the polar-opposite of Tang Lici, when it comes to perceptions of the value of life and death. Tang Lici is full of life and wanting to live, despite having slightly less than a year to live. Gui Mudan is hollow for cherishing death and devoid of empathy, which is why he can momentarily enjoy the taste of delicious food yet fail to appreciate the efforts and time needed to create them.
Why Gui Mudan is fundamentally different from Liu Yan is that his decision to kill or not to kill does not arise from grudges or emotions. He behaves like a cold-blooded observer or puppet master in his decisions. Liu Yan hates theatre.
Gui Mudan does exactly what Liu Yan doesn’t like, because Gui Mudan is mocking him and has no respect for him. As a dramatist reciting lines for Cui Yingying, Gui Mudan is well aware that Liu Yan is not scholar Zhang Sheng come to meet his lady love. Any honorary titles Gui Mudan purposely used with Liu Yan in the conversation here eg 尊主 is completely undercut by reminders of mutual usage and not overstepping boundaries, because Gui Mudan is not pleased at the setbacks suffered in the mess pertaining to Sword King City costing Fengliu Dian (ie House of Pleasure) and is also aware that further losses will follow if a certain female companion of Tang Lici at the Central Plains Sword Alliance knows the locations of certain bases which trade in the Nine-Hearts Ape Ghoul pills.
If Liu Yan does not get his act together to kill Tang Lici soon and Fengliu Dian suffers unacceptable damages which Gui Mudan is not duly compensated for or unwilling to further tolerate, Gui Mudan will cut short his play. Gui Mudan is the 班主 and will end any plays not worth continuing or keeping. The cost of doing so might involve Gui Mudan deciding to exert efforts to turn Liu Yan into a useful plaything for Fengliu Dian, until Liu Yan dies.
That final theatrical line in a mask was a point (once again referencing another moment in history and literature) to make within a threat, which is exactly why Liu Yan’s reply is to assure Gui Mudan that he knows what he is doing, by using the explicit analogy of a cat with a rat. Gui Mudan is warning Liu Yan not to continue being like King You who was the final monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty ie don't neglect the necessary and over-indulge yourself until you destroy everything for a woman such as Bao Si aka Tang Lici. Or else...
Liu Yan asks Gui Mudan why he didn’t do anything to Tang Lici. Gui Mudan wears a partial mask, before turning to face Liu Yan. Every time a mask is used, Gui Mudan is reminding Liu Yan of their respective places in this entire scheme, and Liu Yan had better not forget his part to play.
Gui Mudan is a grotesque parody of life. The impression of 鬼气 he gives off succeeded with me, because I would literally make myself scarce around Gui Mudan after seeing that one conversation he had with Tang Lici. The masks and conversation with Liu Yan using the theatrics of opera cements the intellectual devoid of empathy as inhuman menace in his 鬼气, whereby he is truly hollow due to cherishing death. I’d prefer Gui Mudan not to be aware of my existence or anyone I value.
Another account just below your comment asked for an understanding of what Gui Mudan is reciting, so I posted necessary translations and context of each line in a reply below.
And yes, we will differ on this subject 😊
In the first book for the first act, part of the lines Gui Mudan recites frames the setting and lays the foundations of the place and time period. Whether it is in traditional mandarin or simplified mandarin, the mandarin subtitles wrongly reversed two words for Gui Mudan's recitation. As it stands:
{ 可正是人值残春蒲郡东，门掩重关萧寺中；花落水流红，闲愁万种，无语怨东风。}
In my opinion, the masks and lines using opera build upon certain aspects of Gui Mudan's persona, as seen in that conversation he had with Tang Lici.
And at the end... I'm not even sure how I'm going to write a review for what I have watched. What an experience. At this point, still my C-Drama of 2025.
Luo Yunxi looks very good while in costume dancing for more than 2 minutes in rehearsal, even when the CGI hasn't been applied yet (I reckon this is the best version of him dancing, where everyone can see how gracefully skilled he is): https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5227872303188099
kwanto is definitely handy with data, small details, and all sorts of trivia, and I believe kwanto and/or Azure is most aware of what is in the actual final script (which I'm not).
Azure is very good at answering the confusion of others.
For example, Azure explained to others about Zhoudi Lou: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-23951190
Azure was discussing massive spoilers with Enigma5 here: https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-23951190
Azure was also explaining the exchange between the Abbot of the temple and Tang Lici (for episode 1 or 2): https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin#comment-23933494
作者小楼 also included certain observations of details in their post for the previous episodes, a few of which I enjoyed specifically the one pertaining to Gui Mudan with Liu Yan.
Also, eat dinner before you watch episode 19. And make sure you have something nice to drink after. If you can survive his trials as TTJ in TTEOTM, you can survive this!
No breakups. No love triangles. HE for main couple. This is an adult drama, so try it for yourself.
All the characters have complexity, and not one-note. Most of the acting is top-notch, because many of the ensemble supporting cast put forth strong performances. You'll feel a lot of emotions for different characters, and it's hard to find a boring moment.
You want a badass heroine who doesn't lose her wits and go stupid, that's Fu Yixiao. Just as Liu Shishi aced her role as a seasoned assassin, and Peng Xiaoran was an intelligent calm princess out for justice in Jun Jiu Ling, Li Qin puts in a solid performance which is fierce and vulnerable by turns. Chen Zheyuan was a wonderful surprise here for me.
Any other questions on the male lead, etc - This spoiler-free review might help: https://kisskh.at/profile/Xiang83/review/503570
Mandarin novel source for Love In The Clouds: https://www.kanunu8.com/book5/ruqingyun/
English translation source for Love in The Clouds: https://mydramanovel.com/love-in-the-clouds/
English translation source and Mandarin source for Fated Hearts the novel: https://kisskh.at/discussions/768987-wan-xin-ji/145636-novel-versus-drama-differences?pid=3409882&page=2#p3409882
I wrote a spoiler-free review for Fated Hearts focusing more on the technicalities and aspects, and added a link to my explanation for the ending of why three characters were important. Right now I'm over at Whispers of Fate where the themes are quite extensive and more complicated than LITC, so I'm helping with comment summaries.