9lives

Folks have been saying it's a cultural thing, maybe the "cute" factor that Asian culture seems to appreciate, but oddly enough there's nothing cute in her behavior. She's a 22 yo woman and even considering the shyness and the sheltered upbringing, it comes off as extremely weird and people start getting ideas that the ML is somehow grooming her. Well, she's really behaving like a toddler, as you said, 24/7, so it does seem like things are weirder than they should. Even after a significant time jump at the end, she keeps behaving in this unnatural manner. These baby female characters need to be extinguished from dramas, unless they have some sort of development or mental disorder, but even then it needs to be portrayed in a sensible and caring way.

The two-hand holding of the strawberry had me in tears. 😹 I didn't notice that. Her holding every cup, mug and bottle with two hands was already too much for me. Such a pity, this could have been a 10/10 drama.

Hey there!! Nice to see you here! 💖

I'm pretty comfortable with even more people watching it, I actually can't wait until Netflix US starts to broadcast to an even bigger audience. Also, especially when season 2 drops and more people become aware of the scope of this story, the support for Xiang Liu will be overwhelming as it already started to show, same as it was 11 years ago when people finished reading the book. You won't believe the number of people who started rooting for Jing and ended up on team XL. Heck, I was one of them. No way can people think Xiang Liu is the worst guy ever because if that's what they think, it only shows how little they comprehend what Tong Hua wrote. But it's fine to bash him. I bash Jing all the time. And it's nice to counter every argument with evidence from the book and from the drama. They're not real characters, as you said, so it's fair game.

There's a storm coming alright, and I can't wait til it hits :) I don't really try to convince anyone nor do I have the time for it. Like I said, when people come with inaccurate takes about the character, I try to counter the argument with evidence that states otherwise.

The character and TJC's solid acting is doing all the convincing. I'm quite literally a nobody in this. I just enjoying writing about things I love.

Would you care to elaborate further?

Xiang Liu is Tong Hua's favorite character and he's my favorite character too. Guess none of us are erroneous.

Not really, we do not fight everyone who happens to not ship XL/XY. People are free to ship whomever they like. Some ship her with Cang Xuan. No reason to fight there, as they are often quite sensible and intelligent people. As a fellow lawyer, it's actually fun.

We only fight when there's nonsense being said about Xiang Liu :) ❤️

Girl, let me put it this way. Fan war or not, I don't really care. But this needs to be said. And it's not even about this interview you guys love to throw around everywhere.

Jing is a poorly written character who is given very little development both in the novel and the drama. He serves the purpose of accompanying Xiao Yao in her journey to a "non-tragic" ending, just so she will not end up like her mother, who truly loved a guy but unfortunately, it all ended tragically.

You guys seem pretty bothered by the fact that the majority of people DO NOT LIKE Jing's character. And there's a reason for him to be so disliked. If he was meant to be almost universally liked as Xiang Liu, Tong Hua would certainly have developed him more, to the point of overshadowing the guy who's supposed to be the THIRD male lead, and yet Xiang Liu is the one who almost everyone adores. Go check your beloved WeTV rankings and see who's the number one CP. Sure, this doesn't change the novel, and unfortunately doesn't change what's already been filmed.

So, all these futile attempts to dissect and twist every word, if it's friendship, if it's one-sided love or not, if it's romantic or not, this amounts to nothing. By the way, the word friend in Mandarin 朋友 also has a romantic connotation, so spare me this "true friend" nonsense. He's her 知己 (zhi ji) and that means he is her soulmate, or do you guys want to take that away as well?

The fact remains that Xiang Liu was loved in a romantic way by Xiao Yao, and if this somehow causes a certain trepidation in your YaoJing ship, then deal with it. People can love more than one person in their lives.

It's ridiculous to see how much mental gymnastics is being displayed here to convince people that Jing is somehow a character worth rooting for. He isn't. Claiming that he is a green flag. He isn't. You guys often accuse the XL stans of being blind, but you can't even fully grasp what Jing represents. He's not the martyr or the saint-like figure you seem to believe he is. Wake up. If the leaked script is to be believed, you already know how many changes the screenwriters had to make and how much of the original intention of the author had to be sacrificed in order to make his character more likable to the audiences, considering he is supposed to be the endgame. All the efforts that Xiang Liu made will have to be reduced to elevate Jing's character. Why not leave the novel the way it is?

Jing is never going to be liked by the majority of people and the ending of this drama will never be satisfactory, so deal with it and go focus on enjoying your "non-tragic" ending and leave the rest of us in peace.

Your willpower is impressive and commendable.

It’s a historical drama based on true events, and he plays Cao Pi, so… this kind of spoils the ending.

But yes, I meant Tan and he’s is superb in this drama even though he’s just a supporting character. I would say it’s absolutely worth the watch. ☺️

Yes, all of that, but it can also have a romantic connotation. Let me bring my Chinese people here to help elucidate this further.

In a good way! Love my damaged boys 😹

It's the Upside-Down 😹🤣

I'm pretty partial to monsters, not gonna lie 🤣

White walkers are surely close by just chillin' and waiting for their turn 😹

I'm quite sure you know what the word friend means in the context of Chinese culture, correct? And read my comment again. Specifically the "friend" part. I forget nothing.

Let me get the full excerpt for you, not only the bits that fit your narrative.

"“Eh” Xiao Liu felt something strange in his palm. He opened it to find the walnut glowing and then gradually melting into splashes of color. It was like little fireflies dancing around Xiao Liu and Xiang Liu. Half of each went into Xiao Liu and Xiang Liu’s palms and disappeared.

Xiao Liu couldn’t believe it and shook his hands a few times but it really just disappeared.

Xiao Liu’s expression grew dark and he said to Xiang Liu, “I have a bad feeling about this. This bug is sooooo strange. It’s not as simple as I thought it was.”

But then Xiao Liu didn’t feel anything weird in his body so asked Xiang Liu, “How do you feel?”"

Maybe it's just me, but "little fireflies dancing around Xiao Liu and Xiang Liu" seems pretty romantic. Pay attention to the details instead of just taking everything at face value. That's not how Tong Hua intended her works to be interpreted.

Also, you guys keep forgetting about the most basic notion of the Lovers' Bugs (not Friends' Bugs, mind you - at least not in the Western context): it needs love to not turn on each other and kill the hosts. She loves Xiang Liu. That's a fact. You can accept that or not, it's up to you. It doesn't change the way the story was written, not in the slightest.

Stop, you're making too much sense. That's not how things work here.

Xiao Yao loves Xiang Liu. There's no "if she falls in love with him". You conveniently forgot that part ✌🏻

Edit: The fox dude only happened to be the endgame because of a variety of factors that allowed him to be alive in the end (and very few actually attributed to his own efforts. Maybe even none). So this whole "she likes him, he likes her so he's the endgame" notion is false. She romantically loved two guys, and also loved her gege but only in a gege kind of way.

Unfortunately, the best guy in the bunch had more pressing issues than catering to Xiao Yao's selfish needs.

Also: 95.89 + 1 + 0 + 0 = 96.89. Where are the others 3,11%? The Math isn't Mathing. 😹

The beginning has that Game of Thrones vibe I love lol bring me those monsters 😹🤣😹🤣

How is this only a 12-episode drama? While them lethally boring rom-coms have 30+?? Clown world lol 😂

Ahhhhhhhh ♥️♥️♥️