There are a few reasons, but the main one comes down to their respective loyalties. When XY and CX were children,…
Thanks Kokuto.
While I personally don't think XL ever seriously foresaw a possible future where he and WXL would have a long-term romantic relationship together, I don't think there are any details in the novel that totally rule out that possibility.
The drama and the novel are also different on some points (in more ways than just the OOCness I've lamented). So maybe drama!XL did foresee such a future, even if novel!XL did not. ^^
If CX had started the war with Haoling while XY was still the princess of Haoling, she might have returned to…
You know, I hadn't thought of that line as perhaps echoing the dynamic between XL and XY, with XL coldly pushing XY away (partly because of her loyalty to CX and the fact that he and CX were on opposite sides of a war and to spare XY emotional pain). But now that you mention it, it does seem like that might have been an intentional parallel.
Does someone know why CX passed the rumor around about XY?
If CX had started the war with Haoling while XY was still the princess of Haoling, she might have returned to Haoling (and viewed him as an enemy). Or, if she stayed in Xiyan, she might have been villified as a princess of an enemy nation / for betraying her father (the King of Haoling). Either way, she would be torn between her two closest family members.
By exposing her true parentage and causing the King of Haoling to revoke XY's status as the Princess of Haoling, he ensured that XY would stay with him in Xiyan during the war instead of returning to Haoling, where she no longer officially had a home.
Her father (the King of Haoling) understood CX's intention and didn't want XY to be torn between him and CX when the war came so he went along with it and removed XY from the royal family registry, even though he still loves XY and will continue to support her.
There was also a factor of protecting XY's safety. There was always a risk that the truth about XY's parentage would come out, and for as long as that was true she was vulnerable to facing attacks like the one that she faced in chapter 21. But after the truth was exposed, CX and others made a point of showing the world that XY was strongly valued and protected by powerful people (mainly CX, the King of Xiyan) despite her parentage. And CX secretly backed a campaign to ensure that the people of Xiyan remembered what XY's mother had done for them and (for the most part) they chose to not take their anger against Chi Chen out against XY. So although XY was still vulnerable, controlling the exposure and the aftermath ensured that she was as protected as possible in the circumstances.
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Zhuan Xu = CX The Xuan Yuan Emperor = CX Black Emperor = CX Yellow Emperor = the former King of Xiyan Xuan Yuan = Xiyan Gao Xing = Haoling Grand Emperor = the King of Haoling Qi Yo = Chi Chen
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Chapter 35:
Jing said, “Your majesty, it’s not Xiao Yao being not smart enough to figure it out, it’s that she will never ever believe that you would hurt her.”
Zhuan Xu’s smile vanished and he coldly said, “I did it because I want to protect her.”
Jing already knew Zhuan Xu’s intentions but to have it confirmed still shook him to the core. He silently stepped off the steps and bid farewell. “Your humble citizen I shall be going.”
...
In the middle of the Spring month, the Grand Emperor proclaimed to the world that Gao Xing Jiu Yao would be stricken from the Gao Xing family ledger. The entire world was stunned.
Even though the rumor was spread far and wide, it was still a matter that happened hundreds of years ago. Other than the Xuan Yuan Princess coming back to life to tell the truth, there was no way to confirm it either way. What the Grand Emperor did appeared to be punishing Xiao Yao, but in truth he was taking all the shame of being cuckholded on himself.
Since Xiao Yao was born she had one of the most illustrious and powerful last names in the vast wilderness: Gao Xing. Even when she was wandering the world and had no face, she knew she was Gao Xing Jiu Yao. But in an instant she lost her last name and became someone as low as a slave who had no last name.
....
A few days later, the Xi Ling clan leader announced to the world that Xiao Yao would be added to their clan ledger and she officially became the eldest daughter of the Xi Ling clan.
The Xuan Yuan Emperor congratulated the Xi Ling clan by showering them with priceless treasures and also gifted the Jang Yi Pavilion on Xiao Yue Summit to Xiao Yao. Jang Yi Pavilion was the residence of the former Flame Emperor’s daughter Princess Yao Ji and was famed for producing beautiful jade. The name Jang Yi also meant hiding beautiful jade, so it was hinting to the world that Xiao Yao was as precious as a princess.
After the Black Emperor ascended the throne, the Yellow Emperor never once made a proclamation before. But this gift to Xiao Yao had the seal of both Emperors on the proclamation papers which was the first ever in history to have two emperor seals on the same document.
The Royal Mother gifted forty eight bottles of priceless saturn peach wine and bone essence to Xi Ling Jiu Yao. The Royal Mother was always aloof and even when the Black Emperor got married she only sent half of that, which signaled to the world that her disciple Xiao Yao was of utmost importance to her.
After Xiao Yao was stripped of her Gao Xing Eldest Princess identity, everyone thought it was time to get rid of her. But it was unbelievable that the Yellow and Black Emperors didn’t care that she was Qi Yo’s daughter and widely announced to the world how much they treasured her.
To the Xuan Yuan elders, the Xi Ling last name reminded her that even if they hated Qi Yo, Xiao Yao was still the bloodline of Empress Lei Zhu and the Princess who died to protect them. General Ying Long and Li Yuan led the brigade to treat Xiao Yao as if she was the Xuan Yuan Princess and didn’t care about anything else. Plus with the two Emperors' attitude in protecting Xiao Yao, the rest of the elders decided that they couldn’t transfer their hatred of Qi Yo to Xiao Yao no matter what.
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Chapter 38:
“If you don’t care about how we feel then you leave. I don’t want to see you! In the future you’re not welcome at Xiao Yue Peak either!” Xiao Yao ran into the inner room and flopped on her pallet before pulling the blanket tightly over her head.
“Xiao Yao, Xiao Yao…..” Zhuan Xu pounded on the door but heard silence back from inside the room. He could have broken down the door easily with his power but he didn’t force his way inside.
Zhuan Xu’s forehead wearily leaned against the door, “I care about what you think!” That’s why a war that should have begun three years ago got delayed time and again until now. That’s why he was willing to alert the Grand Emperor to his war intentions and sever Xiao Yao’s connection with him as father-daughter first.
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Chapter 39:
Xiao Yao walked to the window and stared out, not wanting Ah Nian to see the weakness in her heart. “Not that I didn’t want to but….Ah Nian, the Grand Emperor had me stricken from the Gao Xing family tree and ancestral lineage books and forbade me from using the Gao Xing last name.”
Ah Nian’s mouth dropped open and didn’t know how to berate Xiao Yao anymore. By being stricken from the family then Xiao Yao would have no right to go to Five Gods Mountain anymore. Remembering the way the Gao Xing officials viciously cursed Xiao Yao, Ah Nian’s heart softened.
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Chapter 40:
The Grand Emperor reached out his hand “Xiao Yao, I remember when you were small. Every night you would sit in front of the court steps with your eyes staring ahead until you saw me. Then you would happily run towards me and into my arms. That was the happiest part of my day because you loved me not for my power or anything else, but because I was your Dad. I loved and coddled you because you were my daughter, even if I didn’t promise your mom or if I didn’t know your uncles, I would still have loved and treated you the same. Don’t be mad at the cold way I’ve pushed you away, I just didn’t want you to feel torn between Zhuan Xu and me.”
Xiao Yao tightly gripped the Grand Emperor’s hand as if fearing losing him again “I know….I understood it deep down….I wasn’t angry at you.”
Yet he is the one who’s spreading the rumours, i think he is selfish person he wants her to find no place to…
IMO, CX revealing XY's true parentage did not protect her feelings from being hurt.
If CX had started the war with Haoling while XY was still the princess of Haoling, she might have returned to Haoling (and viewed him as an enemy). Or, if she stayed in Xiyan, she might have been villified as a princess of an enemy nation / for betraying her father (the King of Haoling).
By exposing her true parentage and causing the King of Haoling to revoke XY's status as the Princess of Haoling, he ensured that XY would stay with him in Xiyan during the war instead of returning to Haoling, where she no longer officially had a home. Her father (the King of Haoling) understood CX's intention and went along with it, even though he still loves XY and will continue to support her.
There was also a factor of protecting XY's safety. There was always a risk that the truth about XY's parentage would come out, and for as long as that was true she was vulnerable to facing attacks like the one that she faced in chapter 21. But after the truth was exposed, CX and others made a point of showing the world that XY was strongly valued and protected by powerful people (mainly CX, the King of Xiyan) despite her parentage. And CX secretly backed a campaign to ensure that the people of Xiyan remembered what XY's mother had done for them and (for the most part) chose to not take their anger against Chi Chen out against XY. So although XY was still vulnerable, controlling the exposure and the aftermath ensured that she was as protected as possible in the circumstances.
Relationship question because I think I lost something in translation… I don’t fully understand why XL/FFB…
There are a few reasons, but the main one comes down to their respective loyalties.
When XY and CX were children, they promised to always support one another and to be together by each others' sides forever. After they reunited, XY considered CX to be her closest and most important person. However, the chenrong remnant army and Xiyan are at war for the entirety of the story. XL fights for the chenrong remnant army, which is led by his adoptive father (Hong Jiang), and will never betray or abandon them. CX becomes the king of Xiyan (and as vlees mentioned, XY's mother also led the Xiyan kingdom's army in the battle that resulted in Xiyan's conquest of Chenrong and her grandfather was the King of Xiyan before CX). So if XL remains loyal to Hong Jiang and the chenrong remnant army and XY remains loyal to CX / her family, then they will always be on the opposite sides of a war.
The next bit is my personal interpretation. Many fans have different interpretations, so take this part as subjective.
XY told XL that she was afraid of being lonely, so XL did his best to alleviate her loneliness temporarily through both the bug connection and by becoming her temporary companion. But he emphasized to XY that it was temporary and made sure that she never developed an expectation that he would be with her forever.
IMO, as XL expects / plans to die on the battlefield with his chenrong remnant army comrades, he also cannot promise to be with her forever and wants to protect her from the impact of his death. For that reason, he doesn't want her to know how much he did for her, to know the feelings he had for her, or for her to have feelings for him in return, as that would result in his death causing her much more pain.
There might even be a risk that she would want to die herself in order to join him in death. I say that because Lost You Forever is a sequel to Once Promised, and in Once Promised, the three main female characters (Ah Heng - XY's mother, Chang Pu - CX's mother, and Yun Sang - a princess of Chenrong) all wanted to die after the men they loved died in battle so that they could be together with the one they loved in death. As the female protagonist of Lost You Forever, much of XY's story is about how close she came to repeating her mother's tragic fate and how she managed, in the end, to avoid doing so.
So XL hides what he does for her when he can and masks his intentions (with deals / transactions and harshness) when he can't. And, in the end, he pushes her to break ties with him, breaks the bug connection between them (so she will not die when he dies in the last battle), and he erases the memories of him that she saved in her mirror before he dies.
It's also spelled out in XL's epilogue that he wanted to close all of the gaps in XY's life that she identified when they first met - giving her an ability to protect herself (archery), someone to rely on (someone who would survive, stay by her side, and put her first), and a place that she would always be able to go (the Ocean, thanks to his blood transfusions, which gave her some of his abilities, including breathing under water) before he died. To fulfill the "someone to rely on" part, XL pushed XY towards TSJ. In the novel, he secretly saved TSJ's life for this purpose, secretly sent a gift for XY's wedding with TSJ, and secretly included a hidden message inside the gift wishing her a lifetime of worry-free happiness.
" “Yesterday a man forced me to kiss him. today I want to kiss you.”LOL. I believe there's a backstage video…
In the novel, TSJ stopped Xiao Yao from kissing him on the lips in that scene and kissed her on the forehead instead because he didn't want her pity / to keep using her kindness. He wanted her love. And at that point (chapter 14), he knew that hadn't gotten it yet.
----- Chapter 14:
Xiao Yao laughed and pointed to her lips. “Why not here?”
Jing said in a low voice, “Now’s not the time yet.”
“What time then….?” Xiao Yao lowered her eyes and used her hands to cover her face and her embarrassment.
Jing couldn’t answer because the choice was with Xiao Yao and not with him. It wasn’t that he didn’t desire her, but what he wanted was her love. He didn’t want her pity and care for him, she already gave him too much, he didn’t want to continue using her kindness.
Hear me out!If XY compromised her requirements earlier, accepted XL's fate, and eloped with XL the first time…
By "the first time he came to save her", do you mean in chapter 8 when she was still WXL and he went to the shore of Five Gods Mountains and offered to take her away from Gao Xing? Right after she made the 15 year promise to YSQ in the dragon bone prison?
Why would XL need to use the blood oath to get WXL to swear to stay alive in those circumstances? Because he was planning to eventually die on the battlefield and would want her to stay alive, even if she was miserable over his death? Getting her to promise to live in chapter 43 didn't seem to work very well...
Would that mean that XL and WXL would live with the remnant army until they were finally wiped out? Would WXL never regain her true form? Would that have been a good long-term outcome for her?
Asking in good faith as someone who considered these types of questions for fanfic purposes. ^^
I feel like just about every LYF character would benefit from some quality therapy sessions. But anger management…
I wasn't referring to in-universe standards for Dahuang. I was only intending to refer to the setting to indicate that I was talking about LYF, but clearly my wording was confusing. Apologies for that. Maybe I should have said "in LYF" instead of "in Dahuang"?
To clarify, I'm saying that many fans (in the real world) can watch a drama storyline (such as the storyline of this drama, which is set in Dahuang) where a man who is engaged and later married has a romantic relationship with another woman and have the ability to assess the context and determine that the behaviour (TSJ having a romantic relationship with XY while being engaged / married to FFYY) is still acceptable, because of the context.
I don't think anyone in this fandom has ever suggested that FFYY sexually assaulting TSJ (or making him think that she had) and forcing him to marry her was acceptable in any way?
I did not bring up WXL apologizing to XL to indicate that his behaviour in reaction to her words (the words she apologized for) was acceptable. Which is why I made a point of saying the opposite - that the behaviour was not okay regardless. I brought it up to point out that WXL understood where XL's reaction came from. As it did come from an understandable place. Understanding where a reaction like that comes from and saying that a reaction like that is acceptable are not the same thing.
We do have different interpretations. And yes, I agree, that is okay.
I feel like just about every LYF character would benefit from some quality therapy sessions. But anger management…
As a general rule of thumb, hurting another person in any way, physically or mentally/emotionally, is generally not a good thing to do. Of course there are some obvious exceptions and also some circumstances where people's opinion about what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behaviour will differ.
As a general rule of thumb, having an affair with one woman while you are engaged or married to another woman is not a good thing to do. And yet we can see that in Dahuang there are circumstances where doing so could be deemed acceptable behaviour by many fans. Because context is key.
Perhaps XL didn't need to let XY feel his heart-wrenching pain through the bug connection at the end of chapter 32 in order to give her a final hard push away from himself and towards TSJ, so that she would go to TSJ in chapter 33 to start reconciling with him and stop having any thoughts about FFB/XL. Perhaps everything else he did after the wedding interruption was already enough. Or perhaps it wasn't. Even with that final harsh action, XY thought to herself in chapter 35 that she was nearly torn again when XL comforted her and she thought, for a moment, that he looked like FFB again.
In QS town, XL did indeed react very harshly to XY's comment about Gong Gong out of anger. XY came to understand why he reacted that way later and apologized for mocking Gong Gong and the remnant army's cause. The fact that her words led XL to react harshly in that case doesn't excuse his reaction of course. That harsh behaviour was not good. If he were able to go to therapy, that moment would probably be a good item for him to cover. I think we agree on that one.
In chapter 24 of the novel / episode 34 of the drama, XY mentioned Gong Gong / Hong Jiang but didn't insult or threaten him. In the novel, FFB put on a deadly aura. In the drama, FFB's eyes began to glow red. In each case, after XY said a very touching line about wishing she could have been the one to save XL and saying that, if she had, she would have only let him be FFB, free and not owing favours to anyone (words that XL/FFB was obviously touched by), and after XL/FFB glanced behind XY (to where TSJ was standing, having followed them), he turned harsh and scared XY backwards into TSJ's arms. Personally, I view that as XL intentionally acting angry and fierce to push XY away from himself and towards TSJ. I don't think he was actually angry. There was nothing for him to be angry about.
In chapter 48 of the novel, another demon (Lie Yang) threatens to kill Gong Gong and XL has no reaction at all, he just turns to a third demon (Sir Bi) and speaks calmly to him. To me, that demonstrates that XL is capable of controlling his anger.
XL never missing a chance to remind me why I hate that character so damn much. that world has magic and phoenixes…
I feel like just about every LYF character would benefit from some quality therapy sessions.
But anger management therapy would only change XL's harsh behaviour if he was acting harshly out of anger (e.g., some of his harshness in QS town in S1). If his harshness was part of a long-term plan to push XY away for her own good (e.g., his harshness in QS town in S2), then anger management therapy would do nothing to change how he acted.
does XY half demon origins play a big part at any point going forward? will there be more delving into her bio…
Although translations often refer to XY's biological father as a "demon" or a "monster", his exact origins and identity are not super clear in Once Promised or in Lost You Forever. If he was actually a demon, it is not clear what type of demon he was. Some fans believe he was the manifestation of nature rather than a demon.
In terms of XY's true identity playing a role in the story, the fact that she is not the biological daughter of the Grand Emperor (the King of Haoling) does become relevant. In the novel, CX secretly makes that fact known to the world in order to break the official family ties between XY and Gao Xing (Haoling) before he invades Gao Xing. XY then has to choose a new family name. The Yellow Emperor (the former King of Xiyan) wanted her to pick Xuanyuan (Xiyan). In the novel, that was her mother's family name. In the drama, CX wanted her to pick Xiling, which was her grandmother's family name (and in the drama, that is also XY's mother's family name). XY also got to meet her mother and her father's spirit before they die, and her connection to her father (who was a hero in Jiu Li) means that XY is honoured when she visits Jiu Li.
The Grand Emperor (the King of Haoling) was nice to XY because he loved her mother and felt extremely guilty towards both her mother and her uncle (his best friend) but also, and more importantly, because he genuinely loved XY. He raised her alone for the first year of her life (as her mother was in a coma) and felt that she was the only one who loved him unconditionally at that time. You'll see that he also treats Ah Nian very well. Presumably he treats both of them so well because, after all of the terrible things he did to his family and friends in order to obtain and hold his throne, he wants something good to come out of it for his daughters.
As for the Face Forming Flower, the Grand Emperor removed it from XY after she visited her mother and her father's spirit, which meant that XY was able to start using it to transform herself again. She did so in chapter 46 (after XL killed Feng Long) so she could sneak out to confront XL. It is strongly implied that she may also use it at the end of the novel (when she disappears with TSJ) so that CX will never be able to find her.
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While I personally don't think XL ever seriously foresaw a possible future where he and WXL would have a long-term romantic relationship together, I don't think there are any details in the novel that totally rule out that possibility.
The drama and the novel are also different on some points (in more ways than just the OOCness I've lamented). So maybe drama!XL did foresee such a future, even if novel!XL did not. ^^
By exposing her true parentage and causing the King of Haoling to revoke XY's status as the Princess of Haoling, he ensured that XY would stay with him in Xiyan during the war instead of returning to Haoling, where she no longer officially had a home.
Her father (the King of Haoling) understood CX's intention and didn't want XY to be torn between him and CX when the war came so he went along with it and removed XY from the royal family registry, even though he still loves XY and will continue to support her.
There was also a factor of protecting XY's safety. There was always a risk that the truth about XY's parentage would come out, and for as long as that was true she was vulnerable to facing attacks like the one that she faced in chapter 21. But after the truth was exposed, CX and others made a point of showing the world that XY was strongly valued and protected by powerful people (mainly CX, the King of Xiyan) despite her parentage. And CX secretly backed a campaign to ensure that the people of Xiyan remembered what XY's mother had done for them and (for the most part) they chose to not take their anger against Chi Chen out against XY. So although XY was still vulnerable, controlling the exposure and the aftermath ensured that she was as protected as possible in the circumstances.
-----
Zhuan Xu = CX
The Xuan Yuan Emperor = CX
Black Emperor = CX
Yellow Emperor = the former King of Xiyan
Xuan Yuan = Xiyan
Gao Xing = Haoling
Grand Emperor = the King of Haoling
Qi Yo = Chi Chen
-----
Chapter 35:
Jing said, “Your majesty, it’s not Xiao Yao being not smart enough to figure it out, it’s that she will never ever believe that you would hurt her.”
Zhuan Xu’s smile vanished and he coldly said, “I did it because I want to protect her.”
Jing already knew Zhuan Xu’s intentions but to have it confirmed still shook him to the core. He silently stepped off the steps and bid farewell. “Your humble citizen I shall be going.”
...
In the middle of the Spring month, the Grand Emperor proclaimed to the world that Gao Xing Jiu Yao would be stricken from the Gao Xing family ledger. The entire world was stunned.
Even though the rumor was spread far and wide, it was still a matter that happened hundreds of years ago. Other than the Xuan Yuan Princess coming back to life to tell the truth, there was no way to confirm it either way. What the Grand Emperor did appeared to be punishing Xiao Yao, but in truth he was taking all the shame of being cuckholded on himself.
Since Xiao Yao was born she had one of the most illustrious and powerful last names in the vast wilderness: Gao Xing. Even when she was wandering the world and had no face, she knew she was Gao Xing Jiu Yao. But in an instant she lost her last name and became someone as low as a slave who had no last name.
....
A few days later, the Xi Ling clan leader announced to the world that Xiao Yao would be added to their clan ledger and she officially became the eldest daughter of the Xi Ling clan.
The Xuan Yuan Emperor congratulated the Xi Ling clan by showering them with priceless treasures and also gifted the Jang Yi Pavilion on Xiao Yue Summit to Xiao Yao. Jang Yi Pavilion was the residence of the former Flame Emperor’s daughter Princess Yao Ji and was famed for producing beautiful jade. The name Jang Yi also meant hiding beautiful jade, so it was hinting to the world that Xiao Yao was as precious as a princess.
After the Black Emperor ascended the throne, the Yellow Emperor never once made a proclamation before. But this gift to Xiao Yao had the seal of both Emperors on the proclamation papers which was the first ever in history to have two emperor seals on the same document.
The Royal Mother gifted forty eight bottles of priceless saturn peach wine and bone essence to Xi Ling Jiu Yao. The Royal Mother was always aloof and even when the Black Emperor got married she only sent half of that, which signaled to the world that her disciple Xiao Yao was of utmost importance to her.
After Xiao Yao was stripped of her Gao Xing Eldest Princess identity, everyone thought it was time to get rid of her. But it was unbelievable that the Yellow and Black Emperors didn’t care that she was Qi Yo’s daughter and widely announced to the world how much they treasured her.
To the Xuan Yuan elders, the Xi Ling last name reminded her that even if they hated Qi Yo, Xiao Yao was still the bloodline of Empress Lei Zhu and the Princess who died to protect them. General Ying Long and Li Yuan led the brigade to treat Xiao Yao as if she was the Xuan Yuan Princess and didn’t care about anything else. Plus with the two Emperors' attitude in protecting Xiao Yao, the rest of the elders decided that they couldn’t transfer their hatred of Qi Yo to Xiao Yao no matter what.
-----
Chapter 38:
“If you don’t care about how we feel then you leave. I don’t want to see you! In the future you’re not welcome at Xiao Yue Peak either!” Xiao Yao ran into the inner room and flopped on her pallet before pulling the blanket tightly over her head.
“Xiao Yao, Xiao Yao…..” Zhuan Xu pounded on the door but heard silence back from inside the room. He could have broken down the door easily with his power but he didn’t force his way inside.
Zhuan Xu’s forehead wearily leaned against the door, “I care about what you think!” That’s why a war that should have begun three years ago got delayed time and again until now. That’s why he was willing to alert the Grand Emperor to his war intentions and sever Xiao Yao’s connection with him as father-daughter first.
-----
Chapter 39:
Xiao Yao walked to the window and stared out, not wanting Ah Nian to see the weakness in her heart. “Not that I didn’t want to but….Ah Nian, the Grand Emperor had me stricken from the Gao Xing family tree and ancestral lineage books and forbade me from using the Gao Xing last name.”
Ah Nian’s mouth dropped open and didn’t know how to berate Xiao Yao anymore. By being stricken from the family then Xiao Yao would have no right to go to Five Gods Mountain anymore. Remembering the way the Gao Xing officials viciously cursed Xiao Yao, Ah Nian’s heart softened.
-----
Chapter 40:
The Grand Emperor reached out his hand “Xiao Yao, I remember when you were small. Every night you would sit in front of the court steps with your eyes staring ahead until you saw me. Then you would happily run towards me and into my arms. That was the happiest part of my day because you loved me not for my power or anything else, but because I was your Dad. I loved and coddled you because you were my daughter, even if I didn’t promise your mom or if I didn’t know your uncles, I would still have loved and treated you the same. Don’t be mad at the cold way I’ve pushed you away, I just didn’t want you to feel torn between Zhuan Xu and me.”
Xiao Yao tightly gripped the Grand Emperor’s hand as if fearing losing him again “I know….I understood it deep down….I wasn’t angry at you.”
If CX had started the war with Haoling while XY was still the princess of Haoling, she might have returned to Haoling (and viewed him as an enemy). Or, if she stayed in Xiyan, she might have been villified as a princess of an enemy nation / for betraying her father (the King of Haoling).
By exposing her true parentage and causing the King of Haoling to revoke XY's status as the Princess of Haoling, he ensured that XY would stay with him in Xiyan during the war instead of returning to Haoling, where she no longer officially had a home. Her father (the King of Haoling) understood CX's intention and went along with it, even though he still loves XY and will continue to support her.
There was also a factor of protecting XY's safety. There was always a risk that the truth about XY's parentage would come out, and for as long as that was true she was vulnerable to facing attacks like the one that she faced in chapter 21. But after the truth was exposed, CX and others made a point of showing the world that XY was strongly valued and protected by powerful people (mainly CX, the King of Xiyan) despite her parentage. And CX secretly backed a campaign to ensure that the people of Xiyan remembered what XY's mother had done for them and (for the most part) chose to not take their anger against Chi Chen out against XY. So although XY was still vulnerable, controlling the exposure and the aftermath ensured that she was as protected as possible in the circumstances.
When XY and CX were children, they promised to always support one another and to be together by each others' sides forever. After they reunited, XY considered CX to be her closest and most important person. However, the chenrong remnant army and Xiyan are at war for the entirety of the story. XL fights for the chenrong remnant army, which is led by his adoptive father (Hong Jiang), and will never betray or abandon them. CX becomes the king of Xiyan (and as vlees mentioned, XY's mother also led the Xiyan kingdom's army in the battle that resulted in Xiyan's conquest of Chenrong and her grandfather was the King of Xiyan before CX). So if XL remains loyal to Hong Jiang and the chenrong remnant army and XY remains loyal to CX / her family, then they will always be on the opposite sides of a war.
The next bit is my personal interpretation. Many fans have different interpretations, so take this part as subjective.
XY told XL that she was afraid of being lonely, so XL did his best to alleviate her loneliness temporarily through both the bug connection and by becoming her temporary companion. But he emphasized to XY that it was temporary and made sure that she never developed an expectation that he would be with her forever.
IMO, as XL expects / plans to die on the battlefield with his chenrong remnant army comrades, he also cannot promise to be with her forever and wants to protect her from the impact of his death. For that reason, he doesn't want her to know how much he did for her, to know the feelings he had for her, or for her to have feelings for him in return, as that would result in his death causing her much more pain.
There might even be a risk that she would want to die herself in order to join him in death. I say that because Lost You Forever is a sequel to Once Promised, and in Once Promised, the three main female characters (Ah Heng - XY's mother, Chang Pu - CX's mother, and Yun Sang - a princess of Chenrong) all wanted to die after the men they loved died in battle so that they could be together with the one they loved in death. As the female protagonist of Lost You Forever, much of XY's story is about how close she came to repeating her mother's tragic fate and how she managed, in the end, to avoid doing so.
So XL hides what he does for her when he can and masks his intentions (with deals / transactions and harshness) when he can't. And, in the end, he pushes her to break ties with him, breaks the bug connection between them (so she will not die when he dies in the last battle), and he erases the memories of him that she saved in her mirror before he dies.
It's also spelled out in XL's epilogue that he wanted to close all of the gaps in XY's life that she identified when they first met - giving her an ability to protect herself (archery), someone to rely on (someone who would survive, stay by her side, and put her first), and a place that she would always be able to go (the Ocean, thanks to his blood transfusions, which gave her some of his abilities, including breathing under water) before he died. To fulfill the "someone to rely on" part, XL pushed XY towards TSJ. In the novel, he secretly saved TSJ's life for this purpose, secretly sent a gift for XY's wedding with TSJ, and secretly included a hidden message inside the gift wishing her a lifetime of worry-free happiness.
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Chapter 14:
Xiao Yao laughed and pointed to her lips. “Why not here?”
Jing said in a low voice, “Now’s not the time yet.”
“What time then….?” Xiao Yao lowered her eyes and used her hands to cover her face and her embarrassment.
Jing couldn’t answer because the choice was with Xiao Yao and not with him. It wasn’t that he didn’t desire her, but what he wanted was her love. He didn’t want her pity and care for him, she already gave him too much, he didn’t want to continue using her kindness.
Why would XL need to use the blood oath to get WXL to swear to stay alive in those circumstances? Because he was planning to eventually die on the battlefield and would want her to stay alive, even if she was miserable over his death? Getting her to promise to live in chapter 43 didn't seem to work very well...
Would that mean that XL and WXL would live with the remnant army until they were finally wiped out? Would WXL never regain her true form? Would that have been a good long-term outcome for her?
Asking in good faith as someone who considered these types of questions for fanfic purposes. ^^
True. They're all fictional. All good.
Happy watching to you too!
To clarify, I'm saying that many fans (in the real world) can watch a drama storyline (such as the storyline of this drama, which is set in Dahuang) where a man who is engaged and later married has a romantic relationship with another woman and have the ability to assess the context and determine that the behaviour (TSJ having a romantic relationship with XY while being engaged / married to FFYY) is still acceptable, because of the context.
I don't think anyone in this fandom has ever suggested that FFYY sexually assaulting TSJ (or making him think that she had) and forcing him to marry her was acceptable in any way?
I did not bring up WXL apologizing to XL to indicate that his behaviour in reaction to her words (the words she apologized for) was acceptable. Which is why I made a point of saying the opposite - that the behaviour was not okay regardless. I brought it up to point out that WXL understood where XL's reaction came from. As it did come from an understandable place. Understanding where a reaction like that comes from and saying that a reaction like that is acceptable are not the same thing.
We do have different interpretations. And yes, I agree, that is okay.
As a general rule of thumb, having an affair with one woman while you are engaged or married to another woman is not a good thing to do. And yet we can see that in Dahuang there are circumstances where doing so could be deemed acceptable behaviour by many fans. Because context is key.
Perhaps XL didn't need to let XY feel his heart-wrenching pain through the bug connection at the end of chapter 32 in order to give her a final hard push away from himself and towards TSJ, so that she would go to TSJ in chapter 33 to start reconciling with him and stop having any thoughts about FFB/XL. Perhaps everything else he did after the wedding interruption was already enough. Or perhaps it wasn't. Even with that final harsh action, XY thought to herself in chapter 35 that she was nearly torn again when XL comforted her and she thought, for a moment, that he looked like FFB again.
In QS town, XL did indeed react very harshly to XY's comment about Gong Gong out of anger. XY came to understand why he reacted that way later and apologized for mocking Gong Gong and the remnant army's cause. The fact that her words led XL to react harshly in that case doesn't excuse his reaction of course. That harsh behaviour was not good. If he were able to go to therapy, that moment would probably be a good item for him to cover. I think we agree on that one.
In chapter 24 of the novel / episode 34 of the drama, XY mentioned Gong Gong / Hong Jiang but didn't insult or threaten him. In the novel, FFB put on a deadly aura. In the drama, FFB's eyes began to glow red. In each case, after XY said a very touching line about wishing she could have been the one to save XL and saying that, if she had, she would have only let him be FFB, free and not owing favours to anyone (words that XL/FFB was obviously touched by), and after XL/FFB glanced behind XY (to where TSJ was standing, having followed them), he turned harsh and scared XY backwards into TSJ's arms. Personally, I view that as XL intentionally acting angry and fierce to push XY away from himself and towards TSJ. I don't think he was actually angry. There was nothing for him to be angry about.
In chapter 48 of the novel, another demon (Lie Yang) threatens to kill Gong Gong and XL has no reaction at all, he just turns to a third demon (Sir Bi) and speaks calmly to him. To me, that demonstrates that XL is capable of controlling his anger.
But anger management therapy would only change XL's harsh behaviour if he was acting harshly out of anger (e.g., some of his harshness in QS town in S1). If his harshness was part of a long-term plan to push XY away for her own good (e.g., his harshness in QS town in S2), then anger management therapy would do nothing to change how he acted.
I hope most or all of those details will be included in the drama!
In terms of XY's true identity playing a role in the story, the fact that she is not the biological daughter of the Grand Emperor (the King of Haoling) does become relevant. In the novel, CX secretly makes that fact known to the world in order to break the official family ties between XY and Gao Xing (Haoling) before he invades Gao Xing. XY then has to choose a new family name. The Yellow Emperor (the former King of Xiyan) wanted her to pick Xuanyuan (Xiyan). In the novel, that was her mother's family name. In the drama, CX wanted her to pick Xiling, which was her grandmother's family name (and in the drama, that is also XY's mother's family name). XY also got to meet her mother and her father's spirit before they die, and her connection to her father (who was a hero in Jiu Li) means that XY is honoured when she visits Jiu Li.
The Grand Emperor (the King of Haoling) was nice to XY because he loved her mother and felt extremely guilty towards both her mother and her uncle (his best friend) but also, and more importantly, because he genuinely loved XY. He raised her alone for the first year of her life (as her mother was in a coma) and felt that she was the only one who loved him unconditionally at that time. You'll see that he also treats Ah Nian very well. Presumably he treats both of them so well because, after all of the terrible things he did to his family and friends in order to obtain and hold his throne, he wants something good to come out of it for his daughters.
As for the Face Forming Flower, the Grand Emperor removed it from XY after she visited her mother and her father's spirit, which meant that XY was able to start using it to transform herself again. She did so in chapter 46 (after XL killed Feng Long) so she could sneak out to confront XL. It is strongly implied that she may also use it at the end of the novel (when she disappears with TSJ) so that CX will never be able to find her.