AH

"I will pay." would be like "my treat", which wouldn't really fit with his whole "all of our interactions are perfectly fair and equitable transactions" schtick. "The man always has to pay" feels like a convenient excuse for him to pay every time without seeming like he's showing her affection or creating a situation where she owes him.

In the novel and in the drama, XL/FFB insisted that "the man" should pay. Which seemed (to me) like an odd thing for him to care about. After some thought (this is purely my speculation) I think the real reason he insisted on paying was that he didn't want the relationship between FFB and XY to ever be one where it could be construed as poor FFB using rich princess XY as a free meal ticket. If he let her pay for their meals and activities, that would turn their relationship into one where, on some level, he was using her for a gain. If he always insisted on paying, then he would never feel like he was using her.

Xiao Yao is the female lead and the main character of the story. The drama follows her story more closely than any of the other character's stories.

Tong Hua (the author) considers Cang Xuan to be the male lead. After Xiao Yao, the drama follows his story more closely than any other character's story.

But the character with the most straightforward love line with Xiao Yao is Tushan Jing. And Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao's lives and hearts are connected. Tushan Jing and Xiang Liu are generally considered the second and third male leads and they both play very important roles in the story.

It's a reverse harem drama and Cang Xuan is not a typical male lead.

We could go right to the source. TSJ and XL said nice things about each other in the novel.

TSJ speaking to XY in chapter 22 (which corresponds with episode 33): “No, I see you as more important than my life. Xiao Yao, you resented me for saying I wasn’t good enough for you yet I refused to let go. Actually, I know that you can go on just fine without me. I know that Fang Fang Bei is more suitable for you. But I can’t let you go, as long as I am alive then I can’t! I’m sorry, I’m sorry…"

XL speaking to XY in chapter 46: “Even before I knew you, I was already doing business with Tu Shan Jing for hundreds of years. He’s not a vindictive person, but he’s also not a weak fool. In hundreds of years, I’ve never once taken any advantage from him. He can time and again endure Tu Shan Hou only because he treats Tu Shan Hou as a relative. When he banished Tu Shan Hou to Gao Xing, he was well aware that the fracture between them would not end that easily. With Tu Shan Jing’s smarts, he would have been keeping guard against Tu Shan Hou still. He would have assigned someone to track Tu Shan Hou at all times in Gao Xing, and prevent him from growing his power again. That way if Tu Shan Hou still wants to kill Jing, he couldn’t even attempt it.”

TSJ speaking to XY in chapter 51: “Don’t think your husband is a very jealous and small minded person. Xiang Liu saved your life many times. I am eternally grateful to him.”

S1 ends with Cang Xuan achieving a goal, so it is a somewhat happy "ending" in that sense. But it also "ends" with all of the main leads facing unhappy circumstances in their love lives. They are either married to people they don't love or engaged to people they don't love. So it is unhappy in that sense.

S2 will end with each character getting the thing they originally wanted most, and the author of the novel considers the ending to be a happy one for that reason. For some of the main characters (including the female lead), that means a mostly happy ending with marriage to a person they love. For others they get some of what they wanted, but not everything, and in a tragic way. There is a main character death and no one gets a 100% happy ending. Depending on your perspective and the characters you like most, you might view it as happy ending, a very tragic ending, or something in the middle.

S1 only covers the first half of the novel. S2 will air next year. Are you wanting to know how S1 ends, or how S2 will end?

Yep, true. Wen Xiao Liu is a deity with a male body, not a human woman. And I agree, TSJ's choices probably caused XY more pain than XL's choices.

I think that's a fair gripe.

In fairness, the instances where XL physically hurts XY or causes her to feel excruciating pain go beyond ordering her to be whipped 40 times and stepping on her wounds after she trespassed on the remnant army's territory, poisoned Chubby, tried to poison XL, and refused to reveal her true identity to XL at a time when he knew that spies had infiltrated his camp and were trying to kill him.

XL also caused blood to drip from XY's nose and fingers when she mocked XL's commitment to Gong Gong. XY later understands why XL reacted this way and apologized for her comments, but it's still true that he hurt her out of anger here.

XL intentionally broke a branch that XY was hanging from, causing her to fall a great distance and to badly injure her legs. In the novel, XY is happy with the outcome of that encounter despite her injuries. But it's still an instance where XL intentionally hurts XY.

XL intentionally caused XY to fall from a great height into Hu Lu Lake so that XY would be stunned and FFYY could try to assassinate CX. Although XL absorbed the brunt of the water's force, XY was still in significant pain and unable to move for a while afterwards (despite being relaxed and speaking comfortably with XL).

XL intentionally pulls XY into the depths of the ocean to force her to choose: "kiss" him for air or drown? XY's lungs burn and she ends up fainting after refusing to "kiss" XL. Of course, XL immediately passes air to her and brings her to the surface.

In chapter 32 (which is beyond what is covered in S1 of the drama), XL uses the bug connection to intentionally cause XY to feel excruciating pain in her heart before they part ways. I assume to push her away for her own good, but still another instance where he intentionally causes her pain.

And then there are the bites. In the novel, many of the bites are described as involving no pain (and some are described as involving sensations that are more like kissing, licking or excitement), but at least one bite is described as involving pain. In the drama, YZ's facial expressions of discomfort make it seem like XY feels some pain when XL bites her.

XY generally doesn't seem to be traumatized by any of these things or to really hold them against XL. But they do happen.

I've said before that I don't think "abusive" is the right word, and I agree with you that they are different from a situation like a lovers' spat that ends in violence, but I don't think we should make light of these moments either.

All of the main characters, XL included, have serious issues.

Everyone can speak freely, but certain types of comments inevitably seem to create certain results.

When fans criticize other fan's favourite characters (or each other) it always seems to lead to ugly fights in this main comment section. So I find it more pleasant when those kinds of comments are not made in this main comment section and are instead only made in discussion threads where they are less likely to ignite fights.

Yes, the jabs at other fans are particularly unfortunate.

This main comment section would be a lot friendlier and (IMO) more enjoyable, especially for the newbies and neutrals, if the Jing criticisms from YaoLius were kept to the YaoLiu discussion threads and the Xiang Liu criticisms from YaoJings were kept to the YaoJing discussion threads.

Wen Xiao Liu ends up with Ye Shi Qi at the end of the novel, which will be covered in S2. They make promises to each other in the middle of S1, but they are not together at the end of S1.

You're welcome! ^^

Glad to hear you found it!

I wouldn't say that S1 is super heavy, but it does touch on some heavy topics like war, loss of family members, torture, political scheming, drug addiction, and tragic love.

S1 covers the first half of the novel and is not complete, but it doesn't end on a major cliff hanger. S2 will air next year and will cover the second half of the novel. S2 will likely be quite a bit heavier than S1.

You're welcome. Maybe try searching the Mandarin names of the songs you want, and see if you can find the album that way?

The album has 50 tracks and definitely includes the background music. I’m afraid Apple Music won’t let me copy and paste the album title, so I can only suggest searching for it via the artists.

I don’t pay for any other music streaming services so I don’t know if it’s available elsewhere.

Edit: Actually 50 plus 18. So 68 tracks.

It’s available from Apple Music but only under its Chinese title. If you search “Zhang Zi Ning” in Apple Music and select her second Top Song and then select “Show Album” you’ll pull up the full album.

Okay DYX playing yet another powerful and talented young man hampered by heart disease who needs to use the FL to cure himself is kind of funny. ^^

On episode 14. Still not really feeling it. I'm finding it hard to like or root for any of the characters. I haven't dropped it yet because of certain parts of DYX's performance / character, but I'm hoping it will pick up more soon.