AH

I am still holding out a tiny bit of hope that the adaptation of chapter 43 will give us some good scenes to enjoy.

This fan definitely appreciates it ^^

Wow hats off to the drama writers. That was a great add!

Novel readers: does anyone remember what chapter fem!XL (the veiled lady in white on the boat) appears? It would be whatever chapter corresponds with episode 17. I've looked through the novel and can't find it. Was that a scene that was created especially for the drama?!

I get what you mean. I just find it funny that really all of the main characters have two identities, although some definitely last longer than others.

Fearsome demon general XL vs concubine-born second son of a second-tier clan + playboy FFB.

Haoling Princess XY vs male small town doctor WQL.

Xiyan Prince CX vs small town wine merchant Xuan.

Wealthy future clan leader TSJ vs penniless assistant to a small town doctor YSQ.

Glad you liked them. I totally get why they cut those scenes. Even for the ones with no censorship issues, they'd be hard to film or include in a way that did them justice. But these cut bits are one of the reasons I keep telling people to go read the novel. They're so good! ^^

In my head-canon version of this story, TSJ and XL are both pan (XL doesn't come across as ace to me) but picky. They fall for the person and not the package.

And although XL initially says he's not interested in XY's "false" WQL form (despite already being hot and bothered in that scene, at least in the novel version), he quickly gets over that and will happily switch his own gender just so he can sit next to WQL on a little boat and feel more like a couple. Maybe even be perceived as a well-matched couple by others.

The types of things that *aren't* in the drama but *are* in the the first 7 chapters of the novel are things I'm not surprised were cut or adjusted, but I miss them anyway and prefer the novel because of them. A lot of them are related to how XL and XY's relationship is portrayed. And there are more changes in the later chapters.

Things like the description of XL stopping by to visit XY occasionally for no reason after Ma Zi's wedding:

"After Ma Zi’s wedding, Nine Lives Xiang Liu would occasionally come and sit in the clinic courtyard and drink a few cups of Xiao Liu’s wine and nibble on a few of Xiao Liu’s snacks."

Things like the fact that after XL stuns XY in order to make ZX vulnerable to an assassination attempt, XY lays on top of XL while the two of them float in the lake and they have half a conversation like that before XY starts swimming (and it's in that position that XL first suggests transferring the bug from ZX to him):

"Xiang Liu’s body fell backward and he laid down on the water’s surface. Xiao Liu’s entire body was still aching so he couldn’t move and could only lay on top of him... Xiao Liu closed his eyes and felt them rocking on the waves. The water supported everything so there was no need to use any strength and it was quite relaxing... Xiang Liu softly laughed. “Then put the bug inside me.” Xiao Liu scoffed, “Like you would be so nice.”"

Things like the fact that XL passes air to XY many times under water after XL receives the poisonous bug, and it's not an issue:

"All the fish in the ocean came to help and created a maze to block and distract the Gao Xing soldiers and lead them astray. Xiang Liu held Xiao Liu’s hand and swam in the silent eerie bottom of the ocean. Every time Xiao Liu ran out of oxygen, Xiang Liu would pass a breath of air to him."

Just a bunch of stuff like that. Not massive changes. But definitely things I miss.

Out of XY's four romantic interests, three of them have multiple names / identities ^^! But you're right, only one keeps the audience guessing for a while.

And then there's straightforward Feng Long.

For sure, they are totally different genres.

I really can't see XL making the decision to accept the bug to test a theory. I can only see him making that decision and embracing all the potential consequences (life-and-death consequences!) if he not only knew that he had feelings for XY, but also felt confident enough in those feelings and strongly enough about her to take on all the consequences of receiving the bug. If it was a test, I feel like Tong Hua would have made that clearer.

I don't think XL being a demon means that his emotional experience is totally different from a mortal human's or a deity's emotional experience, or that he would need something external like the bugs to tell him whether his feelings were really love or not. I get that, in the early episodes, XL doesn't really treat XY like one would typically expect someone to treat the person they are in love with, but that's also true after he accepts the bug. Think of how he behaves the first time he meets XY after she regains her true form (which is also after he accepts the bug and definitely knows that he loves XY). His behaviour isn't always a reliable indication of his feelings.

Spoilers from chapter 48 of the novel ahead.

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Xiang Liu sat down next to the raft and stared at the sleeping Xiao Yao before softly saying “The tree grows old on land together, the mandarin ducks die together in the water – the Lover’s Bug connects heart to heart and our lives, and there truly is no way to remove the bug. Years ago I was only able to remove the bug from Zhuan Xu because he didn’t know it was you so he didn’t willingly accept the bug. So you never successfully planted the bug on him in the first place. But I….I was heart and soul willing, so the bug successfully planted in me."

I'm guessing here, but maybe they look at Go Ahead and see the intense childhood bond between the ML and FL who call each other brother and sister even though they aren't actually brother and sister. They see a long separation. They see the ML meet the FL again when they are adults, with the ML harbouring obsessive romantic feelings for the FL while she still sees him as her brother. The ML admits that he was prepared to put the FL first and just stay by her side to look after her and help raise her kids if necessary. Obviously things end up going in a different direction in Go Ahead, but up to that point there are definitely parallels with CX and XY's relationship.

Episode 15.

Okay that's good. And that last part is certainly true!

I worry I've traumatized you with too many sad spoilers.

Yes, XL dies with no extra lives remaining at the end of the novel.

Great posters! This look feels like it's half FFB, half XL ^^

^ I would point out that the bug not fully stabilizing in CX doesn't necessarily mean that CX doesn't love XY. Given that CX was able to feel XY's pain through the connection, we should assume the opposite: he does love her (he just doesn't know WXL is XY yet). The drama emphasizes CX's feelings by showing that he was dreaming of XY as the bug was transferred out of him.

But to be successfully planted, the bugs must be willingly accepted by the host. XY was able to move the bug from CX to XL because it hadn't fully stabilized in CX (as CX didn't accept it), and because XL both loved her at that point and was completely willing (to use his words from the novel, "heart and soul willing") to accept the bug and everything it entailed.

That being the case, the bug seems to stabilize in XL immediately after it is transferred (their hearts synchronize immediately - whereas it took several days for CX to start feeling XY's pain) and the walnut halves were absorbed into XL and XY's palms (they don't directly show the absorption in the drama, only that the halves disappear). In Dahuang, promises are sealed by touching palms, so I think the walnut halves entering their palms is symbolic of the promise the bugs represent. I also believe the walnut halves being absorbed / disappearing is supposed to show that the bug in XL can no longer be transferred to another person (e.g., XY couldn't transfer the bug from XL to TSJ even though TSJ would likely also meet all the necessary criteria).

The consequences of stealing the Haoling Princess away from her wedding would be severe (between XY and FL's connections, it offends just about every powerful person in Dahuang). So his identity as FFB essentially becomes unusable. There isn't much of a "how". XL changes his appearance from FFB to XL and XY asks him about FFB. XL simply says that he's dead, and XY understands what that means.

Also, to protect the remaining shreds of XY's reputation, ZX later creates a false rumour that he sent men after XY to bring her home, and that those men killed FFB.

*Beloved* Ru Shou?!? If this is Ru So from the novel... I don't think you'll be calling him that by the end of part 2!