AH

Well put!

I'd recommend pausing where you are, reading the novel (it really provides a lot of context and makes the drama easier to understand), then continuing S1 to the end but take your time since there's no rush. And then go back and re-watch / re-read as much as you like between now and when S2 airs. It's very re-watchable and you'll catch more details.

From chapter 32 of the novel:

After an important event is interrupted, XY will be taken back to QS Town. She will meet the descendants of her previous companions from her clinic.

She spent a little over 20 years in QS Town as WXL, and she adopted her mortal orphan companions about 10 years before she left. When she returns, she recalls those adoptions and says that 90 years had passed since then. So about 80 years had passed since she left QS Town.

Her companions (including Lao Mu) had passed away by that point, but Xan Tan Er (Chuan Zi's wife who was a former prostitute and who became XY's apprentice near the end of her time in QS town) was elderly but still alive. She already had several great-grandchildren!

By the end of the novel (chapter 50) XY asks ZX to spare XL's life. ZX realizes it and asks XY if XL is FFB (although he's pretty certain of the answer) and she confirms it.

The last time FFB had been seen at that point was when he took XY away from her wedding with FL. So ZX asks XY if she's still seeing him (FFB) and she (truthfully) tells him that she and XL have cut all ties, but she still wants him to live.

In the novel he warns her about TSJ, XL and FFB multiple times at different points, but most of his warnings and concern are about TSJ.

XL's powers are much stronger than XY's, so he can control the connection and XY's ability to detect the bug. He can feel things through the connection, but he prevents XY from being able to feel anything unless he wants her to. For example, when XL shows up to offer to rescue her from Five Gods Mountain, he uses the connection to call XY. Which is why she knows to ask TSJ to walk her to the edge of the ocean (in the novel, they have to walk much further to get to the shore). But most of the time she can't feel him, even when he's close.

The novel doesn't provide details about how XL/FFB could be poisoned. We can only assume that XL must be able to allow poisons to affect him if he wants them to.

XY is more open about her feelings for TSJ, so ZX is more cautious about him. ZX warns XY not to get close to XL or to really fall for FFB several times, but she assures him he has nothing to worry about and he (mostly) believes her. With TSJ, on the other hand, he can clearly see her heartbreak over and over again. And he spends way more time with TSJ and can clearly see how devoted he is to XY. It makes sense that he'd be more worried about TSJ.

XL and the FFB we see in the story are the same person. XL met the real FFB in the North over 400 years ago when the real FFB was dying. They made a deal and XL took over his identity.

The face we see is XL's real face. The real FFB had a different face, but he was young when he left for the North and XL pretended that his face was injured in the North and healed by a doctor to explain why he might look a bit different.

TSJ = Tushan Jing (his full formal name) / Ye Shiqi (the name given by XY)
XY = Xiao Yao (her nickname) / Wen Xiao Liu (her name when she is a village doctor with a man's body) / Gao Xing Jiu Yao (her full formal name) / Eldest Princess of Haoling
CX / ZX = Cang Xuan / Zhuan Xu / Prince of Xuan Yuan Kingdom
XL = Xiang Liu

In the novel, XY and TSJ are together in the end.

I think it was episode 15?

There used to be three kingdoms. One of the three kingdoms (Xuan Yuan) defeated one of the others (Sheng Nong) in war so that it's territory became part of Xuan Yuan. But Gong Gong (he has a different name in the drama - he's XL's adoptive father), one of the generals of Sheng Nong, refused to accept defeat. His army is camped out in no-man's land and keeps fighting even though there isn't really anything left to fight for. The Emperor of Xuan Yuan sent his eldest grandson (ZX, the boy from the first episode) to the third kingdom (Gao Xing in the novel, and I think it's Haoling in the drama) as a hostage to prove his promise to not invade that kingdom. XY (the FL) is the eldest princess of Gao Xing / Haoling. She is also the granddaughter of the Emperor of Xuan Yuan through her mother. ZX and XY are cousins (but refer to each other as brother and sister).

XY was sent to Jade Mountain because she was in danger (the reason why is a very big spoiler so I'm leaving it out). After 70 years of waiting for someone to bring her home, XY escaped on her own. When XY escaped Jade Mountain, she happened to hear rumours about her mother and father that made XY believe that her father didn't want her and had abandoned her. So she ran away to the place where her mother died. She was hunted, which caused her to discover her transformation abilities. But her transformation abilities were difficult to control and ended up alienating her from regular people - forcing her to hide in the mountains for 20 years instead until she was captured by the 8-tailed fox for 30 years. After XY escaped, she wandered as WQL until she arrived in QS town. She liked it, so she chose to settle down there.

It's a very useful linguistic ambiguity for dramas with cross-dressing and gender-swapping ^^

TSJ concluded that XY was a woman before he was fully healed.

Verbally, the word for "he/him" and "she/her" in Mandarin are the same. "Ta" in both cases. It's just the written form that differs. It's a bit like "fiancé" and "fiancée" in English and French. When Jing says "ta" out loud, it's ambiguous. The subtitler has to decide how to write it (as "he/him" or "she/her") if they don't have a copy of the script.

In the novel, the masculine written form (he/him) is used when TSJ speaks about XY, when XY thinks about herself, and by the narrator whenever referring to WXL until XY regains a female form.

Thanks for the link!

A manga in addition to the novel and drama? This feels like a repeat of the snowballing multi-media obsession I went through with the Untamed ^^"

One year to wait now. I don't want to think about how many re-reads and re-watches there will be from now until then. I can't believe I only discovered this story 11 days ago.

Edit: Okay, the summer airing date maybe isn't from a trusted source? I'll stay tuned.

I definitely think it's worth it to read the novel.

The drama gives us more XL scenes (e.g., showing XL feeling it when XY's leg is broken and when her hands are beaten, watching TSJ carry XY out of the ocean, the infamous walk alone in episode 34) but the novel has way more physical intimacy between XL and XY.

I felt like the drama sent really mixed signals in that scene. I agree they didn't make it seem like XL was unsure about whether XY was a woman or not (especially given his voice over in episode 4), but then what is he reacting to when he stops biting her if not a suspicion or realization that she's a woman?

If it's the fact that she seems like she's about to fall unconscious (so *not* erotic!), then why on earth does he hold her shoulders and look intensely into her half-awake eyes, look down at her chest, hold her chin, and trace his finger down her neck to her chest like that? It's such an odd transition.

Since the bite and blood sucking part isn't erotic, the finger tracing after just feels very weird and out of place. Like what's going through his head?

I'm stopping myself from writing paragraphs and paragraphs of spoilers here, but I don't think XY ever *really* hates XL at any point in the whole novel. I'll leave it at that.

To your question, there are two points in the novel where XY lays on top of XL for a while: once when they are floating in a lake and once on a beach. They didn't show the first instance in the drama, and I will be very surprised if they show the second instance. If they do, it will be in part 2.

There are also scenes coming up in episodes you haven't seen yet that they changed in the drama. In the novel, XL embraces XY and is physically close to her in those scenes, technically on a bed. And in the drama they handle it differently.