AH

One of my favourite take aways from the novel is that XL got to spend the better part of two years teaching XY archery and being her companion (constantly exploring castles, attending dance halls, gambling, shopping, eating out, etc.) as FFB before he revealed / confirmed his identity and things got complicated again. Although two years is very brief in their immortal lives, it's still a pretty significant amount of time where he got to be close with XY.

XY also constantly prepares and sends new poisons to XL during that time - a regular reminder to XL that he is in her thoughts. And XL finds out about the memories of him that XY saved in her mirror. Those and other events show XL that XY cares about him, even though they both know it wouldn't be possible for them to have a happy ending, and even though XL knows that XY is not aware of his true feelings.

XL also got to experience the unconditional love of a mother for four years when he fulfilled his promise to the real FFB, and he clearly felt strongly about his adoptive father and fellow soldiers.

Although XL's fate is quite tragic and he never gets to have the romance that Jing gets to have, there are definitely moments in his life where he got to experience love and care and goodness.

In the novel, XY finds out for sure that FFB is XL two years after FFB first starts teaching her archery (on the night where he comes to her injured and drinks her blood). At that point she feels like it was something she always knew on some level, but she didn't consciously know / believe it until then. The timing might be different in the drama (the time skips aren't always obvious) but otherwise I think XY's awareness is pretty much the same as in the novel.

Jing and XY were both miserable about not seeing each other for 16 months.

The tail was cut off by XY's mother before the events of the first episode. That greatly diminished the 9 tailed fox's power and was the reason why the fox wanted to exact revenge on XY + use her to replenish his depleted power.

The drama and the novel don't specify the exact reasons why XL chooses to accept the bug, but context clues suggest that he was self-aware enough to realize he had already developed feelings for XY and at least didn't want her to die (and he knew that she would likely die if the bug stayed with CX). Personally, I think at that point he already wanted to be the companion who would alleviate her loneliness and the person she could rely on, which was why he felt so betrayed later when he initially found out about her relationship with ZX and KoH. Meaning that she wasn't the abandoned person she originally claimed to be. A person with a past very similar to his own.

He might also want the connection so he can know about her feelings or when she's hurt, or because the connection can help keep XY alive in the future at times when she might otherwise be killed.

And on some level I even think that there was an element of jealousy. XL always seems oddly pleased when XY creates a poison especially for him. She prepared the bug especially for him too. He might've felt a twinge of jealousy that she used it on his enemy instead. He might even feel like transferring the bug to him would be like making sure he got something that was always meant to be his. Especially since the bug comes with a fated connection to XY.

I think the deal he made with XY in exchange for accepting the bug was just an excuse (much like the deal he made with A Nian later on) and not his actual motive for suggesting and accepting the transfer.

XL seems to understand how the bugs work better than anyone else. In the drama, he specifically seeks the information out. In the novel, we don't know how he gets the information, but he is still the one who suggests transferring the bug and he is immediately able to control the connection between him and XY so that XY can't feel his pain or emotions (except for one instance where he intentionally lets her feel his pain). When XY finally learns more about the bugs, she tells XL what she found out right away and he isn't surprised at all. Later, XL knows how to use the connection to save XY and also how to break the connection, which was information that XY never found out.

Novel spoilers ahead.

For me, the satisfaction of XY x TSJ's happy ending in the novel doesn't come from them having chemistry. It mostly comes from the fact that it was only possible because it is part of the ending that XL chose and orchestrated.

He succeeds in keeping her alive through everything, even two "deaths". Which I believe has been one of his main goals since at least the point where he decided to accept the lovers' insect. But he also saved TSJ's life specifically so that TSJ could be the life-long devoted companion she needed.

He kept himself at arm's length from XY and never let her understand his true feelings for her because they both knew it wouldn't be possible for them to have a happy ending and he couldn't be the constant, end-game companion she needed. But he could be the temporary companion that alleviated her sadness and loneliness before she could be with TSJ, and he succeeded in that role as FFB. In the novel, he spent more than two years as FFB teaching her archery and being her frequent companion.

Edit: In chapter 51, XY says FFB gave her more than 10 years of archery instruction. So the first two years she wasn't sure if FFB was XL and for the last 8 years she did know for sure that he was XL.

In the end, he couldn't have a happy ending with XY, but he got everything else he wanted: he died an honourable soldier's death on the battlefield fighting for the noble cause he devoted himself to, he kept XY alive and gave her a happy ending with TSJ, and he knew that despite all his efforts to keep his distance, XY cared enough about him that she couldn't bring herself to kill him even after he tried to kill ZX (again) and succeeded in killing FL, but no so much that his choices and ending would completely devastate her.

In the novel, XY accepts FFB's offer to teach her archery (despite thinking that he's a playboy with dubious motives and no serious intentions to teach her anything useful) partly because she wants TSJ to know that she's spending time with another man. A playboy at that. I totally get why her feelings would compel her to act that way given the circumstances. Later on she comes to truly appreciate FFB's instruction and his companionship, and she's grateful because (upon reflection) her behaviour would've been pathetic if her initial expectations proved to be correct.

From the novel:

"Xiao Yao didn’t know what to feel. She had been learning archery from Fang Feng Bei for 16 months and with the Tu Shan clan’s information network and her and Fang Feng Bei’s identities, Jing must have heard about it a long time ago. Or perhaps in the beginning before she really understood Fang Feng Bei’s devil may care attitude, she never believed he would really teach her archery so she wasn’t even learning in earnest. She didn’t reject Fang Feng Bei getting close because she wanted the news that she was hanging out with him to spread across all the powerful families and reach Jing. Xiao Yao wanted Jing to know but she didn’t know why she did that. She just wanted to do it so she did it.

Later Xiao Yao realized she was mistaken about Fang Feng Bei and he really was teaching her archery. She began to learn in earnest and gradually she felt her initial purpose wasn’t important, but she still waited for how Jing would respond. But after 16 months she had totally given up waiting and felt she was so lame. Thank goodness Fang Feng Bei turned out to exceed her initial expectations otherwise it wouldn’t just be lame, it would have been pathetic."

Just finished the novel, but I only read the parts with my favourite characters. On the one hand their choices are so frustrating, but then I think of real-world equivalents like Ukraine... Sometimes doing the right thing comes at a very high cost. Utterly heartbreaking.

Thank you so much for the excerpts! I find it so interesting that Xiao Yao is the one who finds this information out in the novel, rather than Xiang Liu. But he must have known about it as well if he had already accepted the bug? I assume he didn't just accept it because she asked, without investigating it?

Does the novel provide any more details about the poisonous bugs that the drama hasn't covered? Do they actually cause the pair's hearts to beat in sync, for example?

Thank you Alysha Johnson and tofuscramble. The voice adds a lot to the character, so I thought it might be done by a professional voice actor like Wang Baoshun. I'm impressed that it's all him.

Is Xiang Liu voiced by Tan Jian Ci or is he dubbed by a voice actor? Such a good voice.

My favourite Shakespeare play doesn't have a tragic ending. It's memorable, enjoyable and re-watchable. Can't say I feel the same way about his plays with tragic endings.

That's fine. To each their own of course. I personally liked the last arc.

My wanting to show the FL in the later episodes to people is less about wanting people to like the FL (while I would hope some of the people who hated the FL's character in the beginning might like her more after her character development, I wouldn't be surprised if most didn't) and more about wanting to show people that the FL behaving the way she did in the beginning was an intentional acting and writing choice that emphasized the FL's development, which is really apparent when you compare the FL in the early episodes to the FL in the later episodes.

Plan to watch

Every time I (a serial romance drama watcher) see a new gifset of Hong Sae being unconditionally caring and supportive, I feel like putting this drama at the top of my PTW list. Then I come here again and re-read the synopsis, the genre tags and the general tags and remind myself it's not that kind of drama. Rinse and repeat.

It makes me sad to think about all the people who dropped this drama because they didn't like the innocent, naive, and child-like version of the FL in the beginning so they never got to see her evolve into more mature versions of herself. I wish I could show them.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxbHIcNs8ClK5NVKrRr6sepnKals-SnZzD

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxJ_ilhdKJCPSxRsouIw3BSf1v4WIKx5kD

In the first few episodes, yes. The SML makes himself obsolete pretty quickly.

My recipe for mostly enjoying this drama: (1) keep expectations low - reading spoilers ahead of time helped quite a bit; (2) take all the moments where the leads make bad / selfish / incomprehensible decisions, put them in a bucket labelled "blame the writers who thought this was necessary for the plot" and try to move on / not overthink it; (3) fast forward often and skip all the scenes without the leads (with very limited exceptions - like the office ladies gossiping); (4) seriously, if the ML starts to feel creepy, hit that fast forward button; and (5) enjoy the moments where Rowoon is actually allowed to do what he does best: play a very sweet, sincere and loving golden retriever.

Thank you for posting this thread!

Yes. I dropped it and never rewatched it, so I don't remember the details that well. Would it fit category 3, similar to Love O2O?

I came here to write exactly this.