Guhhhhh, this is not going to end well. Either the drama sucks, or it’s great but two out of three perfect male leads are longing forever and even the female lead is only 50% happy. I’m talking about Tong Hua‘s xianxia romance novel Lost You Forever, three volumes and basically my C-version of Pride & Prejudice where I think everything is perfect about it and will go to my grave still fondly remembering it. It’s prequel Once Promised got butchered in the C-drama adaptation but I am holding out hope LYF will be treated properly. Time spent on simple things, sincerity in the world building, and equal love given to all three male leads. I was hesitant to embrace the upcoming C-drama starring Yang Zi as my beloved Xiao Yao not because she doesn’t fit the role (she does!) but because she’s done so much xianxia dramas I feel like it’ll just bleed one into the other. Plus three rising male leads I’ve never even seen before so I don’t know what to expect.
But today Tencent released the first official drama poster and I AM BACK IN LOVE. HOMG Yang Zi absolutely IS Xiao Yao and the visage of her under the red Pheonix Flower Tree carrying the basket of red phoenix flower petals (we all know where that is headed) just hits all the feels. This also confirms that the male lead of the drama follows the male lead of the novel in Zhuan Xu, and I’ve told readers of my translations that Zhuan Xu is the male lead even if among the three male leads he gets the least shipping mostly because he gets the most shafting in terms of fate. From the poster above and the first concept poster (below) showing black clad Zhuan Xu and white robed Xiao Yao heading up the mountain it’s clear that the focus is on these two kissing cousins and that’s fine because male lead Zhang Wan Yi who plays Zhuan Xu visually captured my interest the most.
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I don’t like Yang Zi and I don’t get why she’s in every single big budget historical idol drama. She’s a good actress but.. I want to see new faces. I know nothing about Zhang Wan Yi except that he is in every single roleplay video I’ve seen on bilibili lol people really liked his character design in that pic you posted.
Same – so boring to see her so often in these roles and TBH, I had to laugh when her character was supposedly the most beautiful in Ashes of Love.
@Rina, there’s obviously a reason why she’s chosen to headline these dramas bc these studios have a lot of trust in her as an actress. You had to laugh that her character was supposed to be the most beautiful in Ashes of Love? Beauty is subjective but from this comment of yours alone. You sound like a hater. Make some suggestions if you don’t want to see her.
@jane – which C-actress and which C-actor do you like to watch? I read your trashing comments everytime there is an article about C dramas. You sound like an expert in commenting without any positive suggestions. New faces? You know nothing about Zhang Wan Yi, so what is your point here?
Xuan Lu. I love Xuan Lu but she is criminally wasted in cdramaland.
I love to watch Liu Yi Fei and Zhang Tian Ai in ancient costume as well
Ditto.
But I do believe she has the talent of picking good project. Thus, most often than not, with the gazillion cdramas released, when I see her name, I do tend to check it out…
Hahaha. Sounds bitter. There are plenty of big budget dramas with other actresses such as Zhao Liying, Yang Mi, the currently airing drama with Liu Yifei. Also, C-dramas with big budgets aren’t always the best storyline. There are rare gems out there.
@Jane, make some suggestions if you’re going to complain about YangZi not being “fresh face” enough. Or else, it just looks like you’re just here to hate….
My dearly beloved Xiang Liu, i hope you`ll get better treatment in drama universe
Seconding this comment yet also conflictingly wanting the drama adaptation to stay true to the original novel. Oh the feels, Xiang Liu remains my all-time favourite character from a novel after all these years.
Same same…. I see heart break coming, especially since it will be Tan jianci portraying the character.
I know what you mean 🙁 I feel like the ending was open. Tong Hua left enough room to bring XL if she wanted to!
I love Yang Zi so I’m looking forward to this drama. I started started paying attention to her after Ashes of Love, she was great in it.
OMFG I am so pumped for this! I read your translation of this c-novel and it has been in my TOP favourite historical romance!
I read your translations of this novel when I was 19 and now I’m 27 Woww how time flies.
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@ Koala,
Thank you so much for translating LYF! It has been such a joy to be able to read it along with your notes! I am also nervous about the drama! However, since Tong Hua publicly said it was her fav book. She seems to be very involved by being the scriptwriter & coming by the set many times. Fans are also nervous bc they don’t want the ending to be too different compared to the novel but I have a couple of interesting points that I came across on weibo & while re-reading the novel. I alwys felt the ending was left open. It was like Tong Hua purposely made it this way so that it would give her more flexibility with the plot if it ever gets made into drama. LYF’s central narrative was alwys about how Zhuan Xu was going to reunite the world to make it a safer place for Xiao Yao to live in & be able to make her own choices in life.
Therefore, I never felt that Xiang Liu had to die in order to satisfy the ending. There are also reasons to believe that XL isn’t necessarily dead or could be revived. One of the biggest reason is that Tong Hua NEVER elaborated on what it actually means for XL to truly die with his nine lives. We know he gave up 2 to XY, 1 to kill the bug & at least 1 dying in the battle.
I just can’t see TH killing him off that easily when he’s supposed to be CY 2.0. Giving him the same fate as CY, not being able to be with his beloved until death & the world discriminating, misunderstanding him. It is just too redundant narratively speaking. There could be two ways in which he could still be alive & still satisfy the overall plot.
Keeping XL alive revolves around two key points. First, Tong Hua revealed to us that XY was alrdy aware of her current demon abilities & wanted to find out if she would “become even more like XL” if he were to give her another one of his lives. This was a key point in the novel & a lot of fans agree that this could be useful in giving XY the ability to help XL. Since XY was going to explore the ocean at the end of the novel, she would undoubtedly be able to connect the dots with all of the powers that she would come to have with more of his blood in her.
Compared to all the other actresses yang zi has only ever done 4 xiancia dramas so idk why many ppl say shes done a lot when she has done the least whereas zhao liying has done like 14+ and yang mi even more.