[Mainland Chinese Web Drama 2020] Three Lives Three Worlds The Pillow Book 三生三世枕上书

[vivi0303]

4 minutes ago, Megan said:

Thanks. Hopefully if there will an official English translation published, it will be one whole book.

I sincerely hope not. Judging from the official English translation of TMOPB, the novel was not as well detailed, and the translation was very lacking in terms of actual interpretation. The English translation right now for PB was done over a period of 1.5 years I believe and incredibly detailed, with footnotes that explains the antiquated proverbs so well.

 

Those without a general knowledge of the genre would still be able to make sense of the nuance.

[MayanEcho]

1 hour ago, Megan said:

I think you are mixing book and drama. I don’t remember Feng Jiu ever heading to the demon realm in the book.

also, he could have immediately sent another message explaining everything once he realized his messages weren’t read.

 

By the book, the person who needs to receive the previous message is already gone. So what would be the point of sending another message? And at that point, would you honestly think a mere message will do? In this kind of issue, would a letter be enough? The queen of Qing Qiu was humiliated by his continued absence. The emperor and his family of high gods cares for their only granddaughter. Sending a letter after 72 days will be an insult.

 

About XY's injuries of being in coma for months, even DH had slept for many years after he stabilised the realm 300 years before finally meeting FJ formally.

 

That was why there was a Sheng Ye in Fanyin. And a mortal projection of SXR. To help DH gain back lost cultivation. Or else.

 

For stabilising the Huiming realm that took 72 days for him to return, it only meant that the problem was greater, and his power is lesser. Compound to that the debilitating effect of having to absorb the poison from that bimbo JH, who tried to prevent the wedding of DH and FJ. 

 

Simply put, the ripple effect of the extreme selfishness of JH had endangered all realms. She had not only hurt, but diminished the capacity of that one being who could prevent everyone getting killed.

 

In the book, DH went to Qing Qiu and found out FJ is gone. Bai Zhi Dijun wanted an annulment of the marriage. Zhe Yan told DH that FJ had asked why she was being lied to repeatedly by DH. That within few days after she was brought back to Qing Qiu, she was ready to go for long years of training and cultivation.

[sg_niner]

12 minutes ago, Megan said:

Thanks. Hopefully if there will an official English translation published, it will be one whole book.

 

There are 4 volumes of PB Thai version. The publishing company put so many reference and special contents at the end of each volume and gain more money from us reader in the process. It is one of the most expensive books I see in the struggling Thai book market. 

[MayanEcho]

1 hour ago, vivi0303 said:

Definitely little kids who have never had responsibilities upon their shoulders for a single day in their lives making those comments!  I am so good at tuning those people out. I mostly pay attention to the comments during the comedy scenes. The fans are so creative.

 

Kids or kid adults, lol, who couldn't grasp the situation of DH having to sacrifice so much for the good of everyone and for promises he had to fulfill. Honestly, he loves FJ so much, why would he not attend his wedding banquet without plausible reasons.

[MayanEcho]

5 hours ago, Ninky said:

Same thing will happen with FJ, she will become a little more mellow :D.

 

Hahaha, mellow FJ is fine, but hopefully not turning icy faced like DH. 

[Megan]

25 minutes ago, MayanEcho said:

Sending a letter after 72 will be an insult.

He couldn’t send a letter in those first few days?

who said he had to wait?

Feng Jiu gave him a day to return, he rushed back to her. It was only because the realm collapsed that he was delayed. But since he could send Zhong Lin for some glass, couldn’t he send another message at that time?

a letter would not be satisfying after her humiliation but at least it would give an excuse instead of leaving them hanging with nothing but gossip to rely on.

sigh....their wedding led to both their humiliation. Feng Jiu was humiliated by her absent groom. Dong Hua actually made it known he had had yet another runaway bride and he was actively searching for her. I’m guessing that’s a humiliation by itself

[jimmylyne]

1 hour ago, Megan said:

I think you are mixing book and drama. I don’t remember Feng Jiu ever heading to the demon realm in the book.

also, he could have immediately sent another message explaining everything once he realized his messages weren’t read.

FJ and ZL did go to Blue Demon's Clan   and also Red Demon's Clan .Here's an excerpt of the book... enjoyed!

 

PB2 page 426 & 427

At midnight on the third day, she suddenly awakened from a nightmare.
In truth, she couldn't at all remember what she had seen. She just suddenly
thought to the fact that she hadn't received any news from Dijun for several days. Had something happened to him? Her face grew pale as she hastily
called for Zhonglin in the middle of the night and stuttered her worries to
him. Although she knew Dijun had gone to see Jiheng, she had forgotten to
ask that night where Jiheng was. She was feeling more nervous by the
second, and insisted on urging Zhonglin to leave the Blue Sea with her that
very night. One was to head to the southwest to look for Xiao Yan, the
other to the southeast to look for Jiheng's brother, Lord Xuyang.
Three days later, the two met again at the Blue Sea. Due to days of
traveling, both looked rather weatherworn.
When she arrived at the Blue Demon Clan's territory with her reason for
visit, a rather staid Demon envoy frowned to her with a deep sigh and said
that their master hadn't returned to the clan in nearly a year. They didn't
know where to go to look for him either. If and when she saw him, he
asked that she please tell him to come back as soon as possible. The Blue
Demon Clan would certainly be grateful to her for relaying this message.
When Zhonglin met with the Red Demon Clan, Lord Xuyang told him
three hundred years ago when his younger sister eloped with her guard
Minsu, the Red Demon Clan had cast her out. Thenceforth, Jiheng was no
longer related to the Red Demon Clan. Where she was now was something
they really couldn't offer an answer to.
There was no clue at all where Dijun was currently. Zhonglin quickly
grabbed her as she stumbled and almost fell. In her daze, she saw a few
auspicious clouds drifting toward them. Out in front were her paternal
grandparents. Following behind them were her parents.
Her grandfather's eyes were shot with rage. When he saw her, his anger
seemed to have also contained a hint of pity. At last, he asked her, “Where
exactly is your husband right now?”
She tried to pull herself together and replied, “He's got an urgent matter…”
Bai Zhi Dijun interrupted her in anger: “So jilting you on your wedding to
be illicitly involved with Jiheng of the Red Demon Clan is an urgent
matter?”

 

[Megan]

41 minutes ago, vivi0303 said:

Judging from the official English translation of TMOPB, the novel was not as well detailed, and the translation was very lacking in terms of actual interpretation.

I actually liked To The Sky Kingdom. There were only a few things that irked me. Like why didn’t they include the extra chapters? I had to transcribe them from the Chinese book later.

the other thing was that they got a few names wrong. Green Sleeves? Phoenix Nine?

when I read those names (I hadn’t watched the drama yet and didn’t know Feng Jiu’s name and meanings yet) I was baffled because what kind of names are those? Then I realized....oh wait...they directly translated the Chinese names. And I’m like...WHY DID THEY DO THAT? They kept the rest of the Chinese names. Why translate Chinese names?

[MayanEcho]

4 minutes ago, Megan said:

He couldn’t send a letter in those first few days?

who said he had to wait?

Feng Jiu gave him a day to return, he rushed back to her. It was only because the realm collapsed that he was delayed. But since he could send Zhong Lin for some glass, couldn’t he send another message at that time?

a letter would not be satisfying after her humiliation but at least it would give an excuse instead of leaving them hanging with nothing but gossip to rely on.

sigh....their wedding led to both their humiliation. Feng Jiu was humiliated by her absent groom. Dong Hua actually made it known he had had yet another runaway bride and he was actively searching for her. I’m guessing that’s a humiliation by itself

 

He had sent those first two letters, but did not realize they were not received until so much later. When sending another letter will not do anymore. Those two letters were enough explanations had FJ and ZL and FJ's mother received those. But they did not, DH also did not know they did not, because XY the messenger was comatose for months.

[MayanEcho]

35 minutes ago, sg_niner said:

 

There are 4 volumes of PB Thai version. The publishing company put so many reference and special contents at the end of each volume and gain more money from us reader in the process. It is one of the most expensive books I see in the struggling Thai book market. 

 

Envious. Wish they'd do that too in English. No complaints with the translated story already there, just that I want it in book form too. Same with To The Sky Kingdom. It's too dry, as if I'm reading the summary of the translation of the book. If PB is two (four in Thai) volumes, surely there are more details in TMOPB book, as it's from the same author?

[MayanEcho]

11 minutes ago, Megan said:

I actually liked To The Sky Kingdom. There were only a few things that irked me. Like why didn’t they include the extra chapters? I had to transcribe them from the Chinese book later.

the other thing was that they got a few names wrong. Green Sleeves? Phoenix Nine?

when I read those names (I hadn’t watched the drama yet and didn’t know Feng Jiu’s name and meanings yet) I was baffled because what kind of names are those? Then I realized....oh wait...they directly translated the Chinese names. And I’m like...WHY DID THEY DO THAT? They kept the rest of the Chinese names. Why translate Chinese names?

 

Those are some reasons why To The Sky Kingdom is quite lacking. It was hard to plow through reading it, I'll liken it to reading a messed up accounting book. The translator can't even be bothered to check the names. If she had given only the meaning of the name, it's fine. But WTH, it's used through out as the actual name!

 

Seriously, did someone close to TQ check the translation, before it was published, because this version was a disservice to her writing and her story.

[Ninky]

4 hours ago, Megan said:

I just learned that the ancient war scenes had been cut out.

i hope that if the petition makes it, they will also release the war scenes. It would be awe-inducing to see Dong Hua in war.

in other words, I don’t think I ever got an answer for why DH waited 70 or so days to find Feng Jiu after he missed out on their wedding. Surely stabilising the Miao Yi realm can’t have taken that long.

The ancient War  does not match in book’s timeline as the one on the show isn’t an ancient war as it happened 32,000 years ago the year FJ was born.

 

The true war with the demon clan happened well over 100,000 years ago during Shao Wan’s era. On hindsight,  I think they suspect book readers will

pick this up and decided to axe it. Raises confusion and more questions.

 

the 

[Megan]

22 minutes ago, MayanEcho said:

 

He had sent those first two letters, but did not realize they were not received until so much later. When sending another letter will not do anymore. Those two letters were enough explanations had FJ and ZL and FJ's mother received those. But they did not, DH also did not know they did not, because XY the messenger was comatose for months.

But why can’t he send another letter to FJ’s family telling the reason he missed the wedding? 

 

Also this is for general discussion.....now that I’m thinking about it....was FJ really humiliated by DJ’s absence? According to her family, few knew about it so the Bai reputation was safe. But it was definitely known that for some reason, the wedding was cancelled, and then that Dijun was suddenly looking for his Wife.

maybe the wedding guests later assumed the wedding was cancelled because Feng Jiu was absent rather than the other way around.

this is just me speculating about who was really embarrassed by their wedding fiasco....

actually....can Dijun feel embarrassed? Does it count as an embarrassment if he isn’t embarrassed?

[MayanEcho]

3 hours ago, jimmylyne said:

PB 2 page 468

 

He wrote two letters and bid Yan
Chiwu to deliver them to the Blue Sea. One was to be given to Fengjiu, the
other to the wedding planners, her mother and Zhonglin. The story was briefly explained inside each other these letters.

 

The letter written to Fengjiu's mother and Zhonglin had also suggested that there was no need to announce a postponement to the guests, lest their wedding become a joke. They should instead explain that the Blue Sea's tradition was to invite their guests for a week-long visit. The week-long feast inside the stone palace was for those who received an invitation. The main reception would take place when he came back in eight days.

 

His arrangement was nothing less than solicitous. Unfortunately, those solicitous letters did not arrive at the Blue Sea on time.

 

@Megan Aren't these letters enough? And why would he send another letter, when he had sent already two letters, except those letters didn't arrive? Nor did he know until much later those were not received?

 

If he was already so focused on stabilising the Huiming realm after dumping the self-centred bimbo JH at the demon realm, must he still have thoughts of writing more letters? Collapsed Huiming realm means demise of everyone. How, and why would he even think of sending another letter? He expected FJ to wait because he had already sent letters to her and to ZL and FJ's mother.

 

About humiliation. Just because only the few knew, it doesn't make it any less humiliating. FJ was still stood up by her groom, albeit DH didn't intend to.  Moreover, this is a queen known far and wide as 2nd most beautiful, who belongs to family of high gods, and the future empress of Qing Qiu. The perceived disgrace extends to the whole of Qing Qiu.

 

DH will not care how embarrassing that his wife left him. Why? Because rather than mull over shame and humiliation, he would rather find means to correct the problem. That is his nature. And the first means to do that is find the missing FJ to explain to her why.

[Megan]

@MayanEcho I thought he already knew the letters weren’t received once Zhonglin delivered FJ’s message.

also...during those 70 days, why didn’t Zhong Lin  just tell the Bai clan the reason for his absence so they can tell FJ?

[jimmylyne]

On 2/9/2019 at 9:24 PM, chubbz said:

ok, I watched bits and pieces of TMOPB back when it was launched but never read the novel it was adapted from and just happened to pop by this thread (page 63 and not before, so please pardon me if whatever I share has already been shared previously). I saw the questions on Dijun 帝君 and Shangshen 上神...

 

 

 

Here's my understanding, based on knowledge (of Chinese mythology) I previously had (which is minimal), and some quick research (in Chinese, thus my terminology may not be the same as English translations of the series, since I have not read any translated versions) online...so please correct me if I am wrong...

 

One thing to bear in mind...the "Three Lives" series is a fiction that's loosely based on Chinese mythology and may have borrowed elements from Chinese mythology and other similar based books, and has it's own "self-created ecosystem" that's not necessarily in line with Chinese mythology. E.g. I don't think Chinese mythology had so many different realms as reflected in the series, and even if there was, the balance of power between the realms, is a whole system of it's own within the series.

 

帝 in general, refers to emperor (皇帝) and 君 (not 俊) generally means Lord, so 帝君 is sort of a "Ruler / In-Charge" title. Tianjun 天君 is the Ruler of the Heavenly (天) Realm. Based on what I read online, within the series, the Heavenly Realm isn't necessarily considered the most powerful, even though it is deemed as the highest in authority in name. The various realms basically just co-exist, although the balance of powers aren't all equal.

 

On the other hand, Shangshen 上神 is a "level of immortality", which is dependent on various factors, including "birthright", "age", "trials and tribulations endured", "good works", etc. and is the highest possible level of immortality.

 

So, Donghua Dijun 东华帝君 holds a ruler title of 帝君 but is also 上神 Shangshen, an immortal of the highest level. Same for Fengjiu's grandfather / Bai Qian's father 白止 Bai Zhi, since he is the ruler of the Fox Realm. Although Donghua is no longer a ruler, he still holds the title probably out of reverence by all immortals. He was the ruler of ALL realms long ago, and distributed them out to the various realms, e.g. he apparently gave up the rulership of Heavenly Realm to the current 天君 Tianjun's predecessor (uncertain how many generations before current though), which is also why 天君 Tianjun also seem so afraid of him. So in a way, Donghua is like the retired CEO (who doesn't bother with daily operations) while the various rulers of each realm are like the Managers within their realms?

 

There appears to be many (at least 15, of which 2 are no longer around) 上神 Shangshen in the series:

• 8 in the Bai family: 白浅 Bai Qian and her 4 elder brothers (including Fengjiu's father), her eldest sister-in-law 未书 Weishu (eldest sister of 玄女 Xuan'nv, former by wife and latter by concubine, thus the different status), and their parents 白止 Bai Zhi and his wife
• 瑶光 Yao Guang: she appeared in TMOPB and stays near Moyuan because she is his admirer and was sort of jealous of Bai Qian when she was his disciple as 司音 Siyin
• 天君 Tianjun: Ruler of the Heavenly Realm
• 折颜 Zheyan: Born as a phoenix and brought up by "Father god", so he is somewhat like Moyuan's elder brother
• 墨渊 Moyuan: Son of "Father god" and elder brother of 夜华 Yehua (but was originally not born properly because their mother was injured during pregnancy, thus only his spirit was born and kept within the golden lotus for many years, until rebirthed as 夜华 Yehua)
• 东华帝君 Donghua: Born of a rock but established his worth based on his own strengths, and is the oldest "living" immortals
• 父神 "Father god" and 母神 "Mother god" (possibly Fuxi and Nvwa from ancient Chinese mythology): Both have "passed on"

Main sources:

https://kuaibao.qq.com/s/20180414A1EQU700

https://new.qq.com/omn/20180714/20180714A1LOLP.html

http://k.sina.com.cn/article_6516282627_18466950300100ct0s.html

http://k.sina.com.cn/article_6694625122_18f07df6200100h3ez.html

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/25339029

I can't believe I don't remember if I ever read these information before.. which is so interesting.

[MayanEcho]

9 minutes ago, Megan said:

@MayanEcho I thought he already knew the letters weren’t received once Zhonglin delivered FJ’s message.

also...during those 70 days, why didn’t Zhong Lin  just tell the Bai clan the reason for his absence so they can tell FJ?

 

Let's try to see the POV of the Bais if ZL went there to explain why. Who is this Zhong Lin explaining DH's absence? 

 

Furthermore, why would ZL go there to the Bais on his own? ZL will not, because DH did not tell him to. 

 

I will tell you what I learned about protocols in place based on training (as a student) received at congress. Seniority matters a lot, and a person in lower ranks cannot act ahead of his seniors without explicit instructions, preferably in writing, to do so. 

 

In essence, the PA of DH can not just go on his own and inform the emperor and kings of Qing Qiu to expound on the absence of DH.  That will only make the matter worse and will be seen as further insults from DH. 

 

 

[jimmylyne]

34 minutes ago, Megan said:

@MayanEcho I thought he already knew the letters weren’t received once Zhonglin delivered FJ’s message.

also...during those 70 days, why didn’t Zhong Lin  just tell the Bai clan the reason for his absence so they can tell FJ?

 

PB2 468 & 467

 

Donghua only realized his
letters were never delivered when Zhonglin brought Fengjiu's message to him. He immediately rushed to Qingqiu, but the moment he left the Red
Demon clan's border, he perceived a change in the world. After the
stabilization of three hundred years ago, the Miaoyi Huiming Realm was
about to collapse.
It was indeed Destiny to choose this exact moment to collapse.

_____ _____________________________________

 

Zhonglin most probably didn't know DH delay his visit to Qingqiu . He must've thought DH already in Qingqiu explain everything to FJ.. when actually DH stabilized Miaoyi Huiming Realm first which must be took 73 days to stabilized it .

[Megan]

On 3/13/2020 at 11:53 AM, Queen01 said:

He also tried to kill him at the battle ground, fortunately/unfortunate for SY he blocked DJ sword.The heart brake after that was simply....simple.

They missed a grate opportunity to show case SY (Vengo) expressiveness at seeing his dream/desperation shattered and splintered before his eyes, we just got the aftermath of that. I need a good ugly cry for both SY and A it will help with the hurt my heart feels every time I think about them. Hopefully we all learned a good lesson from that as my grandmother use to say make hay while the sun shines. Regret is an unbearable burden, I speek from personal experience once a opportunity is gone there is no way to get it bach.

OMG....reading your post....I just realized DH really did try to kill CY in that episode....wasn’t that kinda harsh? Unless Chen Ye really did intend to sacrifice Feng Jiu and she would die....

[Megan]

On 3/13/2020 at 12:50 PM, Queen01 said:

At first I taught is was also so, but seeing the episode with sub. ( DJ saying to SM .....SY needs to give up on the demon in his heart or dye).  And the anger in DJ eyes when he found out SY took her to  the battle field, with DJ personally it looks like something he would do.

他敢

Dong Hua’s line here was literally one of the most impressionable. You can hear so much emotion behind it from the powerful emperor. 

You hear the thundering anger and the threat of death