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

[ForgottenSoulx]

Im still nervous about this drama i dont think she has the best acting ability .. 

12 hours ago, linh5000 said:

 Am I missing something here?? How come both of you guys said DH never went into the mortal realm?

 

I thought he did.... I don't fully remember what happened... But he was a king and FJ was one of the concubine... I don't think she was loved (like the drama), so she ended up marrying the mortal, whom she was debted to...? 

 

Someone correct me.. My memory is fuzzy.. But I'm pretty sure DH was in mortal realm... That was part of his life experiences..

 

He 100% went to the mortal realm. 

[redfoxprincess]

13 hours ago, linh5000 said:

 Am I missing something here?? How come both of you guys said DH never went into the mortal realm?

 

I thought he did.... I don't fully remember what happened... But he was a king and FJ was one of the concubine... I don't think she was loved (like the drama), so she ended up marrying the mortal, whom she was debted to...? 

 

Someone correct me.. My memory is fuzzy.. But I'm pretty sure DH was in mortal realm... That was part of his life experiences..

 

You’re confusing the 10MBP drama with the Pillow Book.  I’ll do a bit of a lengthy discussion/analysis because i think Tang Qi is sooo genius! Don’t have to read this.

In the 10MBP drama, what you said IS what happened. DH wanted to return FJ’s love, so he reincarnated into the mortal realm as the emperor and asked Si Ming to bring FJ down to the mortal realm to be with him. DH told Si Ming to put down on official records for Tian Jun that he had gone to the mortal realm to experience the 6 sufferings of mortal life. From here on, it was the scriptwriters taking liberties with BQ’s POV in the first book, since the producers of the 10MPB drama DID NOT have the rights to The Pillow Book (and they had to concentrate on YHBQ’s story, since DHFJ’s story mostly happens AFTER YHBQ’s royal wedding).

In The Pillow Book, FJ does go down to the mortal realm where she married the Emperor, then later, married Ye Qing Ti. Until the end of the book, she still believed that the emperor was DH (in the books, your reincarnation doesn’t look like you - that’s only in the drama in which the actor also played their reincarnated role). FJ held that mistaken belief all the way till the end until just before the end of the book when she finds out from Zhong Lin that DH never left the heavenly realm. DH had used his essence to save the universe from the Hui Ming toxins, and needed to sleep 100 years to recuperate his essence.  However, as the reader, we actually find out all about this a few chapters earlier when DH had completed making the Miao Hua mirror with Su Mo Ye in Aranya’s Dream, and was looking at his and FJ’s past. THIS is when DH, and we as the reader, find out that DH was in a 100-year sleep. Zhong Lin had arranged for Si Ming to put down on official records for Tian Jun that DH will go down to the mortal realm 40 years later (I guess disappearing for 40 years was ok for this recluse in Tai Chen Palace, but disappearing for 100 years was going to raise suspicions - and a mortal reincarnation is 60 years. Forget the 1 year = 1 day rule because that was only in the drama). Anyway, we also find out that Zhong Lin had sent DH’s shadow down to Fan Yin Valley to keep guard of the Hui Ming toxins. FJ had heard about this from her friend Xie Gu Chou, and asked Xie Gu Chou to send her shadow down to be with DH’s shadow to help repay her debt. DH’s shadow was born as Chen Ye, and FJ’s shadow was born as Aranya. Unfortunately, Chen Ye and Aranya were like star-crossed lovers and misunderstood each other their whole lives, never fulfilling their fate to be lovers. Xie Gu Chou returns to FJ with the news that her shadow had failed its mission. He also lets FJ know that DH will soon be going down to the mortal realm for 60 years and FJ decides to go down as well. ALL THIS we find out from the Miao Hua mirror.

Because Chen Ye and Aranya never fulfilled their fate, we learn from the Guardian of the Stone of Destiny that their fate had finally transferred to DHFJ, who originally had zero fate to be together. But FJ’s persistence had moved the heavens, and Chen Ye and Aranya’s fate, which was disrupted by Su Mo Ye, now transferred to DHFJ so they had a chance to be together. This is why for 400 years, nothing FJ did worked out well and DH never even knew she was in Tai Chen Palace for 400 years. But after DH wakes up from his 100-year sleep and she sees him again at YHBQ’s wedding, they keep running into each other over and over again.

I understand your confusion because Tang Qi took 2 books to set up this massive twist, but the 10MPB drama sort of ruined it by stepping in, taking liberties and creating confusion (i still love the drama as a standalone story!). For example, when FJ was in the mortal realm, she used the Two Lives Spell to present herself as a lovesick concubine because she didn’t feel anything for the emperor. She tells BQ she believes it is because she is too heartbroken over DH and no longer has feelings for him, but is merely here to repay her debt. What FJ doesn’t know at this point is that the emperor isn’t even DH, and that DH is actually asleep in Tai Chen Palace this whole time. She used the Two Lives Spell because she had no feelings for him, thinking it is because she is too heartbroken, but the deeper reason is because he isn’t even DH! And this Two Lives Spell is basically a hint that sets up the story for a massive twist later! She saves the emperor from drowning and the emperor falls in love with her, and this is where the drama takes liberties. In the drama, she sleeps with him and they have a romance. In The Pillow Book, she rejects him over and over again (because BQ removed her Two Lives Spell, so she can’t even pretend to have feelings for him). The emperor was heartbroken and married her off to Ye Qing Ti. FJ hung around for a few more years to protect the emperor from a distance, and finally was going to take a sword stab for him (still believing he is DH), but Ye Qing Ti took the stab for her instead. So even though she thought she had repayed her debt to DH by saving the emperor from the water, she now owed a debt to Ye Qing Ti. The amazing irony is that she never repayed her debt to DH either, who all this time was peacefully asleep and blissfully unaware in Tai Chen Palace.

The beauty of the story and FJ’s character is that she always remained faithful to DH, and she also maintained her dignity throughout her pursuit of him. She did not sleep with the mortal emperor and did not get herself involved in some mortal romance just because she couldn’t get what she wanted in the heavenly realm. In this light, FJ in the drama is very immature, but FJ in the book is faithful and maintains her dignity. Similarly, if you understood DH’s characrer in the book, you would know that EVEN if he did reincarnate as a mortal, he would NOT instruct Si Ming to make him an emperor with thousands of concubines - he is a ROCK, remember?! The emperor’s wish was to have someone requite his love, and in both the first book and the drama, BQ comments on how that is so out of character for DH, not knowing that the emperor is actually a mere mortal, not a reincarnation of DH. There are so many beautiful subtleties to pick up in the books. Hope you all get a chance to re-read them so that you don’t carry the confusion of the first drama into watching this new drama (which hopefully stays faithful to the books!).

1 hour ago, Wotad said:

Im still nervous about this drama i dont think she has the best acting ability .. 

 

He 100% went to the mortal realm. 

 

Read my thorough explanation to linh5000 above. He only went to the mortal realm in the DRAMA. He NEVER left the heavenly realm in the Pillow Book. The drama is written by the scriptwriters and doesn’t follow the Pillow Book.

[Cedric Ong]

According to a chinese article and list of human realm chars leaked...the human realm storyline is different from the previous drama's version. Some names from the novel eg Ye Qing Ti remain....so i suspect they combine the version in the novel with some new stuff. The article said the reborn version of Donghua would be a young Crown Prince instead of the Emperor (see the 5th char listed)....my guess is this change might be the scriptwriters know fans don't like Donghua (if really reborn) to have concubines...and haha...also have beard too.

https://kuaibao.qq.com/s/20180710A1C4B600?refer=spider

 

But still, as long as the official cast and info are not announced yet....a small chance that all these might be different in the end. 

 

 

[redfoxprincess]

4 hours ago, Cedric Ong said:

According to a chinese article and list of human realm chars leaked...the human realm storyline is different from the previous drama's version. Some names from the novel eg Ye Qing Ti remain....so i suspect they combine the version in the novel with some new stuff. The article said the reborn version of Donghua would be a young Crown Prince instead of the Emperor (see the 5th char listed)....my guess is this change might be the scriptwriters know fans don't like Donghua (if really reborn) to have concubines...and haha...also have beard too.

https://kuaibao.qq.com/s/20180710A1C4B600?refer=spider

 

But still, as long as the official cast and info are not announced yet....a small chance that all these might be different in the end.

 

OOOH!!! Thanks for explaining the possible *new* mortal realm arc for the new drama. I’m ok with that, and it would mean something unknown to look forward to for people super familiar with the story already (me!). But as someone said earlier, this alteration could mean DHFJ have 4 lives instead of “3 Lives”: FJ as DH’s pet, DHFJ as bird spirits (Chen Ye & Aranya), DHFJ after YHBQ’s wedding, and a possible new spin on the mortal realm arc that actually includes DH. Regardless, i’m soooo excited! Yes, i think besides not wanting DH to have concubines, it simply is inconsistent with his character, and Tang Qi meant that to be an intentional consistency to set up the twist, but the drama actually made DH into a sleezy beardy emperor & even have FJ desperate enough to be with him.

[ForgottenSoulx]

7 hours ago, redfoxprincess said:

 

So they are just going to ignore 10 miles and change some stuff? 

[redfoxprincess]

1 hour ago, Wotad said:

So they are just going to ignore 10 miles and change some stuff? 

 

They said this drama is going to follow Tang Qi’s books - Vengo’s interview has explained it is NOT a sequel to the drama. It is an original adaptation of The Pillow Book. So if you’re referring to the 10 Miles DRAMA - just pretend that DHFJ story didn’t exist, because that was written by the scriptwriters and completely different to the original books. In the books, DH and FJ meet properly for the first time AT the royal wedding of YHBQ, which occurs 223 years after Mo Yuan wakes up.

[Yinye]

13 minutes ago, redfoxprincess said:

 

They said this drama is going to follow Tang Qi’s books - Vengo’s interview has explained it is NOT a sequel to the drama. It is an original adaptation of The Pillow Book. So if you’re referring to the 10 Miles DRAMA - just pretend that DHFJ story didn’t exist, because that was written by the scriptwriters and completely different to the original books. In the books, DH and FJ meet properly for the first time AFTER the royal wedding of YHBQ, which occurs 223 years after Mo Yuan wakes up.

 

I am ok with this as I do think a direct sequel wouldn’t work since the drama changed so much etc. However, I am praying for YM and MC to do some cameos. 

[redfoxprincess]

6 minutes ago, stella77 said:

 

I am ok with this as I do think a direct sequel wouldn’t work since the drama changed so much etc. However, I am praying for YM and MC to do some cameos. 

 

It would only work if they continue making it all up. If that were the case, they wouldn’t have needed to spend money buying the production rights to The Pillow Book off Liu Yu Xin. But they have the rights now, so they will make a faithful adaptation more or less.

[ForgottenSoulx]

41 minutes ago, redfoxprincess said:

 

They said this drama is going to follow Tang Qi’s books - Vengo’s interview has explained it is NOT a sequel to the drama. It is an original adaptation of The Pillow Book. So if you’re referring to the 10 Miles DRAMA - just pretend that DHFJ story didn’t exist, because that was written by the scriptwriters and completely different to the original books. In the books, DH and FJ meet properly for the first time AT the royal wedding of YHBQ, which occurs 223 years after Mo Yuan wakes up.

I see i think that would be a good place to start the drama then ;p 

[linh5000]

@Cedric Ong thanks for the clarification..I knew I wasn't delusional. 

 

Taicheng is super extravagant!!

 

@Wotad hrmmm..I see what you're saying, but....I think he did went into the mortal realm..not his full self but apart of him. I need to reread the book..but it's super longg...hahah. 

 

[redfoxprincess]

56 minutes ago, linh5000 said:

@Cedric Ong thanks for the clarification..I knew I wasn't delusional. 

 

Taicheng is super extravagant!!

 

@Wotad hrmmm..I see what you're saying, but....I think he did went into the mortal realm..not his full self but apart of him. I need to reread the book..but it's super longg...hahah. 

 

 

While DH was in his 100-year sleep, a part of him (his “shadow”) was dropped by Zhong Lin into Fanyin Valley a.k.a. the “lower realm” and was born as Chen Ye, a bird spirit. The lower realm is a lower part of the heavenly realm where the bird spirits dwell. He never went into the mortal realm. The whole “reincarnate into a mortal emperor” thing was only written by Si Ming into official records so that no one would know DH was asleep. No one knew this except for DH, Zhong Lin and Elder Yun Zhang - this is all revealed in Chapter 16 of Book 2 of The Pillow Book. Not even Si Ming knew, as he only followed instructions to write that DH is to go to the mortal realm, and that is also the same misinformation that FJ learns through Xie Gu Chou and Si Ming. FJ only finds out the truth in the final chapter of the book when Zhong Lin told her that the whole mortal realm thing was a pretence. You need to read the book again if you can’t remember this crucial twist!

[TVN]

The rumor casting for Mi Gu and Bai Zhen. I’m not too familiar with them.

 

 

Mi Gu

 

Bai Zhen

 

[Cedric Ong]

Ref to above...really?? so for the 2nd one...they are not getting the previous actor Yu Menglong for Bai Zhen? Ok. The new actor is Huang Jun Jie 黄俊捷, born 1998, i know he acted in The Big Boss 班长大人 and 屏里狐 Fox In The Screen as fox spirit (those pics above are from that show). 

Spoiler

As white fox spirit thus in white clothes...his image in this lower budget drama is indeed similar to the Bai family in Three Life.

 

Modern drama The Big Boss short clip

 

 

For the actor Zhao zi qi 赵子麒 as Mi Gu (the tree spirit in the fox den)...even less info...known for participating in singing contest last yr...should be very young as well.

Spoiler

 

 

[ForgottenSoulx]

 

This guy is cute as hell yes to him ;p

 

 

[redfoxprincess]

3 minutes ago, Wotad said:

This guy is cute as hell yes to him ;p

 

Super cute & on the effeminate side... perfect for Bai Zhen, the “most beautiful face in the 4 seas & 8 lands”.

[TVN]

@Cedric Ong Thank you for the info! I think it is kind of make sense that Yu Menglong won't come back since he been doing leading roles now (most recently, Legend of White Snake). It would be strange for him to be side character...

[linh5000]

@redfoxprincess im too laxy to read the book again..it's a good drama but way too long.. .&.I do agree about bai when actor, .he's very good looking..very appropriate for the 4th brother. 

 

 

[ForgottenSoulx]

1 hour ago, TVN said:

@Cedric Ong Thank you for the info! I think it is kind of make sense that Yu Menglong won't come back since he been doing leading roles now (most recently, Legend of White Snake). It would be strange for him to be side character...

a side character would mean not many lines/roles so i dunno why not, wouldnt take to much time. 

[redfoxprincess]

16 hours ago, Wotad said:

a side character would mean not many lines/roles so i dunno why not, wouldnt take to much time. 

 

Yeah! Bai Zhen is not even in The Pillow Book so whatever scenes he has would be minimal. It would be a cameo like Yang Mi coming back to play Bai Qian. It’s goodwill for actors to do that.

[TVN]

On 7/16/2018 at 2:10 PM, Wotad said:

a side character would mean not many lines/roles so i dunno why not, wouldnt take to much time. 

 

True. Maybe he just doesn't have time? (I'm not sure what he is currently doing though).