Although this summary and review project for 3L3W, 10 Peach Blossom, has the least interest out of my 3 current "to do" things for this blog, I am glad to have undertaken it. Certainly, it has led me to re-read 3L3W, 10 Peach Blossoms, at least five times, and I am also happy to say that it actually improves on further reading and is a work I likely will always enjoy. Since this work and Heavy Sweet Ash-like Frost is often compared, it would be interesting to do a comparative review at a later stage. Till then, enjoy!
Chapter 19
Bai Qian Qian"s Fourth Brother visits her at the West Sea King"s palace and enlightens her about her feelings. Bai Qian Qian realises that she likes Ye Hua romantically!
That night, when Bai Qian Qian arrives at Ye Hua"s room, there are many bottles of alcohol at his feet, but he does not appear fully drunk. When he sees her, he is a little unstable but gets up to takes the Jie Po Lantern for her. He pa.s.ses it to her and tells her to place it by Mo Yuan"s bed for three days and to watch it carefully. Bai Qian Qian looks surprised because she would have watched it carefully regardless, Ye Hua ruefully comments that he should have known that she was always careful where Mo Yuan is concerned.
Bai Qian Qian offers to give Ye Hua something in return. Ye Hua says he does not want anything. Bai Qian Qian asks if Ye Hua is sure. Ye Hua says that from start to end, the only thing he wanted was her.
So, hilariously, Bai Qian Qian asks Ye Hua if he wants her. Before Bai Qian Qian can escape, Ye Hua hugs her and they embrace for the night.
In that night, Bai Qian Qian sleepily remembers hearing Ye Hua say one thing, "If in this lifetime I can have you completely one more time, even if it is only this night, even if it is only for the Jie Po Lantern, for Mo Yuan, I have no more regrets."
(Aww, he says these knowing they could be his possible last words.)
The next morning, Bai Qian Qian wakes up in her own room. Ye Hua has left the West Sea King"s palace. Bai Qian Qian sets up the Jie Po lantern by Mo Yuan"s bed and watches over the West Sea King"s Son"s body for the next three days. After the three days, she goes back to her bed and sleeps for several days. When she wakes up, she realises the Immortal Zhe Yan has waited for her for 2 days.
He pa.s.ses her a special pill made from the special heavenly gra.s.s and with his heavenly essence. He tells her to use it because if she uses her own heavenly essence, which she has so little of, she would become unstable. So, she gives the West Sea King"s body the pill and she watches as Mo Yuan"s soul becomes complete and leaves the body.
(As an aside, there was a funny gag going on about how the West Sea King"s Son liked men and Bai Qian Qian was actually in male form when she was taking care of him - but the Son wakes up and is actually worried Bai Qian Qian is in love with him as she is not his type. Bai Qian Qian realises that the Son likes Ye Hua and so warns him that Ye Hua does not like men. Haha)
Chapter 20
Chapter 20 has one of my most favourite lines of the novel:
My future husband Ye Hua, I regret that I did not get to meet him at my best time.
(The english translation actually does not do the chinese words credit - 年华 (nian hua) denotes time, year, age - a sense of time and period. And, it is the same hua as Ye Hua so it has this lovely doubling effect with Ye Hua"s name. She says this after naming out all the love blossoms in her life and says it with a kind of yearning that she did not leave her best self for him. This is doubly delicious since at this stage only we know of her past life, Su Su with Ye Hua.)
Bai Qian Qian rushes to JiuChongTian to find Ye Hua. She realises that the special pill was made with Ye Hua"s heavenly essence because when she went to check if Mo Yuan"s soul had truly departed from the West Sea King"s Son"s body - she saw traces of Ye Hua"s essence. Bai Qian Qian is all worried and heart pained when she finds Ye Hua. She tries to find out how much years of heavenly essence Ye Hua has given Mo Yuan, but Ye Hua refuses to answer and pretends he is fine.
Bai Qian Qian finds out from Immortal Zhe Yan that Ye Hua has lost an arm while trying to get the special heavenly gra.s.s. Immortal Zhe Yan will make him a replacement arm, but it will take thousands of years for his arm to regain its use. Of course, Ye Hua pretends that he will be fine in a month.
Later that night, Bai Qian Qian goes to Ye Hua"s room to watch over him. After that, she moved into Little Dough"s residence to be near him. At the crack of dawn, she would painstakingly wake up so she can catch Ye Hua when he wakes up and help him wash his face and dress up. This is quite a sacrifice for her since she loves to sleep so much and has never woken up so early for ten thousand years.
It"s very cute because a few days later, when she wakes up sleepily, Ye Hua is already next to her bed. He tells her to sleep more and he will wake her up at the right time. So she sheepishly sleeps more and breakfast is now moved to Little Dough"s residence.
(Honestly, one of my favourite bits because Ye Hua dotes on Bai Qian Qian always - no matter how weak or strong he is.)
Little Dough comes back from his pilgrimage later and becomes very sad when he realises Ye Hua has lost the use of one of his hand. Although Ye Hua a.s.sures him he can still hug Little Dough (aww). And, Ye Hua can also still paint Bai Qian Qian as well even when he has just one hand, making Bai Qian Qian think her husband is truly worthy. Cheng Yu who followed Little Dough back to Ye Hua"s palace teasingly ask if Ye Hua can still "hug" Bai Qian Qian and Ye Hua gets so annoyed that he carries Bai Qian Qian up and goes off to his bedroom to prove he can still "hug" Bai Qian Qian.
After they embrace, Bai Qian Qian finally confesses that she loves Ye Hua and they should get married. Ye Hua is so happy that he tells Bai Qian Qian to give birth to another child for him <>
They have to delay their ceremony because Ye Hua has to go down to the mortal world as punishment for killing the four fierce heavenly beasts when he went to get the special heavenly gra.s.s - so he will go down to the mortal world for two months in heavenly realm time. Bai Qian Qian makes Ye Hua promise he won"t fall for any other mortal girl.
Chapter 21
Mo Yuan wakes up. Bai Qian Qian"s fourth brother teases that now she has repaid her debt to Mo Yuan by waiting for him for 70 thousand years, but how will she repay Ye Hua"s debt of 40 thousand years of heavenly essence?
Bai Qian Qian says she and Ye Hua will be husband and wife - there is no need for husband and wife to owe each other <>
Immortal Zhe Yan tells her that she is finally enlightened.
Mo Yuan wakes up and reunites with Bai Qian Qian. He tells her she looks nice in a dress.
Later, Mo Yuan, Fourth Brother, Immortal Zhe Yan and Bai Qian Qian have tea. Mo Yuan asks if when he was asleep, did they see anyone who looks like him?
Bai Qian Qian tells him that the person he speaks of should be her fiance.
Mo Yuan"s hand that is holding a tea cup shakes. After a while, he says, "The eye in choosing a wife, ah." Then he asks what is his name and when was his born.
[***I pause here and especially highlight this line by Mo Yuan which in the mandarin version truly conveys that Mo Yuan did like Bai Qian Qian romantically. The clear implication is that the brothers have the same taste in choosing their wife!]
Mo Yuan then tells them that Ye Hua is his twin brother.
They learn that the first Father G.o.d and first Mother G.o.d actually conceived twins but first Mother G.o.d had problems when she was pregnant and first Father G.o.d could only save Ye Hua"s life by placing him in a golden bird egg - waiting for his soul to reawaken one day. Apparently, while Mo Yuan"s soul was fragmented, Ye Hua in his egg had been trying to patch Mo Yuan"s soul together. But, this stopped when Ye Hua was born to this world (the Queen Empress G.o.ddess must have eaten the egg and conceived him in her womb).
Mo Yuan returns to his Kunlun mountain where his sect used to be, and it is truly glorious as even the heavens and world is heralding his return. All his disciples from all over the realms come back again to pay their respects to Mo Yuan.
The rest of the disciples are surprised to hear that Bai Qian Qian is actually a female. One asks if she is getting married and she tells them her wedding ceremony will be soon. Mo Yuan on hearing this breaks a tea cup (this is another awesome moment because Mo Yuan is the pinnacle of coolness usually).
A few days later, Mo Yuan asks Bai Qian Qian if her heart for Ye Hua is real. She tells him it is real. He turns his back on her and says that is very good. Bai Qian Qian thought Ye Hua is worried for her and a.s.sures her again that they love each other mutually very much. Mo Yuan tells Bai Qian Qian to go back to her room and rest.
[***There is lots of debate if Mo Yuan likes Bai Qian Qian romantically - and for me the answer is Yes. But, of course, just like how Bai Qian Qian had a few love blossoms, that does not mean that Bai Qian Qian is the true flower for Mo Yuan. There are already hints in the chapter that Mo Yuan"s real soulmate is someone else and she will be the female lead in Mo Yuan"s own book <>
Bai Qian Qian asks her Fourth Brother to watch the incense for her while she goes down to the mortal world to check on Ye Hua. She meets Ye Hua when he is a young boy (11) - he is very smart and born in a scholarly family, except he does not have one arm! Bai Qian Qian"s heart aches for him. At night, she visits him and Ye Hua thinks she is a fairy. Bai Qian Qian makes him promise he will not fall for another girl. She tells him that she will marry him when he grows up and he blushes and nods.
Chapter 22
Many years later in the mortal world, Bai Qian Qian visits Ye Hua again and sees him smiling to a mortal girl that looks like her. Bai Qian Qian sees that the mortal girl is actually a human doll. Concubine Su Jin is also down in the mortal world and tells her that the human doll is modeled after Su Su.
Concubine Su Jin asks Bai Qian Qian if she knows that Ye Hua had used the Jie Po lantern for the last three hundred years to collect the fragments of Su Su"s soul. Bai Qian Qian pretends to be calm in front of Concubine Su Jin, but later she goes back to Qingqiu and studies the Jie Po Lantern. After a while, while trying to cease the flame in the lantern, she accidentally causes it to break.
Bai Qian Qian regains her memory as Su Su.
She knows that she still loves Ye Hua, but she realises that she cannot forgive him.
A day later, she finds Concubine Su Jin again and takes back her eyes. Concubine Su Jin is so afraid of what will happen when Bai Qian Qian tells the Jade Emperor of what she has done to Bai Qian Qian that she leaves the ranks of the G.o.ds and deities and ask to go away for meditation (It turns out that she has become the deity supposed to look after the previous Demon King"s bell and she gets sent to the mortal world after when she fails to watch after it properly).
Bai Qian Qian brings back her eyes to Immortal Zhe Yan and asks him to fix it back for her. Immortal Zhe Yan is surprised because no one has ever regained their memory after taking his amnesia potion.
Ye Hua returns to the heavenly realms after he finishes his stint in the mortal world. He immediately comes to visit Bai Qian Qian but she refuses to see him.
Seven days have pa.s.sed and Ye Hua is still waiting for Bai Qian Qian to see him. She tells Migu Deity to tell Ye Hua that she will not see him and that she will go to JiuChongTian to break their engagement the next day.
Many days pa.s.sed - the stalemate continues, Bai Qian Qian did not go up to JiuChongTian to break off the engagement and Ye Hua continues to wait for her.
In one morning, Bai Qian Qian sense the energy of the previous Demon King who was trapped in the bell by Mo Yuan seventy thousand years ago - the reason Mo Yuan had disappeared previously. She senses that the previous Demon King was escaping from the bell. Five hundred years ago, she had only barely just managed to enslave the Demon King in the bell again, but it had damaged the bell and she had to sacrifice half of her heavenly essence then to fix it. Bai Qian Qian knew that in her current state, she was in no condition to win the previous Demon King, but if she did not rush down, the previous Demon King would surely cause lots of harm and loss of life considering his anger at being previously entrapped.
As Bai Qian Qian rushes to the bell, she pa.s.ses Ye Hua who is so extremely white and haggard looking. She does not say anything and rushes off. Ye Hua follows her.
They reach the scene and Ye Hua realises what is happening. Ye Hua freezes Bai Qian Qian in a restraining spell and tells the little female deities not to let Bai Qian Qian leave.
Bai Qian Qian cannot break Ye Hua"s spell no matter how hard she tries.
Bai Qian Qian sees Ye Hua takes out his sword and finally sees his renowned sword skills. Ye Hua beats the previous Demon King, but the previous Demon King has slyly linked his soul to the bell such that he will take down Ye Hua with him even in death.
There is a flash of red light and a horrible screeching sound. Bai Qian Qian rushes to catch Ye Hua"s body and realises his body is stained and soaked with his blood. Previously, she could not see that blood had soaked his body because his robes were always black.
Bai Qian Qian recalled what Immortal Zhe Yan had once said - he had always found Ye Hua"s robe colours strange so he had asked him once why he liked this colour and he said, the colour was not pretty but useful. For example, if someone slashed you and your blood came out, you would not be able to see the blood. The people who care about you will not be worried and your enemies would not be able to gain satisfaction from having hurt you.
Bai Qian Qian realised that until today, she did not know him. Just as she was angry and could not forgive him previously for not knowing her, even after falling in love with him for two lifetimes, she might have never truly known him.
Ye Hua tries Bai Qian Qian not to cry. Bai Qian Qian asks Ye Hua if he is going to die. Ye Hua tells Bai Qian Qian to forget him and to live happily with Mo Yuan.
After a long pause, Ye Hua continues that even in death he cannot say such a thing. In his whole life, he has only love Bai Qian Qian. He tells Qian Qian that she cannot forget him for forever. Then his voice falters and he says but even if she dares to forget him, what can he do?
Bai Qian Qian whispers into his ear, "You cannot die, Ye Hua. Hold on, I will bring you to Mo Yuan... If you dare die, I will get Zhe Yan"s amnesia potion and forgot you forever. I will live happily with Mo Yuan, Zhe Yan and Fourth Brother and never remember you. "
Ye Hua smiles, "That is fine as well."
That was the last phrase Ye Hua left Bai Qian Qian.
Final Chapter
Three years have pa.s.sed since Ye Hua died.
At that day when Ye Hua died, Bai Qian Qian made a barrier and prevented anyone from coming towards them so no one could take away Ye Hua"s body. However, the collapse of the bell had interrupted Mo Yuan"s meditation and he had came down to find Bai Qian Qian.
Bai Qian Qian had actually planned to hug Ye Hua"s body in the barrier for eternity, but Mo Yuan saw her and told her to build a coffin and let Ye Hua leave this realm in a better state. So, she complied.
After that, Bai Qian Qian lived in a vacant meaningless state - she lived as if she could not lived anymore and wanted to cease to exist. But, she started to dream of Ye Hua when she slept, so she started to like dreaming.
Mo Yuan comes to find Bai Qian and tells her - Ye Hua is back. In Ye Hua"s body there was the first Father G.o.d"s essence which he used to preserve Ye Hua"s soul, so Ye Hua"s body had two different essence - when the bell collapsed, both the two heavenly essences interacted with each other and caused him to lose his consciousness. Everyone thought his soul had dissolved and ceased to exist - but after sleeping for these years in the special ice coffin, he had recuperated and woken up.
Mo Yuan tells her - Ye Hua is back. Once he woke up, he immediately went to QingQiu to find her.
She rushes back and at the spot where a peach tree was planted in the year when Ye Hua died - has already fully blossomed. There is a man in black robes looking at a tomb plaque.
It is like a dream.
He turns and smiles at her, "Qian Qian, come here."
The End
There are two more epilogues - one detailing the story from Ye Hua"s perspective and readers will then truly see how much Ye Hua had loved Bai Qian Qian and how he had tried to protect and love her in his own way, but due to the lack of communication that stemmed more from fear than distrust, that caused them the misunderstanding and the tragedy in their past life. Ye Hua"s epilogue ends on a really beautiful note, at the point when he first met Bai Qian Qian in her G.o.ddess form and realised that she, Su Su, was Bai Qian Qian, his fiancee.
The other epilogue is a cute one where Bai Qian Qian is pregnant again and she tells Ye Hua that Little Dough is not serious enough a name, and suggests renaming him to Little Black! It"s hilarious and Little Dough decides to run away due to this name.
I will post my final thoughts and review up next, and I just want to say at this point that despite the flaws in the story, and there are flaws, I really liked the overall composition of it - where Ye Hua"s epilogue ends where their fate restarts and where the story ends with their peach trees blossoming, their love luck finally bearing fruit after two lifetimes.