Love Better than Immortality (天雷一部之春花秋月): Episode 1

~ Meeting the one – Love at first sight? ~

Sypnosis:

In order to experience love, our female lead gave up her immortality and with the help of a system, travels back in time to find her one true love. Her requirements for this experience? He has to be very handsome, devoted to her, powerful, dote on her, the story must be slightly heart-wrenching, very sweet, a few bugs is alright, full of twists and turns, kindness and enmity, Mary Sue is alright, an unpredictable ending and not too stereotypical. Easy, right? Before she embarked on this adventure, the system informs her that the theme of this “self-destructive” journey is 春花秋月何时了(When will the Spring Flowers and Autumn Moon end / When will Chun Hua Qiu Yue end) and that the first man she sees will be her fated one. While still in a daze, she sees a blurry figure dressed in white, with a white hair accessory. Upon regaining her consciousness, she sees a stoic man in white standing near her bed and recalling the system’s words, she excitedly jumps out of bed and calls him “Hubby!”. She is met with the hilt of his sword against her neck and despite her confusion, she liked the fact that her adventure was off to such an exciting start.

Soon, she is accused of eating the Longevity fruit and killing the Medical Sage. Despite her denial, a survivor of the massacre had used his last breathe to point her out as the killer and seeing this, a middle aged man in the group (which we later learn is Chief Feng) drew his sword to kill her. She held up a pillow in a futile attempt to protect herself but outside the house, a mysterious figure in white shot blades of leaves, deflecting the sword. As the feathers from the torn pillow floated down around her, she looked at her fated one and gave him a wink. She soon finds herself held at sword point by her fated one as he questioned her. She then learns that his name is Xiao Bai and his father is the leader of the martial arts circle. Xiao Bai explains that he was searching for the Longevity Fruit to cure his Father’s illness and asked if she knew anything about the murder. She creeps up really close to him, only to whisper that she is his future wife. One of Xiao Bai’s men then found the Medical Sage’s patient records and on the last page, the patient was listed as ‘Chun Hua’. She decides to go along with their assumption that she was ‘Chun Hua’ and had lost her memories. Certain that she couldn’t have been the killer due to her hands that weren’t like that of someone who practiced martial arts, Xiao Bai decides to bring her back with him.

In the next scene, we’re introduced to a figure dressed in white, with the same white hair accessory that Chun Hua had seen while she was still in a daze. A female subordinate reports to the figure that Hua Xiao Lei had died after her betrayal but recent reports are saying that she had risen from the dead. She had however lost her memories after going to the Medical Sage and eating the Longevity Fruit. Addressing her as Ye Xing Zhu, the man in white tells her to let Hua Xiao Lei be, commenting that it was interesting that she was following Xiao Bai once more.

Xiao Bai brings Chun Hua back to his home and after entrusting her to a subordinate (Lu Xiu) he leaves to check on his Father. We then find out that his Father had been poisoned and is reluctant for his son to look for the Longevity Fruit, saying that life and death is predestined and that he should focus on the martial arts circle instead. Later, Chun Hua barges in on Xiao Bai having his meal and starts to question him about the Longevity Fruit, asking if it could really bring someone back from the dead. Lu Xiu then asked Xiao Bai if the Longevity Fruit could be Shang Guan Qiu Yue’s scheme and Chun Hua’s eyes widen as she recalls what the system had told her – the theme of this adventure was ‘When will Chun Hua Qiu Yue end’. In her logical mind, since she was Chun Hua and Xiao Bai is her one true love, this ‘Shang Guan Qiu Yue’ must be her relative! After further questioning, we find out that Shang Guan Qiu Yue is Qian Yue Cave’s leader, an evil sect that killed innocent people and jeopardized the whole of Jianghu. Chun Hua was excited about having a powerful evil relative but she absentmindedly voiced out her approval and was rebuked by Xiao Bai, saying that she couldn’t distinguish between good and evil.

Xiao Bai later walks her back to her room and when he asked if she could remember anything about coming back from the dead, she hushed him and secretively motioned for him to enter her room. Inside, Chun Hua quickly shuts the door and runs up to him excitedly. He points the hilt of his sword at her neck once again, asking her to keep her distance. Miffed, she feigns speaking at a low volume, causing him to lean in to hear her better. In the end, her replies to his questions were that he was the first thing that she remembered, she remembered how he looked then, remembered that she had called him “hubby”. Annoyed, he leaves and meets with Lu Xiu who reports to him that other than her apparent lack of manners, there wasn’t anything odd about Chun Hua.

Lu Xiu stayed by Chun Hua’s side to protect and keep an eye on her. They then struck up a conversation after Chun Hua insists that she really couldn’t remember anything. Lu Xiu explains that they are at Feng Ming Manor, the leader of the good sects and because they have the Xiao Xiao Feng Ming Sword, the evil sects didn’t dare to create trouble. A hundred years ago, the Xiao family’s ancestors had gathered all the good factions and defeated the evil sect’s leader, Nan Xing He. The fight had hurt the evil sect’s vital energy and they soon split into two factions, Qian Yue Cave and Chuan Qi Valley. Qian Yue Dong used malicious measures and it is said that their leader, Shang Guan Qiu Yue, has an ugly appearance and anyone who saw her will be killed.

The next morning, Lu Xiu wakes Chun Hua to go up the mountain with her but halfway up, Chun Hua complains that she was too tired and couldn’t move anymore. Chun Hua then finds out from Lu Xiu that Xiao Bai had been betrothed to a ‘Hua Xiao Lei’ but she had died in a bizarre incident. Lu Xiu then continues up the mountain alone and Chun Hua strolls through the dense bamboo jungle, coming across someone laying on a single string as if it were a hammock. Entranced, she approaches the figure and while she was distracted, a green snake coils itself around her and hisses in her face. She lets out a horrified scream, alerting the white figure who immediately came to her rescue. She thanked him, saying that she will repay his kindness but he interrupts her to suggest that she repaid him by spending the rest of her life with him. Deciding that he must be a supporting character, she corrects him, saying that he’ll be gifted with a huge sum of money. He in turn asked her how much she thought she was worth and she sheepishly returned the question to him. He pondered. A thousand? Ten thousand? – wasn’t enough because she was priceless and since that was the case, the only way she could repay him was by marrying him and spending the rest of her life with him. Startled, Chun Hua tells him that she is Feng Ming Manor’s Xiao Bai’s wife. It was alright to ask for money but if he wanted her, he must be tired of living. With a smirk, the male approaches her and says that he is indeed tired of living and asks if she could help him out. Angered, Chun Hua lifts her basket to hit him but it was deflected by a flying star. After a short conversation, Chun Hua realises two things. One, that Shang Guan Qiu Yue was a male and two, that Qiu Yue, her older brother, was the male in white. He then explains that her memory loss was his fault because he had granted her request to go to Feng Ming Manor to steal the Xin Fa for him. Still doubtful of his identity, Chun Hua asked if he really was Qiu Yue and he told her that she had a pink petal-shaped birthmark, hence her name, Chun Hua (Spring Flowers). Chun Hua turned around to check and found that Qiu Yue had spoken the truth.

Thoughts:

First things first. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Qiu Yue is so pretty! I can’t take my eyes off him sometimes. His acting has also improved quite a lot. I won’t say that he’s awesome, the best actor ever blah blah blah. BUT Hong Yi has portrayed Qiu Yue’s character well. Smiley and flirty one second, dangerous aura the next.

I didn’t know anything about this drama when I started because episode one popped up in my youtube recommendations and I just clicked it. As usual, I skipped the intro song so after watching the first two episode, I was like…man I ship Chun Hua and Qiu Yue. Too bad Chun Hua’s with Xiao Bai, otherwise this drama would be so up my alley. Then I googled this drama because Xiao Bai kind of grew on me and then I realised…that Qiu Yue is the main lead?!! OH MY GOD. I was pretty sure that there was an error somewhere so I watched the intro song and…right at the start, there is Chun Hua…in Qiu Yue’s arms! Kyahhh! That was the moment I knew, that I would love this drama. So here I am.

Now on to the drama’s plot. I’m pretty sure that everyone knows that Chun Hua is actually Hua Xiao Lei, Xiao Bai fiancee and she apparently has history with Qiu Yue. The scriptwriter has made it blatantly obvious. The only thing that isn’t clear yet is why Xiao Bai doesn’t recognise her. Did she “die” when she was like…five? Which can explain why Xiao Bai doesn’t recognise her? Or had they never met before? Arranged marriage – seeing each other for the first time on their wedding day? At this point, what I’m most excited for is her reaction when she finds out all of this. Due to the fact that she had been very chill about everything so far, I think I’m allowed to anticipate a unique reaction from her.

A huge point of laughter in this drama is Chun Hua’s naivety and lack of understanding. I crack up whenever something happens and she has an internal dialogue, her reaction not befitting the situation at all. However, her reactions also make sense because this isn’t all “real life” to her. Hence, whenever anything dangerous happens, aka being held at hilt point, she doesn’t actually fear for her life.

Qiu Yue…is pretty mysterious. Even though the range of emotions he displays is wider than Xiao Bai’s, he keeps me guessing what is really on his mind. Whenever he interacts with Chun Hua, with the way he looks at her, I find it hard to believe that it is all an act. But he’s the leader of the evil sect, he can’t possible see her as anything other than a chess piece. But the way he looks at her! The dilemma…

Another point to note is that Qiu Yue was the one that Chun Hua first saw when she woke up, so he’s her fated one. Qiu Yue was also the one who shot the blades of leaves to save Chun Hua from Chief Feng’s sword. Why did he do that? At that point, she wasn’t of any use to him. In fact, she had betrayed him! He could’ve just left her to die. My brain likes to go to –> He likes her, that’s why. The history he has with Chun Hua / Hua Xiao Lei? They were lovers. Until Qiu Yue did something so evil that Hua Xiao Lei couldn’t forgive so she betrayed him to the good sect. The evil sect then went after Xiao Lei and killed her. However, Qiu Yue was still in love with Xiao Lei so he brought her body to the Medical Sage and demanded the Longevity Fruit. When the Medical Sage refused, Qiu Yue killed him, found the Longevity Fruit somewhere in the hut and fed it to Xiao Lei. Qiu Yue then heard Xiao Bai and his men arriving so he had to leave first. That was the moment that Chun Hua first awoke and saw his retreating back. Worried for her safety, he loitered nearby to make sure that they wouldn’t harm her. This would explain so many things. When Ye Xing Zhu had reported Chun Hua’s revival to Qiu Yue and asked if she should capture Chun Hua back for questioning, he had asked her not to bother with it, that it didn’t exist. I view this as him trying to protect her. Moreover, he had no reaction when Ye Xing Zhu told him that Xiao Lei had revived but reacted when told that she had lost her memories. In my mind, Qiu Yue would be thinking that this would be his ticket to have another chance with her. This would also explain the ending of Episode One, whereby Qiu Yue had asked Chun Hua to marry him as thanks. That twinkle in his eyes as he teased her, the way he looked at her endearingly, the barely suppressed anger when Ye Xing Zhu had thrown the star at Chun Hua’s basket and spoilt their moment. Gahhhh I can’t wait for the truth to be revealed.

I’m also pretty excited to see how Xiao Bai will fall for Chun Hua. Since he’s the second male lead, and Chun Hua did say that she’s okay with a Mary Sue character, it’s pretty much set in stone that both Qiu Yue and Xiao Bai will fall for Chun Hua. Xiao Bai’s character is pretty stoic although he does display slight emotions if you keep an eye out for them. I saw a blushing Xiao Bai in one of the trailers and I’m really excited to get to that episode, to see what it was that had him blushing so cutely.

← Introduction  ♡  Episode 2 →
♢  Lyrics for “Unfinished Moment”  ♢
☆  Novel ~ Chp 1 / Chp 2 / Chp 8  ☆

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