Zhou Zi Shu and WoH’s ending

@Kotori

Yep! I think that scene made the final cut, but they removed it to stick to the episode duration

@Lynn & @Kotori

We finally got the initial version of EP27 - undubbed.  https://twitter.com/zhngzhehan/status/1380382281387282436 Honestly, I  think it could've passed censorship without much issue. I feel that most of the drama successfully made it cause the plot was intense and revolved around supporting characters as well and not just around the leads and their doings. EP 24 had an emotional scene with the two of them and it never got cut. (Yep, they had Cheng Ling in the background. This one has Ye Bai Yi so the chances are high.  The overall situation is too serious for the censors to only focus on the leads alone. There was like 80% for it to make the final cut. ) 

@Kotori

No problem! :) There are several snips uploaded in tumblr and twitter, I shared the one Hikari No Naka posted on the regular comments.  This is from Youku's website. If we subscribe for Youku VIP in their app/website, we can access BTS episodes worth 1 RMB each. Someone took a bit of the original and posted it on Twitter. 

@KingC Yes! I saw that original scene and I say I love that original scene better than the second version. I do hope they would keep this first version up on YouTube for international fans lol If it can't pass the censorship in China Youku, then it has to pass on the international Youku lol And I agree with you that it would easily pass a censorship of that scene. I'm still hoping they would keep the original version of that scene lol Same goes with Cheng Ling's overdubbed line in the finale episode lol

@Kotori 

Thanks for the link! I'd been unable to play it on Tumblr. Zhang Zhe Han really knows what he is doing. Pretty sure that this didn't make the cut not because of censorship, but to limit the episode duration. I find it kinda weird that they somehow deleted such scenes that actually could've been a good part of the show like the rabbit scene.  They managed to get away with EP18 so censorship isn't the reason. (No person can watch that and go hey, they are bros! Even my sister, to whom I had told that they had removed all romance, saw right through.) I am waiting to see if they release the complete BTS clip of the final extra episode. I remember ZZH telling in an interview that the ending they filmed was tragic.  The script had three endings according to AvenueX, and they chose to go with the first one. But, it really felt weird that even the lead actors thought that the ending was tragic. But, I recently stumbled across a picture of Gong Jun with the little boy in the final episode. So... that makes me wonder what they'd filmed before editing. Or did they hide the happy stuff completely? Anyways... lets see. 

I also read an interview with the directors. It seems like they changed the script to fit the budget and finalised with 36 episodes. 

Plus, I found this post, which I think is really observant: https://changru.tumblr.com/post/647374277036900352/not-sure-if-people-have-realized-but-word-of

What does Shan He Ling actually mean in Chinese? I Google Translated it and it came as: Order of the Mountains and Rivers. 

As for the money part, from what I've seen since the past two years, Youku, unlike Tencent, doesn't seem to be the type to splurge money on their dramas. Half of their stuff that I've seen  is mostly either low budget or just modest budget. Until last year, many of their dramas reach international fans due to YoYo TV channel and Huashi TV. They didn't even begin subtitling dramas on their own channel until this year - starting with Unique Lady 2. Even their other hyped drama, Rattan, is being subtitled by YoYo. For such a streaming platform, this is the best time to get some money. I've been hearing that they've been at the losing end for sometime now. They don't seem to have a better marketing strategy like Tencent. (They don't even need to do the hyping. Check out their All Star Awards which mostly consists of huge traffic makers with many of their hyped up budget buoyed dramas coming up.) Youku doesn't have much of an option now. Zhang Zhe Han (people were surprised that he accepted the role cause he was on a different level) and Gong Jun were definitely not unpopular, but rather not huge traffic makers. This was an unexpected hit, both critically and commercially for them, despite people predicting it to be a flop.

 Keeping that aside, they need to keep the hype alive - this drama is the best break for them. It won't be long before other competing platforms start churning out their anticipated stuff and taking away the thunder.  Atleast, this time they know that the viewers are going to be satisfied. I'm happy that they finally got a drama worthy of the praise and are making money out of it. Had it been another country, I wish they could've done extra shoots like what they did with Lord of the Rings for a complete finale. But, I'm glad that they tried what they could. 

@Lynn

Well, lets hope they manage to jump a few poles and get this original scene edited and combined with the older one. Many fans love this drama and since Youku seemed bold enough to put it up even in paid form, they might take a hint and reward us in YT. :D

 Doodles-21:

Ok so I read an awesome article about the book and censorship in China. Apparently for a movie or drama with BL undertones to see the light of day it has to have either a sad or open ending. In other words - the two male leads cannot end up clearly together. Hence they made episode 36 with the open ending and released it in TV but then made the small 7 min episode 37 with the happy ending and released it online for paying viewers. Now that the drama has completed they will most probably sub it and add it to the end of 36 as the official ending. I also read the ending of the book and it ends with the two of them happy together and holding hands (apparently Priests novels are very chaste and has not even a little sexual undertones) it shows that their meridians are all healed and they live together happily  

So now I am clear of the true ending - I can happily watch the balance episodes (I stopped at 12 when I heard it had a sad ending) 

It's really sad that we get half satisfactory endings just for the sake of censorship. It takes away something. So, far, only the Untamed made it with a happy ending. (They both are 100% alive without a doubt and thats happy enough for me, even if they split up.) The Guardian, Killer and Healer and even Word of Honor all had to pull punches. The only hint that Xiao Chu intended a happy ending seems to come from Ye Bai Yi and the rest of the kid's sentence being cut off if we stop at EP36. I'm still in the YT version so I don't know what exactly is spoken except through fan translations. 

I read this comment in Youtube by dreaminggirl13 under Avenuex review:
"I agree that Ye Bai Yi tricked Wen Ke Xing when he told him that he would have to sacrifice himself to save Ah Xu, but I don’t think that it was malicious. Since the script writer clearly loves the book I think that this is related to YBY story in the book. Originally YBY didn’t want to practice the six harmonies cultivation he only did it to save his friend. It’s implied that everyone who tried to attain this skill suffered qi deviation and died. He was the only person who was successful and that’s because he didn’t want the power and was willing to sacrifice himself for the person he loved. WKX needed to believe that he was going to die. He needed to be willing to do this in order for them both to live."

(Seems like I have to finish the book.) The drama is about to end within two weeks and I want to see if they change any dubbing or something related to the ending.