Things you might have missed - Novel vs Drama

after watching the drama, i knew i had to read the novel because i needed more my sassy princess content! + i need somewhere to word vomit and also see if any novel readers felt the same way lol. the novel (imo) is actually really different from the drama. here are some differences i noticed so far! + how it ties in to some things in the drama you might have missed.

- lu mingshan and yueling were close during their childhoods but he got put in an arrange marriage with liuling. liuling really liked him but he cheated on her with yueling. liuling already has trust issues after being abandoned by everyone and lu mingshan made it worse. contrary to the drama, its mentioned that liuling gave her everything to the relationship. its one of the reasons why (i feel) liuling is insecure and this aspect can be seen in the drama too. she also doubts shenyan a lot, like in the drama. shenyan actually returns her advances a lot earlier than in the drama i think. its mentioned that he liked her when they first met (when they were younger) but he saw her with someone else and avoided her at all cost after that. (hence why she doesnt remember him). also yueling mentions this in the novel but her ling is read the same way as liuling's "ling" so when yue mingshan calls them a-ling, she never knows who he is referring to.

- liuling also has mental health issues; these mental health issues got brushed off by everyone except shenyan, its talked about in greater detail in the novel. she had a panic attack when she gets near water-bodies (due to the trauma from her mother's death) and im not professional but she exhibits signs of schizophrenia and depression. lu mingshan uses this point to his advantage and manipulates the shit out of her (and knows it!). its also a bit more understandable why shenyan liked her back so early in the novel because he saw many "soft" sides of her: her loneliness, her sympathy (she climbed the mountain to bury yueling's dead child), she doesnt punish her subordinates etc.

there is a behind the scenes video of a kiss scene underwater (that was cut out from the drama). in that moment of being unable to breathe, liuling was reminded of her mother that died by drowning and she wanted to commit suicide. you can see that in the removed scene + uploaded cut, she also held her breath and lowered herself in the water (to sink and drown). shenyan didnt know if liuling wanted to drown herself or if she was just struggling to hold her breath. he then kissed her, not because of romantic feelings but he felt it was the quickest way to save her. that's why when they got out of the water, he started asking her about her past because he saw that she was acting strange. he also hugged her really tightly out of relief.  when he was lying down; and liuling wanted to leave to get medicine for him, he grabbed onto her tightly because he was worried she would kill herself.

- lu mingshan is described to be a flower boy type of handsome in the novel lol (and also kinda gentle? when speaking, you know the kind). yueling also disliked him after he went to liuling. yueling is pregnant by her husband (not lu mingshan) and she killed him i think. its also mentioned that lu mingshan and shenyan both have a scar near their eye and lu mingshan uses this to make shenyan doubt his relationship with liuling (as in, that she only likes shenyan bc lu mingshan didnt want her and shenyan looks like lu mingshan).

- the timeline in the drama is also slightly different from the novel. shenyan actually brought liuling to see the stars pretty early on in the novel and a later on, liuling brought him to see the stars when he was struggling. (so cute!)

- shenyan has some type of issue with food (similar to the drama, but mentioned in greater detail in the novel). liuling is also the one who notices this issue first and that's why she is always bringing him food and reminding him to eat. you can see a little bit of this in the drama too, where she brought him a lot of food to eat at many points in the drama.

 Rina:

Wow thank you for these information.  It would've been nice if they had shown her panic attack and trauma of waterbodies, so Shen Yan could've help her conquer them. I am still having "My Sassy Princess" fever even after finishing the drama, not even watching "Who rules the world" can cure it. The chemistry between Liuling and Shenyan is off the charts! I am so curious about the novel. Please, if you have the link, whether to the Chinese or English version of the novel, please put it up.

here is the official novel on jjwxc http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=2361501

 xuan:

SOME OTHER THINGS:

- the waist token was actually a token of engagement

- liuling is the first person to praise shenyan's eye scar

- liuling put herself in danger many times not because of shenyan, but because she wanted to commit suicide. shenyan knew this and that's why he followed her

This is so compelling, ahhh, my heart. The Drama really missed some ace material here. Thanks for sharing; this adds so much more emotional ante and drive to the narrative. 

 Orithian:

These explanation make so much more sense. They left the effects in the drama, but removed the root causes, which leaves LL character feeling very shallow, and kept making me wonder why Shen Yan really liked her.

I think it would have been a *far* more compelling drama if they had left the obvious mental health discussion in there, instead of removing it, and just making LL seem impulsive and thoughtless.

maybe because budget, and this drama targeting only 24 (before). if this drama 40 eps, maybe more deep story for LL character

 xuan:

i think its mainly bc it would be difficult for it to pass through censorship hahaha oh wells

what is BC ?

Yeah, I suspect more censorship issues, than time contraints. I'm sure if they had cut a couple of those long arse, repeated, musical flashback sequences they could have fit in enough dialougue/plot to explains things if they really wanted too.

China's censorship really does seem to get in the way of good storytelling. And encourage lazy storytelling. Why bother doing research for realism, when you don't even know if the censors will let something through.