Helplessness 奈何 by 天籁纸鸢/君子以泽 Tian Lai Zhi Yuan/Jun Zi Yi Ze (BE)

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• This is a story concerning the ghosts of the Underworld – namely, Dong Fang Mei, her three ghost husbands, and a mysterious spirit Hua Zi Xiao.

  The story begins with Dong Fang Mei’s attempt to elope with her third husband in the face of the various objections imposed by the third husband’s family. However, Tang Shao Qing, the ghost of Dong Fang Mei’s second husband, was offended by the speed at which she moved on after his death (as she had only mourned him for a measly two years), and accelerated her date of death. As such, Dong Fang Mei died even before she could complete the marital rites with her third husband.

  Upon her arrival at the Underworld, Dong Fang Mei discovers that her deceased father is presently one of the five Ghost Kings of the Underworld, and has decreed for her to marry three ghost husbands –a flirtatious and gay fox spirit, a sarcastic and devious White Impermanence, and the ghost of her second husband who had just murdered her. However, Dong Fang Mei is still unable to forget her very first husband she married whilst she was alive. Thus, hijinks ensue as Dong Fang Mei tries her best to manage her three husbands and keep them at arm’s length. During her time in the Underworld, Dong Fang Mei encounters a mysterious and beautiful red robed spirit – Hua Zi Xiao. Although Dong Fang Mei was initially attracted by Hua Zi Xiao, she gradually uncovers his deeper, darker side.

  Although the female lead, Dong Fang Mei, appears to be rather flirtatious at first glance (three husbands when she was alive, and three husbands now even after she died), she is actually very faithful and loyal in her relationships, and treats her three husbands as though they were her platonic male best friends. On discovery of her love for the male lead, she was willing to stay by his side even though she knew he was waiting for his wife to return to the Underworld.

  The male lead, Hua Zi Xiao, as well as his love for Dong Fang Mei, is one of the highlights of the book. Hua Zi Xiao was previously a high ranking Immortal who, having committed grave sins, was banished to the Underworld along with his wife. As punishment, he is forbidden from ever entering the cycle of reincarnation, whilst his wife was forced to forget all her past memories and continuously enter the reincarnation cycle. As such, Hua Zi Xiao has to wait out his remaining days in the Underworld till his spirit gradually expires after a thousand years. Although he has the option of letting his spirit expire immediately by jumping into the River of Oblivion, he decides to wait out the entire one thousand years in the hopes of catching glimpses of his wife when her human form dies and she returns to the Underworld for reincarnation.

  [spoiler]
  As normal ghosts would be forced to remain forevermore in the Underworld should they miss their reincarnation period, one can feel Hua Zi Xiao battling his desire to act on his selfish desires and keep Dong Fang Mei by his side, as opposed to letting her enter the reincarnation cycle throughout the entire book. Ultimately, he decides to drive Dong Fang Mei away, as he was nearing the end of his spiritual life, and her choice to stay with him forevermore would necessarily mean that she had to live on in the Underworld for hundreds of years after his death before she herself expires.
  [/spoiler]

• This novels sounds heartbreaking :'( :'( I was actually considering it after seeing it on ximalaya with two of my favourite voice actors but don't think my heart can take it. I need something fun and uplifting

• @ Ivy Haha I really liked the ximalaya audiobook as well! I thought the whole audiobook was pretty well done. The book starts off quite funny and light but it does get heart wrenching, especially at the end when the readers get a more concrete idea of the sacrifices Hua Zi Xiao made for Dong Fang Mei. As it's written from the first person perspective, it's sad to see how heartlessly happy and joyful Dong Fang Mei is but we can't blame her because as readers we know that her memory's wiped and she can't do anything about it.

• Hi! I've just recently gotten into chinese novels but I keep seeing BE and HE everywhere. What exactly does that mean??

  Thanks

• @ Angel

  Hi Angel, hope you're enjoying the chinese novels that you've been reading (: To answer your question, BE refers to Bad Ending whereas HE refers to Happy Ending. Other terms that have been bandied around include OE for Open Ending. Hope this helps!

• I find this author to be very cruel. I read her 月都花落，沧海花开 before and it was sad ending as well.

  [spoiler]I read some remarks, seems some readers wonder a bout Zi Xiao's motive behind sending off Yang Yun (his other part's) onto the route of becoming a xian.Yang Yun seems only able to remember his and Zi Xiao's wife (Dong Feng Mei) after looking at the 3 Life Rock. Maybe after Zi Xiao expires Yang Yun will remember or maybe being a Xian one day he will remember and look for Dong Fang Mei's reincarnation. I feel so depressed about their story.[/spoiler]

• @ chancy426

  Oh man, is 月都花落 a very sad book as well? I haven't really dared to touch other Jun Zi Yi Ze's books after reading 奈何, it's just too sad :/

  [spoiler]
  I'm not too sure about Yang Yun, I actually saw Yang Yun as another person, separate from Zi Xiao - maybe because he kept hurting Dong Fang Mei. I'm not sure whether Yang Yun and Zi Xiao are exactly the same too, because somehow after a thousand years Zi Xiao appears to carry so much more emotional baggage compared to Yang Yun. I hope Yang Yun returns to look for Dong Fang Mei too, and that they somehow have a happy ending but Im not even sure whether Dong Fang Mei intends to reincarnate, after recalling what happened to her and Zi Xiao. Maybe she'd just stay in the Underworld till she too, expires. Yeah the whole book is depressing :'(
  [/spoiler]

• Heard so much good things about this story and also because it's by Zhun Zi Yi Ze, I know it will be written very well and pull heart strings. Despite knowing it's bad ending, I feel nostalgic for more of this series. The author's characters cross over a lot and usually pop up in other of her stories. I got a glimpse of the OTP in this story from her other book Sea of Flowers and some spoilers from Chancy. I think I am kind of 变态 diving into this right after Sea of Flowers knowing how much of a stepmother the author is...

• I slightly like this story better than Sea of Flowers due to the main girl being more likeable. She is still very 负心though!! The author is so cruel, but in a way this feels like a open ending. Yang Yun was able to remember Mei when he looked at the Three Lives rock and perhaps he will remember everything when Hua Zi Xiao dies just like Mei did. That's my only condolence because my poor heart hurting so much right now!! Junzi To Ze needs to write a story on Tian Di and torture him too!

  *Edit* I found the part with Yang Yun crossing the bridge. There's hope people!! He called himself Yun Xiao and called her Qing Mei!!
  [spoiler]
  　杨云牵着冷蓉的手走过奈何桥，少卿却一直在纠结那个新夫君的问题，反复问了我很多次。我以目送他们离去的借口暂时推脱都没有用，直到他们在桥对面看完了三生石上的前世今生，杨云忽然回过头来，脸色发白地看着我：“不，不是这样……”
  　　他忽然扔掉冷蓉的手，朝我冲过来——
  　　“青寐，青寐！我是云霄啊！”
  　　但是脚还没踏上奈何桥，人就已经被鬼卒拦住。杨云用力挣扎想要摆脱他们，但一路被强迫着往后拖，扔到了地上。他奋力爬起来，再次朝我冲过来，却又一次被鬼卒们拽住。终于他挣扎不动了，一边被鬼卒们架着腋下拖走，一边痛哭着喊道：
  　　“这一切都是我的错！你若想起了我，一定要来找我！我会等你，不论多少年我都会——”
  　　但是话没说完，人已被扔入轮回。
  [/spoiler]