I CRAVE a 3-soul edit to the song Forget her by Jeff Buckley. Specifically, an edit to these lyrics! I am gnawing at the bars of my enclosure at how these lyrics change so vastly depending on whose narrative you apply it to, whether it's Yang Cheng or Xia Qing.
"Well, my tears falling down as I try to forget."
This is SOOO Xia Qing during Lucky Cyan's concert crying as she knows that she has to move on and that she can't stay here forever, just like she told Yang Cheng.
This can also be Yang cheng putting on the mask and abandoning his old life as he becomes 'E-soul' after his grief and sobs surrounding shang chao die down.
"Her love was a joke from the day that we met"
Yang cheng never was able to tell Xia Qing the truth about his feelings while the aftermath of their final conversation leaves her questioning whether the boy she knew even exists and the burden she has of mourning shang chao who previously 'confessed' to her.
Or this can be seen as Yang Cheng bitterly looking back at the quiet, peaceful times that he, Xia Qing, and Shang Chao used to have. He wonders if they ever managed to become friends, if they could have been more, if he could have saved them had he been faster, less jealous and insecure.
"All of the words, all of her men"
Yang cheng initially thinks of Shang Chao and Xia Qing's words pushing him to be himself, telling him that he is and can be a great hero. However, it's tainted by jealousy as yang cheng can't help but be jealous of Shang Chao.
This can also be Xia Qing being the only one that can tell the trio's story as she has listened to all their words. She was there when shang chao was pushing them forward with his charisma and drive. She was also there to witness Yang Cheng spiral to insanity as he tried to achieve 'justice'. The "all of her men" can be applicable to her helplessly, watching as Yang cheng muddles with the wrong crowd, as Rock further drags him down the path of vengeance, and as news reporters, shang de and his believers further encourage his behaviour.
"All of my pain, when I think back to when"
The painful and bittersweet memories that Xia Qing has of them as a trio, that she has of Yang Cheng specifically.
Or Yang cheng reminiscing of a time when they used to be a trio, the sweetness of it, and how it all felt like a pleasant dream he didn't want to wake up from just for it to be taken in an instant.
"Remeber her hair as it shone in the sun"
Xia Qing remembering the first day she met Yang cheng.
The way Yang cheng looks at shang chao in episode 6 as he is so close to the light.
"The smell of the bed when I knew what she'd done."
The bed is the heart chairs that are still in Yang Cheng's room as he still gets flashbacks to shang chao's death, as he still remembers Xia Qing running away from the beach Shang chao's funeral. It also fits to have a scene with the heart chairs as Rock's words about them echo with Xia Qing being shown to us to sit on the chair, while Shang chao sitting on the chair is implied as yang cheng's perspective of shang chao was always tainted by baises, clouding the turth.
For Xia Qing, the bed is the warehouse. She watches as Shang chao gets shot and bleeds out in front of the warehouse. She probably still remembers the smell of the rain, blood, and the night, probably remembers how it all felt. She watches again as Yang cheng loses his mind and as the warehouse transforms from the clean state that shang chao would leave it in to the mess that it becomes as yang cheng takes over trying to find answers.
"Tell yourself over and over. You won't ever need her again."
Yang cheng surrenders and becomes who we later see: a man with nothing left to lose, a man who is willing to kill another hero to eliminate competition. Most importantly, Yang cheng loses his way after shang chao's death, and after he kills OG E-soul (his idol) thinking that he is moving on but little does he know he still depends on them and they still haunt him to this day in everything he sees and does.
Xia Qing's struggle as she leaves the concert, leaving a haunting image of the 3 empty seats. She is able to 'move on' and find another path or so she thinks because E-soul and the taste of past dreams still haunts her in every E-soul advert, every dream, every drink and every warehouse she may see. The fact that she never watched the E-soul fight, the fact that she doesn't know if Yang cheng survived, the fact that she left erasing herself completely from the narrative.
"But don't fall yourself, she was heartache from the day that you met her"
Both Yang cheng and Xia Qing are haunted by the trio they once were and can never escape it no matter how hard they may try.
"Oh, my heart is frozen still as I try to find the will to forget her somehow"
This is SOOOO Yang Cheng to me!!! This is Yang cheng and how he is constantly paired with dark imagery, how he is paired with black hole imagery and the eerie emptiness that he can never escape. This is Yang cheng trying to move on, putting on the mask and becoming something he isn't but never realising the irony of his actions, how they show that he is as haunted by his past as ever. This is Yang cheng losing his 'humanity' or what makes him Yang cheng. This is Yang cheng trying to forget and move on from shang chao from that dream, but he never can: not when shang chao's colour passed through him during his final fight, not when he still has those chairs with him, not when he still has the same exact hero costume and model that shang chao created for him, and definitely not when he went into a suicide death match with OG E-soul wearing the same helmet that shang chao died in and the same hero costume.
Xia Qing desperately trying to forget both yang cheng and shang chao. She tries to move on, but it still kills something inside of her. She still can't help but think of simpler times and the only way for her to move on is to stop caring, to freeze her heart when it comes to yang cheng as she never sees the fight and as she runs away from the beach.
"She's out there somewhere now"
Yang cheng probably believes that Xia Qing is alive and that she is out there somewhere but far away from where he is. Yang cheng also sees shang chao and Xia Qing in everyone. He sees shang chao in Nice. He sees shang Chao again in Moon (in terms of how they died). He sees little polemo, Xia Qing, and shang chao in Lucky cyan and Lin ling.
Xia Qing never gets closure. She never knows the truth. Is yang cheng dead or alive? Literally and metaphorically. Did the boy she develop a crush on die the night shang chao died? Is he still alive? Is he still there somewhere? Can he come back? She still has the silly belief that he is there, but she knows that he is gone. She is reminded of it whenever any E-soul related content appears.
