lighter and princess gown (novel) by twentine SPOILERS AHEAD
so, bcs I'm obviously deprived of l&p contents I decided to read the original novel which still doesn't have an official english translation yet (the one I found stopped translating at ch 36 years ago), so i just used google translate from the original book in chinese (which was a mess bcs of that, but I was that desperate). twentine's book itself is exceptional. although my interpretation might be wrong because of the translation, I got the gist and found major differences from the show, so if you've read the book and you're fluent or native in chinese, please cmiiw.
read ahead if u don't mind spoilers:
1. the show romanticised li xun's character so much more than the original li xun from the book. (STOP READING HERE IF U WANNA KEEP HIS IMAGE FROM THE SHOW). if u think li xun in the show was cold as a fridge, he's the whole antartica continent in the novel. and he didn't treat zhu yun nicely, he was actually rather harsh to her not only verbally, but also physically (he tend to pinch her neck and waist and intimidate her in a way that made me uncomfortable)
2. the book tried to justify his character through his family upbringing, which was much more unfortunate and miserable than in the show. he was a bastard child and was bullied, basically was a puching bag of the family, esp. his step brothers. his dad was a total dick. other than his miserable, dying birth mother, li lan (his step-sis) was the only one who treated him like a human.
3. he was sexist and he literally laughed while telling people that he only like chicks with IQ lower than 60. he fooled around those women a lot. it's probably to brought up that zhu yun was the antithesis, but I dunno. it still doesn't sit right with me how he derogate women.
3. his titular lighter name was actually not bcs he had an emotional attachment to his father's lighter, but rather bcs he's a heavy smoker thus he brought a lighter with him everywhere he goes. (zhu yun was a smoker as well bcs of her trauma regarding xiaoyan, fang zhi jing, and her mom)
4. until the end, he never got zhu yun's parents' approval (and it's not bcs he cheated on exams like in the show, zhu yun's mother was just judgmental af for no actual reason at all - before li xun proved her 'right' by going to prison)
5. they did the deeds right after the confession.
6. fang zhi jing was the main villain until the end, gao jianhong just wasn't as significant as in the show.
7. they had 3 kids, and although it's not shown, it's implied that his character indeed became warmer over time.
