Corner Café

I am currently reading the webnovel, Saye 撒野 (Saye is pronounced Sa-Yeah, Sa should sound like the ‘Sa‘ in Sally), a BL novel that is widely recommended online. I am not sure how to translate the title, Saye 撒野, it has been translated as Set It All Free or Run Freely online, but I think Catharsis is closer to the meaning for the story, especially for Gu Fei at the end? So I am using this word for the translation of the title, LOL…

To veer off a bit, I found a lot of drawings of scenes from the novel online. I am so envious, LOL… I can’t draw to save my life! So I’ve also included some of the drawings here because I really like them. Also I need to acknowledge that some of the drawings are by @机甲没充电, thank you and others I can’t find the name of the artists, but thank you to them as well. There is also a TV series coming, the casting of roles were completed in June this year, but a lot of the fans of the novel are not happy due to the series being adapted into bromance drama knowing that a proper BL drama cannot be filmed in China!

OK, back to the main point of this post… There is a song described in the novel that has a very touching lyrics, so I started to wonder if there is actually a real song someone has composed to the lyrics from the novel out there in the cyber world. I searched and lo-and-behold, there are actually two versions of the song! They were from the radio play of the novel which I did not even know about!

I can now listen to the song while reading the novel. I am about 100 chapters into the novel at the moment, I am reading the original Chinese novel, but there is an English translated novel, which I don’t think is completely translated as yet. I would recommend this novel, a very touching story about two 17-year-old boys, one who is a top student, was adopted but returned to his birth father who is a gambler, another is a boy who has to take care of his 10-year-old sister who is mentally disabled.

This is the original version of the theme song from the radio play…

Catharsis (Saye) 撒野 – Liya 奇然 & Mile 沈謐仁

This is another version sung by Xiao Zhui (小墜)…

Catharsis (Saye) 撒野 – Xiao Zhui 小墜

撒野 Catharsis
作詞：巫哲／作曲：欸-61（林一卡）

我一腳踏空 我就要飛起來了
I stepped into a void, I think I’m about to take flight
我向上是迷茫 我向下聽見你說 這世界是空蕩蕩
Above me is haziness, below me I hear your voice, this world is a vacuum

你說一二三 打碎了過往 消亡
You said 1,2,3, smash the past to extinction
有風吹 破了的歸途 你有沒有看到我在唱
There’s a breeze blocking the way back, have you seen me sing
你說一二三轉身 你聽被抹掉的慌張
You said 1,2,3, turn around, and listen to the panic being wiped away
我想 抬頭暖陽春草 你給我簡單擁抱
I hope, looking up, the sun is warm and the pasture is green, you give me a simple hug

我想 踩碎了迷茫走過時光 睜開眼你就會聽到
I hope, after perishing the hazy past, and opening your eyes you can hear
我想 左肩有你 右肩微笑
I hope, you by my left shoulder, smile on my right shoulder
我想 在你眼裡 撒野奔跑
I hope, in your eyes, running free after the catharsis
我想 一個眼神 就到老
I hope, with just one look, it is forever

你說一二三轉身 你聽被抹掉的慌張
You said 1,2,3, turn around, and listen to the panic being wiped away
我想 抬頭暖陽春草 你給我簡單擁抱
I hope, looking up, the sun is warm and the pasture is green, you give me a simple hug

我想 踩碎了迷茫走過時光 睜開眼你就會聽到
I hope, after perishing the hazy past, and opening your eyes you can hear
我想 左肩有你 右肩微笑
I hope, you by my left shoulder, smile on my right shoulder
我想 在你眼裡 撒野奔跑
I hope, in your eyes, running free after the catharsis
我想 一個眼神
I hope, with just one look
我想 一個眼神 就到老
I hope, with just one look, it is forever

Update December 12, 2020: Filming of the TV series based on Saye has begun on November 29, 2020. The name of the drama will be called Chasing The Light 左肩有你 (Chinese title translated literally as You By My Left Shoulder). Buss Wang Anyu 王安宇 will play the role of Gu Fei 顧飛, Adam Fan Chengcheng 范丞丞 will play the role of Jiang Cheng 蔣丞, and Angela Wang Shengdi 王聖迪 will play the role of young Gu Miao 顧淼. There will be 24 episodes and apparently they are filming winter scenes now, and summer scenes will be filmed around May next year, so the series will only be out in the second half of 2021. Below are some official photos released on Weibo…

Update June 19, 2021: Live- stream from Adam Fan on the set of Chasing the Light during his 21st birthday…

Update August 26, 2021: While we are all waiting for the live-action TV drama of Saye to air, came the announcement that there will be an anime/donghua of Saye soon called Warm Sun 暖陽 with a trailer being released recently. There is also already a manga/manhua of Saye being serialised at the moment.

Update January 26, 2022: Some of you may know by now that the Saye 撒野 novel was officially banned in China around October last year. The TV series based on the novel is also in limbo. What a sad state of affairs in China… However let’s not dwell on those things. There is a surprise in Wu Zhe’s new BL novel, 三伏 (Midsummer). I haven’t read the new novel yet as it is still being serialized. News is that Jiang Cheng 蔣丞 of Saye is guest appearing in the new novel as a 30-year-old lawyer! He appeared in chapter 114 onwards as far as I know… Now I am in a conundrum, should I leave reading Alpha Predator for the time being and wait until more chapters are available and go read 三伏 instead as there are over 100 chapters available? Decision, decision..