Mirage 浮世浮城 by 辛夷坞 Xin Yi Wu (HE)

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The kind of  marriage Zhao Xun Xun wants  is a fortress, even if there is no love, it has that stability that she so longs for. Even if knowing that her husband Sheh Ping Ning married her not because he loved her, she’s still willing to enter this fortress just for that stability.

But she had never thought that what she had once wholeheartedly taken refuge in was all just a bubble, and her fantasy city starts crumbling.

With love and hate he returns, Chi Cheng ploted to make Zhao Xun Xun lose all routes to retreat, just because the only escape route is in his embrace.

He brings to her a storm of destruction, yet is also the raging waves of youth that she can not resist.

When it loses the last drop of water, this mirage in the desert, can it still be the final resting place?

[Ebook] [Audiobook] [English Translation of Ending] [Phù thế phù thành]

 

118 Responses

  1. joyyyeo
    joyyyeo August 30, 2012 at 11:13 am |

    Ooo I’m reading this now! The main male lead Chi Cheng is an interesting character but so mysterious… Maybe we can discuss this together when you all start on the audiobook!

  2. lidge
    lidge September 4, 2012 at 5:00 am |

    Just finished this. Can’t say I enjoyed it. The author’s characterization and descriptions are still good. The problem is the plot is too thin so the story moves very slowly since there’s not much to go on. It’s frustrating in that it takes 3/4 of the story for Chi Cheng’s “motive” to be exposed, and when it is, it’s kind of flimsy even. After feeling disappointed at the “motive,” I skimmed quickly to get to the ending to get some closure.

    Happy ending for the main couple so yay if one cares enough? XX’s tolerant of her dramatic, irresponsible mother and XX’s love-hate relationship with her stepsister add some much needed humor to an otherwise bland story with a very weak plot.

  3. Chancy426
    Chancy426 September 5, 2012 at 2:22 pm |

    u can send me comments and ill translate for u. How come i feel the husband is very abusive or will become very abusive and likable? I got that feel from the teaser.

  4. Chancy426
    Chancy426 September 5, 2012 at 5:09 pm |

    He said he feels stuffy today. Sick again? Or not in mood? Just came to make a comment to save a space/seat. He’s being random.

  5. Chancy426
    Chancy426 September 6, 2012 at 5:38 am |

    U should go create an account and post it. U know they give i some free money to listen when u open account?

  6. Chancy426
    Chancy426 September 6, 2012 at 6:58 am |

    Cgege replied to u. He said being 2nd male is happier. Lol he’s very funny.

  7. Chancy426
    Chancy426 September 7, 2012 at 4:14 am |

    It says chi cheng came back with love and hate, so i thought they use to date.

  8. lidge
    lidge September 8, 2012 at 11:15 pm |

    Forward, but moves nowhere due to lack of plot.

  9. Chancy426
    Chancy426 September 22, 2012 at 10:16 pm |

    Find by reader is my favorite method too, but I couldn’t find this either. Waiting.for the ysts8 site to post up the new version. Have u read Lost Youth yet? The guidebook for that one is alright too.

  10. Chancy426
    Chancy426 October 23, 2012 at 2:15 pm |

    Im totally enjoying Chi Cheng’s tactics. So funny. Totally lol at the underwear part especially when her husband was asking what they were talking about. A nude train. Haha

    i didn’t expect Chi Cheng to be younger than her. Now that’s more interesting now. I really like Xun Xun. Hopefully they Will offer some angst on the guys part and not just let the girl suffer alone. That’s unfair.

  11. Chancy426
    Chancy426 October 24, 2012 at 3:22 am |

    Peanuts, u know? C-gege did a game novel with a girl reader. She’s pretty good. I found it today. Pretty funny. Still trying to find out what’s with the guy.

  12. Chancy426
    Chancy426 October 24, 2012 at 7:21 am |

    Are u talking about playing jianghu until stomach cramps? Or use chaos in the afternoon that has bad Ending?

  13. Chancy426
    Chancy426 October 26, 2012 at 4:20 am |

    Me on 33 right now. I find it very addictive. The pace is alright so far, but what she did to him better be something of big enough deal and make sense. I felt so much heart pang for Chi Cheng when Xun Xun said she detest him. He deserved it though for messing up her date. ^_^

    i like that guy at her work that likes her.

    Obsessed with that Rainie Yang ringtone.

  14. Chancy426
    Chancy426 October 26, 2012 at 11:34 pm |

    Aye~ that guy sucks! I feel bad for that girl that liked him. I got to their little trip to the mountain. It makes sense that she forgot him, but can we even call his liking for her deserving of such a grudge? I still hope he wasn’t back entirely to win back his pride and to set a trap for her to look bad. I can’t say i like the idea of him investing to take her heart when she’s already married. Still wished it was a bigger reason. Waiting to hear Chi Cheng’s explanation for why he is doing all this.

    Strange everyone seem to not like her hubby. I think he is alright. Not bad compared to guys that Xun Xun grouped as same style of guy.

  15. Chancy426
    Chancy426 October 27, 2012 at 3:54 am |

    I love this story so much! I think him taking what she did to him to heart was understandable. Like Xun Xun said, he don’t have that many people that he cares about. His crush on her makes her one of those people that he can’t forget. He is one of those twisted immature guys so what he did made sense. Alot of readers say the girl suffered Alot, but i think he suffered just as much as well. Her safety desire and sharp words actually makes me heart pang for him, but he deserves it so much. Hehe i actually finished a xyw book thanks to cxt8. Im in Withdrawal now….

  16. Chancy426
    Chancy426 October 27, 2012 at 4:00 am |

    I think she don’t remember him because she was drunk so much everything about their night was blurry. When she woke up she didn’t even have the courage to look at him so she doesn’t even know she slept with her sister’s trainer since when she woke up he was sleeping on his face. She just could tell it was a young lad. I think any guy in his situation would feel hate or similar. Just they probably wouldn’t carry it on that far. But i think he wouldn’t dilerbrately look for her if not for her husband’s connection.

  17. Chancy426
    Chancy426 October 28, 2012 at 2:41 pm |

    Haha me too. I totally love Chi Cheng. Most of my heart pangs were for him. I don’t know why they say the girl gets tortured the most. I feel bad for Xun Xun though. It was all bad fate that she hurted him, but it was all not intentionally like him.

    U know i see Lin Geng Xin as Chi Cheng and Shi Shi as Xun Xun. I absolutely love Niao’s voice in here. Im just happy they work together once a year cause that guarantees a modern novel.

  18. chancy426
    chancy426 October 31, 2012 at 1:56 am |

    haha, ya I like the phrase. lol My phone won’t let me listen to it either. I had to find a site that would let me listen.

    I plan on relistening to the book too. I dunno, this is the first time I really have the urge to reread a book this much.

    That new book, I dunno…..the reader’s voice sounds similar to the girl narrating for Who Gets the World, but more aunty like. haha Her guy acting voice is …. not too good. It had this weird weird scene in the beginning. Just plan uncomfortable. It gives me the Lan Ling Wang feel, except under that mask is suppose to be a severely damaged face. I think it got repaired already, but I’m not sure. Story wise, it seems like it’ll be pretty heart wrenching, but being a Lan Ling Wang like story, I’m afraid that it might be sad ending. She’s a spy for her family that they put besides the main guy.

  19. Chancy426
    Chancy426 November 1, 2012 at 1:59 pm |

    I think its because no one cared about him before and suddenly this girl pops out of no where and wants to get him off of a sewer lid afraid that he would drop in. Than later the more he saw her the more he notices her and than he started having a crush on her. Yup i think she matches her hubby more, but her life would definitely be boring, but not that she minds. She’s pretty weird. Like in the beginning she said that the reason of being born is to embrace death. Lol

    i think that new book is missable, the story makes me cringe at how twisting the relationships are. Neither brothers are likable, both r rapist. I’d prefer that shang jun book cgege read. U should read meet a ghost, the guy u will like his voice.

  20. Chancy426
    Chancy426 November 1, 2012 at 2:15 pm |

    Im so happy. The chong zi reader’s next book will have both cgege and bu-gege. Their parts are recorded already just waiting for her to put them together. I hope its good book because her first book had a awesome guy reader but book sucks. Slmy seemed to have collaborated on a new hua qian gu project. But after reading chong zi im not that interested.

  21. Chancy426
    Chancy426 November 1, 2012 at 3:23 pm |

    It’s red peach not cherry. Lol her new book will be a overload. I think just one of them is enough actually because their range is big. C is usually used to help out Niao because his range is not big and same with a shou’s book. Her consort book was really bad in terms of plot. Both me and xiaoyuer didn’t like it. I anticipate what could come out of a b and c collaboration.

    Im too lazy to read subs, but all the raving about the drama makes me wanna pick it up sometime. I like moon chae won alot. U said who is similar to jn? Joong ki or moon chae won’s characters?

  22. chancy426
    chancy426 November 1, 2012 at 7:37 pm |

    XPN does come back into the story to remind us about how wonderful of a married couple him and XX makes. I really don’t think I’d mind marrying a guy like that either and I think XX doesn’t mind either. I think that him and XX would have been fine if CC didn’t show up. I don’t think that XPN would have been able to become something with SJQ, but maybe the feeling would sustain between them for longer if it didn’t get exposed. XPN and SJQ was never meant to be, they just liked the whole restricted feel that their parents created between them.

    I was just attracted to CC the entire time, but it was really after his plan was bursted that I came to love him. This guy is really a child, an unloved child.

    I dunno if any of you watched Queen of Reversal, CC is like a more pitiable Gu Yong Shik. At least Gu Yong Shik has a secretary that cares for him, poor CC has no one. He just brings tears to my eyes.

  23. chancy426
    chancy426 November 2, 2012 at 5:04 am |

    She answered me, it’s another Shu Ke book (Chong Zi author) and it’s a Xian Xia book. hehe I prefer if it were the Pheonix one, but I dunno. Maybe Lidge would know which of Shu Ke’s books are xianxia.

  24. Chancy426
    Chancy426 November 2, 2012 at 6:39 am |

    It said under genre about time traveling. She met him 1000 years ago when she was a flower spirit. Than she didn’t want to continue to be a xian and wants to forget him so reincarnated as a human. He finds her during her human lifetime. Is that lifetime during modern times? Or still ancient. Seems like a fun read.

  25. Chancy426
    Chancy426 November 2, 2012 at 3:11 pm |

    Haha i totally agree that i might like it more if we have this kind of cast for the readers. Its that girl reader that really matters because she reads the most. I liked the guy reader alot. Aye~ have to wait an entire year. Haha

  26. chancy426
    chancy426 November 2, 2012 at 6:40 pm |

    I like both guys.The main guy seems cold, but he actually does a lot for the main girl but just quietly so she doesn’t realize it.I’m OK with the ending.

    Ayeeeee~! Will main guy get the girl or the 2nd guy gets her. I dun’t wanna read another Meng Jiu

    If main guy is cold, I do think Bu-gege will play main guy. So, Peanuts, i’m not gonna bet with you on that because no one will bet against us. haha Maybe we’ll both b wrong. I’m not gonna post this book until it’s confirmed which book it will be. I just found out there’s gonna b 4 readers for the new book. So there’ll be another girl. I wonder who….?

    Me gonna finish reading Chong Zi first. When you coming back? Who Get’s the World is on semi hiatus I think. I can’t believe she’s calling out so many readers to cameo for the book. A Shou, guy from Chatters/Crazy Love, Ren Xiao Sheh (Jun Hua), and so many other. lol

  27. Chancy426
    Chancy426 November 3, 2012 at 4:20 am |

    I dunno…for me a ten year gap is pretty big. If he is a thousand years older but look the same as 20something i am fine though. Maybe because i am just 23 so i think 33 would be half a dad already and this guy is late 30s. Haha but its not my lifestory so i don’t care that much. I need happy ending though.

  28. xia0yuer
    xia0yuer January 22, 2013 at 9:27 pm |

    Finally finished this book! I liked Xun Xun and Chi Cheng but disliked Xie Pin Ning despite how he tried to redeem himself after the divorce. If there is one thing I can’t stand, it’s a man who cheats! He says that he never physically cheated with SJQ but emotionally cheating is just as bad. He never even tried to hide it from XX, which shows to me that he didn’t care about her at all.

    I really liked the mystery behind CC and am so glad that the author wasn’t lame and added amnesia to the story line. CC’s yearning for XX is so adorable. He really is just a big man-child. The plot was pretty weak, but it was a light, engaging and fast read.

    Just a few loose ends: I wanted to know what happened to XX’s mother and Zhou Ren Fa. I’m sad that Zheng Yu didn’t find her prince charming or make up with her siblings. It would be funny if Zheng Yu ended up with XPN in the end. Hehe.

    Peanuts:
    Oh lidge, u r still lurking around, haha….oh so tired today after wAlking 5 hrs in the night mkt which is near the uni. Wah taiwan got a lot of handsome uni students, lol.

    I just saw this and I have to agree immensely. Taiwanese guys are handsome. Though I’m definitely biased because my boyfriend is Taiwanese. Haha 😀

  29. atsu-chan
    atsu-chan January 23, 2013 at 2:03 am |

    Ah, you are so lucky you have a boyfriend, xiaoyuer ^^

    I think my favorite character in Mirage would be Zeng Yu. She’s such an odd mix of pluck and romance. I actually really liked her with Chen Xiao Zheng, to be honest. I felt really bad for her too.

    I didn’t mind the loose ends as much. XPN has issues. He’s the type of guy that always lives in the what ifs and regrets. So he’ll never truly love whoever he’s with. I liked Xun Xun and her problems and her winningness. A very interesting heroine. But I didn’t really like the way her relationship with Chi Cheng was handled. I felt that he needed to grow up and deal with his own problems of love and abandonment before the two can be successfully together. But hooray to no amnesia!! I was getting worried for a bit actually.

    It’s been really hard for me to get into any of XYW’s books though. As in really get in and feel for the characters and love them. I liked Chen Xiao Zheng, Zeng Yu, Ruan Guan, and Xun Xun as character studies but it was hard to like them as people. (Well, I did really like Chen Xiao Zheng, but that’s because he’s my type and not because he was a particularly compelling character, I think…)

    On another note, I know Lost Youth is being made into a movie and a drama and the casting is all done, but I thought that Bai Baihe would make a good Zheng Wei. I also thought someone like Dong Jie would make a good Xun Xun, and maybe Kai Ko as Chi Cheng? Haha, all personal wishful thinking!

  30. chancy426
    chancy426 January 23, 2013 at 4:31 pm |

    yes yes yes. i dont easily get into xyw books too. i like how u use case study to describe the characters. they really do show us the different kinds of ppl there are in the world. not that i want to encounter them. xD hi xiaoyuer!

  31. xia0yuer
    xia0yuer January 23, 2013 at 6:33 pm |

    atsu-chan:
    Ah, you are so lucky you have a boyfriend, xiaoyuer ^^

    Haha, I don’t think it’s difficult to find a boyfriend. But to find one who cares for you as much as you care for him, one who gives you a sense of security and is willing to work through the highs and lows of life with you is difficult. Indeed, I am very lucky. <—- I think we are still in the honeymoon stage though, so who knows? Maybe in a year, I'll look back on this and will want to bash him as badly as I want to bash XPN. Haha 😀

    atsu-chan:

    I think my favorite character in Mirage would be Zeng Yu. She’s such an odd mix of pluck and romance. I actually really liked her with Chen Xiao Zheng, to be honest. I felt really bad for her too.

    I definitely agree. I really admired Zheng Yu’s pluck, but I feel that her choice to become friends with benefits with Chen Xiao Zheng was a really bad decision. I don’t think Chen Xiao Zheng had really moved on though, because he tried to reach out to Zheng Yu by explaining that the girl was someone his parents introduced/forced onto him, but she had been hurt too much in the past to risk her heart again.

    atsu-chan:

    It’s been really hard for me to get into any of XYW’s books though. As in really get in and feel for the characters and love them. I liked Chen Xiao Zheng, Zeng Yu, Ruan Guan, and Xun Xun as character studies but it was hard to like them as people. (Well, I did really like Chen Xiao Zheng, but that’s because he’s my type and not because he was a particularly compelling character, I think…)

    This is my first XYW book. The summaries of her other books didn’t interest me that much because they seemed like typical melodrama story lines. But the premise of this book is really quite interesting – would you choose a safe, consistent, but only faintly affectionate marriage, or would you choose a romance full of excitement, wild times and rocky patches?

    I would choose the latter. I think working through the rocky patches strengthen a relationship. A torrid romance can turn into a consistent marriage, but in a safe, consistent marriage like XX and XPN’s, the couple never learned to work through trails and tribulations together, so they can either continue to tolerate each other, or break up. XX and CC went through the difficulties of becoming a couple so they won’t take each other for granted like XPN treated XX.

  32. chancy426
    chancy426 January 24, 2013 at 2:04 am |

    i would crave a wild romance like xun xun has with chi cheng but i would prefer a husband who could be my shelter. i can find adventure in career and many other things, but when im lost and tired i want to be able to run back into my shelter and feel secured. definitey not a husband like xpn though. i think they lack any kind of communication or real emotional connections. i have to b able to share all my insecurities with my other half and he has to dote on me. =) i actually want a zheng xie (from Trap). XD

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