What was Yeh Lut Chai like as a boy?

[Ken Cheng]

Although he was strangely attracted (not sexually; let's get that out of the way before the bad jokes start) to the likes of Gwok Jing and Little Dragon Girl, in general, Chow Bak Tung didn't like being around boring people. Other than the Ying Goo/Emperor Deun affair, Chow Bak Tung feared nothing except boredom. Little Dragon Girl aside, he doesn't associate with people he considers boring.

And then there is his student, Yeh Lut Chai.

The adult Yeh Lut Chai was a stiff. He was probably even more rigid about morality, propriety, and Confucian social convention than was his famously straight arrow (sorry, bad pun) father-in-law, Gwok Jing (and that really says something). Not likely that Chow Bak Tung would choose such a stick-in-the-mud as a student, but he did.

In ROCH '83, Chow Bak Tung alluded to the idea that when Yeh Lut Chai was a boy, he wasn't nearly so rigid; Chow mentioned an incident where the young Yeh Lut Chai shaved off all of a goat's fur just as a silly prank. In the Tony Wong ROCH comic book adaptation, there's a hilarious scene of the very young Yeh Lut Chai chasing after Chow Bak Tung with a huge pile of animal dung in his hands. That's quite a contrast from the dead serious adult Yeh Lut Chai we see in the main story of ROCH.

So what was Yeh Lut Chai really like as a boy? Was he really so mischievous? And why did his personality change so much? Sure, people do grow up, but such a radical personality change often comes from more than just natural maturation.

[junzi]

The adult Yeh Lut Chai was a stiff. He was probably even more rigid about morality, propriety, and Confucian social convention than was his famously straight arrow (sorry, bad pun) father-in-law, Gwok Jing (and that really says something). Not likely that Chow Bak Tung would choose such a stick-in-the-mud as a student, but he did.

Was he really? I remember Guo Xiang commenting that he pretty much let Guo Fu do as she pleased even after marriage. Doesn't sound all that stiff to me.

[CFT]

Was he really? I remember Guo Xiang commenting that he pretty much let Guo Fu do as she pleased even after marriage. Doesn't sound all that stiff to me.

Most married men do, just for an easier life.

[endo]

Most married men do, just for an easier life.

how true it is....how true it is...

[KJ]

Most married men do, just for an easier life.

Especially with Guo Fu's tendency to chopping limbs off.

[Ken Cheng]

Was he really? I remember Guo Xiang commenting that he pretty much let Guo Fu do as she pleased even after marriage. Doesn't sound all that stiff to me.

He was strict about his own conduct, but wasn't really in a position to do much about Gwok Fu...not even after he became her husband. When her parents are Gwok Jing and Wong Yung, and even they seem to be at a loss to curb her behavior, what is Yeh Lut Chai going to do?

[tweety365]

YLT has issues. It's no surprise about his drastic personality change. I mean, the man was willing to get hitched to GF. What was he thinking ? Still boggles the mind why he did it. Any misery he received was basically asked for.

[Felix]

Most married men do, just for an easier life.

Haha, thanks, thats my line of the day.

[Yang Guo]

YLT has issues. It's no surprise about his drastic personality change. I mean, the man was willing to get hitched to GF. What was he thinking ? Still boggles the mind why he did it. Any misery he received was basically asked for.

She was purdy... and he probably saw that tiny nucleus size of good within her too... I think

[Ardor]

GJ used to enjoy watching Huang Rong doing misdeeds as well.

ZBT likes straightforward people.

[owbjhx]

So what was Yeh Lut Chai really like as a boy? Was he really so mischievous? And why did his personality change so much? Sure, people do grow up, but such a radical personality change often comes from more than just natural maturation.

From the novel, it's not clear if Yelu Qi was especially mischievous, but he met Zhou Botong at a very young age - maybe about 5 years old, or even less - and he & ZBT became "play buddies". It was implied that ZBT took YLQ as a disciple while he was still very immature. (I mean YLQ, not ZBT .)

I don't really know if YLQ's personality changed; I think it's more to do with YLQ just growing up, and it so happened that he matured particularly quickly and at 23 or so was seen as "an old head on young shoulders". (This is why ZBT, disappointed, forbid YLQ to tell people about their connection.) Perhaps YLQ did the growing-up for both of them.