Original subtitles

(Joy of Life Season 2)

(Episode 15)

Am I wrong to give my things to others?

I'm not the one who decides that.

The imperial court is investigating corruption

to rectify the officials' behavior and uphold the kingdom's law.

At a time like this,

I dare not accept any gifts.

Your Majesty,

can I explain this?

Your Majesty,

does the jewelry look familiar to you?

It is a reward from Your Majesty.

Your Majesty

always rewarded me handsomely for my mere contributions.

I'm very grateful.

I'm humbled as well.

You gave my gift to other people.

What is the meaning of that?

He's my junior.

I can't give him anything else.

What about Chen Manor?

I'm living in Chen Manor temporarily.

- Is the house's deed not under your name? - No.

Your Majesty. This is a common trick.

They don't put the deeds in their name

and say the place is rented.

However, it's hard to say if you investigate it.

President Chen, can you explain

whom you borrowed Chen Manor from?

It's the property of the royal family.

His Majesty

granted me temporary residence at the place.

I have some savings as well.

The source of my fortune

can all be traced.

Fan Xian, are you satisfied?

I'm satisfied. That's all for my complaint.

- Lai Ming Cheng. - Your Majesty.

What are you complaining about Fan Jian and his son?

Your Majesty.

The Fan family is involved in the Moon Embracing Pavilion case.

As an official,

establishing a brothel is not right.

The Fan family is unable to discipline their child.

It ruins the officials' reputation.

Fan Jian and his son should take responsibility.

I think someone died as well.

Your Majesty, Prince Cheng Ze is involved in the murder.

I want to talk about the cases one by one.

Fan Jian.

- Yes. - What do you want to say?

Your Majesty,

my second son, Fan Si Zhe, is naive and rude.

He was tricked

and is indeed the owner of Moon Embracing Pavilion.

I failed to educate my son well. I have nothing to say about that.

Thankfully, my son stopped in time and regretted his actions.

He has already sealed Moon Embracing Pavilion.

I've also punished him according to the family law

and chased him out of the capital

to a desolate place

to cultivate his body and mind.

The law of the kingdom comes first

before the family's rules.

My son, Fan Si Zhe, is not an official.

Although opening a brothel is inappropriate,

it's not against the law.

In that case,

do you think all the officials

have no family

and relatives?

If everyone can do as they wish

and abuse their position,

the imperial court of the Qing Kingdom will be ashamed.

Your Majesty.

As the father and elder brother respectively,

Fan Jian and Fan Xian

should both take responsibility!

How should they take responsibility?

Demote them as a strict punishment.

Chancellor Lin.

Your Majesty.

- What do you think? - I don't get it.

Isn't there a murder case at Moon Embracing Pavilion?

The case hasn't been solved yet.

Why are we talking about family rules now?

I agree.

After all, human lives are more important.

You are right.

Human lives are more important and there's no evidence.

We will talk about

the Fan family's matter at a later date.

Your Majesty.

I wanted to discuss matters in order

starting from the least serious.

We can talk about the murder case first.

Lord Fan,

what are you planning?

You are the chief inspector of the Overwatch Council

but you complain about your president.

I'm investigating corruption.

Lord Xin, I'll complain about you too if you are corrupt.

I'm just joking. Let's watch on.

Everyone knows.

The three murderers of Moon Embracing Pavilion

were captured by the Overwatch Council after the murder.

Later, Fan Wu Jiu

assassinated the murderer outside the Judicial Bureau.

According to our investigation, Fan Wu Jiu

was Prince Cheng Ze's retainer.

I, Lai Ming Cheng, am complaining about

Prince Cheng Ze under the suspicion of silencing the witnesses.

I was careless

and mistrusted a traitor.

However, I can't take responsibility for silencing the witnesses.

Fan Wu Jiu has admitted

that he did all the crimes himself.

I was deceived as well.

It was too late for me to regret my actions.

Censor Lai.

The law of the Qing Kingdom is about witnesses and evidence.

Exactly.

Your Majesty.

The Censorate was blessed by Your Majesty

to investigate corruption among the officials.

We have some clues now.

After a detailed investigation, we found 15 names

belonging to the capital's corrupt officials on the previous list.

Your Majesty, please take a look.

Your Majesty,

after Fan Xian returned from Northern Qi,

he mentioned

the smuggling of Prince Cheng Ze and Princess Yun Rui's

with Northern Qi.

If it was true,

where did the money go?

These 15 officials

possess a fortune from an unknown source.

Moreover, all of them are related to Prince Cheng Ze.

I have a question.

Did Prince Cheng Ze

use the money obtained from smuggling

to bribe the officials?

Ridiculous!

Your Majesty,

I request

a reinvestigation of the smuggling

between Prince Cheng Ze and Princess Yun Rui with Northern Qi.

No.

Your Majesty, please think twice.

There's no evidence in the smuggling case.

It's all an assumption.

The case ends here.

Your Majesty,

the evidence might be before our eyes.

Fan Wu Jiu is Prince Cheng Ze's retainer.

If we interrogate Fan Wu Jiu again,

we can find out the truth about the murder case

and also clues about the smuggling.

Your Majesty, please approve the request.

Investigate it!

He's right. We must investigate it! I fully support this decision!

I also support the interrogation of Fan Wu Jiu.

With Censor Lai here,

we will find the truth about the murder at Moon Embracing Pavilion

and prove my innocence.

Your Majesty.

I also have something on my mind

that I must say.

Say it.

Minister Fan said Moon Embracing Pavilion

has been closed down.

I'm worried indeed.

Moon Embracing Pavilion has dozens of courtesans and workers.

They are the people of the Qing Kingdom as well.

What will happen to their livelihood now that the place is closed?

Where do they go?

I think

the Moon Embracing Pavilion incident

is caused by the Fan family.

The Fan family should take responsibility for these people as well.

He's right!

I will deal with Moon Embracing Pavilion's aftermath.

May I ask if you're going to do the same business?

It won't be a brothel, naturally.

Great.

Li Cheng Ze.

Hear my edict.

You are grounded for half a year.

- I... - To reflect on your mistakes.

Yes, Father.

Fan Jian. Fan Xian.

- Yes, Your Majesty. - Yes, Your Majesty.

You will be fined half a year's wages

to serve as a warning to others.

- Yes, Your Majesty. - Yes, Your Majesty.

Lai Ming Cheng.

Yes.

Censor Lai.

Are you satisfied now?

Your Majesty.

Fan Jian and his son ruined the officials' reputation.

A fine of half a year's wage

is too lenient.

It's difficult to convince the people!

What else do you want?

A demotion!

The family is not strict indeed

but their crimes are not that serious.

Your Majesty!

Please think twice, Your Majesty!

Are you forcing me to change my edict?

I dare not!

You dare not?

You dare do everything!

Prince Cheng Ze has been grounded for half a year.

Are you not satisfied yet?

All right.

Everything has been concluded today.

Dismissed.

Your Majesty!

I'm not done with my complaint yet!

Your Majesty!

I'm not done with my complaint yet!

All right.

Who do you want to complain about?

Your Majesty.

I also want to complain about Chen Ping Ping.

I'm not complaining about him for corruption

but having an unclear law.

I'm also not complaining about Chen Ping Ping alone

but the whole Overwatch Council!

The Overwatch Council?

What is he doing?

He must be crazy.

- He has gone mad. - This is absurd.

What is he doing?

Your Majesty, since the Overwatch Council's establishment,

there have been good and bad people in the department.

Their actions have been presumptuous and unreasonable.

They are involved in

the imperial court

and foreign kingdoms.

The council is too powerful.

Your Majesty, is there a precedent of this

since ancient times?

How dare you!

Your Majesty.

President Chen worked his heart out

and contributed a lot to the Qing Kingdom.

Without the Overwatch Council,

peace wouldn't have existed in the Qing Kingdom.

How dare you

complain about the Overwatch Council?

Yes! Even ancient customs might not be completely right.

But something huge

like the matters of the kingdom

should be handled by every ministry.

This is not just an ancient custom

but common sense as well.

Your Majesty,

I request for all the Overwatch Councils' dossiers since its establishment

to be handed over to the six ministries so they can be managed separately.

Are you saying

that you want the six ministries to be in charge of more responsibilities?

That's not all.

I want Chen Ping Ping to retire.

What did he say?

It's a farce.

This is nonsense.

The officials still think the Overwatch Council

do more good than bad.

That means the six ministries are confused.

Censor Lai,

the Overwatch Council

has contributed a lot over the years.

But an unclear law

causes endless trouble in the future.

Your Majesty,

is Chen Ping Ping still under the kingdom law's control?

Are you saying that everyone else is confused

except for you?

Your Majesty, you must think twice.

Has this man always been so brave?

Censor Lai has always been someone

who complains about people whenever he catches them red-handed.

His Majesty can't say anything, right?

All right.

The Overwatch Council's case cannot be decided in a day.

I am a little tired.

That's all for today.

Your Majesty, I'm not done yet!

All right.

Who else are you complaining about?

Your Majesty.

This is the last one.

- Say it. - Your Majesty.

The Overwatch Council suppresses the six ministries

and its members' background is unclear.

This is just the situation on the surface.

To rectify the situation, we must deal with the problem's source.

The officials are responsible for the mistakes of the imperial court.

However, that's not the source of the problem.

As the saying goes,

the subordinates follow their leader's bad example.

The last person I'm going to complain about is...

I'm going to complain about...

Say it. Say it bravely.

Your Majesty.

That's treason!

How dare you complain about His Majesty!

He's crazy.

He's crazy indeed.

Your Majesty.

Humans are not saints.

Everyone makes mistakes.

Someone who doesn't know his mistakes is foolish.

Someone who knows his mistakes without changing is a coward.

The foundation of the Qing Kingdom is not the Overwatch Council!

It is the officials

and a clear conscience.

Your Majesty,

it's still not too late to make a change now.

Everyone in the world is wrong

and the officials of the six ministries are blind.

All of you heard that, right?

Censor Lai said

you were not the only ones who were wrong.

I was wrong as well.

Nonsense!

Lies!

How could you say that?

Your Majesty is courageous and extremely talented.

However, humans are not saints.

How can I know your mistakes and don't correct you?

Your Majesty!

Lai Ming Cheng attacked and disrespected Your Majesty.

This man is presumptuous!

He is...

He is an animal!

Your Majesty!

I can't hold it any longer.

Your Majesty has been racking his brains every day

for the sake of the Qing Kingdom's peace

yet this man

dares humiliate Your Majesty.

I...

I'm in pain!

Your Majesty!

Your Majesty!

Your Majesty's radiance

is brighter than the sun and the moon.

Your Majesty's grace is as great as our parents.

When Your Majesty gets scolded,

it hurts more than my body being whipped!

It hurts so much!

It hurts for me as well!

Enough.

Your Majesty, Lai Ming Cheng's words are harsh to the ears

but this is his responsibility

as a censor after all.

Your Majesty, please forgive him

and spare him so he can serve the kingdom.

I think so too.

Lai Ming Cheng is absurd

but Your Majesty is magnanimous.

You will never stoop to his level.

Reprimanding and punishing him is good enough.

I do see and hear

all your considerate thoughts.

President Chen.

Your Majesty,

I'm the one who is being complained.

I have no right to comment on this.

General Qin.

Yes.

Your Majesty, Lai Ming Cheng is muddled.

The Overwatch Council has contributed a lot to the Qing Kingdom.

He doesn't understand Your Majesty's difficulties.

His position

should be demoted.

Chancellor Lin.

I think

everyone is right.

Everyone is right?

Lai Ming Cheng committed a grave mistake.

His crime is unforgivable.

However, everyone knows how magnanimous Your Majesty is.

It is reasonable to kill or punish him.

Your grace will decide whether to banish or use him.

I've considered it

and think the crime of offending Your Majesty

should still be punished.

How he should be punished should be decided by Your Majesty.

I think

Lai Ming Cheng

makes a good complaint.

He made a good complaint.

He speaks bluntly

as expected from the best censor in the Qing Kingdom.

He prioritizes the kingdom's matters regardless of self-interest.

All the officials should share his feelings.

I think I shouldn't punish him.

I want to reward him.

Are you done?

Your Majesty.

I'm hurt and overcome with emotions right now.

You got complained

and it hurts a lot for me.

However, having an upright official like Censor Lai

makes me feel emotional.

Right now,

my feelings are mixed with joy and sorrow.

I don't know if I should cry or laugh.

Enough.

I am thinking.

I am thinking about what I can reward him.

Your Majesty.

Something present here.

The jewelry Fan Xian accused me of gifting.

President Chen, you are too narrow-minded.

Will a censor of the Qing Kingdom

be interested in money?

- Chancellor Lin. - Your Majesty.

Since ancient times,

what does a censor care most about?

A censor reprimands the emperor bluntly

to leave his name in history.

Leaving his name in history?

Flogging.

Flogging can make them leave their names in history.

Your Majesty, please think twice.

Historically, emperors who reward a flogging

might receive criticism.

I know if a censor is flogged,

I won't end well in the historian's books.

I will take this loss

and grant him his wish!

Everyone.

Learn from him.

Your Majesty is not muddled! I am muddled!

Your Majesty!

Censor Lai made contributions to investigating corruption after all!

You protect him so much.

All right.

You will supervise Censor Lai's punishment.

Fan Xian, His Majesty has issued his edict.

I accept!

Where's Eunuch Hou? Where's Lai Ming Cheng?

I don't know.

Where's Eunuch Hou? Where's Lai Ming Cheng?

I don't know.

I don't know.

Fan Xian has been ordered to supervise the punishment!

Where is Lai Ming Cheng being flogged?

Where's Eunuch Hou? Where's Lai Ming Cheng?

Lord Fan,

why are you here?

His Majesty asked me to supervise his punishment.

I don't need it.

How many more times will he be flogged?

Besides asking you to supervise the punishment,

does His Majesty have any more orders?

No.

That means he doesn't plan to stop.

Stop the flogging! I'll ask His Majesty!

Lord Fan.

It's too late.

Lord Fan, we've arrived at the Overwatch Council.

I think President Chen is waiting for you.

I don't feel like meeting anyone.

You've never been to this room.

People seldom get to come inside this room.

This treasure is crucial to the eight bureaus.

All keys of the eight bureaus regardless of size

are sent here immediately.

The areas are differentiated by colors.

I can also send a secret order from here as soon as possible.

Your mother left this treasure to me.

What's wrong?

Are you in a bad mood?

I don't understand.

Why was Lai Ming Cheng flogged to death?

In the past, I was told

that it was fine to scold His Majesty in his face.

His Majesty is magnanimous.

Not only is His Majesty fine with being scolded to his face,

but His Majesty will even laugh at it.

Why did he flog Lai Ming Cheng to death this time?

It would be fine even if he complained about His Majesty.

However, something that provokes His Majesty cannot be mentioned.

Is it the Overwatch Council?

It's the Qing Kingdom's grace.

In that case,

were all censors who dared complain

about the Overwatch Council dead?

Many censors complained about the Overwatch Council.

Lai Ming Cheng was the first to be flogged to death.

How was Lai Ming Cheng different from the other censors in the past?

Did Lai Ming Cheng go to find you?

He did.

A mutual investigation.

Looking at the dossier

while the Overwatch Council investigates corruption is not a secret.

That was why His Majesty did that?

The Overwatch Council is independent from the six ministries because

to prevent some people from extending their authority.

I shouldn't agree with him.

I caused his death.

It wasn't you.

It didn't matter whether you agreed to it or not.

When Lai Ming Cheng decided to choose you

and went to find you,

his fate had already been sealed.

Finding me

is the reason for his death?

Try to think again.

Why did His Majesty ask you to overwatch his punishment?

Do you still appreciate Lai Ming Cheng?

Yes.

Do you know?

When the censors of the Censorate

collected Lai Ming Cheng's body,

all of them hated you.

From today onward,

everyone from the Censorate

will not be friends with you.

You want to take over the Imperial Treasury.

You want to take over the Overwatch Council.

There has never been an official

with such a heavy responsibility.

I can only be a lonely official.

Divine might is unpredictable.

His Majesty's thoughts are deep.

You must

remember these words.

Working with the Overwatch Council,

complaining about the Overwatch Council,

and coming to find me.

These are the cause of his death.

This ruler of ours

cannot accept

someone who is out of his control.

But I don't get it.

Don't the law and the Overwatch Council

exist for the sake of the people of the kingdom?

Which is more important between the people and His Majesty?

You must bury these words deep in your heart

and not say them

from today onward.

I know the answer.

I won't ask anymore.

There are always some people

who take a different path from His Majesty.

My mother?

She's dead.

Yes.

Your mother is already dead.

But the path is always there.

Go home.

It's raining heavily.

Get changed

and warm your body.

Xian.

There's no rush in studying. Take a break if you're tired.

That won't do.

I still have many books to memorize.

These are all my books.

Yes. They are all your books about medicine.

I was wondering why my books went missing.

- Why did you feel like studying medicine suddenly? - I want to help you.

Help me?

Father pretended to be sick.

Thankfully, you poisoned him to avoid the crisis.

Later, I asked around

and found out that poison theory is also medicine theory.

So, I'm studying medicine.

If you are not around while someone is pretending to be sick,

I can do it.

- Studying medicine is tough. - I'm not afraid.

I've memorized half of these books.

It's not urgent.

Xian, why don't you give me a test?

No need. You can memorize them on your own.

I'll just sit here for a while.

Xian,

are you all right?

I'm fine.

I'm just feeling annoyed.

I came here to calm myself down.

Why don't you tell me about it?

There's nothing to tell.

It's only the matters at the imperial court.

Xian,

why don't you stop being an official?

What can I do then?

You can do anything you want.

Traveling every day is good.

What if I run out of money?

I can support you.

I'm studying medicine.

I've asked around. Studying medicine makes good money.

- You support me? - Yes. And Wan Er as well.

I can support both of you.

- Are you trying to make me happy? - I'm serious.

I'm really being serious.

All right.

If there's one day

when I lose everything and have nowhere to go,

I'll rely on you.

It won't happen.

If it does,

I'll protect you.

It's a promise.

You're a puppy if you don't keep your promise.

Memorizing books is not enough if you want to study medicine.

Wait for me. Let me find something for you.

(Fan Residence)

You need to see blood if you want to study medicine.

Cut its stomach

before closing its wounds.

- With this? - This is so much better.

When my teacher taught me,

I had to cut up dead bodies.

Cutting it when it's alive?

That hurts so much.

Chloroform, an anesthetic made by the Third Bureau.

It's guaranteed to be painless.

(Moon Embracing Pavilion)

Everyone, look closely.

These are your indentures.

It's really an indenture.

Why does he have it?

I don't know.

From now on,

you are only selling your talent.

However, you are all free.

- Free? - Free?

Only perform without selling our bodies?

Will people still patronize us?

Indeed.

The future is unpredictable.

That is why Lord Fan allows all of you to decide if you want to leave.

Can we leave now?

Of course.

Be my guest.

Are we really leaving?

What about both of us?

There's nothing on us now. Let's go.

Let's go.

Lord Fan can order us to stay.

There's no need to let us make our choice.

We are already used to

having other people decide our fates.

He said he didn't like it.

Lord Fan also said

all of you should decide your fate.

Decide our fates?

I want to stay and give it a try.

All right.

Let's welcome Miss Sang Wen to Moon Embracing Pavilion!

I also want to stay and give it a try.

Me too.

Me too.

It's our first time deciding our fates.

We are willing to believe in Lord Fan.

We are willing to stay.

Feather duster!

Fragrance sachets!

Take a look! Feather Duster!

We have everything!

Come and take a look!

Freshly cooked lamb soup!

Come and try it!

Freshly cooked lamb soup!

Sure. Give me a bowl.

Lord Fan.

Something's not right.

They are here to stop me.

Why don't we take a detour?

Keep going.

Since they are here, I won't avoid them.

Sure.

- Take a look. - Come and take a look.

Make way!

Move!

- Move! - Run!

Move!

Who is this?

The one inside the cart, come out!

Lord Fan,

these people come from an impressive background.

They are either from a duke's family or a marquess' family.