Original subtitles

Your Grace.

There's no place to hide it. No place...

Yes, there's no place here.

Put it up in plain sight,

somewhere as conspicuous as possible.

Come on.

I remember everything now.

Her Grace asked me to hide it.

She wanted you to have it.

What happened back then?

This letter

was a painting.

Your Grace!

Your Grace!

Your Grace!

Duke of Ding has sent you a letter.

Mei Sun is playing guessing game with me again.

Bring me a brush.

Dip it in some water.

(My dear sister, please don't worry.)

(His Majesty's summons for me to enter the capital will not bring trouble.)

(The typhoon disaster in Futing stemmed from the seawall,)

(and the corruption involves many high-ranking officials.)

(I will present these matters to His Majesty in person upon my arrival.)

(Dou Shi Shu, Song Yi Chun, Dou Shi Ying)

Your Grace, you're coughing up blood!

Qi Xia,

dry the painting and hide it.

Don't give it to anyone,

and don't tell anyone about it.

Only tell Yan Tang.

-Yes, Your Grace. -Go.

Where should I hide it?

Your Grace, where should I hide it?

Nowhere is truly safe.

Qi Xia.

Put it up in plain sight,

somewhere as conspicuous as possible.

Don't worry, Your Grace.

I'll make sure Lord Song gets it.

Go!

Yes, Your Grace!

Father,

how could you do this?

She's my mother!

She was never your real mother.

With Shu Yao, we three are a true family.

I've owed your mother for so many years.

I don't want her to compromise any longer.

It's all becoming clear.

With this list in our hands,

we have Prince Qing by the throat.

He has tampered with the foundation of the nation.

The evidence is irrefutable.

His Majesty is a wise ruler.

But His Majesty's health is deteriorating by the day.

What if this follows the same path as the Duke of Ding's downfall?

And the law rarely punishes the majority.

How this will play out remains uncertain.

Why is my father's name on this list?

Uncle Shi Shu has long been part of Prince Qing's faction.

Could it be he's trying to drag my father into it?

(Blossom)

(Episode 31)

What brings you by?

You didn't even send word ahead.

Wait a moment. Gao Sheng,

brew some of the After Rain Longjing tea I just brought.

-Yes, Master. -Leave us. There's no need to serve us.

I have something to tell you as well.

Gao Sheng.

Master Shi Ying.

Father,

these houses aren't exactly cheap.

These houses are something

I specifically set aside for you to have as assets.

A while back, I put some spare money

into the new Yunfei Jewelry Pavilion that opened in the capital.

The profits have been excellent.

I'm using the returns from the shop to pay the installments on the houses.

I know most of the capital's jewelry and jade shop owners,

but I've never heard of Yunfei Jewelry Pavilion.

Father, you're an honest man, but you're also easily swayed.

Be careful with your investments.

Don't let the lure of small profits

end up draining your assets.

I worked in the Ministry of Revenue, after all.

I've checked the accounts thoroughly.

This jewelry shop's craftsmanship is excellent,

and it has a steady clientele.

It was Minister Mu who introduced us to it.

Your uncle and I have invested some money.

It's trustworthy.

Your Grace,

I've found out everything.

The owner of the jewelry shop is the Duke of Jing, the Zhang family.

Which officials or nobles

in the capital have invested in it?

The shop workers are tight-lipped,

but according to the neighbors, most of the visitors

are high-ranking officials.

The Zhang family has money to burn.

They spend tens of thousands of taels just to renovate a courtyard.

With them backing it,

and so many colleagues eager to invest,

that tells us it's reliable, isn't it?

You work in the Ministry of Revenue.

So you know the current state of the court.

The treasury collects three million taels of silver in annual taxes,

but expenditures reach six million taels.

The court is drowning in debt, and the people are barely scraping by.

How is it that the Zhang family can easily spend tens of thousands of taels?

What is the Duke of Jing's salary?

How can he afford such properties? How can he back such ventures?

Maybe

he has other businesses outside his official duties.

Money makes money, that's all.

Public funds and private wealth

shouldn't be lumped together.

Father,

the Zhang family is the Empress's maternal family.

Their money comes from the Liaodong horse markets.

Prince Qing and the Crown Prince are now openly at odds.

Those profits are being used to win over court officials.

T-these are separate matters.

Business is business,

and court politics are court politics.

Duke of Jing has always stayed out of politics.

You believe they're separate matters?

Then let me ask you this,

did you sign your name on the investment contract?

Prince Qing is getting prepared to seize the throne.

That signed contract ties you directly to him.

Whatever he does in the future,

you'll either have to support him

or pretend you know nothing.

I never intended to form factions.

Uncle Shi Shu has long been part of his faction.

He is dragging you into this now

so he could take advantage of your identity

as Yan Tang's father-in-law and coerce him into obeying them.

Getting involved in a succession battle and forming factions for personal gain

will get the entire family executed.

This won't do.

I have to withdraw from the business.

Father, let me handle it.

I'll go to the jewelry shop now.

Shou Gu...

What should I do, Yan Tang?

Should I take a leave of absence?

Maybe I'll just resign.

Father,

even if you resign,

it doesn't change the fact that you are Shou Gu's father and my father-in-law.

I made a promise to keep Shou Gu's family safe.

Their target is me.

I'll take care of this.

Assemble our dormant soldiers.

Your Grace,

Prince Qing and his people are investigating our men.

If they set a trap, we might walk right into it.

When it comes to deploying forces in the capital,

who is the trap and who is the prey

won't be for him to decide.

Dormant soldiers?

(Yunfei Jewelry Pavilion)

Please come in, Young Master Wang.

Welcome, welcome.

Duchess of Ying.

Her Grace has some big business

to discuss with your master.

Please ask Lady Wei to come here now.

I'm known for my impatience and ill-tempered.

She'd better hurry,

or the Duchess of Ying causing trouble here

might sabotage your business.

I'll notify master immediately.

Please make yourself comfortable here.

Your Grace.

My master is ready to see you.

I'll pay ten times the principal and interest my father invested.

The Miao family's client network

and the craftsmen from Zhaowen Bookstore

can all be negotiated as part of the deal.

In exchange, release my father's contract

and nullify the agreement.

This deal is as good

as free money falling from the sky.

Your Grace,

our shop has a strict rule,

once a contract is signed,

no matter life, death, profit, or loss, it cannot be voided.

So the rules of this shop

override national laws, huh?

It might appear as an investment,

but they've actually signed a slave contract.

Lady Wei, you've always been profit-driven,

yet now you suddenly change your ways?

It seems the hidden profits of this shop

far outweigh anything I could offer.

The audacity of you to say that.

What benefits

have I ever gotten from you?

You have bled my family dry,

leaving us ruined and broken!

Allowing your father and uncle to invest

was a favor to you.

And now you dare

to demand annulment?

Go ahead, smash everything if you want.

I refuse to believe

the Shengtian Prefecture will let you get away with it.

Wei Ting Zhen,

I've shown you courtesy before resorting to force.

Today, I've offered you respect.

Tomorrow,

it won't be so easy to come by.

Tomorrow?

When the throne changes hands,

forget about respect,

you and your husband might not even make it alive.

They say once you gamble, you're hooked for life.

Do you know why?

It's because

once someone gets a taste of turning pennies into fortunes,

of the rush of striking it rich overnight,

that rush is unforgettable,

even if it costs them broken bones or severed fingers.

Prince Qing's game is no different,

borrow a little, owe a fortune.

The bigger the stakes,

the bigger the reward.

I gave up gambling a long time ago.

I'm afraid I'll have to

decline His Highness's offer,

Fine then. Something was stolen from His Highness's residence today.

And you've just been caught in the act.

What are you going to do now?

Prince Qing's recommendation for you

as Military Justice Officer has been issued.

Do you think Song Mo will still save you?

If you don't want to play,

plenty of others are eager

to take your place.

Oh,

and don't forget about Young Lady Zhao.

Dou Shi Shu had Zou Er deliver an invitation,

asking you to meet him tomorrow midnight at the jewelry shop

to discuss the contract.

Our men are ready.

Dou Shi Shu is ruthless and selfish to the core.

Unless you pledge your allegiance,

he won't hand over the contract.

I think you should avoid this trap.

Let us investigate the secrets behind this jewelry shop first.

No.

During the martial competition,

Prince Qing and I made our stances clear.

He won't give me time to stall.

Haven't you noticed?

Imperial Physician Lu has been visiting less and less frequently.

Imperial Physician Lu attends only to you

and His Majesty.

Could it be that His Majesty's condition has worsened?

Things are in a critical moment.

If I can't become Prince Qing's weapon,

he will see me as the thorn that he must remove.

-Your Grace. -Did you retrieve the contract?

Perhaps something even better than the contract.

Our weaknesses are also their vulnerabilities.

The stars are dim, and clouds cover the sky.

Gentlemen, don't linger.

It's midnight.

Time to pack up! Pack it up! Chop-chop.

I never thought I'd live to see the day

where you would greet me personally, Minister Dou.

I thought you wouldn't show up.

I didn't expect you cared so much about my brother.

Unfortunately, we seem to look out for him in very different ways.

Your Grace, hold on.

We run a small business here.

If these gold and jade items are damaged, we will suffer losses.

I must ask you to leave your weapons behind.

By His Majesty's special decree,

even in the royal presence, we're not required to disarm.

If you see me as an enemy,

forget about the meeting then.

This concerns family secrets,

and I said I would only meet you alone.

It's just a conversation over tea.

-Wait outside the building. -Yes, Your Grace.

You've been avoiding me,

so I had no choice but to trick you.

Don't blame Minister Dou for this.

Minister Dou chose this path himself.

There's nothing to blame.

I really have the Snow Mushroom.

Once you cure the poison,

you can live a long and happy life with your wife and child.

With the Dou family for governance

and the Duke of Ying for defense,

my empire would be harmonious and prosperous.

what could be better?

The poison may be cured,

but my hatred won't be.

Throughout history,

no wise ruler has risen to power

without sacrifices.

These are merely means,

not the goal.

If it's about your mother's death,

tomorrow, I can send you Song Han's head

as a gesture of sincerity.

It's true that your uncle stood in the way of my great cause,

and my mother and I did intend to remove him.

But the Duke of Ding was a peerless warrior.

If His Majesty really trusted him fully,

would he have met such an end?

He died because he misplaced his loyalty.

Who do think his spirit will really resent?

Wang Ge?

Me? Or my mother?

The twelve imperial edicts that recalled Yue Fei

were issued by Zhao Gou,

not Qin Hui.

That's true.

Zhao Gou should

kneel and be scorned before the statue of Yue Fei.

But that doesn't mean Qin Hui should stand tall because of it.

Song Mo!

His Highness has shown you enough respect.

If you refuse to comply,

tonight you'll die here, accused of attempting to assassinate Prince Qing.

Shou Gu will become a widow.

Will you still get your revenge then?

Your Highness, you certainly have a way of leveraging on what people care about.

But

the cleverest people

often die caught in their own traps.

I told you before,

your soldiers are useless.

How dare you, Song Mo!

Do you know the punishment for attempting to murder a prince?

If revenge were as simple as killing him,

I could fulfill my wish tonight.

Don't forget,

-you're here for the contract. -It's you who have forgotten it.

I never did.

Don't worry.

Every single one of the contracts

in the secret room downstairs will be fine.

I've measured it.

The main hall is 16 steps long and 12 steps wide,

with three rooms

and six supporting pillars.

I've cross-checked it.

There's a discrepancy of one zhang between

the inner and outer dimensions of the first floor.

There must be a hidden room here.

While you confront Prince Qing,

I'll lead a team to blow open the outer wall and retrieve the contracts.

Your Highness!

Your Grace,

all the contracts are here.

Good job.

Song Mo has gone mad.

He set off explosives in the streets and endangered the people.

Execute him on the spot!

I'll present these contracts

along with the Duke of Ding's letters to His Majesty.

What do you think His Majesty will do

about your crimes of factionalism?

Jiang Mei Sun amassed troops in the southeast,

and now you're trying to carry out a massacre in the capital.

The citizens are witnesses tonight.

How can the Jiang family

claim loyalty and integrity?

You are unworthy of even mentioning our family name!

Your Grace!

Song Mo has attempted to assassinate me.

Whoever kills him

will be greatly rewarded.

Stop!

Move! Move!

Don't move!

Yan Tang.

What are you doing here?

Prince Qing, Duke of Ying, and Minister Dou,

please come with me to the palace to meet His Majesty.

You wretched servant, are you blind?

Song Mo set fires and attempted to assassinate me.

He should be executed on the spot!

And that vile woman dared to scheme against me,

she should die too!

Yan Tang!

So she is your weakness.

I am merely carrying out His Majesty's orders.

Please forgive me, Your Highness.

They say it's bad luck for a pregnant woman to see blood.

You shouldn't have come.

Didn't we make a promise to each other?

No matter what happens,

we'll face it together.

I'll go to the palace with you.

Father,

Song Mo set a trap and started the fire.

If I hadn't drawn my sword to protect myself,

I might not be standing before you now.

Do you think that's something a prince should say?

Your Majesty,

Prince Qing has formed factions,

engaged in corruption on a grand scale,

and used the guise of a jewelry shop to bribe high-ranking officials,

corrupt the bureaucracy, and exploit the common people.

The records of his faction and the contracts are all here.

I request you to make a fair judgment.

Are the high-ranking officials

you're referring to the same ones who recently impeached the Crown Prince?

You're stirring up discord between me and my brother

just to seek revenge, aren't you?

Words can be false,

but signatures and seals cannot lie.

The ledger tracks millions of taels of silver,

with every transaction fully documented.

I petition for a thorough investigation into all implicated officials.

Your Majesty...

Your Grace,

this matter involves too many individuals.

His Majesty is physically and mentally exhausted.

Your Majesty...

Your Majesty.

Prince Yu'an, Prince Jihuai, and Duke of Jing request an audience.

The princes are all inside,

and outside the Fengtian Gate, several ministers and high-ranking officials

are ready to impeach Song Mo.

He's brought this upon himself.

Do you really intend to die with him?

The explosion in the secret room

was your plan, wasn't it?

Do you know the penalty for illegally manufacturing explosives?

A capital offense.

But as the one who controls military power,

you will inevitably be seen

as complicit in your niece's actions.

-You... -If it comes to that,

will the Empress and Prince Qing

sacrifice you

to ensure that Song Mo and I go down?

You... You're so devious!

You're going to drag the entire family down with you!

I'm saving our family.

Prince Qing has tampered with the foundation of the nation,

and the evidence is irrefutable.

His Majesty is a wise ruler.

With so many people involved,

His Majesty will have no choice but to make a decisive judgment.

Lady Dou, you may excel at managing a household,

but you oversimplify matters of the court.

You've worked hard, Minister Dou.

-Go and take a break. -Yes, Your Majesty.

You're becoming a mother yourself,

you should understand a parent's heart.

No matter how justified Song Mo may be,

he's still just an outsider.

No matter how grave You Ting's mistakes,

he remains His Majesty's own flesh and blood.

His Majesty is not just Prince Qing's father;

he is the sovereign of all.

As the sovereign, he must prioritize the bigger picture.

If every royal and high official guilty of corruption

were to be executed,

could the court still function?

Would the people still trust the court?

The law cannot punish the masses, let alone close relatives.

Prince Yu'an is His Majesty's uncle,

and Prince Jihuai is His Majesty's younger brother.

The contracts may not be undeniable evidence of guilt,

but they are certainly a crushing weight that will bury you and Song Mo.

Song Mo, you've just been appointed as Commander of the Warden's Office.

Yet you set fire to a jewelry shop and acted like a bandit.

You are the commander of Imperial Guards,

and yet you assaulted a prince in the street.

(Prince Yu'an, Prince Jihuai) Your arrogance and disregard for decorum

disgrace the imperial favor bestowed upon you.

The people's anger cannot be appeased if you're not punished severely.

According to the laws,

royal kin are forbidden from interfering in state affairs.

As for the charges of dereliction and arson,

I stand by my actions and will take responsibility.

But if your name appears on these contracts,

will you admit to it?

Your Majesty, the ancestral teachings left by the founding emperor state

that a harmonious family leads to a prosperous nation.

The royal family is the model for all,

governing with filial piety.

Nothing is more forbidden than mistrust between

father and son or strife between brothers.

As a subject,

to sow discord within the royal family

is a crime punishable by death!

I held your hand

and copied those words, one by one.

Your Majesty,

have you forgotten?

Song Mo's accusations are slander,

a desperate attempt to absolve himself of his own crimes.

Your Majesty, with your wisdom,

surely you have seen through his schemes.

Make a wise judgment, Your Majesty!

This contract

is stained with blood.

The names are unclear.

You've been kneeling here long enough.

You've fulfilled your duties as a wife.

Now it's time to think of yourself.

Sever ties with Song Mo and return to the Dou family.

Your uncle will ensure your family's safety.

I will also keep

a position here for you.

Be the wife of a condemned criminal

or the noble daughter of a prominent family.

it's a simple choice, isn't it?

My choice

doesn't depend on whose wife

or daughter I am

but on who I am as a person.

A noble person acts according to their principles.

I will stay here and wait for Song Mo to walk out on his own.

The paths of ruler and subject

are distinct by nature.

For Song Mo to walk out of here unscathed today,

there is only one way.

He must confess that his actions tonight

were instigated by his father-in-law,

shifting all the blame onto Dou Shi Ying.

The only one name

I can make out is Dou Shi Ying.

You went to Yunfei Pavilion for him, didn't you?

He must have made a mistake,

leading to the rift between you and You Ting.

The events at Yunfei Pavilion were my doing alone.

My father-in-law knew nothing of it.

Your Majesty, if you wish to blame it on someone, blame me alone.

It has nothing to do with anyone else.

Song Mo!

Your Majesty...

Your Majesty cherishes your talents, Your Grace.

Please don't stubbornly take the blame

and throw away your future for nothing.

Your Majesty, Song Mo's actions tonight

are unforgivable!

Each offense is a capital crime.

How can you continue to show leniency to this man?

If he's not executed now,

are we to wait until he kills off the entire royal family?

Enough!

Should we have the Directorate for Credentials clean and restore it,

or burn it?

Keep it for now.

Put it on hold.

Yes, Your Majesty.

You've done well.

Your mother has taught you really well.

If not for tonight's events,

I wouldn't have realized how much my uncle and my brother

value you.

Father!

Those who achieve great things

must sacrifice and compromise on certain things.

Acting on impulse

will only cost you everything.

Dou Shi Ying incited a court official

to frame a prince,

plunging the capital into chaos.

-Guards... -Your Majesty!

I cannot play the game of weighing gains and losses,

sacrificing others to save myself.

If someone must be held accountable,

I will take the blame then.

If my uncle were still alive,

he would never have allowed me

to sacrifice those I care

for personal gain.

Preposterous! How dare you invoke

the name of a traitor to pressure His Majesty?

Do you even respect the authority of the throne?

Are you trying to continue the rebellion

Jiang Mei Sun failed to complete?

What did you say?

Drawing your blade here, are you trying to commit regicide?

-I'm going to kill you! -Song Mo, have you gone mad?

Staying clear-headed

is a hundred times more painful than losing oneself to madness.

Sacrificing justice for family ties...

You've done it more than once.

Why should I put up with it any longer?

Why should I continue to hold any expectations for you?

Your Majesty...

Your Majesty...

You've

been

resenting me.

Your Majesty!

Your Majesty! Your Majesty!

Summon Imperial Physician Lu!

Your Majesty!

By imperial decree,

Song Mo is guilty of negligence and dereliction of duty,

resulting in the incident at Changle Street.

In light of his past meritorious service,

he is spared of execution.

He is stripped of all official positions.

He is to be immediately escorted to the prison,

awaiting further judgment.

It's such a shame, Lady Dou.

Yan Tang!

Father is safe now.

I'll be fine.

Don't worry.

Yan Tang!

Yan Tang!

Yan Tang!

Shou Gu!

Shou Gu!

Shou Gu...

Doctor!

Summon the doctor!

Yan Tang...

Yan Tang...

I have to save Yan Tang.

You can't save him.

The Wenqu Star is shining brightly,

while the Tianchong Star has grown dimmer.

It is about to fall.

Song Mo doesn't have long to live.

Lord Ji,

please stop the carriage and help Her Ladyship first!

We can't stop.

Those from the Duke of Ying's Residence must be looking for her.

We have to get Dou Zhao to a safe place first.

His Majesty's health is failing. He has been sick for too long.

I pray for Buddha's blessing and protection.

Godfather, you've been running back and forth tirelessly.

It's too much for you.

His Majesty has decreed

that I will take over the affairs

of the Imperial Patrol Commander for now.

You only need to focus on attending to His Majesty.

His Majesty is ill.

How could he have issued such a decree?

When His Majesty is indisposed,

Her Majesty often interprets his wishes.

Her Majesty has said

that His Majesty cannot go even a moment without your care.

Please come with me, Godfather.

Song Mo, as a high-ranking official,

openly set fire and caused chaos in the imperial city.

If he is not executed publicly,

the people's anger won't be appeased.

Ji Jian Ming?

What are you doing here?

How insolent!

His Highness regards me as a teacher,

you think you're worthy of calling me by name?

Dou Zhao is my sister-in-law

and the Duchess of Ying.

It's only right for me

to bring her back.

But you, an outsider,

abducted her

while she was unprepared.

Don't think I'm unaware of your motives.

You want to use Dou Zhao to control Song Mo's forces.

The one taking advantage of her unprepared state

is you.

If you ruin Prince Qing's plans, His Highness won't let you off.

If His Highness finds out you've rescued his enemy,

he'll kill you just the same.

When did His Highness ever instruct you to lay hands on the Duchess of Ying?

Song Mo's guilt hasn't even been decided,

and you're already making your move.

Do you think His Highness doesn't see through your selfish agenda?

Whether he thinks I'm selfish or not,

we'll see soon enough.

Search!

The Grudgebane will put you in a lot of pain.

Savor the pain as the poison takes hold.

Yan Tang...

Yan Tang...

Yan Tang...

Your Grace? Please don't scare me. Your Grace!