Original subtitles

[The Vendetta of An]

[Episode 25]

You're finally here.

Yes, Master.

I came to see you.

Where is Xie Huai'an?

We survived.

Huai'an is alive too.

He told us

you would appear here.

So we came.

Master is from Tiemo.

He wanted to kill Xiaoqing and me.

Go on.

Life or death,

end it cleanly.

Master.

Put away your weapon.

You raised us

for more than ten hard years.

Will you not even spare

a moment to look at us,

and hear a few words?

Thrust.

Block.

Like this?

Food's ready.

Come taste Chef Ye's cooking today.

If it's bad, it's free.

Hurry, come here.

Stop practicing.

I'm starving.

Your cooking is really good.

Master,

let us drink well tonight.

Good.

Xiaoqing.

Mind your manners.

Master hasn't taken the first bite.

Thank you, Master.

Master.

You spoil her.

Aren't you afraid no one will marry her?

Here.

Thank you, Master.

Here, Zheng.

Eat more.

Xiaoqing.

Let's toast Master together.

All right.

We wish Master good health.

Good.

Master, a toast to you.

Good.

Things have come to this.

What more is there to say?

People of Chang'an.

People of Tiemo.

Is the difference so great?

Forty years ago,

I once had a son and a daughter.

The winter in Tiemo was too harsh.

They did not survive.

Later,

war broke out again.

I fled in panic.

After that,

I received orders

to enter Chang'an

as a shadow guard.

I then served under General Liu Ziwen.

A few years passed.

In Basong Town,

I found you and Xiaoqing.

I raised you to adulthood.

Taught you martial arts and medicine.

I once believed

that I had another pair of children.

But...

But I cannot forget.

I cannot forget what I just said.

War came again.

I fled in haste.

During that evacuation,

I never had the chance

to bury my children.

If my homeland were still there,

if the house had not collapsed,

my son and daughter's remains

must still be there.

With such memories in my heart,

how could I care

about our past?

Master,

thank you for raising me.

We understand now.

We have no right to resent you.

None of us has the right to hate another.

If hatred must exist,

let it be toward the merciless heavens.

Children,

rise.

If you intend to stop me from killing Xie Huai'an,

then you must

take my blade.

Master.

Master!

You were the ones who brought the rice.

Right after I arrived at Cangshui River,

I saw Master slip out at night,

so I followed.

Only then did I learn

Master kept two memorial tablets inside a cave.

I did not know whose spirits you honored,

but we thought

they must be dear to you.

So Xiaoqing and I

would go there to pay respects from time to time.

Now we understand.

They were Master's children.

But Master,

we are your children too.

Master,

we are your children as well.

Master.

Master.

People of Chang'an.

People of Tiemo.

Is the difference truly so great?

But Master,

we are your children too.

Master.

We are your children too.

When Chang'an falls,

even in winter,

no Tiemo people will go hungry again.

If only you were born in such a time,

how wonderful it would be.

What should I do?

Children...

What should I do?

Your identity has been exposed.

As for your two disciples,

how do you plan to deal with them?

Your Majesty must know

why I followed you back then.

Of course I know.

Because your children

died in the winter of Tiemo.

Tiemo's winters are bitter cold.

So many children

never survive the harsh season.

I believe you will not betray us,

because your children

watch over you

from the heavens.

♪Flowers and plants, in their countless shapes and forms♪

♪Blossom with infinite colors♪

♪Time passes by, the cycle begins anew♪

♪The plants survived another winter♪

♪Looking at the sea of people from afar...♪

My children's bodies...

♪That lasts till we die...♪

My own son and daughter

not even laid to rest.

Where else can I go?

♪Lifting my head, a bright moon hangs in the sky♪

♪Looking at my hometown, mountains away from me♪

♪A flick of hand is enough to stir turbulence♪

♪Oh, this world of splendor...♪

Is it you?

White Hair.

You win.

♪Thousands of well-lit households...♪

Mr. Long.

My father once told me

that in a village at the foot of Wuxi Mountain,

before a house,

there stood a stone hut of pale ash wood.

There should be

two children's remains buried there.

Seven years ago,

I went to Wuxi Mountain

and saved Pu Nichuan.

I also visited that stone hut.

Rest easy.

Your children

have been laid to rest.

In every letter, you wrote about how you

endured hardship

and wandered from place to place.

Looking at you now,

you held up well.

White Hair,

your father and I

shared one wish.

We only hoped you could live safely,

long enough to grow old and gray again.

Child,

come back alive.

The King of Tiemo is gone.

He cares nothing for your life or death.

Let's go.

Take it slow.

Come on.

Let's go.

Xiaobing.

You don't want to leave, do you?

Even if I don't, I must.

I fear Tiemo's attack as well.

But I still gave

someone my word, and haven't fulfilled it.

Let's go.

Xiaobing.

What are you two doing?

Sir.

His Majesty ordered me to protect you.

If I give my word,

I will see it done.

My sister and I will escort you to Huzhou.

Look at these troubled times.

Why must you two take such risks?

War is coming anyway.

It's the same wherever we go.

Huzhou is farther away.

Perhaps the war won't reach there.

Sir.

Don't feel indebted.

No...

In times like these,

common folk should help each other.

Will this do?

It will.

Huzhou is far,

so maybe

we can avoid the war.

Food, clothes, and expenses on the road

will all be my responsibility.

Sir, don't stand on ceremony.

- No. - You may command me

along the road as you wish.

Serving tea, fetching water, massaging legs,

just call me.

Treat me as your own son.

Sir.

Are you alright?

I'm fine.

I'm fine,

child.

Xiaobing, Xiaoding.

Come.

Take me to Huzhou.

- Let's go. - Let's go.

Come, over here.

Come.

Come on.

Let's head off.

How?

Are you alright?

Sorry to keep you waiting.

Is the porridge ready?

Sorry to keep you waiting. It's ready.

The Emperor of the Xiao line

is now in the King of Tiemo's hands.

Chang'an is hanging

by a thread now.

Even on the brink, we still eat porridge.

The battle must have gone terribly.

It truly was a heavy defeat.

At least we still have porridge.

I thought

I would never see the Grand Preceptor again.

You will not see the Grand Preceptor.

What you see is Cen Pickles.

[Cen Weizong]

Ye Zheng.

Eat your porridge.

You remember me?

Child, have a bowl.

Warm yourself.

Old sir,

why is your courtyard

full of pickles?

Winters are long.

Fresh food won't last in the cellar.

Pickling them

brings out a richer taste.

I met your master when we were young.

After I retired from the world,

we lost touch.

I remember when he took you two in,

he said he might live in Chang'an forever.

I naively believed

he would forget the past.

Now all has returned to dust.

(Watch on www.dramacool.club to support Admin)

Remember his kindness.

That is enough.

With that in your hearts,

you will find peace.

Do not blame him.

You,

and Gu Yu,

both remarkable people.

Gu Yu survived thirty days on dry buns alone.

I think you outdo him.

You could last thirty days

without food or water.

This is Ronghua Alley?

Yes, and all the neighbors

around here are trustworthy.

For years,

I bribed them with pickles.

Staying here

will keep you safe for a few days.

You might not stay safe for long.

There is something

I wish to ask of you.

I know.

I return to the palace tonight for duty.

Chang'an is about to change.

Please find a way

for that person to survive.

That child is no concern of yours.

I will see to proper arrangements.

What you should consider

is a path of survival for yourself.

Ye Zheng told me

you struck a bargain with Yan Fengshan's men.

If you defeat the Tiemo forces,

they may take your head.

Yes.

If you defeat Tiemo,

you die.

If you drive them away,

you still die.

White Hair.

Have you ever wondered

what you have lived for

all your life?

If you can understand this,

then no matter whether there is

a way out of your dead end,

your life will not have been in vain.

My thanks, Grand Preceptor.

The sky has yet to brighten.

Will you not take a lantern?

No need.

I walk as dust upon the world,

and heaven and earth bear the light for me.

I faintly sensed

the Grand Preceptor was the one who saved me.

That night,

after Su Changlin wounded me,

then...

Yes.

It was him.

The Grand Preceptor saved me.

Huai'an,

he is someone we can trust, isn't he?

Fifteen years ago, on the night the Liu family was slaughtered,

he should have died there.

My father

hung a red ribbon on a tree,

warning him that the Huben Army had mutinied,

and thus he escaped death.

Yan Fengshan and the King of Tiemo

betrayed my father,

and betrayed the Grand Preceptor.

Those who share an enemy

can at least trust each other.

The army has pushed three hundred li

past the North Office.

Yet the four regional commanders who hold great legions

have made no move.

No rations prepared,

no troops mobilized,

as if they have chosen to sit and watch.

We have two hundred thousand soldiers,

hardly a lone force charging deep.

And with Xiao Wuyang

already in our hands.

Your Majesty,

we can take Chang'an now.

Hold on to it.

Thank you.

Urgent military report to the central court!

- How much for a flatbread? - Clear

- One wen each. - the way!

Urgent military report to the central court!

Clear the way!

Watch where you're going.

- Urgent military report to the central court! - Take care.

- Clear the way! - Lately,

news has been pouring in fast.

They say the Tiemo people

have reached the North Office.

And I heard at Changle Post outside the city,

everyone was killed.

Could be the Tiemo people

are already near Chang'an.

I also heard

there's a place outside the city called Cangshui River,

and I heard many

were killed there as well.

Truly too tragic.

These are troubled times indeed.

The war reports come faster each day.

Soon we will see the Tiemo horses at the gate.

Yet Xie Huai'an, who holds the command, is nowhere to be found.

Even His Majesty's fate is uncertain.

And so we wait here,

letting grain and fodder go to waste.

If you ask me,

we should march north

and fight the Tiemo head-on.

Did you read the report?

The Tiemo drove straight in.

The Baiwenhu Army fell quickly,

and none of the regional commanders moved.

If we rush out now

and fight,

what if we lose?

Then what of Chang'an?

I believe His Majesty still lives.

I believe in

Mr. Xie Huai'an as well, the one who holds the command.

He must have a plan.

Even Yan Fengshan, the man no blade could kill,

fell to him in the end.

Would the Tiemo be harder to fight than Yan Fengshan?

Maybe.

But panicking will not help us.

We wait.

Military grounds.

No unauthorized entry.

I request to see the generals.

The Wuyang Token belongs to Mr. Xie Huai'an.

Did he send you?

I...

No.

I come on behalf of the King of Tiemo.

Speak clearly.

Generals,

you have followed His Majesty for many years.

The scar on the arm

is real.

This...

I believe you

recognize it.

Where is His Majesty?

Tell me.

Where is His Majesty?

The King of Tiemo

sent me here

with a message.

Chang'an will fall.

The Wuyang Army must not storm the city.

If you refuse,

His Majesty dies.

What?

Impossible.

The Tiemo are still five hundred li away.

Their shadow guards are already inside the city.

They are using Huben tactics now.

The Wuyang Army must not attack.

If you do,

the Emperor will die.

When will the Tiemo strike?

I fear

we are already too late.

[Imperial Guards Station]

♪A crimson waning moon shines over the smoke of war♪

♪The broken walls support the lone eaves♪

♪Who's still holding the remaining weiqi pieces that keep Chang'an trapped?♪

♪Roaming alone in an unsolvable cycle♪

♪White robes frosted with weariness♪

♪Ten years of grievance hidden in the brushstrokes on plain paper♪

♪Scabs and cocoons♪

♪Flickering, dying candles♪

♪The game of chess, a fated calamity♪

♪Looking back at my youth♪

♪My left hand rests on the warm inkstone♪

♪Fake masks, real dangers, thoughts of life♪

♪I wish to put out the smoke of war for the betterment of the world♪

♪Losers begrudge, victors grow weary, thousands of schemes♪

♪Return to me the flickering promise♪