Original subtitles

General.

The man is here.

Do you have parents or brothers at home?

Do you have any relatives or friends in your hometown?

General. I am an orphan.

Come.

Come up.

Forget your past and your name.

Remember every word I say.

Your surname is actually Xiao.

A child of the Xiao imperial bloodline who has been lost outside.

The late emperor once ordered me to bring you back.

I searched for years.

At last, you may return to the rightful lineage.

The throne now stands empty.

Chang'an cannot go a single day without an emperor.

Among the Xiao clan, you are the only one left.

From this moment on,

you are the emperor of this land.

Is that true?

Of course it is not.

But if I say it is true,

then it is true.

Zhiying.

Dress him in the dragon robe.

See whether it fits or not.

Yes.

Come with me.

AWAKENING AND RETURNING TO PURITY

Do you know

you and I met when we were very young?

It was about 19 years ago.

Yan Fengshan

had not yet turned traitor.

He was cold, cruel,

and not like he is now,

still able to put on a guise of kindness.

At that time,

he adopted a child.

The child came from the northern border.

He had no parents.

Back then,

I saw you.

Back then, your eyes always looked to the horizon.

Unlike how they are now.

What about me now?

The way you are now,

your eyes see only what's before you.

A man like that

easily grows obsessed.

You asked what tricks I have.

I have none.

You people are the ones who control Chang'an.

But I do have a tale I wish to tell you.

It is about your origins and Yan Fengshan's past.

How many dumplings will you have?

HOUSE SAUCES, SWEETS

Your origins are exactly so.

How you choose

is entirely up to you.

How

can I choose?

To avenge your blood kin is only right.

Let the past 20 years

be treated as no more than a dream.

If you carry out this task,

you may live for six more hours.

If you refuse, Commander Wang is right outside the door.

He hides his skill deep within.

His blade is the same.

If you cannot pass that door, you will die here all the same.

AWAKENING AND RETURNING TO PURITY

Xie Huai'an.

Living your whole life this way,

aren't you tired?

What you should ask me

is whether it is right to live this way.

I once believed I was right.

You killed far too many who should not have died.

I will never let you win.

Whatever you intend to do,

I will never let you succeed.

Do you want to see Yan Fengshan die with your own eyes?

Nothing would please me more.

My thanks.

Bamboo baskets.

Pork.

All of it is top-quality pork slaughtered fresh today.

Sir, what would you like?

One and a half jin of hind leg meat,

for making dumplings for two people.

All right. One moment.

I'll give you a discount.

Pack them together.

- Sir. Here you go. - No need.

You are back, General.

I haven't cooked for you in ages.

I shall practice today, so I do not get rusty.

The people you assigned to keep an eye on me

have already been eliminated.

I know. But I did not bother with it.

Xie Huai'an

is laying a trap for me.

That is fine.

I wanted to meet him anyway.

I figured as much.

White Hair is a ruthless man.

For you to return alive

is no small feat.

But I feel he has no tricks left.

He only told me

a piece of the past,

something about my origins.

Then he let me go.

He even asked me

whether I was willing to make dumplings for you.

The dumplings are cooked,

General, do not eat yet.

In strategy,

I am no match for Xie Huai'an.

But I am not foolish enough

to let a piece of the past

erase the years I have spent following you.

I waited for you here,

simply to ask for clarity.

I never spoke of the past to you not because I did not want you to know,

but because I did not want to remember it myself.

Since matters have come to this,

I shall tell you.

Twenty-five years ago, in the northern borderlands,

there was a place called Chen Valley.

We called it Chen Valley,

but the Tiemo people called that place Mingshanzi Gorge.

A tiny patch of land,

yet we and the Tiemo people fought over it seven times.

In the final battle, we lost.

My soldiers and I were captured

and locked inside the Tiemo army's granary,

waiting quietly for death.

The Tiemo people were toying with the prisoners.

Each time they lowered the food, there was less than before.

The last time, they dropped only one steamed bun…

and one knife.

It seemed only I understood

that no matter how much food the Tiemo people gave us,

none of us would survive until the day they opened the granary.

Unless the Tiemo people believed we were all dead.

So I killed every last one of them.

After that, many more days passed.

After I killed all the Tiemo people,

I wandered across the wasteland for a long time.

At that time, I felt like a ghost,

not knowing where I should go,

not knowing whether I even deserved to live.

I walked for a very long time.

At last, I returned to my own land.

A farming couple took me in.

They were not afraid of me.

Instead they gave me a bowl of hot rice.

Here, sir, do not be shy. Eat quickly.

Treat this as your own home.

Yes, sir, I still have some meat here.

It will be ready soon.

Go on, eat. There is more in the pot.

At that time,

or perhaps for many years after,

I had not truly stepped out of that granary.

I believed that only by killing everyone

could I earn a single meal.

That child was you.

This story, is it the same as the one White Hair told you?

If I had died in that granary,

or if your parents had not taken me in,

you would never have become a member of the Huben Army.

The village where you were born stood on a sunny hillside.

You could have been a farmer,

and after a day of work, you could still go home to eat dumplings,

with your parents not yet old sitting beside you.

Such a life would have been blessed.

But because of me,

your entire life changed.

So

today White Hair used you in an attempt to poison me.

To avenge my blood kin is only just.

Let the past 20 years

be treated as a dream.

I do not blame you.

When I was seven,

I learned how to make dumplings.

I even wrapped

a copper coin inside one.

I had hoped you would take it,

and with it I wished you long life,

in peace and in safety.

Xie Huai'an even tried to sway me,

hoping I would come back and poison you.

How could that ever happen?

If not you, how would I be who I am today?

As for those parents,

I never laid eyes on them,

not even for a single day.

Their deaths mean nothing to me.

All these years, the one who raised me

was the General of the Huben Army,

Yan Fengshan.

He wants to watch you die with his own eyes.

He entered the city with me.

Stop.

- Come here. - Move these things out.

- Do you have a travel pass? - Yes.

From Huai'an Commandery. My surname is Zeng.

- Go on. - Thank you.

Only three watchtowers nearby have a view of this courtyard.

A man wearing a fisherman's hat,

with half his face covered,

and a fish maw mask on his upper face,

that is Xie Huai'an.

Before you returned,

I had already sent Zhiying to hunt him down.

This

is the final plan

I offer to you.

The past

has nothing to do with me.

In this life,

I have no regrets.

To die with a father not yet old beside me,

that is a fine life.

May you live a thousand years

in peace

and safety.

Wang Pu, you are truly foolish.

A man like White Hair would never believe you would poison me.

He merely wanted you to return to my side,

so that I could watch you die with my own eyes.

General.

The man wearing the fish maw mask was not Xie Huai'an at all.

Hold your tongue.

We have known each other for quite some time.

Yet I still failed to see your true nature.

You would sell out the loyal and upright and even abet villains

for money.

No wonder this temple has so few devotees.

It is not the location.

It is your wicked heart.

How shall we deal with him?

Mister, spare me. Sir, spare me.

Sir, spare me.

Please stand.

I am but a wanted man.

Your life

is not mine to spare.

You knew my identity long ago.

You waited and observed for a month,

and only when you thought I had gone mad

did you report me.

To have such careful judgment,

sir,

why waste it on a gambling table?

I, Xie Huai'an,

thank you

for taking me in during this time.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for sparing my life.

- Thank you for sparing my life. - Go.

Go.

- Commander Wang. - Here.

Return to the Capital.

Prepare to gather all available men in the Capital.

Yes.

The Tiemo secret envoy has already set off.

This is our chance to strike back.

For this day, I have waited a long time too.

I await your command.

Mr. Long.

You did not visit before,

nor did you send a letter.

There are many people worried about you.

I was watched too closely this time,

so I dared not write rashly.

Please forgive me, Mr. Long.

Come.

I will take you to see the place your father left behind.

Look here.

I even added a bit more for you.

How is it enough?

Enough.

- That will be seven wen in total. - All right.

- I packed it for you. - All right.

All right then.

Here you go.

- Count it. - Thank you.

You finally showed up.

What? Did you think I died?

No, no.

Sir,

I have something to attend to…

Come.

Well?

This place is nice, isn't it?

You will never see scenery like this in Chang'an.

It is practically a paradise.

But this paradise has one flaw.

There is no sunlight.

Without sunlight, there are no crops.

So rice is more expensive than salt here.

Right. This paradise has another flaw.

You cannot see the sun, so you cannot tell the time.

Rising with the sun and resting at sunset is impossible here.

The salt shop where you work

has a salt hourglass for time, doesn't it?

How do you know that?

And the shops along the street also have hourglasses for timing.

You know that too?

Have you been here before?

Using hourglasses to keep time was an assignment from Mr. Wu Zhongheng

back when we were at the Grand Academy.

If I remember correctly,

you pretended to be sick and never handed in your work.

And you…

Still pretending?

The hourglass in your shop is the result of my assignment.

My father originally

designed this Cangshui River

because there was no daylight here,

which was why he moved everything inside.

Since there is me, why must there be you?

- Zheng. - Look who is here.

Who else could it be?

Isn't that Xie Huai'an?

Why are you so cold?

It has been a long time.

I know.

It is because he came to see me first,

is that right?

Thank you for going to the trouble. We just met.

Yet we spoke of strategy.

Do you want to hear the plan?

Come with me.

I will tell you slowly.

Little one.

No. When did you ever talk about strategy?

- You're the little one. - Little Mo.

Get lost.

Chang'an is now sealed tight.

Yan Fengshan and the Huben Army control everything.

But the civil court is still running,

so the people of Chang'an have not been pushed to outrage.

The troops of Xiao Wuyang outside the city

are surrounded by the four regional military commanders.

But they have not cut off supplies.

Otherwise the Wuyang Army would fight to the last.

Yan Fengshan is truly capable.

He restrains the troops without provoking war,

and controls the city without stirring public anger.

If you ask me,

he is so capable, he might as well make himself emperor.

He has held power for years,

and the people of Chang'an are used to it.

Now, he props up a fake emperor to keep things calm.

If he suddenly declared himself emperor,

it would not benefit him at all.

He can still weigh the scales properly.

Isn't there a large army in the north?

The Baiwenhu main force.

The northern Baiwenhu Army.

They will not march south unless summoned.

This was once

my father's pact with the Gu family.

So when my brother attacked Chang'an back then,

Gu Yu only brought 1,000 personal guards.

But look at the situation now.

Xie Huai'an,

if you need an imperial summons

I can give it to you.

With the situation as it is,

even if you wrote me an imperial edict to summon them,

I would have no way to send it to the north.

If we acted now,

your identity would be exposed and everything would collapse.

Yan Fengshan is colluding with the Tiemo people.

The Tiemo have stationed

a massive army in the northern borderlands to deal with the Baiwenhu Army.

If the Baiwenhu Army marched south,

the entire heartland of the empire

would be opened to the Tiemo.

Yan Fengshan is deeply entangled with the Tiemo.

So next,

how should we take him down?

The Tiemo people and Yan Fengshan

are not perfectly united.

Now that the Tiemo envoy has come south,

he is heading to Chang'an to negotiate with Yan Fengshan.

This is our best chance.

I guess

Yan Fengshan will first cede land

in the far north

and use it

to bribe the Tiemo people

in exchange for their attack on the Baiwenhu Army.

Once the Baiwenhu Army is defeated,

there will be no army left to stand against Yan Fengshan.

Gu Yu.

Is Gu Yu still alive?

If he is,

you must send him to the north at once,

because only then will the Tiemo people fail to defeat the Baiwenhu Army.

As to Gu Yu's life or death,

I am not certain.

And your brother?

Mr. Long says he can wake up,

but no one knows when.

How did you know I was awake?

I could see it.

I just could not guess

why you pretended to be unconscious.

I was not pretending.

Each day

I am only awake for a brief moment.

It feels like being in a dream, doesn't it?

In the dream

it was the road you had never wanted to take.

A brush with death,

I've been there too.

A long palace corridor.

Gu Yu and the Baiwenhu Army

pushed me out the door

and got farther and farther away from me.

The path by which I survived

was the path

I least wished to walk in my life.

Wumei once told me

that back then you were one step

from death.

I do not blame you.

So

Xiao Wuyang

can die after all.

White Hair.

If one day I truly die,

will you, like your forefathers,

support the imperial clan?

I know

that is not where your ambition lies.

But you must care for the realm.

Heaven has given you such wisdom.

You must use it

to serve all the people.

But my father

once did exactly that.

And you must not die either.

Heaven has given you such skill,

and you too

should give back to all the people.

I will not.

Before Yan Fengshan dies,

I, Xiao Wuyang,

will not die.

Do not tell anyone that I wake for brief moments

each day,

including

your pageboy outside the door.

Why did you stay in there for so long before coming out?

Did my brother wake up?

I just figured out…

You'd figured out how to deal with them?

Once the Tiemo envoy

enters Chang'an,

I will make him disappear for one night right under Huben's nose.

During that night,

you will meet with him.

Me?

If Yan Fengshan and the Tiemo can negotiate,

why can't you?

Do not forget.

You are the Emperor.

The detailed plan

will be given to you after you enter Chang'an.

What?

Are you scared?

When the nation is in peril,

even common folk have a duty.

How could I not?

I am not afraid.

You have improved.

Huai'an, we just met again.

Must we leave so soon?

Can't you rest for one night?

Gu Yu's life is uncertain.

I must go and find the truth.

There are other arrangements in the city that cannot be delayed.

Take these.

You need money to buy medicine and salt.

Stop stealing the shopkeeper's salt.

That salt shopkeeper is a good man.

His scale gives 16.5 liang to a jin.

He says it's to help those in need.

And now I too am someone in hardship.

But once life gets better,

I'll repay him someday.

All right.

I am leaving.

Wait.

Look at the time.

It is already dark outside.

The road back to Chang'an is long and dark.

Take a lantern.

Take care.

Thanks.

All of you live well.

You are not going back?

No.

I am going for a drink.

- Come on. - What?

You know,

stealing salt is a job that suits you.

Wuyang,

please have mercy.

Wake quickly, I beg you.

If you wake up,

I won't have to go to that execution trap Xie Huai'an arranged.

I am begging you. I am really scared.