WEBVTT
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ORIGINAL STORY BY NATSU HYUUGA
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THIS STORY IS A FICION, AND ALL NAMES OF
FIGURES ND ORGANIZATIONS ARE FICTITIOUS.
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MOREOVER, THE STORY HAS NO RELATION
TO REAL-LIFE INCIDENTS AND EVENTS.
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Kitty cat, kitty cat
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Kitty cat, kitty cat
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She cries and cries
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Wondering
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Where that child is
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MINISTER - SCHOLAR
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Will you play with me, sir?
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How could I say no?
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It's my beloved daughter's request.
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We'll play by the standard rules
for five matches.
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Whoever wins three matches first wins.
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What should my disadvantage be?
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Which piece should I get rid of?
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There's no need for that.
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She should just accept.
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Let's decide what to bet on.
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Wow, getting straight to the point!
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If I win, you'll become my child, right?
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-You promised not to say anything.
-Yes, but…
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That is fine. But I'm
under an employment contract.
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So it'll be after my time is up.
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An employment contract?
He really hired you?
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Yes.
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But in return, if I win…
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Will you buy out a courtesan
from the Verdigris House?
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I didn't expect you to say that.
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I won't say who,
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but Grams is looking for a way
to get rid of a certain courtesan.
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I see, that's how you'll play.
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If that's what you want,
I'll have to say yes.
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That's all you want?
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I'll add two more rules, then.
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It smells like a strong distilled liquor.
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I have a really bad feeling about this.
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And what is that?
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A little bit of this is medicine.
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Three mouthfuls, and it's a strong poison.
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I'll pour this liquid into three cups,
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and mix it up so you don't know which cup.
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After each match,
the winner chooses a cup,
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and the loser drinks it.
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That's the first rule.
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Her ideas are so frightening.
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And the second rule is,
no matter what the reason is,
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if you forfeit the match, you lose.
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Is that all right?
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Yes, that's fine.
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Is she trying to throw him off balance?
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True, a normal person might
flinch at that. However,
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her opponent is a Sir General known
for being eccentric.
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I can't imagine him getting agitated
by such a threat.
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What is she thinking?
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She lost again.
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That's her second loss in a row!
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She challenged a general known for
being a chess master
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so I thought she had some skill, but…
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It seems she only knows the rules
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and has no experience in playing matches.
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She already drank two cups.
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She seemed to enjoy drinking them,
so I can't tell if it's poisoned or not.
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May I start the third match?
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Sure, of course.
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What is she thinking?
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We all know how the third match will end.
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If the two cups she already drank
had poison inside,
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it's too dangerous to drink the third cup.
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How much of this current situation
has Lakan analyzed?
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Checkmate.
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You got me.
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I know you let me win,
but it's still a win.
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I can't make my daughter take poison,
even by accident.
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Which will you choose for me?
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Choose whatever you'd like.
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Does the medicine have any taste?
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You'd notice the bad taste right away
after one swallow.
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Lakan is allowed to lose twice.
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If one cup of the two tastes different,
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he'll know that his daughter won't
take any poison.
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He lost deliberately for that purpose.
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He really is a shrewd man.
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I'll choose this, then.
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It tastes bad.
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He drank the poison!
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Now, the Apothecary won't drink the poison
for her third cup.
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This also means
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that Lakan won't have to keep losing
on purpose anymore.
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Now, the Apothecary can never win.
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If I win, you'll become my child, right?
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Also, I feel hot.
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What's going on?
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I thought the poison wouldn't harm anyone
with one cup!
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I know you hate him.
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-But I didn't think you'd poison him!
-It's medicine.
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They say sake is the best medicine,
after all.
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Sake? What do you mean?
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Sir Jinshi.
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-It looks like he's just drunk.
-What?
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He's an extreme lightweight.
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Now that I think about it,
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he's always drinking juice.
I've never seen him drink sake.
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So what was the liquid you poured in?
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It was alcohol. All right, then.
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Let's carry this man out,
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and have him pick out a flower
from the brothel.
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Ever since I was born, I couldn't
distinguish people as individuals.
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It wasn't just confusing my wet nurse
as my mother.
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I couldn't even distinguish between a man
and a woman.
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My father got fed up with me,
saying that I would be useless,
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and started visiting
his extramarital lover regularly.
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My mother was desperate to
get my father back.
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That was how I was able to
immerse myself in go and chess,
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and live freely,
despite being the first son
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of a noble family.
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Don't remember people by their face.
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Remember them by their voice,
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gestures, and body type.
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I'm sure you would enjoy chess.
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Only my uncle understood me.
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Thanks to my tactless yet talented uncle,
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I was able to see people's faces
as chess pieces.
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When I saw my uncle's face as a Chariot,
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I truly understood that he was
a talented and intelligent man.
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After I grew up, even though I was
untalented in the art of war,
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I was appointed to be a leader right away
because of my background.
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Even if I was weak,
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I could be successful
if I could use my men efficiently.
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Playing chess with real people
as its pieces
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was merely a captivating game to me.
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THE VERDIGRIS HOUSE
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While I continued to be unbeatable
in work and in chess,
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I ended up playing against a famous
courtesan when I visited a brothel.
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Amongst the sea of whites and blacks,
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those fingertips had a vibrant glow.
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Her name was Fengxian.
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An unbeatable courtesan at a brothel,
versus an unbeatable military man.
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No matter who lost,
the audience would be captivated.
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She is good for sure.
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Even so, she is merely a frog in a well.
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I lost?
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She dominated me completely.
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When was the last time I lost like this?
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So this is what a human face looks like.
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Her eyes are like a balsam fruit,
which could pop
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with a single touch,
keeping people at a distance…
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I won't lose next time.
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For several years after that,
I only met her to play
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go and chess.
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Fengxian, who was born at the brothel,
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had a personality only shaped by pride.
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I do not have a mother.
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There was a woman who gave birth to me,
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but in the pleasure district,
courtesans cannot be mothers.
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Talented courtesans,
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once they become popular enough,
become harder to purchase.
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This was also true of Fengxian.
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Though her stern attitude was not
popular amongst most customers,
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there were some with strange tastes
who enjoyed that.
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Her price kept increasing more and more,
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and I could only afford
to see her once every three months.
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A balsam flower and… What is that?
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Wood sorrel.
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Also known as Cat's Feet.
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It's a fresh medicine that works against
poison and insect bites.
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Just like the balsam flower,
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if you touch its ripened fruit,
the seeds burst and fly away.
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I see, how interesting.
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When can you come next?
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In three months' time.
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I see.
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It was around that time that I heard
of Fengxian being bought out.
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Her price kept increasing more and more
in the bidding war amongst her fans.
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Though I had climbed the ranks
as a military man,
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my step brothers had taken the right
to inherit the family title.
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I could never compete with those prices.
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What if we bet on something today?
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If you win, I'll give you
anything you'd like.
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If I win, I'll take anything I want.
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Which board would you like to play with?
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That's when a terrible idea
crossed my mind.
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-You'd like to play go, then?
-Yes.
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-Meimei. I want to focus on the match.
-Yes, ma'am.
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Before we realized it,
our hands were placed together.
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Fengxian spoke no sweet words.
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I spoke none, either.
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In many ways, we were very similar.
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I want to play go.
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I had thought I wanted to play chess too.
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Kitty cat
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Kitty cat
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She cries and cries wondering
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Where that child is
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The little birds
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That know nothing
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Flew higher and higher
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Up in the sky…
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Three months after that,
my talented uncle lost his position.
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You became a doctor in the rear palace,
and now you're expelled?
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You disgrace the family name!
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He was talented, but remained tactless.
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You were close with him.
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Leave this house and study abroad
for a while!
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-Study abroad?
-It's a needed precaution.
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-But…
-What is it?
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No, it's nothing.
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I could not betray my father,
who was both my parent and a boss.
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It was then that Fengxian wrote to me
saying she would not be bought out.
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I had falsely assumed that I could return
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in six months' time.
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Back then…
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I had not imagined that
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it would take me three years
to return home.
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All these are letters from Fengxian?
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Dirt? No, are these branches?
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And there's two of them?
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No! This is…
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Finger slicing…
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I had heard that
the practice was popular as a curse.
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The reason she ended up
not being bought out…
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The other small finger
that was inside that bag…
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How could I not realize?
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I only had go and chess in mind.
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I couldn't even arrive
at such a simple answer!
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THE VERDIGRIS HOUSE
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Where is Fengxian?!
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You! Fengxian is not here anymore!
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Why are you here after all these years!
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You left her for three years!
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I bet you don't even care about
what happens
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when a courtesan loses her value!
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If I had thought for a little bit,
I would've realized it.
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Why her buying out offer was rescinded.
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Inside Fengxian's belly was…
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What happens to a courtesan
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when she dishonors her brothel and her
trust and value plummets to the ground?
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Like a nighthawk,
she receives any customer,
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and eventually…
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No matter how much I lament,
time won't turn back.
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Everything happened because
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I was so short-sighted. It's all my fault.
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This is… The Verdigris House.
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Are you awake?
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Meimei.
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Some person of nobility brought you here.
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You look very unwell.
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Your face is both red and blue.
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I didn't plan on being like this.
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I didn't think that
the drink was so strong.
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Meimei used to be an apprentice
to Fengxian.
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I used to play with Meimei quite a lot.
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When told she had potential,
she seemed embarrassed but happy.
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Speaking of…
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What's wrong?
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No, it's nothing.
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-Here you are.
-Thanks.
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So bitter! What is this!
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Maomao made that.
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Mix, mix, mix.
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I see, Maomao made this.
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Also, Maomao made this box.
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A dried rose?
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Even after it has died,
you can preserve its form.
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Big Sis Meimei.
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Excuse me, sir.
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PREVIEW OF NEXT EPISODE
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Next Episode, "Jinshi and Maomao."
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Subtitle translation by: Yukimi Ohashi