Original subtitles

[Episode 40]

General Wang.

Do you want to dance too?

Sure. Let's dance!

- Come on, let's dance! - Let's dance!

Bravo!

Nice.

You're back.

Are you cold?

Suixue Pass is different from the Capital.

At this time of year, the night is still chilly.

Were you unhappy in the Capital?

Why didn't you say so in your letters?

My love, you only share joy, not worries.

My love, you're such a nag.

I haven't even started nagging yet.

Let me ask you, how did you travel all this way?

How many days did it take?

Was it with a caravan or a courier?

And also, you weren't alone the whole time, were you?

Do you know how dangerous that is?

I came all this way to find you,

and all you do is interrogate me.

If you reach that forest first,

I'll let you drink tonight.

You're cheating!

Mo Xiu Yao, aren't you ashamed?

Lie Yun, go!

It doesn't want to win too easily.

Or someone won't talk to me tonight.

Today's banquet brings three joys at once.

The first is to congratulate Prince Ding.

He has returned from Suixue Pass in victory.

The second is to congratulate Master Gu.

He's promoted to Governor of Jingzhao Prefecture.

Master Gu, since we're both in the Capital,

do look out for my little shop.

Of course. It's my duty.

Governor Gu, I'll be in your care from now on.

That goes without saying.

Cheers.

And the third is to congratulate Senior Brother Wei's move.

Here's to your new home.

May your blessings never end.

Thank you, everyone.

Let me say one more thing.

The Capital has been through a turmoil and changed overnight.

That we all survived this ordeal is the greatest blessing of all.

So this toast is to our safety, to the rest of our lives,

and to many beautiful days ahead.

Cheers.

Senior Brother, when did you get back?

Two days ago.

I returned in a hurry, so I didn't tell you.

Senior Brother, pass me the wine.

We're out. I'll get some more.

- Innkeeper! - No need. Leave it to me.

Be careful.

Senior Brother.

Senior Brother, what happened?

It's nothing. Maybe I just drank too fast.

What are your plans next, Senior Brother?

I have no plans.

I'll just wander around.

I'll stay a while whenever the scenery is fair

and drink to my fill whenever I find good wine.

Are you leaving?

What about Lady Yu Sheng?

She and I were just a chance encounter.

To have been companions for a while is already a gift of fate.

From now on, she will have her bright future,

and I will have my leisurely travels.

Our paths are different.

No need to force a journey together.

But didn't you just buy a house in the Capital?

Why are you leaving again?

All good things must come to an end.

Besides, the Li Mountain matter is settled.

And I'm a restless person by nature.

If I stay in one place for too long, my bones will grow soft.

Junior Sister, let this wild soul return to the mountains.

After you leave, Senior Brother, will you ever come back?

It is uncertain.

Perhaps wherever my whims take me will be home enough.

The wine is here. Let's go in.

I've heard all that a hundred times.

What was so secret that you had to go outside to talk?

I told Li that I'm going on a long journey.

I'll travel the world and live a carefree life.

Traveling and seeing the world are good things.

It is.

Fei Bai, although you and I met rather late,

I do admire your free and uninhibited spirit.

Don't you worry.

The Feng family's banner flies across the land.

No matter where you go, just give them my name,

and you'll always be housed and fed.

Hold on.

Master Li, you're righteous, brave, and highly skilled in martial arts.

In the future, your name will surely be renowned.

I won't wish you further skill.

When traveling abroad, safety matters most.

A toast to you.

- To you. - Thank you both.

Hero Li, we got to know each other through a fight.

I'm from Bashu. Let me see you off with a Bashu saying.

"Listen to me, my brother.

Stay strong!

Be a man of your word.

Go out and make your mark!

Don't do anything foolish."

I didn't understand a single word.

Come on.

Ease up on his drinking.

Fei Bai.

Have a safe journey.

Wherever you settle down, remember to write to me.

I will. Don't worry.

Take good care of Li.

Rest assured.

Junior Brother Li.

"Lament not that life is like morning dew.

Dwell not on mountains steep and roads long.

Old friends will surely meet again.

Either in green hills or in wine."

Well said.

"Old friends will surely meet again.

Either in green hills or in wine."

What a fine poem!

Cheers.

Then I shall take my leave.

Farewell.

- It's raining so hard. - Let's get out of the rain.

Senior Brother, when do you leave tomorrow? I'll see you off.

No need.

The world is vast. We'll meet again if fate allows.

Take care.

How did you fall asleep on your feet?

Come on. I'll help you sober up.

Fei Bai!

You're back.

Why were you out for so long?

What is this?

Don't you recognize it? It's money.

What do you mean by this?

Nothing much.

I'm leaving the Capital.

Keep this money.

If you want to leave Xiangqi House, use it to redeem yourself.

If you don't want to, keep it for a rainy day.

It's a token of our relationship.

I am famous throughout the Capital.

Noble lords spend fortunes just to see me smile and I still think it's not enough.

Do you think I need your money?

Li Fei Bai. We've known each other for so many years.

If you're leaving,

you should have at least told me sooner.

What is this supposed to be?

Why are you so angry?

Am I? I'm not angry.

Then what are you doing right now?

I'm just being reasonable with you.

I see.

Don't tell me you can't bear to let me go

and actually want to come with me.

Don't be ridiculous.

I'm a wanderer.

I sleep rough and eat whatever comes. I live by the blade.

No guarantee of tomorrow.

When I'm in a good mood,

I'll play along, say sweet things, and spend a fortune on you.

But when I'm down and out, I can't even get a hot meal,

so why would I care about you?

I remember you said that you wouldn't leave the Capital.

You've had enough of hardship since childhood and can't endure it now.

That's what you said, right?

- I... - Enough.

Yu Sheng.

You've been the belle of the pleasure quarters for years.

You should know better than us wanderers how to let things go.

You jerk!

Run!

I'll play a game with you.

What's wrong?

You don't look very happy.

Let me take you to Qingfeng Mingyue Tower.

Feng Zhi Yao said there's a new chef there.

He's very good at Lingnan cuisine.

Then how about a walk in the suburbs?

Or I'll have Qing Yu set up a table in the pavilion,

and let's share some hot wine.

Forget it.

You don't even want to drink.

It seems my princess is truly heavy-hearted.

Actually, I've always wondered how good your swordsmanship really is.

How does it compare to mine?

Naturally, I am superior.

I am Master Zhu's disciple, after all.

True.

They say Master Zhu is a Sword Immortal

who created the Heaven-Slashing Sword,

a forty-six-form sword style.

But they also say a good chef doesn't always make a good teacher.

His own swordsmanship is peerless,

but his ability to teach might not be as good.

What are you implying?

Let's have a match.

So how shall we compete?

Blades show no mercy.

I'm afraid of hurting you if I use force.

Let's use branches as swords.

Whoever loses all their petals first will lose.

Then you'd better be careful.

You lost.

I'd like to lose to you for a lifetime.

Your Highnesses!

Your Highnesses. Word from the Palace. The Empress Dowager is in critical condition.

She summons Princess Ding.

Your Majesty, Princess Ding has arrived.

Your Majesty, you've been sitting for too long.

Why don't you lie down and rest?

You may leave.

Your Majesty.

Leave us.

All of you, leave.

Come sit.

I summoned you...

because I thought you'd have something to say to me.

I have nothing to say to you.

I feel guilty toward your mother.

Don't you want to seek justice for her?

Before I left the mountain,

there were four people I wanted to kill.

Your Majesty was indeed one of them.

Where do I rank?

Fourth.

The very last.

Why?

You were high and mighty, making you very hard to kill.

Well, now is a good opportunity.

Actually, every day in Anqing Palace was an opportunity.

Then why didn't you kill me?

Deep within these palace walls, even if I killed you,

I wouldn't have made it out.

It wasn't worth it.

Was it not worth it?

Or did you think I was different from them?

Who are "them"?

Since I began to rule,

I've enacted many new policies.

I reformed the water transport system,

sparing thirty thousand trackers.

I reduced taxes by forty percent,

established academies for women,

supported for female-headed households

and women's merchant guilds.

Look at it now.

In today's Great Chu, canals connect the north and south.

The granaries are full.

Culture and education flourish.

Women's academies stand in every county.

Even the humble-born can enter the court.

With such achievements...

How do I compare to the late Emperor?

Tell me, how do I compare to the late Emperor?

My grandfather once spoke of you.

Do you want to hear it, Your Majesty?

What did he say?

The daughter of the Guo family is talented,

but she lacks compassion.

She can wield the power of the world,

but she cannot bear the people's suffering.

How dare he speak of me like that?

Pedantic.

Truly pedantic.

It is simply because I ruled the court as a woman.

Since ancient times,

every transfer of power has been written in blood.

If I do not kill, others will kill me.

Forced by the circumstances,

one must first ensure self-preservation before practicing benevolence.

It is a pity.

This simple logic...

A great scholar like him could not grasp it.

When I left the mountain, I passed through Longqu.

The local government was building a road to the Capital.

Officials praised your benevolence,

but the people were all cursing you.

Do you know why?

To build the road via the fastest route,

the people refused to leave.

So officials destroyed fields and roads,

forcing them to abandon their land.

Is this your so-called benevolence?

The mountain roads in Longzhou are rugged.

Building that road is a policy benefiting the realm.

They just don't see the big picture.

You studied at Li Mountain Academy.

You know there are other ways.

Go around the mountains, build bridges,

reroute to spare the fields, and take time to balance all.

But you chose the fastest yet cruelest way.

One cannot have it both ways.

There must always be trade-offs.

You sacrificed the farmers' fields for transportation in the Capital.

Just like before,

you sacrificed the Heiyun Cavalry to control the court.

You removed the heir of the Eastern Palace to take the throne.

The prosperity you desire is born from your resentment

at not being able to ascend the throne.

The legacy you speak of is only to quiet the fear in your heart.

To prove to that throne, to the court, and to the world,

that you can sit on it and hold it firmly.

If that's the case,

why don't you strike, then?

Whether Your Majesty is guilty, the law will provide a fair verdict.

Your Majesty.

Your Majesty, are you all right?

Summon the physician!

Quick, summon the imperial physician!

Her Majesty's pulses are faint and about to cease.

Her heart's yang is fading, and her qi is sinking.

This is due to extreme emotional distress.

Prolonged anxiety has harmed her spleen,

and combined with overwork, her heart and spleen have been depleted.

Her qi and blood are failing.

Even if Qi Bo or Bian Que were reborn,

there is no way to save her.

As the Emperor, I say you have sinned against the people.

I, in the name of the law

and for the people and those wronged souls,

cannot forgive you.

But as your son, I still remember

it was you who taught me how to write my first word.

It was you who stayed by my sickbed every night.

It was you who braved immense pressure to place me on the throne.

You nursed me and poured your heart into raising me.

You will always be my mother.

Books say that life is but a journey.

Though the road is wide open,

everyone eventually walks it alone

and faces their own trials.

Some are trapped by love,

drifting in a sea of unfulfilled longing.

Some hold fast to their principles,

walking alone through the long night.

Some are content with solitude,

savoring loneliness in endless silence.

Some hide in the shadows,

wandering in a broken fate.

But the magic of life lies in this.

It is like flickering lamps, never steady.

You can never guess what kind of light or darkness

you will encounter next.

But what matters is that you always keep moving forward.

Governor.

This is a token of the people's gratitude.

Please accept it.

[Impartial Justice]

My Lady, dinner is ready.

Coming!

Come back and eat. I made your favorites.

Look at this awful place you chose.

I have to go so far to buy medicine.

It's not convenient at all.

The Capital was much better.

Why insist on coming to the middle of nowhere?

Here, take your medicine.

The scenery here is beautiful. Isn't it nice?

What's the use of a nice view?

You can't even see it.

I'm just teasing you.

Come on. Take your medicine.

The physician said your eyes will heal.

When that time comes, you can watch the stars with me.

Are the stars beautiful tonight?

Very beautiful.

Han Ming Xi? It really is you.

Where have you been?

The owner was very worried about you.

Quick, come back with me.

Let's go. Come on.

What happened? You just left without a word.

You didn't even send a letter.

Do you know how worried we were?

Don't forget, you still owe me a drink.

Some people exhaust their life's energy

struggling in the maze of fate,

yet they can never reach that so-called fulfillment.

Your Majesty.

Qi Er.

You're here.

Mother.

Qi Er.

All my life, I have made ruthless choices,

and I have never regretted them.

But as I lie here now,

whenever I close my eyes,

I always see the people

driven from their homes due to the Longqu official road,

those who couldn't escape the fire in the Eastern Palace,

and the Heiyun Cavalry,

wrongfully condemned, yet unyielding to the end.

I cleared the obstacles for you

to stabilize the empire,

but I also left behind indelible sins.

You are the Emperor.

You must be just.

Whatever judgment you must pass,

pass it.

Do not hold back

just because I am your mother.

Mother.

You don't have to be like me.

And you certainly don't have to take the blame for my sins.

You must be upright,

be magnanimous, and stay safe.

Qi.

Mother.

Your Majesty.

Mother.

The physician...

Those who wished to illustrate virtue throughout the realm

first governed well their own states.

To govern well their states,

they first regulated their families.

To regulate their families,

they first cultivated themselves.

To cultivate themselves,

they first set their hearts aright.

To set their hearts aright,

they first sought to be true in intention.

To be true in intention,

they first extended their knowledge.

Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.

No matter how long the night is,

it cannot outlast the lamp that refuses to go out in the mortal world.

We all wade through the waters of uncertainty,

struggling in the narrow straits of fate,

taking root amid storm and wind.

Until one day,

we break through the soil to welcome a new life.

The Son of Heaven has no private favors,

nor does he have private family matters.

The weight of the state is heavier than the mountains.

I have inherited Heaven's Mandate to rule over all lands.

I should have ruled with filial piety.

However, Empress Dowager Guo abused her power recklessly

after the late Emperor's passing.

Her sins are grave.

Though she has passed away, her faults cannot be hidden.

I must issue this decree to announce to the realm and clarify her crimes.

First crime.

She burned the Eastern Palace,

instigated political purges,

and implicated the innocent.

This caused panic in the court and the loss of public support.

Second crime.

She destroyed the late Emperor's decree,

faked orders to seize power, and framed loyal subjects.

The Heiyun Cavalry was wronged for eight years.

Third crime.

She sought to usurp the sacred rites, coveted the throne,

and besieged Li Mountain Academy,

causing dozens to die from the plague,

and trampling our legacy of learning.

This is intolerable to Heaven.

Guo's actions betrayed the ancestors

and harmed the common people.

Neither Heaven nor Earth can forgive her.

From this day forth, all of Guo's honorary titles are stripped,

her ancestral offerings revoked,

and her posthumous name removed.

Historians shall record her evils.

She shall be buried as a commoner on the outskirts of the mausoleum.

Consort Dowager Qin hid the late Emperor's true decree

and colluded with Marquis Muyang to bring chaos to the court.

She is hereby sentenced to be stripped of her imperial status

and demoted to a commoner.

She shall be imprisoned in Lingnan for life.

The decree is as stated above.

Let it be executed accordingly.

- We shall obey Your Majesty's decree. - We shall obey Your Majesty's decree.

This realm and its people never belonged to just one person.

Condemning myself and my kin is all for the sake of doing right by the realm.

Heaven sees all.

Li Mountain Academy has reopened.

That's wonderful.

[Li Mountain Academy]

- Look. What is this? - What is this?

It's good that Li Mountain Academy has been reopened.

I read in a book yesterday,

"When the great way prevails, the world is shared by all."

- Watch your step. - Hurry up.

- Wait for me! - Be careful.

I can't keep up.

Wait for me!

Slow down.

Wait for me!

Headmaster.

You guys go ahead.

Go over there. Someone's coming.

Your Highnesses.

Didn't we agree on the hour of Si?

Why are you here so early?

Li couldn't sit still at home.

She wanted to ride here overnight.

Come. This way, please.

Don't run!

Everything looks brand new.

Headmaster Wei, you're so capable.

Stop teasing me.

His Majesty ordered me to reopen the Academy.

I only received the decree two weeks ago.

It has been a bit of a rush.

Some windows haven't even been fixed yet.

It already looks magnificent.

There's no need to demand perfection.

Many disciples have come today.

Yes.

We've admitted 341 disciples in total this time.

It's far beyond my expectations.

We also recruited 20 more masters.

Most of these masters have studied at the Academy before.

Now, they're all clamoring to return as masters.

By the way, Yun Song Zi is back too.

He insisted on staying to be a calligraphy and painting master.

That's wonderful.

If anyone from a humble family sincerely wants to study,

we'll pay their tuition in Li's name.

This decision of yours, Your Highness, truly sets a precedent for our academy.

Your Highness.

Master Huo.

Why are you here?

Living idly in seclusion would eventually waste everything I've learned in my life.

Now, by Headmaster Wei's grace,

I am honored to teach here

and share what little I know.

See for yourself.

This book is already outdated.

My Lady, you're finally back.

Did you miss me?

Li is here!

- Yes. - I missed you too.

My Lady, you look so beautiful now.

Li Er. I heard you've mastered swordplay.

Impressive!

By following the manuals, you've inherited my true teachings.

I said it long ago. You're a natural at martial arts.

My good disciple.

Wonderful. Pairing aconite with coptis.

That's a masterstroke.

I've practiced medicine for decades, I never thought of such a bold move...

treating heat with heat, cold with cold.

What a balance of cold and heat,

with yin and yang working together.

Li.

Li, you're truly impressive.

Li, well done.

Li, I'm proud of you.

I told you so. Li wouldn't fail.

Truly a disciple from Li Mountain Academy.

Li.

Let's keep chatting.

Thank you.

It must have been a long, exhausting journey for you.

But you cannot stop just yet.

Don't be trapped by the past.

Your path lies ahead of you, not behind you.

Do you understand?

I understand.

Li.

All right.

Since you understand then go.

Now, disciples, you may enter the Academy.

- Yes. - Yes.

[The End]