Original subtitles

♪ Wearing peach blossom makeup,I boil tea over the stove ♪

♪ With a pure heart,I embroider the brocade of time ♪

♪ On the short paper,affection flows in the silent moonlight ♪

♪ I only wish that by my side,is my love ♪

♪ Cool autumn wind blowing,I gaze far leaning against the railing ♪

♪ Sunset glow over the green hill,in formation wild geese are flying ♪

♪ Covering a thousand miles on horseback,for whom is he longing ♪

♪ He returned home in dreams ♪

♪ I will never forgetthat you held my hands ♪

♪ In your warm palmsand we braved winds and waves ♪

♪ Unexpectedly, after we traveled so farand turned grey-haired ♪

♪ I am still by your side ♪

♪ Hearts burning,we look into each other's eyes ♪

♪ Feelings overflowing,they don't need to be hided ♪

♪ No matter how time passesand life changes ♪

♪ Together, we will grow old ♪

=The Sword and the Brocade=

=Episode 21=

Three.

Four.

Five.

(Rectitude, Prudence & Diligence)(Justice Gives Birth to Wisdom)

My Lord.

About the moldy rice incidentyou asked me to investigate into,

I've found a lead.

How did it go?

Is it serious?

I did what you said

and followed up the cluewe found in the rice shop.

It turns out that the barracksare also plagued by moldy rice.

Luckily, the problem is not asserious as in the soup kitchen.

Some soldiers in thearmy have diarrhea.

Luckily, for now,there is no big problem.

(Book of Documents)

Soldiers are thosewho defend the country

on the battlefield to death.

It is crazy for Ou family tomake money at the expense of

the health of the soldiers.

With their health compromised,

we would be sending thesesoldiers to die on the battlefield.

That would be an offense to His Majesty.

Eunuch Feng.

Marquis.

I heard that you went tothe southeast for an inspection.

When did you come back?

Earlier this month.

Thank you for asking.

Come on.

Eunuch Feng,

Grand Secretary Chen wasfrowning and seemed thoughtful.

Is there anything wrong

with politics?

Marquis, you have no idea.

The rice for the military campswas found to be moldy.

His Majesty was enraged

and has ordered Great Secretary Chento look into it.

(Marquis Jingyuan's Mansion)

Father, today, WangZichuan of Ministry of Revenue

was suddenly arrested andinterrogated by Ministry of Justice.

Does this have to do with me?

Official Ou,

it was from the eunuch

that I got the news of moldyrice in the military camp.

Father, please forgive me.

About the moldyrice, it was my fault.

But I never meantto disrespect you.

Everything I have done hasbeen for our Ou family, for you.

Tell me about your fault.

I'm not smart enough.

I told you not tomake any big move

unless you've got to be sure.

If you didn't sell moldy rice

to Xu Lingyi, how could hefollow up the clue and find out

the problems inthe military food?

He knew about it?

I sold Vice Minister Wang out.

Because His Majesty has askedGrand Secretary Chen to look into this.

I made him your scapegoat.

Father, please don't be mad.

Father, you're in charge ofmilitary affairs in the southeast.

Building good relationship with thosewho support sea ban policy

can be expensive.

I did this becauseI want to help you.

You're so stupid.

Ministry of Revenue

has already been on Xu Lingyi's side.

You have no idea what price Ipaid to have Wang Zichuan planted

into the department.

After this,

Ministry of Revenuewill treat us as enemy.

Pick the brush up.

It has been a year sinceOu Yanxing left home.

We never heard from him.

Do you know where he went?

I have no idea.

I heard that he washeading up north these days.

I think he will come backto the capital soon.

Let me know

as soon as he gets back.

You are excused.

Aye, Father.

They look nice, don't they?

Absolutely.

I need you

to send these boxes separately

to the wife of Duke Ning,

the wife of Marquis Zhongshan

and the wife of Earl Zuo'an.

Tell them that these are newarrivals of Treasures Boutique.

They are welcome to have it.

Yes, Young Madam.

Dear, you're back.

What happened to you?

Is there anything wrong?

They knew about the moldy rice.

Well, Father...

I was trying to use it

to win his favor.

However,

I fell into Xu Lingyi's trap.

My plan almost got ruined.

You told me that it went well.

Where did things go wrong?

Xu Lingyi's wife meddled in theaffairs and upset the apple cart.

She is the illegitimate daughterof the Luo family.

What can she do?

On the day of disaster reliefin the soup chicken,

if it weren't for her, Xufamily would not have made it

till Xu Lingyi's return.

Xu Lingyi got suspicious

and traced the source of moldy riceto the military camp.

If it weren't for father whodecisively made his spy

in the Ministry of Revenue thescapegoat, the stakes would be high.

Hearing what you said,

I would like to meet thewife of Marquis Yongping.

Father

also mentioned Yanxing.

Why is this illegitimate sonalways on father's mind?

He couldn't careless about our family.

He would spend his days traveling around.

Speaking of hiscareer, he does nothing

but some unpresentable businesses.

I just don't get it.

Father just favors him.

In the capital, I'm the onlyeldest son of a duke's legal wife

who is not appointed the heir.

Our family business is rootedin the Ministry of War.

However, father sentme to the Ministry of Rites.

Tell me.

Tell me why.

Dear,

as far as I'm concerned, thereis no need to worry about it.

Perhaps father is usinghim to sharpen your ability.

As for the appointment ofthe heir, your father will after all

consider my father's feeling.

He won't appoint him the heir.

Dear,

now I can only counton you and your father.

My Lord.

You're back, My Lord.

You have a lot of work to do.

Please take care.

I will leave you to it.

Shiyi.

Ou family is behind theissue of the moldy rice.

Oh.

You knew about it.

Well...

We also found

that the moldy rice camefrom the military camp.

Ou family was crazy enoughto embezzle army provisions.

His Majesty knew aboutit and was enraged.

Marquis Jingyuan hadto wipe out his henchmen

in order to avoid punishment.

That's great.

This is not only about political dispute.

On a personal level,you're protecting Xu family.

On a greater level, you'reassisting His Majesty in his clean-up.

This is going to matter to the whole country.

Refugees in the capitalare not settled yet.

Some may take advantage of the chaos.

You went out a lot these days.

Did you ever get into trouble?

No, I didn't run into any trouble.

Thank you for asking.

Given the fact that you went outfrequently, you may need Wan Daxian,

who is good at martialarts, to be your body guard.

In case of emergency,

he can protect you.

My Lord, that sounds nice.

I will consider it.

(Why is His Lordship)

(saying this to me?)

(Did he know)

(that I went to Xianling Pavilion?)

(If I tell him the truth, )

(what will he do?)

My Lord, actually, I...

My Lord.

Greetings, My Lord.

Greetings, Your Ladyship.

I was visiting Great Madam.

My Lord, I need to talkto you about something.

Perhaps I should leave, My Lord.

My Lord,

do you know what day it is?

So, what's the occasion?

It seems you forgot it.

Today is my birthday.

My apologies.

I've prepared a delicious meal.

My Lord, please come tonight.

I'm afraid you'll eat by yourself.

My Lord.

My Lord, it has been twoyears since we got married.

I have always been alonein this house, feeling lonely.

I wasn't meant to bother you.

But today, when I visitedGreat Madam, she mentioned

that today is my birthday, andthat I should invite you to dinner.

That's why I...

(For them, )

(you are the only one they can rely on.)

(You can't always turna cold shoulder to them.)

All right.

That's great.

I shall begin makingarrangements at once.

I will be waiting for you tonight, My Lord.

Okay.

Come, come.

Nanny, His Lordshipspent about an hour

in Concubine Qiao's room before he left.

What now?

Has His Lordship gone to Her Ladyship?

His Lordship has returned to Banyuepan.

What is going on?

A while back, His Lordship andHer Ladyship were getting close.

How come they aredrifting apart these days?

Qiao Lianfang, that witchmust be playing the saboteur.

What's more, there hasbeen no news from Amber.

If things keep going this way...

What if...

What if she was pregnantwith His Lordship's baby...

Then...

No way, no way.

We must

let Madam Luo know about this.

That's right.

Madam Luo should know about this.

Today I skirted around the issue.

But Shiyi still would not tell.

I'm not an unreasonable person.

Even if she tells me thetruth, I will never stop her

from teaching embroidery

at Xianling Pavilion.

But why is she unwillingto tell me the truth?

My Lord,

it happened many days ago.

You are still going over that.

Are you making fun of me?

I don't think I have the guts.

My Lord, to go in anotherdirection, you may understand

why Her Ladyship keptthe truth from you.

To go in another direction?

Why would you notlet Her Ladyship know

that you already knew about it?

If you are worried about

what Her Ladyship thought,

you can have a talk with her.

I am not well-educated.

I don't know much.

But I'm pretty sure about one thing.

My Lord, if you want tounderstand Her Ladyship better,

you should openyour heart first.

Otherwise, there'salways an unbreakable wall

standing between you and Her Ladyship.

It seems you got plenty of them.

Yep.

I'll leave it here.

Sure.

Nanny Tao,

what brings you here?

Where is Dongqing?

She is in Her Ladyship's room.

Are you looking for her?

Not really.

I came to you.

Madam Luo askedme to give this to you.

This is...

This is my sister's embroidery.

Did Madam Luo find my sister?

How is she?

Madam Luo wanted me to tell you

that you must bear herwords in mind if you want to

meet your sister again.

His Lordship doesn't like Shiyi much.

She needs someone to helpher win the heart of His Lordship.

What would Madam Luo

want me to do?

Now you are playing dumb?

At the very beginning, you weresent by Madam Luo to His Lordship,

don't you know that?

But how could we dothis to Her Ladyship?

This is not the timeto worry about others.

What matters most isthe interests of Luo family

and your sister's safety.

Do you understand?

Amber?

Dongqing.

What are you doing here?

Don't slack off.

Her Ladyship wanted you todeliver these drawings to Master Jian.

Okay.

Master Jian, this is the newpattern designed by Her Ladyship.

Please check it out.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

This is my duty.

Amber,

please wait a moment.

Here you are.

This is...

Just open it.

Shiyi always thinks of you.

She often says

that you have come to theage to marry a good man.

She has beenpreparing your dowry.

Look, she spared some time

to make a pair ofembroidered shoes for you.

Check if you like it.

Come.

Thank you, Master Jian.

Watch out.

Mr. Lin.

Amber.

You're here.

Where is Lady Luo?

She is not here today.

You look pale.

Are you ill?

What happened?

I'm fine.

I don't think so.

You seem about to cry.

If you want to talk aboutyour feelings, I'm here.

Mr. Lin, thank you for asking.

Actually,

it is about my sister.

Your sister?

What's up with her?

My parents died when I was a child.

It was my sister who brought me up.

It was always just the two of us.

Then I got sick,

and she sold herself to slavery

in order to getthe money for my treatment.

And nothing has been knownabout her ever since.

I don't know where she is

and if she is well.

I don't know

when we can meet again.

Hey, don't cry.

Do you have any clueabout your sister?

I have many friends.

I might be able to help you with that.

My sister was soldto a rich family.

Perhaps

she has changed her name.

There has been no clue.

Sometimes I feel

that there is nothing I wouldn'tdo as long as I get to see her again.

I won't regret

even if

I'll have to betray my heart.

It is normal for usto miss our close kin.

I understand that.

But I don't think you will do that.

No matter what,

you will stay true to yourself.

Mr. Lin...

I just got a string of prayerbeads from Baiyun Temple.

It is believed to bring peoplegood luck and happiness.

I'll give it to you.

May you find your sister soon.

Mr. Lin, I can't accepta gift this precious.

This is not expensive.

May you find inner peace.

(Virtue of Modesty and Patience)

Your Ladyship, I've beenwanting to say this for a while.

It pains me

to keep it to myself.

What are you trying to say?

I remember how I thought ofyou as someone like Lady Erniang

when Madam Luosent me to serve you.

However, it turns out thatyou are so smart, kind, forgiving

and admirable.

Tonight, you said somany good things about me.

Are you asking me to lend you money?

Your Ladyship,

there is one thing that I don't understand.

Why would you let you guarddown with me all the while knowing

that I work for Madam Luo?

Have a seat.

This mansion may look fancy.

However, people living in itmay have their own miseries.

I let down my guard with youbecause I know that you are a good girl.

And that you never plot against me.

That's why I wantto protect you.

Your Ladyship,

I must have done greatthings in my past life

to meet someone like you.

You're a good person.

I will be punished if I ever do

something harmful to you.

Amber, is there anything wrong?

What happened to you?

Perhaps the cold wind

made me feel ill.

In that case, you don'tneed to accompany me

to Xianling Pavilion tomorrow.

Stay at home and have a good rest.

Don't make your cold worse.

What's the matter?

Nothing.

You have been so nice to me.

I am really touched.

Your Ladyship, you're going toXianling Pavilion tomorrow morning.

You might want to have an early night.

I should leave.

Dear sister...

(Mansion of Xu)

My Lord.

Amber?

What are you doing here?

Her Ladyship asked me to sendsome chicken soup to you, My Lord.

Just leave it there.

Anything else?

My Lord,

you might want to drink it while it's hot.

I'll do it myself.

My Lord,

are you tired?

Do you want me torub your shoulders?

You...

Did Her Ladyship ask youto send the soup?

Not really.

Her Ladyship does not know about it.

I came here myself.

Whatever youask me to do, I will

do it.

Get out of here.

Zhaoying.

My Lord.

Send Amber back.

Hand her over toShiyi when she is back.

Amber, please go with me.

Your Ladyship...

What's wrong?

Does His Lordship not like the soup?

What's going on here?

I got soup on my clotheswhen I was cooking.

I got changed.

I asked Amber to deliverthe soup before it gets cold.

This is my workplace.

It is not a placewhere everyone has access to.

Next time, you are expectedto deliver it yourself.

Those who don't obeythe rule shall be got rid of.

I need her.

And I would hate to dismiss her.

You need her?

Amber is a smartand thoughtful girl.

I don't need to tell her my thoughts.

Yet she understands me.

How could I live without her?

I'm sorry for what happened just now.

Amber, apologizeto His Lordship.

My Lord, please forgive me.

I was being impolite.

All right.

This is not happening again.

You're excused.

Yes, Your Ladyship.

My Lord, sorry for interrupting your work.

Have a taste of the soup, My Lord.

Your Ladyship.

Your Ladyship...

Your Ladyship, how could you know...

What you said yesterdayand your illness this morning

made me suspicious.

Dongqing told me that NannyTao went to you yesterday.

I thought about it andfigured that Madam Luo

was about to make her move.

Your Ladyship,

I got separated from my sisterwhen I was a child.

Madam Luo is the only personwho knows where my sister is.

I have no choicebut to follow her words.

You should have told me.

I couldn't.

I was afraid that MadamLuo would harm my sister.

Your Ladyship,

I never wanted to betray you.

Of course, I knowyou didn't mean it.

You won't dress like this if youreally have an ulterior purpose.

Today, you are moreplainly dressed than usual.

You don't even wear your hairpins.

And

you look pale.

Should I keep going?

Your Ladyship,

if I really want to seduce His Lordship,

it will cause great harm to you

no matter I succeed or not.

You have been so nice to me.

I can never do this to you.

So,

you pretended tohave followed Madam Luo's words.

But you were actually planningto disgruntle His Lordship

and get kicked out of the mansion.

That way, you did it withoutoffending Madam Luo or betraying me.

Am I right?

You're a good person.

In my life,

besides my sister,

no one has treated me as you do.

So,

Your Ladyship,

I will never hurt you.

So, what are you going to do now?

If you really want toleave here, I can help you.

But it would really meana lot for me if you stay.

Your Ladyship,

through this,

I realized what I should do.

From now on,

no matter I get to meetmy sister again or not,

I will be true to my heart.

I will not be threatened by anyone.

I trust you, Your Ladyship.

From now on,

I will be loyal to you.

Hey, don't kneel down.

I said it before.

I said that you two aremore than maids to me.

From now on, we will support each other.

No matter what, we willnever betray each other.

Never betray each other.

It turns out Amberhas her own reasons.

I never trusted her before.

I was wrong about her.

She is a poor girl.

We should help her.

Ask old servants backhome about her sister.

Maybe we can get some clues.

Remember, be careful.

Madam Luo can't know about it.

I know.

By the way, it turns out HisLordship is a perfect gentleman.

I think His Lordship loves you only.

Come on.

It seems you make everythingabout His Lordship.

I got it right.

I used to think of HisLordship as a lecherous person

because he had affairs with Concubine Qiao.

It has been a whilesince we lived in Mansion of Xu.

Let alone Concubine Qiao, HisLordship barely visits Concubine Wen

and Concubine Qin.

It seems His Lordshipis a little bit callous.

Don't you say that.

Aloof as he is, His Lordshipis not a callous person.

He is just not intodomestic dissention.

As far as I'm concerned,you know His Lordship

better than anyone else does.

He gave me his heart,and I would give him mine.

(Xianling Pavilion)

The wife of Marquis Zhongshan

will be holding a banquet three days later.

Ladies in thecapital are all invited.

For this banquet, Shiyi,

I want you to go with me.

I want to take this opportunityto introduce you to others.

Sure.

Mrs. Du.

This is female guestregistry for the banquet.

I want you to memorize it.

Yes, Mother.

This is your first time toattend such an occasion

as the matron of Xu family.

Remember, behave appropriately.

Those ladies

have sharp eyes.

Sure, Mother.

I will work on it.

That's right.

You are all excused.

Yes.

Mrs. Du,

Shiyi seemed to be calm,

with no trace of pride or panic.

It was Lianfang

who disappointed me today.

Great Madam,

let's not jump to the conclusion yet.

We should see what will happen.

(Marquis Zhongshan's Mansion)

(Marquis Zhongshan's Mansion)

This way, please.

Great Madam Xu, you're here.

This way, please.

Great Madam Xu.

Great Madam Xu, you're here.

Welcome, welcome.

Madam Tang, you've met her.

This is my fourth daughter-in-law.

Greetings, Madam Tang.

Greetings, Madam Xu.

Let's get inside.

There are all my friends inside.

Let's go.

Great Madam Xu, you're here.

Great Madam Zheng.

Greetings, ladies.

Let me introduce my fourthdaughter-in-law to you.

It has been so long.

Your daughter-in-law hasbecome even more gorgeous.

It seems your mansionis a good place to live.

I owe it all to Mother who hastreated me nicely and helped me out.

Great Madam Zheng,you look as radiant as ever.

It seems the Duke's Mansionis an even better place to live.

Exactly.

Mother is gettingprettier day by day.

Now I see why.

You are making funof me, aren't you?

All right.

Let's get inside.

Come on, let's go.

This way, please.

This way, please.

The madam over there

is the wife of Minister Zhouof Ministry of Rites.

She is talking to her daughter,who is the wife of Ou Lixing,

the eldest son of thelegal wife of Ou family.

Be careful

when you talk to her.

Yes, Mother.

His Lordship told me

about the relationshipbetween Ou and Xu families.

All right.

I will be talkingwith my old friends.

I was talking abouta beauty over there.

Young Madam Ou, it turns outyou are that beauty.

That's right.

You look so stunning today.

I couldn't resiststaring at you.

Thank you for saying that.

You must be Madam Xu.

Greetings, Young Madam Ou.

I heard that Madam Xu isgood at running the house,

and taking goodcare of Xu family.

I do admire that.

Meeting you today, I findMadam Xu is a young lady.

Young Madam Ou, you're giving mefar more credit than I deserve.

I was just handlingfamily affairs.

Isn't Marquis Yongping's mansion amazing?

It has been a while since we last met.

Shiyi, your aurahas even changed.

Greetings, Erniang.

This is the wife of WangYu, the heir of Duke Mao.

She is also a daughter of Luo family.

You'd think she is the daughterof someone's legal wife.

Look at the flower blossoms.

I heard that YoungMadam Ou is a connoisseur

who knows a lotabout flowers and plants.

Would you give me a few pointers?

Young Madam Wang,you do me too much honor.

I'm not an expert in the field.

I just know a thing or two about it.

Look at this flower.

It is scarlet,with numerous layers of petals.

This is...

Madam Xu,

I believe you know

what the flower is.

It is a very rare color.

Madam,

do you think you are moreknowledgeable than the wife

of Marquis Yongping?

Great Madam, should we...

Young Madam Ou, I beg to differ.

Everyone has his ownstrengths and weaknesses.

Nobody is omniscient.

It is just a flower.

What difference does itmake if I don't know its type?

Even if I know, does itmake me superior to others?

It turns out that being the wife ofMarquis Yongping makes no change

to one's lowness and shallowness.

You're pathetically ignorant.

Don't refer to yourself asthe daughter of Luo family.

As far as I'm concerned,one brings shame to the family

when she plays againsther own family members.

Erniang.

Madam Xu, I beg to differ.

We should admit our ignorance.

How could you sugarcoat it?

Is it what you learnedfrom Xu family?

People can always learn from each other.

Confucius did not feel ashamedto ask the two kids

when he saw their debate.

If we don't know something,we can always ask.

It is not something to be ashamed of.

Now I see.

Madam Xu, you'recomparing yourself to a saint.

Young Madam Ou, I'm nomatch for you when it comes to

taking things out of context.

Why not admit thatyou don't know this flower?

Why keep beating around the bush?

In spring, there arepeach and plum blossoms.

The scent of cymbidium comes with wind.

The redder the flower is, themore precious the cymbidium is.

Though the color is rare,

the flower is not uniqueto prestigious families.

It can also be found in merchant families.

It is nothing but an ornament.

I know its type, but what's the point?

Merchant families?

How can you mentionour family and merchant families

in the same breath?

Red cymbidium is rare.

But people with ulteriormotivations are not rare.

Orchid is a noble plant.

Not everyone is qualifiedto comment on it.

If it falls into the filthy hands,its nobleness will be defiled.

♪ In the cold darkness of midnight,a sigh is heard ♪

♪ Who picked up the paintbrushto draw loneliness ♪

♪ In my life, I can draw everything,but lovesickness ♪

♪ The mountain city is waiting for rain ♪

♪ I am waiting for youto pass in my memory ♪

♪ The sky is in a more lonely colorthan your face ♪

♪ The wind risesand the candle light flickers ♪

♪ The thin clothescan't stand the cold days ♪

♪ Full of twists and turns,fate is untold ♪

♪ I ground my thoughts into ink ♪

♪ But I still can't sketch your contours ♪

♪ How could the inkand paper exhaust our stories ♪

♪ Who picked up the pento disturb the heart ♪

♪ Who visited to remind me of the past ♪

♪ If feelings can be kept in mind,but cannot be confessed ♪

♪ I won't escape from whatever end ♪

♪ In the dim lantern light,with you there is me ♪

♪ Who picked up the pento set free lonely tears ♪

♪ Whoever visited my life,only you stayed all the days ♪

♪ If the moth doesn't fly into the fire ♪

♪ How can it be said to be persistent ♪

♪ Coming to the end of your story,there is me ♪