Original subtitles

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Subtitles brought to you by The Gentle Empress Team @ Viki.

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Watching the person in the mirror's countenance pale and grow haggard,

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Examining love together with regret, both new and old.

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Keeping watch still by a lantern though it is daybreak, drenched with tears,

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Watching others meet as promised, as twilight falls.

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Story of Yanxi Palace

Episode 28

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She's my hope.

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What did you say?

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I've always wanted to live like she does.

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Empress...

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You are the mother of an empire,

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yet you envy an ignorant palace maid?

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Are you crazy?

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Your Majesty, do you still remember

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the scenario of our first visit to Empress Xiaojingxian

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after our wedding?

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At the time, the current Empress Dowager

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was still Consort Xi.

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The power to rule over the six palaces

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was all in the hands of Empress Xiaojingxian.

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No need for formalities.

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Hongli, this wife was chosen by your Royal Father

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and Royal Mother among so many choices.

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Are you satisfied?

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I will forever remember the graces that Royal Mother bestowed me.

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Come here for a moment.

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This hair pain is my meeting gift to you.

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I hope that you can frequently come into the palace

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to talk with me.

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Thank you for your kindness, Royal Mother.

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I will remember it. From now on, I surely will frequently come to the palace.

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I've also prepared a gift for you.

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It's a sapphire "Haoran Court" hanging panel.

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I made the embroidery on the hanging panel.

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Hongli, go to your Royal Father.

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I have some words to tell your wife.

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Yes.

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Kneel.

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I don't know what I've done wrong.

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May Royal Mother guide me.

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Go back and copy "Virtues of a Woman" one hundred times. (T/N wifely virtue, speech, manner, and work)

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You would then know what mistake you made.

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Empress Xiaojingxian had always been kind and amicable.

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Why would she punish you?

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Because I spoke more words than Your Majesty did.

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Spoke more than I did?

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Yes. As a wife,

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one should speak less, and speak cautiously.

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If one's husband speaks one sentence,

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and you speak two sentences, then that's wrong.

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I...don't understand.

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I remember that in the decree

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giving a posthumous name to Empress Xiaojingxian, she was once described as

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having a pure and harmonious natural temperament, having a gentle and submissive natural disposition.

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Well-trained in the etiquette inside a woman's bedroom.

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The model of proper womanly integrity.

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Very hidebound by convention.

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An Empress who had strictly followed the women's virtues.

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How then could she allow

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the wife of Prince Bao of the First Rank

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to be more eloquent and carefree

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than the Prince himself?

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Absurd.

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Maybe men will think that this is absurd.

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But for a woman,

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this is morality and conduct.

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Always treating one's husband as the sky,

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one's husband as the most supreme,

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the aspiration of one's husband as being one's own aspiration.

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All the wives in this world are like that.

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The more I should be like that,

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I'm the mother of an empire.

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I mustn't make any mistake.

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Or else the whole Forbidden City,

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wrong...

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It's the whole Qing Empire

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who will be like Empress Xiaojingxian

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in criticizing me

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as not fulfilling my duty and not qualified for my position.

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Empress,

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I never doubted

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that you are the best empress in this world.

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But Your Majesty,

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I am already not my best self.

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Since the day I married you,

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I'm already not Fuca Rongyin.

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My whole person

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got tightly wrapped.

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Ever step I make

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must be perfect.

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I must be magnanimous,

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dignified,

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virtuous and submissive.

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This is the Empress in people's hearts.

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Not only me,

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but the whole Forbidden City must strictly follow the rules.

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Not one mistake must happen.

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But Yingluo is different. Only she is different.

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She doesn't obey the rules.

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Excessive overstepped her boundaries.

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But...she's being herself.

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Wei Yingluo is Wei Yingluo.

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She's fresh and alive.

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She's willful.

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She's trying her best to resist.

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Unlike other people,

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willingly becoming a wooden puppet that is being manipulated by others.

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Your Majesty, I...

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became who I am now

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because I didn't persist in being myself.

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Hence, I must protect Yingluo,

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just like protecting my old self.

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Your Majesty,

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can you understand?

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That's why...

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you will never allow me...

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to hurt her.

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Yes, I will never allow it.

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This is my first time disobeying Your Majesty.

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I earnestly beg Your Majesty.

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Just let me be willful this one time.

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Your Majesty, what's wrong?

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I suddenly felt today

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that I never really have known the Empress.

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Your Majesty, the Workhouse...

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Isn't she a born rebel?

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Just let her live or die on her own.

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Your Majesty, it's all heavy labor in the Workhouse.

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I fear that Miss Yingluo might not be able to do it.

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She can't do it?

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If she can't do it, she'll come back crying and begging.

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As long as she cries a drop of one tear,

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it then proves that everything that Empress said

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was just overpraising her. Back to Yangxin Palace.

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Yes.

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Where is Imperial Guard Fuca?

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His Majesty ordered him to out and handle some matters. He's currently not in the palace.

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When he's needed, he's not around. When you don't need him, he keeps roaming around!

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The men in this world are all useless!

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Miss Mingyu, why do you talk like that?

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Did I say anything wrong?

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Yingluo has been punished to go to the Workhouse. Is that a place fit for a human?

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I fear that she might not be able to come back.

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If Imperial Guard Fuca is around, he could at least beg for leniency on her behalf.

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Wei Yingluo got in trouble?

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How did you know my name?

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Your name is inside the fragrance pouch.

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Quickly return the fragrance pouch to me!

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Tell me first what happened to Wei Yingluo.

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How come she got punished to go to the Workhouse?

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Miss MIngyu, are you alright?

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My waist...

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I've already told you that your bones are weak, so don't randomly move.

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Are you crazy?

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Miss Mingyu!

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This lady is too fierce.

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Did you eat pepper growing up?

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Your Highness, you were painting just fine. How come you don't want it anymore?

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After looking at it left and right,

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this orchid seems to look like a chive.

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Your Highness. Plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum. An orchid is an elegant flower.

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How could it look like a chive?

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It's worse than a chive. You can use chives in cooking.

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But Her Highness Consort Chun likes orchids the most.

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She said that an orchid is the gentleman among the flowers.

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Your Highness, did I say something wrong?

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Confucius said that angelica and orchids grow in deep ravines.

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They don't stop emitting fragrance just because there's no one around.

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A gentleman cultivates morality. He doesn't change just because he's trapped.

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Is she trying to praise the orchid by that?

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No, she's praising herself.

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Fine with the orchids.

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But that bamboo, it's just plain and bald.

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Literati like to praise mastering the Four Arts.

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They just want to announce to the world

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that my morals are lofty, that I have noteworthy conduct and am independent.

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But all of it is just

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angling for fame and waiting for the highest bidder.

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Speaking of the Four Arts, (T/N playing zither, reading books, calligraphy, and painting)

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I've been taught since I was little. I'm not inferior to anyone.

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But I...

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just love opera more.

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But now you're not allowed to sing?

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I can't sing...

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- Even if I can't sing, I won't draw rotten things like this!

- Your Highness!

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Your Highness!

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Your Highness.

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Your Highness the Noble Consort.

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What is it?

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Your Highness the Noble Consort, I have good news.

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Did Imperial Consort Dowager Yu got struck by lightning?

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Your Highness.

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The funeral of Imperial Consort Dowager Yu is a white thing, where would joyous news come from? (T/N mourning)

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That Imperial Consort Dowager Yu had been a vegetarian and been praying to Buddha all her life.

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In the end, she got killed by lightning.

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Isn't this the biggest joke here in Forbidden City?

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That's right.

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If it's not Imperial Consort Dowager Yu, would it be Changchun Palace?

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That's right.

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Wei Yingluo angered the Empress

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and got punished to go to the Workhouse.

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It's just a lowly slave.

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How could that be good news?

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Without a fierce dog guarding the gates,

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won't entering Changchun Palace just be like entering a deserted place?

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We indeed must plan for that.

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We have to act carefully and must not leave any traces behind.

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Your Highness, don't worry. I understand.

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That Changchun Palace used to be so tightly guarded.

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I'm already growing nervous.

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Now....

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This palace will become more lively.

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You were once a favored palace maid by the side of the Empress.

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Wherever you went, others must bow to you with respect.

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After entering the Workhouse, you must forget your past identity.

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In here, you're just a sinner who does lowly jobs.

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Everyone here in the Workhouse has his own duty. We mainly are in charge of the laborious tasks in the palace.

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What others are not willing to do, you do it all.

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You wake up when the rooster crows to clean the public paths.

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At chou hour (1 am to 3 am), you must remove grass and weeds from the three main palaces.

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From daybreak to late night, we must answer several complicated and laborious miscellaneous tasks from the different palaces.

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As for you,

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start from the simplest.

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You will be responsible

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for cleaning the commodes from the different palaces.

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Hey.

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Who are you?

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Hey, Little Brother,

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you must be in charge of transporting the commodes?

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This person is so strange.

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What's that smell?

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Indeed.

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Isn't this an old acquaintance?

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Hey everyone, do you know who she is?

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We don't know her.

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Let me make the introductions.

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This Miss Wei Yingluo

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is from Changchun Palace.

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A favored person of Her Highness the Empress. In this Forbidden City,

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she's the most arrogant person.

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How come in a blink of an eye,

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she has ended up here with us?

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Indeed.

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Say, Yingluo, others go up higher and higher in ranks as they go on.

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How come you instead keep falling back?

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If it was me,

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- I'd just look for a place to bump my head,

- Right.

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so that I wouldn't be living an ignoble life

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and invite mockery.

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Wei Yingluo, what do you want to do?

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Let me tell you, we are all members of the Workhouse. I'm more experienced than you.

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I'm not afraid of you.

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With you being that afraid of me

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means that you didn't forget how you got in here.

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By mentioning that, you're making me mad!

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Isn't it because you pretended to have an affair with Imperial guard and lured me to report it.

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It's good that you didn't forget.

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Or else I must still exert efforts to remind you about it.

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Wei Yingluo...

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Enough... Forget it...

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- There's still time for that...

- Indeed.

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Let's go.

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Just go. Don't lower yourself to her level.

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Let's sleep.

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Subtitles brought to you by The Gentle Empress Team @ Viki.

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What is she doing?

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Those are leftover charcoals from the different palaces.

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It's currently the peak of summer.

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Say, why is she gathering the leftover charcoals.

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Let me remind all of you,

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that this person is very scheming. You had better stay far from her

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or you might get dragged down by her.

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Brother Yan! Brother Yan!

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Brother Yan!

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Brother Yan!

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Brother Yan.

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Brother Yan, why are you not paying attention to me?

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Brother Yan.

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Brother Yan! Brother Yan!

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Jinxiu hit the wall again.

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I've told you that Brother Yan will never like you.

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Stop wasting time.

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Not like me? You think he'll like you?

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Look at your appearance.

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We all are not blind. Who doesn't know that Brother Yan is handsome?

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But he's colder than ice.

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All the women here in the Workhouse have tried it.

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All hit a wall. What's special about you that he'll give you any attention?

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I'm different from all of you!

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I'm younger and more beautiful than all of you.

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Just laugh then. Laugh until your teeth fall out!

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The palace maids here in the Workhouse are saying that you never talk to them.

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Are you a mute?

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I forgot. Mutes can't get into the palace.

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You have to deliver dung carts every day, while I must scrub the commodes.

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We can count as colleagues.

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How come you won't speak even one word to me?

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The palace maids are all saying that they like you.

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They say that you're handsome.

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I think so too.

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I've entered Forbidden City for so long

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and until now haven't seen such a handsome eunuch.

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Why did you hit me?

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You think I want to talk to you?

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Work is so tiring every day. Others are also not paying attention to me.

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Just to keep myself from going crazy, I can only talk to you.

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But, Jinxiu used to stalk Imperial Guard Fuca.

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Imperial Guard Fuca, you know who he is?

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That is the biological younger brother of the Empress.

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An imperial bodyguard of the inner palace.

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But that time, Jinxiu wasn't pestering him endlessly.

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Maybe Jinxiu does like you sincerely.

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If you don't get some food, you won't have any once mealtime is over.

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I got you one.

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It was hard to get this.

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Subtitles brought to you by The Gentle Empress Team @ Viki.

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This is...

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Your Highness, have you forgotten? You frequently wore it when you were still unmarried.

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Because it's not that valuable and an old item that can be kept,

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thus we didn't sell it last time, sparing it from that incident.

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Immediately doll me up.

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I'm going to Shoukang Palace to pay respects to Imperial Consort Dowager Yu.

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Your Highness, you must not!

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Imperial Consort Dowager Yu got punished by the heavens. You mustn't associate with her.

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Even when the Empress wanted to visit her, she got persistently convinced by His Majesty not to do so.

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Why are you going then?

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Hurry up. Stop talking nonsense.

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Yes.

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[ Memorial Tablet of Imperial Consort Dowager Yu ]

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Prince He of the First Rank, please contain your grief.

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In this huge Forbidden City, a palace full of Imperial consorts,

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everyone is saying that my mother was punished by the heavens, and thus a person without virtue.

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Everyone is rushing to avoid her. Why then did you come?

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It's just normal for lightning to hit

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the Forbidden City during the summer and burn palaces.

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These are all just unfortunate accidents.

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Moreover, the dead person is most important.

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Paying respect to a dead person is proper etiquette.

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I just came to offer incense and do my part.

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Your Highness, please be careful of your health.

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I'm fine.

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Your Highness has been guarding Shoukang Palace for several days. You won't leave, no matter who tries to talk to you.

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You're still sick. Why do this?

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Everyone says that I'm absurd.

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They find it repulsive to even talk to me.

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Your Highness Consort Xian, you had better just leave,

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so as not to invite any gossip.

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Your Highness has lost a loved one.

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I can understand your grief. May you take care of your health.

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This is not for yourself, but for Imperial Consort Dowager Yu.

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She loved her child so much. If she knew that you're not cherishing yourself,

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how could she rest in peace?

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Consort Xian!

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Your Highness, what is it?

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Thanks.

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Come, have one.

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Catch the thief!

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Your Highness, please go in.

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[ Hoifa-Nara Manor ]

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Your Highness, why did you go to Shoukang Palace?

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Before, I saved one person

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and safely brought him home.

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But it happened so long time ago that I even forgot about it.

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He also must have forgotten it.

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Hence, I must think of a way to remind him.

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Consort Xian!

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Your Highness, you need anything?

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Thanks.

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I only know that Prince He of the First Rank is so absurd and laughable. One shouldn't get too near him.

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With His Majesty around,

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Hongzhou can only be absurd. The more absurd he is, the better.

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Your Highness, I'm getting more confused.

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Mistress, Her Highness Consort Chun has come. She has been waiting for you for a long time.

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- Fourth Brother.

- Hongzhou!

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Are you alright?

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Hongzhou, when brothers fight, you should stop before touching each other. Who told you to be so reckless and hurt Fourth Prince?

377

Mother, I didn't mean it.

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Blades are blind.

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Fifth Little Brother didn't mean to do it. Mother Yu, don't be overly worried.

380

That is because you're magnanimous and won't lower yourself to his level.

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From now on, I surely will strictly guard him and won't let him hurt you again.

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Fourth Prince, let's put a bandage on your wound first.

383

Mother, I really didn't mean it.

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Damn you! What did tell you?

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Hongli is your Royal Father's favorite.

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Your Royal Father plans to let him inherit his throne in the future.

387

Your action today might cause our death, do you know that?

388

What have I always told you?

389

Have you forgotten? Did you just put it in the back of your head?

390

We all are biological sons of Royal Father.

391

We all are princes of the Qing Empire!

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How come I must keep yielding!

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Why?

394

Hongzhou,

395

I know that you're outstanding in literary knowledge and fighting skills.

396

But...

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you're just not the favored son of His Majesty.

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If you keep showing off and being competitive like this,

399

you will only live in more pain.

400

I don't ask that you become prestigious,

401

I only ask that you can live.

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I want to protect you.

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Do you know that?

404

Hongzhou, I beg you.

405

Give it up.

406

This is my possession.

407

Why must I give up?

408

Mother...

409

Sister Consort Xian,

410

I heard that the biological sister of Imperial Concubine Jia will be entering the palace.

411

You must be careful.

412

Careful about what?

413

Once she enters the palace, she surely will rack her brain

414

to take back Yongcheng. After all,

415

she came for that matter.

416

As long as Yongcheng will live well, whoever takes care of him

417

is fine with me.

418

Although that is right,

419

you still have to make plans for yourself.

420

To say some harsh words,

421

after entering the palace for so many years, you still don't have any child.

422

If you don't have any children accompanying you, what will happen to you in the future?

423

Look at Imperial Consort Dowager Guo and Imperial Consort Dowager Yu.

424

Although they both were the Imperial consorts of the late Emperor,

425

one had a sad and tragic life, while the other one suffered punishment from the heavens.

426

But she had a son to send her off after her death. It still was different.

427

Little Sister, you only know to think for my sake,

428

why then are you not planning for yourself

429

while you're still young?

430

All my life, I've followed the Empress.

431

I will take care of her son like he is my own.

432

I only hope that one day, once I'm gone,

433

there will be someone who will remember this sincerity of mine

434

and light an incense for me. I'll then be content.

435

Little Sister is very loyal to the Empress.

436

It's really admirable.

437

Loyal?

438

Yes. It's indeed loyalty.

439

Little Sister, I won.

440

Look at me, I got distracted.

441

It's really one wrong move and the whole game is lost.

442

Sister, good game.

443

Yingluo.

444

Your Highness.

445

I like this tea.

446

It tastes sour and sweet. What did you put in it?

447

Yingluo left me a list.

448

She said that you're currently pregnant, so your taste will change.

449

She told me not to use tea leaves.

450

I should put some sour plum in the water to give it some taste.

451

Your Highness, can't Yingluo come back?

452

Didn't you formerly dislike her?

453

She would fight with me every day.

454

It was quite lively. But suddenly, she's gone.

455

I'm not used to it.

456

It's just that I...

457

can't let her come back.

458

Don't know what Fuheng will do

459

once he finds out.

460

The palace is already on curfew. You can't go.

461

Of course, I won't let anyone notice me.

462

Fuheng, I've checked it.

463

This is the decree of Her Highness the Empress. You can't disobey her decree.

464

Fuheng!

465

Fuheng!

466

Stubborn!

467

How come I seem to be unable to clean it off me.

468

Why did you come?

469

Come with me.

470

What are you doing? Fuheng!

471

I'm going to take you to see His Majesty and ask him to grant us marriage.

472

I'm not going.

473

Yingluo, I don't want you to stay in this kind of place.

474

His Majesty already said

475

that if I approach you one more time,

476

he will kill me to vent his anger.

477

You think I will risk my life just for you?

478

I won't let him harm you.

479

And then? You will anger His Majesty

480

and get punished for it. I don't want to become a wife of a criminal.

481

Unable to lift my head forever.

482

You always use words to hurt me.

483

You're deliberately scaring me away. Am I right?

484

I will repeatedly think about every word you say.

485

You have always treated the Empress as your benefactor. You don't want to destroy my future.

486

More importantly, you don't want to drag the whole Fuca Clan into trouble.

487

Hence, you did everything to hide from me and to avoid me.

488

This kind of protection is actually hurting me.

489

In your heart, am I

490

someone who doesn't even have the courage to bear responsibilities?

491

Young Master, you came from a noble family.

492

You're good in literary knowledge and fighting skills.

493

You're even an Imperial bodyguard. You have a very promising future.

494

Just for me...

495

it's not worth it to give everything up.

496

I don't care about future career or noble status. You also shouldn't care about them.

497

What about your aspirations?

498

Every time I go to the Imperial Guard Office,

499

I see military books on your table

500

and bed.

501

You want to join the battlefield.

502

You want to achieve merits and establish achievements. You want your name to be remembered forever.

503

Am I right?

504

Yes. So what?

505

Just for a woman, you might anger His Majesty

506

and lose the chance to be given an important position.

507

Do you want to waste your days and accomplish nothing for the rest of your life?

508

Yingluo, I'm just going to ask you one question.

509

You're a person that's clear about kindness and grudges.

510

It was you who approached me first and deliberately obtained my attention.

511

Now, you're saying that you're giving up.

512

What about the affection and heart that you owe me?

513

How are you going to pay me back?

514

You're unable to repay it, am I right?

515

Use your life to repay it then.

516

You want me to repay your affection. Is that it?

517

I'll pay it back.

518

Yingluo, what are you doing?

519

Yingluo.

520

What are you doing?

521

Didn't you want me to repay your affection?

522

I'm repaying it now.

523

Wei Yingluo, you really can do anything.

524

Do you know the ending of a palace maid losing her virginity?

525

I'd rather die than owe anyone favors.

526

You're the most ruthless woman I've seen.

527

Maybe...

528

you find my scent weird right now.

529

It's not my fault then.

530

You really think that I'm a gentleman

531

and am at a loss of what to do with you?

532

Let me tell you that a gentleman is still a man.

533

You're wrong.

534

Subtitles brought to you by The Gentle Empress Team @Viki.com

535

♫Softly falling into the hollow of my palm,♫

536

♫Resting frozen in the center of my palm.♫

537

♫Our meeting across past incarnations was inevitable,♫

538

♫Joined together, deeply experiencing and holding onto the end of happiness.♫

539

♫Though plainly given words of discouragement,♫

540

♫Pretending to hear nothing but exhortation.♫

541

♫ Endless tears, believing it cannot be true,♫

542

♫ In this life, being born under an unlucky star.♫

543

♫ I hear the sound of the snow slowly falling♫

544

♫ Though I close my eyes, it's impossible to stop the vision.♫

545

♫ Nothing you can do about being approached, not being inconsistent in love,♫

546

♫ Though merely holding onto it from the outside, prone to this sort of circumstance.♫

547

♫ I hear the sound of the snow slowly falling♫

548

♫ As though you are holding me closely, and speaking sweetly.♫

549

♫ Opening your eyes to a sky filled with merciless snow falling,♫

550

♫ Who, after suffering this loss for a lifetime, is fond of this scene?♫