Original subtitles

♫ Those people, those affairs, those palace doors ♫

♫ One step into the commotions of this world ♫

♫ Listen to the wind, listen to the rain, listen to the endless ups and downs of life ♫

♫ Destiny indeed loves us ♫

♫ Look at the dreams sealed by the kiss of time ♫

♫ Remember half the life that’s already been lived ♫

♫ In these red walls, remains one person ♫

♫ Wait for the dead of the night, wait for eternity ♫

♫ If the world is a storm, then everything in it must take refuge ♫

♫ I’ll go with you ♫

♫ Traveling across thousands of mountains, don’t be afraid of the wasteland ♫

♫ There’ll be flowers on the side of the path ♫

♫ Love and hate are too messy; simply coming and going ♫

♫ The winds and clouds have not dissipated ♫

♫ Spring and fall are long; I can finally wander this mortal world with you ♫

[Rebel Princess]

[Episode 24]

I almost forgot that my third imperial brother is an affectionate person.

How could he bear to leave the palace when A’Wu is here?

That does save me some trouble.

Then...

Where should we arrange for Third Prince to stay?

I have a good relationship with Zitan.

If he was not born into this imperial family, I would actually like this younger brother of mine.

We cannot let him live.

However, in consideration of our past memories,

I want to gift him a huge gift before he dies.

Princess Consort, please have some congee.

Princess Consort, I am scared.

Will Second Prince really kill us all?

If he really does kill us, being afraid is useless.

A’Wu.

Zitan?

Have you suffered?

Why are you here?

Princess Consort,

our lovesick Third Prince

walked into the trap himself and returned to the palace because of you.

Second Prince and the rest of us are all so very touched.

That’s why His Highness the Second Prince is being merciful and letting you

spend a good night with Third Prince here in the Fengchi Palace.

- You... - Get out!

You’re already about to die and you still don’t know better.

- Keep a close eye on them! - Yes!

Is what he said true? Why did you do that?

As I said before,

I will not miss out on you again.

As long as you’re fine, all is well.

You should not have come back.

This is a decision I regret the least.

Do you remember the time you fell from a tree when you were young?

The palace was in chaos that day

because the Princess of the Fengchi Palace went missing.

The nannies of the palace were so extremely worried and looked everywhere for you.

I passed by here and saw that the branches were moving.

Taking a careful look,

I saw a little ball holding onto a branch.

The branch was moving back and forth.

You weren’t aware of the danger and continued to climb it,

wanting to catch a little bird.

Then there was a cracking sound.

Fortunately, I was quick.

You did not hurt yourself.

However, this arm of mine broke.

I have been a troublemaker ever since I was a child, but everything I did was shocking, then dangerous.

However, this time,

do you know that everything is under the control of Zilu?

Regardless if you believe it or not,

in the past year,

today is my happiest day.

Happy?

How can we be happy in our situation?

Zilu can take our lives at any moment.

Having this moment here,

even if I die tomorrow, I’m happy.

Zitan,

there are matters more important than dying that are waiting for you to take care of.

Reporting to Duke Huan!

Bastard! If there’s anything to say, wait until tomorrow!

Duke Huan, General Lin and General Huang are hanging onto their last breaths.

They’re outside the tent right now.

What?

General Huang. General Lin.

Go find Duke Huan quickly.

Okay.

Duke Huan, please seek justice for us.

According to the plan, General Lin and I

pretended to be drunk to try to figure out what was going on in the mountains.

However, w-we did not expect we would run into that Prince Yuzhang.

He did not care about your face at all, Duke Huan,

and flogged us 100 times.

Please get revenge for the two of us, Duke Huan!

Then according to what you say, you haven’t found anything?

We were useless.

Fine, fine, fine.

Take these two generals back to heal their wounds.

I will definitely get this revenge for you two.

Okay, you can leave now.

- Thank you, Duke Huan. - We’ll take our leave now.

Duke Huan, what do we do?

Your Highness, from what I see, many of Prince of Jianning’s men are surrounding the outskirts of the valley.

He will not be able to stay still for so long.

In the Huizhou battle, Princess Consort convinced Prince of Jianning not to make a move, resulting in a loss.

This time, he has an advantageous opportunity once again, yet he still has not made any moves.

Why is that?

Who cares?

Either way, our Ningshuo Army has never lost before.

Even if we have to face him head-on, who’s afraid of him?

I say if Prince of Jianning does not attack tomorrow,

then I am willing to lead the troops in the battle.

What do you say, Your Highness?

If Your Highness doesn’t agree, then j-just pretend I never said anything.

Old Hu, back then,

amongst the brothers who enlisted with us, who is still alive?

Shuo River.

Xiao Hu died in your arms.

Southern Dian.

In order to save me, Old Wu was shot until he became a hedgehog.

Old Yu was the one most afraid of dying, yet he was not able to stay alive until now.

There are just the two of us left.

We were young and aggressive back then.

In order to win, we never cared about the consequences.

During these past few years, as I took care of the orphans and

parents of our dead brothers,

I discovered that without them,

how miserable their families are.

Old Hu,

in my position,

I must consider how to win with the least cost.

Your Highness! Your Highness!

Duke Huan ordered someone to report just now that he was not strict enough with his subordinates.

For military discipline, he has publicly beheaded both General Lin and General Huang.

He killed them?

Let us out! Let us out! Let us out!

Never have we ever heard of such a thing! Never have we ever heard of such a thing!

Even the emperor cannot detain a whole court of officers and ministers

in this Taiji Hall all day and night!

We all loyally serve the nation, yet this is how we are treated?!

Wouldn’t that anger anyone?

- We want to see His Majesty! - We want to see His Majesty! We want to see His Majesty!

How dare a general of the imperial guard beat and scold us great court officials!

Have you all rebelled?!

This is a humiliation of the nation.

If you have the capabilities, kill us all!

Let us out!

Are you really treating us like prisoners?!

Second Prince is here!

Let us out! Let us out! Let us out!

Fellow ministers.

Detaining the court officials here for one day will lead to turmoil in the capital for a while.

Right now, Prince of Jianning is closing in and the rebels have been causing chaos.

If there’s turmoil in the capital,

wouldn’t that...

Wouldn’t that what?

Wouldn’t that be destroying one’s own nation?

- That’s right. - General Han is right!

We are all loyal subjects!

We are all court officials, not prisoners!

This Taiji Hall is not the imperial prison, either!

That’s right. Taiji Hall is not an imperial prison.

Why are you arresting us?

You all are exactly who I want to arrest!

- Guards. - Here!

Take the two leaders,

tie them up, and hang them up!

- Yes! - This—

You can’t! You can’t!

You can’t do that!

Second Prince, these two are loyal officials of the court.

When will we put them down?

Put them down?

Don’t untie them until they’re dead.

Everyone come look! Grand Tutor Chen and the other one have been tied and hung up alive!

My goodness. These are loyal officials of the court, loyal officials of the court!

Are there no laws?

Greetings, Your Majesty.

What is it?

You won’t even call me Imperial Father?

Without the Tiger Emblem, why would I pretend to be your filial son?

And when have you ever treated me as your own son?

You blame me and I have nothing to say about that.

Your consort mother has a low status and died early.

You were unlike Zilong and Zitan, who had their birth mothers to protect them.

Thinking about it, you’ve suffered a lot.

I’ve wronged you.

As expected.

In the palace, the relationship between a father and son will also take into account strengths and weaknesses.

The current me who has become strong

now has your attention.

Such a pity. It is too late.

Your Majesty! Didn’t you ask me just now,

why I wouldn’t call you “Imperial Father”?

Two days ago, I just found out

that I’m not your son.

What did you say?

Say that one more time!

I’m the same as you, an imperial descendant of the Ma family.

However, my father is not you.

It’s your younger brother, Prince of Jianning.

You’re lying!

Lies.

Heaven is very fair.

Your Highness, I have been observing the frontlines these past few days.

I discovered that Xiao Qi’s army continues to stay in place and not come out.

What should we do?

Your Highness, you mean... [Prince of Jianning]

At this time, we must resolutely strike.

I understand.

You have never treated me as your son

and I really am not your son.

At this moment,

my biological father is thousands of kilometers away,

leading an army to help me.

On the other hand, Your Majesty’s son, the crown prince,

has become a prisoner.

Also, Zitan, the son you’ve always had intentions of supporting...

Originally, he had a chance to escape.

However, he disregarded everything to return to the palace to die.

Your Majesty, guess. Who did he do that for?

What a shame.

Everything you’ve done,

in his eyes, is nothing when compared to Wang Xuan.

Don’t kill them.

Even if I am not related to you by birth, I have raised you.

Back then, when Prince of Jianning failed to seize the throne,

I did not kill him in consideration that he is family.

Even if you do ascend to the throne,

you can confer them as foreign princes.

That’ll depend on my mood.

What do you want?

An imperial edict to abdicate the throne.

The world is already yours.

What is the use of an imperial edict?

Your Majesty.

Legitimacy is very important.

Heir Apparent Consort... No, I meant, Miss Huan, I was careless.

Since you are so useless,

what is the point of keeping you?

Zilu?

It’s really you.

Are you okay?

I thought you would never return again.

I’m all right.

It’s all right now.

Don’t cry anymore.

Aren’t I standing in front of you perfectly fine?

But what if...

There are no ifs.

I will surely do what I promised you.

That Duke Huan killed his own beloved general out of nowhere

and brought us the head of General Huang.

Is it really just to apologize?

Don’t be deceived by his usual smile.

I keep feeling like there is a sword hidden behind his smile.

Being in the same barracks as him sends cold shivers down my spine.

Why did Your Highness’s father-in-law send him here?

To keep an eye on you?

You idiots probably don’t know, right?

You have fallen into the trap of our great prince!

You already have no way to escape!

You either obediently come down to surrender

or stay in there and wait for death!

You bastard, if you dare, come here!

I will cut you up into pieces!

What undefeatable army of Prince Yuzhang?

Bullshit!

Your Highness, are you going to let those rebels continue their insults?

The soldiers have had enough.

Your Highness! I found it!

Along the back of the mountain and through a cave, we can get to the bottom of the mountain.

Although that passage is not wide enough for thousands of men, it’s enough for a group of men and horses.

I brought men with me to scout it and found that there were no rebels.

That’s great.

This is the reason I dared to retreat to Guiwu Pass.

- Your Highness. -Your Highness.

- Come down! - If you dare, come down!

- You! Come down! - I dare you to come down!

Let’s fight, Your Highness.

- Come down! - Come down!

You cannot endure just this? Let them throw insults.

Insults are nothing.

Come down! Come down!

Come down here!

A’Xu.

Let me, Your Highness.

I really am getting old.

If you continue like this,

sewing without rest every day and night,

I am afraid your eyes will just get worse over the days.

How about letting me go to the palace

and ask an imperial physician to come and take a look?

No need.

Since I wanted to be far away from there, then I should not continue to associate with them.

Imperial Brother’s health is not great to begin with.

If he has to worry about me as well, then I am even more guilty.

I think you should close your eyes and rest more.

Let me embroider this for you.

This is A’Wu’s first birthday after marriage.

No matter what, it must be

embroidered personally by me as her mother.

Yes, it has been a few days since I’ve seen the Princess Consort.

Perhaps there’s something going on in her home.

But that’s also good.

Otherwise, I can only spend half a day with her.

Then, even if I were to rush it,

I wouldn’t finish this embroidery by her birthday.

A’Xu, brew a cup of tea for me.

Yes.

Senior Maidservant Xu.

Senior Maidservant Xu.

You are...? General Song serving under Prince Yuzhang?

Yes, I am.

Did Princess Consort come?

Grand Elder Princess was talking about her just now.

We have not seen her for a while and miss her dearly.

The empress wasn’t feeling well, so she asked Princess Consort to enter the palace and take care of her.

However, Princess Consort was worried about Grand Elder Princess,

so she asked me to come and protect Ci’an Temple.

Princess Consort has really grown up.

However, Ci’an Temple is an imperial temple.

Who would dare try to cause trouble?

General Song, please return.

As long as you protect Princess Consort well,

Grand Elder Princess will be well.

Princess Consort has issued the order,

so I dare not disobey.

Senior Maidservant Xu,

please tell Grand Elder Princess that the capital is not in peace nowadays.

I have also set up over a hundred men from the Ningshuo Army to surround this area as protection.

If anything happens,

they will immediately report it to Prince Yuzhang Manor.

Please be at ease, Senior Maidservant Xu and Grand Elder Princess.

All right.

Then, please take care of us, General Song.

I will take my leave now.

Younger Brother Zitan, are you well here at Fengchi Palace?

Your “great” deed

and gave me all this.

Sadly, I really do pity you.

You did so much for her. Such a pity.

King Xiang desired her, but the goddess had no affection. (T/N: in reference to an idea about King Xiang’s unrequited love for a beautiful goddess he saw in his dream)

What happens between me and A’Wu has nothing to do with you.

The thing I hate and despise the most is your conceited manner, like you’re above everyone!

Since you were young, your mother and father loved you.

Even if you are a good-for-nothing, the emperor still fights to give you the throne.

Why can you just get everything so smoothly?

Speaking of, your mother died terribly

and you lost the love of your life;

you have no one to blame but yourself.

Zitan, let me tell you.

If you lose your power and influence,

you won’t even have the right to fight for and protect a woman.

I want to see when you will stop putting on this act.

Even if I am putting on an act,

it’s still better than you biting the hand that fed you.

That’s right.

I do want to bite the hand that fed me now.

When you were young, you were bullied

and we protected each other many times.

I didn’t think you would become so shameless now.

Where are you taking me?

Don’t you really want to see your emperor uncle?

Right now, that old man wants to see you.

How dare you disrespect Imperial Father!

He’s your imperial father, not mine.

Let’s go.

A’Wu!

You think too highly of me.

I am only a woman.

Why such a big commotion?

You are not like other women.

Although it is you, merely one person, it is worth me doing this.

Go on in, Yam is waiting for you. (T/N: Yam, god of underworld in Chinese mythology)

Younger Sister A’Wu, why are you afraid to go in?

A’Wu, you finally came.

Come! Come here to me.

You still blame me?

Enough, Your Majesty.

You can save this touching play to act out later.

I’ve already brought you what you wanted.

Now, you should uphold your end of the deal.

Servant!

Leave us first.

Let me catch up with A’Wu.

Once I say everything I need to and have no more worries,

I will naturally give you the imperial edict and will.

Is Your Majesty trying to go back on your words?

Zilu, for the throne,

do you really not care for your father-son relationship?

Father-son relationship?

Younger Sister A’Wu, ask your uncle

who my biological father is.

Leave us first.

Your Highness, the officials in Taiji Hall are causing a ruckus once again.

Younger Sister A’Wu, have a good talk with your uncle

and see what tricks he can still do.

Keep watch closely. Don’t let even a fly out.

Yes, Your Highness the Second Prince.

Your Highness!

Your Highness.

Why are you so flustered?

Second Prince succeeded.

Zilu is indeed my son.

Old man emperor, you have occupied the throne for decades;

it is now time for my son to sit on the throne.

Relay the order to Duke Huan to immediately take action.

The day after tomorrow, I want that battle to determine the world.

Yes!

Duke Huan.

Coming up with such a vicious move,

it is easy to speak of, but how do we carry it out?

That Prince Yuzhang is very calculative.

It will be difficult for us to do anything here in the barracks.

If we are exposed, then we won’t even have a grave if we die.

Exactly. But this Prince Jianning has only given us two days.

The day after tomorrow, at night, he wants us, who are on the inside, to cooperate with him, who is on the outside.

He even said something about utterly defeating Prince Yuzhang.

However, if this Prince Yuzhang is adamant about not leaving this place,

what are we going to do?

“The more you care, the more entangled you will be.”

The day after tomorrow, I don’t believe he’ll stay still

after learning Princess Consort Yuzhang

has met with a mishap in the capital.

A’Wu, you haven’t come to visit me in so long.

I know you’re bearing a grudge against me.

A’Wu, are you really still unable to forgive me?

I do not understand

whether the person before me is His Majesty the Emperor

or my emperor uncle.

I also do not know

when you are His Majesty the Emperor

and when you are my emperor uncle.

On this throne,

I have fought in this foul wind and rain of blood for half a lifetime.

I have painstakingly protected my throne for half a lifetime.

In the end, I have just become someone who is living in splendid isolation.

I only have myself to blame.

A’Wu, I have nothing to say in defense against

you hating and blaming me.

However, believe it or not,

now... if I were to be indebted,

it would be to you.

The only worry I still have is for this world.

A’Wu,

I was wrong.

I will never be that heartless emperor again.

Instead, I will be the uncle who will always dote on you and love you.

I knew...

you would forgive me, A’Wu.

I knew you would forgive me.

Uncle.

My good child.

Uncle...

Uncle, this move you made...

is the wrong one.

I haven’t played chess with you in a long time.

I’m surprised you’ve learned to handicap in chess. (T/N: handicapping in sports and games means to give advantages to those less experienced or letting them win)

I win.

I was careless, I was careless.

- I was careless. - You can’t cheat!

- I was careless! - You can’t withdraw your move!

Uncle, we already agreed before the game.

You’ll give me a reward if I win.

Your word has been said by your imperial mouth.

You will not break your promise to the world, so you won’t break your promise to me even more so.

That’s right.

It has been a long time.

Everything has changed

since we last played chess together.

Have you ever regretted it?

You’ve lost, Uncle.

I... never admit to defeat.

In this moment,

a loss is ultimately a loss.

What if I say... there’s still a chance to turn things around?

You aren’t referring to this round of chess, are you?

A’Wu,

you’re the only person I trust in the palace right now.

[Huan]

Your Highness. General Tang.

- Is Duke Huan here? - He is currently resting in the tent.

Please wait, Your Highness. I will go and report to him straightaway.

I was not aware that Prince Yuzhang had come personally.

Please excuse this old man for not coming out to meet you.

Forgive me. Forgive me.

Please.

- After you. - Please, please.

Here.

Duke Huan, are you feeling better now?

Just a chronic illness. A headache.

I was angered at those two little bastards.

It is my fault for being incompetent in commanding the subordinates.

I have caused trouble for Your Highness.

Duke Huan, General Lin and Huang were just drunk.

I didn’t expect you to actually...

Duke Huan, I hope this incident won’t cause our troops

to be hostile towards each other.

Your Highness, you think too much.

The military discipline of the Ningshuo Army is very strict.

I am fortunate to see it with my own eyes after hearing of it hundreds of times.

I definitely will not encumber Your Highness’s progress.

Today, Your Highness has shown mercy;

thus, I will most certainly not allow others to think that

Your Highness made any exceptions for my sake and created a pretext for derision.

That is why I gave the order to have the two of them beheaded as a warning to others.

I, Xiao Qi, admire this decision of yours, Duke Huan.

Duke Huan, please do not let this incident affect your health.

I’m fine. I just need to rest for two days, that’s all.

Right now, the rebels are squawking at us from outside the valley while we’re being surrounded.

Your Highness, what do you plan to do?

I don’t have any good strategies at the moment.

All I can do is stand my ground and not leave as I try to make other plans.

This is not a long-term solution. We are heavily outnumbered.

If we continue to waste time here, I’m afraid our soldiers’ morale will continue to dip even further.

Do you have any brilliant ideas, Duke Huan?

In my opinion... What if both our two armies combine and break through this enclosure?

That will let us catch the rebels off guard.

There is no rush.

There is no rush.

We will discuss everything once you have recovered.

I will take my leave now.

Timing and Subtitles brought to you by The Emperor’s Conquests@ Viki.com

There is a secret place in this palace.

The whereabouts have been passed down through the generations of emperors through word-of-mouth.

I thought I would never have to use it

but, unexpectedly...

Do you know where Empress Dowager Dexuan is buried?

♫ The fear of rain and tears stain your plume ♫

♫ Time chases the distance of soldiers ♫

♫ There is still a limit to what you can miss ♫

♫ Why are there guests in this world? ♫

♫ Tears can be deceiving, love is hard to fake ♫

♫ I hear the wind withers and dies as if it’s singing a thousand songs of sadness ♫

♫ In my dreams, I see you smiling like a painting ♫

♫ I’ll be going to you on my horse ♫

♫ Return to your gentleness ♫

♫ I can’t let go of my heart, I can’t let go ♫

♫ Waiting for the sea to changed and wash away the burden ♫

♫ Spend time with you ♫

♫ Because of you, I’ve lived a lifetime of prosperity ♫

♫ Waiting for the sea clouds to fade away ♫

♫ Home at all corners of the earth ♫

♫ We will meet again in spring, autumn, winter, and summer ♫

♫ For us, the moment that we’ve met ♫

♫ With the pace of a lifetime ♫

♫ To struggle, to worry ♫

♫ I will leave the world for your promise ♫

♫ Waiting for the sea to wash away the lead ♫

♫ Spend time with you ♫

♫ Because of you, I’ve lived a lifetime of prosperity♫

♫ When the sea has changed, the universe will already be changed ♫

♫ Home at all corners of the earth ♫

♫ We meet again in spring, autumn, winter, and summer ♫