Original subtitles

[English subtitles are available]

[The Ingenious One]

[Episode 30: Stronger Attacks from the Enemy]

You not only screwed it up,

but also caused one of my trusted subordinates to die for nothing.

Yun Xiang.

I overestimated you.

Are you going to kill me?

Maybe.

If you don't want to kill me,

sit down and let's talk.

Lingyuan Sect is much different now.

You even managed to bring Prince Fu on board.

Bastard!

Lingyuan Sect and the illegitimate reign are bitter enemies!

How would we get involved with those jerks?

Then,

the Kou family didn't know

Nangong Fang had colluded with Prince Fu either.

I've warned about his disloyalty

and advised to kill him to save future problems.

But no one believed me.

This makes sense then.

It seems that Prince Fu was the one

who got those two royal decrees to put the Su family in its place

and pave the way for Nangong Fang.

Nangong Fang relies on Prince Fu

to build most of his networks in Jiangnan.

But I don't understand

what benefits colluding with Lingyuan Sect

could bring to Prince Fu.

Do you mean that

Prince Fu may not know the real identity of Nangong Fang?

Anyway.

We might as well continue to work together

and make plans accordingly when the right time comes.

Why are you looking at me like that?

I'm thinking about

which part of what you said is trustworthy.

It's up to you to decide.

[Shao's Residence]

Put them here.

See if the liquor is still warm.

If not, heat it up.

Father.

Lunch is ready.

Father.

Although Magistrate Shao is not an official with integrity,

he's a sensible man.

Don't worry too much.

I just don't understand.

Mr. Nangong is a genius in business.

On the contrary,

those bandits from Lingyuan Sect

are all despicable, rude, and reckless.

They don't know how to make money by doing business.

So, Mr. Nangong can't be from Lingyuan Sect,

right?

No matter who he is,

we should avoid trouble whenever possible

in such a turbulent time.

I think we should draw a line with him

and spare all later trouble.

To draw a line with him? I don't think that's a good idea.

You know

every time I went to Beidu to see His Majesty,

I could return home safe and sound.

Part of the reason is His Majesty's trust in me.

But besides that, do you know how much money

I used to make relevant arrangements?

Do you know

where the money came from?

Could it be that

all the businesses under your name

are being managed by Nangong Fang?

Yes.

Can you find someone else to replace him?

How about Gongquan?

No.

Well, sit down.

Why?

First of all, he's an imperial guard now.

He's busy with his own duty.

Even if we put that aside, he's not in Nandu now.

It will take him some time to come back.

Besides,

this matter needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

Yes.

I think

maybe that person can help.

Bi Yuewu was detained by the government

and was under heavy guard.

How could she escape

so easily?

I have a question for you too.

You promised to help me save her.

But why did you kill her?

I made minor sacrifices for the greater good.

I had no choice.

Lady Kou, what do you think of

the accident last night?

Was it a coincidence?

Or was it designed by someone?

It couldn't be a coincidence.

Then who was behind it?

If Prince Fu hadn't been there yesterday,

Magistrate Shao would have arrested us.

Yun Xiang definitely has something to do with this.

But this is not like his usual style.

Yes.

He wouldn't want to hurt you,

would he?

But will Mr. Kou,

who is stonehearted,

be merciful to you

like Yun Xiang?

What do you mean?

I received a secret report last night.

Mr. Kou killed a bodyguard of Master.

His whereabouts are still unknown.

It doesn't matter anymore.

Nangong Fang,

I'm gonna put aside the matter of

how you colluded with Prince Fu.

Given the current situation,

we can't stay in Nandu anymore.

We are under suspicion.

If the government wants to arrest us,

no matter how intertwined with Prince Fu,

he won't protect you.

The danger in your eyes

is a rare opportunity

for me.

So,

you've long been waiting for this chaos.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Now, all the forces with different intentions

are all here.

Lady Kou.

Please just wait and see.

Lady Kou.

Cross the river immediately

and send this to Master.

If anyone tries to stop you,

even if it's someone in the sect,

destroy it immediately.

I understand.

Madam Kou.

Is Lady Kou in trouble?

No.

Instead, I think things went too smoothly.

In just a few days,

the business world in Nandu is almost under control.

I didn't expect Nangong Fang

to ally himself with Prince Fu

to do business together.

I think Nangong Fang knows that

the sect needs his money and supplies.

That's why he dared to tell Lady Kou

the secret.

Madam Kou.

According to the sect rules, he violated a taboo.

We could summon him back with this excuse

and deal with him.

No, Mr. Cao.

We can't do this.

If we kill him rashly,

we'll have nowhere else

to get money to sustain the sect.

But if he controls Nandu,

it'll be harder to deal with him.

You didn't get to the crux of the matter.

To achieve great things, we can't get personal.

Nangong Fang is a crafty devil.

It took him ten years to make plans.

He designed the current situation.

I thought he would do the same thing in Nandu,

but I didn't expect it to be such a disaster.

I think what he has done this time

is quite unusual.

Actually, I always feel that

Nangong Fang's behavior

goes against the style of the Lingyuan Sect.

He's more like someone from Yuntai.

Madam Kou.

There must be something wrong with his unusual behavior.

Is there a bigger conspiracy behind this?

No matter what. There's no turning back now.

Lower your voice.

They are still sleeping.

I wouldn't believe it if I weren't seeing this with my own eyes.

We haven't seen each other for a long time.

How did you get into the habit

of drinking early in the morning?

Even though you are having a row with that brat,

you can still come to see the kids.

Aren't these Yun Xiang's clothes?

Still the old price, ten taels of gold, right?

I want you to protect Yun Xiang.

Take it.

Why does it have to be me?

Do me a favor.

I don't want to talk to him today.

You adults are so troublesome.

What did you do?

Tianhu doesn't want to talk to you.

I'm going to stay in Liansheng House for a few days.

She's not happy about it.

Say something nice for me.

OK.

I'll take care of it.

Really?

Boss.

I'm being serious.

You are more literate than other kids here.

From now on,

I want you to lead other boys and girls

to learn and read. Okay?

No.

Boss.

Don't hurry to leave.

I'll make you another bracelet.

Boss, there's no need for that.

I still keep the one you made for me last time.

Listen to me.

Be careful no matter how skilled you are in martial arts.

I think you just can't settle down.

It has only been a few peaceful days. Now you want to go out again.

No.

What's good about the world out there?

I really have something to do.

I'll be back after I'm done.

I don't believe it.

You said

you didn't want to settle down

because you were used to being adrift.

Things are different now.

I don't want to leave the kids...

And... And you.

I'm leaving.

Jin.

I'll wait for you to come back.

Young Master.

You've picked hundreds of samples from the warehouse.

Of course we have to choose the best.

Mrs. Su.

These are all samples of every year's tribute cloth.

All of them are the best.

But even for different kinds of tribute cloth,

there are still slight differences.

That's right.

Now the Su family

is no longer the royal supplier.

Now they are re-selecting the royal supplier.

This is the only chance for us to make a comeback.

We need something incomparable.

The more careful we are, the bigger chance we have.

This is it.

Silk organza.

This is silk organza?

I heard that the Su family

became the royal supplier because of this.

That's right.

No one else knows how to make silk organza.

The weavers are getting better at making this these years.

Silk organza it is.

I'm confident we can win with this.

You won't tell me if I don't look into this, right?

Mr. Kang, don't be angry.

We're just following Mr. Mo's orders.

In just two days,

you've deposited 150,000 taels in Dafeng Bank.

Do you know

you've used

most of the money we have?

Why are you giving him a hard time?

Don't worry.

I didn't use the money of the Su family,

the merchants in Nandu,

or our own.

No matter if I can win the gamble with Nangong Fang,

we won't suffer a great loss.

Uncle,

we are using up the money in our treasury.

Get the carriage ready.

Yes.

Uncle.

You're going to use Master Guan's money?

I'll pick up the goods now.

If we can launder all those goods,

we can get more than 100,000 taels.

With this huge amount of money, we can be assured.

Even if I lose all this money,

I have two years to repay Guan.

Uncle,

this is not your style.

Why take the risk?

Risk?

What risk?

If I win,

it's Nangong Fang who should be worried.

If you lose the money,

I'll incite Guan

to teach Nangong Fang a lesson.

I don't even have to do it myself.

Uncle.

No matter what,

we have to pay first

and wait for Master Guan's money.

If Master Guan breaks his promise,

-then... -Shut up!

Don't jinx it.

Uncle.

Uncle.

Mr. Yun, please enjoy.

Why is there only one cup?

I quit drinking.

You can quit drinking,

but I'm afraid you can't forget her.

By the way,

why did you suddenly come back to Liansheng House?

She got in touch with you?

She also gave me some gold.

Guess if she wants me to kill you

or to protect you?

It's a good thing if she wants you to kill me.

If so,

both of us can be relieved.

Well, if that's the case,

things will be easier for me as well.

How did you two

become enemies?

As your enemy,

she asked me to protect you.

What are you doing?

Can't you just

talk things through?

It's okay if you don't want to.

Then, tell me

who wants to kill you this time.

Jin.

It's not that I don't want to tell you,

but it's too complicated.

You've just lived in peace for a few days.

I really don't want you to get involved in this again.

It's too late.

I've taken the money.

I have to do my job.

This is a matter of morality.

Cheers.

I forgot that you quit drinking.

Don't worry.

In the whole Nandu,

few merchants can

compete with us in the selection.

In terms of experience and craftsmanship,

we are the best.

I'm not worried about other things.

I'm just worried about

how much money it will cost.

From raw materials and weavers

to networking...

70,000 to 80,000 taels.

I just checked the accounts.

We used more than 100,000 taels

to acquire the Tang family's business together with Guanghui Bank.

Now we have only a few thousand taels left.

Menglan.

I have reached an agreement with Mr. Mo.

As long as the money we need is less than 100,000 taels, we can borrow it from him anytime.

[Su's Residence]

You're willing to accompany me for a few days

only if Yun asks you to.

And now,

we're going back to Liansheng House.

Now, the situation is clear.

Besides, you're doing well.

Of course, I have to go back to Liansheng House.

That is also under your name.

I should put equal effort into that.

But I can only feel at ease when you are with me.

Mr. Su,

please go to Guanghui Bank with me now.

Mr. Yun has already arrived.

Go now.

Be careful.

Master Guan vanished

without trace.

You wanted to put your money into Dafeng Bank,

so you could earn interest from Nangong Fang.

But you were afraid Nangong Fang would

persuade other merchants to withdraw money from your bank.

And coincidentally,

Master Guan showed up with perfect timing,

enabling you to maneuver.

You didn't have doubts at all?

Guan and I have been doing business

for over ten years.

Nothing ever went wrong.

Have you forgotten

Kou Lianyi knows about

your relationship with Master Guan?

The fact that Kou Lianyi knows

means Nangong Fang knows it too.

Do you think I didn't think about that?

It's obvious that

we've been set up.

Under this circumstance,

you can't still trust Master Guan, can you?

Over the past decades,

these pirates used to be invincible

at the very first.

But then, they died one by one.

Only Guan survived.

Why's that?

Because he's extremely cautious

and never trusts anyone easily.

You don't understand

why he joined hands with Nangong Fang.

I have been laundering the things he robbed

for more than ten years.

That's how I made friends with him.

Doing business with him is highly risky.

So, I'm especially careful.

I bought his trusted aides

to be my spy.

You never knew that he is related to Lingyuan Sect?

Never.

Although both Lingyuan Sect and the pirates

are serious troubles for the government,

it brings no benefits but only harm to him

if he colludes with Lingyuan Sect.

The only thing Guan wants is money.

Solve the problem at hand first.

Do you have a plan?

No.

You're here too.

Jin.

It has been a long time.

Come on, have a drink.

Warrior Jin, I'll drink with you.

It's urgent.

Mr. Su, go to the study first.

Right. Jin.

Not today.

Let's drink till all's blue some other day.

Okay, it's a deal.

What happened?

Why are you all so worried?

Let's drink.

[Dafeng Bank]

Sir.

Su Mingyu went to Guanghui Bank.

Kang Qiao picked him up.

Should we wrap it up?

Shut up!

Go.

Finish the things I told you to do.

Yes.

Lady Kou, in your opinion,

is this a good time to wrap things up?

I never thought

even the vicious pirates could be used by you.

You're the biggest contributor to this.

Of course you have the right to decide.

Talking about contributions,

I need to thank you for your detailed information.

Otherwise, how could I design this sophisticated plan

to kill two birds with one stone,

destroying the Su family and Mo Bufan?

My informants

didn't know much about their alliance.

Thanks to your advice,

I know that

they've put their money together.

If I defeat Mo Bufan,

the Su family will suffer a lot.

I know the whole story now.

But Mr. Mo, you're shrewd. Yun, you're cautious.

How could you fall into the trap?

It's not his fault.

I was so angry that I made reckless decisions.

I wanted to ask for your help with the money

needed for the royal supplier selection.

But now...

The Chamber of Commerce was disbanded,

but I still have some business friends.

I can raise some money in three days

to fill the hole.

If we can get three days to react,

everything can be solved.

But Nangong Fang won't give us the chance.

I think tomorrow morning,

Guanghui Bank will be swamped by merchants

who want to withdraw their money.

Or maybe

they'll come earlier than that.

Then do something.

There is nothing I can do.

We are now in a corner.

What we need to do now

is to make sacrifices to regain our advantage.

We have no other choice now.

In this situation,

we can only rip off the arm to save the body.

I have 50 to 60 thousand taels of silver left in my treasury.

Move the money to the Su family overnight.

Pull through the competition first.

What about you?

Hide

and start all over again when things cool off.

My reputation is completely ruined.

I'll work behind the scenes,

while Kang Qiao takes the steering wheel.

That's one way out.

But no matter what,

you must capture the position

of the royal supplier.

Only when the Su family secures its place,

I can turn the tables as soon as possible.

Besides,

this amount of money is just a drop in the bucket

to the crisis that Guanghui Bank is facing.

Be quick.

Lady Kou, what are you thinking?

I'm thinking

if you dare to be so rude again,

I will punish you severely.

We haven't won yet.

Don't get carried away.

Why did you say so?

The Su family has a solid foundation.

Even if it suffers huge losses,

it may not fail in the royal supplier selection.

You are really thorough.

But I've also thought of this

and planned to take the chance tonight

to destroy the Su family completely.

The help from Lingyuan Sect should be here soon.

Oh, my!

This huge amount of money

is enough for Jishan Hall to operate for hundreds of years.

Now I know why you all look so worried.

Is it that you don't know how to spend all this money?

Are there still rooms available in Jishan Hall?

What do you mean?

I'm afraid after tonight,

I'll need to

live off your support.

No...

Are you done?

I can't help much here.

Take good care of Mr. Mo

and wait for a chance to turn things around.

Got it.

Mr. Mo,

the carts are ready.

You've been running

Guanghui Bank for 20 years.

It is

what it is.

I'll get back the money I've lost.

Let's go.

Let us in.

Yes.

Let us in.

Open the door! Open the door!

I want to withdraw my money.

I want to withdraw my money.

Quiet!

Quiet!

You are all frequenters.

Why did you break into Guanghui Bank at night?

You don't care about the law

and our relationship at all?

Why are you counting out money

in the middle of the night?

It seems that we're here at the right time, right?

Yes.

That's right.

Let me go straight to the point.

Mr. Kang,

we are here for only one thing.

We just want to withdraw

the money we've deposited in Guanghui Bank.

We want our money! We want our money!

No bank will let you withdraw money in the middle of the night.

Get out!

If you want to withdraw money,

come back tomorrow morning.

I don't think we can find you tomorrow morning.

Right?

That's right.

Give me my money!

Money! Money!

Chairman Su is really here.

Mr. Nangong was right.

Mr. Mo...

Isn't this an inside job?

Why are they staring at me?

This doesn't look good.

Well said.

This is indeed an inside job.

Nangong Fang,

don't go too far.

What have I done?

I just want to seek justice

for the merchants in Nandu.

Enough.

Who gives you, an outsider, the right

to butt in on affairs of the business world in Nandu?

Mr. Su,

you sound righteous.

But your behavior is inconsistent with your words.

It seems that the government's decision

to disband the Chamber of Commerce saved merchants like us.

Yes, it should have been closed long ago.

Right?

They actually dare to mug the bank

in Nandu.

This is not the worst.

Those who passed us just now

are the most famous merchants in the city.

This is Nangong Fang's trump card.

What do you mean?

Just tell me. Should we go back?

It's not the time yet.

Just wait.

You deposited 150,000 taels of silver

into Dafeng Bank these days.

You used the money entrusted to you

by these merchants to earn interest from my bank.

I don't think it's appropriate.

Mr. Mo, do you admit it or not?

It doesn't matter if he admits it or not.

That's only one way to do business.

If Guanghui Bank

can cash out your deposits today,

everything will be fine.

But in the past few months,

Mr. Mo and Mr. Su

have been acquiring a lot of businesses in Nandu.

That cost hundreds of thousands of taels.

I'm afraid there's not much money left

in the treasury.

As you can see,

if you had come a little bit later,

the last two boxes of silver

would have been sent to the Su family secretly.

Next,

the money you've worked hard to earn

will vanish together with Mr. Mo.

Well,

he has the Su family to support him,

so he'll be fine for the rest of his life.

Don't listen to his nonsense.

Think about it.

With so many businesses under Guanghui Bank,

even if it is short of money,

can't it run normally?

This man is inciting you to create a bank run

to suppress Guanghui Bank.

If Guanghui Bank doesn't have enough money,

it is breaking the rules of this industry.

You have only yourselves to blame.

The Su family has been doing business for about 100 years.

I'm willing to vouch for Mr. Mo with my family's goodwill.

Isn't it more trustworthy than what he said?

Goodwill?

Mo Bufan is emptying the treasury in the middle of the night.

Do you dare to say it has nothing to do with you?

Everybody can see that.

You...

Check!

I dare you!

I dare you!

Uncle.

It's useless.

Well said. A bet is a bet.

I admire that you can accept defeat with good grace.

Su Mingyu, remember this.

When tempted by money,

these people

won't stay sensible.

Kang Qiao!

Let's go.

Mr. Mo,

you shouldn't stay in Guanghui Bank now.

Leave now.

Go.

According to what you said,

Guanghui Bank will be doomed.

Who is Nangong Fang?

He actually got the better of you.

Also,

how did Shu Yanan become Kou Lianyi

and switch to the side of your enemy?

This is too complicated.

-I'll tell you another day. -No.

Not another day.

Mr. Yun.

The girl who kept losing last time came again.

She brought two other people

and insisted on waiting for you.

Who are they?

I think they're up to no good.

It's fine. Go upstairs and rest.

I can handle it.

Mr. Yun,

finally, you're back.

Greetings, Your Highness.

How do you know he's Prince Fu?

Aren't you afraid that you might get his identity wrong?

Is this Mr. Yun?

He's Yun Xiang.

Just as I heard,

you have good graces.

Your Highness, I reckon you are here

for the accident last night.

You asked Magistrate Shao

to let the female assassin of the Lingyuan Sect go

to catch her accomplices.

You are quite bold.

Nangong Fang works for me.

As you're going after him,

you are against me.

The weather is dry.

Beware of fire.

I didn't expect you and I

to hit it off straight away.

It's already midnight.

Luckily, Mingzhu has gone back home.

Otherwise, it would be too late for her to go to bed

and she'd definitely get mad at me during the day.

It's my honor

to resonate with Your Highness.

It's settled then.

Deal.

I'll see you off when you leave.

Don't bother, Your Highness.

Alright, you don't need to walk me out.

They've got the money they want.

Why did they have to destroy the place?

We always

ingratiate ourselves

with those merchants

and be polite to them.

The moment we got into trouble,

they changed attitudes.

Forget it.

Forget it.

It's human nature.

It's human nature.

Uncle,

let's go.

More people will come to ask for their money.

I'm afraid we can't get away if we delay.

Let's go.

Go.

Go.

Let's go.

Mingyu,

it's not that we don't want to lend you the money.

Given what happened in Guanghui Bank last night,

if we lend you the money now,

we're standing against all the merchants in Nandu.

To be honest,

given that you sent out dozens of invitations,

the fact that the three of us can come

is for old times' sake.

Now the Su family is at stake.

If you are willing to help,

I will do my best to help you if you need me in the future.

Mingyu, take my advice.

Your priority now is to make clarifications

and restore your reputation.

Only after that

can we help you.

Young Master.

A girl surnamed Kou is here to see you.

Sister.

Mingyu told me about what happened recently.

No one expected

this would happen.

If you have any difficulties,

can you tell me?

We are both women.

Maybe I can understand.

It is what it is.

Anything I say would only be excuses.

You'd better not ask.

You burned down Yufeng Warehouse

and almost destroyed the Su family.

And now you're on Nangong Fang's side.

You finally got what you wanted.

Tell me, what else do you want?

Mr. Nangong wants to buy the craftsmanship of silk organza.

I know what you're up to.

Go back and tell him

I won't give it to him even if it's lost.