Original subtitles

-Lu Wan. -Liu Ji.

Did you really only get three coppers?

Only three.

Mr. Xiao only gave you three coppers?

Only three coppers.

I trust you.

I trust you.

But I’d like to confirm it again.

Mr. Xiao gave you just three coppers, correct?

Yes, only three.

That means...

Mr. Xiao...

is not...

-a man to be trusted. -Liu Ji...

you still don’t believe me.

You think I kept those two coppers.

Leave now.

Go now.

Go now!

Liu Ji...

you’re right.

I took two.

I knew it.

Remember, no matter when or where,

don't ever change the story that you were only given three coppers.

Do you hear me?

Liu Ji, I...

Liu Ji!

Liu Ji, bad news! We have a problem.

What is it?

Ms. Cao is fighting with someone again. It could cost her her life!

She’s nothing but trouble!

No, you stop right there!

-What do you want? Put it on my tab! -Don't you dare leave!

-I’ll pay you next time! Next time! -Why should I trust you?

I have official business! What’s wrong with you?

-You're staying! -Are you nuts? Stop this now! Make way.

Liu Ji, they’re over here.

Let go of me! What’s your problem?

-Stop! -What’s going on?

-What’s going on? -What’s going on? What’s going on?

-Stand up! -Let go!

What’s going on? What is this?

He didn’t pay for his drinks!

Mind your words! I said put it on credit!

Who are you? On credit? Who'll believe you?

Who wants your credit? Just pay up right now!

-I won't pay. -Who the hell are you?

Enough!

Why didn’t you pay for your meal?

I didn’t bring money. I told her to put it on credit.

Who gave you the right? Do you own this place?

You may eat for free at other restaurants, but not here! You'll pay up, in full.

-Who are you? -I’m her husband.

Right!

-Isn’t she a widow? -A widow?

I’m her husband, that’s who I am, buddy. Okay?

You eat and don’t pay, and then argue?

A free meal? And free to grope me too?

Like hell! All of you men are just pigs!

Enough! Shut up!

Then there’s you. You spend every single day screwing around!

You think you're all that?

Listen up, stay away from me from now!

You slut! I--

-What? What? -I’ll smack you!

Come on, right here.

-I mean it! -Do it! Now!

-I mean it! -Do it! Do it!

I’ll do it!

Assaulting an official?

-Come on! Fight! -Let go! Let go!

-Let go! -Want to fight?

Stop! What do you want? Stop!

Oh, wow!

Even in official robes!

I'm on official business.

Yeah, what business? You eat, you pay! Show us the money.

And what if I don’t?

Don’t pay? Don’t pay and you'll never leave here!

You're very rude.

Be a little politer and I’ll pay. If you talk like this... forget it!

Excuse me? You pay for what you ate. That's natural. No need for politeness.

I’m not paying, how about that?

Then just try walking out. Go on, try it.

-Who are you? -Who am I?

What's your name?

My name’s Liu, Liu Dad. Full name, Daddy Liu.

That’s what most people call me, Dad!

-Say it! -Say it! Say it! Say it!

Hey! Enough of this!

Do you want fists or swords?

Wow, he’s mad now!

We’re talking fists or swords now?

Fine. Fine with me. Fists it is then.

Hey, you all listen up.

No one is allowed to help!

Fight! Fight! Liu Ji, hit his head!

Beat him. Beat him.

Liu Ji, beat him. Beat him.

Fight! Go! Go!

You little thief! Still not paying?

-Not paying! -Not paying?

-No way! -Not paying?

-I’m an official! -Well, I don’t care!

Beat him! Beat him!

Beat him! Beat him.

Will you pay?

No, I won’t.

Fine.

We’ll call it...

my treat then.

I don’t even want your money.

But I’ll... treat you to one last dish...

Is it tasty?

Puny little prick.

Now with swords.

What are you doing?

-Liu Ji... -Leave! Get everyone out!

-Go! Everybody leave! -Get out of here! Leave, now! Go, go.

Go home! Nothing to see here.

Get going.

I thought we agreed on fists, pal.

So why the sword?

You can take my life,

but you can’t insult me.

You talk like a man.

Let’s... get that treated.

Remember to keep your skin dry, all right?

-Doctor... -Yes?

You’re fully aware of Qin laws.

Can you keep this secret?

He hurt himself hitching horses to a cart,

and he’ll need time to recover. People will notice.

Yes, they will.

Hey, you.

Get up. You won’t die.

Liu Ji, we started with a fight, but now we're good friends.

Liu Ji, Mr. Xiao wants you to go see him.

What happened?

Didn’t say. You’ll find out when you get there.

Mr. Xiao requests me?

To buy me dinner?

Why would he buy you dinner?

Well, I’ll get going.

You guys can eat.

Don’t touch me!

This...

He’s in trouble again.

Talk. Tell me who hurt you.

Nobody! I hurt myself. I was careless with a horse.

My Lord, the doctor's here.

I want to know if that wound is from a sword.

My Lord, it’s true. It was inflicted by a sword.

You’re the Chief of Security, and you fight with commoners?

Don’t you know you have committed a crime?

Talk! Who did you fight? Was it Liu Ji?

Who's Liu Ji?

Tell the truth! Tell the truth! Tell the truth!

Talk! Tell the truth! Tell the truth!

-Tell the truth! -I confess! I confess!

But Liu Ji is innocent!

I’m the prison interrogator. Now, this is the truth.

In the next cell, Xiahou Ying is being questioned.

I don’t care which one of you dies today,

and it’s not up to me.

Only the law of Qin can decide.

So,

how was Xiahou Ying’s injury caused?

No idea.

-Beat him. -Yes.

Talk to me!

So good! That feels so good! So good!

-You’d better talk. -It tickles! It tickles!

You'd better talk. Does that tickle? You’d better talk!

My Lord.

Liu Ji,

if you fight with weapons then, according to Qin legal codes, you face hard labor.

But perjury? The penalty is quite severe.

I’m not lying!

If you confess, it’s hard labor.

But perjury...

that's the death penalty.

No. I’m not lying! We didn’t fight!

Xiahou Ying confessed his crime, and he will live.

It doesn’t matter what you say now, I will carry out your sentence.

Do you get what I mean?

Xia... Xiahou Ying?

Sounds familiar, but I don't know him.

Beat him!

You should confess.

It tickles! So good! So good!

-Stubborn... -Harder!

Beat me again! Again!

Confess now!

Mr. Xiao, you called for me?

How is the sword assault case coming along?

Neither of the suspects has confessed.

Xiahou Ying is a county official.

If we sentence him, it will disgrace the magistrate.

We should spare him.

It’s not that simple.

If the prefect investigates this, you and I might be blamed.

I haven’t reported it yet.

I’ll be honest,

I count Liu Ji as one of my best friends.

-Understood. -I will write the report.

-Just release him. -Yes.

Liu Ji, sit down.

I can’t. I was beaten so badly that there’s no skin left on my butt.

You have to toast Mr. Cao!

The only reason you came out alive is because he stood up for you.

-Hurry, toast to him! -Mr. Cao, thank you.

Don’t thank me. You withstood the torture.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to help you.

Oh, Xiahou Ying. You’re quite the man.

-Respect, respect. -Liu Ji, you're a man.

You didn’t wet your pants. My respect.

You should toast to each other.

And with this toast, you should leave the past in the past.

No more fighting, all right?

Rest assured, Mr. Xiao, we’ll never fight again!

We’re friends now. Let’s drink!

Eat and drink as much as you want, and if you need anything, just say.

Yes, just ask. Treat this like your home.

Idiot. Why are you so happy?

I thought you’d die in there.

Don’t just stand there, go and get your food.

You guys eat.

-Mr. Xiao, cheers. -All right.

Cut it out.

-Painful? -Yes.

Because of me?

It’s fine.

It’s just itchy actually.

Knock it off. I’m pregnant.

What?

I’m pregnant.

Whose kid?

Who do you think?

-Who? -That official.

-Whose kid? -He can’t even perform!

Is it mine?

When he’s born, I’ll raise him.

Please, help yourselves. Help yourselves.

Mr. Xiao bought your meals for two days. And now you're back?

That wasn’t a meal. He just scratched my itch.

-Scratched your itch? -He beat you?

He was beaten.

It was great.

-It was great! -This is...

How did...

-What’s wrong with him? -It’s great.

-Hey! -Hey, Liu Ji.

Another funeral?

Not this time. Someone is moving in.

Oh?Someone new in the village?

It’s a wealthy man. He came from Shandong, with his whole family.

-Let’s go and see. -Sure.

How much is he paying?

Only three.

What?

Mr. Xiao gave you five, but you refused. Now you do it for three?

He's an old, rich man. He's stingy and I need work.

I’ve got a nice surprise for him.

You see? Told you.

-Mr. Zhang. -Mr. Liu and Mr. Li offer 1,000 coppers.

Mr. Li, this way, please.

Mr. Zhang and Mr. Zhao offer 1,000!

Mr. Wang and Mr. Zhou offer 1,000 coppers!

Look! It's Mr. Xiao.

Mr. Wang offers 2,000 coppers.

-Liu Ji! -You can go in.

Liu Ji, what are you doing here?

-Isn't it a house-warming? -Yes, but you have to pay to get in.

-Well, how much? -A thousand coppers minimum, as a gift.

A thousand?

Liu Ji, 10,000!

Sir! Sir! Come in!

Liu Ji offers 10,000! Mr. Liu Ji offers 10,000!

Come inside. Come inside.

This way, please.

This way. Mr. Liu, please come in.

Please, please.

Please, please.

Please, Mr. Liu, come in.

-All right, all right, please come in. -Please.

Congratulations.

My new friends,

my family moved to this place from Shan County.

Thanks to you all.

Firstly, I’d like to show my thanks

to our county officials,

especially Mr. Xiao He. Thank you for coming.

Secondly, I’d like to get acquainted with you all.

We'll help each other in days to come.

Thank you very much.

And now I raise a toast to you.

Cheers! Cheers!

Everyone, enjoy yourselves.

Hey, did you hear who offered 10,000?

Oh, that was the chief constable in Sishuiting.

Okay... A mere constable can afford 10,000?

Well, sir,

he is a very generous man. He's one of my friends.

And a very good man, very loyal to his friends.

But the money, you shouldn't bother. Please.

Hey, Liu Ji!

What?

Oh, wait, wait.

You’re quite a man. I thank you for coming here.

I’m the chief constable. I’m Liu Ji.

If you need any help, just...

ask me.

Thank you, thank you. Mr. Xiao told me that

you two are friends. I hope you’ll become my friend too.

Of course, of course.

Now let’s drink. Drink!

-Drink! Drink! -Okay.

Sit! Sit down,

sit down, sit, sit!

Put your drink here.

Beautiful! Beautiful!

Look at her waist, look at her waist.

Liu Ji, be seated.

Hey! Does this look like a toilet?

I'm talking to you!

-Who are you? -Who are you?

You don’t know me?

Chief constable at Sishuiting.

Are all the people there as ill-mannered as you?

Hey, come here.

Is the daughter of the family here?

-Why are you asking that? -Is she pretty?

I’m still single.

She is very ugly.

Fat, short, stupid...

and gullible.

Can’t be that bad.

Just like you.

You can’t come in.

You can’t come in.

I said you can’t enter.

You can’t...

-Mr. Xiao. -Yes?

Trouble outside.

Hey! No, no.

Mr. Lyu, leave this to me. Enjoy the party.

You can’t go in!

-Who’s that? -You can’t go in!

Make way!

-You can’t go in! -Make way!

You can’t go in!

Forget him! Bring her out to me now!

What is this? What is this? What’s going on?

What is this?

-What is this? -We want our woman!

What woman?

The one engaged to me!

Engaged to whom?

Oh! You brought a weapon.

Here, hit me here! Right here!

Hey, calm down! This is just for drinking.

Why are you drinking? They took our wedding gifts and ran off!

Who took your gifts? What’s going on? Tell me the whole story.

A year ago, we gave them gifts, and the dowry.

When the wedding day came, they took off!

Did they return the gift?

-They did. -Isn’t that the end of it then?

We don’t want money, we want the damned woman!

Where? I don’t see a woman here.

What do you want? Get out of here.

Well, who are you anyway?

You even don’t know who I am? Guess who I am.

Why would I know?

You don’t even know who I am. How dare you stir up trouble? I am Liu Ji!

Liu Ji? We've never heard of you, Liu Ji. Liu Ji? Get him!

Beat Liu Ji!

Come here. Get down here.

Hey, hey, hey! Now hang on. Now listen.

Is she really engaged to you?

Of course.

And she really agreed to this marriage with you?

She did. That's why I'm here.

But it seems that...

Well, why don't I treat you to some wine first, and then discuss it?

Who wants to drink with you? Who wants to drink with you? Beat him!

Bring her to me!

-That's it, beat him to a pulp! -Stop!

-Hurry! Who’s messing with my boss? -Who the hell has the gall? Stop!

Their men are coming. Run!

There you go!

Make him sorry! Make this guy sorry!

No, I... I’m really...

-I’m engaged... -Beat this man!

Be reasonable!

Get him!

There's a fight there. Let's watch.

Mr. Xiao. I didn’t know your friend before, yet he assists me.

Mr. Lyu, I've already told you. Liu Ji is loyal to his friends.

To be acquainted with him will benefit you a lot.

Yes.

But he has also gravely offended my foes, and that’s bad for him.

-How can I pay him back for this? -Mr. Lyu, firstly, he respects you.

Secondly, those men were asking for it.

All the locals hate it when outsiders are uncivil.

Remember, Liu Ji is still single, and can’t be pushed.

Don’t worry. He will handle this for you. You can consider this matter settled.

-Right. Okay. -Come on, let’s drink. Let’s go in. Come.

Did you see?

This is your fault. Your engagement forced us all to leave home.

And now they followed us here.

Father, don’t blame my sister. We got rid of them, didn’t we?

That just makes it worse!

We not only cancelled the engagement, we also beat them up.

We’ll have to...

move again.

Do we really have to move to a new place?

It's the only way.

Don't you know the county magistrate?

He can only help us once, not all the time. Moreover,

we're in the wrong, as we took their wedding gifts but cancelled the wedding.

We embarrassed them.

-You also know Mr. Xiao, don’t you? -Well,

we only had some drinks. That hardly counts.

And if there’s really trouble,

we don't know if he’ll help us.

But didn’t the chief constable...

also help us to fight them off today?

I’m even more of a stranger to him.

We're lucky today that he decided to help, but there’s no telling about next time.

I think the chief constable is a good man.

I didn’t see him, but people say he’s a hero.

I don’t know whether he’s a hero,

but he's certainly no coward.

-You saw him? -I did.

-Where? -Back yard.

Enough, enough! None of this even matters. Even if he is a hero,

can he protect us all the time? What should we do?

What else can we do?

We have to leave.

How much longer do we have to stay on the run like this?

What?

You have no right to ask that. Is this all not your fault?

You refused to marry. What kind of a daughter are you,

making us move all over the country? How is this not your fault?

Fine. I’ll get married.

-Will you? -I will.

If you’d told me, we could have saved a lot of headache!

I’ll marry the chief constable here, Liu Ji.

She's hopeless.

-Mr. Xiao. -Huh?

-Are you looking for me? -Well, Liu Ji...

I didn’t expect that Mr. Lyu would marry his daughter to you.

-Right. -You got very lucky this time.

Anyhow, I'm a bit of a matchmaker.

This is for you.

-No, Mr. Xiao, I can’t accept that. -Take it.

You’ll need it for your wedding. Take it.

Well, then I’ll thank you.

There’s no need to thank me. And...

since I’m your matchmaker,

I have to give you some advice.

Mr. Lyu is a man with social status,

and a prestigious family.

After your marriage,

your life will be greatly changed,

so you might want to adjust your temper.

And your friends,

specially those... rough rascals,

you should avoid.

A married man needs to have a career.

Even though Mr. Lyu’s daughter might not live a wealthy life with you,

-you need to guarantee a certain standard. -Yes.

It’s a new life, so think about how you'll live and what you'll do.

-Try to aim high. -Okay.

-Anything else? -No more, that's all.

Good. Then I’m going home now.

Okay.

-Well, Mr. Xiao... -What?

-There’s something else to ask you. -What?

Could you lend me some new clothes?

Clothes? But for what?

For my wedding day. My clothes are all...

Your clothes are all dirty?

I know you too well. You don’t have any more!

All right. I’ll ask my wife to get them ready.

Thank you. Thank you! Thank you!

Goodbye, Mr. Xiao.

Enough! Enough! Enough!

-Come on. Sit down. -Come. Cheers!

Come. Come. Cheers!

Look, look! Look at this!

All the bachelors in Zhongyang are here today.

We’ve spent half our lives here. Most of us are over 40 years old,

but even now, we don’t have women. What a shame.

But this time, Liu Ji will set a good example.

I heard the villagers talking...

Mr. Lyu wants to marry his daughter to Liu Ji!

Cut it out!

Listen to you, Lu Wan. We might have no women,

but Liu Ji has plenty! Who do you think he is?

He's always had women!

Lay down!

Hey, Liu Ji, you tell us,

will you really marry Mr. Lyu’s daughter?

I don’t know.

Well, Ji...

maybe I shouldn’t ask you this,

but what will happen to Ms. Cao?

I’m curious.

I never met her, so can I ask.

-What kind of a woman she is? -She's righteous.

But he wants to marry Miss Lyu, and you don't stop him?

You’re even proud of him? That’s unfair.

Hey, hey! Why do you care? Shut up!

What a temper. Damn, I won't drink with you again.

Go away then. Go! Get lost!

What?

Enough! Enough! Just eat your damned food.

Listen to Liu Ji.

Listen, you just got here, you haven’t been with us for that long.

There are things that you don’t know.

Ms. Cao's little tavern, she got it from her dead husband.

When he died,

Ms. Cao swore through her tears that she would never marry another man.

So, Ji, who do you want to marry?

Yeah, Ji, who are you going to marry?

Tell us, Ji. Who will it be?

Honestly, Ms. Cao has been with me all these years.

She’s good to me, and she has my child.

I should...

marry her. I wanted to marry her.

But she didn’t agree.

So I’m stuck.

I’ve been single half my life.

I can’t keep going on like that.

I’ll marry Ms. Lyu.

It’ll be her.

She’s not ugly, and her family’s rich. So why not? I’ll marry her.

That’s right! That’s right! That’s the right choice!

That family has status. Think,

if he marries her and brings her home, Liu Ji gets respect,

-and we'll get respect too, don’t we? -All right, just drink!

-Let’s drink! Drink. -Enough of this.

I’ve made my decision. Also, I need a favor from you guys.

How shabby you guys look. This is a rich family!

Try to dress up for my wedding.

-You have to make me look good, all right? -All right!

-You got it! Come on, let’s drink. -We’ll make you look good.

You bet we will!

Liu Ji has a wife! Ji, bring your wife home.

Go, go, go! This way. Make way! Make way!

Hurry. hurry, or we’ll be late! Hurry up!

Is my humble home acceptable to you?

It’s not as bad as I thought.

-Hey. -What?

Come here, let me have a look at you.

Subtitle translation by Hwee Lin Wong