Original subtitles

[Judge Dee's Mystery]

[Based on the novel of the same name by the Dutch author Robert van Gulik]

[Episode 8]

[This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.]

Di Renjie,

there's someone out there looking for you.

A woman.

- Magistrate. - Magistrate.

- Magistrate. - Magistrate.

[Penglai County Magistrate's Office]

Sorry to keep you waiting.

Magistrate.

That day, before I could finish the song,

you fell asleep.

I'm presenting you with the collection of Mr. Teng's poems.

Later,

I'll sing them for you one by one.

Sing what?

What "later"?

When did you two meet?

Thank you very much.

Di Renjie,

who is she?

I've never heard you mention her.

Prepare the horse.

Yes.

To invite Mr. Teng.

Don't go.

I will go.

Mr. Teng,

do you think

that Mrs. Teng looks

a little strange?

The hair on her forehead

was cut short.

What?

Who did this?

Who did this?

It's not me.

I know.

Magistrate.

[Penglai County Magistrate's Office]

Mr. Teng.

Tomorrow in the morning,

I'll visit you and see you off.

Ma Rong.

Don't let anything go wrong.

What did Huaiying say to you?

Huaiying.

- I'm your brother. - Huaiying.

Hide from me?

What are you hiding from me?

[Teng's Residence]

Huaiying.

Huaiying,

if you don't show up,

you'll never see me again.

That won't happen.

Today,

you'll definitely see me.

How about the screen?

Will you take it with you?

It's ominous.

Why would I take it with me?

Before I leave,

I'll just burn it in a fire.

That screen

is a reenactment of the love story between you and Ms. Yinlian.

If you burn it,

you'll be burning your love story

with Ms. Yinlian too, won't you?

Your words are a bit harsh.

Heaven and Earth can bear witness

to the depth of my love for my late wife.

It won't be burned away by a fire.

Take it easy.

Let me restore the screen

to its original picture

as a parting gift

to you, Mr. Teng.

What's happening?

The lacquer has fallen off.

Can it be scratched off?

There's another layer inside.

The picture of murdering the wife

was painted with special pigment.

When it's exposed to hot water,

it will show up.

I scraped off the special pigment,

so the original picture

was revealed.

That day,

you threw a bowl of hot medicine on it

and created

a shocking picture

of murdering the wife.

That day, I had an attack of madness.

I lost my mind and don't remember anything.

Did you really

have an attack of madness?

What else?

Are you saying

I deliberately threw the medicine

on the screen?

That's what I meant.

You first made the screen change

and spread the rumor about the evil spirits.

Then,

you let the madness take over

so you could lose your mind

and kill Yinlian.

Mr. Teng,

this was your plan.

To kill Ms. Yinlian

and get what you desire.

If you kill someone due to madness,

the Tang Code,

people's hearts,

and public sentiment

will all

be on your side.

Yinlian was killed by Li Han.

That's your verdict, Magistrate.

I said

the truth would come out when we found Li Han,

but I didn't ask you to silence him.

If it's true that Li Han

killed her for revenge,

why did he go through all the trouble

to make the screen change?

Why would I kill Yinlian, then?

I asked you

who made this screen.

Just an unknown artist.

Why ask again?

It's not because the painter is unknown.

You simply don't want to tell me

the painter's name, right?

Is that Ms. Yinlian

in the picture?

Xu Kai.

Why are you here?

Come in.

It's a little messy here.

It's fine.

I don't mind.

Are you done with the screen?

Almost done.

This is...

succeeding in the imperial examination.

What is portrayed

is like a story.

This is

our story.

Does this screen

have a name?

Let's call it

the Four-panel Screen.

The woman on the lacquer screen

is also her.

However, the man

is not you

but the painter Xu Kai.

So you're saying

the one who should've been with her for years

is Xu Kai.

Where is he?

You killed him.

Seven stabs.

Ms. Yinlian

was also stabbed

seven times.

A coincidence?

I don't think so.

But I didn't figure it out

until I found seven scratches

on the wall outside the private room

of the brothel.

You were tailing Ms. Yinlian's secret rendezvous with Xu Kai.

Seven times in total.

One time,

one stab.

Take a good look at my nails.

What scratches are there?

Nothing!

The nails have grown back.

But that day,

when I examined your pulse,

I did see the wear on your nails.

Unfortunately, at that time,

I didn't doubt what you were saying.

Shut up!

Don't accuse others without evidence.

Di Renjie,

it doesn't matter if you wrongly accuse me.

But if you wrongly accuse Yinlian

of adultery,

I won't spare you.

I've never been able to figure this out.

I didn't understand

how a man could endure such humiliation

until I found your poem

in Ms. Yinlian's room.

The old mountains stand, yet my bonds no longer cling.

Embarking on a journey to Chang'an to enjoy the late spring.

A tree draped in pear blossoms, a stream beneath moonlight.

I wonder who owns this sight tonight.

You said you were revising

Ms. Yinlian's poem for her.

The old mountains exist, yet my bonds no longer cling.

Embarking on a journey to Chang'an to see the late spring.

You put your mark

on Ms. Yinlian's poem and tried

to take it as your own.

But unfortunately,

after all your efforts,

it's not

as good as the original.

Di Renjie,

you're just a poor scholar with a classicist degree.

You have no right to judge my poetry.

I indeed have no talent for poetry,

but I'm not one

who would fish for compliments either.

Someone told me

that love and romance

are simple.

It's strong while being together.

It's intense while missing.

Separation creates sorrow.

Infatuation creates suspicion.

Fickleness incurs jealousy and hatred.

These feelings

are depicted to the fullest

in your poetry.

Your poetry is soft and sentimental,

more vivid

than a woman's thoughts.

Now that I think about it,

it's not that you're more delicate than women,

but these poems

were written by a woman in the first place.

If not,

why did you put up with it

when you knew that Ms. Yinlian was having an affair

with her old flame?

It's just because you need

Ms. Yinlian's poems more than anyone else.

Xu Kai.

Let's call it

the Four-panel Screen.

What is portrayed

is like a story.

This is our story.

Di Renjie,

get out of here.

I remember you said

you never used

that horsewhip

since your army days.

This horsewhip

is what I used back then.

Ever since I left office,

I've kept it with me.

It commemorates

my years of military service.

What about the fresh blood

on the end of the whip?

Dare to show your back

for everyone to see?

Fingernails can grow,

but whip marks

can't disappear once left.

You whipped yourself with the horsewhip every day,

trying to subdue your inner demons.

But in the end,

you couldn't resist it anymore.

You first killed Xu Kai.

Then,

you pretended to be mad

and killed Yinlian.

Are you saying I'm faking my madness?

In your study,

we found Bimanzi.

Bimanzi,

a small amount of it

can make one show the symptoms of madness.

To kill Yinlian,

you took it for more than ten days,

which made everyone believe that you'd become mad.

If I really wanted to kill my wife,

why would I go through all this trouble?

In the beginning,

you didn't want to get blood on your hands,

so you bribed the director

to release Li Han.

[Li Han]

Your words are getting even more ridiculous.

I'm Teng Kan.

Everyone knows me in Penglai.

If I go to the quarry for one's release,

the director will surely recognize me.

Call the director here.

I'll confront him.

Did I ever mention the quarry?

That's right.

He didn't say it.

How do you know that Li Han

was serving in the quarry?

It's not hard to deduce.

Call the director here.

I'll confront him face-to-face.

No need for a confrontation.

The one who went to the quarry

was indeed not you

but

Miss Lai,

Ms. Yinlian's sister.

Why did she do this?

You should ask her,

not me.

You know exactly why.

Ms. Yinlian

always went out

in the name of visiting Miss Lai.

The butler

can testify to this.

Had Ms. Yinlian and Miss Lai always been seeing each other?

Not really.

I've heard they used to

have a deep grudge against each other.

It was only recently

that they began to see each other again.

If you knew they were at odds,

then

you'd realize Ms. Yinlian must've been lying.

You knew Miss Lai loved Xu Kai deeply.

And after recovering from leprosy,

Xu Kai rekindled his relationship with Yinlian.

You used her jealousy to get her

to pay for Li Han's release.

If it weren't for Li Han to thwart you,

you'd have succeeded.

He knew that after you killed Xu Kai,

- you'd kill your wife. - Evil spirit...

Evil spirit...

So he could only sneak into your residence repeatedly

to protect Yinlian.

You knew he didn't dare to report it,

so you took advantage of him

and successfully diverted my attention.

You're a heartless man,

so you wouldn't have thought

that Li Han was framed and imprisoned due to Yinlian,

but he loved Yinlian

till his death.

This hair

is proof.

Such a person

will never want to kill someone.

What a story

of love and hate.

It's so touching.

Di Renjie,

you're saying with certainty.

So,

you have evidence to convict me?

I have no evidence.

Li Han and Xu Kai

are both dead.

Just

the Bimanzi found in your residence

is not enough to convict you.

Magistrate Di,

my reputation in the realm of poetry

can't be shaken

by your ravings at all.

You've framed me like this.

Now,

you should consider the consequences.

I thought you once dominated the realm of poetry

with your genuine talent.

Why did you end up like this?

Three people have died because of you.

How can you be at peace?

What nonsense!

Someone!

Keep moving.

Lift it!

How come it's turned into stones?

Where are the manuscripts?

Where are my manuscripts?

It's here.

Where are the other manuscripts?

Where are my other manuscripts?

They're on the way to Chang'an.

I told Ma Rong

to enter your residence

and replace all of them.

These manuscripts are written

in the unique handwriting of Ms. Yinlian.

They're something you haven't had a chance to copy yet.

You pretended to mourn her

and locked yourself in her room.

But actually,

you were searching for her last works.

I can't punish you for murder.

But you used Yinlian's poems

to win first place in the capital.

You deceived the Emperor.

You still can't escape death for this crime.

Mr. Teng,

I won't arrest you today.

You can go.

But remember,

after today,

all your fame

will be a joke.

[Grave of Li Han. Grave of Mrs. Teng, maiden name Yinlian. Grave of Xu Kai.]

[Grave of Yinlian]

I've been in charge of Penglai for a long time

and have violated many codes and laws.

What is Di Renjie going to do with me?

He said

you've lost.

From now on, in Penglai County,

whatever is in your charge,

he'll take charge of it.

Whatever is not in your charge,

he'll also take charge of it.

[Mingyue House] The rain has finally stopped.

Yes, finally.

It's made of red cedar.

When I was a kid in Chang'an,

a family

brought one red cedar tree from the remote Jiannan Circuit

and planted it in their yard.

It was so tall and green

that you could see it from afar.

The heavens and the earth fall into the dark night.

The deceased and the living are drawing apart.

It's my first time.

If you don't like it,

I'll adjust it.

I like it.

No need to adjust it.

Magistrate, thank you.

Wang,

why did you drop the anchor here?

It's too stormy.

This is nothing.

Back then,

I battled in Liaodong.

I've seen waves taller than a mountain.

Are you tricking me?

Don't worry.

I, Wang Lide, have been on this route

a dozen times.

Better safe than sorry.

Where are the others?

I told them to have a rest.

Okay, I'll go take a look.

[Wang Lide]

Psst.

Psst!

Didn't I tell you not to come out?

I need to use the toilet.

Shh.

I told you this ship is dangerous.

The sailors hold swords.

They're all bandits.

I know that.

If they find out

I brought you on board secretly,

they'll kill you.

Wait a minute.

Use this.

I have diarrhea.

Use this.

Hey.

Hey, wake up.

Hey.

Wang Lide.

Gathered in delight, a homecoming feast unfolds.

The joy is as great as in the Song of the Great Wind.

[Ten days later]

[Judge Dee's Mystery] [The Golden Mystery]

[Penglai Quay]

[Bai Kai] Director Yi.

[Director Yi]

I forgot.

It's for Commissioner Liu.

Bai Kai,

your shipmaster, Mr. Gu,

has prepared a lot of good stuff.

Commissioner Liu has come all the way from the capital

to handle the procurement for His Majesty.

I heard

he's also trusted by the Empress.

We must make sure he feels at home.

Right.

You're right.

But with me, you're usually

so stingy.

Always brushing me off

with some furs and Renshen.

Director Yi, you're so funny.

You're the director of the Commission of Maritime Trade

who manages the quay.

Any Mr. Gu's cargo ship must bring you gifts

when arriving at the quay?

Besides,

I also heard

Commissioner Liu's coming with a hidden agenda.

Only by making sure he enjoys himself this time

can we profit from this later,

don't you think?

That's true.

That's true.

Huaiying.

Guanshi.

[Hou Yu, courtesy name Guanshi]

Since you left the capital,

it's been over a year.

I still remember

seeing you off outside the Beihuan Pavilion.

The fallen flowers outside the pavilion

were melancholy.

At that time, I wondered

when

and where

I'd meet you again.

Aren't I doing fine here

in this remote seaside city?

You've lost weight.

Why have you lost so much weight?

With the Empress in power,

many officials are either demoted or deposed.

I was no exception.

Let's not talk about it.

When I heard one from the Ministry of Justice

would accompany Commissioner Liu to Penglai,

I was thinking

how nice it'd be if it were you.

To my surprise...

It's me.

I was going

to meet you after the banquet with Commissioner Liu.

Didn't expect

to run into you here.

I'm here

to find a shipowner named Gu Mengbin.

For a small case,

I've been summoning him for three days,

but he's been evading me.

Gu Mengbin.

What a coincidence.

He's holding the banquet tonight.

Mr. Gu is here.

Mr. Gu is here.

[Gu Mengbin]

Tai,

look over there.

The Gu family is surely making a huge spectacle.

He's the most influential shipowner in Penglai.

The hundreds of ships

in and out of the quay are all owned by him.

His ships can sail to Wakoku

and Baekje.

You guys,

go in and clean up.

Hurry up.

Master.

Director Yi.

Such good stuff. Why are they taking them away?

Director Yi,

tonight, in front of Commissioner Liu,

don't ever mention gold,

Especially not the words "Baekje gold".

What are they moving into the tent?

I can't see it.

It must be some kind of treasure.

[Penglai Quay]

Quick...

Let's release the lanterns.

[Commissioner Liu]

I've been told

that you grew up by the sea before you joined the palace

to serve His Majesty and the Empress,

so I've taken the liberty of setting this banquet here.

I hope you enjoy your drink.

Mr. Gu, I've heard

you're a meticulous person.

It seems that you've already

found out everything about me.

I wouldn't dare.

Commissioner,

I am in charge of goods coming in from overseas

in the Commission of Maritime Trade.

I was wondering what you want

to purchase this time.

That depends on what Penglai has.

It's just a few meager items.

I'm afraid they won't be to His Majesty and the Empress's liking.

Commissioner Liu,

please take a look.

I'm of little education.

I only like two things in life.

First,

enjoying songs.

Second,

gold.

Commissioner,

you must be joking.

Penglai doesn't produce it.

However,

Mr. Gu

has prepared performers for you.

It's right outside.

It's right outside.

Gu...

Mr. Gu

has also prepared some little gifts for you.

I hope you'll like them.

Wait.

Who are you?

You don't have eyes?

You don't know Magistrate Di?

I'm ignorant.

Magistrate, please forgive me.

Magistrate,

this is the agent, Bai Kai.

He's been trying

to stop me from seeing Mr. Gu.

It must be a misunderstanding.

I wouldn't dare.

Stand still.

You stand up.

You. Stand up.

Miss Cao.

Magistrate Di.

Commissioner Liu,

the magistrate of Penglai, Di Renjie, is here to see you.

This is a reception for Commissioner Liu

by the director of the Commission of Maritime Trade.

Why is he here?

I've heard that Di Renjie

and Deputy Secretary Hou go way back.

Commissioner Liu,

I

do know Di Renjie from school.

I also heard

that even the Empress

appreciates him a lot.

Yes.

But in my opinion,

he's active by nature.

Back in the capital,

he hated paperwork.

So by order of the Empress,

he is putting his talent to good use in Penglai.

Invite Magistrate Di to come in.

Yes.

Magistrate Di, please come in.

I am Di Renjie.

Greetings, Commissioner Liu,

Deputy Secretary Hou,

and Director Yi.

The director of the Commission of Maritime Trade

is a fifth-ranked official,

higher than a seventh-ranked magistrate.

Have a seat.

I heard

Magistrate Di is active by nature.

You didn't come here

in the dark

to get a drink, right?

You came all the way from the capital.

I am sorry to have missed the welcome.

Don't say such polite things.

I'm of little education.

I guess Magistrate Di must be here

on official business.

Deputy Secretary Hou holds you in high regard.

So I'm curious.

I've never seen

a magistrate judge a case.

If you're on official business,

do it here

so I can take a look.

Yes, Commissioner.

Commissioner Liu,

let's enjoy some songs first.

Performers come in.

Please, Miss Cao.

The man in this painting is Wang Lide.

It's said

he's an agent working for Mr. Gu, who is in charge

of the transshipment of overseas goods.

Magistrate Di,

I've told the man you sent.

This agent is not my man.

Miss Cao,

play a song for Commissioner Liu.

This drum in your arms

looks very special.

I've never seen it before.

I'm Qiao Tai.

May I have your name?

[Yusu] My name is Yusu.

Your accent...

I'm from Baekje.

Officer, mind your own business.

I'm talking to Miss Yusu.

What's it to you?

Unfortunately,

all the performers here

are booked by us tonight.

It's not a big deal to be rich.

Move aside.

It's not a big deal to be a sidekick.

You'll see.

A few days ago,

the Magistrate's Office received a report

that a store

was overdue for rent.

After investigation,

it's the man in the painting.

He's gone to sea a few months ago

and should have been back last month,

but he hasn't returned yet.

So,

I sent someone to check with Mr. Gu.

Rent arrears

are just a small amount of money.

Why should Mr. Gu be disturbed?

That's very true, Commissioner.

It's just

that the cargo we found

is not a small deal.

It's the Modao.