Original subtitles

SHUANGLIN GARDEN

I will write your name on the imperial edict

for the arranged marriage.

I know you were forced into this situation, General Yin.

However, I really cannot help with this.

If you want to call off the arranged marriage,

actually, my fifth and eighth brothers are more suitable than me.

But I think you are the only one suitable.

Don't you know why I planted the plum tree in Prince Jing's Mansion?

I thought one day,

you would learn to appreciate plum blossoms.

I never appreciate or cherish flowers.

You should have known it.

I know it.

Just because I know it,

I didn't dare to express it all these years.

-Luomei. -Generals must first cultivate their mind.

A peaceful mind leads to success.

Didn't we recite these military texts together? Have you forgotten?

You said you wanted to be a great general,

that you wouldn't be wavered by romantic feelings,

and that no one would be able to disrupt your composure.

Did you lie to me about all that?

It's not that you don't appreciate flowers.

You just don't like me.

So far,

I still don't appreciate flowers.

If you really don't appreciate flowers,

what does Mei Lin mean to you?

Do you know

there is a kind of wild flower called Undying Flower?

They have slender bodies

but incredibly resilient roots.

Given just a little bit of moisture,

they will bloom vigorously.

They never bloom for the sake of those who appreciate flowers,

but yet they always unexpectedly

catch the attention of passersby.

Unable to avoid them,

people stop to admire

and marvel at them,

becoming enamored,

and even…

and even longing to be with them for a lifetime.

The imperial edict for the arranged marriage?

Yes, Your Highness.

General Yin promised

to give His Majesty an answer after the spring hunt.

Your Highness, His Majesty asked Prince Jing to go too.

His Majesty wants to matchmake General Yin and Prince Jing.

General Yin says she likes Prince Jing and will write his name--

Your Highness.

It's not your turn to tell me

whom she likes.

Your Highness, if Prince Jing has General Yin's assistance…

Since it's a spring hunt,

swords and blades can be unpredictable.

You are so stubborn.

No wonder it's hard for you to get a live-in husband.

If you really can't let go of Miss Mei Lin,

you might as well put on a show before His Majesty

and bring Ms. Mei Lin back.

What show should I put on?

Just show His Majesty

you are deeply in love with Miss Mei Lin.

If you can't see her, you can't eat or sleep properly.

So, you know it, huh?

Of course.

I've been serving you for so many years.

I can see it.

Ever since you had that argument with Miss Mei Lin,

you've been worried sick every day,

and you've even been staying up later than usual.

So, I concluded

you must be afraid Miss Mei Lin will act on her own authority

and ruin our plan, right?

Nonsense.

Go to the West Mountain Mine to catch that guy.

No need for you to worry about Mei Lin.

At the spring hunt, we'll have a tough battle to fight.

Yes.

During the spring hunt, there will be danger.

It might be a good thing

that you stay in the Fanghua Palace.

Live on well.

You shouldn't suffer

all this.

WEST MOUNTAIN MINE

The West Mountain Mine. Li Qing.

Mei Lin.

-Mei Lin. -Your Highness.

Why haven't you changed your clothes yet?

Your Highness,

can I not go to the hunting ground?

Why?

I heard that all members of the imperial clan and ministers

will be participating in this spring hunt.

I don't want to see Prince Jing.

Fine.

I've heard that there are red foxes spotted on the Lushan Hunting Ground.

Let me hunt one and make a fur collar out of it for you.

My archery on horseback was taught by my brother,

-and it's quite impressive. -Thank you, Your Highness.

Take good care of yourself at the Fanghua Palace.

Your Highness.

Your Highness, it's time to go.

Otherwise, we will miss the hunting ceremony.

-I'm leaving. -Go ahead.

Let's go.

The Lushan Hunting Ground is a necessary route to the West Mountain Mine.

Before it's done, I can't make the princess worry.

LUSHAN HUNTING GROUND TERRAIN

-Greetings, Your Majesty. -Greetings, Your Majesty.

As you were.

Thank you, Your Majesty.

Since ancient times, the hunting rituals must follow the seasons.

The spring hunt is a ritual to thank the gods

and pray for the prosperity of our Great Yan.

Today, all the valiant sons of Great Yan

have gathered on the hunting ground.

Such a grand occasion

is sure to ensure that our Great Yan

enjoys favorable weather

and continuous prosperity in the coming year.

Your Majesty, it's time.

Start hunting!

I have long heard

of your excellent equestrian archery skills, Concubine Yan.

Why don't we have a contest today?

Sure.

Your Majesty, I once hunted a white bear.

If you can hunt a white bear today, I will admit defeat.

Really?

Your Highness, His Majesty is joking with you.

Great Yan is on the Central Plains.

How can there be any white bears?

Then, how will we decide who wins and who loses?

-You want to defeat me so much? -Of course.

Your Majesty, you've promised me

that as long as I win, you'll fulfill one wish of mine.

You can tell me what you want directly.

No.

I have to win before I tell Your Majesty.

Whatever you want to compete with me, I'll agree.

Let's just have a horse race.

Whoever reaches the wood ahead first will be the winner.

Aren't we going to have an equestrian archery contest?

I don't want to crush Your Majesty.

Your Majesty.

Your Majesty, I've lost.

If your wish is to go back to Xiyan,

I won't agree.

If I knew your riding skills were so excellent,

I wouldn't have competed with Your Majesty.

When His Majesty was a prince,

he never lost an equestrian archery contest to other princes.

How can I defeat Your Majesty then?

Concubine Yan, you are very smart.

As long as you can fall in love with this place,

you can defeat me.

Your Majesty, do you mean

you will take me to Lushan often?

When I have time, I will take you here.

-Really? -The Emperor does not speak lightly.

Take Concubine Yan to have a rest.

Come.

Your Majesty, in one year,

I will surpass you.

Okay.

Concubine Yan is naturally carefree.

It's indeed a hardship for her

to stay in the palace all day.

Yes, Your Majesty.

Did you hear Yin Luomei is going to choose a husband?

She will choose the champion of this year.

Could His Majesty place his bet on Prince Jing as well?

Everybody knows Prince Jing is often the top one in Lushan Hunt.

-Let's go. -Hurry up.

Let's go.

General,

the imperial edict for the arranged marriage has been issued.

Even if Prince Jing is unwilling, he has to accept it.

The Lushan Hunting Ground is just 50 li from the West Mountain Mine.

If I encounter danger and go missing on the hunting ground,

Father will definitely send

the Lulin Army stationed at the West Mountain Mine

to search the mountains.

That will be your best opportunity to capture Li Qing.

My lord, when I'm not by your side, please be careful.

Don't worry. Go now.

If anything happens, use a pigeon to send me a message.

Yes.

Is Mei Lin still in Fanghua Palace?

Yes.

Concubine Yan's maid said Mei Lin didn't want to see you,

so she stayed in the Fanghua Palace.

Okay.

Third Brother,

everyone says you are highly skilled in archery

and that you must be the top one in this spring hunt.

But I don't think it's for sure.

You are right, Big Brother.

I haven't participated in spring hunt for many years.

It was all in the past.

Your Highness, as planned, Yang Zhen

has released the prisoners of war from the West Mountain Mine.

In six hours,

there will be traces of the Xiyan prisoners of war in Lushan.

When our assassins disguise themselves as prisoners of war

to carry out the assassination, even if it fails,

Yang Zhen will be held responsible.

This assassination during the hunt must succeed.

You are not allowed to fail.

Understood.

I will reach the West Mountain Mine after climbing over two mountains.

Stop there!

Aren't you Prince Jing's Beauty?

Why aren't you with Concubine Yan?

And you are dressed like this.

Beauty, I've long been interested in you.

With your looks,

I didn't expect Prince Jing to let you go so soon.

What a pity.

How dare you touch my woman!

I can cripple you at will.

Your Highness, I'm sorry.

I… I'll leave now.

Stop there.

If you dare

to leak anything about what happened here,

Princess Hengyang will have to arrange her son's funeral.

Understood,

Your Highness. I didn't see anyone. I got hurt by myself.

Get lost.

There are many patrolling Imperial Guards on the Lushan Hunting Ground.

Aren't you afraid of implicating Concubine Yan?

There are no Imperial Guards patrolling here.

You haven't seen me,

and Concubine Yan won't be implicated.

You're familiar with the terrain of the hunting ground.

It seems you are well-prepared.

Are you going to the West Mountain Mine to find the witness?

Whatever I do

has nothing to do with you.

General, inspection of this area is complete.

-Go over there to take a look. -Yes.

Play along with me.

Otherwise, you'll be known as the assassin of a prince.

Nothing here.

I'll go over there to take a look.

Let's go over there.

Nothing here either.

Nothing here.

Nothing here either.

You taught me this.

If we are discovered,

you won't be able to go to the West Mountain Mine.

That's outrageous.

The assassins disguised themselves as the prisoners of war.

It seems the Crown Prince

borrowed help from the West Mountain Mine this time.

Carry these two bodies to a conspicuous place.

Also,

you two will follow Mei Lin

and ensure her safety.

The rest of you will cover for me to the Sunset Cliff.

-Yes. -Yes.

Your Highness,

our people were nearly discovered by General Yin.

We've lost track of them.

We can't succeed in one go.

Send more people.

Don't give them any chance to catch their breath.

Understood.

Luomei, are you sure this isn't just hearsay?

I've never seen any red foxes on the Lushan Hunting Ground.

Anyway, you have to hunt the foxes with me.

Since you've lost, you have to keep your word.

According to legend,

if two people see a red fox together,

they will love each other forever.

Are you upset about choosing a husband?

Did my aunt tell Your Highness that?

There is no need for Her Highness to remind me that.

She just encouraged me to win the first place.

But I know you've made a choice, General.

Why should I force my will on anyone?

If possible,

I'm willing to guard the frontier and never get married in my life.

But I'm a daughter of the Yin family.

I can't decide my marriage.

There's a way.

In this spring hunt, as long as you can win the first place,

you can tell my father to postpone it.

I'm willing to give

the prey I've hunted to you.

I certainly hope

you can write my name

in the imperial edict for the arranged marriage.

But other than that,

I wish you could still live as you did before,

daring to love and hate and being carefree and bold.

Luomei,

as long as I, Murong Xuanlie, am alive,

I won't let anything upset you.

The legend about the red foxes in Lushan is true.

Perhaps…

I shouldn't use this knife now.

I need to arrive before dark

to have a chance to sneak into the West Mountain Mine.

Killing him is too merciful.

What we should do

is make him atone for Qingzhou's 100,000 souls,

for the innocent Weibei soldiers who died.

Your Highness, two people died.

It seems Prince Jing is well-prepared for this spring hunt.

Time is limited.

We must kill him before the Imperial Guards.

Rest assured, Your Highness. Prince Jing is doomed to die.

He is deeply scheming.

I don't need to worry about him.

He was General Weibei back then. Attack him together!

-Kill him! -Kill him!

-Kill him! -Kill him!

Real prisoners of war?

Why did you come back to save me?

Out of instinct.

I'm different from you.

I can't watch anyone die in vain.

I'm truly blessed by the gods.

If there weren't a deep pool below the cliff,

we would have died here.

You already knew there is a deep pool below the cliff?

You tried to escape in this way?

With your scheming personality,

how could you not anticipate the Crown Prince's murderous intent?

I shouldn't have come back.

You can't leave.

I told you I didn't want to go with you.

Now that you've come back to me,

I won't let you leave me again.

It's not up to you.

It's getting dark.

Without me, do you think you can leave here alive?

No need for you to worry about me.

It's useless for you to go to the West Mountain Mine.

Li Qing can only be at my disposal.

If you dare to ruin my plan, I will kill you.

I can kill you now.

Watch out.

You and I are on the same path

and share the same goal.

Stay.

Stay by my side.

The snake is venomous.

To survive, you need to drain the blood immediately.

I know that.

The snake venom has paralyzed your leg.

You must detoxify.

I'll send you back to Lushan.

Not necessary. Follow the stream downstream.

There's a hunter's cabin where there's medicine.

Whatever plan you have,

I can't watch an innocent man die in vain.

Don't worry.

This time,

I myself is the bait.

It's Prince Jing's arrow. Hurry up and report it.

Yes.

How could there be prisoners of war on the royal hunting ground?

The West Mountain Mine is 50 li away from here.

Most of the workers there are Xiyan prisoners of war.

Escapes by prisoners of war are common.

Perhaps there was a lapse among the Imperial Guards.

Your Majesty, it's a dereliction of duty on my part.

Please pardon me.

Father, General Yin has only recently taken command of the Imperial Guards,

so it's inevitable that there would be some lapses among the troops.

Get up.

The urgent task now is to find Jinghe.

Your Majesty,

these prisoners of war are all soldiers who have gone to war.

Now they are cornered and desperate, so we cannot let our guard down.

I propose that the Imperial Guards

seal off the mountain and conduct a thorough search.

Father, sealing off the mountain for a search will require a lot of manpower,

leaving the hunting palace understaffed and at risk.

General Yin, please stay and protect my father.

I request to go search for Jinghe.

I will find Jinghe before it's dark.

Your Majesty, I also…

I know

if you stay at the hunting palace, you'll be worried.

General Yin, go to the West Mountain Mine

and mobilize the Lulin Army for support.

The escape of the prisoners of war

is their responsibility.

Understood, Your Majesty.

Search carefully.

You go over there.

-Yes. -Yes.

Yes.

Let's go over there.

The hunting ground is full of fierce birds.

-Let's hope nothing bad has happened. -Here.

Search carefully.

General,

Mei Lin can't be found on the hunting ground.

Could Prince Jing's disappearance be related to her?

Perhaps.

No matter what, let's first find Prince Jing.

Your Highness, in at most a day,

we can finish searching the entire Lushan Hunting Ground.

Prince Jing will definitely be found.

However,

General Yin will bring the troops back

within a day. Well…

Send a message to Yang Zhen

to have him stall them as much as possible.

I'm afraid Yang Zhen will fail.

Tell him to do his best. Remember, just stall them.

-Don't offend them. -Yes, Your Highness.

Murong Jinghe,

you should have disappeared from this world

ten years ago.

Let's take a break. I can't walk anymore.

What does this horn signal mean?

My father has ordered the end of the hunt

and the sealing of the mountain.

What exactly is your plan?

The commander at the West Mountain Mine works for the Eastern Palace.

I deliberately staged an accident and disappearance

to give Qing Yan a chance to capture Li Qing.

So, you released the prisoners of war in the West Mountain

to create chaos?

They are scapegoats released by the Crown Prince.

In the Battle of Qiujiang,

I decisively defeated the Xiyan army.

Their general committed suicide.

The rest prisoners of war

were locked up to do labor in the West Mountain Mine.

The Qiujiang prisoners of war escaped to the hunting ground,

intending to take revenge and kill me.

It makes sense.

If the Crown Prince leads the search and seals the mountain,

won't we become birds in a cage?

They are sealing Lushan.

Here is Zhongshan.

The snake venom has paralyzed his nerves.

I'm thirsty. Get some water for me.

-Let me help you. -Hurry up!

Go!

HUNTER'S CABIN

You've taken the antidote.

The snake venom will soon be neutralized.

Thank you.

I once spent three years

as a cripple unable to take care of myself.

The pain and humiliation during that time

were far worse than today's.

During my nightmares,

I felt resentment,

hatred,

and regret,

for following the order not to harm civilians,

which allowed Li Qing to escape.

Stop! Don't point blades at the civilians.

Otherwise,

the battle for revenge

wouldn't have been so difficult.

Actually, I admire you very much.

We both crawled out of the pile of dead bodies.

Yet, you have always been a good person.

Being a good person

comes with a price.

General Weibei bore a tarnished name

but continued to protect the people until the very end.

He is a good man

and a hero.

I admire him very much.

The current Prince Jing

is not worthy of being General Weibei.

They have always been the same person.

If the events from back then were to happen again,

I'm not sure whether I would make the same decision as before.

Once we win this battle

and expose the truth about Qingzhou,

I will take full responsibility

for the debts owed…

even if…

it costs me my life.