An adaptation of Mai Jia's novel Decoded
Subtitles By The Gone With The Shirt Team @ Viki
Decoded
Episode 009
Sorry, sorry. Sorry, I'm late.
The mailroom does not tolerate sloppy behaviour.
Since you're late for your very first morning drill, you'll be punished for it.
After breakfast, you will feed the chickens and do your rounds in the mountains with Da Bao.
And play chess with me.
Yeah, that's right. Play chess with him.
Yes, sir!
Turn right!
Double time march!
One, two, one two one.
- One, two, three, four.- One, two, three, four.
What's wrong?
I'm sorry.
My gosh. What can you do without messing it up?
You're late for the morning drill, you let the chickens and the ducks escape when you're feeding them.
You mess up the newspapers when preparing to deliver them...
Gosh! Stop!
Stand up. Stand up!
Let me ask you, what in the world are you thinking about?
I'm not thinking about anything.
Since you're already deployed here to the mailroom,
you'll have to focus on your duty.
What's my duty?
Let me repeat one last time.
Maintain cleaniness, deliver and distribute the papers,
feed the chickens and the ducks, and patrol the mountains with Da Bao. Yes?
Understand?
Yes.
Chess boss, I'm sorry, I've won again.
- Don't be like this! I don't want to play anymore!- You! Stop running!
- I'm not playing anymore!- The winner can't leave
- if the loser doesn't approve!- I'm not playing anymore! Stop chasing me!
Madman, stop chasing me!
- I'm not playing with you anymore!- The winner can't leave if the loser doesn't approve!
- Stop chasing me! I'm not playing with you anymore!- The winner can't leave
- if the loser doesn't approve!- I'm not playing anymore! Directo Wang!
Help me! Help me!
Stay there!
Sigh. Why don't you just let him win for once?
How many rounds did you lose?
15.
Da Bao, why are you back alone?
Where's Rong Jinzhen?
Rong Jinzhen!
Da Bao, not so fast.
Rong Jinzhen!
This child!
Rong Jinzhen!
What do you think about the second letter from John Li?
In the letter that we wrote to him as Rong Jinzhen,
we only mentioned that we're working on a code that's pretty complex.
We did not tell him what exactly the code is that we're trying to solve.
However, how could it be that he asked in his reply
whether or not we're working on the Purple Code?
He even tried to persuade Rong Jinzhen not to get close to the Purple Close.
He mentioned that getting involved with the Purple Code could land Rong Jinzhen in deep trouble.
Go on.
I think there are two possibilities why he reponded that way.
The first is that the Purple Code is already well known.
People know that it's extremely difficult to crack.
Those who tried did not end up well.
- And the second possibility...- John Li
was already familiar with the Purple Code for a long time
and he might have an ulterior motive.
But the strange thing is, even though he tried to stop Rong Jinzhen from attempting to solve the Purple Code,
he still answered the questions that we asked in the letter.
The Decoding Division is now working on the code using the clues that he provided.
They managed to make some new progress using his methods.
His line of thought is extremely unique, it's something that we've never encountered before.
I'm thinking about what his true intentions are.
Does he have an ulterior motive
or does he genuinely care about Rong Jinzhen?
We need to observe this matter further.
What do you think we should do next?
Judging by John Li's letter,
his relationship with Rong Jinzhen is very intimate.
If we can use the right incentives,
perhaps we can obtain
more inspirations from him to crack the Purple Code.
All right. Write back to John Li.
Try to be tactful and find out
how exactly did he know about the Purple Code,
and why is he so adamant about persuading Rong Jinzhen to give up on it.
Yes, sir.
Hot wine, chicken soup,
cooked on a small stove, what a fragrant pot of soup!
I won't leave all the good stuff to you two.
It's time for me to reward myself with this.
Rong Jinzhen! Rong Jinzhen! Where are you!
What are you yelling about?
Where's Rong Jinzhen?
He's not here.
He hasn't played chess with me today.
Where is he??
Right now he should be doing his rounds with Da Bao in the rear of the mountains.
In the rear?
Yeah, go find him there.
What's that? It smells so good.
It's nothing!
You want to play chess right? Hurry! Go find him!
Go!
Phew. That was close. I barely managed to save my chicken soup.
Rong Jinzhen! It's time for chess!
I've went one whole round looking for you!
Wang Da Zao said you're here!
Come out!
Naughty kid! Are you hiding from me on purpose?
Don't let me catch you!
You don't plan to let me play chess with the dead, right?
They can't even move the chess pieces!
It's getting dark soon!
Row eight and column seven with the horse, row eight and column five with the cannon.[horse and cannon are two of the pieces in Chinese chess]
I'll let you win this round, all right?
Row eight and column seven with the horse! Row eight and column five with the cannon!
Comrade Wang!
Comrade Wang! You're here after all. Why won't you answer when I was calling for you?
Office Director: Wang Da Zao
Director Wang, good day to you.
Go on.
This morning, the mailroom made several mistakes with the delivery of newspapers and letters for many departments.
There has been many such mistakes throughout this month. Director Zhao asked me to come here
to invite you for a meeting.
Director Wang, why are you still sitting there? Get up and come with me.
Come out! It's time for chess!
Rong Jinzhen!
Rong Jinzhen...
You bastard... let's play chess...
Director Wang.
I'm so thirsty.
I, Wang Da Zao,
had been part of the revolution ever since 1983!!
I fought the Japanese! I fought the Kuomintang!
I even fought in the Korean war!! I was wounded and suffered!!
I was a decorated soldier!! And I was recognized for my contributions!!
In all these years of service at 701,
I did not make a single mistake!
Bastard... You've just arrived here and you've already managed to make such a big mess!!
You've made a fool of me and got me reprimanded by my superior!
You bastard...
You've embarrassed the mailroom to no end!!
Little kid, just wait for it. I'll make sure you suffer the consequences for this!!
Rong Jinzhen!!!!!!
Operations Division? I'm guard number 3 of the North Campus. Is Section Chief An available?
There's someone from the South Campus looking for him.
Tell him that Director Wang of the South Campus Mailroom is looking for him!
Tell him to come out now!!
Director Wang! What's the hurry?
- Take your guy back. Immediately.- Who are you talking about?
Who else? Rong Jinzhen!
Rong Jinzhen? What happened to him?
Nothing happened to him,
but if you don't take him away, something serious will go down in the South Campus.
Director Wang, slow down. What exactly had happened?
He made mistakes with grave disciplinary breaches.
He was eating and slacking and was even drinking on the job!
Drinking? That's seems improbable. Rong Jinzhen is not a drinker.
Not a drinker? Well he's drinks like a fish all right.
He almost drank a full bottle of white wine!
Director Wang, are you serious?
An Neng, do you not believe what I'm telling you?
I've been receiving and delivering newspaper here ever since the day 701 was founded.
Go ask around and find out if the mailroom has ever been reprimanded by our superiors.
This time, this kid had thoroughly embassed me.
I don't even know how to walk with my chin up again!
You brought him here, and I demand you take him back.
If you can't decide on this, then I'll go straight to Institute Director Gao.
Director Wang, don't get so angry.
Tsk, stop it.
Look.
Director Wang, don't get so worked up.
Rong Jinzhen is indeed naive. But I can promise
that he definitely did not make those mistakes on purpose.
Furthermore,
with all of your experience throughout the years at 701,
you can even lead a crazy chess man like Section Chief Liu,
so shouldn't Rong Jinzhen be a piece of cake to you?
Well, logically, yes. But this kid is different from crazy chess man.
Crazy chess man is just mad on his own. But Rong Jinzhen is driving me mad!
Not to mention that crazy chess man was one of the best at the Decoding Division.
He's got an unspeakable secret on him, so I'm glad to take him in.
But this kid? What has he done?
Director Wang, think about it.
If he's really just an ordinary kid,
would we have brought him to the mailroom?
Are you telling me that he's got a secret on him too?
Director Wang, you are a senior member of 701.
Nothing can escape your eyes.
You're such a troublemaker.
Can I ask you something? If those who got rejected by the North Campus
end up here at the South Campus,
but where would I go
if I got rejected by the South Campus?
They'll throw you in jail.
Really?
Yeah, you'll be in jail. Stop bothering me!
Hello.
Hi, I'm looking for Section Chief An.
He's not here.
What? He's not there?
Then can I leave a message for him?
Yeah, go ahead.
Tell him 885.
885, thank you.
885?
Hey, it's your turn!
Hurry up, little rascal!
What does 885 mean?
Are you talking to me?
Rong Jinzhen left "885" as a message for you. What does that mean?
885?
- I've no idea.- You've no idea?
I thought that Rong Jinzhen was a silly boy,
but ends up that he's spending all his time thinking about all these trickeries.
He's even using codes to communicate with you. Tell me, what does it mean?
It's a secret.
Tsk.
Rong Jinzhen!
Why are you here?
What happened?
Can I be deployed to somewhere else?
I don't want to remain in the mailroom.
What happened exactly?
I made mistakes.
I drank Director Wang's chicken soup.
I even drank his bottle of white wine.
Patrolling the mountain, feeding the chickens, delivering newspapers,
I can't do any of those properly. Even Da Bao is better than me.
You can't compare yourself to Da Bao. You've just been here for a few days, right?
Da Bao is more senior than you.
It's much more familiar with the mailroom's environment and duties than you are.
Of course it's going to do better than you.
I'm afraid that Director will complain about me to others.
The superiors will punish me. That would be so embarrassing.
Don't worry.
I'll accompany you to apologise to Director Wang later. Everything will be fine.
Rong Jinzhen, about that task that I gave to you... how is it going?
What task?
Is 885 all you can remember?
What about 357?
The chess man had been very persistent in asking me to play chess with him lately.
I've forgotten all about it.
Remember, you can forget anything you want,
but not 357.
Ronie![it's another way to call Rong Jinzhen but it demonstrates seniority of the person who says it]
Come and help me!
Rong Jinzhen! Rong Jinzhen!
What's with this kid? Is he clearing the weeds?
Or maybe he got cleared up by the weeds.
It's already so late now.
What's going on with that kid?
Ronie.
Ronie!
- Director Wang! I'm sorry.- Put it down.
I'm sorry, I've been slacking off.
Everyone who gets admitted to 701 have stories of their own.
I understand your situation.
Ronie, come here.
Come here!
Since you're already here today, then I should give you a lesson
on the traditions of the revolution. All right?
Look here. Everyone buried here are nameless heroes.
Ever since 701 was founded,
there has been tens of comrades
who were killed in action by enemy spies.
Buried under every one of these wooden planks
are the heroes of 701.
However, besides those in 701,
no one else knows who they are.
Some of these comrades' families
didn't even know
about what exactly was their occupation.
An Neng had told me many times
that he is going to erect headstones for every one of these heroes
once he has the time to do so.
Ronie. Do your job well at the mailroom.
Don't let me down.
More importantly, don't let An Neng down.
Subtitles By The Gone With The Shirt Team @ Viki
I felt extremely proud to be able to live in the presence of those heroes.
I knew that I was pretty useless.
Everyone else was so busy, but I had all the time in the world.
The least I can do was to fufill Instructor An's wishes
and carve out a headstone for every one of those heroes.
Something's up.
How is it?
Can you track the signal?
It's broken again.
Something's off. The location of the signal is always changing.
Get this to the Decoding Division immediately.
Jingzhen, as your teacher, I won't tell you things that are just rumours.
I once had a student who had great potential,
and he went mad from trying to crack the Purple Code.
In the end, he jumped off a bridge.
His death had become a painful memory that will forever haunt me.
We shouldn't waste our mathematical talents on something
as devilish as studying codes.
I'm afraid that you will follow the footsteps of that student
and I am really unsettled by this.
Since you have chosen this path of gambling with the devil,
as your teacher, I will do all I can
to help you crack this code as soon as possible.
This way, you can devote your talent and intelligence
to real mathematical research
and create things that are more valuable and beautiful for mankind.
Everyone, you've all heard the contents of the letter?
Let me bring up two points.
First, Professor Shan, please continue to write as Rong Jinzhen
and keep the correspondence with John Li going.
Yes, sir.
Second, let's try to use the line of thought provided by John Li in his letters
and start decoding the most recent telegraph sample that we've intercepted.
Chief Zheng.
- What's up.- This is a letter from Rong Jinzhen's family.
Principal Rong has passed away.
I'm afraid that he can't take the news, so I've yet to tell him.
He has to hear about it sooner or later.
Go ahead and tell him.
Instructor An.
Why have you summoned me here?
Let me guess! Are you going to tell me about the heroic deeds of these martyrs?
Director Wang has already told me about it. I've memorized it by heart.
Director Wang told me that you've been good.
He said that you've been punctual everyday for your morning drills
and did well in all of your duties
including patrolling the mountains and the forest, and walking Da Bao.
You even managed to deliver all the newspapers on time and to the right department.
Instructor An!
Until today, I've delivered 4796 newspapers
and 1766 magazines
without a single mistake.
Also, I've been making time to work on the puzzle everyday.
Rest assured.
Very good.
Rong Jinzhen, no one can escape death.
There are some who did many good things.
When they die,
people will remember them and respect them,
just like the heroes buried here.
Principal Rong is such a person.
Principal Rong has always been an outstanding character in my mind.
This is a letter from your family.
Principal Rong is gone.
Principal what?
Principal Rong has passed away.
The organisation has sent flowers and condolence money to your family on your behalf.
Sir! Section Chief An, there's an emergency meeting that requires your immediate attendance.
Rong Jinzhen,
stay strong.
Instructions from above say that to speed up the progress of decoding the Purple Code,
we've been given a computer imported from the Soviet Union.
This computer is huge.
Most of the parts have been transported here using the planes of the airforce.
However, there's still a there's a set of important electron tubes that is part of the core component.
Currently, the secrecy maintenance department in Ningzhou
is recording and making backups of their statistical data.
- An Neng.- Yes, ma'am.
The day after tomorrow, you'll lead a team to Ningzhou and bring back this set of tubes.
In the process of doing so, beware of trailing enemy spies and their surprise attacks.
Yes, ma'am!
Remember, this is not part of your training,
nor is it a drill.
You all are now fighting the real battle.
From now on,
everyone needs to be a high alert
and ensure that the mission cannot fail.
- Do you understand?- Yes, ma'am!
Ronie, Ronie!
You've not taken a single bite of your dinner.
I cooked a chicken especially for you.
You love my chicken soup the most, right?
As humans, we all have to die at some point.
Your principal was a good man.
Good man will have good karma.
He must have passed away peacefully without any pain.
It's all over in a single moment while he was sound asleep.
I've always been thinking,
how satisfied I would be
if I can pass away like that.
Well,
if you want to be alone, I won't bother you anymore.
I will leave the chicken soup at the door.
Come out and get it when you feel like it, all right? Don't leave it for too long that it gets cold.
I'll go, all right?
Director Wang!
- What happened?- It's lucky that we found out about it early enough.
When I reached there, he was already tied up by the guards of the South Campus.
Even as he was tied up, he was crying and yelling about wanting to get out.
I can't control him at all. He's like a mad dog.
Where is he now?
Crazy chess man and Da Bao are guarding him.
Let's go.
Let me go!!! I want to go home!!!
Let me go!!! Let me go!!! I need to go home!!!
I want to see the principal!!! Let me go!!!
- Stop yelling!!!- I want to see the principal!!!
I'll beat you up if you keep yelling!!!
Chess man, I want to go home.
Please, I beg you. Let me go home.
They asked me to keep an eye on you.
Stop yelling, all right?
Let me go!!! I need to go home!!!
- Let me go!!! I want to see the principal!!!- Stop yelling!!
I want to go home!!! I want to see the principal!!
Madman, what happened?
I can't control him, so I took some actions.
Leave us alone.
All right. Madman, let's go.
Da Bao, let's go.
885
885.
I'm here.
Instructor, please let me go home.
The principal's wake is tomorrow.
I have to get back.
Please, I beg you. Help me.
Help me, please.
Be good and remember the discipline here.
I want to help you, but...
Just one day, just for a while.
I'll just go to the wake and take a bow.
And Madam (Mrs. Headmaster)...
She's weak, I have to go and help her.
I beg you, please. Please talk to Chief Zheng.
The principal was his principal too. He will help me.
I promise that I'll work hard on the puzzle.
I will not make mistakes ever again.
Please.
Help me.
Please.
I want to go home!!! I want to go home!!!
Zheng Dang!!! Zheng Dang, come out and talk to me!!!
I want to go home!!! I want to see the principal!!!
Zheng Dang!!! I want to go home!!!
I want to go home!!!
I want to go home and see the principal!!!
I promise you!! I promise you!!
I promise you.
Really?
Have I ever lied to you?
Tomorrow, I will have an important mission to carry out.
I will be back in no time. Once I do,
I will bring you back home and attend the funeral.
Subtitles By The Gone With The Shirt
♫ A tiny light far beyond the stars ♫
♫ The dust swirls in the light’s monologue ♫
♫ A slight cold spreads to the toes as I wait in hesitation ♫
♫ Leaving only silent secrets in the deep seas ♫
♫ Borrowing the dim light of dawn ♫
♫ Approaching the disorderly ending of no reason ♫
♫ Unveil the nightmares which burned memories ♫
♫ You are the hardest riddle to solve ♫
♫ You are the closest to me ♫ ♫ The most distant mystery ♫
♫ Wings of elves ♫
♫ flap across the dark and the bright skies ♫
♫ Hover and fly high ♫
♫ Silently without a word ♫
♫ There is always a secret ♫♫ the evidence that I came, I loved and I ached ♫
♫ You are the closest to me ♫
♫ The most distant mystery ♫
♫ There is a name connecting the past and the future♫
♫ Thick fog and heavy rain ♫
♫ Purified world ♫
♫ Love is the answer ♫ ♫ The answer to everything ♫