Episode Fifty-four
Maybe because of the yellow sand
the sky of Yan is never clear
even when it is sunny
But better in rainy days
Not continual like Wei
but fresh and cool
Pity that so less rain here
By the way
how is boss Chen?
Master
We have sent them back to
the safe area at the rear
According to him
the one released them wore a mask
Seems like a man
Know well about
Hongchuan
Who would that be?
Message from Chang'an
The majesty is badly sick
Lost the charge of the government
Now all the affairs are governed
by the seventh prince Yuan Che
If so the
civilians may be able to enjoy the peace
earlier
One who do evils
won't end well
What do you think, your highness?
I have sworn to fill Chang'an with blood long before
Cut down the head of its majesty myself to
mourn the death of Yan
How can he die
so easily?
Exactly, your highness
Only killing the enemies with our hand
can we comfort the heroes
died for Yan
The old majesty may be about to end
But the new majesty is still
our biggest threat
The seventh prince Yuan Che is prudent in action
He can see the bigger picture
Still doubtful if he will be our threat
Seem like
Miss Yu has some relationship
with this seventh prince?
Cheng Yuan, what do you mean saying that?
If you are not
close friends
how do you know
he is not a threat?
Cheng Yuan
No matter who is the next majesty
the war can not be avoided
Announce my order
Fasten the preparation of food and soldiers for the battle
Yes
Please consider for a little more
If the war comes again don't know
how many families
are about to separate
Yan has just welcomed for its peace
They can't suffer from another war
I've said before
Women can never be relied on to
lead the army
Yan and Wei
could never exist at same time
If you just keep the thought of luck in your mind
the whole land of Yan will be stepped on
by their men sooner or later
You should know best about
how a woman woman the the troops
General Cheng
You'd better be careful with your words
Careful?
You are also a general
You should know well about
the current situation of Yan
Now we have strong enemies outside us
and problems not to be neglected inside us
someone
may be able to release the spies of Yan today
Then tomorrow someone may be able to
assassinate the prince
What do you mean?
Your highness
Those who burn the barn escaped
But weird thing is
all the locked torture devices in the prison
have no sign to be destroy by force
So someone must have used keys to
release them
I think this spy is among us
I think
Minister Chu should know best about this
General Cheng
Then according to you
Our Minister Chu is a suspect?
Right, Cheng Yuan
No matter what
you can't suspect Minister Chu
We are clear in mind
if it was her or not
Your highness, it's not a small deal
Enough
Do not involve in it
any more
You may leave
Yes
What are you coming for?
A'chu
I just want to ask you
Did you release those people
who came to burn the barn
You don't believe me, right?
If you say no, I will believe you
Okay, them I'm telling you
No
Okay
Yan Xun
The civilians of Yan have always been
looking forward to your return
Do we just pay them back
with war?
There will be
a price for everything
And the real peace
can only be gained
through war
Is that true?
Princess.
He is the son of Concubine Zhao.
The other day she caught a weird disease
and died in a short time.
There is only this child left.
It shows the superficiality of human relationships.
Concubine Zhao is dead.
He lost his mother.
Poor child.
He is here alone,
without the company of any servant.
Those concubines in palaces
are all extremely selfish.
No wonder,
he is not their child, anyway.
How can they care for him?
Concubine Zhao died.
Those servants would
naturally ignore him.
Who are you?
I am Yuan Chun.
Your sister.
Can you play with me?
Sure.
Since today,
I can play with you every day.
Are you happy?
Yes.
Let's play, then.
Okay.
I am going to kick it.
Yang'er.
No.
Yang'er.
Who is it?
Sister!
Are you sure?
Yes!
Really?
Really.
See for yourself.
Are you correct?
Are you?
Sister, you lose!
Fine, I lose.
Tell me,
what do you want me to do?
I will say yes to everything.
Play festive lantern with me tomorrow.
That simple?
No problem, I promise you.
- Princess. - Here.
Princess, Chief Eunuch Wang is here.
Let him in.
Yes.
Here.
Chief Eunuch Wang, please come in.
How come you
catch me at one blow?
I just need to touch your fingers.
You are so smart.
Princess,
His Majesty invites Prince Yuan Yang
to dine in Concubine Lan's palace.
Okay.
But Chief Eunuch Wang,
I accidentally dirtied his hands
when playing with Yang'er just now.
I help him to wash and rinse.
Yes.
Let's go.
Here.
Yang'er.
Never eat food
that is given by others.
Do you remember
the little rabbit of mine?
It died,
because it ate the food
given by other people.
Your Majesty, why did you
ask me to cook a meal for Prince Yuan Yang?
Lan'er.
You see, you have no child.
My health is getting poorer every day.
Do you have any plan for the future?
I will listen to your instructions.
Fine.
There are
many princes in palaces.
In my opinion,
Yuan Yang is a rough diamond.
He lost his mother when he was young.
I was too busy with everything
and didn't have time to look after him.
Why not
make you his adoptive mother
and look after him?
You can rely on him in the future.
What do you think?
Your Majesty trusts me.
I will treat him
as if he were my own,
and cultivate him well.
Your Majesty, Concubine.
Prince Yuan Yang is here.
Father.
Yuan Yang.
Come to me.
Father, are you feeling better?
With you thinking about me,
how can I not feel better?
Prince Yuan Yang is growing up.
Have some soup.
No.
I don't want to be like the rabbit.
What rabbit? Don't be silly.
Here. Have some soup.
(Sound of crying)
I don't want to be like the rabbit.
There, there.
I don't want to be like the rabbit.
Don't be like the rabbit.
There, there.
Don't cry.
There, there.
Your Majesty, I will leave first.
Father.
There, there.
Don't be like the rabbit.
Don't be afraid.
You won't be like the rabbit.
You won't.
There, there.
Tell me.
Who would you have look after you?
A personal letter to Young Master Yue.
The situation in Chang'an is changing.
You advised me to compete for the throne.
I am afraid I can't succeed.
I am in the prime of my life with military power in hand.
Father worries that
his position will be threatened
if he makes me his heir.
Therefore, he takes
more strict precautions against me.
His health is
getting poor day by day.
Recently,
he is intented to
make his young son, Yuan Yang, his heir
to avoid the fight for throne.
Obviously Yuan Chun knows clearly
about this key point.
She deliberately got close to Yuan Yang.
She got in the way,
alienating Yuan Yang
from Concubine Lan.
Father had to give Yuan Yang
to her temporarily.
The fight for throne is getting clearer.
It's easy to guess Yaun Chun's intention.
Now, Father is suspicious about me.
Yuan Chun also sees me
as a thorn in her flesh.
I am treading on thin ice.
The slightest mistake may cost me my life.
Your Royal Highness Xiang,
don't stay in this troubled place.
You should offer to
do battle in Yanbei,
to deceive Yuan Chun.
However, you ambush outside Chang'an City.
Even if she takes action,
there's still time for you to return to Chang'an
to control the situation.
Sister,
why does Brother Yuan Che
leave?
Well,
isn't it good?
(Sound of thunder)
(Sound of coughing)
Chief Eunuch Wang,
Somebody comes.
Lan'er.
Somebody comes.
Bring me my medicine.
I need to take medicine.
(Sound of coughing)
Chun'er, you're just in time.
Give me my medicine.
Father, do you want it?
It's too hot. Please wait.
Where are Lan'er and Chief Eunuch Wang?
Where are those people in palaces?
I ask them to leave
because they don't treat you well.
You are very ill, Father.
You should have a good rest.
I will keep you company. Isn't it good?
What do you want?
Nothing.
I just want to talk to you.
Nobody else is
in this palace
but you and me.
We won't be disturbed.
Father, I have always
wanted to ask you about something.
But I never got the chance.
At that time when
you let me marry Yan Xun,
did you regard me as a bait?
I had no alternative then.
The only thing I regret
is that I didn't kill that traitor.
The happiest moment
in my life is
when you approve of
our marrige.
I didn't expect that
it was in vain.
A deception from start to finish.
Yan Xun's sin
can be forgiven
even if he is drawed to death.
Why do you hang up on him?
He is my childhood sweetheart.
We grew up together.
I liked him.
I had liked him for so long.
I thought you knew that.
Chun'er, we may know a man's exterior but not his heart.
You were tricked by him.
I wasn't.
He had stayed in Chang'an for a long time,
behaving himself.
He was always sweet to me.
If it wasn't for you,
If it wasn't for your suspicion for your brother,
you massacred his people, killed his families,
you almost killed Brother Yan Xun
on the Jiuyou Platform,
making him overwhelmed with sorrow.
How could he rebel
against you?
He was like his father.
They were disloyal.
He rose in rebellion,
plunging the people into misery and suffering.
It was you who made the people suffer.
It is you who deserve punishment.
It is you who should go to hell.
That's too far.
How dare you slander your own father
for a traitor?
(Sound of laughing)
Father?
Now you know
you are a father.
I used to think that
you were like
every father in the world.
You would think for your children.
I never knew that
I...
I was merely a pawn in your plan.
To kill Yan Xun,
you used me as a tool.
At that time,
did it occur to you that
you were a father.
Do you know how many sins
you have commited in your life?
You killed Duke Dingbei wrongly,
forced Bai Sheng to die,
persecuted good and loyal men. This is your first sin.
You branded Yanbei people as rebels,
massacred innocent people.
This is your second sin.
To keep people from
calling you tyrant,
you deliberately spared
Brother Yan Xun's life.
Secretly, you incited big households
to assassin Yan Xun,
turning them against each other,
and you could just be a free rider.
This is your third sin.
My mother, Grand Imperial Concubine Wei.
You have been together for many years.
You made her drink the poisoned wine
to get herself killed, despite your marital relationship.
Brother Yuan Song.
My brother is at peace with the world.
You exiled him.
Brother Yuan Che has great ambitions.
However, you gave
your throne
to an
ignorant child.
Just because you feared your power would be decentralized.
Do you want me to continue?
You, a heartless emperor,
a disloyal brother, an unloving father,
suspicious by nature,
jealous like a woman.
This is why you came to the fate
of breaking up families now.
Father.
Let me tell you one thing
that you should either do not do it
or leave no room for manoeuver.
Since you had killed the Duke Dingbei,
then you should have killed Yanxun.
Since you had killed my mother,
then you should have killed me.
You are not the one you used to be.
What you used to...
What you used to be...
... was not like this.
Because I know
the one who is pure and kind will only be trampled underfoot,
and the innocent one will not last long.
It's not that I have changed,
it's I have grown up.
I didn't want to be princess.
I didn't want any high position
and great wealth either.
I just wanted to
live with the one I love
for my whole life.
But now,
my mother died, my brother left,
and the one who loved me was gone as well.
The people I cared about
have been missing one by one.
Now, I'm the only one left.
Do you know
that I have nightmare every night
and feel as if I'm not living?
Never mind.
How could I count on
the most selfish one in the world
will share the feeling with me?
What are you doing?
What are you going to do?
Chun'er, what are you going to do?
Chun'er.
What are you going to do?
What?
Someone help me.
Please help me.
Someone help me.
- Someone help me. - Stop Crying.
- It won't work. - Help me.
I fell into water by accident when I was 8,
then I had a high fever.
You took care of me with undrssing
and ordered to fill all the pools
in the Palace.
Who could expect
that you and I
have turned against each other now?
I'm not merciless enough
and not shrewd enough,
but you are the one
who forced me to come here step by step.
Father, it's time for you medicine.
You are murdering your father and committing regicide.
I will give the throne to Yuan Yang
as you wish.
But I will assist him.
Chun'er, I know I was wrong.
Do you want the state power?
I will give it to you, okay?
What good is that I have the state power?
What I wanted
have already been destroyed by you.
Come on, a good medicine tastes bitter.
You can have a rest after finishing it.
Stop.
Help me.
Why did you come back?
Chun'er, you went too far this time.
You can't be so viciousness
even you had hate in your heart.
I'm viciousness?
Compared with this one,
I'm not as viciousness
as one in a million of him.
But he is our father.
Father?
Why didn't he say he is the father
when he married me to Yanxun?
Why didn't he say he is the father
when he killed my mother?
Why didn't he say he is the father
when he kicked you out to the frontier juncture?
He is inhumanity and injustice to us.
Why should I treat him as good as we could?
I'm killing him.
Chun'er.
- I'm killing him. - Chun'er.
Stop.
No matte how,
I will never let you do it today.
Father.
Are you sure what you heard is right?
Absolutely true.
I just saw it with my own eyes
that the princess had been sent out of the Palace under escort.
What should we do?
What should we do now?
The emperor won't let her get away
since it's such big issue.
No. It's not going to happen.
I have to figure out a way to save her.
Young Master. Young Master.
What are you doing?
I'm going to save her.
Are you going to rebel, Young Master?
I'm going to save the princess.
How could I rise in rebellion?
It's the rebellion to disobey the decree of the emperor.
Young Master.
It's too serious, I don't care.
Young Master.
Yuwen Yue.
Based on your stratagem,
I found an excuse to leave Chang'an
and stationed the troops outside the city,
so I could get the chance in time to stop Yuan Chun
to force the king to abdicate and commit regicide.
It's a pity
that my sister Yuan Chun has been kept in the Ganfu Temple by father
and been waiting for the judgement.
Through this accident,
father has just stayed at the Bedchamber alone
and didn't say a word for couple of days.
I think he must feel very grieved.
Maybe I have performed meritorious service to help his Majesty out,
and father has thought I have the innocent heart of a child,
so he has really trusted me.
I have been in charge of
all the government affairs,
which made me really fearful.
I will not let father down
and be careful in the beginning and respectful in the ending.
Brother, come to catch me.
Slow down.
Come on, you can't catch me.
Catch you.
Come to catch me.
Slow down.
You can't catch me. You can't catch me.
Come on.
Wait for me.
Come on.
I got you.
Brother, I'm sorry.
It's alright.
Since you have been in our humble home, Young Master,
how about coming in and drinking a cup of water?
You are welcome, please.
- Please come in. - Brother.
Come on in.
Come on, take a seat.
Come on, seat over here.
Come on, please take a seat.
Thank you.
Come on, drink the water, come on.
I have got something to do,
I will be back soon.
You just take the seat.
Okay.
You must have a hard time getting here, Young Master.
Just try the little snacks we made by ourselves.
Be careful
Please take your time, I'm going to do my wrok.
Thank you.
Come on.
Go, let's get inside.
Your highness.
Let's go back.
The sunset is so beautiful today.
There is sunset every day.
Why are you full of sorrow, Your highness?
Yeah, the sunset is always here,
so is the day.
The time is just passing day by day.
But people are different.
Once they leave,
they will never come back.
Did you miss Chang'an, Your highness?
What I missed is not the present
Chang'an,
but the Chang'an in my memory.
At that time, Chun'er and I were just kids,
and Chun'er liked to play hide-and-seek,
so I just played it with her.
Mother and Fath...
They just sit around
and watched us with smile.
That was the time of carefree and no worries.
But when I was at that time,
I didn't realize anything.
I realized it till everything
had been broken
that how happy we were
and how lucky we were at that time.
Your highness, the deceased can't come back.
The deceased can't come back.
This is why
I followed father's order
to come to Yanbei.
I thought
it could let the dust settle
and thought it could make Chun'er
be good.
Your highness.
Please stay here and wait for me for a while.
Your highness. Please take a look.
When I was a kid,
I was very good at this.
Everyone in the village
liked to come to my home and asked me for the help.
For one while,
there were scarecrows I made
in all the fields at our village.
You must be a smart girl
when you were a kid.
Did the people in your village
very like you?
I didn't ask them
whether they all like me or not.
When we meet each other at hell,
maybe I will ask them.
Did they...
They all died.
I was making the scarecrow
in the field at that time,
so I just dodged the disaster.
When I came home filled with great joy,
I didn't expect
to see the scene
that I would never forget for my whole life.
My neighbors, my friends,
my brother,
my mother
and my father,
they all laid down in the blood.
The bloodstain which was so thick that became black
seemed to be the pool of blood
from distance.
Everyone has his or her
own story.
I didn't say it
doesn't mean it didn't hurt.
So you were brought to
the Afterlife camp
and trained to be a killer.
Let the past be the past.
You can't move on
if you don't drop the load from the past.
The reason I told you all this
is not to tell you
how pity I am,
but hope you will stick out
just like me,
then you will always see the hope.
Your Highness, please come here.
Do me a favour.
Great.
Our scarecrow is finished.
Meng Feng. Thank you.
You did it yourself.
There is no need to thank me.
From now on,
I am just like a scarecrow
in the border of Meilin.
I will guard
this land.
Here. Here.
Drink. Drink.
Fill it up.
OK. OK.
Quickly.
Here. Here.
Quickly.
Bring the wine.
OK.
Set the table.
The troop of Xiuli
has been situated here for days.
They only patrol around the place.
Nothing weird.
Young Master Yue let us
watch them in secret.
He must have a reason.
Be patient.
Miss Chu never mentioned
to transfer us
to Xiuli Mountain.
What?
Look at this carefully.
This is His Highness' seal.
Is the troop of Xiuli under
Chu Qiao's command,
instead of His Highness?
General Cheng, that's not what I meant.
Every solider in the troop of Xiuli
is an elite.
Elite?
Indeed.
The city of Hongchuan, the city of Beishuo
and the city of Chang'an
were almost ruined
by you.
You are elites indeed.
Very impressive.
General Cheng,
what do you mean exactly?
I am just telling the truth.
I think you are looking for troubles.
How dare you.
I was talking to He Xiao.
How dare you step in?
You鈥?
General Cheng,
since it is from His Highness,
we will obey.
Can we say goodbye to Miss Chu
before we leave?
That's not necessary.
According to His Highness,
you must leave immediately
because you are
short of soldiers.
When you arrive at Xiuli Mountain,
you will join the local army.
The troop of Xiuli
will no longer exist.
Jiang Teng.
Take down their ensign.
Burn it right here.
Yes, sir.
Stop.
What are you doing?
Step back. All of you.
I shall fight with you at full split.
Step back.
Let go of me.
Calm down.
You may kill us, but you can never insult us.
Look at me.
Don't disobey someone who is above your ranking.
If you are reasonable people,
you should know
this ensign is the most shameful thing
for the troop of Xiuli.
You betrayed the late Duke.
We were defeated by the Wei State.
People in the city of Hongchuan and
the city of Beishuo were killed because of you.
You don't have a place
in Chang'an anymore.
You came back to His Highness.
In order to survive,
you are all hiding behind a woman.
I am a real man.
I am ashamed that
you are part of our army.
Cheng Yuan.
It is not your place to decide
our loyalty.
When the troop of Yuanqi attacked,
you escaped and abandoned the city.
After that,
you even let your people get killed
for you.
You are a real man?
You are too arrogant.
You are ashamed that we are part of this army.
We are ashamed that
we are your alliance.
His Highness only ordered us
to go back to Xiuli Mountain.
There was nothing else.
You better
give the ensign back to me.
You better not challenge
my bottom line.