Subtitles brought to you by The Gentle Empress Team @ Viki.
Watching the person in the mirror's countenance pale and grow haggard,
Examining love together with regret, both new and old.
Keeping watch still by a lantern though it is daybreak, drenched with tears,
Watching others meet as promised, as twilight falls.
Story of Yanxi Palace Episode 28
She's my hope.
What did you say?
I've always wanted to live like she does.
Empress...
You are the mother of an empire,
yet you envy an ignorant palace maid?
Are you crazy?
Your Majesty, do you still remember
the scenario of our first visit to Empress Xiaojingxian
after our wedding?
At the time, the current Empress Dowager
was still Consort Xi.
The power to rule over the six palaces
was all in the hands of Empress Xiaojingxian.
No need for formalities.
Hongli, this wife was chosen by your Royal Father
and Royal Mother among so many choices.
Are you satisfied?
I will forever remember the graces that Royal Mother bestowed me.
Come here for a moment.
This hair pain is my meeting gift to you.
I hope that you can frequently come into the palace
to talk with me.
Thank you for your kindness, Royal Mother.
I will remember it. From now on, I surely will frequently come to the palace.
I've also prepared a gift for you.
It's a sapphire "Haoran Court" hanging panel.
I made the embroidery on the hanging panel.
Hongli, go to your Royal Father.
I have some words to tell your wife.
Yes.
Kneel.
I don't know what I've done wrong.
May Royal Mother guide me.
Go back and copy "Virtues of a Woman" one hundred times. (T/N wifely virtue, speech, manner, and work)
You would then know what mistake you made.
Empress Xiaojingxian had always been kind and amicable.
Why would she punish you?
Because I spoke more words than Your Majesty did.
Spoke more than I did?
Yes. As a wife,
one should speak less, and speak cautiously.
If one's husband speaks one sentence,
and you speak two sentences, then that's wrong.
I...don't understand.
I remember that in the decree
giving a posthumous name to Empress Xiaojingxian, she was once described as
having a pure and harmonious natural temperament, having a gentle and submissive natural disposition.
Well-trained in the etiquette inside a woman's bedroom.
The model of proper womanly integrity.
Very hidebound by convention.
An Empress who had strictly followed the women's virtues.
How then could she allow
the wife of Prince Bao of the First Rank
to be more eloquent and carefree
than the Prince himself?
Absurd.
Maybe men will think that this is absurd.
But for a woman,
this is morality and conduct.
Always treating one's husband as the sky,
one's husband as the most supreme,
the aspiration of one's husband as being one's own aspiration.
All the wives in this world are like that.
The more I should be like that,
I'm the mother of an empire.
I mustn't make any mistake.
Or else the whole Forbidden City,
wrong...
It's the whole Qing Empire
who will be like Empress Xiaojingxian
in criticizing me
as not fulfilling my duty and not qualified for my position.
Empress,
I never doubted
that you are the best empress in this world.
But Your Majesty,
I am already not my best self.
Since the day I married you,
I'm already not Fuca Rongyin.
My whole person
got tightly wrapped.
Ever step I make
must be perfect.
I must be magnanimous,
dignified,
virtuous and submissive.
This is the Empress in people's hearts.
Not only me,
but the whole Forbidden City must strictly follow the rules.
Not one mistake must happen.
But Yingluo is different. Only she is different.
She doesn't obey the rules.
Excessive overstepped her boundaries.
But...she's being herself.
Wei Yingluo is Wei Yingluo.
She's fresh and alive.
She's willful.
She's trying her best to resist.
Unlike other people,
willingly becoming a wooden puppet that is being manipulated by others.
Your Majesty, I...
became who I am now
because I didn't persist in being myself.
Hence, I must protect Yingluo,
just like protecting my old self.
Your Majesty,
can you understand?
That's why...
you will never allow me...
to hurt her.
Yes, I will never allow it.
This is my first time disobeying Your Majesty.
I earnestly beg Your Majesty.
Just let me be willful this one time.
Your Majesty, what's wrong?
I suddenly felt today
that I never really have known the Empress.
Your Majesty, the Workhouse...
Isn't she a born rebel?
Just let her live or die on her own.
Your Majesty, it's all heavy labor in the Workhouse.
I fear that Miss Yingluo might not be able to do it.
She can't do it?
If she can't do it, she'll come back crying and begging.
As long as she cries a drop of one tear,
it then proves that everything that Empress said
was just overpraising her. Back to Yangxin Palace.
Yes.
Where is Imperial Guard Fuca?
His Majesty ordered him to out and handle some matters. He's currently not in the palace.
When he's needed, he's not around. When you don't need him, he keeps roaming around!
The men in this world are all useless!
Miss Mingyu, why do you talk like that?
Did I say anything wrong?
Yingluo has been punished to go to the Workhouse. Is that a place fit for a human?
I fear that she might not be able to come back.
If Imperial Guard Fuca is around, he could at least beg for leniency on her behalf.
Wei Yingluo got in trouble?
How did you know my name?
Your name is inside the fragrance pouch.
Quickly return the fragrance pouch to me!
Tell me first what happened to Wei Yingluo.
How come she got punished to go to the Workhouse?
Miss MIngyu, are you alright?
My waist...
I've already told you that your bones are weak, so don't randomly move.
Are you crazy?
Miss Mingyu!
This lady is too fierce.
Did you eat pepper growing up?
Your Highness, you were painting just fine. How come you don't want it anymore?
After looking at it left and right,
this orchid seems to look like a chive.
Your Highness. Plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum. An orchid is an elegant flower.
How could it look like a chive?
It's worse than a chive. You can use chives in cooking.
But Her Highness Consort Chun likes orchids the most.
She said that an orchid is the gentleman among the flowers.
Your Highness, did I say something wrong?
Confucius said that angelica and orchids grow in deep ravines.
They don't stop emitting fragrance just because there's no one around.
A gentleman cultivates morality. He doesn't change just because he's trapped.
Is she trying to praise the orchid by that?
No, she's praising herself.
Fine with the orchids.
But that bamboo, it's just plain and bald.
Literati like to praise mastering the Four Arts.
They just want to announce to the world
that my morals are lofty, that I have noteworthy conduct and am independent.
But all of it is just
angling for fame and waiting for the highest bidder.
Speaking of the Four Arts, (T/N playing zither, reading books, calligraphy, and painting)
I've been taught since I was little. I'm not inferior to anyone.
But I...
just love opera more.
But now you're not allowed to sing?
I can't sing...
- Even if I can't sing, I won't draw rotten things like this!- Your Highness!
Your Highness!
Your Highness.
Your Highness the Noble Consort.
What is it?
Your Highness the Noble Consort, I have good news.
Did Imperial Consort Dowager Yu got struck by lightning?
Your Highness.
The funeral of Imperial Consort Dowager Yu is a white thing, where would joyous news come from? (T/N mourning)
That Imperial Consort Dowager Yu had been a vegetarian and been praying to Buddha all her life.
In the end, she got killed by lightning.
Isn't this the biggest joke here in Forbidden City?
That's right.
If it's not Imperial Consort Dowager Yu, would it be Changchun Palace?
That's right.
Wei Yingluo angered the Empress
and got punished to go to the Workhouse.
It's just a lowly slave.
How could that be good news?
Without a fierce dog guarding the gates,
won't entering Changchun Palace just be like entering a deserted place?
We indeed must plan for that.
We have to act carefully and must not leave any traces behind.
Your Highness, don't worry. I understand.
That Changchun Palace used to be so tightly guarded.
I'm already growing nervous.
Now...
This palace will become more lively.
You were once a favored palace maid by the side of the Empress.
Wherever you went, others must bow to you with respect.
After entering the Workhouse, you must forget your past identity.
In here, you're just a sinner who does lowly jobs.
Everyone here in the Workhouse has his own duty. We mainly are in charge of the laborious tasks in the palace.
What others are not willing to do, you do it all.
You wake up when the rooster crows to clean the public paths.
At chou hour (1 am to 3 am), you must remove grass and weeds from the three main palaces.
From daybreak to late night, we must answer several complicated and laborious miscellaneous tasks from the different palaces.
As for you,
start from the simplest.
You will be responsible
for cleaning the commodes from the different palaces.
Hey.
Who are you?
Hey, Little Brother,
you must be in charge of transporting the commodes?
This person is so strange.
What's that smell?
Indeed.
Isn't this an old acquaintance?
Hey everyone, do you know who she is?
We don't know her.
Let me make the introductions.
This Miss Wei Yingluo
is from Changchun Palace.
A favored person of Her Highness the Empress. In this Forbidden City,
she's the most arrogant person.
How come in a blink of an eye,
she has ended up here with us?
Indeed.
Say, Yingluo, others go up higher and higher in ranks as they go on.
How come you instead keep falling back?
If it was me,
- I'd just look for a place to bump my head,- Right.
so that I wouldn't be living an ignoble life
and invite mockery.
Wei Yingluo, what do you want to do?
Let me tell you, we are all members of the Workhouse. I'm more experienced than you.
I'm not afraid of you.
With you being that afraid of me
means that you didn't forget how you got in here.
By mentioning that, you're making me mad!
Isn't it because you pretended to have an affair with Imperial guard and lured me to report it.
It's good that you didn't forget.
Or else I must still exert efforts to remind you about it.
Wei Yingluo...
Enough... Forget it...
- There's still time for that...- Indeed.
Let's go.
Just go. Don't lower yourself to her level.
Let's sleep.
Subtitles brought to you by The Gentle Empress Team @ Viki.
What is she doing?
Those are leftover charcoals from the different palaces.
It's currently the peak of summer.
Say, why is she gathering the leftover charcoals.
Let me remind all of you,
that this person is very scheming. You had better stay far from her
or you might get dragged down by her.
Brother Yan! Brother Yan!
Brother Yan!
Brother Yan.
Brother Yan, why are you not paying attention to me?
Brother Yan.
Brother Yan! Brother Yan!
Jinxiu hit the wall again.
I've told you that Brother Yan will never like you.
Stop wasting time.
Not like me? You think he'll like you?
Look at your appearance.
We all are not blind. Who doesn't know that Brother Yan is handsome?
But he's colder than ice.
All the women here in the Workhouse have tried it.
All hit a wall. What's special about you that he'll give you any attention?
I'm different from all of you!
I'm younger and more beautiful than all of you.
Just laugh then. Laugh until your teeth fall out!
The palace maids here in the Workhouse are saying that you never talk to them.
Are you a mute?
I forgot. Mutes can't get into the palace.
You have to deliver dung carts every day, while I must scrub the commodes.
We can count as colleagues.
How come you won't speak even one word to me?
The palace maids are all saying that they like you.
They say that you're handsome.
I think so too.
I've entered Forbidden City for so long
and until now haven't seen such a handsome eunuch.
Why did you hit me?
You think I want to talk to you?
Work is so tiring every day. Others are also not paying attention to me.
Just to keep myself from going crazy, I can only talk to you.
But, Jinxiu used to stalk Imperial Guard Fuca.
Imperial Guard Fuca, you know who he is?
That is the biological younger brother of the Empress.
An imperial bodyguard of the inner palace.
But that time, Jinxiu wasn't pestering him endlessly.
Maybe Jinxiu does like you sincerely.
If you don't get some food, you won't have any once mealtime is over.
I got you one.
It was hard to get this.
Subtitles brought to you by The Gentle Empress Team @ Viki.
This is...
Your Highness, have you forgotten? You frequently wore it when you were still unmarried.
Because it's not that valuable and an old item that can be kept,
thus we didn't sell it last time, sparing it from that incident.
Immediately doll me up.
I'm going to Shoukang Palace to pay respects to Imperial Consort Dowager Yu.
Your Highness, you must not!
Imperial Consort Dowager Yu got punished by the heavens. You mustn't associate with her.
Even when the Empress wanted to visit her, she got persistently convinced by His Majesty not to do so.
Why are you going then?
Hurry up. Stop talking nonsense.
Yes.
[ Memorial Tablet of Imperial Consort Dowager Yu ]
Prince He of the First Rank, please contain your grief.
In this huge Forbidden City, a palace full of Imperial consorts,
everyone is saying that my mother was punished by the heavens, and thus a person without virtue.
Everyone is rushing to avoid her. Why then did you come?
It's just normal for lightning to hit
the Forbidden City during the summer and burn palaces.
These are all just unfortunate accidents.
Moreover, the dead person is most important.
Paying respect to a dead person is proper etiquette.
I just came to offer incense and do my part.
Your Highness, please be careful of your health.
I'm fine.
Your Highness has been guarding Shoukang Palace for several days. You won't leave, no matter who tries to talk to you.
You're still sick. Why do this?
Everyone says that I'm absurd.
They find it repulsive to even talk to me.
Your Highness Consort Xian, you had better just leave,
so as not to invite any gossip.
Your Highness has lost a loved one.
I can understand your grief. May you take care of your health.
This is not for yourself, but for Imperial Consort Dowager Yu.
She loved her child so much. If she knew that you're not cherishing yourself,
how could she rest in peace?
Consort Xian!
Your Highness, what is it?
Thanks.
Come, have one.
Catch the thief!
Your Highness, please go in.
[ Hoifa-Nara Manor ]
Your Highness, why did you go to Shoukang Palace?
Before, I saved one person
and safely brought him home.
But it happened so long time ago that I even forgot about it.
He also must have forgotten it.
Hence, I must think of a way to remind him.
Consort Xian!
Your Highness, you need anything?
Thanks.
I only know that Prince He of the First Rank is so absurd and laughable. One shouldn't get too near him.
With His Majesty around,
Hongzhou can only be absurd. The more absurd he is, the better.
Your Highness, I'm getting more confused.
Mistress, Her Highness Consort Chun has come. She has been waiting for you for a long time.
- Fourth Brother.- Hongzhou!
Are you alright?
Hongzhou, when brothers fight, you should stop before touching each other. Who told you to be so reckless and hurt Fourth Prince?
Mother, I didn't mean it.
Blades are blind.
Fifth Little Brother didn't mean to do it. Mother Yu, don't be overly worried.
That is because you're magnanimous and won't lower yourself to his level.
From now on, I surely will strictly guard him and won't let him hurt you again.
Fourth Prince, let's put a bandage on your wound first.
Mother, I really didn't mean it.
Damn you! What did tell you?
Hongli is your Royal Father's favorite.
Your Royal Father plans to let him inherit his throne in the future.
Your action today might cause our death, do you know that?
What have I always told you?
Have you forgotten? Did you just put it in the back of your head?
We all are biological sons of Royal Father.
We all are princes of the Qing Empire!
How come I must keep yielding!
Why?
Hongzhou,
I know that you're outstanding in literary knowledge and fighting skills.
But...
you're just not the favored son of His Majesty.
If you keep showing off and being competitive like this,
you will only live in more pain.
I don't ask that you become prestigious,
I only ask that you can live.
I want to protect you.
Do you know that?
Hongzhou, I beg you.
Give it up.
This is my possession.
Why must I give up?
Mother...
Sister Consort Xian,
I heard that the biological sister of Imperial Concubine Jia will be entering the palace.
You must be careful.
Careful about what?
Once she enters the palace, she surely will rack her brain
to take back Yongcheng. After all,
she came for that matter.
As long as Yongcheng will live well, whoever takes care of him
is fine with me.
Although that is right,
you still have to make plans for yourself.
To say some harsh words,
after entering the palace for so many years, you still don't have any child.
If you don't have any children accompanying you, what will happen to you in the future?
Look at Imperial Consort Dowager Guo and Imperial Consort Dowager Yu.
Although they both were the Imperial consorts of the late Emperor,
one had a sad and tragic life, while the other one suffered punishment from the heavens.
But she had a son to send her off after her death. It still was different.
Little Sister, you only know to think for my sake,
why then are you not planning for yourself
while you're still young?
All my life, I've followed the Empress.
I will take care of her son like he is my own.
I only hope that one day, once I'm gone,
there will be someone who will remember this sincerity of mine
and light an incense for me. I'll then be content.
Little Sister is very loyal to the Empress.
It's really admirable.
Loyal?
Yes. It's indeed loyalty.
Little Sister, I won.
Look at me, I got distracted.
It's really one wrong move and the whole game is lost.
Sister, good game.
Yingluo.
Your Highness.
I like this tea.
It tastes sour and sweet. What did you put in it?
Yingluo left me a list.
She said that you're currently pregnant, so your taste will change.
She told me not to use tea leaves.
I should put some sour plum in the water to give it some taste.
Your Highness, can't Yingluo come back?
Didn't you formerly dislike her?
She would fight with me every day.
It was quite lively. But suddenly, she's gone.
I'm not used to it.
It's just that I...
can't let her come back.
Don't know what Fuheng will do
once he finds out.
The palace is already on curfew. You can't go.
Of course, I won't let anyone notice me.
Fuheng, I've checked it.
This is the decree of Her Highness the Empress. You can't disobey her decree.
Fuheng!
Stubborn!
How come I seem to be unable to clean it off me.
Why did you come?
Come with me.
What are you doing? Fuheng!
I'm going to take you to see His Majesty and ask him to grant us marriage.
I'm not going.
Yingluo, I don't want you to stay in this kind of place.
His Majesty already said
that if I approach you one more time,
he will kill me to vent his anger.
You think I will risk my life just for you?
I won't let him harm you.
And then? You will anger His Majesty
and get punished for it. I don't want to become a wife of a criminal.
Unable to lift my head forever.
You always use words to hurt me.
You're deliberately scaring me away. Am I right?
I will repeatedly think about every word you say.
You have always treated the Empress as your benefactor. You don't want to destroy my future.
More importantly, you don't want to drag the whole Fuca Clan into trouble.
Hence, you did everything to hide from me and to avoid me.
This kind of protection is actually hurting me.
In your heart, am I
someone who doesn't even have the courage to bear responsibilities?
Young Master, you came from a noble family.
You're good in literary knowledge and fighting skills.
You're even an Imperial bodyguard. You have a very promising future.
Just for me...
it's not worth it to give everything up.
I don't care about future career or noble status. You also shouldn't care about them.
What about your aspirations?
Every time I go to the Imperial Guard Office,
I see military books on your table
and bed.
You want to join the battlefield.
You want to achieve merits and establish achievements. You want your name to be remembered forever.
Am I right?
Yes. So what?
Just for a woman, you might anger His Majesty
and lose the chance to be given an important position.
Do you want to waste your days and accomplish nothing for the rest of your life?
Yingluo, I'm just going to ask you one question.
You're a person that's clear about kindness and grudges.
It was you who approached me first and deliberately obtained my attention.
Now, you're saying that you're giving up.
What about the affection and heart that you owe me?
How are you going to pay me back?
You're unable to repay it, am I right?
Use your life to repay it then.
You want me to repay your affection. Is that it?
I'll pay it back.
Yingluo, what are you doing?
Yingluo.
What are you doing?
Didn't you want me to repay your affection?
I'm repaying it now.
Wei Yingluo, you really can do anything.
Do you know the ending of a palace maid losing her virginity?
I'd rather die than owe anyone favors.
You're the most ruthless woman I've seen.
Maybe...
you find my scent weird right now.
It's not my fault then.
You really think that I'm a gentleman
and am at a loss of what to do with you?
Let me tell you that a gentleman is still a man.
You're wrong.
Subtitles brought to you by The Gentle Empress Team @Viki
♫Softly falling into the hollow of my palm,♫
♫Resting frozen in the center of my palm.♫
♫Our meeting across past incarnations was inevitable,♫
♫Joined together, deeply experiencing and holding onto the end of happiness.♫
♫Though plainly given words of discouragement,♫
♫Pretending to hear nothing but exhortation.♫
♫ Endless tears, believing it cannot be true,♫
♫ In this life, being born under an unlucky star.♫
♫ I hear the sound of the snow slowly falling♫
♫ Though I close my eyes, it's impossible to stop the vision.♫
♫ Nothing you can do about being approached, not being inconsistent in love,♫
♫ Though merely holding onto it from the outside, prone to this sort of circumstance.♫
♫ I hear the sound of the snow slowly falling♫
♫ As though you are holding me closely, and speaking sweetly.♫
♫ Opening your eyes to a sky filled with merciless snow falling,♫
♫ Who, after suffering this loss for a lifetime, is fond of this scene?♫