Episode 3
Empress Dowager is here.
Greetings, Your Highness.
Your Highness, why are you here?
Your Majesty, I heard that...
...you executed 16 painters. Is this true?
What's the big deal? Who told you this?
I'm asking you, is this true?
Yes.
Your Majesty, you're killing the innocents.
You're acting like a tyrant.
A tyrant?
They couldn't even get a drawing of my mother right.
They deserved to die.
Your mother died for you.
Do you think she'd be happy with what you're doing now?
She'd think she'd died in vain!
My mother...
...died because of the slanderous talk.
She'd only die in vain if I failed to remember that.
I'm an Emperor now. No one can interfere in my matters.
No one.
Drawings of Sister Zhen...
...regardless of whether they capture her likeness or not...
"shouldn't be stepped on.
Yes...
...Your Highness.
Your Majesty, I think you're tired now.
Please get some rest.
Why did you stop me? Are you trying to betray me?
Guo Zhao betrayed me! She betrayed my mother!
Are you going to betray my mother, too?
Your Majesty, it's not the right moment yet.
You've just become the Emperor. Things are uncertain yet.
Your Majesty, please be patient.
How long should I wait?
All I want is to see mother's face again.
Am I wrong for hoping for that?
Why can't anyone capture her likeness in a drawing?
Is there anyone who's capable of doing that at all?
Can you?
Why isn't there anyone? -Your Majesty.
Why isn't there anyone? -Your Majesty, please calm down!
Your Majesty, please calm down!
It's hard for the painters.
None of them has seen...
...your mother before, Your Majesty.
Your Majesty, right now there's only one person...
...who resembles your mother.
Who is it?
It's you, Your Majesty.
Here comes the Emperor.
You may rise.
You may start drawing now.
Start drawing.
Start drawing now!
Your Majesty, can you stay still?
Like this?
Yes.
Is it okay for you?
Your Majesty.
Greetings, Your Highness.
The Emperor had a heat stroke and hence, can't greet you.
Please go back, Your Highness.
It's the funeral of the late Emperor.
The Emperor has to be present.
If he's absent, he'd be known forever as an unfilial son.
The Emperor is just following regent Sima Yi's advice.
According to Sima Yi, we should focus on the country.
Therefore, officials are not required to attend the funeral.
There's nothing more important than an Emperor's health.
Your Highness, if you have any queries...
...you can ask Sima Yi about it.
Tell the Emperor. I don't care what he thinks about me.
He's the Emperor.
He should have some self-respect and not let the country down.
Yes.
The Emperor had a heat stroke and couldn't attend the funeral.
Please proceed with the funeral.
Yes.
As a son, he's a no-show at his father's funeral.
He'd be known as an unfilial son in history.
We can't delay it any further. Let's do it.
Kneel!
I thought he would kill me.
Throughout the past four years...
...he had not even looked at me...
...let alone naming me as the Crown Prince.
Why did he pass the throne to me?
The late Emperor had no choice but to do so...
...because you're the only one who can rule Wei...
...and manage the ministers.
You are right.
I'm an Emperor.
I'm the son of heaven.
No one can tell me what to do, right?
Our lives are determined by fate.
Let's go, Sima Yi.
Is that you, Grand Internal Officer?
Sima Yi and Chen Qun.
Why are you still here?
Grand Internal Officer, why are you here?
I volunteered to...
...guard the body of the late Emperor.
Grand Internal Officer, you're a government official.
This shouldn't be your job.
I don't consider myself a government official.
I was a servant of the late Emperor.
After he became the Emperor, he kindly...
...gave me a position to make me look good.
I had been tiptoeing around the ministers...
...for the past seven years.
I don't have to do that anymore. I can finally...
...focus on guarding the late Emperor.
Grand Internal Officer, I hope you're happy.
Sima Yi, I'm no longer the Grand Internal Officer.
Aweng, we'll visit you often.
Since the late Emperor passed away...
...no one had ever called me Aweng.
I like that.
Thank you.
Sima Yi, I'd not seen you for years.
You're getting older now.
Aweng, I'm eight years older than the late Emperor.
That's right.
I'd seen how the late Emperor and you...
...went through thick and thin together.
You overcame the challenges...
...and founded Wei together.
When I close my eyes...
...it just seems like yesterday.
Time flies.
It's almost like a dream.
Aweng.
Were you present when the late Emperor was dying?
Apart from appointing me as a regent...
...did the late Emperor say anything else?
He thought of writing you a letter.
Where's the letter now?
The late Emperor said...
...Wei was the proof of your friendship.
He said he didn't have to write you a letter.
Would my father be hungry in the afterworld?
Your Majesty, he was an Emperor.
Even in the afterworld...
...he would be enjoying a life of luxury.
His favourite food was grapes.
Would there be grapes in the afterworld?
Yes, I think so.
I had never peeled a grape for him when he's around.
Not even once.
Send four cans of grapes to the hall of prayer.
Yes.
Can I go see his body now?
Your Majesty, the funeral procession has departed.
Your Majesty!
Get the imperial physician! -Yes.
Your Majesty!
Empress Dowager is here.
Greetings, Your Highness.
How is the Emperor now?
Your Highness, the Emperor drank some wine...
...and passed out. He needs to control his desires and rest.
Come over here.
Your Highness, what do you want to tell me?
You've been taking care of the Emperor over the years.
That's why I'm allowing you to stay.
If you continue to seduce the Emperor, I would kill you.
It would be easy for you to kill me.
You can do it without even a sound.
I'm just a servant.
You can get rid of me anytime you want.
Why are you trying to stir up bad blood between the Emperor and me?
What good will it be to you?
Are you hoping for the royal family to collapse?
I would never dare to do that.
All I did was accompany the Emperor...
...when he's down.
I don't know whether Empress Zhen's death...
...had anything to do with you.
However, she's related to the late Emperor.
Your Highness, you were deeply in love with the late Emperor.
Shouldn't you share some of his burden?
The Emperor had a tough time.
When he's still a prince...
...he would rather bleed than to shed a tear.
Now he's the Emperor.
Why can't he cry out loud when he's sad?
Your Highness.
You're thinking about protecting the honour of Wei.
However, behind the honour of Wei...
...is a boy who has lost his mother.
Mother.
Your Majesty, you...
Mother.
I still remember how Sima Yi pushed me to...
...call you 'mother' back then.
Since then, I've been calling you...
...'mother' for years, right?
Right.
I also remember that...
...you're father's favourite.
I'm sure you know that father loved eating grapes.
My biggest regret is that...
...I had never peeled a grape for father before.
My mother is in the aftervvorld.
I'm sure my father would never want her to peel a grape for him.
Since you're father's favourite...
...why don't you go to the underworld and peel...
...a grape for him?
Are you afraid to die?
Are you reluctant to leave the world?
I will help you.
Your Majesty! -I will help you.
Why don't you kill yourself? You should die!
Then you can peel a grape for him! -Your Majesty!
Listen to me! Before the Emperor deposes you...
...she's the only one who can save you! You must call her 'mother'...
...or your mother would've died in vain, understand? Kneel!
Call her 'mother'!
Mother.
Come on, boy. Don't be scared.
I'm right here.
There're so many kids in the palace.
You can adopt any of them.
Any of them would treat you like his or her mother.
Why did you choose him?
You know the reason. Please allow me to do so.
Why isn't the Emperor here yet?
Your Majesty, the four regents are requesting to see you.
What do they want?
Don't they know that I'm sick?
Are they hoping for me to die soon?
Grand Marshal said they have an emergency repofl about Eastern Wu.
Help me get changed...
...into Mianfu. -Yes.
They...
...thought I'm still young...
...and less capable than the late Emperor.
That's why I...
...need to...
...show up.
Here comes the Emperor.
Greetings, Your Majesty.
You may rise.
All four of you are here. What is it about?
I got an emergency report...
...saying that Sun Quan of Eastern Wu ordered Lu Xun to attack us.
It's common for Eastern Wu to do this every year.
Grand Marshal, you're in charge of the war in southeast and defence.
Just send someone to fight them.
There's something unusual.
Your Majesty, I received intelligence saying that...
...Sun Quan distrusts Zhou Fang...
...the governor of Poyang Commandery.
The latter wishes to surrender himself and his land to us.
However, he's scared of being attacked by Lu Xun.
He's requesting Wei to send an army to suppofl him.
A general from Wu wishes to surrender his territory to us.
This is a piece of great news.
Which general is willing to go there and suppofl him?
This is a great chance to defeat Eastern Wu. I'll go.
Your Majesty, we should be cautious.
Eastern Wu is good at faking surrenders.
Do you remember what Huang Gai did in the Battle of Red Cliffs?
Sir Sima, have you gone to a war before?
Do you have any idea how things have changed in wars?
You're using what happened 20 years ago as a reference.
If we hesitate and miss the opportunity...
"Eastern Wu and Western Shu would laugh at us.
Your Majesty, I can confirm that this is true.
My intelligence agents told me Sun Quan distrusts Zhou Fang.
Within a month, he'd repeatedly sent secret agents...
...to Zhou Fang's residence and made life difficult for him.
A scared Zhou Fang was forced to cut his hair and beg for pardon.
I think it's most probably true.
Your Majesty, back then Meng Da turned his back on Liu Bei...
...and surrended to us. He ended up doing a lot for our country.
Zhou Fang might just be another Meng Da.
Your Majesty, Sun Quan is cunning.
So is Lu Xun. Please think twice.