[English subtitles are available.]
Winter Begonia
Episode 8
I’m coming. Coming.
Quick. Quick. Quick.
Why did it take you so long?
Leader.
Are you hungry, leader?
I bought pork shoulder.
Come out and eat something first,
okay, leader?
Pork shoulder, leader.
He didn’t reply.
Oh, no.
- Leader. - He’s not eating anything.
Looks like he’s really angry.
Those vicious traitors.
We count on him to make a decision.
He can’t throw up his job now.
He has to tell us
what we should do.
Leader,
couldan you cut it out now?
When you fell out with Jiang Mengping,
we obeyed you.
You wanted to go back to BeipingPeking
and we also obeyed you.
I even abandoned my fiancee.
I’ve done all I can.
You wanted to change our plays.
Okay.
You’re the lead.
You can change them as you please.
You were just heckled
by the audience.
We should obey you.
But after we listened to you
and listened to you,
we’re going to starve now.
You think you can hideing there?
No way!
Shang Xirui, get out.
What are you doing, Shijiu?
Stop it.
Get out!
- Let go of me. - Stop.
Shang Xirui,
when our old leader was alive,
Empress Dowager Cixi invited him to sing in the palace.
He was as famous
as Ning Jiulang and Hou Yukui.
How promising we were.
Now you’re in charge of Shuiyun Theater.
If you can’t develop it,
at least you should maintain it.
But what you dodid
is just losing your temper,
doing whatever you want
and taking us to a blind alley every day.
Listen, Shang Xirui.
This troupe is called Shuiyun Theater
but not the Shang Troupe.
I’m fed up with you!
- Alright, calm down. - Let go!
Shijiu.
Shijiu. Shijiu.
Shijiu!
Leader, come out. Leader.
Come out.
I just don’t believe it.
I can live without you.
What?
You finally got out of your shell?.
Shijiu,
if you leave,
I’ll lose a helper.
You only have one helper
and she got married.
What kind of helper am I?
Mr. Cheng,
I came to China
to explain something
and apologize to you.
I’m not able to strengthen Cave Liuxian.
Actually corrosion and falling stones there
aren’t the problems.
The hardest part is the bearing of weight.
The whole mountain is on that cave.
I calculated the bearing value.
Common steel materials can’t bear that weight at all.
In today’s world,
only some special alloys that we Germans use
to make components of planes
can be that strong.
I’ll can buy them
no matter how much they costare.
It’s true that you’re a rich man.
But those materials are under control of the army
and can’t be sold or bought at the market.
Even if you can buy enough materials,
you still need German engineers to put it up,
which is out of the question in China.
You mean there’s no way we can do it?
No.Yes.
At least it’s out of my reach.
I’m sorry.
I’ve deducted the traveling and design cost.
The rest of the deposit will be returned now.
Give it to me.
Okay,
I’ll see you around, then.
If there’s not something urgent you need to do,
please have lunch here.
You have come
a long way.
I’m really grateful to you.
- Well... - Yes, Mr. Xin.
We haven’t seen each other for a long time.
I want to chat with you.
Don’t turn us down.
Okay.
Sorry to bother you, then.
We’ve been in BeipingPeking for a year.
Originally there were thirty-seven of us.
Now only twenty-five of us are still here.
Some people
got married.
Some broke the rules
and were kicked out by me.
Some despised
our small troupe
and went to play walk-on roles for big troupes.
Considering
we’ve worked together for years,
I’ve been turning a blind eye to your doings
and I didn’t punish you.
Shijiu...
Shijiu had a good point.
Shuiyun Theater
is not athe Shang Troupe.
It’s not my own business.
But
if it has anyone’s service contract,
hHe still belongs to Shuiyun Theater.
Go and bring
those who are outside back.
WeI’ll have a meeting
at eight tonight
and none shall be absent.
Whether Shuiyun Theater can survive
will depend on you.
What if they really don’t want to come back?
Just tell them
as long as they arrive on time,
I’ll return their contracts
whatever the result is.
Well...
Stop looking at me.
Go right now.
It’s hard to travel when it’s dark.
The men, go.
Let’s go. Come on.
Go, go, go.
Slowly.
After I left China with my parents at the age of eight,
this is the first time I’ve been back.
Over the past few years,
the world has changed dramatically.
But China is still the same.
Changes of China
aren’t things that can be seen.
For example, the mansion in front of us
looks the same as it was a hundred years ago
because we’ve been maintaining it.
But there are light bulbs and a phone inside
and its residents also change from nobles of the former dynasty
to modern gentlemen.
Mr. Xin, you didn’t know.
My brother-in-law is
an astute businessman.
But when he was
going to buy this mansion
to please my sister,
he was fooled
and spent twice as much on it.
Don’t you think he’s stupid?
There are things that can’t be measured with money.
Yes, yes, yes.
Houses here are gorgeous.
Perhaps it’s an occupational disease of me.
Iif it were me, I would think they’re worth
buying no matter how much they cost.
Now that you like them,
why don’t you let me show you around?
That will be great.
Come on.
Okay.
Constructions of China are really beautiful.
You’ve maintained them well, Mr. Cheng.
Thanks.
As a Chinese,
I’m obliged to preserve China’s history.
Fengtai,
Mr. Xin,
you go on ahead.
I’ll go to the kitchen and check.
Okay.
Be careful.
You’ve really grown up.
You’re so quiet and pretty,
just like a picture.
Listen,
we’ll have lunch with a guest later.
You mustn’t pull a long face in front of your sister
like you usually do.
I know you don’t like her.
But you can’t humiliate us
when a guest is there.
If people know about it,
it’ll do you lots of harm
and no men will dare to marry you.
When did Mr. Cheng say we’ll have lunch?
He just sent word
that they were looking around the house.
Everything can amaze that foreigner.
Why didn’t you tell me earlier?
Let’s avoid him.
Come on.
It’s our house.
Why should we avoid him?
Hey,
now you can answer back.
Mr. Cheng,
can I have a look at the structure inside?
Sure.
Fetch a tall ladder.
Yes, Mr. Cheng.
Be careful.
What... what’s he doing?
I’ll tell you later.
Oh, my God.
How ingenious!.
Awesome.
How could I not think of this?
This mansion is shockproof just because
the roof is heavy enough.
That’s also true of a cave.
I don’t know what you mean.
What I mean is
that Cave Liuxian can be saved now.
But the one who can save it is not me
but the builder of this house.
As long as the structure is ingenious enough,
the lack of bearing capacity of those materials
will be solved smoothly.
But this house was built a hundred years ago.
The architect must have passed away.
Professor Dr. Xin,
can you copy it?
Then I’ll have to at will need me to take the roof apart and see the whole structure
and give me I need a few years to make a model of it.
Can you wait so long?
Mr. Xin,
you don’t have to tear this house down
to see its structure.
I kept this when we bought
this mansion.
My wife is so careful.
Someone’s here.
Genius.
What a genius!.
Look.
The tenons and mortises here.
This is unimaginable.
Chinese people have known how to
avoid buildings collapsing for centuries.
But even if we have this drawing,
we still can’t solve problems of Cave Liuxian.
If you need years
to study this,
that will be too long.
There’s not just one person who caPerhaps other people can alson build this kind of house.
You can look for someone who’s still alive.
Do you know such a person?
No.
It’s just something I heard of.
But I have an aunt who’s a princess of Mongolia.
She said in the year of Gengzi,
foreigners burned the Old Summer Palace.
The Lei family tried to stopped them
but failed.
Some of them were burned to death.
The Lei family?
I mean
the Yangshi Leis
who had been building t houses in the palace for generations.
Their craftsmanship has been there for over a hundred years.
I guess this mansion
is almost the same as those in the palace.
Perhaps descendants of the Lei family can do it.
It’s just hearsay.
Just for your information.
We’ll have lunch when you’re done.
Mr. Cheng,
I can’t guarantee that problems of Cave Liuxian can be solved
after you find descendants of the Lei family.
But I’m sure
if they can’t do it,
no one will be capable of it.
Yangshi Lei.
Yangshi Lei is Yangshi Lei.
Carving pillars and making eaves fly.
Need no nails. Need no hammers.
They just piled it up with wood.
That’s so miraculous.
Did you just make it up?
Nonsense.
How could I make that up?
There’s really a Yangshi Lei here.
He lives to the south of this street.
You say it.
Say it. Say it.
Quickly.
- Say it. - Quickly.
Leader,
just please give our service contracts back to us.
What’s the rush?
Some aren’t here yet.
I’m not rushing you
but I have things to do at home.
Right.
Me, too.
Leader,
just be frank with us.
I need to go home and have dinner.
Yes, me, too.
Make it quick.
It’s about time.
Those who didn’t come here
have made their choices.
We’ll stop waiting for them.
It’s hard to guard against inside theft.
Our money was all taken away.
It’s also hard to handle rumors.
Theaters are afraid of offending Commander Cao
and don’t want us to be on their stages.
We’ve been so unlucky
and I can’t go on like this
with all of you.
Leader, you’re not to blame.
Before we came to BeipingPeking,
you all gave it the nod.
You hoped you could put on big plays
and become rich
in BeipingPeking.
I failed your expectations
and didn’t make them come true.
Now
we’re at a critical point.
I’ve got to gather you
to figure something out.
You have to tell me
whether Shuiyun Theater should still exist.
Well...
- What do we do? - Shall we leave or not?
We’re a troupe. How can we just leave?
That’s true.
Some of you joined this troupe earlier than me
and some later.
Some of you grew up with me.
How many years will it take
to form a troupe?
More than ten years.
If you wanna break it,
just say a word.
What you did
for Shuiyun Theater
and suffered
are much more than me.
Well,
I can sing
but I have no wish
for managing a troupe.
And I’m not cunning enough.
I’m most at fault
that we’re splitting up today.
These are your service contracts.
Leader.
He burned them.
This is mine.
I’ll keep it.
As long as I’m alive,
Shuiyun Theater will still exist.
Leader,
I’ll stay, too.
I’m not leaving, either.
What can we do?
Join another troupe?
Shuiyun Theater is the best.
Right. Right.
We can’t split up.
I’m not leaving.
I think I’m fine here.
- At least I can eat well. - Yes.
We don’t have friends in BeipingPeking.
We should stay together.
Yes.
I’m not leaving.
- Me, neither. - Me, neither.
- We’re not leaving. - Me, neither.
We’ll stay with you.
Yes, we’ll stay with you.
We’ll stay with you.
We’ll all stay with you.
- We’re not leaving. - Not leaving.
No.Yes.
Good!
I burned all your contracts.
Without bonds,
I believe you’re all telling the truth.
You didn’t fail Shuiyun Theater.
I must live up to your expectations.
We can’t stay in BeipingPeking any longer.
There’s no reason
for being so obstinate.
We’ll go back to Pingyang!
Excuse me.
Leader,
look.
This hat has been missing for such a long time
and now we found it.
It’s just that
it was broken
by rats.
Throw it away.
How about these vases?
They’re pretty new.
They’ll break on the way.
Give them to someone.
And those
gold and silver stuff.
Sell those that can’t be used
on stages.
Sell those fans as well.
We’ll need some money.
How about these snuff bottles?
Sell all of them.
No one likes them in Pingyang.
Keep the best two of them
for Niu Baiwen.
He has been supportive of us.
Xiuzhi,
take this away.
Here you go.
Be careful.
Oh.
Leader,
how about these rings?
Why don’t we keep the shiniest one?
We can
match it with costumes
on stages.
You decide.
Wait.
I won.
Give me your money.
I think
I’m in luck now.
Here,
wear it.
I’ve just known Cheng Fengtai
for a few days
and now I’m running away dejectedly.
Leader,
don’t get cross.
Mr. Cheng is a wealthy man
and he can pull us through
with a little bit money.
And we won’t accept it without repaying him.
We can take our time to pay it back with interest.
No.
I can borrow from anyone except him.
You...
you are so stubborn.
You don’t understandknow.
Other people just like my plays.
Cheng Fengtai understands me.
Our friendship is different.
I have to live up to his praises.
Besides,
he asked me to sing for his son
and I messed it up.
How can I take a mile?
No wonder peopleyou can die
for a bosom friend.
When you have
a bosom friend,
you always feel you owe him something
and you can’t repay it.
Your friendship
is too complex.
I can’t get youit.
Whose wife is this?
Nothing is being blown or beaten.
And she doesn’t bring any dowry.
This is too quiet.
She’s Mr. Xue’s new concubine.
He married another woman.
Who is it?
It’s said that she’s a player.
His mother thinks it’s disgraceful
and don’t doesn’t allow him to spend too much.
How many women
has he married?
She’s the fourth one already.
My goodness.
What are you wretches talking about?
It’s none of your business.
Who are you?
I’ll beat you to death if you say one more word!
Get lost.
Ma’am,
my brother is here.
Let me talk with him for a while.
Concubine Xue,
make it short.
Mr. Xue will be angry if we’re late.
Thanks.
Layue,
come here.
Liuyue.
What are you doing here?
Liuyue,
we’re going
back to Pingyang.
You’ll be alone in BeipingPeking.
You’re going back to Pingyang?
How come?
Do you have to leave?
It’s okay.
Layue,
from now on,
I won’t be staying with you.
You must take care of yourself.
You need to be young to sing.
It’s not something you can do for long.
Take them.
No, Liuyue.
You keep them.
Take them.
Mr. Xue is rich.
I won’t be short of moneyanymore.
It’s the best thing I can earned
for myself.
I’ll have to stop here.
If you get a chance in the future,
you must do better than me.
Liuyue,
if they make you suffer,
send someone to tell me.
I’ll come and take you away.
Concubine Xue,
it’s about time.
We should go in now.
Off you go.
Layuehong.
We’ve been packing for ages
and you
went out for a walk.
Where did you get these golden bracelets?
Give them back to me.
I know even if you don’t tell me.
They were given by Liuyuehong.
Concubine Xue is really generous.
This bracelet weighs 150 grams at least.
Give them back!
Stop.
Give them back to me!
Stop. Stop.
Give them back to me!
Hold onto him.
I’m not giving them.
Give them back to me!
Nope.
Alright, calm down.
Look at you.
If you miss Liuyuehong,
go and live with her.
What do you shamelessly stay here for?
Give the bracelets back to me!
- Layuehong. - No.
Stop arguing.
The leader is here.
What are you doing?
Give them to me.
You know they were given by Liuyue.
Whyat did you grab them from him for?
Take care of them.
Alright,
keep packing.
Hurry up.
Fengtai,
would the capable man, Yangshi Lei, live here?
Did the German fool you?
I wasn’t told by Professor Dr. Xin.
It’s very coincidental.
I came to this place with Mr. Shang before
and met someone.
He sang a ballad
and it mentioned Yangshi Lei.
That man said
he lived nearby.
Fengtai,
you’re really something.
How can you take words of a ballad seriously?
They were made up to rhyme with each other, okay?
What should we do, then?
Let’s ask someone.
Okay.
Aren’t Don’t you feel cold?
Yes.
Don’t get sick.
Take this.
Thank you.
Catch him!
- He’s here. - Catch him!
Catch him. Catch him.
- Catch him. - Mr. Cheng.
You’re mistaken.
You’re Mr. Cheng.
Give me some money.
Mr. Cheng.
Catch him. Hold onto his legs.
You’re mistaken.
- I haven’t got any money on me. - What are you doing?
I don’t have it.
I don’t have any money on me.
Aren’t you Mr. Shang’s friend?
Yes, yes, yes.
Let go of him.
Come here.
Come, come, come.
I’m the former manager of Nanfu Troupe, Xian’er.
Hello, Mr. Cheng
and Mr. Fan.
You know me?
As long as I get some money,
I’ll watch plays in theaters
or go to brothels.
Those
are my hobbies.
You must have met my brother-in-law in a brothel
and me in a theater.
Where does the Yangshi Lei
in the ballad you sang live?
Sir,
could you take me there?
Yangshi Lei.
A ballad.
Why can’t I think of it?
Think again.
A ballad.
My brain.
A ballad.
You sang well that time.
My brain. Well,
I really can’t think of it.
Well...
I said
I would pay you.
I really can’t think of it.
You... you...
That’s all I have.
You must be kidding me.
I know.
The guy in the ballad.
I know.
We’re neighbors.
Kids,
thank Mr. Cheng.
Quickly.
- Thanks, Mr. Cheng. - Thanks, Mr. Cheng.
You just earned your cotton clothes
and living expenses for this winter.
Don’t. Don’t.
Stand up. Stand up.
After the Empress Dowager watched our play
and rewarded us,
we also thanked her like this.
Mr. Cheng,
come with me.
Kids, go and have fun yourselves.
Go, go.
Let’s go.
This way.
Give it to me.
Let me play with it.
[The Lei’s Residence]
Here we are.
Here?
Who is it?
I’m your bro.
It’s not the Spring Festival yet.
Are you here to wish me a Happy New Year
or borrow food from me?
I’m here
to introduce two gentlemen.
How many times have I told you?
I won’t see strangers.
Wait a minute.
Is this
a work of your family?
What’s wrong?
Something bad happened.
The house is collapsing
and tiles were are falling.
They hit his head
and he came to get even with you.
Impossible.
Houses we build will stand for over five hundred years.
Well...
Come in.
Okay.
I have things to do.
I’ll let you in yourselves.leave you alone.
Go on. Go on. Go on.
Thanks. Thanks. Thanks.
♫ Stand in the main street ♫
♫ And greet guests and friends that pass by ♫
Hands off.
You know this, too?
No.
When I was in college abroad,
I studied architecture a bit
and made a few models.
But compared with yours,
they’re really nothing.
Originally
it was prepared for the eightieth birthday of the Empress Dowager.
My grandpa worked on it for two and a half years
until one of his eyes was blinded.
But unexpectedly, she passed away
when he just finished this model.
Your house used to be the mansion of a prince, right?
I hear it belonged to Prince Shun.
Their descendants were lousy
and sold the mansion to me with the garden.
Swallows which skimmed by painted eaves in bygone days
Are dipping now among the humble homes’ doorways.
Actually we’re not here
for my house.
It’s because I ran into difficulties with a project
and I want to consult you.
You flatter me.
This way, please.
Goodness.
Fengtai,
we’re in the right place.
He’s really a Yangshi Lei.
Look at these tenons and mortises.
Even a hair can’t go through it.
Mr. Lei,
let me give you a piece of advice.
You should give lectures in Europe.
I believe countless universities will want you
to be an honorary professor.
You need to comprehend to do this kind of work.
How can I teach others if I can’t describe it?
You can write a book
about this craftsmanship.
I can only read pictures drawings and write numbers.
I’m not quite literate.
That’s hard to believe.
Show me your
engineering drawing.
If you don’t trust me,
please leave my house now.
You brought me here
and now you’re sending me away?
I can’t believe this.