Timing and subtitles brought to you by Sherlock Dudes Team @ Viki
["Water and Flame" by Shu Linzuo]
♫ The boundless world is pitch-dark as the night ♫
♫ Your appearance is like a lightning bolt that tore through the night ♫
♫ My birth is neither impure nor pure, neither born nor destroyed ♫
♫ Perseverance is in my heart behaving atrociously, who can comprehend? ♫
♫ The sharp sword that penetrates desire is stained with blood ♫
♫ The season tainted with the hypocrisy of the world is prosperous yet withering ♫
♫ Give me some time, I can change everything ♫
♫ The courageous moth can also extinguish a sea of flames ♫
♫ Sorrow and delight are interweaving with colors ♫
♫ Layers upon layers covered by a dense fog ♫
♫ Numerous obstacles cannot stop me ♫
♫ To uncover the truth ♫
♫ A region of burning fire and deep waters ♫
♫ Calm and blazing both existing ♫
♫ Who will indulge the wicked flames ♫
♫ To boil the deep sea ♫
♫ This is the era of survival of the fittest ♫
♫ Everything will be planned by oneself ♫
♫ Even if it is a proud and aloof predestination ♫
♫ Even if completely incompatible, I’m still here ♫
[🔎👁‍🗨The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty👁‍🗨🔍]
[Episode 3]
Follow me.
Put her here.
Sir, where are you going?
What should I do?
Sir? Sir?
What poison is it?
Eastern Depot's secret poison "Tancha Powder."
Tancha Powder?
We tested it seven times. It's definitely correct.
It seems that tomorrow I need to go to the east to have a chat.
Why did you ambush Tang Fan?
Where did that carriage come from?
Official Tang, the prison is a restricted area! Wait!
Restricted area, my butt! This is not my first time here.
Brother, I couldn't stop him.
- You can go. - Sui Zhou, you bastard!
You're getting rid of me once the job is done, aren't you? (T/N: idiom - kill the donkey once it leaves the millstone)
You're abandoning your benefactor after you achieve your goal? (T/N: idiom - destroy the bridge after crossing the river)
You want to beat the monk once the funeral is over, don't you?
I just ask you this. Did I have a part in solving the case?
How many leads did I give you?
How many times have you teased me?
How many times have I returned my kindness for your evildoing?
How many times have you bitten my hands that fed you?
But for the sake of you retrieving my chopsticks,
I will forgive you.
Can we get down to business?
- This... - You came right on time.
He is going to confess.
He kept his mouth shut under torture for 8 hours.
He is a tough guy, I'll give him that.
You Imperial Guards' torture really deserves its name.
Yes, we have a bad reputation.
But we're quite efficient working on cases.
Unlike Shuntian Prefecture which is...
All right. Let's get down to business.
Do you speak Mandarin?
Why did you ambush me?
It... It was Lin Chaodong who paid me to do it.
Lin Chaodong?
Every time this Lin Chaodong used to come to the Iron Market,
it was always with Owner Li of the pharmacy.
Owner Li introduced him as a worker that he trusted.
But six months ago,
- Lin Chaodong suddenly came to the Iron Market alone. - Owner.
- Hello. - I want some Western Xia grass aconitum.
- How much do you want? - I want all that you have.
But then one day Lin Chaodong came to Iron Market to find us.
He gave us ten taels of silver,
saying he wanted us to rob someone for him.
- I need a favor. - We asked him what happened.
He said he wanted us to get a pill bottle from this person.
Pill bottle?
Yes.
Later that night, after we robbed you,
he suddenly showed up dressed like an Oirat.
And he also wanted to buy some Oirat's customs clearance papers.
Help me get two customs clearance papers.
I want Oirat's papers.
Money is not a problem, but make it fast.
I asked him what happened.
He told us...
What do you need the papers for?
I have lived in the capital for too long.
I want to go elsewhere to take a look.
Where did you get the Han Mansion's carriage?
We didn't have anything to do that night.
So we wanted to go out of town
to see if there was any new grave in the destitute cemetery.
We thought we could dig up a dead body or two who didn't have a family
to get some pocket money.
When we just arrived at the city gate, we saw a coachman
driving a carriage back and forth.
And he kept murmuring something to himself.
The coachman looked like he was insane,
so we thought he was easy to handle.
But who would have thought
there was a child's body in the carriage?
The coachman saw the child's body and suddenly went crazy.
He fought us desperately with a whip in his hand
like he didn't care about his life.
So we stabbed him several times and killed him.
We also found a hundred and twenty coins from him.
Even the two corpses were sold for money later.
You Oirats are really scary.
Who bought the bodies?
He claimed to be a friend of Lin Chaodong.
The first time he came,
he told us that he wanted to buy a female corpse.
But we didn't have any female corpses.
We had no choice but to dress up the child's body
and sell it as a female to him.
I thought I would never see him again.
I didn't expect him to come again the next day
saying he wanted to buy an adult man's body this time.
I told him... Men's bodies are twice as expensive as women's.
Why would Lin Chaodong get someone to ambush you?
And what was that pill bottle he wanted?
That day Wang Zhi asked me to go to Joyous Brothel to meet him.
What?
Wang Zhi took me to Joyous Brothel that day.
But he is a eun...
He took you to Joyous Brothel?
None of this matters. The one thing that matters is...
After Wang Zhi left early to handle something, I did meet a woman.
Who?
Feng Qingzi.
Zheng Cheng's lover.
Feng Qingzi...
Joyous Brothel...
Pill bottle?
Do you recognize this pill bottle?
This is Fuyangchun.
- I know what happened. - What?
That day at Joyous Brothel,
I showed her Fuyangchun's bottle.
Shortly afterward, I was ambushed by Lin Chaodong's hitman.
Their purpose was this pill bottle.
His lover is Feng Qingzi.
Lin Chaodong was in charge of filling the prescriptions in Returning Spring Pharmacy.
Lin Chaodong was the one who prepared all the ingredients for those Fuyangchun pills Zheng Cheng took.
Yes. And Zheng Cheng's prescription was given by Feng Qingzi.
When dispensing the ingredients, you can just add some ingredients that would turn the mixture into a slow poison.
No one would find out.
Over time, Zheng Cheng would have been poisoned in a chronic way.
So, Lin Chaodong and Feng Qingzi are the murderers of Zheng Cheng.
Zheng Cheng's death is a crime of passion.
Exactly.
Where is Feng Qingzi?
After you met her last night,
she left because she had redeemed her freedom.
Do you know Lin Chaodong?
I know Lin Chaodong.
Why didn't you say so the day Zheng Cheng died?
You didn't ask me, Your Excellency!
Every girl working in brothels has several lovers.
[Eastern Depot]
Commander Wang, you didn't come to my Eastern Depot
looking for trouble, right?
I heard there is a poison. And with precise dosage,
the culprit can accurately determine when the person being poisoned will die.
Have you heard of this poison, Commander Shang?
What are you implying?
I wasn't implying anything.
I am simply asking Commander Shang a question.
Among all the government offices,
everyone knows Eastern Depot's Tancha Powder.
You're just playing dumb with me
pretending you don't know.
You're giving me too much credit.
I have always been stupid.
It is said a master of this
poison can calculate when his victim will die
accurately to the very minute. Is this true?
Of course.
Then that's troublesome.
Just say it!
Don't beat around the bush with me!
Han Zao, Crown Prince's studying companion,
was killed by this poison.
Wang Zhi!
Don't come here to frame me!
Others might be afraid of you, but I am not!
Commander Shang, please calm down.
I am really here simply to ask for your advice.
I am the only one who knows about it.
And the first thing I did was coming here for your advice.
No one knows about it except me.
So rest assured.
This little secret is safe with me.
My Eastern Depot has no secrets.
The poison from your Eastern Depot got into the palace
and even poisoned the crown prince's studying companion.
To say the very least,
you can't get away with poor supervision and dereliction of your duties.
But I believe this case has
absolutely nothing to do with you.
I do things following a simple rule.
I help you and you help me.
Today, I help you.
I hope that if I get into trouble one day,
I can count on you to help me.
In Eastern Depot, who is in charge of Tancha Powder?
[Western Depot]
The fact that your commander would deliver you three to Western Depot
is enough to illustrate the seriousness of the matter.
So I'll only ask this question once.
Who did you give the Tancha Powder to?
Okay.
You are no strangers to Eastern Depot's tortures.
Let's try what our Western Depot has to offer today, shall we?
- Are you Fulin? - I am.
Western Depot needs to ask you some questions. Please come with me.
Yes, Sir.
Let's go.
Go get him!
Hurry up!
Useless!
You can't even catch one man.
Commander Wang,
His Majesty wants to see you.
Find out every person and everything related to the dead eunuch.
If anything goes wrong again, you'll be the one being arrested.
Yes, Sir!
[Joyous Brothel]
Why are you so gloomy?
You still have the mood to eat?
I haven't eaten or had water in 12 hours since we were at the Iron Market yesterday.
I'm starving. Do you want some?
Here.
Feng Qingzi is missing.
Lin Chaodong's whereabouts are unknown.
All the leads are at a dead end.
Are you really not worried?
Deep-fried dough sticks, just out of the frying pan!
The leads are like this deep-fried dough stick.
It doesn't matter if one end hits the dead end.
You just have to take the other end.
The other end?
If you want to work from the other end, you have to give me something.
Han Mansion's carriage.
Your Majesty.
You may rise.
I want to practice my calligraphy.
Yes, Your Majesty.
Is it done?
Your Majesty, this ink block is...
I'm asking about the son of Marquis Wu'an
and Han Zao's case.
It's a complicated case.
Your Majesty, please give me some more days.
It was originally just a small case outside the palace,
but you are making it more and more high-profile.
First, Eastern Depot caught fire.
Now, even you're making mistakes
and linking the case to the palace.
Your Majesty, you are talking about...
the eunuch that died this morning...
You're doing it too hard and too fast.
I beg for your mercy.
If you grind the ink like this,
the ink will be lumpy with foam.
And the color will not be glossy.
Why can't you even do this right?
I deserve a thousand deaths!
Your Western Depot's information network is everywhere in the country.
Are you now curious
as to how I found out since you didn't report this?
I certainly shall not have this thought.
Your Majesty is a wise emperor without rival in history. You know all the things under the sun and even above the–
Don't think the Western Depot is the only source of my information.
General Han Yong just passed away.
And then something happened to Han Zao right away.
Although they were not immediate family,
they were still relatives after all.
Don't delay Han Zao's case anymore.
Yes, Your Majesty.
And also stop making things relevant to anyone in the harem.
I want you to solve the problem,
not to produce another one.
Yes, Your Majesty.
Today's ink is bad.
You can have this work as a gift from me.
[Listen to Both Sides to be Enlightened]
At the crime scene, we found two bodies.
Zheng Cheng and Han Zao.
No matter who they were and no matter how many cases there really are,
all we have to do now is find out the truth
and find out who killed them.
We now know Han Zao died of acute poisoning.
So, who poisoned him?
Was it the coachman of his family?
The coachman is dead.
Dead men can't talk.
I sent Xue Ling to investigate his background.
His parents died.
No wife or children. Lived alone.
He started as a coachman at Han Mansion when he was a teenager more than 30 years ago.
He has only one distant relative in the capital.
Have you found this distant relative?
People in Han Mansion only heard of this relative.
They've never seen them visit each other.
It's fine. The leads require a lot of searching.
Since there are no shortcuts,
we can only use the dumbest way.
I ask questions and you will answer.
If you can answer them, there's more for you.
Did you see that carriage a few days ago?
Yes. There were people fighting here.
Then, did you see which direction this carriage came from?
There.
Thank you, Sir!
Sir, have you seen this carriage?
Have you ever seen this carriage?
No.
Have you seen this carriage?
No, no.
Have you seen this carriage?
Never seen it before.
Have you seen this carriage?
No.
Your Excellencies, do you work in Han Mansion?
Come on, come on in! Take a seat.
Old Hou didn't drive the carriage for you today?
- The coachman? - Surnamed Hou.
Sir, you know Old Hou?
I never met the man in person,
but I know Uncle Hou from next door.
Every time he comes here to drink tea,
he always brags about his distant nephew
who is a coachman for a high ranking official.
If I didn't see this carriage parked in front of his house two days ago,
I really wouldn't believe it.
Where is his home?
Coming!
Officials, what's the matter?
Is Coachman Hou of Han Mansion your distant nephew?
I don't know who that is.
You don't? Come to Northern Administrative Court with us.
Your Excellencies! Your Excellencies!
He is my distant nephew.
It was my idea to tell him to run away.
Please spare my life!
Now everything fits.
According to the distance and time we just spent, at about 7:30 at night,
the Oirats saw Coachman Hou of Han Mansion near the city gate.
Let's go back in time, from 6:00 to 6:30,
Old Hou was at his distant uncle's house.
The time required to go from one place to another is an hour.
Let's go back in time again.
His uncle's home to the back door of Han Mansion,
and then from the back door of Han Mansion to the downtown,
the time required is about one and a half hours.
So if you do the math, it would be just the exact time
Zheng Cheng and I had a quarrel: 3:30 in the afternoon.
Wait a second.
The case used to be quite clear.
Now, I'm confused by what you said.
We have arrived. Let's get off and take a look.
I was standing next to this stall that day,
left hand holding candied hawthorn, and right hand holding chestnut cake.
Then I went in that direction and I saw Zheng Cheng.
So, Zheng Cheng was here that day harassing that flower girl.
Right.
Since I saw it, I couldn't just sit back and do nothing.
So you two had a quarrel.
Yes.
But there was another person.
His servant Zheng Fu.
Yes.
After I quarreled with Zheng Fu,
Zheng Cheng was annoyed and he kicked Zheng Fu to the ground.
The onlookers gathered round and blocked the road.
So Han Mansion's carriage was stuck in the traffic jam at that intersection.
[Zheng's Fragrant Congee Shop]
Why does he get the biggest portion?
Eat it while it's still hot. It won't taste good if it's cold.
How's your progress?
There are three conjectures.
The first one has been confirmed.
Since Han Zao left the palace,
the only person he encountered was his coachman before he died.
But this person is innocent.
This indicates that the only place he could've taken the poison was...
In the palace.
How's your progress?
I found that His Highness the Crown Prince is reading
"Historical Records of Later Qin Dynasty" which is the third chapter of Abridged Comprehensive Mirror to Aid Government.
Take care, Official Wang.
What do you mean?
He meant that Crown Prince regards me as Zhao Gao of the Qin dynasty, a treacherous eunuch,
and every day he wishes me dead.
Does this have anything to do with the case?
Probably not.
I also found out that Han Zao was poisoned by Tancha Powder.
What is that? What can it do?
Tancha Powder is a poison secretly developed by the Eastern Depot.
It's colorless and tasteless.
The poisoner can control the time of the poison showing effects accurate to the minute.
This confirms my other conjecture.
What is it?
The two cases are not related.
It was by coincidences that they intertwined.
What about the third conjecture?
I'll tell you when I confirm it.
- When? - It's up to you.
Up to me?
You help me and I help you.
It's time you help me now, Official Wang.
So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?
Arresting people is our job.
You don't have to worry about it.
Here it goes again!
You're getting rid of me once the job is done, abandoning your benefactor after you achieve your goal,
and beating the monk once the funeral is over!
Iron Market is not just any normal place. It's unusually dangerous.
I can only take four or five people with me.
I don't have time to take care of you.
You will only become a liability to me.
Liability? I have become a liability now?
Yes.
You will regret this.
Come on! Take a look!
Brother, everything is in place.
As soon as Lin Chaodong enters our encirclement, we can catch him.
What are you doing here?
Shuntian Prefecture is on a case.
What do you want?
This is the crime scene.
That's right! Don't forget, this is my case.
Why don't you say anything?
Feeling guilty, right?
And you should!
If you still have a little bit conscience, don't stop me.
Stab me.
Brother?
Stab me.
You can stay here if you can stab me.
Don't think I dare not do it!
First chance. Go on.
Come again.
And you have died three times.
Do you still want to stay?
Everything will be fine after today.
Let's go.
Thief!
How dare you come here again?
You stole from me!
I will kill you today!
Sui Zhou, that's him!
Stop!
- Go get them! - Hurry!
Come on!
Chaodong, what should we do?
Hurry up!
Over there.
Come on!
I have hidden two fast horses in the woods outside the Iron Market.
As long as we can get out of here, we'll be safe.
But the customs clearance papers...
We'll figure out a way once we get out of here!
Here!
Go after them!
Over there!
It's over.
It's not over! We still have a chance.
Remember,
when they get you, you tell them I abducted you.
You don't know anything.
Everything was done by me!
She had nothing to do...
Chaodong!
Brother!
Chaodong!
Save him!
- Help me here. - Save him!
Old Pei, save him!
Hurry up!
- Old Pei. - Come on!
Old Pei, help him!
Put him here. Excuse me.
You three, stay here.
Others, out.
Pull up the screen.
- Go. - Yes!
Chaodong! Chaodong!
The arrow is more than two cun deep in the wound.
I'm going to cut the wound.
Tang Fan and Sui Zhou, after I cut the wound,
you two use your fingers to help me open the wound.
I will use the hook to remove the arrow.
Sir, this is hemostatic powder.
- When I say go, you pour the powder into his wound. - Okay.
Then you will pass me the knife in the brazier.
- I will cauter the wound with it. - Okay.
Are you guys ready?
Grab it tightly.
I'll find another one.
Pour the powder now?
Wait! Wait!
Go with me!
Didn't you say we would leave together?
Don't you all just want to know what happened?
Timing and subtitles brought to you by ⚖Defenders of the Law ⚖ Team @ Viki
♫ Out of the mud but not tainted with the world of mortals ♫
♫ The sea drifts along while the heart is calm for a fraction ♫
♫ All alone in the world with no love nor hate ♫
♫ Being too slow-witted is also an innate intelligence ♫
♫ The cold fireworks branded the palm lines of predestination ♫
♫ New wounds cannot easily conceal old scars ♫
♫ The naked eye cannot easily break through worldly affairs, it can only hold on to one’s pure inherent quality ♫
♫ Hold his hand, don’t let him sink into degradation ♫
♫ In this mortal world together, both wandering to the end of the world ♫
♫ Brushing past each other, there’s no need to be bothered with the past ♫
♫ A fish lept over the dragon gate (after becoming successful), you eventually forgot your original identity ♫
♫ I only ask for you to always remember my expression as I gazed back ♫