Original subtitles

[Strange Chronicles of Tang]

[Episode 21]

So, you're the son of Grand Tutor Guo.

Do you know how to play polo?

No, I don't.

That's quite a pity.

Though I can't play polo,

I've excelled at painting since childhood.

I'd be honored...

to paint a polo match for Your Highness.

That's actually a good idea.

When the rain stops,

I'll call them

to play polo with me.

I'd like to see

how well you can paint.

My painting...

will surely be passed down through the ages.

You're so arrogant.

Do you think you're as good as Gu Kaizhi?

Gu Kaizhi was merely

peerless in painting, unmatched in talent, and utterly obsessed.

I'm more versed in the classics than he was.

I can recite the "Spring and Autumn Annals" backward.

Does Your Highness doubt

that within 10 years...

my fame will surpass his?

That crazed scholar?

I remember now.

He was the son of the great Confucian Master Guo Yu.

Yes.

It was Guo Sigong

who presented a folding screen to the Palace Secretariat,

10 years

after Emperor Xiaojing's death.

And upon that screen

was the painting "The Lament of the Imperial Scandal."

Liu,

every time you come to see me,

you stare at that screen in a daze.

Could it be

that you and Guo Sigong

have some connection?

Liu!

Take off your disguise!

Liu Zigui.

Why did you do this?

Did you kill all those people

in the painting?

They deserved to die.

Every single one of them deserved death!

[United in Virtue and Learning]

It was a spring many years ago.

At that time, the great Confucian Master Guo Yu

was teaching Emperor Xiaojing the "Spring and Autumn Annals."

[Guo Yu, Eastern Palace Official]

Your Highness the Crown Prince.

Your Highness.

If Your Highness finds the passage in the Spring and Autumn Annals

about Shangchen murdering his father, the emperor, too cruel

and unbearable to hear,

then starting tomorrow,

I will teach Your Highness

the "Book of Rites" instead.

Your Highness?

Why isn't he dead yet?

Wasn't the strychnine

supposed to have killed him already?

I can hit him in the temple

with a polo mallet!

[Zhu Ling]

To put him out of his misery.

What do you think?

You can't be the only one to strike him.

[Wei Yan]

If we're doing this,

everyone present

must take part.

You're afraid

that otherwise,

[Tutu Wenzhen]

someone might leak the truth in the future?

Aren't we just acting on orders?

[Bo Cui]

What is there to fear?

Fear that the one who gave the orders

[Zheng Zhong]

might change their mind later.

Wei Yan's idea is good.

Let's go with that.

Xi,

you must strike as well.

Me too?

[Xi]

Otherwise,

you'll eat the rest of the flatbread

and follow His Highness in death!

No, no.

I'll do it.

I'll do it.

Hurry up then. You go first!

You're talking nonsense!

Guo Yu was fabricating stories!

He was lying!

Sheriff Wei,

there's no need to be so agitated.

The one fabricating stories

is probably not Guo Yu.

Let him finish what he has to say.

My grandfather

witnessed it with his own eyes.

He told everything to my father.

And less than a year after

Emperor Xiaojing's death,

he died of depression.

And my father,

because of Emperor Xiaojing's death,

lost his promising career.

Before he died,

he told me the secret

of "The Lament of the Imperial Scandal"

and instructed me

to avenge Emperor Xiaojing!

I, Guo Zigui,

[Liu Zigui, Ma Meng's Classmate]

then sneaked into Chang'an with my mother,

[Guo Zigui, Ma Meng's Classmate]

waiting for an opportunity.

Until Ma Meng...

rose from a mere

Hanzhou Judicial Advisor

to become Deputy Director of the Palace Secretariat!

He's now a fourth-rank official.

I both admired him

and felt a bit jealous.

But more importantly,

I saw an opportunity for revenge!

I sent Gulou Pastry

to those people while disguised as him—

who would refuse it?

This must be His Majesty's kindness.

Grand General,

do you need me to spell it out?

In that case,

many thanks to Secretariat Ma.

The Ghost Market Magistrate Feng

also recalled something:

Crown Prince Hong held his teacher Guo Yu

in the highest regard.

The Crown Prince once

bestowed upon him the golden polo mallet

granted by Emperor Gaozong himself.

What you're carrying now is that very item, isn't it?

Yes!

And so what?

I had planned to force

strychnine poison down Wei Yan's throat.

Then, using the same method they used

to murder Emperor Xiaojing,

I'd deal with him

just like the others!

Secretariat Ma...

Why?

Who are you, really?

The golden mallet bestowed by His Majesty

didn't get to taste Tutu Wenzhen's blood.

Though that old eunuch is dead,

this still leaves me

like Duke Xiang of Song—defeated at Hong,

filled only with regret.

Stop desecrating the "Spring and Autumn Annals" here!

Do you know

who delivered the screen

painted with "The Lament of the Imperial Scandal"

to the Palace Secretariat?

It was me,

Tutu Wenzhen.

You're still alive?

This old life of mine

isn't worth saving.

What's truly regrettable is that back then,

I helped your father

deliver the screen to the Palace Secretariat,

yet it still didn't cure his madness.

What did you say?

Attendant Tutu,

you were my father's good friend.

Please help me.

It's not that I'm unwilling to help.

But everyone knows you're ill,

and I don't know

how best to help you.

I have just completed a new painting

of Emperor Xiaojing playing polo,

also titled "The Lament of the Imperial Scandal."

It's exquisite.

Attendant Tutu, I only ask

that you help me send it to the Palace Secretariat.

I believe

once His Majesty sees it,

he will surely be impressed by my talent.

Then,

there will be hope for my official career.

Fine.

For your father's sake,

I will help you.

According to the Ministry of Personnel's records,

the court

no longer employed Guo Sigong

because he suffered from

severe delusions.

Especially after Guo Yu's death,

his condition worsened significantly.

Therefore,

Guo Yu's so-called eyewitness account

of Crown Prince Hong's murder

must be Guo Sigong's delusion.

Impossible!

I know!

Many street storytellers

often fabricate tales

about Crown Prince Hong's death,

bewitching the common people.

In their wild inventions,

Empress Wu Zetian becomes the mastermind behind it all.

Some even dare

to slander Emperor Gaozong himself.

And we, the former officials of the Eastern Palace,

become accomplices.

Do you know

that after His Highness died,

Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian were extremely grief-stricken?

Otherwise,

why would they posthumously bestow upon him the title Emperor Xiaojing

and have him buried with the rites of an emperor

in the imperial mausoleum?

I heard Emperor Gaozong say with my own ears

that Crown Prince Hong's death was a loss to the nation

and that the empire lost a wise ruler

and a polo champion!

When Emperor Gaozong said this,

he was in tears.

This old man

still remembers it vividly to this day!

Impossible!

Impossible.

You will never convince me!

My father was the most

excellent man in this world!

If Crown Prince Hong hadn't

been murdered by you,

he could have at least become chancellor!

And I,

Guo Zigui,

wouldn't be like I am now—

skilled in both civil and military arts,

full of talent

yet unrecognized by anyone!

Wei Yan,

Tutu Wenzhen,

you are the murderers.

By Emperor Xiaojing's edict,

I hereby take your lives!

This was bestowed by His Majesty.

This was the treasure

granted to our Guo family by Emperor Xiaojing himself!

I'll kill you!

No!

Stop!

Sheriff Wei.

It seems that Guo Zigui

also suffers from madness.

Although he has confessed his crimes,

this case

involves many high-ranking court officials

and still requires a joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices!

There is no need

for a joint trial for such a madman!

[The Lament of the Imperial Scandal]

His Majesty has ordered the Palace Secretariat

to destroy this screen.

I heard.

Xijun thinks

it's a great pity.

In terms of artistry alone,

this painting is on par with Gu Kaizhi's work.

It would indeed be a shame to destroy it.

Fortunately,

Her Highness the Princess learned of this

and sent someone to request the screen.

What does Her Highness want it for?

Her Highness said

she wishes to gaze upon the painting

to ease her longing for her elder brother.

When Emperor Xiaojing passed away,

Her Highness was only 10 years old.

It's said they had a very close sibling relationship.

Whether this is an excuse or not,

at least

this treasured painting has been spared.

I just wonder

if this painting will survive for thousands of years.

Who knows what will happen

thousands of years from now?

[The Lament of the Imperial Scandal]

[Benign Governance with Ease]

Your Majesty.

Yin,

is today's gastrodia powder ready?

I heard Your Majesty

was furious over "The Lament of the Imperial Scandal" case.

This worried me

to the point of distraction,

and I forgot to prepare it.

This servant deserves death.

This servant will go make it right away.

No hurry.

Do you know...

I dreamed about you last night?

Your Majesty, please don't tease me.

[Benign Governance with Ease]

However,

it wasn't in this lifetime.

No matter which lifetime,

I'm happy just to be by Your Majesty's side.

I dreamed of a thousand years from now.

I was no longer the Emperor,

but merely...

a clerk in a general store.

A clerk?

Then what of this servant?

[Benign Governance with Ease]

You were not an ordinary person

but a goddess who could

travel between heaven and earth at will.