Original subtitles

=To Kill a Songbird=

(Adapted from Shen Xiaoguan's Bird Kills Seven People)

=Episode 9= (Feasting Together, Yet Hearts Hide Dark Designs)

Just past midnight last night,

they were all strangled to death.

Each killed by the other's hands.

It defies common sense.

The human world is vast.

There is much you have yet to see or understand.

Know when to stop,

and you may live longer for it.

Clean this up.

Then send the bodies to the charity morgue.

If you said the brothers turned on each other, I could believe that.

But if there was truly a confrontation,

how could there have been no noise at all?

To kill without alerting the guards,

the murderer must be highly skilled.

And with the fire at the Document Building,

someone is trying to stop us from digging further.

Sir.

Someone delivered this.

An invitation?

(Invitation)

The twenty-second, at mid morning.

Flowers in full bloom, birds vying in song.

Inviting neighbors to share a seat,

calling across the fence to finish the wine.

Luofu Manor beyond the city walls.

(Zhao Chengxi) My home is swept clean, awaiting your presence.

Zhao Chengxi.

The man who once paid for fake heads,

Zhao Chengxi, the influential magnate.

He is the one you are after.

(So you are finally stepping into the light.)

Sir.

All the invitations have been sent?

Yes.

Every last one.

Everyone knows my wife suffers from sudden bouts of madness.

Using her as the blade

to remove them

leaves no trace behind.

To cross us like this

means they are far too bold for their own good.

(Luofu Manor)

(Luofu Manor) I arrive with my household

to accept Mr. Zhao's invitation.

Master Lu, please come inside.

(Luofu Manor)

Here they come.

(Fated Apart, Zhao Chengxi) Master Lu, thank you for sparing the time to attend.

Your presence truly honors my humble home.

(Purplish spots inside the lips.)

(He appears to be suffering from severe poisoning.)

Mr. Zhao.

This is Sir Zhai from the prefectural office.

We have met before.

Inspecting Envoy.

The former magistrate of Huachang County.

(Yu Prefecture Inspecting Envoy) Mr. Zhao, you certainly have influence.

(Former Huachang County Magistrate Zhai Lu)

I know him.

Zhai Lu.

The Thrush Case was handled under his watch,

and hastily closed.

An incompetent official.

So or later, I will settle accounts with him.

Isn't this Master Lu who once wrote verses

at Tunhai House to mock the Grand Chancellor?

Allow me a word of advice.

This is not the capital.

Those unruly habits of yours, Master Lu,

best not surface here.

If you fall into my hands,

the ending may not be a pleasant one.

Could the information I bought be wrong?

What exactly did you write at Tunhai House?

I'll tell you later.

This must be your wife.

Indeed.

Truly elegant and refined.

My wife is entertaining the families inside.

Shall I have a maid escort you there?

Very well.

This way, young lady.

Proceed with care.

Master Lu.

Please.

Young lady, please wait here for a moment.

(Mo Feibai?)

(If it truly is that Mo Feibai from back then,)

(he should be thirteen or fourteen by now.)

(How could he possibly be here?)

(Misty Peaks and Clouded Ridges)

You finally showed up. You deserve to die most of all.

Mrs. Zhao.

Young lady.

Madam.

Young lady.

Madam.

(Zhao Chengxi's wife, Mrs. Zhao) Let go of my lady, you madwoman.

(Zhao Chengxi's wife, Mrs. Zhao) Let go. Let go.

Let go.

Please calm down, Madam.

Let go!

Mrs. Zhao.

Is this how Luofu Manor treats its guests?

Get out of here.

Get out!

Dear.

I was told there was some friction

between you and Ms. Li.

Friction?

Your maids saw it clearly.

Your wife was plainly trying to kill someone.

A misunderstanding. All of it is a misunderstanding.

My wife has been gravely ill of late, her mind not entirely clear.

She offended our honored guest.

I will first escort my wife back to her room to rest.

At the banquet tonight, we will make amends.

How is it?

Does it hurt?

I just saw Mo Feibai.

(Misty Peaks and Clouded Ridges) Things have grown complicated.

Zhao Chengxi is connected to people under Master Jiang's protection.

When the Thrush Case occurred,

he was in the north trading ginseng.

No one expected he was the one

who bribed the Huang brothers to supply fake heads.

Mo Feibai was supposed to be

the key evidence found beside the victims.

(Misty Peaks and Clouded Ridges) Now that it has surfaced in the Zhao residence,

it directly ties Zhao Chengxi to the murders.

As for Zhao Chengxi's wife, no one knows what has possessed her.

She keeps targeting you.

The maids in the manor say

their mistress has episodes of madness.

And then there is Zhai Lu, who showed up here for no clear reason,

doing nothing but making trouble for me.

In my view,

hesitating only lets others hold us back.

A sudden move may be the way through.

And how do you plan to break it?

Steal the thrush.

When?

After nightfall,

before the banquet begins.

The banquet starts at 7:30.

We have roughly half an hour.

Yexin and Huiyi learned my ventriloquism.

They will stay in the room

to keep outsiders from getting suspicious.

Yuan.

Are you still feeling unwell?

As long as you stay here with me,

I feel perfectly fine.

Did today frighten you?

Have some more tea to calm yourself.

There's movement over there. Let's go take a look.

Alright.

(Ji) (Li Ji's seal.)

(It is actually here.)

You are finally awake.

Today, I will kill you,

and use your blood as an offering

to the wronged souls crying out below.

One walks first down the road to the underworld,

the living are left to drink grief alone.

If you die,

how heartbroken

will Magistrate Lu be?

I am not my brother's shadow,

nor am I Master Lu's weakness.

I do this for no one.

First and foremost, I do it for myself,

for the blood-soaked path I have walked these thirteen years,

for the suffering I have endured these thirteen years.

Are you any different,

Mrs. Shen?

I once found a book called Spring Food Records in the small tower.

(Spring Food Records)

In the corner was the character Jin,

as if it were a signature.

Back then, the Thrush Case shocked everyone.

The victim was Shen Xiu.

His wife was from the Shang family.

(Jin) Her given name

was also Jin.

What a coincidence.

Isn't it?

This is indeed that same thrush.

It's only a lookalike bought from the bird market.

Now,

since someone

has taken an interest in this thrush,

it must be tied to the old case.

Can your wife really go through with it?

If anything goes wrong,

you know the consequences.

Yes.

Li Ji's sister will not last much longer.

Next, it will be your turn.

You know her true identity.

It was your husband, Zhao Chengxi,

who led you here to kill her.

What if your husband has deceived you?

Shang Jin.

Do not let villains mislead you and use you.

♪A thrush's song pierced the endless night♪

♪Blood splattered on the bamboo cage, reflecting the cool moonlight♪

♪Thirteen years of frost and snow sealed the old study window♪

♪I twisted the needle, prying open the past♪

♪A cold stone marrow presses against my palm♪

♪My older brother lay buried afar♪

♪Flames licked across that place♪

♪A list of righteous hearts♪

♪Who laughed in the dark at the panic?♪

♪I'm the shadow caged within as well as the flying light♪

♪Only when hatred burns out did we know how scorching our obsessions were♪

♪You said you'd die if you hit a stone♪

♪Yet you crashed into my fate's web♪

♪Pear blossoms fell all over the wound on your shoulder♪

♪The wind in the bamboo forest dispersed the hexagrams♪

♪The thrush carried the past away♪

♪I stood at the end of the fireworks and gaze♪

♪You lifted a lantern to illuminate♪

♪That page♪