Original subtitles

ADAPTED FROM A SHUQI.COM NOVEL ORIGINAL AUTHOR: SENLIN LU

That is her mother?

No, her mother-in-law.

Tell her to come for a quiet cultivation to accumulate blessings.

Have her come see me alone later.

Understood.

What a poor child.

I've heard about your problem.

This is a tribulation destined for you.

I shouldn't interfere,

but I truly feel sorry for you.

Fairy, please save my husband.

This isn't about saving your husband.

It's about saving you.

Lady Yue speaks very tactfully.

She told Wan that Sun Renyi was seriously ill

due to the tribulation destined for her.

She basically said

that Sun Renyi was dying because of Wan

and only Wan could save him.

Lady Yue also said

that many wealthy families were having children through surrogacy,

and if Wan's Four Pillars of Destiny

happened to align with those of someone wealthy

and she could give birth to a child at the auspicious hour,

she would receive a substantial reward.

This money could save her husband.

And that wealthy man turned out to be Wu Siping.

Wan was well taken care of in the manor.

Sun Renyi

received medicinal herbs quite on time.

Wan thought things would end like this.

Very stable.

However,

more than two weeks before the due date,

Lady Yue sent her a bowl of medicine.

This isn't the usual medicine.

They changed the medicine because the due date is approaching.

Harder.

In an hour, I want to hear the child cry.

Understood.

Push harder.

You can guess what happened after.

They fed Wan a lot of Tuohua Decoction.

She gave birth to a child at the exact time they wanted.

Here's the baby.

Hurry.

Wan was lucky enough

to survive this.

But the child was taken away right after he was born.

After that, Lady Yue settled the payment.

This matter was over.

Wan.

Wan.

Wan… You finally came back.

Renyi.

You really recovered.

Yes, I did.

I'm fine now.

Wan.

Sun Renyi was cured.

We lost the child.

But Wan collapsed.

She couldn't conceive a child for years.

It's okay, Wan.

It's okay.

Slowly,

Wan's in-laws began to despise her.

Fortunately,

- Sun Renyi remained nice to her. - Renyi.

Until…

Mother. What's wrong?

Mother.

You know what?

Your wife had a child with someone else.

What?

Mother. Is that true?

Mother.

Only then did Wan realize

that her in-laws had always been informed.

They let her bear someone else's child

to save their own son.

And once they realized she could no longer give birth,

they didn't even want to hide the truth from Sun Renyi anymore.

Renyi.

Where are you going?

Renyi.

We'll have a child.

I promise.

Don't you remember?

You have a child.

Renyi.

All her sacrifices became her sin.

After that,

Wan kind of lost it.

She wanted to find her child.

I don't know whether fate was toying with her.

She actually found Wu Siping.

After she saw Wu Mujin,

she had a mental breakdown.

Because she grew up beside me.

She knew the formation Wu Siping set up for the child.

She felt guilty.

She wanted to take the child away.

But the Wu's Manor was heavily guarded.

She didn't have a chance.

Following her failed attempts,

the Suns locked her in the woodshed.

The woman who approached you wanted you to take revenge.

Xu Daoyin and Lady Yue harmed too many people.

Who among those who survived wouldn't want revenge?

She helped you?

I didn't need it.

Xu Daoyin's petty tricks

only earned him some recognition.

And the one who truly helped him become famous was me.

That head-separation technique

made his reputation spread far beyond Mingzhou.

People came

even from counties near the Western Capital,

offering him a huge fortune.

I gained his trust

and gradually figured out the secrets of the manor.

Xu Daoyin was doing shady business

with those merchants and nobles.

Liu San was Xu Daoyin's confidant.

He helped Xu Daoyin

complete the head-separation trick

and helped him

lure those girls from poor families

to willingly become his reproductive tools.

Lady Yue made sure those children were born at the designated hours.

I've seen too many girls at the Vitality Hall.

Each one was just like Wan.

Some saw the newborns die.

Some were physically broken.

Some died giving birth.

I approached Xu Daoyin to get revenge.

But then I realized

that I had somehow become an accomplice.

If I didn't do anything about it,

I had no idea how many more would suffer.

I started planning for revenge.

While adjusting the mechanism,

I was persuading Xu Daoyin

to build secret passages in the manor to meet with his distinguished clients.

That allowed me

to go around the manor in secret.

You know the rest of the story.

Your mechanism was not perfect.

You moved the timeline up.

That's right.

Wu Siping was not pleased with his business.

Xu Daoyin told him to have another child through surrogacy.

You were worried that Wu Mujin would be replaced.

He wanted to kill Wu Mujin.

Follow the great men

and let go of the weak.

You will gain what you seek and remain steadfast.

Let go… Let go of the weak?

But that child supposedly brings me fortune.

Everyone has their fate.

Maybe this is the fate for the two of you as father and son.

If the old does not go away, how will you welcome the new?

Are you saying

that I should ask for another son?

I only read what the hexagrams show.

I won't interfere with your choice.

However, there is an auspicious time for childbirth.

Make up your mind soon.

Hexagrams never tell anyone to hurt others.

But people exploit it to manipulate others.

But Wu Siping didn't think so.

He wanted something.

Naturally, he believed in the hexagrams.

The teaching says that good deeds bring blessings.

They do evil, yet hope for good retribution.

How absurd.

He was planning to do it after the child was born.

I had to get ahead of him.

I entered the Wu's Manor to send the invitation

to the Heaven-Inquiry Ceremony.

GREAT VIRTUE TO EMBRACE THE WORLD

I decided from the beginning

that I wouldn't let him die without a taste of pain.

He must suffer what Wan had suffered.

I didn't replace the incense in his room.

Who are you?

What do you want?

Put me down.

Recognize me?

It's you.

You're with that crazy woman.

Guards. Guards.

Guards.

Guards.

What did you feed me?

Do you know that murder is a capital offense?

Lay a finger on me

and I won't let you and that crazy woman off!

What are you doing?

You're crazy.

Madman!

Too many questions for a madman.

- Put me down. Guards. - What answers do you expect?

Guards.

What answers do you expect?

What answers do you expect?

After that,

I rushed back to the manor overnight

and adjusted the mechanism

to kill Liu San and abduct Xu Daoyin at the Heaven-Inquiry Ceremony.

I hid Xu Daoyin in the secret passage.

I was going to kill him.

But I found gold ingots that he cherished in the secret chamber.

So I changed my mind.

Death

is too easy for him.

Wu Lie infiltrated the Vitality Hall with your help, didn't he?

Otherwise, he couldn't have found anyone in the formation.

None of you could save anyone.

You asked Wu Lie to make a noise outside the chamber

and lead us to the Vitality Hall to save people?

If you can save people,

why would you care about my motives?

If you fail to save people,

what's so important about my motives?

I just don't like being used.

I killed him.

I plead guilty.

To avenge your daughter,

killing these few people can't be enough.

Your Ladyship. I almost forgot if you didn't mention it.

The yamen has records.

Three years ago, Sun Renyi got remarried.

On the wedding night, the house caught fire and collapsed.

Except for the bride waiting in the wedding chamber,

all three members of the Sun family died.

The wedding night

matches perfectly with the raging flames,

doesn't it?

Wan.

Wan.

Wan.

Wan.

I am so sorry.

Wan.

I am so sorry. Wan.

I was wrong.

I am so sorry.

Wan is dead.

Stop putting on a show.

Xiao. We're sorry about Wan, too.

Renyi was going to spend the rest of his life with Wan

once she recovered.

You lost your daughter.

We lost our daughter-in-law.

We share your sorrow.

Please stop blaming us.

What do you want?

Mr. Xiao.

We came here to tell you

that we want to bury Wan in our ancestral grave.

Wan has married into the Sun family.

She can't be buried in your ancestral grave.

But we can't bear to leave her lying in the wilderness

all by herself.

Mr. Xiao.

BELOVED DAUGHTER XIAO WAN

Father-in-law.

I can't bear to leave her alone, Father-in-law.

Let me take Wan home.

Father-in-law. Think of it as my atonement.

Please, Father-in-law.

Please, Father-in-law.

Father-in-law.

What are you waiting for?

Take Wan home now.

That's right. Take Wan home.

- Take Wan home. - Thank you.

Thank you, Father-in-law.

Come on. Alright.

Let's go home, Wan.

You still had hopes for the Suns.

I sensed something was off that very night.

- Freeze. - Stop!

Freeze.

Freeze. Stop running.

Freeze.

XIAO

Who are you?

ZHAO JINGQIAN, XIAO WAN

- What happened… - Who are you?

What are you doing?

- This is my daughter. - Who is this madman?

- This is my daughter. - Hold him down. Beat him.

- Beat him. - Beat him.

- This is my daughter. - Ignore him. Go on.

Hurry up. Bury them.

- My daughter. - Beat him.

My daughter!

- They said - Wan!

that they paid a lot of money for this ghost marriage.

I wanted to get my daughter back.

But I couldn't fight so many of them.

Then I…

- Thanks. - I rushed to the Sun's Manor

for an explanation, only to find that…

Come on.

Drink.

Alright.

Dig in.

- Congratulations. - Thank you.

Thanks.

It turns out they sold Wan's body

for Sun Renyi to remarry someone else.

When Wan was alive,

she gave up everything to treat him.

After she died, they even exploited her body.

Those monsters deserved to die.

Father. That was 68 qian in total.

Alright.

There is brocade and something.

Alright.

Look at this.

That's enough even for my grandson.

- So heavy. - Yeah.

Renyi.

My love. M-My love.

That's the whole story.

Your Ladyship.

You can convict me.

Conviction is not my job.

But you didn't confess everything.

One murder gets you the death penalty.

Ten murders won't change that.

Your Ladyship.

Why would I hide anything?

Even if you could replace the incense in the Wu's Manor

and kill Wu Siping in his room,

you couldn't have known who we were

to switch our incense.

You know you've been exposed and would get arrested.

Why did you go back to the Wu's Manor just to get caught?

You're trying to save someone at the cost of your life.

Confess.

Who is your accomplice?

I have no accomplices.

Still denying it?

Your Ladyship,

perhaps a little interrogation

will make him talk.

He's not even afraid of death.

Why would he be scared of torture?

Besides, such a minor issue is easy to look into.

I see.

His accomplice is right at Wu's Manor.

Mujin.

It was me.

Why did you come here?

He came to confess.

He's just a kid.

What's there to confess?

He was Xiao's accomplice?

No, it wasn't him.

Madam Wu.

Wu Mujin suffered a lot and was misled

to replace the incense and lead the way.

He is too young to distinguish right from wrong.

He needs someone to take care of him and teach him.

Otherwise, he will face many difficulties in life.

What do you think, Madam Wu?

I apologize. I deserve punishment.

No.

What do you think, Your Ladyship?

Your Ladyship. Your Ladyship.

Mujin has nothing to do with it.

Please think twice.

Magistrate Wen, it's your call.

Wu Mujin.

You are just a child who got instigated.

I can spare you the penalty.

Madam Wu.

Please take him back

and guide him well.

Thank you, Magistrate Wen.

Thank you, Your Ladyship.

Your Ladyship.

Wu Siping was your uncle, after all.

The case was solved by the Palace Investigation Bureau

and the Court of Judicial Review.

Could you please

take the perpetrator back to the Western Capital?

I… I am seriously…

In that case,

Prosecutor Gu and Wuren will take him back to the Western Capital?

Thank you, Your Ladyship.

Thank you, Prosecutor.

I'm the one who told Xiao everything.

But you wanted to save Wu Mujin.

You also led Xiao to reunite with the child.

Yi'en. Go play.

Yi'en?

Mother said that I'll be Xiao Yi'en from now on.

I'm not excusing myself.

But Wu Siping's death was his own retribution.

He brought this upon himself.

Before Wu Siping left the Western Capital,

His Majesty suffered from a relapse of his old illness.

None of the physicians could do anything.

Lady Xie happened to give birth to a prince.

And His Majesty was suddenly cured.

The Astronomical Bureau discovered

that the young prince's Four Pillars of Destiny match His Majesty's.

That expelled the illness.

His Majesty was overjoyed.

He praised Lady Xie for bringing him luck

and the young prince as a blessing.

He rewarded them handsomely.

Wu Siping had rashes frequently

and couldn't find a cure.

After he resigned and came here,

he decided to follow the example and find blessings.

That's why everything happened.

But his chronic illness

indeed went away after Yi'en was born.

So it's partly the Astronomical Bureau's fault.

His Majesty got better

thanks to the Imperial Medical Office's hard work.

Wu Siping's rash cleared up mainly due to the local climate.

The so-called blessing was just nonsense.

I stand by what I said.

The celestial phenomena follow a certain pattern.

Only wicked people make a big fuss about it for profit.

My uncle was never superstitious.

But he ended up claiming lives

and bringing misfortune to a child for personal gain.

And this kid is his biological son.

Some can exploit their own children in their pursuit of wealth and status.

Others, bound by familial ties,

can endure humiliation and hardship for the sake of revenge.

Yet some still step forward to protect strangers,

driven by innate compassion.

Becoming a demon or a Buddha hinges on that fleeting moment of choice.

Your Ladyship.

This butterfly lost a wing.

It can no longer fly.

But it's still alive.

So, there is still hope.

You saved it.

You'll take good care of it. Right?

It can't fly anymore. But I'll keep it alive.

I'll find you a ceramic jar to be its home. Alright?

What happened to your hand?

I scratched it while saving the butterfly.

I'm fine. It doesn't hurt.

Wounds must be treated promptly to heal more quickly.

It becomes a scar if left unattended.

GREAT VIRTUE TO EMBRACE THE WORLD

Your Ladyship.

Are you waiting for me?

Yes.

I want to ask you something.

You saved me.

I will tell you everything I know.

Why did Wu Siping leave the capital?

He claimed to be ill and asked for resignation.

But I know it was not his intention.

He was the Crown Prince's Left Guard Commander.

The Crown Prince asked him to resign?

No way.

The Crown Prince was infuriated by his sudden resignation.

But he was determined to leave.

Where was he on the night of my family's tragedy 15 years ago?

He was there?

No.

He wasn't on duty that night.

But…

WU'S MANOR

Gather your men. Come to the Prince of Duan's manor.

- Now? - Yes.

Does His Highness know?

I will report to him.

But… isn't it against the rules?

If you don't go, give me the command tally.

I'd say I snatched it from you.

You won't get into trouble.

Hurry up.

Grand Tutor. What on earth is this for?

The less you know, the safer you are.

Not long after that night,

Wu Siping claimed to be ill and resigned.

He never mentioned what happened that night.

Are you sure it was Xiao Wenyuan who took the command tally?

He said he was going to the Prince of Duan's manor?

Yes.

I saw and heard them clearly.

Do you still remember when Xiao Wenyuan came by?

I really can't remember the specific time.

But it must have been before midnight.

Before midnight?

Before midnight.

Your Ladyship.

Run.

Guards.

Guards.

Guards.

Madam.

Protect Her Ladyship and Madam. Let's go.

Be careful.

Wu Lie. Take Madam away.

They came for me.

We can't leave you behind.

You're a mother.

It's unfair to die here with me.

Let's go.

So many people?

You must have been terrified.

Your Ladyship is smart.

I'm sure you understand that the deeper you dig,

the more dangerous it gets.

But you'd better kill me this time.

Otherwise, you and the mastermind are going to be in trouble.

Kill her.

Any other tricks?

If not,

I'm going to kill you.

If you survive, none of us gets to live.

But I didn't come alone.

Don't try to bluff me.

Gu Lingzhou and Wuren are heading to the Western Capital.

You only have Xiao Huaijin with you.

How can he do?

Kill her.

Die!

Why did you come?

Madam Wu said you were in danger.

Your Ladyship.

I was careless.

The arrow is poisoned.

Go. Leave me here.

Now is not the time for dramatic displays of loyalty.

You may die.

It's fine.

I don't have something I have to do.

But I swear I will save you.

My wound hurts.

Forget about knocking me out to die alone.

Either we leave together or I die with you.

- I won't appreciate you. - If I wanted to be appreciated,

I wouldn't have chosen to be with you.

Then Mr. Xiao,

let's try to live.

Crazy kiddo.

Without the old man, you were beaten so badly?

Old man.

Why did you come?

If I don't come now,

I'll go straight to collect your body.

Those losers really want you dead.

Is this poison curable?

My medicine will keep her alive,

but she will suffer.

What do you mean?

Peiyi.

Your Ladyship.

- Inspector Du. - It's okay.

It's good that she threw up.

Old man.

How do you know I'm in trouble?

Look at you.

You never take my advice to heart.

You didn't even hide the fact that you came to Mingzhou.

Even I heard about it. They surely did, too.

Always make it quick if you want to look into something.

Yet you took your time.

Weren't you inviting them here to kill you?

You came all the way from the Western Capital

just to scold me?

You surely need a scolding.

That's enough. Leave it to me.

I'll leave Her Ladyship to you.

There are many of them.

Things might be tricky.

That's why I said leave it to me.

Get going.

Crazy kiddo.

Try to be more careful.

Don't cause your old man more trouble.

I promise.

Get lost.

Take care.

It's you?

You know me?

So we're old friends.

Get out of my way

and I'll spare you.

Since you know who I am, stop wasting your breath.

- Bring it on. - Kill him.

I haven't trained for a long time.

This is amazing.

You old fox.

Tricking me into revealing my moves?

Otherwise,

how do I find out which old friend you are?

Despicable as expected.

We're not done yet.

- The blade is poisoned. - You can't go.

If Inspector Du can't make it,

you'll only die there with him.

I'd rather die with him.

You promised him to live well.

It's hard to live,

but easy to die.

Sorry.

I have to keep you alive.