Original subtitles

This medicine can soothe the heart and erase worldly suffering.

Locust plague?

Yes.

That's the message on the paper Loulan handed me.

If a locust plague occurred right now…

One thing's for certain.

The people would resent the Emperor reigning over the country of Li.

The Shi clan has fallen.

As a result,

power struggles within the palace will likely intensify.

The named clans.

Those granted exclusive characters by the Emperor

for use in their clan names.

SHI CLAN (X) YI CLAN (X)

When the country was founded, the names of three vassals

contained characters from the twelve zodiac signs.

Thus, clans acknowledged by the Emperor

were assigned these characters thereafter.

Since other characters were also adopted later on,

they are often divided into "old" clans and "new" clans.

LA

"La" is a representative among the new clans.

The high-ranking Concubine Gyokuyou shall assume the rank of Empress.

And her natal family shall rise in the ranks…

to become a named clan, just like La.

GYOKU

If war breaks out, the West will be pivotal.

Is that why the daughter of Gyokuen, Concubine Gyokuyou, must rise to Empress?

Marriage is yet another political tool.

The Yi clan, which governed over the West, died out decades ago.

Now, the one taking the reins

is Concubine Gyokuyou's father, You Gyokuen.

GYOKUEN

Meanwhile, the natal family of Empress Dowager Anshi,

at the Empress's behest, has not been granted a clan name.

All we can do is hope this doesn't spark conflict.

I can't believe that Sir Jinshi was the imperial younger brother.

Sir Gyokuen! Congratulations!

Why, thank you.

Here you are, sir.

Much appreciated.

Truly, a joyous event.

What a splendid debut.

Father has yet to arrive.

Yeah, this is pretty bad.

Sir Onsou went to retrieve him, but…

It's starting already. Forget it!

Sir Rikuson, would you please sit in Father's chair?

Absolutely not.

Let's let Sir Onsou handle it.

Yes, let's.

Sir Lakan!

Oh, Sir La…

Quiet please, Sir Onsou.

Be quiet?

Today's garden party also serves as the Empress' debut…

So that's your move! Let's see.

For the first time in weeks, Lady Fengxian is feeling much better.

Okay, let's see how you take this.

I'm gonna get chewed out.

Father!

Here you are, Sir Uryuu.

Lady Lishu.

If only Concubine Lihua's child had been born slightly earlier.

If only the first prince were still alive.

Just look at that Gyokuen's smug face.

An Empress of foreign blood, of all people.

So cold.

Oh, yeah, Grams wanted to see me.

I'll let Chou-u sleep in for now.

While I'm out, I'll take a hot bath at the Verdigris House.

I left the rear palace a month ago.

- The New Year's excitement has died down. - Good morning.

Morning.

Morning, Big Sis Meimei.

You're early today.

Where's Grams?

Talking to the brothel-keeper over there.

Dumbass! What the hell are you doing?

Grams is in charge of the Verdigris House,

but Mr. Owner, the brothel-keeper, handles the management.

He runs other businesses, too.

With his kind-hearted nature,

I'm worried this place would go bankrupt without Grams.

Looks like Grams gave him a good whack.

Maomao. What brings you here?

Aren't you the one that called me here?

Oh, did I?

- You've finally gone senile? - I heard that!

Reminds me of the quack doctor.

I reckon you're here for a bath.

Want some breakfast while you're here?

Bring that kid, too.

Really?

I'm nice sometimes too, you know.

In that case, I'll be off.

What? It's unusual for him to leave before breakfast.

Eat up! Have at it!

This is horrid. Aren't these locusts?

They're a gift from Mr. Owner.

Everyone's in tears over this year's bad harvest.

Mr. Owner has a grain business, too.

In this country,

the government taxes farmers by collecting their crops.

They also purchase a fixed quantity.

Mr. Owner runs a business that distributes the surplus.

He doesn't even haggle for these.

He just boils them in expensive sugar for preservation.

Why go that far? He should just throw 'em away.

Doesn't it bother you, Chou-u?

These aren't very good.

I can't believe you can eat this.

There's no meat, but it's still edible.

No meat?

Shut up and eat!

Hey, should I eat 'em all for you?

Gimme a mooncake, and it's a deal.

Ouch. That hurts, Freckles!

My, my.

Before cooking locusts, you gotta remove the guts.

So yeah, of course they're hollow, but…

Oh, Maomao.

What?

I remember now.

Go buy some incense from the market.

Okay. What's my payment?

A morning bath and breakfast for two.

Isn't that enough?

Cheapskate.

Did you say something?

Come on, Freckles!

- Buy me that! - Denied.

Just look at me now.

The fact I once worked there feels like a dream or something.

Yuck!

Dang, kid!

What'd you say, brat?

This nasty stuff has no meat.

You little…

Chou-u! Hey, what are you doing?

Sorry, mister.

Why? I'm telling the truth!

Just shut up.

That was so nasty.

I guess that means the crops really suck this year.

What did you just say?

I said it was nasty.

No, after that.

The part about the crops sucking?

Yeah, that. How do you know?

I dunno, I just heard somewhere.

When insects have no meat, that means it's a bad harvest.

Chou-u died once and came back to life,

which left his body partially numb.

He also lost a ton of memories.

- Come on, remember. - Stop!

I might be able to remember.

Really?

Yeah, if you buy me something.

Ouch! That hurts!

"Might be able to remember"? Nice try.

Still, I didn't expect him to ask for paper and a brush.

Chou-u, stay out of trouble while I deliver this incense to Grams.

Sure thing!

Wow, that's incredible!

What's going on?

Hang on, wait your turn.

Okay, all done.

Here.

Wow, little boy. You're so talented.

Here's your tip.

Pleasure doing business!

Hey.

- Come on, Freckles! - What are you doing?

Drawing pictures. What's the problem?

You're even charging a fee.

Hey! What are you doing in front of my store?

You're hurting my business!

Stop right there.

Tell the kid that he's allowed to use my space

if I get a 10% cut.

Greedy old lady.

If you plan to keep drawing there, you'd better pay Grams' venue fee.

Come on, what a cheapskate.

Forget it. I'll draw somewhere else.

Pay the fee if you have to. Just stay near the Verdigris House.

Stay where the menservants can see you.

Don't go buy paper alone, either.

You're not the boss of me!

What?

If you wanna be a carcass, go ahead.

A carcass?

You'll get pestered out there.

That's a diseased courtesan.

She won't last much longer, but she still needs customers to survive.

The pleasure district isn't just pretty.

This neighborhood is plenty ugly, too.

The Verdigris House protects you from all that.

Tons of people out there

won't hesitate to kill a rich kid for their money.

Okay, fine.

I never would've expected him to have a talent like this.

Just like…

By the way, look.

I just remembered something.

Are these locusts?

The top one is a normal locust, right?

I'm pretty sure the bottom one is a locust from a bad harvest.

Locust plagues.

A natural disaster capable of destroying a country.

A large swarm of locusts will devour everything in sight.

Obviously, they eat crops.

Even straw rope and straw sandals.

Fortunately, under the current Emperor's reign…

we haven't seen any locust plagues.

After the Shi clan's revolt, tons of people were executed.

If a locust plague happened now,

some would consider it divine punishment for destroying the Shi clan.

Then, everyone would blame the Emperor ruling over the country.

None of my business.

It's none of my business, but…

Chou-u's drawings reminded me

that I've seen similar drawings before.

I'd never find one here though, right?

Excuse me, sir.

Where'd you get this book?

Someone sold it to me a few days ago.

Did they sell you anything else?

No, just the one book, but they mentioned coming back later.

One of the illustrated references left behind for concocting

an elixir of immortality.

PLANTS: PART II

BIRDS: PART I

This book is one of them, I'm sure of it.

Pleasure doing business.

Why is it here?

The Forbidden Army should've sealed off the stronghold.

Why's a book from the stronghold circulating through the town?

Is someone illegally selling confiscated items?

If so…

The Forbidden Army…

Maybe I'll ask a certain someone.

VERDIGRIS HOUSE

Listen, miss.

I'm very busy, you know.

Yet here I am, hunting petty thieves.

Thank you, Sir Lihaku.

I kept watch from sunrise and caught the guy trying to sell this.

Be grateful.

You didn't ask a subordinate, did you?

No, because it was a request from you.

Sing my praises to Pairin, okay?

Yeah, sure.

But first, where's the criminal?

Verdigris menservants are watching him out front.

Oh, they are?

Miss!

Danger alert.

Don't get too close.

Snake girl!

Oh, he's the guard from back then.

What happened, miss?

Sir Lihaku, I must apologize.

I know this guy.

What do you mean?

Oh, yeah, Big Sis Pairin should be getting off work soon.

She is? Okay, I guess my job's done! Bye now!

You don't have to supervise either, Ukyou.

I can't just leave you.

If anything happened to you,

Mr. Fox and Mr. Mask would be furious with me.

No problem, right? I'll just stand here in silence.

I won't eavesdrop.

Ukyou's been here since before I was born.

He can perform any job perfectly, and even Grams trusts him implicitly.

He'll probably snitch on me, though.

Well, guess it's no big deal even if Grams finds out.

You know what this is, right?

Where are the other books?

That military officer just now helped ambush the stronghold.

Should I tell him you were there too?

I get the message.

I sold two more in another town, but I still have three of them.

I left the rest behind.

The ones left in the stronghold may still be obtainable.

As for the two he sold, that's an issue.

The books I have so far are the bird and fish ones.

Did you sell the insect book?

I have one of them.

"One of them"?

"Part I" means there must be a "Part II."

Can you bring that book right now?

Can you promise not to turn me in?

That depends on your attitude.

Hey now, Maomao.

Don't threaten him.

Hey, man. You hungry?

I'm sure you have your reasons, so wait here, okay?

You're letting me eat this?

Yeah, but it's our leftovers.

So good!

Looks like you went through a lot before reaching the capital.

But the book was in great condition.

You had no choice but to sell it, huh?

I don't think he's a bad person.

Yeah, but still.

Use the carrot and stick wisely, Maomao.

What's wrong?

Yuck.

Not fond of locusts?

This ain't a locust. It's a grasshopper.

This one's a locust and these are grasshoppers.

Farmers know the difference.

Locusts are edible,

but grasshoppers have no meat and taste nasty.

Gross! There was a grasshopper mixed in.

Shisui said the same thing.

But this means…

What?

There might be a famine this year.

You think so too?

I mean, there's no proof.

Having more grasshoppers than locusts spells trouble for the next year.

These insects could wreak havoc.

Chou-u said the same thing.

For a measly guard, you're pretty knowledgeable about insects.

Yeah, I guess.

Why'd you take books from the stronghold, anyway?

You could've found other valuable stuff.

Actually, I didn't want to sell them.

I intended to buy them back eventually.

Nobody wants to buy these picture books anyway, right?

Someone here would.

An old man lived there before you came along.

I used to bring him food.

The apothecary who researched immortality?

Yeah, but he did other things, too.

This was one of his research topics.

- How to prevent locust plagues. - That's…

Freckles! Can I eat your rice dumplings?

Huh? Young Master!

I forgot! This guy knows Chou-u!

Everyone thinks the Shi clan was completely wiped out.

We can't get busted here!

Yeah, eat my dumplings. Just go away.

What's going on?

Chou-u, want to ride on my shoulders?

You mean it? All right!

Even without solid proof,

it might be wise to inform Sir Jinshi just in case.

The time has come to fulfill the promise, it seems.

Meaning?

I think it's almost time to have Yue choose a flower.

Sir Jinshi, it's about time.

Right.

PREVIEW OF THE NEXT EPISODE

The next episode is "The Fire-Rat Cloak."

Subtitle translation by: Logan Lampkins