Original subtitles

[New Life Begins]

[Adapted from the novel "Journey to the Qing Dynasty" by Duomu Muduo]

[Episode 14]

[Jingyuan]

Coming.

Not coming.

Coming.

Not coming.

Coming.

Not coming.

Are they coming or not?

I'm starving to death here.

If you're starving,

you should grab a bowl and start eating.

Superintendent Su,

both the dishes and wine

must have gotten cold.

Instruct the kitchen to reheat them.

Reheat them, Your Grace?

If I had known this would happen,

I wouldn't have swapped out His Lordship's liquor for water.

We're a family.

We can drink together until we drop.

What are we waiting for?

We've already been waiting for several hours.

Even the sun has set.

If I must say, we should stop waiting.

No one is coming.

Is anyone there?

Why are you only here now?

I was delayed by some matters.

Look.

This is the liquor I brought back from Dan State.

I've been keeping it for two months.

Thank you, Princess Shangguan.

Don't mention it.

Since we have excellent liquor from Dan State,

of course we must give it a try.

Haitang!

I knew you guys would come!

Of course we have to come.

It took us two hours to put on our makeup.

Of course we need to be here.

We've sampled these dishes for so long.

It's time for us to check the result.

You look gorgeous today.

You guys came by yourselves?

Where's Third Young Lord?

An was too timid to come,

and he didn't allow us to come.

Luckily, Winter Solstice feigned illness and stalled him.

We took the opportunity to escape.

You guys are amazing.

It's the same for Qi.

He's dilly-dallying at home.

I'm here.

You're so beautiful.

Shangguan, what are you saying?

Don't spout nonsense.

I was late because I was busy preparing presents.

Zheng,

come here.

Your leg...

I'm fine.

Do you think you can protect me like that?

Why can't I?

Think about it.

It's your inauguration banquet today.

I have to come at all costs,

don't you think so?

Here.

Zheng,

the street in front of your door is pretty narrow.

My carriage can't fit.

You guys were messing with me again.

Winter Solstice wasn't sick at all.

I thought you said you weren't coming?

I'm not here to attend the inauguration banquet.

I'm here to pick you guys up.

Is there a problem with that?

If so, why did you bring a present?

I brought you something

since I was coming anyway.

I see.

Here, take a look.

You will need this according to my experience.

I'll bring this to the kitchen now.

Don't steal it.

Don't worry.

Zai is here.

It's been a long time since we saw him.

He has grown up.

You're here?

Zheng, I'm sorry.

I overslept in the afternoon.

You're not angry at me, right?

Not at all.

I'm happy you're here.

Hao Jia.

Thank you.

Let's check it out.

Sure.

Sisi!

Seventh Young Lord!

Come here!

Yan.

Thank you.

I'm thankful to all of you for coming.

Since we're a family,

I'll skip the courteous words.

Please enjoy yourself

and drink until you drop.

All right!

Here.

Drink until we drop!

Here.

Eat up.

Here.

Try this.

You guys have tried these dishes plenty of times.

You guys won't get sick of them, right?

Of course not.

You guys were starving

because of us.

Eat up.

Okay.

Everyone, eat up.

These pastries

are delicious.

Have them while they're hot.

Here.

One for each person.

Okay.

Here.

Slow down.

Don't choke yourself.

Hao Jia,

are you sure Second Young Lord

is fine with you coming here by yourself?

Don't worry about me.

You know me well.

I have plenty of ways

to deal with him.

Eat up, then.

Congratulations.

Here's a toast to you.

Here.

You have established your own secretariat now.

Here.

Zheng,

not only did you establish your secretariat before I do,

but you also married the Princess of Jin State.

Your concubine is lively and cute too.

And you have a perfect wife.

Seems like you have the best of everything.

You can't shut up even after stuffing your mouth, huh?

You should test your spear on him.

You have a point.

Zheng,

we're brothers!

How could you be so heartless?

Your secretariat will close down by tomorrow!

So,

Zheng.

Zheng is promoting night markets.

I think that's a great idea.

I heard that many people resumed their business

after dark.

Many restaurants are operating during nighttime too.

It's very lively.

An, it's all thanks to your help.

You're an expert at doing business.

Not at all.

We need to stay united and help each other

to overcome obstacles.

It's a win-win situation.

A win-win situation.

Zheng.

I have to congratulate you.

You got yourself a secretariat at such a young age.

Not just that, but you also

married my grandaunt,

who's beautiful and outstanding.

And,

you're working together with a business genius

like me.

You have a bright future ahead of you.

Come on.

We should gather more often.

Everyone, here.

We should gather more often.

Here.

Here.

We should gather more often.

The nourishing Chinese softshell turtle soup is ready.

This is good stuff.

That's right.

An,

you should know this.

There are eggs too.

Don't forget them.

An.

It's good indeed.

Here, An, have a bowl.

Let me make an official introduction.

This is the lady of the house,

Yuan Ying.

Greetings, Sixth Young Madam.

Zheng, I want another slice of sugar sponge cake.

Okay.

But this is your last slice.

Zai, you have cavities.

Father doesn't allow you to take sweet food.

Zheng,

how did you know I have cavities?

Mother said

you have no idea about how I'm doing.

She's not coming

since she feels unwell.

Zheng,

it's been a long time since you came back.

When will you visit Mother together with me?

I'll definitely join you next time.

Come on, Zai.

Come here.

You haven't answered my questions yet.

How old are you now?

Eat up.

Will Zheng

propose a toast later?

Shall we say something auspicious later?

But I don't know what to say.

It's fine.

Don't be scared.

I'm here.

Let me think about it.

Here,

Yan.

You and Qi will establish your own secretariats by next month.

Just tell me if you need any help.

Thank you, Zheng.

Thank you.

I understand.

Why did he throw up?

Hurry!

Go and check on him!

What's the matter?

I'm fine.

-Yin Qi! -Qi!

Fifth Young Lord!

Yin Qi!

Qi, what's wrong?

Yin Qi!

-Qi! -Yin Qi!

Get the imperial physician!

What's the matter?

Imperial Physician,

how is he?

His pulse is erratic.

Seems like he's poisoned.

Poisoned?

He was fine just now.

How did he get poisoned?

That's right.

Did Fifth Young Lord

take anything special today?

Anything special?

I've been sitting beside him the entire night.

Was it because I fed him the...

Imperial Physician,

you might not know,

but today is Zheng's inauguration banquet.

I was so happy

that I drank too much liquor.

I don't think I'm poisoned.

Just give me a prescription

for a hangover.

Imperial Physician,

let us speak in private.

We had the same food and drinks today.

Why was Qi the only one poisoned?

Something's off indeed.

Please let me think about it.

Was it because I got you

a huge bowl of turtle soup?

Are you dumb?

You shouldn't try to take the blame

no matter if you were the cause or not.

If I do die,

you won't be able to escape unscathed

even if you're the Princess of Dan State,

do you understand?

But...

Listen to me.

Just listen to me.

Don't tell the imperial physician about this.

Don't worry.

You won't be a widow yet.

What nonsense are you saying?

Don't worry.

He didn't drink that much.

How's Fifth Young Lord?

He's fine,

but we don't know what's the cause of it.

Maybe something's wrong with the food.

But I thought

all of us had the same food?

That's right.

Pass me today's menu.

Menu.

The menu looks fine.

This is red spinach.

It says Chinese lettuce on the menu.

It was supposed to be Chinese lettuce.

But we ran out of it.

That's why we changed it to red spinach.

Red spinach?

It was supposed to be Chinese lettuce.

But we ran out of it.

Madam said we could replace it with red spinach.

We got her permission.

Superintendent Su,

go and confirm

if Fifth Young Lord had taken red spinach

and turtle soup together.

Okay.

These two dishes, right?

All right.

Everyone, do not consume red spinach

after taking turtle soup.

They cannot be consumed together.

Fifth Young Lord did take a lot of turtle soup.

It has been confirmed.

Qi did take both turtle soup and red spinach together.

Softshell turtles and red spinach are cold to the body.

They cannot be taken together.

And I'm sure Fifth Young Lord has drunk a lot.

That's why he was poisoned.

To neutralize the poison,

we must feed him with a huge amount of water spinach juice.

Okay.

I'll help you out.

Your Lordship.

Madam.

Crush these for us.

Be careful.

How do you feel?

I think

I feel better.

I don't feel that terrible now.

It worked.

Superintendent Su,

we have extra water spinach juice.

If any guests

had taken turtle soup and red spinach together,

you can let them drink this.

All right.

I will make arrangements for it.

I will get to it right now.

Imperial Physician.

Fifth Young Lord is fine now.

I hope you can keep this a secret...

Sixth Young Lord, don't worry.

I understand.

I shall take my leave.

Let me see you off.

Li Wei.

Thank you.

It was my negligence.

I'm lucky that you're here.

It's tough to hold an inauguration banquet.

Negligence cannot be avoided.

You've already done a great job.

Don't blame yourself.

By the way,

neutralizing poison with water spinach juice

is such an unorthodox method.

Where did you learn it from?

Li Cang was a glutton when he was young.

He took red spinach at home

and went to get some turtle soup from our neighbors.

He was poisoned after that.

This was the method my father used to cure him.

I see.

Yuan Ying,

in the future, you don't need

to keep everything to yourself.

I can share some of your burdens with you.

Although I'm not good at anything,

I can only grow

if there's a chance for me to hone my skills.

How do you feel?

Do you still feel sick?

Of course.

Where are you going?

Look at how sick I am.

You can't just leave me alone.

That's not it.

I'm going to get some warm water for you in the kitchen.

You feel sick, right?

You need to drink warm water.

What's the matter?

Wait, why are you

so nice to me all of a sudden?

Am I being nice to you

by getting you a cup of warm water?

Who told you to be so violent to me in the past?

I was used to that version of you.

I think

I might be a little masochistic too.

You have no idea.

When I was young,

Song and Jun always bullied me.

Father

had their backs too.

Whenever Father saw me,

he always scolded me and hit me.

As time passes,

I've gotten used to it.

That's so unfair.

You shouldn't get used to such treatments.

But it's fine now.

They don't bully or hit me anymore.

It's because

you have taken over

their role.

Am I right?

Thank you for being considerate.

In the future,

I'll try my best to be nice to you.

Heaven must've heard my prayers.

You must keep your promise.

Don't go back on it, okay?

I'll get you a cup of water.

I'm sure you feel terrible.

Second Young Lord is mean to you

and forbids the others from attending your inauguration banquet.

I'm sure you're disheartened by it.

That's fine.

We can curse him out together.

Actually, it's nothing.

I'm already used to it.

How could you be used to something like that?

If you keep unhappy thoughts

to yourself for a long time,

you'll fall sick.

If you don't trust anyone else,

you can tell me about them.

I have tight lips.

Okay.

Haven't you had enough of the rice punch?

You've been having it the entire day.

This is rice wine.

You shouldn't drink that when you have a weak stomach.

My stomach is already healed.

Even so, you can't drink that.

Can't I?

Yes.

I won't act recklessly although I can't hold my liquor well.

Why are you stopping me?

You won't act recklessly?

Aren't you embarrassed for saying that?

When we were in Dan State,

did you forget

what you did to me in the room

when you got drunk?

How could you forget about that?

Dan State?

(Back then...)

(Back then, you were in a daze.)

(I was cleaning your face out of kindness.)

(After that...)

You should try to remember what happened.

Look.

You can't hold your liquor at all.

You mustn't drink in the future.

I'll make a move first if there's nothing else.

Wait.

Do you want me to stop drinking?

Or do you want me to stop drinking with other people?

Hao Jia!

How dare you?

You still attended Zheng's banquet

even though you knew I wasn't going.

Are you trying to embarrass me here?

Your Highness, please practice wise judgment.

I attended the banquet

just to chat with my sisters.

I didn't do anything else.

Your Highness.

How many times have I told you to stay away from her?

Yet, you still insist on being friends with that Li Wei.

If you know what's good for you,

you should cut your ties with her.

I'm close to Li Wei

because we're good friends.

I don't have any ulterior motives!

Are you saying

that you're choosing her

over me?

I dare not do so.

Your Highness.

So, you're forsaking your husband's dignity

for the sake of a laughable female friendship?

Did you forget who provided you with food and accommodation?

Your Highness...

Your Highness.

Don't stoop to the same level as her.

Your Highness.

You're mine.

You will do what I want you to do.

Your Highness, don't be angry.

Can you get up first?

Your Highness.

Your Highness, don't be angry.

Don't stoop to the same level as her.

Why are you still staring into space?

Get up.

You already made His Highness angry.

Stop being stubborn.

Kneel and repent!

Now.

Be quick.

Kneel outside.

Zheng is something else.

Although it was just an inauguration banquet,

he got the two dummies, Qi and Yan,

to attend it.

Not just that, but An also attended it.

You know An well.

He seeks nothing but profits.

He went there because he thought he could profit from the night market.

He and Princess Yuan Ying are considered relatives.

Maybe he was afraid that he might offend the family of his wife.

I heard that Zheng wasn't happy with it

when he was ordered to get married.

That's right.

He caused a mess because of his concubine.

However,

Princess Yuan Ying was the one

in charge of the banquet.

It looks like the three of them

are on good terms.

That's what you call a false front.

I think he wanted to establish the marriage alliance long ago.

Thinking about it now,

he has only been to Jin State once.

How come the Lord of Jin State likes him so much

that he wanted him to marry his daughter?

Are you saying

that they were secretly

keeping in touch with each other in Jin State?

Song,

His Lordship fears the Lord of Jin State in the first place.

Although it may seem like

he has obtained tremendous wealth after marrying Yuan Ying,

it's also the easiest way for him

to attempt a drastic measure to deal with the situation.

The night market has just been established.

Even the Ministry of Revenue has their hands full.

We have to start working after the curfew.

People are getting restless.

They are already unhappy about this.

All those old subjects

expect Yin Zheng to step down from office.

But now, he's actually trying to expand the night market.

He's too eager for instant success.

He doesn't know what's good for him.

It's already the hour of Hai,

yet we're still working.

We're so unlucky.

Precisely.

We took this job in the first place

because we thought it was an easy job.

But now,

we can't return home at night.

Why are you guys setting up stalls in the middle of the night?

What about the people who want to sleep?

According to the rules, the night market can operate until the hour of Hai.

You can head to the yamen to complain about it if don't like it.

Say that again.

(The old subjects of the Ministry of Revenue)

(follow the beaten track.)

(Their subordinates prefer easy work and shirk hard ones.)

(They'll be instigated easily)

(as long as we give them a push.)

(It's not that easy for Zheng)

(to maintain his night market.)

All these are folds of complaints

about the night market's poor management.

The entire Ministry of Revenue

is unhappy with the upscaling of the night market.

I said this long ago.

You have to be very careful

if you wish to change the norm.

Do not take it for granted.

Why didn't they adapt it

long ago

if it could be adapted that easily?

As for the reasons,

Sixth Young Lord, you should go back and think about it.

My Lord,

the night market is still new, and it hasn't gotten on the right track yet.

It's normal for the Ministry of Revenue

to not get accustomed to it.

We just need to wait for a few more days...

You can't even pacify your subjects now,

let alone talk about the future.

Who's willing to wait together with you?

This will truly affect

the change of the market system.

My Lord, how do you plan to quell their rage?

You're still young.

And you don't have a rank within the Ministry of Revenue.

That's why people aren't satisfied with your lead.

And you are rash and rude.

I don't think it's appropriate

for you to continue

leading the market.

My Lord is wise.

Although Sixth Young Lord has some excellent ideas,

the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

It's reasonable for the Ministry of Revenue

to be unsatisfied with him.

In my opinion,

at this crucial moment,

Sixth Young Lord should resign from his post.

You should lay low for now.

I'm willing to accept my punishment.

However, dissolving the market system

is never a wrong move.

Are you out of your mind?

I'm giving you an out now. Why are you talking back?

You made three mistakes

just from doing the accounts of the inauguration banquet alone.

What should you do in the future?

You have to be more meticulous.

This is an oral decree from His Lordship.

Sixth Young Lord has disrespected his superiors

and done a poor job at his duty.

He is to stay in his residence and reflect upon his actions.

From today onward,

the entire mansion

will be put on house arrest.

Sixth Young Lord,

sorry about this.

Superintendent Liang,

what's going on?

Why would they

shut the mansion down for no reason?

What's the matter?

What happened?

Sorry about this.

[East Courtyard]

[Sealed off]

[Jingyuan]

My Lord,

Sixth Young Lord's new mansion has been shut down.

Everything has been settled.

The young lords are waiting outside your residence

so that they can greet you.

Zheng has to suffer for nothing.

Actually, he didn't do anything wrong.

It's just that it's hard to initiate a revolution.

If he wishes to dissolve the market system,

he has to pacify the older subjects.

Only then, it may be implemented

in the future.

My Lord, you're not the father of a certain person.

You're the leader of the nine states.

You have to maintain a delicate balance.

You have it the roughest.

You're doing everything for the bigger picture.

I think

Sixth Young Lord will understand.

Before this,

he was showing off too much.

Many people were starting to be wary of him.

But now, I'm pouring cold water on him.

At least the others can let down their guard.

They can skip their greetings today.

Tell Song

that he doesn't need to visit me lately.

He can visit me after making sure the Ministry of Revenue

is operating optimally.

Yes, My Lord.

Your Lordship,

it's way past dinner time.

You should at least have something.

Your Lordship.

Madam.

Let me do it.

Wait.

Madam, you're going against the rules if you enter his room like that.

Letting him starve

and hurt his body,

that's going against the rules.

You're right.

Madam, sorry for the trouble.

Your Lordship,

Madam is entering the room.

Why don't you have something?

I just wish to be alone.

I know.

People don't have any appetite

when they're upset.

They think that they can feel better

if they starve themselves.

But I can't eat

when I see you starve.

I'm upset

when you're upset.

I don't want you to be all by yourself.

Can I just stay by your side

for a little while?

Miss Yuan Ying has told me about it.

His Lordship

forsook you

to quell everyone's rage.

This is not your fault.

That's why you don't need to beat yourself up.

However, if you feel terrible about it...

you can cry.

I'll pretend to not see it.

I thought Father would support me

and look at me for once

if I did

the right thing.

In the end, it was just my imagination.

However, I'm already used to things resolving in this manner.

Why are you looking at me like that?

Usually, if one's child suffers grievances,

their parents will surely uphold justice for them.

But now,

you're suffering grievances because of your parents.

Don't get used to this.

If you wish to achieve success,

I'm sure plenty of people will try to suppress you.

Don't get used to suffering grievances.

I don't want to see you suffer.

Thank you.

You should have something.

I asked Liu Baoquan to steam some rice cakes.

Is it nice?

Thank you.

Seems like the amount of silver bone charcoal is getting lesser.

That's right.

We had enough in the past month.

However, the amount was reduced by a lot after February.

Although winter is over,

it's unusually cold this spring.

I don't know

when the weather will get warmer.

Superintendent Su,

I'm afraid these aren't enough.

That's right.

There's a lot of cold medicine in the storeroom.

This way, we won't need to fear the cold.

I bought plenty of gingers too.

I'll make ginger soup for everyone

to ward off the cold.

And everything will be fine.

What?

You!

This is infuriating!

I'll report this to Madam!

What are you growing?

Bok choy.

Did Baoquan get you the seeds?

No.

There are rubbish carts and feces carts

moving in and out of the residence every day.

It's not difficult to hire them to smuggle some seeds.

Feces?

They're taking a risk to help us

because they're kind-hearted.

I didn't say anything.

You said something.

The mansion is sealed off.

How dare you still try to have fun?

Come to the study for a discussion now.

After the establishment of our secretariat,

some of our daily food and necessities

were delivered here every day

by shops under Young Lord's name.

We buy some of them on the streets too.

Now that we're under house arrest,

we can only wait for the Palace Affairs Department

to distribute the resources.

I'm sure you have witnessed

the situation yourselves.

That's why we're growing our own vegetables.

Actually, vegetables are...

You need some time

before the vegetables can be harvested.

I've asked the kitchen just now.

Luckily, they made some preserved vegetables before the end of the year.

That's right.

I kept some carrots and potherb mustard beforehand.

I think it can last the entire mansion for at least half a month.

But eating preserved vegetables alone...

Food is the least of our concerns.

The most tricky issue right now is

that the weather is still cold

and we don't have enough coals.

I've come up with a solution...

Your Lordship,

Li Wei,

besides handling

the affairs in the residence,

our current priority

is to come up with solutions

and solve the issue from its root.

Your Grace,

may we speak in private?

Superintendent Su, add some coals.

No.

This is all we have!

Enough.

It's getting warmer.

[Zhaoqian Hall]

As per His Lordship's order,

Fifth Young Lord, Yin Qi,

and Seventh Young Lord, Yin Yan,

can establish their own secretariats

and join the court.

I hope you two will continue to be filial,

maintain respect for your brothers,

and be honest people.

-Thank you, My Lord. -Thank you, My Lord.

[Changxin Gate]

This is great.

Zheng said I couldn't establish my own secretariat.

How wrong was he?

I'll show him when I get back.

This looks great.

Where's your carriage?

What about this?

You can join me.

I'll send you back.

That's unnecessary,

Qi.

I can walk back.

You can't walk too long.

The sky will be dark when you get home.

You're exaggerating things.

No, I'm not.

Come on.

Don't be so courteous.

Let's go.

Come on.

Let's go.

This is unexpected.

Both of us have established

our own secretariats in the blink of an eye.

Yan,

do you plan

to hold your inauguration banquet?

I haven't decided yet.

If I must say,

we have to be careful.

Father is letting us establish our secretariats right now

to maintain balance.

If we don't do a good job at our work,

I'm sure we will be grounded

just like Zheng.

Qi,

I woke up too early today.

I want to take a nap.

Go ahead.

You can take a nap.

It's fine. I'll wake you up when we're there.

Thank you, Qi.

Yan, do you argue with your wife usually?

No.

That's great.

All right.

You can continue.

I'll stop.

I guess I won't take a nap.

Is that so?

Let's have a chat, then.

Your wife looks like

a gentle person to me.

I'm sure she doesn't hit you usually.

You felt terrible

because both Qi and Yan had established their secretariats, right?

I dare not feel so.

Have a seat.

You can tell me what's on your mind.

Before this, Zheng had contributed to the court.

It's reasonable for him to establish his secretariat in advance

to better serve the court.

But Qi and Yan

have done nothing.

Why are they establishing their secretariats now?

As the Crown Young Lord,

My Lord only granted Song a secretariat because he excelled at his studies

and he had reached the appropriate age.

So, do you think

I'm being biased?

My Lord, you always doted on Madam Chun, the mother of Qi.

Everyone knows about that.

Yan was crippled since young.

Naturally, you pay extra attention to him.

Although Zheng is under house arrest now,

he will come out eventually.

He's a person who can achieve great things.

He will be a capable aide to Song'er.

However, it's not good for him

to be too prideful.

It's the same for everything.

Inequality rather than insufficiency

is the cause of all trouble.

♪The southern wind meets the dew♪

♪The moonlight is whispering to the red candle♪

♪There is nothing special♪

♪But why is my mind in a trance?♪

♪And why am I hesitating?♪

♪I'm afraid you might find out my feelings for you when you look into my eyes♪

♪I try hard to remain calm♪

♪But my heart is racing because of you♪

♪I try hard to hide my feelings♪

♪But where should I lay my eyes on?♪

♪No words are needed now♪

♪My feelings do not matter anymore♪

♪I turn those wonderful memories into a story♪

♪There's no need for words if the feeling is mutual♪

♪I got lost in my emotions♪

♪Love is nowhere to be found♪

♪There are no more distractions♪

♪I only wish we could enjoy three meals and four seasons together♪

♪The southern wind meets the dew♪

♪The moonlight is whispering to the red candle♪

♪There is nothing special♪

♪But why is my mind in a trance?♪

♪And why am I hesitating?♪

♪I'm afraid you might find out my feelings for you when you look into my eyes♪

♪I try hard to remain calm♪

♪But my heart is racing because of you♪

♪I try hard to hide my feelings♪

♪But where should I lay my eyes on?♪