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Stop!

Respectable general,

where are you from?

You're not entitled to

ask where I am from.

We're escorting an important criminal.

We're entering the capital according to the imperial decree.

Please pardon me.

Please, general!

Shiyi's absolutely bold.

She acts as if the fake imperial decree

was just a real one.

Is Chief of State Finance in?

Yes.

I've brought some desserts from Jiangnan.

Your Highness, please.

You actually don't trust me

though we meet every day?

I can

take the box in.

Chief of State Finance already had dinner.

You wait outside for me.

Yes.

Chief of State Finance.

I wanted to bring you

some desserts from Jiangnan

but was unfortunately stopped outside.

Thanks for Your Highness' kind offer.

Don't mind.

I'll punish them

for you later.

Thanks for taking the trouble.

Chief of State Finance.

His Majesty is still worshipping the Buddha.

His Majesty likes to chant scriptures,

which is just like Empress Dowager.

I think I'm enjoying the honor

that no other eunuchs

have ever enjoyed.

I have my own living palace

with palace maids.

And you, a member of the imperial family

is chatting with me.

We discuss political affairs

around the state.

I'm sure that

you won't be Crown Prince anymore.

Look.

His Majesty is in the prime of his life,

and he will have his own sons.

So how could he possibly

make you Crown Prince?

But don't worry.

I will surely help you to

marry the lady from the Cui family.

Just count on me.

Thanks, Mr. Zhao.

I'll do it.

Don't take the trouble.

It's no trouble.

Royal Army of Nanchen is outside the city.

Help me.

Or you won't be alive.

Your Highness.

The guilty eunuch Zhao Teng has admitted his guilt

and committed suicide.

He's dead,

so who are you serving?

Just admit your guilt now.

Let's kill him and escape.

Who dares to do it?

Here's the royal token of Nanchen.

We aim to protect Beichen.

You'd better give yourselves in here,

or you will be dead.

Pardon me, Your Highness.

Find an adopted son of Zhao Teng.

Tell him that

Zhao Teng has suddenly caught a severe illness

and is dying.

Ask Liu Yuan to immediately come into the imperial palace

to watch Empress Dowager and comfort His Majesty.

Yes.

Do you know who I am?

I'm General-in-chief of the dynasty.

If you dare to kill me,

your families and relatives will be eliminated!

Who are you?

Who actually are you?

Who are you?

Who actually are you?

Tell me!

The court session is cancelled today.

All ministers,

you may go.

Cancelled?

What's happened?

All ministers are here.

Exactly.

Yes.

Isn't he Prince of Guangling's chamberlain?

What are we supposed to do?

Let's go out first.

Go.

What's going on?

Why is this happening?

Why was His Majesty absent from the court session?

There they are.

The court is in bad order now,

which is worrying us.

Counselor-in-chief.

Who are you?

You're Wenjun from the Cui family.

Good for you.

You rarely left Qinghe Commandery before,

so why are you in the capital today?

My elder brother is severely ill

and dying.

However, he didn't want to part with

His Majesty, his peer ministers

and Counselor-in-chief.

He decided to come back to the Residence of Cui in Central State,

and I came back with him.

So why are you here now?

I'd like to invite all of you

to the Residence of Cui

after you the court session is over.

Lord Cui.

Everybody, please be seated.

I've heard that

Zhao Teng is badly ill

and is dying.

I've also heard that

General-in-chief Liu Yuan went to see Empress Dowager.

He admitted that he had arrogated power in court

and killed loyal ministers.

At the time you arrived here,

the guilty minister Liu Yuan handed over his military power

and gave himself in.

Brother, refreshments are ready.

Have a taste.

These are specialties of Qinghe Commandery.

Counselor-in-chief,

didn't you hear of this?

You go in and out of the imperial palace every day,

so you should have known it earlier.

I heard of it before.

Liu Yuan kept maids and whores,

indiscriminately killed ministers

and turned common people into slaves.

I guess you've been tolerating that

and have waited for this result for long.

You're absolutely right.

I'm badly ill now,

I'm powerless though I hope to do something.

At such a time of turbulence,

please help His Majesty.

It's my duty.

I knew that

you would ground me

sooner or later.

Your Majesty.

The outcome is certain now.

You should be happy.

Why are you still praying?

From beginning to end,

I've always thought that we would win.

What worries me most is that

His Majesty doesn't trust him.

I worry that His Majesty thinks he has other purposes.

If that's true,

everything he does for His Majesty

will be a joke.

Why are you crying?

Did you kill Zhao Teng?

Zhao Teng

dies of illness.

What about Liu Yuan?

He confessed his guilt

and has been deprived of military power.

What I say

will be announced to the state

and recorded in history.

Well…

Will I be recorded

as dead today in history?

I'm afraid not.

You need to have several sons.

Otherwise, there will be more rebellions

if you don't have descendants.

I haven't brought weapons into the palace today,

just the wooden sword granted by Your Majesty.

I'm your uncle,

and you are more important

than the throne to me.

Uncle.

Your Highness, thanks for saving me.

I once said that

you never need to kneel down in front of me.

After being grounded by my disobedient son and eunuchs

for three years,

I've long lost my dignity as Empress Dowager.

Without you,

I wouldn't have been set free.

I was wrong.

I will not see you as my son anymore.

I believed in slanderous talks

and wanted to come into throne as soon as possible,

But then…

But then

I just couldn't break away from Zhao Teng.

I knew I was wrong earlier

and couldn't eat or sleep well every day.

However, I didn't dare to go against them

because I was afraid they would kill you.

I was wrong.

I really was wrong.

I was wrong.

I was wrong.

Mother.

Your Highness.

Have you thought of many things in the past?

The late emperor was just in his thirties

when he passed away,

but he died as an emperor anyway.

It's hard to come by that

we've made it without much trouble.

Exactly.

It's really hard to come by.

Then why is Shiyi going to cry?

Your Highness.

No one likes to joke about his disciple

as you do.

I can't stand seeing this.

I thought that

you must have been imprisoned by His Majesty.

His Majesty did order to

imprison me.

He ordered to

imprison me in the palace

for a period of time.

What will happen after this?

I'll go back to the Western State.

The Shiqian Palace is an emperor's living palace,

but why is it vacant?

The late emperor passed away here,

and His Majesty had his bedchamber moved to the Xianyang Palace

for fear of feeling sad.

I was brought up by the late emperor here

when I was young,

so I lived here too.

What are you looking at?

I'm looking at the place

where you lived in childhood.

They don't know us.

That sounds right.

During this rescue,

except a few people,

no one else knows that

Jr. Prince of Nanchen is back.

Therefore,

we need to hide our real names in the palace.

That sounds right.

So I can't call you “master”, right?

We would be exposed in that case.

That makes sense.

Zhou…

Your Highness.

Empress Dowager asks Your Highness to her living palace.

Go to the military counsellor.

After all, it's not my mansion.

Don't go around.

The lady is in the palace.

If Your Highness wants to meet her,

I will invite her here.

I'm feeling pitiful.

Pitiful?

For what?

If we want to eliminate uncle,

tonight will be the best time.

That he came to the capital to save the emperor

has been known by no one else

except several close ministers.

Therefore, Royal Army of Nanchen would not complain

even if he died here.

If we kill Liu Yuan and him tonight,

it will be a double kill.

Pitifully, His Majesty values kinship

more than the throne

and doesn't have the heart to kill uncle.

Change clothes for me.

Yes.

Are you seeing Miss Cui?

Princess.

No.

Actually, I'm going to thank uncle for

saving His Majesty.

Empress Dowager has invited him over

a moment ago.

Congratulations to Empress Dowager for getting the power back.

You think I ask you here

to kill you?

Guess

who is back in the palace?

I haven't been concerned about worldly affairs for long.

The guy from the Western State.

You're finally back.

In this living palace,

we're family

rather than an emperor and his ministers.

You will be my sister-in-law.

Sorry for visiting abruptly.

Sister-in-law, please don't worry.

I'm here to see him.

Are you Xie Chong,

military counsellor of

Jr. Prince of Nanchen?

Yes, Your Majesty.

Your Majesty, don't do that.

I can't receive this.

Yes. You can.

Rise.

Your Majesty.

You taught the late emperor

and support my uncle,

so I should bow to you.

I need to bow twice more.

You were engaged with the late emperor

but you didn't marry him at last,

so why did you do this?

After the late emperor died,

Empress Gao forced me to be a nun.

When she died later,

I wanted to leave the palace at first.

Then I heard that you made a severe promise

at the Taiji Palace that

you would never get married,

so I stayed here.

After all,

this was the place where we met.

Your Majesty don't come here

just to bow to me, right?

I'd like to ask about a person.

Have you ever heard of

a lady named Huaiyang?

Gao Huaiyang?

Yes. Her surname is Gao.

Your Majesty,

what do you want to know about her?

What's her relationship with uncle?

Your Majesty,

why do you think

she has anything to do with your uncle.

I asked you first.

I will tell you

after you answer my question.

Your Majesty,

she's a cousin of Empress Gao

and has lots of chances to come into the palace.

The late emperor saw her

and took a fancy to her soon.

However,

the one she wanted to marry

was your uncle.

Did my uncle like her?

I didn't dare to ask.

So she must be very sad

when uncle left after that.

Maybe.

All I've heard is that

Gao's clan forced her into the palace

so that she could serve the late emperor.

After all, it was always

to Gao's advantage

if they had

an adored concubine.

However, Empress Gao didn't want her to share the late emperor's love

and tried all means to stop that.

Finally, she couldn't marry the late emperor.

After the late emperor passed away,

I've never heard about her.

She has been in the palace as a nun with hair

until today.

She's still alive?

I thought that

I would see you sooner or later

if I stayed in the palace.

Did it have anything to do with me

when you left the palace back then?

No.

You like this place?

Master, you must have been tired

after seeing an old acquaintance.

Get in the palace and sleep.

Where are you going?

I'm going out of the palace.

The gate was closed earlier.

A powerful minister can go out

if he has important affairs.

Like you said,

a powerful minister can go out only if he has important affairs.

Do you think this place is like the Western State

where you can go anywhere?

I've sent someone to

inform the Residence of Cui,

so you may stay here tonight.

Your Majesty is here too.

Yes.

I almost fainted after crying today.

I just chatted with your military counsellor

and I'm back to myself now.

Why don't you

pay respect to His Majesty?

As a noble lady from the Cui family,

where are all your good manners?

He has been here for 2 hours.

He?

His Majesty.

I told her that

she didn't need to treat me as an emperor

in this living palace.

Please don't blame her.

Uncle, please be seated.

Sit down.

You eat.

Uncle.

You've done a deed of merit this time,

so what reward do you want?

I don't need that.

Jewelries?

A rank?

Or a land?

Or is it marriage?

I can't get married.

Even though you can't actually get married,

you can be with a lady

if you love each other.

His Majesty is wise.

A wedding is useless.

That you truly love each other

is the thing that matters.

I don't want you to be childless.

If you have a child,

you can bring him into the palace.

I'll personally bring him up.

No one would dare to say anything bad.

Your Majesty,

I'm not childless.

So,

I have brothers and sisters?

When did that happen?

There are ten orphans

and one disciple

in my mansion.

I'm contented.

My military counsellor is old.

I hope Your Majesty won't blame him.

It's OK.

Your Majesty!

How dare you!

I told you that

no one should come in.

Please don't be angry.

I heard a noise

and was afraid that Your Majesty was in danger.

They are my honored guests

in the living palace,

so how could I be in danger?

Get out!

Yes.

I have nobody to trust

except you.

Your military counsellor just told me that

Liu Yuan and you were close when you were younger.

Would you like to ask for leniency for him?

I can give him a way out.

Your Majesty,

please be fair and just.

I have only one request.

Go ahead.

Don't get my descendants involved.

If you're hungry,

you may ask someone outside the palace.

I'm not hungry.

I'm just not used to it

since this is my first time to sleep in the palace.

Master, are you worried about something?

Well.

You seem to be worried about something too tonight.

I'm young

without many past stories,

so I don't have the chance to be worried.

I found that you were not in the mood

as soon as you came back.

What's actually going on?

The wine I'm drinking

is called Sangluo.

It's usually granted to

meritorious officials.

My father once granted it to

a general who claimed to

drink lots of wine without getting drunk.

However, he was drunk for half a month

after drinking several liters of it.

The wine is strong

and I've drunk much tonight.

So if you have any worries,

just tell me.

I won't remember anything tomorrow.

Did His Majesty bring it here?

We buried it here before.

We buried it in many places in the palace.

Who buried it with you?

Several friends.

In childhood.

Was the person with you?

Yes.

He's really drunk

and tells me everything.

So will you take the person out of the palace this time?

The person has committed a severe crime,

and I have no reason to save him.

Your eyes are red.

I haven't slept well,

so my eyes are red.

Shiyi.

We've known each other for such a long time that

you can't cheat me.

The person knows you for a longer time.

Did my military counsellor tell you this?

When His Majesty was here,

they chatted about this

and I heard that.

His Majesty just asked me

whether I would ask for leniency for the person just now.

Why would you ask for leniency?

Because of the surname Gao?

Liu Yuan's surname is not Gao.

You…you've been talking about Liu Yuan?

Who else should I be talking about?

Let this go.

Go to bed early.

Master, where are you going?

There's curfew in the palace.

You could be taken as an assassin.

Why are you following me?

I'm afraid you would be in danger.

Why?

You've drunk a lot tonight.

Actually, I can drink a lot.

That's right.

What's right?

Mom once read me several lines

about you.

“Lying on the beach with numerous corpses after getting drunk,

he indulges himself in singing.”

I should have realized that

you can drink a lot.

The crazy things I did at a young age

was actually written down.

There were not enough soldiers back then

and we didn't know if we would survive,

so I could indulge myself.

Just put this on.

You put it on.

I'm not cold.

Come here.

Master, what are you digging for?

Wine.

I'll see an old friend in a while.

He buried the wine with me.

We promised to

get it out

and celebrate my victorious comeback.

Who are you?

Let me go!

Do you still want to be alive?

Do you hear me?

Let me go!

Aren't you afraid of getting your families and relatives killed?

Hurry up and let me go!

Who are you?

Tell me!

Who are you?

Who…who are you?

Who actually are you?

You!

That makes sense.

Only you will come to see me.

I've dug this jar of wine out

to meet you for the last time.

I should have

asked Empress Gao to

kill you back then.

Thanks for caring about me when we were young.

I cared about one who wants my life now.

Give me some wine.

My throat is soar.

Well.

You're the only one

that makes me concede defeat.

Do you have any unfulfilled wish?

I've been arrogating power in court for years

and I've enjoyed the dignity as an emperor.

I have no pities.

Is there any family member

you need me to take care of?

I have a son.

I'll have him escorted back to Pingcheng

so that he can escape this misfortune.