Original subtitles

The underworld.

Science.

Punch and kick.

The truth.

A great swimmer.

Forensics.

Sorceress.

Reporter.

Weak body.

Special detective.

Mother.

Secretary of municipal government.

An individual with unsurpassed and exceptional abilities.

Young Master.

Belongs to the Great God.

The heiress.

Neither a smoker nor a drunkard.

What is the use of having power and money?

Can't stand the sight of you.

Not bad. Reasonable and fair.

Take a bath.

Are you kidding me?

Not finicky.

There are clues.

Germany.

Spirit channeling.

Big news.

Chamber of Commerce for Water Transportation.

Master.

De-you!

Father.

Not messing things up. Not afraid of things.

Inference.

Evidence.

Childhood sweetheart.

The people of Tientsin.

Mao Ding.

De-you Guo.

-River God. -River God.

-River God. -River God.

EPISODE 3

With grains sprinkling towards four directions

Please return to your hometown soon

There will be the Empyrean Fairy

Young boys to greet your soul

Da-hai Luo, come home

Da-hai Luo

Come home

De-you!

Carry on with whatever you were doing.

How did you know I was here?

I wouldn’t have come if I knew you were here.

What? What did you say?

Where is your mom? Is she getting drunk again?

She wouldn't come to a place like this even if she is sober.

A man of this family has been gone for a long time.

His family think he's dead so they asked me to invoke his soul.

-That's some serious business. -Yes.

Make sure you do a good job.

-Okay? -Right. De-you.

When I'm done with it,

let me take you to Dengyinglou to have some braised pork hock.

Forget about it. I have to pay for it every time.

I'm going to get my paycheck soon.

It’s true.

I don’t believe it.

Hey!

De-you Guo! Come back!

De-you Guo!

Sorceress.

I think you're calling the wrong name.

-No. -Who is De-you Guo then?

Ying.

-Come with me. -I haven't...

Let’s go eat braised pork hock.

This is not okay.

Lower your waist a little.

Take smaller steps.

Show weariness in your eyes.

You should look slightly nervous, with a hint of excitement.

Struggle.

Do you know what struggle is?

It’s a kind of grief that exudes itself from inside out

and then the other way around.

It’s like family separation or partings in life or death.

It's like having a freshly baked sweet potato.

It's still hot and you have it in your hand.

Just when you're about to eat it, you drop it on the floor

and it gets stepped on by others.

It's that kind of grief.

Goodness, you show it to me then.

You want me to act as if I've been violated

-so I can just stick out my belly. -What do you mean violated?

You're carrying a baby.

And your family member is about to bid goodbye to you.

But I only have

a piece of pancake in my belly.

You said you'd take me eat braised pork hock.

Can’t you be serious?

You've always wanted to tag along so I'll show you the black market today.

Do not embarrass me. Understood?

Why are you so hard on me?

Me?

I’m not a fair lady from a rich family.

I’m not even a girl of humble birth.

I am not beautiful. And I am not rich with gold or silver.

You can look down on me, but why did you violate me?

Violate?

Do you know how much I’ve suffered for just a moment of your pleasure?

The fetus in my belly is your own flesh!

But you want me to throw it away.

Why are you so ruthless?

That's enough.

I know you’ve got the hang of it,

but keep it down, okay?

Are you going to treat me like this later?

Take off your clothes.

Here?

Yes! Hurry up.

Didn’t you say we were just acting?

Why are we doing it for real?

I'm asking you to take off the robe and put this under your clothes.

What were you thinking?

-Will this work? -Look down when you're walking.

Don’t look around. Don’t talk to anyone.

Anyone doing business at the black market cannot be taken lightly.

-Are you sure about this, De-you? -Cut it out.

Can I ask you something?

Can I ask you something?

This is good stuff.

Look at the color. It has the best quality.

Let me check it out first.

The parentage is destined, but fails to fulfill one's wish.

The spirits lingered and the pain went away.

Follow the commandment and do good deeds

-to ascend to the Jade City. -Watch out. Your shoes will get dirty.

May I help you?

It's about human beings.

Anyone who comes to me

is either a Buddhist preacher or a troublemaker.

This young girl is still a virgin, but pretends to be pregnant.

I don’t want to get into trouble.

You two came to the wrong place. Please go now.

We are not here to cause you trouble, but to bring you money.

It's just that we have a lady in our household.

For convenience, she wanted us to inquire about it first.

If there are no issues, she’ll come to you herself.

Although I'm blind in one eye,

my other eye can still see clearly.

Honestly, we just want to have a look at your midwifery skills.

Who came to you to deliver a baby recently?

We're asking because we want to see if those people are okay.

If nothing goes wrong, we’ll just do what we are supposed to do.

The black market sees no daylight. The ones I've helped are poor.

I'm unsure of the identities of the victims’ family.

You can come if you trust me.

Otherwise, please look for other ways.

Hey.

Wait!

The River God leads, but the cause and effect are unclear.

Things can be big or small. I'll draw a paper talisman to judge the vibe.

It should be fine. I’m not going to disrupt your business.

If you don’t want to,

don't come running back to me when you are caught in a backflow of water

or a flood later on.

The water sprite reveals its feature.

Do you see what this is?

No.

A face.

Where is the face?

Look at it again carefully.

It's a face of a male infant.

It's so obvious. Can't you see it?

These are his eyes.

This is his nose

and his small mouth is wide open.

He is crying.

Yes. I see it.

A male infant was born here.

He has an ominous life and is allergic to water.

If he is left alone,

he will bring disaster to the soil and water

and evolve into a water spirit.

The time should be...

-Should be... -Right.

-A month ago. -Yes, exactly.

Please tell us something about it so that we can look for this evil baby.

As an underground midwife, I’ve pledged a fatal oath.

If I disclose the identity of a victim’s family,

I will die a sudden death on the street and will be denied reincarnation.

The fatal oath forbids you to tell, but it doesn’t forbid you to write.

I’ll give you this exorcism stone.

It will guarantee your safety.

We're not finished yet.

Look into these three businesses for me.

I haven’t gotten my money yet.

-What money? -The money for the exorcism stone.

How much is it?

-A silver dollar for a shabby stone? -What do you mean by "shabby stone"?

The stone has extraordinary powers.

Okay. It’s on Mao Ding.

How does this have anything to do with him?

We did all this to dig into his dad’s case, didn’t we?

Come in.

Don't take it the wrong way.

Master made me deliver dinner to you.

Thank you.

Stop pretending to be busy. Come and eat first.

I'm looking into the missing persons' data.

Have you found anything?

TIENTSIN POLICE STATION

Not yet.

How did you manage to catch this turtle?

-Do you want to know? -You are quite capable.

I'm flattered.

What’s being soaked in here?

It’s a human brain.

The whole thing was taken out and bottled.

What’s this then?

It’s a slug.

Its secretion can cure wound infection.

It has a huge clinical value.

That is a sample of pulmonary tuberculosis.

The one next to it is a heart.

No wonder such a young master

can live so comfortably in Yizhuang mortuary.

This room is scarier than Yizhuang.

Don’t you often fish out dead bodies? You should see these things pretty often.

I eat steamed stuffed buns every day and only the eat the stuffing once in a while.

I’m certainly not used to it.

Try this.

What’s this? Don't stuff in my mouth!

These are olives. They taste good.

Can you not mix and soak these things altogether?

What if you eat the wrong stuff?

It seems to me you didn’t really want to be Master’s disciple.

You came to bring us disasters.

Science is a precise subject.

I will never get it wrong.

Science?

Any progress on your dad’s case? Any leads on the dead child?

How about you?

Same as you. No clues.

You have a proper meal to eat here.

Don't eat these things that will spoil your palate.

What are you doing?

I've looked into all the missing persons reports,

but there were no children reported as missing.

Then I went to the hospital.

I found no birth record that matched the timeline.

Since we can’t find out whose child it is,

let’s look into the thief who tried to steal it.

This is the primary crime scene.

By looking at the size and depth of the footprints,

we are able to identify the thief’s height, weight,

even his age and character.

So did you find out who the thief was?

I figured it out!

He is from the Xue’s family.

-You figured it out? -Yes.

Two out of the three families the midwife mentioned are doing fine!

Only the Xue’s family is having a funeral.

Their child died?

-It's none of your business. -Go on.

The daughter of Xue’s family jumped into the river and died a few days ago.

But they kept it a secret.

They asked my mom to perform a religious ritual.

The outsiders didn’t even know about it.

MISSING PERSONS, YUAN-YUAN XUE

How old was Ms. Xue?

-She was said to be 19 years old. -It’s exactly a childbearing age.

You said there was no clue, didn’t you?

-Are you going to dig into it? -Yes.

The child was born in the south.

-Dig into it. -All right.

Hang on.

How are you going to investigate it?

Nothing else happened after they tried to steal the child's body.

They must be up to something.

Do you think they’ll let a policeman intervene?

What should I do then?

You can pretend to be Ms. Xue’s friend

who came to offer sympathy upon hearing the news.

Good idea! I'll be on my way then.

Master.

Cheap shot. What a cheap shot.

I learned it from you, didn't I?

Someone has to throw the stone to find the way.

He won't improve without running into setbacks.

What are you talking about?

What?

Both the mom and the son are dead.

The family is secretly having a funeral

and they went to Yizhuang to steal the child.

They must have some shady secrets.

As a rich and powerful family,

it is vital for men to have ambitions and for women to be pure.

The reason they concealed the matter

is because the woman failed to preserve her chastity.

Now, a young man shows up at their door and claims to be her friend.

What will her family members make of that?

A paramour!

Sir.

May I know your name?

I am Mao Fu.

-And you are? -Qing-yang Xue.

I'm Yuan-yuan’s dad.

Mr. Xue.

How did you meet my daughter?

I think it was about...

a year ago.

About a year or two ago.

I often went to Ligong Temple to paint.

She appreciated my paintings

and often asked me for advice.

We talked and became good friends.

How did you know

that my daughter had passed away?

We never announced it publicly.

Actually, it's like this.

I...

-I... -All right.

Since you’ve come,

please help me fulfill my wish.

Your wish?

This way, sir.

How is it?

Do the clothes fit?

Yes.

But...

Why do I have to change clothes

-to offer my condolence? -Can I ask you a question?

-Yes, please. -What is responsibility?

Responsibility?

It’s about doing the things that one should do

and completing one's given task.

I believe you are willing to shoulder responsibilities.

I'm flattered.

Can I ask you something?

Yes.

These don’t look like the clothes we normally wear.

A shroud is supposed to look like that.

There seems to be some misunderstanding. Why am I wearing a shroud?

There's no misunderstanding.

These are all necessary for burying one alive with the dead.

Burying alive?

You know what they say. Once a lover, always a lover.

Since you've fallen in love with her,

you should sacrifice your life to accompany her.

Just like what you said about bearing responsibility.

No!

Coming.

-Is your master at home? -No.

My mom performed the religious ritual for your family.

Little Sorceress?

Yesterday, my mom opened her heavenly eyes and looked around.

She saw your residence enveloped in a deep grievance.

Fearing the lady’s corpse might have changed, she asked me to take a look.

Come in, please.

This way.

Help!

What are you doing?

-Wait! -Hold him down.

He's a coward after all.

What the hell? Who let the outsiders in?

I am Sorceress Zhang’s daughter.

My mom said there was a problem with her ritual yesterday.

She asked me to check in on Ms. Xue’s corpse.

This is a domestic matter.

-I didn’t invite a sorceress today. -Master Ding!

Did you...

Goodness.

Let me go!

-Can you pay for it if it’s broken? -Master Ding.

I’m not blaming you.

There are so many brothels in Tientsin. You can go to whichever one you want.

You...

Why did you flirt with a fair lady from a rich family?

If the police hears about this,

how do you expect the Chamber of Commerce to settle the mess?

Wait. What did you say? Chamber of Commerce?

Chamber of Commerce for marine transportation. Don’t you know?

Marine transportation?

So he is the young master of the Chamber of Commerce,

Mao Ding.

He just returned from Germany. He still has that foreign vibe.

Goodness.

Master Ding of the Chamber of Commerce who just returned from overseas?

I sent a stack of papers to his residence once.

I’ve seen him. It's him, all right.

It’s a misunderstanding. Mr. Gui, help him stand up. Hurry.

Here's a small token. It represents my apology.

I’ve just lost my daughter.

I was overwhelmed with grief

and made such a big blunder.

I shouldn’t have done so.

I hope Master Ding can forgive me.

I don't think

this is necessary.

Please don't decline my offer.

My hasty actions gave Master Ding a fright.

It's only right for me to do this.

My daughter’s premature death is not a glorious thing.

I hope everyone

will keep what happened today to themselves.

Mr. Xue.

Are you trying to shut us up?

To tell you the truth, I’m here to investigate the case.

If you have something to say or something you shouldn’t say,

just say it once and for all.

Do you want to say it here

or tell it to the police?

Then please excuse me.

Please calm down, everyone.

Master Ding, please take a seat first.

I don't have a son.

She was my only daughter.

My wife had passed away, so I doted on my daughter even more.

We can be considered as a family of scholars.

I've always kept Yuan-yuan close and taught her myself,

worrying that something might happen to her if she goes out.

But last year, when I took Yuan-yuan to a temple fair,

we got separated amidst the crowd.

We did everything to look for her and reported her missing to the police.

But we never got any news on her.

Unexpectedly, one day after six months...

Sir.

Sir?

After much questioning, we got to know

that she met a man from a rich family.

That bastard played some tricks

and coaxed Yuan-yuan into eloping with him.

But Yuan-yuan missed home so much that she managed to escape

and came back home.

What about that man?

When I asked about that bastard, Yuan-yuan didn’t say a word.

At the time, I thought

Yuan-yuan was conceiving the Xue family's offspring after all

so I secretly found a midwife to deliver the child.

I wanted Yuan-yuan to raise the child in peace.

But to my surprise, when the child was just a month old,

Yuan-yuan ran away and took the child with her.

When she was found,

she was already floating in the river

and the child was nowhere to be seen.

That makes sense.

I just want to make sure of one thing.

How did Ms. Xue die?

If she jumped into the river with her child,

that would be a suicide.

If she unfortunately slipped and fell into the river,

that would be an accident.

But if she went out to meet that man

and ended up losing her and her child’s lives to that bastard,

that would be a murder case involving two lives.

How did you know the child is dead as well?

You have to see it to believe it.

My senior found the body.

Your senior?

Aren’t you the Little Sorceress’ assistant?

It's just a part-time job.

Actually, I am a member of the Wuhe Salvage Team.

A child's corpse is currently being kept at our Dragon King Temple.

The child is a month old judging by the size.

We didn’t find any other dead or abandoned babies recently.

That child

is your daughter’s.

All right.

I’ll send Mr. Gui

to Dragon King Temple tomorrow

to retrieve the body

and bury them together.

You can't bury them.

Ms. Xue’s cause of death is still unknown.

After my autopsy, I’ll definitely give you an explanation.

Master Ding.

Do I not have enough on my plate already?

In Tientsin City, cases are not investigated unless they are reported.

We didn’t report the case.

I don’t know whether your abrupt visit as an impostor of her acquaintance

is even legal or not.

Even the sorceress and the salvage team came uninvited.

Can't you show some sympathy to how I feel?

My heart is broken.

I will not see you guys out.

What are you doing here?

Can’t I just have a look?

Are you going to send the child away like this?

If not, do you want to be buried with the baby’s mom?

How did Yuan-yuan Xue and the child die? Besides, who tried to steal the child?

We haven’t figured it out yet.

They have a lot to do with my dad's death.

Once Yuan-yuan Xue and this child are buried,

all the clues will be buried with them.

Do you think it's right to talk about investigating his mom,

his grandfather and the whole family in front of the child?

Is your mouth even capable of saying good things?

The Xue family gave us instructions to prepare the child properly.

They’ll take it back tomorrow. Just do whatever you want to do.

Don’t disturb me while I’m working here.

You're giving me an instruction?

How much do you get paid for this job?

Wow.

You're not officially a disciple yet. Are you trying to steal my job?

This child was fished out together with my dad

and you got both of them out.

You should know better.

In order to find out how my dad died,

I must find out more about this child and the Xue family.

But now,

I don’t have a clue.

So,

I will hire you

to help me with the investigation.

I’ll give you

thirty silver dollars.

What kind of person do you think I am?

Fifty silver dollars.

Mr. Guo.

Oh.

Mr. Gui.

Thank you for the hard work of the salvage team.

We're just doing our job. You are welcome.

Is everything ready?

The child is in the inner sanctuary.

But there are some simple formalities to go through.

What formalities?

I bet you worked at Xue’s residence for many years.

About 40 years. Most of my life.

So you must have watched Ms. Xue grow up.

Her mom died during a difficult childbirth.

She was really close to me and my master.

I've always treated her as a god-daughter.

What kind of girl was she?

A naive girl.

My master kept a close watch on her.

That girl didn’t see much of the world.

She thought everybody in this world was as kind as her

and nobody had bad intentions.

Do you think

she died a peaceful death?

Mr. Guo.

I don't understand

what you mean.

As a good girl and a new mom,

was she willing to die?

My master asked no questions.

As a servant, what can I do?

Mr. Gui.

I work for the corpse salvage team.

Nobody knows about the things in the river better than I do.

Since Ms. Xue died in the river,

we can talk more about it if you like.

Maybe I can help out.

We cannot let her die in vain.

Yuan-yuan.

Yuan-yuan.

My goodness. Yuan-yuan.

Yuan-yuan.

-Sir. -Mr. Gui, have you seen Yuan-yuan?

-Isn’t she in the room with the child? -She’s not there.

-How about the child? -Not there either.

-Hurry up. -Yes.

-Be quick! -Let's go.

-Go, quickly! Quickly! -Make sure you find her.

I’ll be right there. I just need to get my jacket. My goodness.

We searched for the better part of the night,

but we couldn't find her.

When we came back to the residence...

Sir.

I got her out of the river.

Where is the child?

Are you saying

that you didn't see Yuan-yuan's corpse being salvaged from the water?

If there is a corpse in the river,

our corpse salvage team would be the first to know.

What are you trying to say?

It’s getting late.

-Please take the child back to its mom. -All right.

Why don't I help you, Mr. Gui?

There are many rules and I'm afraid

the servants might do something they shouldn't.

Don't worry about it.

Allow me to be a good guy and see it through to the end.

XUE RESIDENCE

Call for reinforcements

Listen to my command

Come and give me your assistance

You...

You gaze upon your fatherland

With a hand on the bridge

I, the sorceress

Live neither in the South nor North

I live neither in the water

Nor in the mountains

You want to know who I am?

I'm the reincarnation of the River Deity

The River Deity

Stop!

I'm trying to sleep here!

I can't help it.

My mom accepted a ritual and wanted me to handle it.

I have to touch the Buddha's foot for a blessing.

The Buddha is in the courtyard. Go on.

That's a Buddha's head, not its foot.

De-you!

Subtitle translation by Jay Wong