Original subtitles

Be it the previous life or the current, just live to the fullest.

Never compromise yourself

to become someone else just to please others,

including me.

RETURN OF THE CLOUDS

Ms. Jiuyue.

Magistrate Xue is recovering well.

I left the prescription.

After some time,

Magistrate Xue will fully recover.

You've refused to see me during this time.

I finally get a chance to thank you today.

There's no need.

Xiao Heng has repaid this favor for you.

If you need my help in the future,

I will surely do my best.

If you really want to help me,

you should

cherish the person you have now.

Where's the bell I gave you?

Wen Ji is keeping it.

That's something I gave you.

You need to keep it yourself.

Why would I keep a lady's accessory?

I must not be in my right mind.

Why on earth did I give it to you?

Jiuyue, tell me honestly.

Do you

love Duke Su?

Why did you suddenly say that, my brother?

I heard you gave him the bell.

That was given to you by Mother.

She asked you to give it to the person you love.

If you want,

I can propose marriage to the Emperor of Great Yan.

My brother…

some things can't be forced.

If he really likes me,

he won't wait for you to propose it.

Quick! Clean the place!

Yes, Mrs. Shen.

Be careful with the vase. It's an antique.

Be careful!

Seriously. Work quickly.

-Yes, Mrs, Shen. -Hurry!

Mrs. Shen, this is the guest list for tonight.

BANQUET GUEST LIST

SCHOOL OF INTEGRITY: JIANG LI, LIU XU IMPERIAL ACADEMY: JIANG JINGRUI, ZHAO QI

I don't agree for her to come.

Her Highness will be able to come out soon.

I have a bad feeling about this.

Don't let Jiang Li come here. You can't make another mistake.

Sure. I won't let her come here.

You must be thirsty now.

I'll get you a cup of water.

You finally know how to be filial to me.

DELAYED FAREWELL

Mother.

You can go and do your work.

Yurong, where's Mother?

Why can't I find her anywhere?

Mother was busy the whole day

and caught a cold.

I gave her some medicine and she's asleep now.

I'll go and check on her.

Don't disturb her. She is fast asleep.

Get changed and welcome the guests with me.

I'll go dress up then.

SHEN RESIDENCE

Greetings, Mr. Shen.

-Greetings, Mr. Shen. -Greetings, Mr. Shen.

SHEN RESIDENCE

Mr. Shen.

Please come in.

SHEN RESIDENCE

All right, here.

Here, come on.

-Here. -Don't be shy.

-Here. -Here.

Mr. Shen, leading the alliance meeting between the two nations

has made His Majesty very happy.

Mr. Shen, you have a bright future ahead.

You'll know when the time comes.

Mr. Shen, you're highly favored by His Majesty now.

I hope you will help me in the future, Mr. Shen.

Mr. Shen, a toast to you.

-Here. -Here.

Here's a toast to you.

Come on. Let's drink.

A toast to you too.

Come on.

That's so nice of you.

Here, the loser will drink.

-You said it. -Fine. I'll drink.

-Why did I lose again? -Drink.

Here.

The moon is pretty tonight.

Outstanding.

Indeed.

Here. Let me offer you another toast.

So Li, starting today,

you don't have to fear anyone anymore.

-Who are you? Go away! -Dear!

-Let me go! -Dear!

Dear!

Mr. Shen, when will you stop following me?

Ms. Jiang Li, it's your first time here,

but you're quite familiar with this place.

If you want to enter, I can open the door for you.

Only a good place

makes people want to visit again.

Do you think I'd want to go into that place?

You're not pretending anymore?

I tried convincing myself to believe

that you are Jiang Li.

You can keep putting on an act and pretending.

I will also keep believing you.

There's no need for that now.

You are so honest.

Aren't you afraid that I'd expose your identity?

You've long known my identity.

If you want to,

you can expose me anytime.

But you didn't. Why?

Your mother

set up my affair, right?

You killed me

because your mother threatened you that she'd commit suicide?

I had no choice.

You always like putting all the blame

on other people.

-Xue Li. -Shen Yurong.

You are used

to being the clean and honest scholar.

You had no choice in everything you did. You did nothing wrong.

You are pitiful. Even you believe that.

So when you protected me from the sword that day

and said you love me,

it just made me feel disgusted.

Since you could mention your love,

why couldn't you express your guilt?

You protected my identity in the main hall.

You risked your life to save me before a sword.

You're still salvageable now.

Xue Li, I've let you down.

Both of us should take another path.

What path?

Go to the main hall and tell His Majesty everything.

Face His Majesty yourself

and tell him everything

you and Wanning did to the Xue family.

This is the only way for you to atone for your sins.

I know you still have a conscience.

This is the last chance I'm giving you.

You are being so honest with me

only because you want me to confess my crimes?

This is what you are supposed to do.

Shen Yurong, you're a well-educated man.

You should know that it's never too late to turn back.

Xue Li, I've already killed you

and it has made me regret it forever.

If my mother and sister die because of me too,

I can never atone for my sins.

You can do anything you want with me,

but I must

protect the Shen family.

So in your opinion,

the crimes of your mother and your sister

do not need to be atoned

and my innocence and grievance

do not need to be compensated.

Right?

I'm sorry.

Fine.

Shen Yurong, you don't want to choose this path.

I'm wrong about you again.

You can keep being obsessed.

Just wait until the day

I make you and Wanning pay for what you've done.

You will never win against Wanning.

Prince Cheng supports her.

I'm not like you.

You're a weak coward!

I'm reminding you.

That's not necessary.

Xue Li, listen to me.

Let go, Shen Yurong!

Let go!

Let go of me!

Let go of me, Shen Yurong!

Are you all right?

I'm fine.

You've been away for a long time, so I came to find you since I was worried.

I didn't expect him to dare to…

He's still breathing. He should be fine.

I'll go and find a physician.

Shijie,

stay out of this.

I'll deal with it.

Why?

I saw him act with bad intentions towards you just now.

He did act with bad intentions towards me.

That was why I knocked him out.

I was the one who did that.

Shen Yurong has Eldest Princess Wanning's support.

If Wanning holds a grudge against you because of this,

you and the Ye family will face huge trouble.

Listen to me. Wanning and I already have a beef.

This won't make a difference.

But how can I let you take the blame for me?

To be honest, I was about to hit him.

You just did what I wanted.

Moreover, if you are not involved in this,

you'll be able to help me from behind better.

But I can openly help you.

This is my personal grievance.

I know.

You don't know.

Have you been falsely accused?

Has your reputation been sullied?

Have you been locked up in a woodshed?

Have you been buried alive?

Do you also know

how many people died because of this?

Xue Fangfei.

I truly want to help you.

Since you know everything,

listen to me and leave.

Otherwise, you'll be causing me trouble.

I'm begging you, Ye Shijie.

Mother.

You can go and do your work.

Oh, no.

Yurong!

Here.

Yurong, where are you?

Yurong! Where are you?

Don't scare me!

What happened?

I don't know.

-Yurong! Where are you? -What's going on? What should we do?

-Mother. -Let's take a look.

-Let's go. -Let's take a look.

-Let's go. -Mother!

Yurong!

Yurong!

-Mother. -What's wrong?

Mr. Shen wanted to defile me.

-What? -That's…

Yurong! Let go of my son!

Return my son to me!

Yurong, come back! Yurong!

Return my son to me! Let him go!

Don't go!

Capture her!

She injured my son!

-Mother. -What are you doing?

Shen Yurong disrespected Jiang Li first.

He has been sent to the Court of Judicial Review.

If you keep this unreasonable act up,

he will never return.

You…

You…

Mother!

Mother!

Mother, wake up! Mother!

Mother!

SHEN RESIDENCE

Mother, wake up!

Mother.

Mother, wake up!

What's wrong, Mrs. Shen?

-Are you all right? -Mother, are you all right?

-Mrs. Shen. -Mrs. Shen.

JIANG RESIDENCE

Li'er, you must be shocked.

Grandmother,

are ugly rumors being spread out there?

Will it affect the Jiang family?

It's the child of the Jiang family who was mistreated.

After your father knew about this, he rushed back to the capital overnight.

Just rest and don't think about anything.

Leave it to your family.

We must not let you just suffer this great grievance.

Come on, get some rest.

How do you plan to deal with this?

Li'er is the Jiang family's eldest legitimate daughter.

Let's not talk about how the Jiang family

is going to seek justice for her first.

Let's just talk about

the Shen family daring to do this to the Jiang family.

This incident

is already known to everyone in the capital.

You've guarded your reputation your whole life,

but your reputation

is tarnished by the Shen family now.

Can you really let this go?

Li'er was abandoned at Zhennv Hall since she was little.

You haven't fulfilled your responsibility as a father all these years.

And since she came back last year, terrible things kept happening.

And you showed little consideration for her.

This time, you must think carefully.

Mother, you are right.

I was too suspicious back then.

I didn't know I hurt my relationship with my daughter.

This time, I must fulfill my responsibility as a father

and seek justice for my daughter.

Set up the table! I will write a complaint for Li'er personally.

It has been a while. You look quite haggard.

Thanks to you, Your Majesty,

I have really

learned a lot.

It's great that you understand my intentions.

You're not grounded starting today.

Remember not to be so willful in the future.

Speaking of which, something happened recently.

I was so busy

that I neglected you.

What troubles you, Your Majesty?

the Emperor of Great Zhao came here

to bring his long-lost sister home.

However, coincidentally,

his sister encountered an assassin.

That's outrageous.

Was the assassin captured?

He escaped.

So aggressive.

An assassin entered and left the capital as he wished.

So of course, I got furious.

It's bad when the Emperor gets angry.

So I abolished the Palace Security Office that hid the assassin.

The Palace Security Office?

Yes. I'm curious as well.

How could the Great Yan's Palace Security Office

pledged its loyalty to someone else in secret?

Wanning, help me think about this.

Is there someone

who doesn't want a friendly relationship between Great Zhao and us?

Our brother achieved military merits up north,

and Your Majesty is friendly with Great Zhao.

Stability in the north and south is a blessing for Great Yan.

Why would anyone try to destroy this?

You are right.

It is extremely foolish

for someone to cause trouble now.

The alliance ceremony is over. Everything is set in stone.

It's a shame you weren't present at the banquet

and missed the Jiang-Shen performance.

You said

Ms. Jiang Li is Shen Yurong's late wife.

Now that I think about it, it's lamentable.

Since Your Majesty said that,

how regrettable for me.

It's quite regretful indeed.

Shen Yurong's awaiting his sentence at the Court of Judicial Review.

His crime is attempted sexual assault on Ms. Jiang Li.

The performance at the banquet became their last one.

Mr. Shen dared to do something so filthy?

Yes. I'm quite surprised as well.

It's late.

You should go back to rest.

Thank you, Your Majesty.

-Let's go to the Court of Judicial Review. -Yes.

COURT OF JUDICIAL REVIEW

Shen Yurong,

is this what you mean by having a clear conscience?

To the point of wanting to be intimate with her?

Are you not afraid to die at all?

Raise your head.

Why are you laughing?

Kill me.

What do you mean?

You always like to look down at me from above like this.

You knew I was hiding evil and wickedness behind my clean and honest facade,

yet you still wanted to control me.

I'm sick of it now. Aren't you tired as well, Your Highness?

I killed my wife for my mother's and my sister's sake.

To gain power,

I tainted the reputation I obtained from studying hard.

I deserve to die.

Are you blaming me again?

I'm not blaming Your Highness. I'm not blaming anyone.

I just hope Your Highness can live well

and spare my mother and my sister.

As for myself, if Your Highness doesn't kill me,

you may wait until I'm sentenced.

Be it banishment,

execution,

or lifelong imprisonment.

I'll accept it.

What kind of crazy talk is this?

Do you want me to pity you?

To feel sorry for you?

To save you?

Your Highness doesn't need to save me.

You've toyed with me for so long. I'm sure you are tired of me now.

I'm not tired of you.

Have you accepted your fate?

Shen Yurong, in this world,

I'm the only one who can decide how you die.

The Imperial Court is nothing.

Your life is in my hands.

What do you want to do?

Naturally…

I'm going to save you.

You're still not resting so late at night?

Did you fly back from Great Zhao?

You came to find me at this time.

Aren't you afraid someone might see you?

Tea.

What is your next step?

Do you remember when I asked you

where in the capital

is Shen Yurong and the Eldest Princess?

I thought Shen Yurong would repent,

but I didn't expect him to insist on going down the wrong path.

Right now,

I want to use Shen Yurong as my pawn to find that location.

I want to expose their filthy relationship

to the public.

Do you think Wanning will save Shen Yurong?

If she doesn't save him, she will lose.

An arrogant person like Princess Wanning

will surely fall into this trap.

Do you think you are amazing?

What's with you?

Is sacrificing both your reputation

and his future

a win for you?

Xiao Heng,

I'm not as shallow as you imagined.

I wanted to give Shen Yurong another way out.

At the place where I was set up,

I wanted to see if his conscience still existed

and if he'd confess to his crimes.

I never expected him to still refuse me in the end.

At that moment, I figured I was wasting my energy

and prepared to give up,

but he wouldn't let me go,

so it made Ye Shijie misunderstand

and knock him out.

The Ye family is Jiang Li's family

and my family too.

I can't drag them down

because of me.

So I must admit to the crime of hitting him.

So he did attempt to disrespect you.

Otherwise, you'd be the one in prison today!

Yes.

You promised me twice not to get yourself involved in the scheme.

This is the second time you have broken your promise.

It was not my intention this time.

I was just forced by the circumstances.

Li,

what should I do with you?

No matter what,

I need to apologize to you.

You once told me

our methods will achieve the same result.

I know you must juggle your big responsibility to the nation,

as well as my safety.

Right now, I'm willing to walk into this scheme of yours.

I'm not a liability. I want to help you.

My lady, Wen Ji insisted on having me tell you

that once Duke Su knew what happened to you,

he rushed here from the border

and left the Great Zhao delegation behind.

I know.

He was still wearing the same outfit he wore when he left.

Your Highness, Prince Cheng asked me to send a message.

Shen Yurong's reputation is ruined now.

If you save him,

you might dirty your hands.

You should consider killing him soon

and making it look like a suicide out of guilt.

Just a little hiccup and he's panicking.

My brother is still so impatient.

Tell him to just focus on training his troops.

I'll manage things in the Imperial Court.

Yes.

Xue Fangfei, it's time for me to meet you.

How do you plan to deal with Shen Yurong?

GOVERN PEOPLE, SERVE THE HEAVENS

That depends on what the Jiang family wants.

The Jiang family won't forgive him.

That suits me.

I want to see how Wanning will react.

Ms. Jiang Li is a capable person.

Unfortunately, she is not a man.

Otherwise, she can contribute greatly to the Imperial Court.

Has Your Majesty considered

that she might be in danger if she keeps going down this path?

It was fine when you urged her to approach Shen Yurong,

but you even added fuel to the fire with Eldest Princess afterward.

Have you considered

that she might not be able to handle the Eldest Princess's counterattack?

She's just a pawn. Why are you getting so concerned?

She stopped being a pawn a long time ago.

Xiao Heng.

Have you fallen for her?

Yes.

I warned you not to get too involved.

Have you forgotten the kind of path we are walking on?

What if I say

I must sacrifice her

to achieve our ambition?

Does Your Majesty still remember your first Imperial Court session?

-Why isn't His Majesty here yet? -Yes.

He doesn't attend his first Imperial Court session.

Can he become a good emperor?

-Your Majesty! -Your Majesty!

Where are you, Your Majesty?

-Your Majesty! -He's not here.

Let's go and look for him over there.

Let's go.

They are all looking for you.

If I leave,

this bird will die.

It's your first Imperial Court session.

If you are absent, they'll be distraught.

Come on. Let me help you put it back on the tree.

I know.

They are not sincerely loyal to me.

And I can't navigate through all the plotting and trickery.

It's better to get someone who's capable of that to do it.

How do you know you can't do it if you don't try?

Tell me, what could Father have liked about me?

Perhaps the late emperor

saw your sincerity

and your love for every life in the world.

If you can always remember this kindness

and always be a good emperor,

I believe the heavens will bless a good emperor.

And I

will always be with you.

That's not really a moment I want to remember.

I know Your Majesty is under great pressure recently.

Prince Cheng is looking on covetously and Wanning is getting ready to strike.

Your Majesty shouldn't panic

and forget your initial intention.

No matter what happens, I'll always be by your side.

As long as you are still a good emperor,

the Xiao clan and I would swear our loyalty to you.

Protect your own pawn well.

In a few days,

the Court of Judicial Review will try Shen Yurong.

Are you sure you don't want me to admit that I knocked him out?

If the testimony changes, it'll only cause doubts.

The main thing in this case

is not who knocked Shen Yurong out,

but Shen Yurong's disrespectful act towards me.

But no matter how I think about it, it was because I was too impulsive.

You did it for my sake.

You were helping me.

I've long wanted to thank you.

Yesterday, I asked the Court of Judicial Review's Minister.

He said there is evidence and witnesses for this case.

No matter how capable Shen Yurong is,

he won't be able to silence everyone.

Since he doesn't want to become a good official,

let his reputation be destroyed.

Don't you think it's scary?

I'm not Jiang Li

and I'm not your cousin.

I'm a woman with a tarnished reputation.

I am Shen Yurong's dead wife.

I lived on using Jiang Li's identity.

Now, I even returned to the Jiang family to stir up trouble.

I don't think it's scary.

No matter who you are,

you helped me and the Ye family.

What we've been through during this time is real.

And after I truly understood what you went through,

I realized

that my knowledge of you was so shallow in the past.

So just do anything you want from now on.

Are you not going to ask me what I'm going to do?

I just want to tell you that no matter how far you go,

I'll always be on your side.

My lady, the Eldest Princess' Mansion sent you an invitation.

JIANG LI

Is she planning something with this invitation?

During the trial of Xue Huaiyuan's case,

the Eldest Princess gave Li'er a hard time.

Why would she invite Li'er to her mansion

at a time like this?

How did Li'er react?

She said she must go.

She said the Eldest Princess would not give up easily.

If she doesn't go this time,

the Eldest Princess will find a way to make her go another day.

She also said if the Eldest Princess really wants to harm her,

she would not have invited her with everyone knowing.

Since she has decided to go,

I will just go with her tomorrow.

I don't believe

the Eldest Princess is so unscrupulous

to the point of harming Li'er before me.

PRINCESS WANNING'S MANSION

Li'er,

don't be afraid. I'm here.

I'm sorry to trouble you to come here with me.

Ms. Jiang Li, this way, please.

Ms. Jiang Li,

Her Highness only invited you.

You asked her to come here,

but you didn't ask her to only come alone.

Chancellor, please don't give me a hard time.

It's all right, Father.

Just wait for me by the gate.

What can she do to me with you here?

I've long wanted to ask you to teach me how to play the guqin, Ms. Jiang Li.

Unfortunately, I've been grounded.

Since we have this opportunity today,

why don't you teach me a little?

I'm sure Your Highness didn't invite me

and leave my father outside

to compare notes about the guqin.

Finding a confidant in life is difficult.

I want to see

if I can play in perfect harmony

with you too, Ms. Jiang Li.

Your Highness flatters me.

I'm not worthy of becoming a confidant of yours.

From Your Highness's music, I can only hear dominance,

cruelty, heartlessness,

making me feel endless hatred.

I don't think so.

Isn't this the essence

of "Spring Fading into White Pear Blossoms"?

Didn't you also play your tune with hatred,

surprising everyone during the Annual Exam?

Your Highness, may I know why you have hatred?

As Great Yan's Eldest Princess, the people provide for you.

You have thousands of yards of silk as your clothes

and thousands of acres of land for your food.

Your Highness, isn't it pretentious for you to be talking about hatred?

Having good clothes and food provided by the people.

What do you know?

Should I go to Dai alone for the sake of Great Yan's safety

and live a difficult life in that extremely cold place?

So?

Just because you live a difficult life,

do other people have to suffer?

I was also murdered

and survived with my hatred,

but I never hurt innocent people

and killed people's wives and clans

because of my selfishness.

It seems like you know many things,

Ms. Jiang Li.

You know so much

and you fell into the hole I dug.

Should I just kill you as well

and destroy all evidence?

You can't kill me.

Are you that confident?

If you kill me, how can you save Shen Yurong?

Do you know why I want to save Shen Yurong?

Shen Yurong played up to you for glory and wealth.

If he knows that you won't save him,

he'll surely drag you down with him.

I'm not afraid of him dragging me down at all.

The whole Imperial Court can't pay me what they owe.

The person on the throne now

can't kill me no matter what.

Your Highness, don't you think you are too arrogant?

I'm just secure in the knowledge that I have backing.

Shen Yurong is the same.

He's secure in the knowledge of my backing.

I fancy him.

Your Highness, please stop.

Where is His Majesty?

His Majesty summoned a few Imperial Exam passers.

I'm afraid he's busy.

Fine.

Who is that man?

He is this year's top scorer, Shen Yurong.

His Majesty appointed him as a Hanlin Academy scholar

to be in charge of book compilation.

Mr. Shen,

why did you keep my handkerchief?

He was an interesting man back then.

Everyone avoided me or despised me in secret,

but he treated me fairly and politely.

Eldest Princess, please keep it well.

Since you picked up my handkerchief,

does it mean that there's some kind of fate

between us?

I am married.

I don't dare to do that.

Back then, he only wanted to become a good official.

He was pure and innocent,

which was very different from me.

He was too clean,

to the point that I could imagine

the kind of pure woman

who stands beside him.

I thought if I wasn't sent to Dai,

I might also marry a good man

and live a normal life like you.

I think there's no difference between you two and me.

If someone like me can't have such happiness,

why do you deserve it?

I hated how unfair fate was to me.

I wanted to drag Shen Yurong down into the quagmire,

so we could be together.

Is there still a point to this?

Is the murderer Shen Yurong

still the same as the young man who cherished your handkerchief?

As long as he is with me

-and you… -I've long stopped caring about him.

Both of you committed so many atrocities.

Now, you got your karma.

Wanning, you can't save him.

You also can't live the life you want.

Who says I can't save him?

Do you want to bribe everyone to change their testimonies?

I don't believe

you have control over the entire nation.

I'm not that capable indeed.

Saving Shen Yurong doesn't require that many people either.

I just need one person to change her testimony.

Won't the matter be settled if you tell the Court of Judicial Review

that it was a misunderstanding and you falsely accused Shen Yurong?

All right.

I'll say that when the time comes,

as you wish.

Farewell.

My father is still waiting for me at the gate.

What's the rush? You are already here.

Let me take you to see someone,

someone you know very well.