Subtitles brought to you by The Scintillating Team @ Viki.com
~ Moonrise by Lu Hu & Huang Yali ~
♫ The moonlight shines brightly on the strings of the zither that night ♫
♫ You and I are teetering on the edge of loneliness ♫
♫ Softly reciting the bygone days we cannot return to ♫
♫ Also floating in the air is a kite with a string that has snapped ♫
♫ The yearning stirs my heartstrings that night ♫
♫ Love and hate whimper quietly and unrestrainedly ♫
♫ To meet or not to meet, both are similarly on the edge of pain ♫
♫ That umbrella that shielded me from the rain was badly damaged ♫
♫ At moonrise, I meet with you ♫
♫ At moonset, I could not see you anymore ♫
♫ At moonrise, I endlessly yearn for you ♫
♫ At moonset... at moonset... ♫
♫ A millennium passes by rapidly... ♫
The Legend of Hao Lan
Episode 57
You have indeed guessed correctly.
I was the only one kept in the dark.
I knew nothing about it at all.
You have probably guessed correctly too.
Except that you were nestled within the situation and it was difficult for you to see the whole picture.
I didn't guess it
That was because I refused to believe
that in Zichu's heart,
he could treat me as an outsider for the sake of his great undertaking for the Great Qin,
to conceal and to guard against.
Mother!
Your Majesty, since you are awake, why didn't you say anything?
I was afraid that he would get so angry
that she would give me a tight slap without regard for my frailty due to my illness.
Where did she go then?
I guess since she could not vent her anger on a hopelessly ill person,
she would naturally go and seek out someone who can let her vent her anger.
I feel likewise.
You all...you are too much!
Your Highness, why did you
invite me here today?
Lady Mi, whatever you've just told me,
repeat it to the Empress Dowager.
It was Dowager Empress. She did it!
Your Highness, you always have my respect, so how would I dare to offend you without any care?
It was distinctly Empress Dowager who did that!
From sending that zither music score to set up Your Highness, to the plague at the Southern Province.
In addition, there's also Your Highness' house arrest and deposing the crown prince,
it was Empress Dowager's scheme.
Yes. It's true that I have Chenjiao.
I have the selfish intent of a mother. But, if there was no Empress Dowager,
I wouldn't have been that bold!
How could I have been able to give orders to the Mi Clan?
Empress Dowager, what do you have to say?
Siluo, who was the one who placed His Majesty on house arrest? It was you.
Who was the one who stole the Tiger Seal? It was you.
Who was the one who went to the guards camp to coerce the First Lieutenant? It was also you.
You single-mindedly dream of being the empress dowager and have committed many mistakes.
Now, you want to evade your crimes and actually dare to pile them on me?
Could it be that you have not thought before that our astute Queen would not believe in your slander?
Empress Dowager, how could you deny this?
Could it be that you are thinking of pushing all the charges onto me?
It is likely that our Queen has already examined all the people in the Mi Clan.
Then, has there been any one among them who has confessed that it was me, the Empress Dowager?
A setup! That's a setup!
Your Highness, please believe me.
Don't you get it?
Once His Majesty abdicates his throne to Chenjiao,
before the new king could ascend to the throne, naturally, Empress Dowager would act as the regent.
Empress Dowager has already planned this.
Once the major event has happened, she would get rid of you.
So that she could imitate Empress Dowager Xuan and coerce the sovereign king to command the court ministers.
In so doing, she would be the real master of the Great Qin.
All the dirty deeds were left to you to handle.
When the plan fails, she will push the blame to you.
There's totally no relation to Huayang Palace.
How pitiful! There you are so happily self-satisfied and dreaming everyday of becoming the queen dowager.
Empress Dowager, what she said, are they true?
From the start,
you were already advocating to have me killed.
The Mi Clan insisted that you are the mastermind.
According to the Qin Code of Law, treason is a very serious crime punishable with the execution of three generations.
Empress Dowager would have already entered the royal household.
She was also not involved in the treasonous plot, and so her life would be spared.
As for you...
Your Highness! Your Highness!
I beg you, please spare me!
I'm not the mastermind. I really am not the mastermind!
I acknowledge my wrong. I shouldn't have been delusional.
I shouldn't have driven a wedge between you and His Majesty.
I wouldn't dare to do this again in future.
I have a son.
Chenjiao is still young. He can't be without his mother.
I'm begging you to spare me!
The assassin that crashed into my resting palace that night,
could he have given me a chance to live?
You ordered the physician to mix a component of gingko in His Majesty's medicine.
Did you ever have a moment of soft-heartedness?
Lady Mi, right now, the only way to consider our mutual dignity
is for you to end your own life.
No, I don't want to.
Attendant!
Lady Mi, choose one method.
Queen, do you know what I hate about you the most?
It's the way you look, as if you are superior to everyone else!
You were born in an influential family with well-mannered etiquette
and the demeanor of an aristocrat.
You've always been in situations of influence where water flows and a canal is built (conditions are right and success naturally follows).
But, as for me,
Do you know when you were learning how to read, play and paint,
as well as etiquette,
what was I doing?
I was begging for food in the streets.
After Lord Yangquan selected me,
I worked hard to climb up.
But no matter how hard I try, I cannot reach your level.
I played the zither, he said I didn't have the musical heart.
I painted,
he said my style was too onerous.
Even the plum sauce that I made myself, he had to fuss about it.
Yes, of course he would fuss.
The Eight Great Delicacies are the renowned cuisines of the imperial palace. How would I be able to prepare it?
But I can't accept this.
What for? What for?
Am I supposed to stay at the bottom my whole life?
The current Emperor of Great Qin,
was just a cast-away hostage prince living in Handan.
He couldn't even guarantee his life.
The powerful Prime Minister Lu was just a merchant then.
People of nobility can randomly trample and castigate.
Even the Queen Dowager Huayang right in front of you,
she once served at bid and call to help support her ill father.
And me, the person you hate the most,
at the lowest point of my life, I even slept in a hog sty.
No one will say you're wrong to want to change your fate.
But you lack sufficient perseverance and capability.
All you know is too look appealing and beg. You don't know anything else.
What should anyone regard you highly?
Don't show me this victorious look.
The King can love you so much.
But for keeping Qin's power,
he can do the same thing to neglect you, abandon you, even though you're his wife.
Because all the powers in the world
are held in their hands.
Let me tell you honestly.
His Majesty will not live.
He will not live.
Whether you are Queen or Queen Dowager,
when your husband die,
a regular woman can remarry,
But as for you, you all...
You can only keep the halo above your head,
and be a widow for the rest of your life.
Compared to that,
whose fate is better?
We may take separate pathways but will have the same ending.
Separate pathways to the same ending!
We are always someone else's wives.
We can never control our own fates.
When I think of power,
I don't want to have to beg for food in the streets anymore,
and having to kneel and bow to appease men.
But why?
Why?
Is it so hard?
You can betray me.
But you must remember your promise.
You must treat Chengjiao... with kindness.
Otherwise, even if I were to transform into a malicious spirit,
I would never let you rest peacefully for your entire life.
Queen, after all, I was the one that present her to the King.
Today, I personally sent her off.
I've completed the connection.
Queen Dowager was supposed to appear at court.
Why didn't you come?
I heard, before you set out,
you ordered servants to check the calendar.
You then ran into snake capturing on your way over.
Don't tell me, it's because you were born in the year of snake
that you thought it was unlucky, and decided to return?
Your Highness, without any evidence,
don't spew any nonsense.
I'm the Empress Dowager of Great Qin.
what reason do I have to participate in a rebellion?
The Mi clan has been uprooted.
Only you get to stay in one piece.
Don't covet Qin's authority anymore.
From this day on, all the services to you remain the same.
Empress Dowager, please go back to Huayang Palace and live till old age.
Your Highness, you are too unreasonable.
Empress Dowager.
Empress Dowager. If His Majesty wake up and see you crying,
he will be even sadder.
No, I won't cry.
When he wakes up in a while,
you're not allowed to tell him.
The king loves you so much, but...
for Qin's power, he will
neglect you, abandon you, even though you're his wife.
Where is the Queen?
Zichu is so ill, where is she?
Queen Dowager, the Queen has just been set free from her palace.
Perhaps she is still getting use to it.
Look at how Zichu has turned into? She is so mean.
Even if she feels aggrieved momentarily,
she shouldn't harbor her hatred for so long.
Zi Chu.
You are awake.
It's good that you are awake.
Mother.
Don't move.
If you have anything, just let them do it.
I want to issue a decree.
Give the wife of Prince Zixi a cup of poisonous wine.
Send her on her journey.
Yes.
Leave first.
Yes.
You can leave too.
Your Highness.
I want to speak alone with the wife of Prince Zixi.
Let me guess. In here, it's...
Poison?
Don't worry.
There are no poison in here.
And no sands either. It won't hurt your mouth.
If not today, it'll come soon enough.
My mother is right. Zichu is a ruthless person.
Even though I've loved him and cared for him,
he won't remember the past and will make me die.
Too bad I don't know how to read people. Neither do you.
Do you have any regrets?
Yes.
What are your regrets?
First, I regret that when I was choosing a groom back then,
I could not choose Lu Buwei. Neither could I choose Zichu.
These two people, one strives for power and the other strives for kingdom.
They could endure more than regular people, and could hate what regular people would not hate,
to reach their goals they would sacrifice anything.
The second regret is...
I regret when I was imprisoned in Handan,
clearly there was someone who wanted to marry me,
but why didn't I agree to marry?
Well said. That's really well said!
Finally, you are willing to tell the truth.
I always saw through your pretense.
I regretted too.
If I had known about today, why did I want Zichu?
Why didn't I listen to my mother and marry Chu's crown prince?
I would be the Queen of Chu now.
Come, this toast is for being smart now.
I'll toast to my mother.
Come.
Another cup.
A toast to Qionghua who viewed power and men as dung.
Qionghua.
You...
are an unlucky devil.
Just think of all the people you've met.
One diligently thirst for power.
and the other person,
schemes to hold onto his Qin kingdom.
Underneath, they are both cold-heated.
How much did you do better than I?
Even now, do you know who you really love?
Other than Zichu,
who else can it be?
After such a betrayal,
I don't see any anger on your face, but actually somewhat of a relief.
You can even drink for fun with your rival. Isn't it strange?
I'm drunk.
I should go back.
Wait.
What did you just say?
Of course I know who I really love now.
Who do you dream of every night?
Who do you care about the most in your heart?
Are you really clear about it?
Don't try to confuse me. Don't!
You always wanted to get Zichu.
But when you were with him,
were you really happy?
- No. - You keep losing weight, lost the luster of your looks.
Every time I saw you,
I thought you'd cry the next second.
Who's this for?
Princess.
You fell in love with Prince Zixi.
You fell in love with him a long time ago.
You are spouting nonsense.
You are spouting nonsense!
I didn't.
How could I possibly love him?
He's a dead person.
He's already dead.
After he died,
I dreamed of him every day.
I felt fear and happiness at the same time.
I was happy to see him again.
Why do you think it's turned out this way?
How could I possibly love him?
Dreaming of him every night, doesn't that prove how much you miss him?
I don't understand.
I don't understand at all.
When I saw young, mother forbade anyone to be close to me.
When I was seven years old, he killed my mother.
From then on, no one loves me.
Tell me. How can I understand?
How can I possibly know what love is.
Princess.
Your feelings for Zichu is the kind of love that you want but can't get.
Because of that, you can never tell what real love is.
I treated Zi Chu very well.
Is he angry with me?
That's why he doesn't want to show up in my dream again.
He doesn't want to see me again.
I haven't seen him for a long time.
Li Haolan.
Do you know?
Inside his embrace,
I could feel some peace.
But now? I can't sleep for the whole night.
Whenever I closed my eyes, I would see a huge spread of blood
coming to cover me up.
As if, it wanted to drown me.
And my chest felt like it was strapped in vines.
So tight that I couldn't breathe.
Tell me, what should I do?
Hug me, okay?
The dead is in the past.
The past can't be chased back.
Who can help you?
Don't leave. Li Haolan!
Please stay with me.
Just stay with me a bit.
Queen, the wife of Prince Zixi is so vicious.
Why do you want to save her?
In this world, there aren't many people who would address her as a princess.
Similarly, those who dare to address me by my name,
there aren't many left, either. This woman that lives in the past
is also my old friend.
I don't understand.
Let's go.
Help! There's fire!
Put out the fire immediately!
If you die, in less than three days,
I'll remarry.
Don't worry. I won't give you this chance.
You will be bind to me forever.
Even now, do you really know who you love?
Zixi!
Don't blame me anymore.
On the way to netherworld,
I'm going to find you.
Come! Get water!
Princess!
Your Highness, you can't go in!
Princess!
Quick, put out the fire!
You can't go there.
Quick.
- Someone! - Princess.
Send my decree.
Tell Lu Buwei and all the ministers come to the palace immediately.
Yes.
This way, please.
Lord, this way, please.
Your Majesty.
Please sit.
Your Majesty, do you remember how you succeeded the throne?
I would like to hear it from you.
When you were down and out,
I tried all sorts of ways to finally secure your life.
I risked tremendous dangers to visit Qin
to help you get Huayang's support,"
bribed all the people of Zhao with everything I had,
and delivered you back safely to Qin.
When you were fighting with Fan Ju's descendants,
it was also I who helped you again, and placed you on the throne.
I have never forgotten your contribution.
Otherwise, how else would have you gotten
your position as Prime Minister?
I went thousands of miles for your future.
I did everything for the sake of Qin.
Everything that you have given me,
I deserve to get it.
But what about what I lost?
You have said that you treat me as a best friend.
But how do you treat your best friend?
When I was running around to save your life,
you didn't hesitate to rob me of my lover,
I could only smile and let you keep her.
Zi Chu,
Emperor of Qin,
do you think you have been fair to me?
You clearly know that, everyone thought you had die then.
everything was beyond our control.
Other people couldn't help it,
but you, among the wolves that surrounded you,
a Prince of Qin who could stay unharmed,
You didn’t have another way?
Yes, you did. Of course you did.
But you chose to take from another's love.
All these years,
you kept pretending to be Haolan's protector.
You made her feel the gratitude toward you.
You can fool others, but not me.
Right from the beginning, we were not even.
Even if you were neglected and cast out, you were still a royal descendant of Qin.
A royal.
My help to you doesn't match that from your blood lineage.
Being a royal means
you can easily take away everything owned by someone else.
Don't put up the face of a merciful superior.
All this time, only you’ve owed me,
I've never owed you anything.
If you want to kill me,
just do it.
How dare you!
Leave.
Your Majesty!
Leave my sleeping quarter right now.
What's wrong? You are not killing me?
Kill you? So that historians will say I am ruthless and mistreat someone who helped me?
Your Majesty, aren't you afraid that
I would usurp your throne?
And ruin your grand plan for Qin?
It took you so much hardship to become the Prime Minister.
Ruining Qin is the same as ruining your whole life's work.
Would you like that?
Even more so, I trust Zheng'er.
My son will definitely not let Great Qin
fall into someone else's hand.
If you didn't take away my love, he would have been my son.
Lu Buwei, is there any more significance in saying this?
A ruler chooses his official, and an official chooses his ruler, too.
You yourself selected me
to be your tool toward success, and you yourself let go of your lover.
Now that it has come to this, who should we blame?
Ever since Qin was founded, all the forefathers
fought hard in fields and battles a step at a time,
to reach where we are today.
I am a descendant of Qin.
Of course I will also work diligently and fight resolutely
to realize the final goal to unite all countries under Qin.
To that end, I would even use everyone as pawns,
not just you,
and even my beloved Queen,
it was the same, right?
Now, I know I cannot hold on anymore,
so I've ordered to see you secretly.
Is this the time to nag old complants and vent frustrations?
No. I want to entrust the Crown Prince
and the court affairs
in your hands.
Entrust to me?
Yes, entrust to you.
Zheng'er is young and prone to rebellious.
Great Qin needs a wise and capable counsel.
You are the only choice.
You are entrusting the Crown Prince and court affairs,
but how about the Queen?
You don't know how much she loves me.
She doesn't have regard for you.
Your Majesty's heart is truly cruel.
This past month, you guarded against and neglected Haolan.
She is disappointed and hurt.
Do you really not trust her?
No, it's not.
Haolan is someone who cares about old friends.
She wouldn't forget her old lover.
And she wouldn't forget her past.
But you, you love her so much.
How would you allow
that she has anyone else in her heart?
What you feel the angriest about is that after you die,
she will return to me.
That's why you tried hard to distance her, neglect her,
to upset her, make her feel unfair.
You want her
to remember you as her most beloved.
Zichu, it's not enough to own Great Qin,
you want to completely own her heart.
How domineering you are!
You are right. I want her
to remember me as her most beloved.
To give, one must also receive.
Be it Haolan, Great Qin,
I want them both.
A pity that you wouldn't dare
you will have to let go.
My life isn't worth as much as yours,
but I'll live longer than you.
Zi Chu. Your Great Qin, your beloved one,
in whose hands will they end up?
After she dies, Haolan will only be buried with me.
Enough, stop wasting time.
Order Crown Prince and all the ministers to come in.
Her Highness is here.
Your Highness, please stop.
General Wang, I need to see His Majesty.
His Majesty is meeting with all the ministers. Please wait.
Haolan, did you meet His Majesty?
Your Highness, the King is giving the Crown Prince an important mission.
Zichu doesn't want to see me?
Get lost!
Your Highness, based on His Majesty's order,
you are not allowed to go in.
I'm going in to see His Majesty now!
Who dares to try stopping me?
Your Highness, please be reasonable.
We dare not hurt you, and we also don't want to disobey the King.
If you insist on barging in,
you'll have to kill us right here.
Her Highness wants to see her husband. What's wrong with that?
What are you trying to do?
Royal Father!
Your Highness!
Royal Father!
His Majesty has passed away!
- Your Majesty. - Your Majesty.
Royal Father.
Mother, Mother, His Majesty...
Royal Father.
In 247 BC, King Zhuangxiang of Qin passed away.
During his reign, he issued amnesty for prisoners, embellished outstanding ministers of the late king,
bestowed profound virtue to his blood relations, as well as declared benevolence to the people;
exterminated the Zhou State and attacked the Han State, that resulted in the Great Qin kingdom;
installed the Sanchuan Province, accepted the province to its east, established the Taiyuan and the Shangdang provinces.
Within three years, Great Qin kept advancing eastward to take over other states.
Crown Prince Zheng succeeded the throne.
He was titled Qin Shi Huang Di (aka First Emperor of China).
Haolan, Happy Birthday.
Queen, Eunuch Huan came over.
He wants all the clothes and things used by the King.
What does he want?
The King's will dictated to destroy all of it.
Your Highness.
Burn everything.
Your Highness, why burn these precious items?
Mother, these are precious jewelry given to you by Father.
Even the clothes and shoes you sewed for him. You want to burn it all?
Burn them.
- Mother! Mother! - Burn it all!
Mother!
What are you trying to do?!
When father died,
you didn't shed a single tear.
It's already led to gossip in the palace.
And now, you even want to burn the precious items he gave you.
Do you want everyone in the world to talk about you?
Subtitles brought to you by The Scintillating Team @ Viki.com
~ Immortalization by Gao Yu'er ~
♫ Where have the surging clouds and the rising winds gone? ♫
♫ Do not grieve over the separation because of being forced to move and wander ♫
♫ In this lifetime, we will keep on seeking because of love ♫
♫ It’s difficult to reminisce about the splendid times that slipped away ♫
♫ In retrospection with a faint smile, that beautiful countenance caused the city's downfall ♫
♫ And a sweeping upheaval all across the vast nation ♫
♫ In a dimming dream of an illusionary bright moon ♫
♫ We have given our promises to each other in this lifetime ♫
♫ In the complete decline of prosperity, watching the passing of thousands of sails ♫
♫ With affection, perhaps we could wait to be connected again ♫
♫ Like the zither and the harp that play in perfect harmony, let’s grasp each other's hand to stay together ♫
♫ Wishing for you and me to be immortalized with the wind... ♫
♫ In retrospection with a faint smile, that beautiful countenance caused the city's downfall ♫
♫ And a sweeping upheaval all across the vast nation ♫
♫ In a dimming dream of an illusionary bright moon ♫
♫ We have given our promises to each other in this lifetime ♫
♫ In the complete decline of prosperity, watching the passing of thousands of sails ♫
♫ With affection, perhaps we could wait to be connected again ♫
♫ Like the zither and the harp that play in perfect harmony, let’s grasp each other's hand to stay together ♫
♫ Wishing for you and me to be immortalized with the wind... ♫