A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES
ADAPTED FROM TIANXIA GUIYUAN'S NOVEL HUANG QUAN
EPISODE 12
This isn't Prince of Chu's birth details.
But this is too dangerous. You shouldn't be involved.
Zhu Yin.
She doesn’t have a choice.
She has accepted Prince of Zhao's hot potato.
If she turns it down now, she will be killed.
Headmaster Xin.
What are you doing, sneaking around in Zhu Yin's room?
Sneaking around? That's because we have a secret to hide.
Headmaster Xin.
If she can't turn Prince of Zhao down, why don't I do it instead?
No.
Absolutely not.
No.
In my opinion,
you're the face of House of Lanxiang.
You'll gain too much attention. You won't be able to do it.
Zhu Yin.
Why don't you go out and guard the door for us?
Please allow me to discuss this with Wei Zhi.
Don't worry.
I am well aware of the risk and benefit.
Sneaking around?
All right.
Let's sneak around.
Headmaster Xin, do you know what Prince of Zhao's plan is?
I do.
Does it have something to do with Prince of Chu?
Yes.
-Is it good or bad? -It's bad.
How can I help him?
Why should I tell you?
What are you doing?
I beg you to tell me.
How are you going to beg me?
All right.
In my opinion,
if you actually get it done for Prince of Zhao,
it will benefit Prince of Chu greatly.
-Really? -I have never lied to you.
EAST PALACE
-It's huge. -Yes, it is.
It's beautiful.
It's my first time here.
-Sir. -Sir.
-Give us a tour. -What is this?
-This-- -Tell us about it.
-That? -What is that for?
Sir.
-Show us around. -Yes.
-We can't go there. -Come on, sir.
Don't rush.
Uncle.
Are you going to distance yourself from me now?
You're all dismissed.
-Yes, sir. -Yes, sir.
Your Royal Highness.
I'm not mad. It just hurts me to see this.
He is your brother.
Why do you keep tormenting him?
What is your reason?
Uncle.
Brotherhood doesn't exist in a royal family.
I framed Ning Qiao back then.
Now, I'm going to poison Ning Yi.
Your Royal Highness.
Your Royal Highness, the three princes are waiting outside.
All right. You are dismissed.
Yes, Your Royal Highness.
Come, Uncle.
Accompany me to welcome my brothers.
Duke Chang.
Your Royal Highness.
I was being discourteous.
Please accept my apology.
Uncle, don't say that.
Drop the formalities.
Your Royal Highness, you truly are the Crown Prince.
This kind of pleasure is luxurious.
Move in a bit.
-Is it... -Like this.
-Let me help you. -Zhu Yin.
You are finally back. I was so anxious.
Zhu Yin.
I overheard that the Crown Prince is going to poison Ning Yi.
Let me drink this wine for you.
I will have the grapes.
I love grapes.
I've already heard that the girls from House of Lanxiang
truly adore you, Ning Yi.
It is a real eye-opener to witness it today.
Ning Yi.
You have always been popular
with the girls from House of Lanxiang, haven't you?
Really?
You conspired together to pull a prank on me, didn't you?
I don't know what is going on either.
I was told to think of ways to keep you from eating.
Did that newcomer come up with this idea?
It was Zhu Yin's instruction.
Zhu Yin?
The Chief Eunuch asked me to take over.
Your Royal Highness.
It is scorchingly hot out there, but it is breezy in here.
This is amazing.
Save the compliment. It's nothing remarkable, Ning Yi.
I have to study this trick. Perhaps I can use this in my residence.
Sure.
The trick itself isn't hard.
The difficult part
is finding this large amount of ice in this hot weather.
Your Royal Highness, only you can enjoy this kind of pleasure.
Your Royal Highness.
I specially asked the girls to perform this dance today.
Do you enjoy it?
I enjoy it profusely.
What exactly are you doing?
I'm trying to save your life.
Save my life?
Why?
You can't eat anything served at this feast.
The Crown Prince is trying to poison you.
Poison me?
The Crown Prince is going to poison me in his East Palace?
The Crown Prince is not as stupid as you.
Please stop causing trouble for me.
This wind will freeze me to death before the Crown Prince poisons me.
I want you to freeze to death.
Your Royal Highness.
This is such a great idea.
Therefore, I am going to learn from you.
I'll keep some ice in the cellar during this year's winter.
And when summer arrives next year,
we will get to escape the heat together.
All right.
Ning Yi.
What's wrong?
I'm all right.
Ning Yi, are you feeling ill?
So we shouldn't let him suffer for no reason.
I have prepared a big reward for him.
Your Royal Highness.
It's just an old wound.
Sorry for killing the mood.
Don't say that.
What's wrong, Your Royal Highness?
Why...
Why do I suddenly feel a bit nauseous too?
Your Royal Highness.
Are you feeling unwell as well?
Yes, the feeling of discomfort came out of the blue.
You must take care of your health.
It must be the weather.
It is too hot outside,
but it is cool inside the palace.
One second, it's hot and the next, it's cold.
You will easily catch a cold.
Ning Sheng has a point.
Your Royal Highness, that must be the reason why you felt ill.
Perhaps.
All right, stop fanning. You are all dismissed.
You too.
Are you feeling really sick?
I'm feeling better now.
Ning Yi.
It's very easy to catch a cold
in this hot weather.
You must rest and eat well.
Do you like the tea
that was delivered to your residence the other day?
If you do, I will send you more.
Your Royal Highness always saves the best for me.
Thank you.
We are brothers. There is no need to thank me.
Ning Yan.
Didn't you feel nauseated?
I...
No.
Not at all?
Not at all.
Thank you for asking, Your Royal Highness.
Ning Yan has a healthy body.
Your Majesty, it's not a serious problem.
You are simply deficient in qi and blood.
I will write you a prescription and order the physician to brew it.
You will recover soon, Your Majesty.
Please allow me to be dismissed.
Your Majesty.
How is Ning Yi doing?
Your Majesty.
Prince of Chu is attending a feast in East Palace.
I didn't receive any news regarding his health.
I believe he is fine.
The imperial doctor was apparently afraid to bring it up.
I'm getting old.
Your Majesty, don't be too concerned.
The imperial doctor told you
that it wasn't a serious problem.
You will recover very soon.
Your Majesty, please have some tea.
Duke Chang, if you're here to dissuade me,
don't waste your time.
It's getting late.
You are not young anymore.
You should go home and rest.
Duke Chang, what are you doing?
Your Royal Highness.
I am an official.
I'd like to discuss the principles of the Emperor and his servants.
I have a hunch that Your Royal Highness is trying to get rid of me.
I have devoted my life to serve in the palace.
Every second, I feel like I'm walking on thin ice.
But Your Royal Highness,
I am truly baffled by what you are doing now.
Your Royal Highness.
You haven't achieved success yet.
You are still surrounded by enemies.
And now, it seems like you are questioning my loyalty.
You hold a grudge against me, and you keep a vigilant eye on me.
Please allow me to be blunt.
Your Royal Highness, you have fallen into someone's trap.
My loyalty to you can be proven
by the sun and the moon.
I am merely an uncultured soldier.
How about this?
If Your Royal Highness is skeptical about my loyalty,
I am willing to die right here before you
to prove myself.
Uncle.
Please rise.
You are tormenting me.
Come on.
Your Royal Highness.
Will you believe me now?
Of course, Uncle.
You are the only person I can rely on.
Get up now.
Since you are being so frank with me, I won't reserve my thoughts either.
I was just a bit envious
that you were always defending Ning Yan and Ning Sheng.
So I threw a tantrum like a kid.
Your Royal Highness.
I defended them
because I wanted to help you keep your right and left-hand men.
I understand your intentions now.
I'm not going to take this medication then.
Hold on.
Under the current circumstances,
whether Ning Yan was forced or he had thought about it long before,
he has indeed developed an ambition he should never have.
There is no turning back now.
Your Royal Highness.
You have no choice
but to take the medication.
Uncle, don't worry.
Ning Yi almost passed out in the palace today.
I'm sure that the poison has begun to take effect.
Ning Yi will definitely die in a month.
This bowl of medication that I'm holding is not for harming Ning Yan.
It's to make him more loyal to me and your family.
When the time comes, Ning Yi will be dead due to an illness
and Ning Yan will be under my control.
You and I will rule the world.
The world belongs to you only.
We, the Chang family, only hope that our future generations
can live a secure and prosperous life.
Guards, call the imperial doctor.
RESIDENCE OF PRINCE OF CHU
Your Highness, I have thought it over.
I don't think the Crown Prince would lie about something like that.
-Let the imperial doctor examine you. -Kneel.
I have told you.
The Crown Prince isn't that stupid to poison me in his palace.
Even if he did intend to do that,
I couldn't even have a sip of water
because of you and the girls from House of Lanxiang.
How could he have poisoned me?
Why are you laughing?
Did you...
Tell me.
Did you make up this lie and trick the girls into doing this?
So you can torture and play pranks on me in revenge?
Well, if that's what you choose to think, it does sound reasonable.
Kneel.
You did lock me in Huxin Pavillion and held me captive in your residence.
We can call it even now.
Now that you brought it up,
our grudges are resolved, but what about those favors?
I saved your life and got your family out of prison.
How are you going
to repay my kindness?
The reason I'm staying at House of Lanxiang
is to repay my debt of gratitude to you.
I really heard the Crown Prince say,
"I framed Ning Qiao back then. Now, I'm going to poison Ning Yi."
One day, I'm going to make him admit
that he framed Ning Qiao in front of everyone.
Please forgive me, Your Highness.
I shouldn't have mentioned that.
Since you have,
I believe you now.
I will be careful.
You may rise.
But how did you manage
to overhear such a private conversation?
It was a coincidence.
A coincidence?
I'm now a servant in House of Lanxiang.
I went to East Palace with the girls, so I happened to overhear it.
A servant from House of Lanxiang
happened to catch a bird in the backyard for Prince of Zhao
and become acquainted with him.
Then,
he happened to sneak into East Palace with Zhu Yin
and overhear a confidential matter.
Feng Zhiwei.
Did you go to East Palace to bury the wooden figure for Ning Yan?
How did you know about the wooden figure?
Did Headmaster Xin tell you?
Was Headmaster Xin also involved?
Feng Zhiwei, you don't know how serious this matter is.
You must have been poisoned!
Get the imperial doctor.
Feng Zhiwei.
Do you know that you might get yourself killed?
Your Highness, please don't be upset.
I am not as stupid as you think.
You...
How could you still laugh
when you might get yourself killed?
Your Majesty.
East Palace
summoned the imperial doctor last night.
Has Ning Chuan fallen sick as well?
Yes.
The imperial doctor said
that it happened out of the blue.
Summon the imperial doctor.
Yes, Your Majesty.
Your Highness, you don't show symptoms of being poisoned.
But if the Crown Prince intends to poison you,
you must be careful.
And your pulses show
that you are deficient in both qi and blood.
It is indeed quite strange.
We eat all kinds of things.
It's normal to catch some illnesses.
Hold on.
Don't worry, Ziyan.
Let's focus on how to redress the injustice for Ning Qiao.
Although that's important, your safety is even more important.
I have told you, Ziyan. There is no need to worry.
Rumor has it
that the Crown Prince is making a big fuss about his illness.
I even heard
that he summoned the imperial doctor in the middle of the night.
It seems like he is running out of patience.
Having earned his title improperly, the Crown Prince is getting more anxious.
If he didn't have Chang Hai, the old fox, to back him up,
this plan would have failed.
Now we have successfully lured the Crown Prince into the trap,
and driven a wedge between him and Chang Hai.
We killed two birds with one stone.
That's great.
But things never go as planned.
Ning Yan made Feng Zhiwei sneak into East Palace.
Ziyan, you knew about this, didn't you?
Are you blaming me?
That's right.
I took the opportunity
and dropped a hint about burying the wooden figure to her.
But I saved her life by doing so.
Since you saved her once, why don't you save her again?
Your Highness, what do you have in mind?
She did something for Ning Yan, so he will get rid of her later.
She is in danger now.
I think
that she should find a shelter and hide for a while.
Qingming Academy is technically the Crown Prince's turf.
Feng Zhiwei ran a secret errand for Ning Yan.
Imagine what Ning Yan would think
if he saw Feng Zhiwei
in Qingming Academy one day.
We can protect Feng Zhiwei
and quickly sabotage Ning Yan and the Crown Prince's relationship.
It sure is a good idea.
But I have a hunch that we are actually looking for trouble.
Ziyan.
Feng Zhiwei, what are you doing here?
Is His Highness here?
I'm here to say goodbye to him.
Your Highness.
Let her in.
Your Highness.
Feng Zhiwei, where are you going?
House of Lanxiang, of course.
Or else, how can I repay your kindness?
-House of Lanxiang? -Yes.
You are only going to cause Zhu Yin trouble.
I have a suggestion.
Why don't you go to Qingming Academy?
Qingming--
Is someone else here?
There is no one else.
It's not a person.
I've kept a fox.
A fox? What kind of a fox?
Don't change the topic.
Will you go to Qingming Academy?
Well, Qingming Academy
-is indeed a good place to study. -Yes.
But Headmaster Xin
is a wife-fearing husband, who is also perverted and strange.
What did you say?
Come here and speak louder.
I said Headmaster Xin
is strange, perverted, and is afraid of his wife.
Is he?
Or do you actually want me
to go undercover and spy on Xin Ziyan?
How did you know that?
Didn't you say that you wanted to repay me?
Then, help me out.
Look carefully into Xin Ziyan for me.
Your Highness, I think that your fox has knocked something over.
Do you need to take a look?
Perhaps this fox doesn't like the smell of the raccoon.
It's upset with you.
Really?
Yes.
Your Highness.
Everyone thinks that you are isolated
after being away from the palace for eight years.
But based on my observation,
you've got eyes everywhere in the palace.
You don't need me, a commoner, to serve you.
Your Highness.
What is the real reason for wanting me to go there?
What do you think?
I told you that I buried the wooden figure for Prince of Zhao.
You were worried that I might get killed.
Now you're trying hard to persuade me to go to Qingming Academy.
I suppose you want me to go there to hide from Prince of Zhao
because you're concerned about my safety.
You're reading too much into it.
I'm sending you to Qingming Academy
to keep an eye on what goes on there.
Can you bear to see me get poisoned
by the Crown Prince one day?
Yes, I can.
How dare you? You have to go,
whether you like it or not.
All right.
Keep an eye on Xin Ziyan for me.
Your Royal Highness, I have asked the imperial doctor.
He said that His Royal Highness has a strange illness.
He's suffering from vomiting and diarrhea, but the cause is unknown.
Okay.
Great.
What should we do about that young man from House of Lanxiang?
Do you still need me to tell you?
The same as usual.
Yes, Your Highness. I will make him disappear quietly.
I heard at the meeting this morning that you had fallen ill.
I was worried sick.
Thank you for your concern.
I thought
that it was merely a headache.
But it seems like...
What did the imperial doctor say?
You are dismissed.
He couldn't figure out the cause.
What a useless doctor.
Your health and safety concern the entire nation.
You haven't achieved success yet.
You are still surrounded by enemies.
And now, it seems like you are questioning my loyalty.
Your Royal Highness, you have fallen into someone's trap.
You, Prince of Zhao, and Prince of Chu
have been entangled together in these incidents.
But nothing has happened to Prince of Yan.
It's like he is the fisherman...
Never mind.
I'm tired now.
Ning Sheng, you should go back.
Take care, Your Royal Highness.
I will leave now.
Your Royal Highness, you have fallen ill,
yet the imperial doctor hasn't figured out the cause yet.
I'm worried that people in the palace will start panicking.
What do you mean, Ning Sheng?
I'm thinking
that maybe I could help you manage
the menial matters in the palace.
This way,
Your Royal Highness can focus on recovering.
You and I truly have a strong brotherhood.
There is no doubt.
Compared to Ning Yi and Ning Yan,
we are much closer than just brothers.
Duke Chang is my uncle.
But unfortunately,
he is someone else's uncle as well.
Can I assume you are talking about Prince of Yan?
That's right.
You and I are more than just close.
My relationship with other brothers can't compare to ours.
Ning Sheng.
In fact, there is something
that I need your help with.
Your Royal Highness, do give me your order.
I will do my best for you.
I fell sick all of a sudden.
I find it very suspicious.
What do you mean, Your Royal Highness?
What I mean is,
I want you to get to the bottom of this matter.
Yes, Your Royal Highness.
Uncle.
It is exactly as you predicted.
You have remarkable insight.
I, Ning Sheng, am a concubine's son.
I've never had any improper thoughts about the position of the Crown Prince.
I only want to assist His Royal Highness.
If every generation of the Chang family thrives,
I'll also be able to live a prosperous life.
Uncle.
The sun and the moon can prove my loyalty to His Royal Highness.
Uncle, please help me.
Here.
Your Highness.
Don't worry, Your Highness.
I will look out for you.
Your Highness.
You gave me this treasure the other day.
I really like it.
So I thought, I must give you something in return.
Then,
His Majesty happened to reward me
with some medicine for nourishing qi and blood.
Please allow me to regift them to you.
Your Highness, please accept them.
Official Zhao, you didn't have to.
Your Highness.
You look kind of tired.
Looking at your complexion, I believe you are not feeling well.
I don't know why.
Lately, I get sleepy by noon.
And if I take a nap, I will have a hard time getting up.
Your Highness.
Do you have any other symptoms?
Other symptoms? What do you mean?
For example, you fall asleep peacefully,
but you have nightmares once you fall deeply asleep.
Or for example, you always wake up in a cold sweat.
Sleeping becomes as exhausting as hiking.
I don't have nightmares.
Official Zhao.
You described the symptoms in detail.
Is there someone you know who's also suffering from these symptoms?
No.
It's me.
I haven't been able to sleep well recently.
You see, I wake up immediately after falling asleep.
And after I wake up...
Official Zhao.
I am the servant
of His Majesty,
but I am also his son.
You must understand how we, his children, feel.
-Your Highness, bad news! -I understand.
That little raccoon...
Official Zhao.
I didn't know you were here. I'm sorry.
Don't worry about it.
Your Highness, you have diverse interests.
You have a raccoon as a pet.
It's quite mischievous.
Did it run away?
Your Highness, forgive me.
Your Highness.
I shouldn't interrupt your search for that little raccoon.
I should return to the palace.
Your Highness, I will see myself out.
Official Zhao.
Please take good care of His Majesty.
I will.
Don't worry, Your Highness.
Speaking of which, I don't know if I should say this.
Please go ahead.
Your Highness, not only are you the son of His Majesty,
but you are also his servant.
I hope you understand that.
I do.
Please allow me to be dismissed.
Your Highness, I will see myself out.
Take care.
Your Highness.
Are you two asking each other riddles?
My father is also ill.
Don't just stand there.
Go and look for her.
I'll go now.
Right away.
Father is ill.
And we share the same symptoms.
Your Royal Highness.
As you predicted, Duke Chang went to Prince of Yan's residence.
Did he?
He really did.
My uncle has always liked to profit from both sides at the same time.
He doesn't want to give up on anyone other than Ning Yi.
All right, then.
Right.
If that is his choice,
then don't blame me for being heartless.
Your Royal Highness, in my opinion,
perhaps he went there to plan something for the long haul.
He is a man of vision after all.
Unlike me, I am short-sighted.
I only know how to follow and carry out your orders.
But from my perspective,
you, Chief Gu, are the one
who possesses the vision.
Listen to me. I am the Crown Prince after all.
Subtitle translation by Judy Lu