A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES
ADAPTED FROM TIANXIA GUIYUAN'S NOVEL HUANG QUAN
EPISODE 70
Come.
How about you play Go with me?
I'm not very good at it.
I would rather not play.
Didn't you say you would do whatever I want?
As long as you let Huofeng Gang go,
you can kill or quarter me.
Do whatever you want.
Then tell me,
which law of Tiansheng should I use to execute you?
Your Majesty,
which law of Tiansheng did Helian Zheng violate?
Didn't you kill him just the same?
Things aren't always what you think they are.
Why can't you let go of the past
-and move forward? -Move forward?
Your Majesty, how do you do it?
You're moving forward, ignoring the destruction behind you.
How do you do it?
Teach me, will you?
Do you know why you go against me?
Do you know what you are fighting against?
I don't want to fight you.
Tell me.
What will it take to let Huofeng Gang
and the subjects of Dacheng go?
Feng Zhiwei.
What do you have to negotiate with me?
The feelings I still have for you?
I won't kill you, or quarter you.
I want you in the Imperial Harem.
What do you think?
If humiliating me means you'll let them go,
I'll do as you say.
Wu Ying.
Feng Zhiwei,
although we have been arch enemies forever,
I want you to stay by my side.
Forever.
Fine.
Why?
You finally gave me a reason to not run away.
I don't need to think about
whether I should be with you or not.
Then why do you look so sad?
Do you resent me that much?
When will our empire disregard relations and status?
"Punish even the top officials, reward even the lowly."
That's the only way
to make Tiansheng strong
and keep it from being invaded.
Why did I only see this today?
Turns out there's a sliver of light in Your Highness' heart.
I've seen the light in your heart, Your Majesty.
I want everyone in Tiansheng to live freely,
each and every one of them.
They will enjoy peace and prosperity.
I also hope that every life under the sky
can live with respect and dignity.
I don't want just you,
I want your lifetimes.
Not only this lifetime,
but all of your lifetimes.
Your Majesty.
Will you let the subjects of Dacheng go?
I don't believe
that those people who want to live reclusive lives
will become the enemies of Tiansheng.
Your Majesty.
I also don't believe that Helian Zheng tried to kill me.
If you were me...
If you were me, ask yourself,
would you believe the Emperor's words?
Would you?
Three days.
In three days,
when we find out the truth,
will you be willing to...
Will you be willing to be my Empress,
let go of everything,
and persuade the subjects of Dacheng to bow to Tiansheng?
What do you think?
RESIDENCE OF PRINCE OF CHU
You're here.
I'm here.
A commoner, Feng Zhiwei, pays respect to Your Majesty.
-You may rise. -Thank you, Your Majesty.
I'm here now.
Can you tell me what you've discovered?
What is this?
Nanyi, why are you here?
I had to ask her something.
But...
Yueling is the daughter of Sanhu. She saved your life.
She is the woman I love.
You must trust her.
You two need to support each other.
Support...
This arrow was in her room.
This belonged to Helian Zheng.
He wasn't trying to kill me.
He did it on purpose.
He wanted you to see him try to kill me.
You only killed him
because you lost your temper.
Helian Zheng!
Who would've known that King of Jinshi
was such a sentimental man?
I will now
get revenge.
-Chief, His Majesty is here. -Protect him.
Yes, sir.
Helian Zheng!
Ning Yi!
You killed him.
Are you crazy?
You did this.
Why?
When Ning Shizheng attacked the capital,
you and I were still young.
We both lost our homes.
Yet, you had the protection of Qiu Mingying and Zong Chen.
You had a carefree life.
But I?
I wandered around, feeling lost.
I was sold to a brothel. I almost died trying to get out.
Feng Zhiwei, I should be the one to ask you.
Why?
Yueling.
We are always stopped by fate
when we try to run away from it.
Fate?
If you have nowhere to go,
I'll let you take my life today.
But whatever your plan is, please stop.
Don't kill those innocent people.
-Please. -Why would she
want to take your life?
What she wants
is for you and me to turn against each other.
To hate each other throughout our whole lives.
What she wants
is for the Tiansheng army
to go to war with the Dacheng subjects.
What she wants is bloodshed in the capital.
She wants the both of us
to never be able to go back
in this ghastly battlefield.
Feng Zhiwei.
I will never
let her get what she wants.
It's too late, Ning Yi.
It's already too late.
As the last member of Dacheng's Zhangsun family,
Gu Heng, Qiu Mingying, Feng Hao, Zong Chen, the Bloody Pagoda members...
How many people have died for you?
What have you done, Feng Zhiwei?
Right.
Yale as well.
Lady Wang.
Helian Zheng.
These people all died because of you.
And you!
The two of you
have so many people's blood on your hands.
I want to see
how you can be together.
One more thing,
I killed your father.
Do you really want to kill me now?
Your Majesty.
Let me kill this evil woman.
Come on, then!
Take her to the Ministry of Justice.
A trial will be held another day.
Yes, Your Majesty.
-Come on. -I don't care if I die!
I will curse you both everyday!
That's the truth
you wanted to hear.
There are so many truths in this world.
Are we really happier
when we know the truth?
Prince of Duan.
I want to drink alone. You may all leave.
Yes, Your Highness.
Ning Qi.
Why are you doing this?
Come back with me.
I'm sure I can convince the Emperor to forgive you.
The Emperor?
Who is the Emperor?
He's just a bastard who usurped the throne!
Ning Ji.
I know that you're a kind man.
You value your relationship with your brother.
But if you follow that despicable man,
you'll just be making things worse.
Father wanted to give me the throne.
Are you going to go against Father's last wish, Ning Ji?
Ning Qi.
Father also told me once that he wanted to make me Crown Prince.
All I want
is to fulfill Father's wish.
However,
as long as this imperial will exists,
Ning Yi cannot be a legitimate emperor.
I'll become a thorn in his flesh.
-He won't let me live. -Ning Qi.
What if he will?
Ning Ji,
if you help me
gather everyone together
and let Ning Yi explain everything,
including how Father passed away, how he gave him the throne...
Explain it to me, to everyone in the empire.
If he can persuade everyone,
I'll be willing to bow to him.
I don't care if I'm sent to the border or locked up in the capital.
I'll stay there for the rest of my life.
All right.
If that is what you want,
I believe that His Majesty will be able to explain everything.
RESIDENCE OF PRINCE OF CHU
Ning Yi.
You tricked everyone and usurped the throne.
I'll never bow to you.
Ning Qi.
I was only able to take the throne
because of you.
If you didn't work
with Huofeng Gang and Yueling to kill Father,
how would I become the Emperor?
Ning Yi!
You worked with Zhao Yuan to steal the throne.
How are you better than I am?
Better than you?
Ning Qi.
-Did you just admit you killed Father? -Nonsense!
I didn't kill Father!
How dare you accuse me?
Ning Qi.
You didn't kill me
because I'm still alive.
Tell everyone
I want Ning Yi to take the throne.
Announce immediately
that when I die,
the sixth prince will become the Emperor.
Father,
the imperial doctor just said
your heart and lungs weren't injured. You'll get better in no time.
I'm exhausted.
I'm sure that you will
do the right thing.
Your Highness.
I told Father everything.
Go beg for his forgiveness.
Who are you?
Who am I?
Are you really Father?
Then what is this?
Why?
Is this another one of your tricks?
When I wrote that imperial will,
I did want to give you the throne.
But...
Why did you give me hope?
Why did you destroy my future?
You always say that you do things according to the law.
Ning Yi killed my mother!
Shouldn't he be punished? Shouldn't he?
The person who killed your mother
is I, Xin Ziyan.
I had to avenge Erhua and my unborn child, whom you killed.
Child?
Child...
Father.
I'm bleeding.
Can you see?
Do you feel anything?
If you're going to be a poisonous thorn in Tiansheng's flesh,
I will get rid of you myself!
Father.
I'm your son.
You'll kill me for the sake of the empire?
Your ruthlessness killed my mother!
You're not my father!
You're not!
You...
You all want to harm me.
You all want to harm me and my mother.
Where are you, Mother?
-Mother, I want to go home. -Ning Qi.
-Mother! -Ning Qi, wake up!
-Wake up, Ning Qi! -They want to harm me!
-Ning Qi, stop it. -Mother...
-Mother. -Nobody's trying to harm you.
-Nobody will hurt you. -Mother, I'm so cold.
-Nobody's hurting you. -Take me back.
I'm so cold.
-Mother, take me back. -Ning Cheng.
-Yes, Your Majesty. -Take him to Zongzheng Temple.
Have the imperial doctor look at him.
-Yes, Your Majesty. -Please, Your Majesty.
Let me go to Zongzheng Temple as well.
Be it so.
Thank you, Your Majesty.
Mother.
Take me home, Mother.
Ziyan.
Your Majesty.
Your Majesty, I am a criminal.
Because of personal reasons,
I killed Lady Wang.
I violated the law to get revenge.
Please, Your Majesty,
punish me for my crime
according to Tiansheng's law.
Ziyan, stand up.
You still remember my vision.
I'm very glad.
"Regardless of connections, regardless of social status,
everything shall be determined by the law."
By doing so,
I can bring light to this world.
Ziyan.
So much has happened.
What hasn't changed?
Your Majesty.
"The mountains and rivers seem close,
yet the distance of a few steps seems far."
You've aged a lot.
-Wei Zhi. -My name is Feng Zhiwei.
Do you know how long I've been waiting for this moment?
I did kill Qiu Mingying and Feng Hao,
but I let you live.
So?
Are you going to kill me now?
I can't stop thinking about what happened in Fengyun Palace.
Why?
Why didn't you kill me that day?
Because you were the Ultimate Scholar I handpicked.
Do you remember the first time you came to Fengyun Palace to see me?
You said you didn't want to serve in the palace.
You only came
because I picked you.
Don't come near me.
You're the only female Royal Inspector I ever appointed.
You helped defend Minhai.
I made you who you are now.
That's the reason of what you did
and killed my mother and brother?
That was the choice of a ruler.
I was doubtful of your background.
I did have chances to kill you.
The best thing
I ever did in this lifetime
was to turn a commoner woman
into the Ultimate Scholar.
I didn't want to ruin that.
I know that you don't want me to call you Wei Zhi,
but that's a part of who you are!
It will be forever!
According to you,
I, Feng Zhiwei, have to thank you?
You believe your own lies when you tell enough of them.
-How dare you? -You didn't kill me
because you didn't dare to.
At that time, Ning Yi had control over the troops.
How would you let the life of this woman
threaten your power as the Emperor?
Stop lying to yourself.
Your relationship with your son, your love for Consort Yan...
Nothing matters when it comes to the throne.
For the throne, you would sacrifice anyone.
Your Majesty,
look at yourself.
You are a cruel, ruthless man.
That's why you can never have anything genuine.
I won't kill you.
You've lost the throne.
You have nothing.
I'd like to see how you grow old and die
in this palace.
Feng Zhiwei.
Is Ning Yi going to make you the Empress?
Then what?
Your identity will cause him to be loathed by the officials during his reign.
It will be manipulated by evil men.
In the end,
you will become like Yale and me. You'll hate each other.
And he will do what I did
for this empire, for the throne.
He will sacrifice anyone,
including you, Feng Zhiwei.
Do you think he's different from me?
One day, he will understand.
If he wants stability in his empire, he must be a heartless person.
Throughout history, all rulers have been alone.
Zhiwei.
-How did it go-- -Could you not ask?
I don't want to talk about that today.
Very well. I won't ask.
I have to thank Your Majesty for letting me understand everything.
If you understand everything now,
our agreement of three days is up.
Will you...
Will you fulfill our promise?
Would Your Majesty allow me to go home and prepare?
In three days,
you can send an envoy to bring me back here.
Three days?
Very well.
In three days, I'll go get you myself.
See you in three days.
You don't owe them anything.
Nanyi, you once told me
to protect those who are still here.
They are here.
We pay respect to Your Highness.
If you think of me as your ruler,
I will now give you my order.
You must recognize that Dacheng is no longer in power.
There is only Dacheng in our hearts.
All we want
is to die dreaming of Dacheng.
Please fulfill our wish, Your Highness.
Please, Princess of Dacheng.
You may rise.
Thank you, Your Highness.
Home is where the people are.
Therefore,
I hope that you will let go of your anger
and go with Yan Huaishi to Minhai.
That is where the people will be.
Will you settle down there?
We will do as the Princess says.
Thank you, Huaishi.
I came to the capital from Minhai
and I made a good friend here.
His name is Wei Zhi.
Now, I'm returning to Minhai.
I bring with me the promise I made to another friend, Feng Zhiwei.
Throughout my life...
To have someone trust me this much
makes my life worthwhile.
Get up now.
Get up.
"Those who sound the same sing together.
Those who think the same befriend each other."
I will always remember our friendship.
Take care.
Safe travel.
Nanyi.
Goodbye.
It doesn't matter
whether or not I owe them anything.
It's a big world.
They should be able to have a home.
Feng Zhiwei.
Are you really going to marry Ning Yi?
Why not?
Nanyi.
You should go to Minhai.
Wherever you go,
I'll go too.
I'll be here waiting for you.
Nanyi,
how did you get through those years
without family?
Before, I had Master Zong.
Now,
I have you.
From now on, wherever I am, it will be your home.
It's bitter! Liar!
You're silly.
I don't want to lose a family again.
You're here.
So I want to protect you.
That's all I want.
LEYANG
Halt!
Liulang.
Forgive me for lying to you.
You and I have caused the loss of too many lives.
I cannot live with that.
If we meet again in our next lifetime,
let's be ordinary people.
Feng Zhiwei.
I'm sure you've already arrived in the land beyond,
where you'll finally be free.
Yet I,
even though I'll live the rest of my life in pain,
I can't end it with a stroke of a sword
and follow you there.
That's because you and I still have unfulfilled wishes
here on earth.
I, Ning Yi,
have witnessed too much destruction
caused by the perpetual fight for power.
Therefore,
I will spend the rest of my life
making sure that tyranny does not rear its ugly head.
There will be no corruption,
bribery or negligence.
No innocents will be wronged.
Only then
will I be able to go meet you, Feng Zhiwei.
Subtitle translation by Sophie Chang