01x12 - Episode 12

[bunniefuu]

♪Trapped in this tiny world♪

♪I'm crushed into dust♪

♪I meddle around without any mercy♪

♪I'm my own pawn♪

♪I sigh at my fate♪

♪Numerous people are under my control♪

♪All the sand is washed away♪

♪An old dream fades♪

♪A bumpy path lies ahead♪

♪Traps within traps, I never make mistakes♪

♪I take a risk at every step♪

♪Even in disputes, I break through with my life♪

♪Schemes within schemes, I prison myself♪

♪Each link swaps bluff and truth♪

♪The world is my Weiqi game board♪

♪Everything's just fleeting♪

♪The play begins♪

♪No return is expected♪

♪The flame is gone, whether we win or lose♪

♪The wind never ceases. I hold the reins♪

[Ashes To Crown]

[Adapted from Xixing's novel, Empress of the State of Chu]

[Episode 12]

[The First Year of Tianshu]

The late Emperor, Xiao Jing, and I were close from our youth.

I once believed

we would be lifelong friends.

Xiao Jing swore to become a wise ruler,

so I promised

to defend the state for him.

The Northern Desert gathered fifty thousand cavalry

and the commander of Yunzhong requested reinforcements.

I'll go.

What did you say?

Yunzhong is a vital frontier stronghold

that we cannot afford to lose.

But how can I send you

to the most dangerous place

just as I ascend the throne?

You need a victory all the more

as the new emperor.

Chu Ling is hereby appointed Guard General

to command the frontier troops

and shall proceed to Yunzhong Prefecture today.

That day,

he handed me the Sword of the Loong's Roar,

the symbol of power.

Yet even the sharpest blade

cannot sever what is destined.

In my very first battle upon entering Yunzhong,

I met her.

Greenhorn from the South,

do you dare to face me in battle?

General of the Northern Desert,

Alan Ruoying.

Later, I saw her

on a barren hill,

weeping for her fallen soldiers.

Only then did I realize

that the fierce Rakshasa of the Northern Desert

revealed a heart beyond slaughter.

General Chu, walking alone at night

without your guards?

Aren't you afraid I'll take your head to feed my w*r banner?

I did not come here

to argue with you.

I wanted

to talk to you.

What is there

for us to talk about?

Peace.

Peace?

I went alone to see her

and gave her the jade pendant my mother had left me,

engraved with the word "Peace".

After some hesitation,

she finally accepted it

and gave me a bone whistle

from the Northern Desert in return.

She said

she was willing to risk everything to try.

However, her efforts to plead peace with the jade pendant

only led to the Northern Desert King

ordering her execution in front of both armies.

I had no choice but to bring her back to the State of Chu.

I told her

that if the eagle of the desert loses its way,

let it be a flower still in bloom.

From then on,

there was no longer Alan Ruoying,

only my wife,

Mu Mianhong.

Then the imperial decree arrived from the Capital.

His Majesty

demanded that I break my own oath,

saying

that executing the mother while sparing the child

was for my future

and for the sake of my clan.

What are you doing?

I requested to guard Yunzhong Prefecture for the rest of my days.

Without an imperial decree,

I shall never cross into the Capital again.

At that moment, I finally understood

that even the sharpest sword

cannot pierce the calculations of an emperor.

Powerless,

I hid her away in Cangmu Stronghold,

under the guise

of suppressing bandits.

Deliver the victory report!

The bandit leader, Mu Mianhong,

leaped from the cliff

to her death!

To honor His Majesty's grace!

On the day you were born,

she whispered your name.

She said...

I hoped that by the time you grew up,

there would be no more wars

and

you would be able to see the sun rise

every day.

Like the rising morning sun,

you

should be named Chu Zhao.
[*"Zhao" literally means "morning sun"]

Zhao.

You must grow up without a care.

If anyone asks

about your mother,

tell them

she lives

in the Capital

and is skilled

in all the refined arts.

Although she cannot watch you grow up,

she loves you

more than anyone else.

Zhao.

This is the answer you wanted.

What nonsense are you talking about?

Where did you hear

such a story?

It is not exciting at all.

Do not tell it ever again.

I am not lying.

My mother was a noble lady from the Capital,

a well-bred daughter of a prominent house,

not some general from the Northern Desert.

My father said you are my mother.

Are you?

Father,

are all the stories you told me

about my mother over the years

lies?

My mother was born into a high-ranking family

and was skilled in all the refined arts.

From small seal script,

painting, to the guqin. Can you do any of that?

If you were my mother,

you'd know how to write in that script.

Show me.

Do it!

You cannot!

Your hands are fit for nothing

but wielding blades and spears.

You know nothing but k*lling!

Your hands are soaked in blood!

You are not my mother!

She is nothing like you!

Zhao.

Let her finish.

My mother...

had delicate brows

and skin like porcelain.

She is

the kindest mother in the world.

My mother...

even in death...

would never abandon me.

If she were still alive,

she would never deceive

me.

Do you think

you're worthy?

Zhao.

Did I say anything wrong?

Is this not

what you told me, Father?

My mother was a noble lady from the Capital

who died of illness.

You told me

every single bit of this.

Or have all of these been lies

you fabricated

over all these years?

What is real, exactly?

The mother you spoke of is fake,

and you hid your critical illness from me.

What in the world is real?

Enough!

You are right.

I am not your mother.

The General is too ill

to distinguish

between stories and reality.

Since my father

is talking nonsense,

take this worthless piece of junk

that nobody wants

and leave my house.

Why...

would you say that?

She is

not only your daughter,

but also the Grand Princess of the State of Chu.

Her mother

couldn't be from the Northern Desert.

And it should not be me.

Alan.

What right does she have to decide

how I should live my life?

Perhaps

she only wanted to keep you safe.

Safe?

For nineteen years,

I have spent every single day yearning for my mother

who I thought was dead.

Now I realize

the cruelest irony

isn't that I wept over an empty grave,

but that she chose

to cast me aside from the very beginning.

When someone truly does not care,

they do not even bother to lie.

When I was eight,

my mother sent me back to the Xie Family

with a promise

that she would return for me,

yet

she never did.

Are you trying to tell me

that their lies

were an act of love?

Lies come in many forms.

Some deceive to inflict pain,

while others hide the truth

to protect.

But I deserve the truth,

and I don't want

protection built on lies.

And I have no desire

to remain a fragile soul,

forever shielded from reality.

Nineteen years.

They kept me in the dark for nineteen years.

Now that the truth is out,

what do you plan to do?

Will you stay here

demanding answers,

or will you return

to your father,

who has so little time left?

Zhao,

trust is not

for debating right and wrong.

The General is fading away.

Do you really want to waste

these final moments placing blame?

But...

There are no buts.

You've missed nineteen years.

Do you really want

to let these last moments become another regret?

Uncle,

are you feeling any better?

It warms my heart to see you

so concerned for me, Yu.

I will be well again very soon.

Your Majesty,

Deng Yi has approved the frontier memorial

and has dispatched riders posthaste

to Yunzhong Prefecture.

Mr. Deng never fails to deliver.

Yu,

do you know the parable

of turning a man's own weapon

against him?

No matter.

I shall teach you.

You two,

to that position.

The two of you, guard that sector.

Stay alert.

I heard

the court has approved your rewards.

You'll soon be heading

to the frontier to take up your post.

I'll set out tomorrow.

Wonderful.

Whether your clan can restore its former glory

depends on the feats you accomplish.

This success

was merely a stroke of fortune.

Fortune?

We were disgraced and out of favor.

Promotion and reward were never certain.

Fortunately, a benefactor lent their support,

and given the shifting tides of the court,

it was finally approved.

A benefactor?

Anyone who helps

my family rise again

is a benefactor to me.

I heard

the reward list

was issued by the Grand Princess.

She is,

indeed, no ordinary woman.

Apply some ointment for that burn.

Father loves

to eat my jujube cake,

so I must finish making it.

It is hard to mix this filling with chopsticks.

Try using this instead.

You and the General loved each other

yet were forced apart.

Why refuse to admit it?

We did love each other.

But Zhao

cannot have a mother

from the Northern Desert,

just as Chu Ling

cannot have a wife

of such origin.

If you truly care for them,

ask no more of this.

May I ask you a question?

Have you ever had regrets?

About what?

Leaving her

and letting her believe she had no mother

and grow up burdened by that sorrow.

Some things

cannot be changed by regret alone.

But what about now?

She is inside,

shattered

and inconsolable.

Can you really bear to see her like this?

What can I do?

Should I acknowledge who I am

and force her to bear

the shame of enemy blood,

or should I strip her

of honor

and plunge her into infamy?

This hairpin was meant

for her coming of age.

I can see

that you truly cared for her,

so please give it to her.

Do not tell her it came from me.

Just say

that it is a gift

from you.

They are merely desperate fugitives,

so what is there to fear?

I only worry

that they harbor resentment over Wangcheng,

and refuse to cooperate

with us any longer.

Wangcheng?

What does that have

to do with us?

The slaughter of those remnants of the Northern Desert

was entirely Chu Zhao's doing, was it not?

Indeed, Your Highness.

Speaking of the Northern Desert,

I have another matter

to ask you about.

I told you

goods logged under the stables

must never bear

the Xiaonan Prefecture insignia again.

This is my transgression.

Those goods

were meant to take the northern official road.

I only thought a hidden mark

would make it easier to identify.

The fire at Wei Village five years ago

wasn't enough of a lesson for you.

How dare you put transport markings

on the goods again?

I'll handle it immediately.

Have you found

the boy from Wei Village

named Xiang?

Your Highness,

not yet.

Please check

on my father.

Please save him.

Hurry.

No need.

Zhao, stay.

I have a few words for you.

Father.

I am here.

Zhao.

Do not resent your mother.

Being born in the Northern Desert

was not her fault.

Trying to protect you

is no reason for you

to hate her either.

Back then, she had nowhere else to turn.

Leaving you

was the only way to keep you safe.

Your mother is a good woman.

And she loves you very much.

The fault is mine...

and the fault of these troubled times,

which robbed her of the chance

to watch you grow.

Alan,

come here.

Father.

Zhao,

I do not have much time left.

I ask for nothing more

than the chance to bid your mother

a proper farewell.

When we parted all those years ago...

we swore

we'd never meet again.

Now death draws near,

and truly,

we never shall.

They call me

the God of w*r,

but without the woman I loved,

I have been nothing more

than a hollow shell for nineteen years.

Alan.

Yes.

I'm here.

The Xie Family's crest?

Someone.

Yes.

Take this

to the Army Physician for examination.

Yes.

Your Highness,

I have examined this medicine.

It is refined from several deadly poisons.

For a short time,

it can accelerate the flow of qi and blood,

greatly enhance muscular and skeletal strength,

and even give the dying a final burst of vitality.

It bears a striking resemblance

to a strange deadly poison

recorded in ancient texts called the Bloodburn Pill.

When did my father take this medicine?

I remember on the Double Ninth Festival in the sixteenth year of Tianshu,

the General was struck by a poisoned arrow

and was on the brink of death.

He took a pill

that wasn't part of the army's supplies.

Wasn't it examined at the time?

It was an emergency

and there was no time.

And after he took it,

nothing seemed amiss.

So it was not investigated further

and was only briefly recorded in the files.

No wonder the General's health

has been declining.

This is not a life-saving medicine

but a death warrant.

After one takes it,

toxins accumulate within the body,

gradually eroding the heart in an irreversible way.

Ancient records state

that once this medicine is consumed,

a second pill must be taken three years later

in order to extend life by another three years.

If the follow-up pill is not taken in time,

the body will undergo rapid decline

beyond any possibility of recovery.

You just said

that wasn't part of the army's supplies.

Then where did it come from?

Speak.

It was given...

by Jiu.

In my past life,

when the Anping Rebellion broke out

on the eighth day of the eighth month, in the nineteenth year of Tianshu,

Jiu delivered me to Xiao Xun,

and rode straight back to Yunzhong Prefecture.

In other words,

if he provided the medicine,

Father would have taken the second pill

in time for the Double Ninth Festival,

granting him three more years.

Only to have the poison manifest in the third year of Anping.

But in this life,

in the nineteenth year of Tianshu,

the wedding was called off,

the Anping Rebellion came early,

and because of me,

Xie Yanlai was appointed Imperial Guard Commander,

detaining him long in the Capital,

making him miss the time to give Father the pill.

That is why Father succumbed to the poison.

Thus, the only one who could have given him the medicine

is Xie Yanlai.

Did you give this to my father?

Yes.

The Army Physician said

this is a drastic drug

that saves a life

only to end it later.

What did you say?

I'm asking you...

what your true intentions were

when you gave my father poison?

Yanlai,

this secret medicine, accessible

only to the direct lineage of the Xie clan,

has the efficacy to revive the dying.

Keep it with you

just in case.

The pills.

You lied to me.

Yes,

I gave the General the pills.

If you want revenge,

you can take my life right now.

Is this your only explanation?

Xie Yanlai,

do you honestly think

I won't k*ll you?

Do it.

♪Broken walls and withered branches, trapped in the mire♪

♪Yet still striving to reach for the sky♪

♪My pride is torn down and my body is sacrificed♪

♪The spark smolders in the crack♪

♪And roars in the blaze♪

♪Burning the cold night until daybreak♪

♪Fate imprisons me♪

♪But I won't beg the abyss for mercy♪

♪Even if hope is faint, I remain proud♪

♪A mayfly will cross the ocean, however long it takes♪

♪However it ends up, I'll go my own way♪

♪With no fear of the distance♪

Why?

♪With sword in hand, I'll pierce the dawn♪

You claimed you owed me.

♪My new pride♪

Now...

we are square.

♪Peril is everywhere in the palace♪

♪Yet I smile to nobody but you♪

♪Amidst the chaos♪

♪I'll always be with you♪

♪The spark smolders in the crack♪

♪And roars in the blaze♪

♪Burning the cold night until daybreak♪

♪Fate imprisons me♪

♪But I won't beg the abyss for mercy♪

♪Even if hope is faint, I remain proud♪

♪A mayfly will cross the ocean, however long it takes♪

♪However it ends up, I'll go my own way♪

♪With no fear of the distance♪

♪Born from decay, fireflies still burn♪

♪With sword in hand, I'll pierce the dawn♪

♪Let these scars all over me become♪

♪My new pride♪

♪Broken walls and withered branches, trapped in the mire♪

♪Yet still striving to reach for the sky♪

♪My pride is torn down and my body is sacrificed♪

♪The spark smolders in the crack♪

♪And roars in the blaze♪

♪Burning the cold night until daybreak♪

♪Fate imprisons me♪

♪But I won't beg the abyss for mercy♪

♪Even if hope is faint, I remain proud♪

♪A mayfly will cross the ocean, however long it takes♪

♪However it ends up, I'll go my own way♪

♪With no fear of the distance♪

♪Born from decay, fireflies still burn♪

♪With sword in hand, I'll pierce the dawn♪

♪Let these scars all over me become♪

♪My new pride♪

♪Peril is everywhere in the palace♪

♪Yet I smile to nobody but you♪

♪Amidst the chaos♪

♪I'll always be with you♪

♪The spark smolders in the crack♪

♪And roars in the blaze♪

♪Burning the cold night until daybreak♪

♪Fate imprisons me♪

♪But I won't beg the abyss for mercy♪

♪Even if hope is faint, I remain proud♪

♪A mayfly will cross the ocean, however long it takes♪

♪However it ends up, I'll go my own way♪

♪With no fear of the distance♪

♪Born from decay, fireflies still burn♪

♪With sword in hand, I'll pierce the dawn♪

♪Let these scars all over me become♪

♪My new pride♪