The Legend of Hao Lan (Mou Qin / 皓镧传)

~ Moonrise by Lu Hu & Huang Yali ~

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!

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 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?

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.