Highlight EP20: Li Shande finally brought litchi back to Chang’an from Lingnan! | The Litchi Road
Shande. Ping’an. Are you returning to Chang’an? I must personally conduct a transport trial. Today, I’ll move to the litchi orchard. Shande. Sit. I am busy. Sit here. Busy! Gou, get to work! Aye. What? Help me. With what? Help me transport someone. You don’t have to whisper. He’s one of us. Take whom? Amita. Amita? I told you before that I aim to topple the Right Chancellor. Now’s our chance. Amita is our crucial leverage. He Youguang is searching the city for her. If found, she’ll die. Take her to Chang’an, and she might stand a chance to survive. Isn’t Amita He Youguang’s adopted daughter? He wants to kill her? I said stop it! He’s one of us. It’s a long story. I’ll skip it. You still have to tell. Just summarize. Amita’s father was killed by He Youguang. He Youguang is Amita’s father’s killer. Amita was deceived, calling her foe “father”. Now the truth is out. Amita knows everything. She wants to go to Chang’an to see the Left Chancellor. If He Youguang falls, she’ll avenge her father. If this topples the Right Chancellor too, I’ll avenge my father. I don’t know if I made myself clear. So you both are seeking paternal vengeance? Paternal vengeance is painful! I’m not refusing. But toppling the Right Chancellor? We barely survive! No time for Amita. I’ve thought it through. Amita can be one of your riders. She rides superbly! Think about it: You have
transit documents. At checkpoints, just hide her. She will be your solution, never your problem. When are you leaving? The Chen hour, two days hence. From where? As I said, from the litchi orchard,
via the Mei Pass Circuit. Wait for her. Gou! Go! Gou! Mr. He, we found Tu! Let me go! Let’s go! – Help me! I’ll tell you the truth!
– None of you can leave! He sold 2,000… Shut up! Tell me! He sold 2,000 shares. I saw him going into the Whale-riding Tower with oil. It was he who burned Havoc to death! This lunatic is out of his mind. Do you really believe his words? If it’s really nonsense, why would you draw your sword? He Youguang, I have evidence against you. If you kill me, that evidence will be made public! Go public? I won’t kill him. You have evidence? That’s great! Make it public right now! He Youguang! What are you doing? Amita, you’ve been by my side
since you were 15. I’ve raised you for ten years. You should know how I’ve treated you all this time. I’ve stayed with you even longer than your own father has! Today, will you trust him or me? Make your choice. I was holding onto a glimmer of hope, hoping that the person Tu would accuse wasn’t you! But you went ahead and killed him! You shattered all my hopes. Ever since that dagger, you’ve been deceiving me. You’ve always been lying to me! My father was your sworn brother. Why did you have to kill him? If I’d really killed your father, why wouldn’t I have killed you too? Why’d I have raised you all this time? Were it just to wait for you to grow up and bring up these old grievances? Think about it. Use your brain! Who taught you how to behave in person? Who patiently taught you how to do business? Who made you the Leader of the Hu Merchants Guild? I’ve provided you with a life of luxury for ten years, and you’re still not satisfied? What more do you want? Why didn’t you just kill me back then? Now that I know the truth, I want you to pay for my father’s death! What did you say? How dare you talk to me like this? Pay for it? Are you going to kill me? You want to kill me? What do you think you are? This is the last warning. I can love you, and destroy you too. Go! He Youguang! He Youguang, today, it’s either you die or I die! Then you can go to hell! Kill her! Arrows! Shoot her! Everyone, shoot! Someone! Zhao. Mr. He? You’re injured! Are you alright? I’m fine. I’ve killed everyone outside. Mr. He, let me take you out. Listen to me, find out who rescued Amita. Tell Mr. Yang to kill everyone present
at the Guild today. No one can survive! Lock down the whole city. We must find Amita! Sure. It’s Mr. He’s order. Lock down the whole city. Secretly search for the Leader
of the Hu Merchants Guild, Amita! Aye! Ma’am. Is it serious? She’ll be fine. Who are you? People call me Consultant Konglang. We’ve never met. Why are you helping me? Can we make a deal? He Youguang killed your father. But you can’t defeat him alone. Now the whole city is hunting for you. You have nowhere to go except here. I can help you but in exchange, I want evidence of He Youguang’s crimes. Child, it’s alright now. It’s fine. Child. There, there. You can stay in this litchi orchard, or go with me to Dayu Mountains. You won’t be homeless. Child. I promised to take you
to the embroidery workshop. I won’t go back on my word. It’s all my fault. But for me, Tu wouldn’t have died. Uncle once told me this day would come sooner or later. He said he could escape for a moment, but not for a lifetime. Tu not only knew the shortcut at Dayu Mountains, but he also knew other secrets that brought him to his doom. That outcome is his fate. But before he died, I didn’t even get to see him for the last time. So we’ve worked hard for nothing. After all this time, we still can’t find the shortcut at Dayu Mountains. Mr. Li, I can ride to Dayu Mountains and search for the shortcut. Dayu Mountains is surrounded by cliffs on three sides, which block three directions. There’s only a narrow basin leading east that connects to Qianzhou. The roads are cramped, with towering mountains on either side blocking most of the sky. It looks tough at a glance, let alone finding a way. Then we just have to ride hard and take our chances, cutting down two days. The more anxious we are to hurry, the more we should slow down in a place like this. If we’re not careful, we’ll lose everything. If that’s the case, we’re out of options. What are you doing? This is a Dong people’s custom. When mourning, we draw the outline of our hometown’s mountains
on the ground, so our souls can find the way home. Tu. Ma’am, look! Have a look! Is this the shape of Dayu Mountains? It really is! This should be a shortcut. Tu has always wanted to go home. If there is no problem with this road, we can save two days then! Then we can start the trial! Great! We can start the trial! Yazhuang. Mr. Li. Mr. Li, time waits for no one. We found the shortcut at Dayu Mountains, but we need someone to run it to see if it’s passable. Right. So I think I’ll set off now to scout the way. Once I make it through, I’ll send you a pigeon post. Then I’ll head north, gathering all my comrades before you set out. That’s a good idea! This is what I wanted to talk about. Once I have news, I’ll set off to catch up with you. Bear in mind. After passing through Dayu Mountains, take Mei Pass Circuit to Chang’an and meet up with the litchi transport team. Don’t worry, Mr. Li. My comrades will wait at the appropriate courier stations. I’ll ride ahead to the closest courier station to Chang’an to cover the last stretch. You’ll return triumphantly with fresh litchis. Thank you! In this relay race, we must ensure
everything goes perfectly. If any expenses arise, I’ll have Elder Su set off early to send money to the money storage along the way for them to collect. Then I’ll go prepare the vouchers. I’ll set off now. Be careful on the road! You all, search here! Aye! Over there! Go stand in line! Mr. He, you must stay calm. Don’t get angry. Zhao. Mr. He. Have you found Amita yet? Not yet. Since when did it become so hard to catch a person in Lingnan? Mr. He, please calm down. The city is under lockdown. Amita can’t escape. It’s just a matter of time to catch her. Get out. Keep searching! Mr. He, there’s something I don’t know how to handle. Without Amita, the Hu merchants are causing chaos in the Hu Merchants Guild! I don’t care. I can’t deal with them right now. Mr. He, Lingnan… Hold on. Most of Lingnan’s taxes come from the ports. The Hu Merchants Guild can’t be without a leader for even a day. If word gets out, merchants won’t dare to come, and that won’t be good for us. Go on. I do have a solution that could work for everyone. Those Hu merchants complain about having no leader. We can find them an acting leader. That would also send a signal that Amita might not return. The next guild leader could be anyone. This way, we can downplay the impression of Amita’s disappearance and win over the support of those major Hu merchants. Merchants are all about profit. They all want to be the guild leader. By then, nobody will care about Li Shande’s transport thing. Do you mean the acting guild leader you propose is just a decoy? These Hu merchants will definitely take the bait. By then, Su Liang and Li Shande won’t be able to get their support again. Mr. He, you’re brilliant! So who do you plan to choose? The choice of this acting guild leader is indeed very important. First, he can’t have a foundation. With a foundation, he has confidence. He can still survive without us. Second, he can’t have any prestige. With prestige, he can turn an acting guild leader into a real one. Over time, he’ll follow in Amita’s footsteps. We need to choose someone without foundation or prestige, who is completely dependent on us. That’s the only way. You could just say we need a useless person. All in all, the most useless one is probably Xiao Yunchuan. Zhao, let me ask you a question. Why do you think so highly of Xiao Yunchuan? Mr. He, this is all for your good. Anyone who meets those requirements would do, even a nobody. He’s just a puppet for you to control the Guild. I’ll continue searching
at the city gate. Stop! Let’s do as you said. Aye. Ma’am. Ma’am. You don’t need to serve me anymore. You betrayed me, yet you took a stab for me. We’ll have nothing to do
with each other. Ma’am… Ma’am, I was just worried
you secretly meeting Tu would be discovered by Mr. He, and you’d fall out with him. After all, he’s your protector. He killed my father! Ma’am, at the time, I didn’t know your father’s death was related to Mr. He. At that time, I was all alone and helpless, having to sell myself to bury my mother. Mr. He bought me and arranged for my mother’s burial. Later, he sent me to be by your side and take care of you. He made me report every move you made back to him. I didn’t dare to go against Mr. He, nor hide anything from him. I was blind to treat you like my own sister.