Dialogue from a Dramatic Scene

This is human excrement,

- and you sell it as food!

Brother Lu, Wuchang Kingdom lies ahead.

Look at how bustling these streets are,

it’s far more prosperous

- and peaceful than the rumors say.

We’ve trekked through wilderness for half a month.

Seeing any sign of habitation is a good thing.

Let’s enter the city and find an inn to rest at first,

- then have some hot food. Hmph, I’ve been so hungry

my chest is sticking to my back.

I hear the rules in this city are especially particular,

- so we can go broaden our horizons.

Honored guests, you’ve come a long way.

Our humble establishment has fresh river delicacies today,

and Heaven-class private seats on the third floor.

- This way, please. Innkeeper,

aren’t there empty tables on the first floor?

- Why go to all the trouble of climbing to the third floor?

Those in silk and jade sit amid the clouds.

Those in cloth, gnawing coarse fare, sit in the mud.

If guests of your stature squeezed onto the ground floor,

wouldn’t that ruin our establishment’s reputation?

- This way, please.

Wow! The decor up here

- is truly lavish.

- The food’s cold. Clear the dishes.

Wait, I haven’t even touched it.

- Why are you clearing it just after it was served?

Please don’t worry. At the Heaven-class tables on the third floor,

- what you eat is immortal aura delivered to your hand.

So all this untouched food

- just gets thrown away?

The cleared dishes each have their proper destinations,

- so none of it goes to waste.

- Hmm. Hey, Brother Lu, the man next door has eaten

at four tables,

- so why isn’t his stomach swollen at all?

We people of Wuchang Kingdom are born impermanent.

Food naturally leaks through us,

- so how could we ever get full?

So the food on the second floor is what’s left over

- after the third floor clears its dishes.

Cleared leftovers are fit only for mixed banquets.

The divine delicacies are all behind that door.

The governor-general by the east window uses steamed chicken and a red tag.

The prefect by the south window uses venison and a black tag.

- Charge according to the markings.

This pipe leads to the third floor’s waste holes.

This is human excrement.

You’re selling this as food!

- Don’t talk nonsense. The dignitaries on the third floor have pure constitutions.

This is called passage through. Having been warmed by a dignitary’s

immortal womb, it carries blessings and fortune.

Whichever official it comes from,

and however many gates it has passed through, all are strictly priced.

Anything that has passed through only one person is even worth a fortune

- and hard to obtain. Understand?

The more distinguished the official upstairs,

the more expensive the muck beneath him.

What the middlemen on the second floor eat isn’t food, but their power

and prospects, all

- chewed up and swallowed together.

Old Zhang, this is freshly ladled Warm Jade

Fragrant Soup, a pure first pass.

I spent 200 taels of silver to secure it.

- About the exit permit.

Excellent. Once I finish this bowl, tomorrow morning I

- will stamp it for you.

They’re insane. These

- people are all insane.

Yuanzhou, look under the chair.

- It seems we’re still far from the bottom.

Why don’t the things that fall from above, once they get here…

- Put it on the tab? Does the bottom floor even deserve credit?

Having rancid soup to keep us alive

- is heaven's greatest blessing.

The third-floor celestial banquet, Lord Inspector arrives with esteemed

guests for a feast. Add six lavish meat dishes.

The honored guests have eaten even more. Heaven has smiled upon us.

- May the honored guests live to be 100.

What are they thanking them for? They eat scraps.

- Why must they still be so grateful?

Son, hurry and kowtow. The lords are kindhearted.

Today, we can be given

- one more mouthful. Ma'am, this is

clean meat from outside the city.

- Let the child fill his stomach. Sir, spare me!

Take it away, take it away,

- take it away. Ma'am, this is clean meat.

It hasn't passed through a filthy belly.

- What are you afraid of?

It's precisely because it's clean that we can't eat it.

If we're found out, it's the grave crime of overstepping our rank. We'll be struck from the rolls.

If the whole family is struck from the rolls, we won't even get this mouthful

of murky soup

- to drink.

Good, you know your place. In Wuchang, people are divided by rank,

as are their stomachs. The third floor eats fresh food, the second gets gravy,

and the first eats scraps. If the rules of the three floors are disrupted,

- who will keep to their proper place?

What crime has the infant in her arms committed?

- Why must he drink this filth all his life?

Born on the first floor, one remains at the bottom for generations.

Don't even think of reaching your chopsticks into a third-floor dish.

By order of the sovereign, the rules of Dengxian Pavilion are strict.

High and low are one, and the three banquets shall not be disrupted.

The entire city shares in these blessings. A golden plaque is bestowed,

- “Blessings for Ten Thousand Generations.” Thank you for Your Majesty's boundless grace.

I shall ensure that generation after generation strictly upholds these

- three-tier rules. Blessings for ten thousand generations.

- Blessings for ten thousand generations.

Brother Lu, can the medicine in our medical chest

cure the illness of this

- city? Medicine can cure illness,

but it can't cure these man-eating rules.

The people of Wuchang

have empty stomachs,

but their hearts have long since rotted through.