Sincere Intentions

That night, Prince Zhou was ecstatic. The light Xuan Miao had sent into his soul allowed him to enter anyone's dreams at will.

If only he weren't confined to Prince Zhou's Mansion, he would have loved to float to the capital and meet the young Emperor in a dream.

He was quite busy that night, though. After leaving Doctor Zhang's dream and confirming that he had agreed to go to the capital first thing in the morning to plead his case, he went to see the Princess Consort.

Prince Zhou was an equal opportunity visitor, not only gracing the Princess Consort's dream but also not neglecting his six wives, let alone the three Zhu Zijin brothers.

The three brothers were observing mourning. Even though they were exhausted, they were only half-asleep, their heads nodding. He thought he wouldn't be able to enter their dreams, but as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he entered all three of their dreams simultaneously.

Prince Zhou was astonished.

Those who dreamed of Prince Zhou and two other brothers at the same time were also astonished.

After their surprise, the four of them embraced and wept in the dream.

No one knew what Prince Zhou talked about with them, but it was a long conversation. When Zhu Zijin woke up, the three brothers exchanged glances, confirming that they had all had the same dream. Their bond as brothers grew even stronger.

The estrangement of over ten years that had separated them was significantly lessened at that moment.

Prince Zhou, who believed in sharing the wealth, also visited his younger brother in a dream. Pan Yun didn't know what they discussed, but after returning from Zhu Youjue's dream, Prince Zhou became much more subdued, the free and joyful spirit he exuded lessened considerably.

Seeing that he had finally calmed down, Pan Yun pointed to her head and said, "Come on, enter a dream."

Prince Zhou snapped back to attention and looked at her. "Are you silly?"

Pan Yun sat up straight. "I want to see how her spell differs from mine."

Prince Zhou: "Why don't you just ask her? Isn't she your senior sister?"

Pan Yun lied through her teeth, "Even fellow disciples have their own secrets."

Prince Zhou: "Prying into others' secrets is not a good habit."

Pan Yun just looked at him quietly.

"Fine, fine, I'll do it," Prince Zhou struck a pose. "You go to sleep."

Pan Yun lay down and closed her eyes. After a long while, neither the person nor the ghost made a sound.

The black cat, who had been quietly squatting on the roof beam, couldn't help but mock them with a "meow."

Pan Yun opened her eyes and sat up from the bed.

Prince Zhou was almost asleep himself. He said, "This has nothing to do with me. I enter dreams with just a thought. I've been thinking for a long time and couldn't enter your dream. You can't blame me for not being able to sleep, can you?"

"I don't blame you," Pan Yun said. "Wait, I'll meditate."

Pan Yun adjusted her breathing and meditated, not cultivating, but emptying her mind. Then, she wove a dreamscape in her mind, gradually entering a state between waking and sleeping.

Prince Zhou still couldn't enter. He could only wander around the room.

As he wandered, the sky began to brighten.

Prince Zhou seemed to sense something. The knack for entering dreams appeared to have vanished. He looked at Pan Yun.

Pan Yun also opened her eyes. The first rays of morning sunlight shone directly on her.

The person and the ghost exchanged a look. Prince Zhou's form gradually faded, and he returned to the mourning hall.

Pan Yun sighed and asked the black cat on the roof beam, "Why couldn't he enter my dream?"

Pan Little Black: "Meow, your will is firm, your Mud Pill Palace is as solid as a rock, and ghosts find it hard to invade. Isn't that a good thing?"

Pan Yun no longer dwelled on the matter. She decided to exchange this spell with Xuan Miao if she had the chance in the future.

This method of entering dreams was highly adaptable. It was more natural than her own dream weaving and more convincing as a ghost appearing in a dream.

Doctor Zhang and Eunuch Qian, who had experienced being "pressed by a ghost" and had a face-to-face "deep conversation" with Prince Zhou, were very convinced. As soon as dawn broke, they came to bid farewell to Zhu Zijin.

They were willing to speak up for Prince Zhou's Mansion and plead his case...

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zijin immediately handed the memorial to the throne he had copied yesterday to the two men, along with the gifts Prince Zhou had taught him to give last night.

Eunuch Qian received a box of small gold ornaments, various gold ingots, and gold melon seeds. They were bright yellow and very beautiful.

Doctor Zhang received a cookbook, said to be a court cookbook from the previous dynasty.

Since it was an item from the previous dynasty, giving it away would not violate regulations.

Both men were very satisfied with their gifts and left immediately with the memorial.

Zhu Zijin saw them off to the main gate of Prince Zhou's Mansion. Zhu Youjue rushed over, only catching sight of their receding backs.

Uncle and nephew exchanged glances, both thinking of last night's dream.

Zhu Zijin: Father didn't lie to me. He must have arranged everything in the dream last night.

Zhu Youjue was half-believing, half-doubting. It was almost exactly as his elder brother had said in the dream last night. Could there truly be people who could foresee the future and ghosts who could enter dreams?

Starting today, people would begin arriving at Prince Zhou's Mansion to pay their respects.

The Princess Consort and the six wives kept vigil and mourned. The six wives went in and out together every day, and three of them slept in the same room at night. No unexpected incidents occurred.

The royal family members who came to pay their respects did not see the list of those to be martyred. Upon inquiring, they learned that the people had not yet been martyred, which caused some dissatisfaction with Zhu Zijin.

"Although he was not your biological father, he raised you. He knew you had a hard life and specifically found you to inherit the title. For this reason alone, you should not be unfilial.

Your father has been deceased for three days, and you still haven't prepared anyone for martyrdom. Are you going to have your father lead a group of servants?"

Zhu Zijin nodded in agreement, saying humbly, "My father cannot bear to have living people buried with him. He has already submitted a memorial to His Majesty, and we are now just waiting for the Imperial Decree."

The Emperor had already received Zhu Zijin's memorial by this time.

Knowing that Doctor Zhang and his group had arrived just in time to see Prince Zhou's last moments, he sighed to Wang Zhen, "Fortunately, we didn't delay the discussion about the Heir Apparent. Otherwise, wouldn't Prince Zhou have died with regrets?"

Wang Zhen naturally praised the Emperor's wisdom.

"Issue the Imperial Decree for the Heir Apparent of Prince Zhou's enfeoffment. Since Doctor Zhang is familiar with the process, let him be the one to read the decree."

Doctor Zhang: ... I really don't want to go there again.

But Doctor Zhang could only agree.

Wang Zhen interjected, "Your Majesty, why the rush? The Heir Apparent of Prince Zhou needs to observe mourning. It would be better to wait until he has observed mourning for a year before issuing the decree. Otherwise, Prince Zhou has just passed away, and he would immediately succeed him. This situation would be neither sad nor happy, and it would actually harm his filial piety towards Prince Zhou."

Doctor Zhang, who was waiting nearby: ... What kind of nonsense is this? When the previous Emperor died, the new Emperor ascended the throne immediately. Is the new Emperor unfilial?

But the Emperor felt that Wang Zhen made sense and nodded repeatedly, "Alright, let it be so. We will issue the decree after he has observed mourning for a full year."

A year later, would the young Emperor still remember Zhu Zijin?

Doctor Zhang quickly glanced at Wang Zhen, fearing that when the Heir Apparent of Prince Zhou was to succeed, it would cost a great deal of money to have Wang Zhen intervene.

Doctor Zhang then thought of the gifts he had received this time and quickly mentioned Prince Zhou's dying wish, hinting, "Prince Zhou's Mansion knows that Your Majesty wishes to fulfill Prince Zhou's dying wish, so they have suppressed the matter of burial sacrifices, awaiting only Your Majesty's instruction."

Eunuch Qian repeatedly agreed and recounted how Prince Zhou had pleaded and worried before his death, "Prince Zhou was kind-hearted and could not bear to see living beings killed, so he was constantly thinking about this matter even on his deathbed. As soon as Zhao Yuansong returned, he asked about it. Knowing that Your Majesty was going to issue a decree in court to agree, he happily ate two bowls of rice and left with a smile on his face."

When the Emperor heard this, he immediately said, "Then quickly issue the decree, don't miss Prince Zhou's seventh-day memorial service."

Wang Zhen narrowed his eyes, looked at Eunuch Qian, then at Doctor Zhang, and sneered inwardly.

Seeing that the Emperor was eagerly about to write the Imperial Decree himself, he could not stop him any further.

In the young Emperor's eyes, this was an act that broke ancestral rules, something new and considered a good deed, so he was very willing to personally write this Imperial Decree.

Of course, it still had to be sent to the Grand Secretariat for review before being sealed and issued.

This time, the young Emperor still dispatched people from the Ministry of Rites and the Directorate of Ceremonial to deliver the decree.

Wang Zhen, the supervising eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, suggested to Eunuch Qian, "The first time is unfamiliar, the second time is familiar. He has been there once, so it will be easier for him to travel again."

The Ministry of Rites heard this and also recommended Doctor Zhang.

Doctor Zhang and Eunuch Qian: ...

Although delivering the decree might bring some financial gain, such a long official journey was still too arduous, especially since they might encounter Prince Zhou upon arrival.

What if Prince Zhou asked them why they didn't have the Heir Apparent of Prince Zhou's letter of succession?

However, Doctor Zhang and Eunuch Qian still forced smiles, pretended to be happy, and accepted the Imperial Decree from the Grand Secretariat before leaving the palace.

That's right, business trips are this painful. They had just returned, and they hadn't even entered their homes.

Their luggage was ready. Although it was a bit dirty and smelly, they could leave with it.

It was still better than being an official from the capital reassigned to the provinces.

Coincidentally, today a capital official received news of his reassignment. As soon as he got the official document, he immediately got on a donkey cart and left the city, without even a change of clothes.

The two met at the city gate. Doctor Zhang recognized the other person. After exchanging tearful glances, they both left the city.

Doctor Zhang waited on the road and said softly, "Brother, please go back to the city later and ask your family to send a message to my family, saying that I will be home in ten days at most."

"No problem, no problem. I've decided to enter the city later, just before the gate closes. Sigh, the decree was issued so suddenly, and my family is short on money. Can Brother Zhang lend me some for the interim?"

Doctor Zhang asked, "Where are you going to take up your post?"

"Guangxin Prefecture, Jiangxi."

"No problem, no problem. I'll write you a letter, and I'll have my wife try to gather twenty taels of silver for you."

Twenty taels was not a small amount; it was enough to settle down.

The other party agreed, and the two chatted in whispers before parting.

Eunuch Qian was unfazed.

The founding Emperor had established a rule to prevent officials from the capital reassigned to the provinces from accepting bribes. He had specifically ordered that as soon as capital officials received their official documents and seals, they must leave the city immediately.

Anyone who dared to return home would be immediately apprehended and punished.

However, officials could not truly set off with only the travel expenses provided by the court, as they needed to eat and drink on the road and also establish a home upon arrival.

Therefore, while there were policies from above, there were also countermeasures from below.

After leaving the capital, officials would often secretly sneak back into the capital to collect money or borrow money.

It was an unspoken understanding; as long as it wasn't exposed, everyone turned a blind eye.

Even the eunuchs in the Directorate of Ceremonial knew about this, and the entire court was aware of it, except for the one sitting on the dragon throne.

Doctor Zhang lent out twenty taels of silver, and he didn't know when he would get it back, so his mood was not good.

The continuous travel only made his mood worse.

Therefore, when he returned to Prince Zhou's Mansion, his expression was extremely grim, making everyone in the mansion uneasy, unsure whether it was good news or bad news.

The Princess Consort and Zhu Zijin, along with everyone from the mansion, received the decree in the mourning hall. After accurately hearing that the Emperor respected Prince Zhou's dying wish and exempted everyone in Prince Zhou's Mansion from burial sacrifices, everyone's backs went limp.

The six wives paused for a moment before bursting into tears, beating the ground and wailing, "My Lord— My Lord, how could you leave us behind—"

The servants behind them also wailed loudly, especially those who had served Prince Zhou closely. They cried as if their parents had died, and never before had they so sincerely mourned for Prince Zhou.

A repeated reminder, tonight's ten lucky numbers are those ending in 5, screenshot as proof.