A Sudden Sense of Urgency

In the Great Wei Imperial Palace, around the fifth day of every month, the Internal Affairs Department distributed stipends to the consorts, princes, and Imperial Princesses living in the Imperial Palace.

In principle, they were collected once a month, with every withdrawal recorded in one's personal account book.

There were quite a few princes, Imperial Princesses, and consorts in the palace. To prevent mistakes during collection, the Internal Affairs Department would send someone ahead of time to notify them and confirm an approximate time with each person.

Zhao Hongming casually replied, "This Prince will go at the Weishi hour tomorrow."

"This servant will notify the Internal Affairs Department at once and have them make preparations for Your Highness."

Zhao Hongming currently had few people around him whom he could truly trust, so he had always collected these stipends himself.

Up to this point, his monthly stipend had been issued according to the basic standard for princes, unchanged for many years.

It was pitifully little.

He happened to need some medicine to replenish his Qi and Blood. Though the overall stipend was not much, something was better than nothing.

Early the next morning.

As usual, Zhao Hongming went to the Imperial Study to listen to the Saint's teachings alongside the many princes and Imperial Daughters.

Before the lesson officially began, Zhao Hongming noticed that Wu Yin Princess, who rarely interacted with others, was weeping with her head lowered while several other Imperial Princesses softly comforted her nearby.

Zhao Hongming asked curiously, "What happened to Wu Yin Princess?"

The Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongguang, standing beside him, said with complicated emotions, "I heard my mother consort mention that Wu Yin Princess has been bestowed in marriage to the Elder's Son of the Zhengyi Sect. She will be wed before long and leave the Imperial Palace."

Zhao Hongming fell silent upon hearing the news.

He remembered that Wu Yin Princess was sixteen this year, at the very height of her blossoming youth.

Perhaps among commoners, many girls her age—or even younger—were already married.

But among the Great Wei nobility, women generally married at around eighteen.

The main reason was that the Great Wei nobility enjoyed better living conditions and generally cultivated the Martial Dao, so their lifespans were somewhat longer than those of ordinary people.

They had realized that the rate of difficult childbirth bore some relation to how early one married, so women's marriageable age was delayed by two or three years.

This point caught Zhao Hongming's attention.

Wu Yin Princess was one of the Jian'an Emperor's most beloved daughters. Why was he in such a hurry to marry her off before she turned eighteen?

The information Zhao Hongming currently possessed was too scarce for him to glimpse what the Jian'an Emperor was thinking.

Yet he faintly felt that something must have happened.

And it was most likely something bad, something that would negatively affect Great Wei.

The Jian'an Emperor was making arrangements in advance.

Historically, the Zhengyi Sect had been inextricably entangled with the Imperial Family's Zhao Clan in Wei Country.

But the Zhengyi Sect was a Martial Arts Force, vastly different from a secular power like the Zhao Clan of Wei Country.

Since the Jian'an Emperor ascended the throne, their exchanges had become far less frequent than before.

There also seemed to be fewer and fewer Zhengyi Sect disciples serving as officials in Wei Country's court.

Now, the Jian'an Emperor was urgently seeking a political marriage alliance with the Zhengyi Sect.

That was well worth pondering.

For some reason, this suddenly gave Zhao Hongming a sense of urgency.

"Fifth Brother, I asked Mother Consort for another one. This is for you." Zhao Hongguang took out a white Wish Stone and said with a grin.

"Last time, Fourth Brother gave you a Marrow Cleansing Pill, and you said you wanted me to give you one too. I remembered it. Loyal enough, right?"

Zhao Hongming said helplessly, "I only said it casually. I didn't expect you to take it to heart."

"We're brothers, after all. Looking out for each other is only right." The Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongguang, moved a little closer to Zhao Hongming and voiced what had been on his mind.

"This is what I'm thinking. Based on my performance, Father Emperor definitely won't pass the throne to me. In the future, I most likely won't remain in Daliang either."

"And Yong Province, where my mother consort's family resides, is already the Yong Prince's fief. So after Fifth Brother leaves the palace and is enfeoffed as a king, I'll ask Father Emperor to grant me lands near your fief."

"If something happens to me someday, Fifth Brother, don't forget the bond between us today. Be sure to support your Eighth Brother in time!"

Zhao Hongming could not help laughing when he heard that.

He had not expected his Eighth Brother to be harboring such plans, looking so far ahead.

"Don't laugh. I'm serious."

Zhao Hongming accepted the Wish Stone from the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongguang, and nodded on the spot, agreeing to his request.

It was still far too early for him to leave the palace and be enfeoffed as a king. Whatever happened later could be discussed later.

For now, he would take the benefit already placed in his hands.

After dealing with the day's Miscellaneous Affairs, Zhao Hongming headed straight to the Internal Affairs Department to collect this month's stipend.

The feeling was much the same as collecting a paycheck in his previous life.

However, Zhao Hongming had no expectations whatsoever.

After several consecutive years, the stipend he received had always been fixed. He could list every category and amount from memory.

Once he arrived at the Internal Affairs Department, Zhao Hongming went directly to the Extensive Storage Department and explained his purpose.

The Langzhong handling affairs at the Extensive Storage Department had already made preparations. He presented Zhao Hongming with the registered ledger for him to verify the specific amounts.

If there were no issues, Zhao Hongming only needed to sign it, and someone would later deliver everything to his residence.

After all, he could not conveniently carry brocades, silks, tea, and food with him all at once.

While checking the list, Zhao Hongming unexpectedly discovered that his monthly stipend included an additional fifty taels of patterned silver.

He asked in confusion, "Why are there fifty extra taels this month?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, His Majesty specially added this for Your Highness a few days ago. Your monthly stipend will be the same from now on."

Zhao Hongming's brows furrowed slightly at those words.

He did not believe that after ignoring him for so many years, the Jian'an Emperor had suddenly changed his mind and started caring about this son of his.

Zhao Hongming lowered his head to look at the Langzhong, narrowing his eyes as he asked, "Langzhong Qin, is there some hidden reason behind this?"

The Langzhong handling affairs had an air of upright righteousness about him, his vital essence surging through his body like a vast sea. He was clearly a powerful Martial Warrior, at least in the Aperture Opening Realm.

Unfazed by the Imperial Family's overwhelming authority, he said meaningfully, "In the future, Your Highness might wish to visit Eunuch Feng more often."

The other party had put it very vaguely.

But after connecting the pieces before and after, Zhao Hongming roughly deduced the actual situation.

It seemed he had left a good impression on Feng Dabao before, and Feng Dabao had spoken a few favorable words for him to the Jian'an Emperor.

The Jian'an Emperor had been "overjoyed," and thus increased his monthly stipend.

As for visiting Feng Dabao more often, Zhao Hongming felt that would be difficult.

As the Seal-holding Eunuch, Feng Dabao sometimes held even more power than princes like them.

Not to mention that he was an Innate Perfection Martial Warrior currently cultivating Martial Courage.

Even if a transparent prince like him came calling, it would probably be useless.

If he wanted others to take him seriously, he first had to accumulate enough capital. Otherwise, he would not even have the value of mutual exploitation.

Why would anyone support him for no reason?

To forge iron, one needed to be hard oneself.

Having lived two lives, Zhao Hongming understood this clearly.

After settling the matter of his stipend at the Internal Affairs Department, Zhao Hongming hurried back to his residence and summoned his personal guard, Chang Wubing.

Chang Wubing clasped his fists. "Your Highness."

Zhao Hongming went straight to the point. "There is something This Prince needs you to do."

"Please speak, Your Highness."

"Leave the palace now and buy some supplements for This Prince, preferably the kind that replenish a Martial Warrior's vital essence. Remember, keep it secret. Do not let anyone know that This Prince is making the purchase."

Chang Wubing did not ask further questions and agreed at once. "Yes."

Zhao Hongming tossed him a money pouch. "There are three hundred taels in banknotes here. Spend all of it."

Chang Wubing was slightly surprised.

He knew that Zhao Hongming's monthly stipend contained only twenty taels of silver.

That was the basic standard for all Great Wei princes.

But other princes had the support of their mother consorts. Even if they received only that much, they would not have to worry every month over worldly things like money.

But the Fifth Prince, Zhao Hongming, was different.

He truly had only that much every month, so taking out such a sum all at once was genuinely not easy.

Do not be fooled by the fact that there were few places to spend silver in the Imperial Palace. Once one left the palace and was enfeoffed as a king, silver became extraordinarily important.

Establishing one's household and residence, festivals and holidays, repairing houses, everything from food and drink to building connections—all of it required silver.

One absolutely could not do without money.

However, Chang Wubing was loyal and dutiful. He kept firmly in mind the principles Shu Consort had given him back then: listen more, watch more, do more, speak less.

He swallowed every question in his stomach.

"Have you remembered everything This Prince said?"

Chang Wubing accepted the money pouch and clasped his fists. "This subordinate remembers."

"Go quickly and return quickly."

Chang Wubing clasped his fists and silently withdrew, turning into an afterimage that vanished from Zhao Hongming's sight.

"Wang Bao, This Prince is preparing to cultivate. Other than Chang Wubing's return, do not disturb This Prince unless it is something important."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Zhao Hongming returned to his bedroom and took out two Wish Stones.

He sat cross-legged, looking at the two white stones in his palm. Each was only the size of a soybean, crystal-clear and translucent, with a hazy glow visible upon closer inspection.

Though the stones were small, it was said that each was formed from the faith of a thousand people over one month.

He closed his eyes and carefully recalled the refinement method for Wish Stones that he had gathered over the past few days.

After repeatedly confirming that there were no problems, he swallowed the soybean-sized Wish Stones in one gulp.

He began refining them.