The Sleepless Night in the Capital

"Save me, save me..."

As the tumors began growing beneath his skin, the pain eased slightly instead.

Vice Minister of Revenue Zhou Mingyuan's face was filled with terror as he struggled toward Luo MingZi and the others.

But after only a few steps, he felt the strength drain from his entire body like a breached floodbank, and his consciousness grew increasingly muddled.

In his daze, memories from the past flashed continuously through his mind.

Born into poverty, his whole family had farmed the land to support his studies...

He had been brilliant by nature, and after a great scholar took a liking to him and accepted him as a disciple, he had become the capital's third-place palace graduate, brimming with confidence...

He had resolved to become a loyal and capable minister, unwilling to wallow in the same mire as others, and had been exiled to a remote little county...

Unwilling to remain unnoticed, he had begun learning how to curry favor and maneuver...

He had risen all the way from county magistrate, with boundless prospects ahead of him. One day, he would surely enter the Grand Secretariat...

He had eaten the "Pan Peach," not to regain his youth, but to borrow the strength of this circle. Thus, when Prince Ying's Estate summoned the "Pan Peach Gathering" and all its members assembled for the first time, he had been the first to come running, wagging his tail like a lapdog...

In the end, his memories froze before the wooden window of the earthen house in his old hometown.

That year, he had gazed at the bright moon, his eyes clear, reciting, "Be the first to worry for the troubles of the world, and the last to enjoy its pleasures."

What had I done with this life...

Vice Minister of Revenue Zhou