Chapter 22 Superstition
Pan Yun was stunned. It was more than a thousand years ago in history. Pan Yun paid more attention to cultivation and less to history. He only knew that there was a system of burying people alive with the dead in the Ming Dynasty, but he didn't know that so many people were buried alive.

Pan Yun: "The princess is the principal wife, she also wants to be buried alive?"

Xuan Miao lowered her eyes and said, "She has no children, so according to the rules, she must have a child, but now she has an adopted son, and an adopted son is also a son."

Pan Jun understood instantly. No wonder the princess was so supportive of conferring a title on Zhu Zijin.

The mother-son relationship in the past is one part, and the reason for burying son alive with his parents is also one part, right?
Pan Yun's eyes became brighter and brighter. Xuanmiao knew what she was planning at a glance and was afraid that she would be even more reluctant to leave.

Xuanmiao looked at Tao Ji and said, "Vote. The minority shall obey the majority."

Pan Yun also turned his head and stared at Tao Ji with a sharp gaze, "Brother Tao, you asserted that King Zhou would get better. If you leave now and something happens to King Zhou, wouldn't that ruin your reputation?"

Tao Ji glanced at her and said, "You are my nephew's generation when you go to Sanqing Mountain. Even if you don't want to be my master, you should call me uncle."

After saying that, he turned around and said to Xuanmiao: "Junior sister, I am not afraid of damaging my reputation, but the lineage of King Zhou has been kind to me in my alchemy. Now that his descendants are in trouble, I cannot just sit back and do nothing since I have seen it."

King Zhu Su of the First Zhou Dynasty was a rare good man and technical talent among Zhu Yuanzhang's many sons.

He was a medical scientist and a botanist. He organized and compiled many medical works. Taoist alchemy benefited a lot from him. Moreover, Sanqing Mountain also had interactions with him and received gifts from him.

Of course, others may not remember it, but Sanqing Mountain has to remember the favor.

It would be fine if Tao Ji was incompetent, but since he had the ability to keep King Zhou alive for a while longer, he naturally had to do his best.

When Xuanmiao heard this, he thought for a moment and nodded in agreement, then looked at Pan Jun.

Pan Yun leaned back and asked, "Why are you looking at me?"

"The Zhou Palace is very close to the imperial court and the Jinyiwei. You'd better be careful when you live in the Zhou Palace."

Pan Yun raised his lips and asked, "Will the Jinyiwei believe that a daughter of a convicted official dares to come to the Zhou Palace? Besides, Pan Hong's daughter is already dead, and I am now a Taoist child in Sanqing Mountain."

Tao Ji: "Oh, now you are a Taoist boy from Sanqing Mountain again?"

Pan Jun ignored him and just stared at Xuan Miao, "Is it really impossible to save the others who are going to be buried alive?"

Xuanmiao: "You want to find King Zhou? As far as I know, since King Zhou fell ill in the third year of Zhengtong, he has been making suggestions to the emperor, hoping that the emperor would exempt the childless princesses and wives in the palace from being buried alive with the emperor. In the past two years, he has begun to arrange his own funeral, and he also requested that it be extremely simple, hoping that there would be no one buried alive with him, and not too many burial objects."

Xuanmiao looked indifferent and said coldly: "The court has many words of comfort, but they did not agree to him."

Pan Yun frowned.

Pan Xiaohei found a scattered record among the vast amount of information fragments, meowed, and signaled her to go to the spiritual realm to look.

"Princess Gong of Zhu Youdun and his six wives were buried alive..."

Pan Yun snorted, stood up and said, "Since the princess can escape, it means that other wives can too. If the princess and the wives are not buried alive with them, then the others don't have to be buried with them. There is always hope in heaven, I don't believe it can't be done."

It’s just that they haven’t found the right time and the right method yet.

Xuanmiao didn't stop her and let her go.

Tao Ji, who was sitting next to him, opened his mouth and turned to look at Xuan Miao, "Just let her go like this? What if she gets into trouble..."

"Just run away again," Xuanmiao said, "Haven't we caused enough trouble?"

That makes so much sense. Tao Ji was speechless.

Pan Yun walked out of the yard, thought for a moment, and then went to King Zhou's main courtyard.

There didn't seem to be many servants in Prince Zhou's mansion. I didn't meet many along the way. It wasn't until I reached the main courtyard that I saw a gatekeeper.

The old woman hurriedly stopped Pan Yun and said, "Young Taoist priest, are you unable to find the way back to the guest house? I will ask someone to take you there."

Pan Yun said, "I am here to see King Zhou."

The old woman widened her eyes. At Pan Yun's request, she hesitated for a moment, but considering that she was the young master's benefactor, she went in to report.

There were servants serving King Zhou in the room, and also a long-time attendant who always followed King Zhou.

Ever since King Zhou was unable to get up, he was served by male servants, because carrying things up and down required strength.

But the male servants were not attentive enough, and the princess wanted to assign a few maids to serve Prince Zhou, or do it herself.

But after King Zhou became seriously ill, he no longer liked to use maids and often lost his temper.

The past six months since Zhu Zijin came back have been the most comfortable time he has had during his illness.

The old woman couldn't enter the room and could only pass messages outside the door.

Behind a screen, the servants in the room were sitting sprawled out. Across the wide courtyard, Pan Jun saw the scene inside the open door.

The corner of her mouth curled up slightly. No wonder the superstitious King Zhou did not send Zhu Zijin away after hearing the rumor that they were incompatible with each other, because these servants made him feel the filial piety and importance of his adopted son, right?

Hearing that there was a visitor, the servant in the room lazily stood up, feeling a little unhappy, but still forced a smile and went in to report, "Your Highness, the Taoist priest who brought the young master back wants to see you."

King Zhou on the bed opened his eyes and said after a moment, "Please ask her to come in."

The attendant who was accompanying King Zhou immediately helped him sit up and lean back on the pillow.

Pan Yun walked around the screen and entered the inner room. He smiled at King Zhou and stepped forward to salute: "King Zhou."

King Zhou signaled his attendant to move a stool and said in a gentle manner, "Please sit down, young Taoist priest." The attendant moved the stool behind Pan Yun, glanced at King Zhou, and stepped back, also taking the servants who were waiting outside the screen out.

Suddenly, only an old man and a child were left in the room.

King Zhou smiled and said, "Young Taoist priest, please tell me what you want to say. They have all gone down."

Pan Yun was simply curious, "Since the prince's words are still effective, why don't you get rid of those who have second thoughts?"

King Zhou was slightly surprised. He didn't expect that the child came to tell him this. He thought it was for Qie'er. He couldn't help but laugh, "How did the young Taoist priest know that they had two minds?"

"If he had no second thoughts, how could Qie'er get lost? How could the Prince of Xiangfu come here at such a coincidence today?"

King Zhou's face darkened, and he looked intimidating without even getting angry. "Young Taoist priest, are you here to alienate us brothers?"

"No," Pan Yun shook his head and said, "I am here to save you, the princess, and your wives."

What Pan Yun wants to do is something mysterious, so she naturally won't beat around the bush. Besides, considering her age, beating around the bush would only cause trouble for herself.

So she looked King Zhou straight in the eye and said, "It's a rare opportunity to come to this world. King Zhou, are you going to leave with regret and reluctance? Among Taizu's many grandsons, your talent and character are the best, but now you can only write letters to protect your own princess and wives and beg them indirectly. Is it because you have been ill for too long, or because you have been hiding your talents for too long, so that you are unfamiliar with the court?"

King Zhou paused, looked at the child, and couldn't help laughing softly, "You kid... you are indeed full of youthful vigor and a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger. What do you know?"

"When the previous King Zhou was alive, fathers and sons killed each other, and brothers murdered each other in order to fight for the title of prince. King Zhou, you have achieved both literary and martial arts. Could it be that just because of Zhu Youjie, you have fallen into despair and become obsessed with drama?"

Pan Yun stood up, took a step forward and asked, "Isn't it because the struggle among the princes was still fierce after the Jingnan Campaign, so this was the only choice we had to make?"

The smile on King Zhou's face gradually disappeared, and he looked at Pan Yun solemnly.

He was one of Zhu Yuanzhang's favorite grandsons. When he was young, he was an outstanding scholar and martial artist.

When he was studying in Nanjing, his royal grandfather sent him to the north to gain experience with other princes of the royal palace. They led troops and fought in wars, and he also went to the border of Yunnan, where he also led troops and fought in wars.

Unlike the second brother who only knew how to make false accusations everywhere, King Zhou always looked down upon him.

In his eyes, Zhu Youjie was never a threat, he was just annoying and King Zhou hated him.

He was not afraid that Zhu Youjie would frame him for treason, because he had always been careful in his words and deeds, and if a real investigation was conducted, no one would be able to find out that he was plotting treason.

What he feared was that the emperor wanted to reduce the power of the princes and that other princes wanted to replace him, so he believed that he was plotting a rebellion.

So he bided his time.

There are many ways to keep a low profile. You can either defile yourself, eat, drink, gamble, do nothing, and make yourself useless;

Or find yourself an unimportant hobby, study it hard, become obsessed with it, and have no interest in state affairs.

He chose the second one.

But he seemed to be somewhat unwilling, so he brought some of it into the play. How could he identify the person behind this child through those things?

Meeting his suspicious gaze, Pan Jun felt a little disappointed. She was so capable, but he still doubted her.

She simply took the black cat off her shoulder and let its black eyes meet his. "King Zhou, you don't have to suspect that someone is behind me. I know all this because I can communicate with spirits and see different things."

King Zhou looked skeptical.

Pan Yun: ...Isn't this person superstitious? Why is he not superstitious now?

Is it just because she is young?

Pan Yun did not show it on his face and continued, "If it weren't for my senior brother, King Zhou would be dead now."

The King of Zhou did not deny this.

Not only did the court physician give a warning, he himself also felt it.

When he woke up this morning, he felt that his time was up. It was then that he decided to leave a will, leaving the title to Zhu Youjue, and begging the emperor to register Zhu Zijin under the names of the couple, so that he could support the princess until the end of her life.

When he brought Zhu Zijin back, he wanted to leave the title to him, but Zhu Tongqie was lost.

He believed that Zhu Tongqie's disappearance was due to the incompatibility of their two bloodlines, but he also suspected that his fourth brother was behind it.

No matter which one it is, Zhu Zijin is in a weak position now, and the title of King Zhou is not a good thing for him, and he cannot keep it, so he decided to use the title to buy the safety of him and the princess.

Now that Zhu Youjue has obtained the title, he will no longer embarrass them mother and son.

The surprise was that Zhu Tongqie came back.

At that moment, he felt that death was a little further away from him, so he still had time to plan.

Because of Zhu Tongqie's incident, he no longer trusted Zhu Youjue so much, so when he had a second choice, he immediately chose the second path.

Only if the princess has a son can she avoid being buried alive.

He was also afraid that Zhu Youjue would not let the princess go after he inherited the title. After all, Zhu Zijin was not the princess's biological child, so there was too much room for maneuver.

Zhu Youjue said that since the jade disc had not been altered, he could kill the princess according to the ancestral system.

　The ten lucky numbers for this chapter are numbers ending in 7, as evidenced by the screenshots. The screenshot deadline is before the next chapter is released.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)