Chapter 25 Support or Oppose
Superstition is something that makes people choose to believe what they want to believe and doubt what they don't want to believe.

King Zhou was superstitious to begin with, and Pan Yun demonstrated his skills, and what he said just hit the spot. He originally only believed him six points, but after thinking about it, it became nine points.

King Zhou was sure that Zhu Zijin was his son, but he didn't know why he was born into the second son's family. He said anxiously: "Go and ask the princess to come. We have to tell her about this."

The attendant smiled and agreed, and went to invite the princess.

When Princess Zhou heard what King Zhou had told her, she was surprised and said fluently, "Is that so?"

She clutched the handkerchief tightly and said, "Now that Your Majesty mentioned this, it reminds me that when Zi Jin was born, I had a dream about his pregnancy. It turns out that he should be our child..."

King Zhou: "Yes, yes, I remember that you had many dreams and always woke up at night."

Don’t you dream too much?
The son that King Zhou hated the most gave birth to his eldest grandson, but there was no sign of any movement from his favorite eldest son. At that time, Princess Zhou was under a lot of pressure and had nightmares almost every night.

As for whether it was a pregnancy dream or not, isn’t it up to her to decide?
With the support of Princess Zhou, King Zhou became even more certain that Zhu Zijin was his destined child, and the talk of incompatibility was complete nonsense.

Princess Zhou took the opportunity to ask, "The emperor doesn't like Zhu Youjie. Will anyone in the court object to Zijin being registered under our name?"

"I will write a letter to my other brothers and nephews, asking them to urge the clan government," Zhou Wang said. "This is my family affair, and it should be handled by the clan government. They all have sons to show their filial piety, so why can't they give me a son?"

Of course, it was impossible for King Zhou to write these letters himself. He couldn't hold the pen steadily now, so he found a clerk in the palace to write them.

I wrote more than twenty letters in a row and sent them to my brothers, cousins, and nephews with whom I had close contacts.

Except for him, everyone in the Zhu family is very fertile.

I was so dizzy from writing the document that I stayed in the main courtyard that night and wrote for another day the next day before I finished it.

After it was finished, the King of Zhou asked his attendant to divide it up and then sent someone to deliver it.

Zhu Youjue also knew the contents of his elder brother's letter, and he was furious. "After half a day, why did he suddenly insist on writing down my name?"

Before, Zhao Yuansong was just asked to take care of the clan affairs office, and this is very feasible.

If they can take care of it, then naturally he can do the same.

It is extremely difficult to accomplish something, but it is very easy to destroy it.

As long as there is a delay and no progress before the eldest brother dies of illness, Zhu Zijin will be a nobody. He can prevent him from being listed in the imperial genealogy and not even an heir.

With a biological father like Zhu Youjie, he had plenty of ways to prevent him from becoming the crown prince.

That's why he wouldn't do such a stupid thing as ambush Zhao Yuansong halfway.

That would be like handing the evidence directly into the hands of King Zhou.

As long as he does not make any mistakes in principle and as long as Zhu Zijin is not officially recorded, he will be the most likely to succeed the elder brother.

But if the King of Zhou could ask those princes of the royal family to intercede...

The Zongrenfu is an institution that manages the royal clan. Eight out of ten people in it have the surname Zhu. To put it bluntly, each family manages its own affairs.

But now the Imperial Clan Court is not in charge of anything anymore, most of the matters have been handed over to the Ministry of Rites, maybe we can start from there...

Prince Zhou was also chatting with Zhu Zijin about the Ministry of Rites. "Since Emperor Taizong, most of the affairs of the Imperial Clan Court have been handed over to the Ministry of Rites. However, the Imperial Clan Court still has a say in matters such as the names in the Jade Book. I have asked many members of the Imperial Clan to speak for me. You can write down the names of the members later. If they help you, remember to repay them in the future."

Zhu Zijin agreed.

King Zhou said, "Tomorrow I will have all the officials of Zhuangzi summoned so that you can see him."

Zhu Zijin looked at King Zhou in surprise. He had been back for half a year, and this was the first time King Zhou mentioned family matters. Before this, he only mentioned two things.

Take care of King Zhou's daily life and find his son.

King Zhou looked at him gently and said, "Now that Qie'er has been found, you should focus on other family affairs. The palace will rely on you to support it in the future."

Zhu Zijin responded with red eyes.

He turned his head to check the time and said, "Father, I'll wait for you to rest."

King Zhou waved his hand and refused, "Let the servants handle these matters."

Zhu Zijin said nothing, went out to fetch some warm water, sent the servants away, and then he wrung out the towel and carefully washed King Zhou.

He knew that the King of Zhou did not like his servants to wash his body. Even though the servants did not dare to show it on their faces, their hands were sometimes heavy and sometimes light, indicating that they were very disgusted in their hearts.

Not only King Zhou, Zhu Zijin also knew that they didn't like serving King Zhou.

Zhu Zijin took care of King Zhou with a grateful heart, changed two basins of water, put on clean underwear and pants for him, helped him lie down, touched the quilt to make sure it was neither cold nor hot, and then left.

Under the dim light, King Zhou sighed softly. That's right, Zi Jin was born to be his son.

The second brother is the one who is in conflict with him.

Pan Yun and the other two stayed in Prince Zhou's mansion temporarily. They visited Prince Zhou every day and played with Zhu Tongqie. The days passed quickly.

Pan Yun spent most of his time practicing, and every time he went to see King Zhou, he would always bring back some rewards.

She was happiest when she got real gold and silver, and she didn't mind getting some jade pendants and gems. What she hated most was getting things with royal symbols.

It is valuable, but it cannot be converted into cash. Actually, it is not impossible, but it is difficult. This kind of things should be able to be sold on the black market, and you will not be held responsible.

Pan Yun put all these things away, counted the money, and planned to find time to send some to her father.

Xuanmiao seemed to see what she was planning and said, "If you want to send something, wait until you leave Prince Zhou's mansion before sending it."

Pan Yun thought for a moment and understood, "Are you afraid that someone is watching me and will find out about my father through me, and then suspect my identity and bring up the matter of the Royal Guards?"

Xuanmiao: "There are many people in this world who want to please Wang Zhen. Your father offended him. Even if he has forgotten about him, there will be people who will keep mentioning him and continue to suppress your father.

When they searched the Pan family before, wasn't that the reason you accidentally killed the Jinyiwei?"

"And now, the struggle for power in the Zhou Palace is fierce. If we send Zhu Tongqie back and take the meat that is handed to him, how can he not hate us?" Xuanmiao said, "We are in the Zhou Palace now. Once we leave the Zhou Palace, not only will we be watched, but we may even lose our lives."

I am afraid of flaws and associations in everything.

She is very capable, so Pan Jun decided to listen to her.

She had already noticed during this period that although Xuan Miao was a man of few words and would not speak when necessary, she was precise in her calculations and had foresight, much better than the silly Tao Ji.

However, she had lived in the inner courtyard since she was a child, and her knowledge of the outside world came only from her father and brothers, which was actually quite different from what she knew, so she decided to listen to Xuanmiao.

King Zhou, who was told by the court physician to prepare for his funeral, held out for another two months under Tao Ji's care. Even Zhu Youjue could not resist and went back to Xiangfu County first.

But few people knew that two months was almost the limit of King Zhou’s physical strength.

Tao Ji had a serious talk with King Zhou, and finally gave him acupuncture to make him fall asleep so as to maintain his body functions, and wait for accurate news from the capital before waking him up.

Zhao Yuansong ran around the capital with the memorial and letter from King Zhou, but it was difficult to even get his name recorded, let alone ask for Zhu Zijin to be named the crown prince.

Because everyone from the emperor to the officials of the Ministry of Rites remembered how crazy his father Zhu Youjie was in trying to seize the title of King of Zhou.

The emperor hated him, while the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Clan Court did not want to cause trouble.

If they now follow the King of Zhou's last wish, and if Zhu Youjie shows up again to cause trouble for others, the Emperor will blame him and the King of Zhou will be dead. What will they do then?
So no one is willing to take the risk to do this.

It was not until other princes and dukes of the royal family wrote letters to plead for mercy that the clan affairs office finally relented, but there were also some who opposed.

Therefore, the matter has been dragged on.

Zhao Yuansong knew that if he wanted to ask for the title of Crown Prince, he must first restore the heir's name, so that it would be legitimate.

He took out the prince's last letter, gritted his teeth, and requested an audience with the emperor to personally hand the letter to him.

The little emperor now felt upset and looked unhappy whenever he saw the chief secretary of Prince Zhou's palace.

King Zhou had said he was going to die a long time ago, but after so many years, he still didn't die.

Zhao Yuansong knelt on the ground and cried, "Your Majesty, there was a letter from Kaifeng Prefecture saying that the prince has been in a coma. The palace doctor said that he will come in the next few days. This is the last letter from the prince."

The little emperor looked at the Jinyiwei beside him, and the Jinyiwei quietly retreated.

The young eunuch took the letter from Zhao Yuansong and gave it to the emperor. As the emperor opened the letter, he asked sympathetically, "Is the King of Zhou unconscious again?"

After a while, the Jinyiwei came back and reported in a low voice in the emperor's ear.

The emperor was stunned, then became more serious and opened the letter with a frown.

It was a letter written by Pan Yun and copied by King Zhou. He had already written another letter at that time, and the handwriting of this second letter was even more sloppy and shaky.

The emperor was upset when he saw this and asked, "Princess Zhou has no children. Does the King of Zhou love Princess Chong very much?"

Zhao Yuansong replied "yes". He vaguely grasped something and quickly talked about how King Zhou and the Princess loved each other and supported each other.

The Emperor: "Since the King and the Queen have such a deep bond, why doesn't the Queen want to die with the King?"

Zhao Yuansong was shocked and lowered his head tightly, saying, "The princess is naturally willing, but the prince of Zhou can't bear it. In addition, the heir is ignorant and needs the princess's help, so the prince doesn't want the princess to be buried alive with him."

The emperor was moved by what he heard. He thought of himself, his father's love for his mother, and his mother's love for him. The fifteen-year-old emperor finally said, "Since this is the last wish of the King of Zhou, let's do it according to his idea."

Zhao Yuansong was overjoyed and kowtowed repeatedly, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."

As soon as the emperor spoke, the Ministry of Rites began to take action. The stalemate within the clan court ended and everyone watched as Zhu Zijin's name was recorded back under the names of Zhu Youdun and Gong.

With this piece of paper from the Ministry of Clan Affairs, Zhao Yuansong took the opportunity to propose the issue of establishing the Crown Prince of Zhou when he went to court again.

The emperor had been fed up with them for the past two months. Anyway, Zhu Zijin had been re-registered, and it was only natural for the son to inherit the throne after the father's death. Once the emperor gave in, the court agreed.

The Ministry of Rites took the opportunity to propose issuing an imperial decree to exempt Gong and others from being buried with the deceased.

Someone in the clan affairs office immediately raised an objection, "It's as if the King of Zhou is dead. He's not even dead yet, why are you talking about burying him with the dead?"

"That's right. Burial alive with the dead is a custom passed down by our ancestors. How can we change it just like that?"

The emperor frowned, "This is the last wish of King Zhou. It only changes his family and does not involve other families. It's fine as long as his family is happy."

　The ten lucky numbers for this chapter are numbers ending in 9. The screenshots are for proof. The screenshots will be taken when the next chapter is updated.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)