Did the Seventh Prince attend court today?

As the saying goes, a short pain is worse than a long one. In Xu Zheng's view, clinging to hope and feeling uneasy every day is more detrimental to one's will and spirit than facing the cruel reality.

These days, he watched his friend grow more and more dejected and listless, and he felt very bad.

"If Your Highness notices anything, perhaps..."

Zhou Yongsheng's life was truly tragic. He lost his wife early in life and single-handedly raised his two daughters. His eldest daughter was innocently murdered, and his second daughter also died while seeking revenge for her sister, leaving him all alone. He eventually died in despair.

The words that were on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back down. Xu Zheng wiped away his sweat. Although a short pain is worse than a long one, this was too painful. He should let Lao Zhou take a break first.

[Compared to his eldest daughter, Zhou Yongsheng should be more concerned about his youngest daughter now. From his future plans, we can see that Miss Zhou guessed the reason for her sister's disappearance. Fearing she would implicate her family, she went alone to seek revenge, only to never return.]

[Judging by the time, Miss Zhou is preparing to run away from home to investigate her sister's whereabouts. If Zhou Yongsheng doesn't return soon, his youngest daughter will also be in danger.]

A deer rested its chin on its hand, lost in thought.

Xu Zheng was startled. He pulled Zhou Yongsheng, who was still sobbing uncontrollably, and bowed, saying urgently, "Your Highness, I suddenly remembered that I have important matters to attend to. I must take my leave now!"

Before Zhou Yongsheng could react, he was dragged for several miles.

You Lu was surprised, "I didn't expect Lao Xu to have the potential for sprinting."

Turning around, he met three pairs of eager eyes behind the railing, and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Is this a case of the gossip getting to him?

"Hehe, what a coincidence. I was just about to leave the palace for my duty at the government office when I unexpectedly ran into Your Highness here. It's a pleasure to meet you. I have other matters to attend to, so I won't disturb you any longer. Farewell." Qin Tan spoke first, cupped his hands in greeting, and slipped away, lifting his hem.

Prime Minister Su glared, cursing inwardly for being cunning, and forced a smile while stroking his long beard, saying, "This old man came to ask if His Highness has morning classes today. I just arrived."

The implication was that I hadn't heard anything.

"I... what, it's me..." The eldest prince racked his brains to find an excuse.

Seeing his predicament, Youlu kindly said, "You've come to discuss the lake trip this afternoon with me."

"Yes, yes, that's right!" The eldest prince excitedly echoed, deeply moved. His seventh brother was so thoughtful.

The deer gazed silently at the sky. This was the army that the Emperor had trained. Was there any hope for Dayong?

Inside the Imperial Study, Emperor Wulong rested one hand on his knee and anxiously tapped the table with the other. Eunuch Kang trotted in and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, the young prince was summoned away by Lord Xu immediately after court. Prime Minister Su, Lord Qin, and the eldest prince all went with him."

"What!" Emperor Wulong slammed his fist on the table and roared, "A bunch of traitors! How dare they secretly gossip behind my back! I'll kill them all!"

Kang Gonggong wiped his sweat. "Shouting so loudly, anyone who didn't know better would think that Prime Minister Su and his men were plotting a rebellion."

As soon as You Lu stepped into the Imperial Study, he saw his father with a dark face, slamming memorials on the table like firecrackers. He wondered who had upset this big firecracker.

Eunuch Kang winked at him and raised his eyebrows, signaling him to be careful, as His Majesty the Emperor was in a bad mood.

Youlu understood and stepped forward to explain his whereabouts, "Old Xu just took me to see Zhou Yongsheng, the Vice Minister of Works. This man is in a terrible state. Father, would you like to know why he is in such a terrible state?"

Emperor Wulong kept a straight face: "I don't want to know." But his ears perked up honestly.

You Lu continued, seemingly oblivious to the situation: "Zhou Yongsheng's eldest daughter is dead, and his youngest daughter is about to be devoured by a tiger. It's pitiful that he has squandered all his wealth and been running around, yet he can't even protect one of his children. He has lost two children in a single year. It's truly pitiful and lamentable."

He shook his head and sighed.

Emperor Wulong nodded with a hint of sympathy, then, realizing what he meant, glared at him and demanded, "You're telling me all this because you want me to avenge him, or to save his youngest daughter?"

"No, not at all." Youlu shook his index finger. "Leave the rescue to me, how could I dare to trouble Father? I want Father to give me a waist token that allows me to freely enter and leave the palace, so that I can save the people from suffering."

He clasped his hands together, blinked, and said, "Please, please~~"

Emperor Wulong was overjoyed, thinking, "My son is so adorable!"

However, he still remembered the grudge of being "betrayed," so he pretended to be profound and said, "Whether to go out to rescue people or go out to have fun, I will make my own decision. Don't talk nonsense."

"So, are you going to give it to me or not?" You Lu put her hands on her hips, chuckling to herself: [If you don't give it to me, I'll go and spread rumors to the Empress that you're secretly taking medicine. As for what kind of medicine it is... hehehehe~~]

Emperor Wulong gasped, "Are you really my own son? How can you say such things so casually!"

To salvage his reputation, he hastily tore off the gold medal from his waist and threw it over, repeatedly saying, "Here, here, here! I must have owed you something in my past life!"

"Thank you, Father!" Youlu caught the gold medal and examined it with great delight.

The waist badge, made of pure gold, was heavy and engraved with a five-clawed golden dragon, symbolizing supreme power.

With this gold medal, he can now sneak out of the palace to play openly!

Emperor Wulong rubbed his forehead, looking exasperated, and said weakly, "Get out of here. I don't want to see you right now."

Youlu hung the waist token on his belt, waved goodbye, and said, "Then I'm leaving. Father, you should be good and review the memorials. Don't miss me too much."

Before Emperor Wulong could jump up and hit him, he dashed out of the imperial study.

After receiving the waist token, Youlu did not rush to leave the palace, but returned to the side hall of Yixin Hall.

Sensing the presence of its leader, the Pixiu huffed and puffed as it ran to the door to greet him. From a great distance, it immediately spotted the golden waist tag on the deer's waist and shamelessly drooled.

When a deer reached the door, it immediately folded its paws obediently and said, "Boss, you're off work! You must be tired~~ I've already fed Little Melon and added the bath medicine. Please sit down and rest."

Youlu raised his hand to pat its big head, then stepped inside.

He went to the inner room and retrieved the box he had hidden earlier, taking out all the silver notes inside. He planned to take 20,000 taels of it to the Crown Prince and Su Yan'an that afternoon, and he intended to use the remaining 30,000 taels to buy several shops and start a business.

The Pixiu watched with a pained expression as he tucked the silver notes into his sleeve, then whimpered while gnawing on its paw: "The beast's money has flown away, boohoo..."

Youlu comforted him, saying, "Money isn't saved, it's earned. I'm going to use this money to start a business and make money grow."

The Pixiu was completely bewildered. "Boss, why did you suddenly decide to go into business?"

You Lu said helplessly, "Because I've discovered that Dayong will need money for many, many more things in the future."

Today, in Zhou Yongsheng's future, he saw a major event: a severe snow disaster would strike Shengjing this winter, causing many people to freeze to death in the snow, and Zhou Yongsheng would also die in this snowy winter.

"When a nation is about to perish, disasters are sure to follow. First came the floods at the end of spring, then the snowstorms in winter—two natural disasters in one year. This is a very bad omen. Could it really be that Heaven is going to destroy Dayong?" He pondered, his brow furrowing involuntarily.

Pixiu smoothed the wrinkles between his brows with its plump paws, comforting him: "No, if Heaven wanted to destroy Dayong, the Star Lord of Fate wouldn't have sent us here. He loves you so much, he wouldn't betray you."

"I hope so." Youlu felt a heavy weight in her heart.

The more he read, the more uneasy he became. The future of Dayong was uncertain, beset by internal and external troubles and a series of natural disasters. Could he really save the day on his own?