Chapter 110: Chapter 102: Nightmare Disorder

Year 33 of the Zun’an Era.

First day of the first month.

The Court did not observe a holiday today; the civil and military officials all attended the morning assembly on time.

During the assembly, the Great Emperor issued a decree, granting a general amnesty and reducing all taxes by ten percent.

Amidst the officials’ fawning praise, the Great Emperor concluded the morning assembly and retired from view.

A new year, a new beginning. Last night, nothing happened.

The news that Mystic Feng Bei had not only been invited to the Zheng Family’s reunion dinner but had also stayed the night spread quietly through Ye Weiyang as if it had grown wings.

It should have been a huge affair, but many of the Night Guard gossiped about it for a bit before deciding it wasn’t such a big deal after all.

It wasn’t the first time.

When Zheng Xiu woke up, he found himself lying in his room, sleeping alone.

Someone had been thoughtful enough to change him into a new set of warm pajamas. Zheng Xiu woke up rubbing the bridge of his nose, and soon after, Zheng Erniang brought in a bowl of hot and sour fish head and tofu soup. The surface was sprinkled with bright green scallions, a remedy to refresh the mind and sober up.

"Master, you don’t look well. Did you not sleep well?" 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Zheng Erniang asked softly.

Zheng Xiu shook his head. "I was plagued by nightmares. I woke up several times in a daze."

"Nightmares?" Zheng Erniang was taken aback and quickly asked, "Are you still worried about Princess Yu Run’s case?"

"No."

Zheng Xiu denied it, sipping the sobering fish soup to hide the strange expression on his face.

He had inexplicably fallen asleep last night while listening to the quartet sing.

Zheng Xiu had a dream. It started out nicely: the young boy and Feng Bei were galloping on horseback across a vast prairie, heading toward a valley filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers.

Feng Bei led the horse while the boy sat behind her—a small pony riding a big horse. But as they went on, the dream took a strange turn.

The boy laughed roguishly. "Sister Feng Bei, I want to hold you like this and chase the horizon forever."

Feng Bei smiled faintly. "Of course, I would love that, but I’m worried..."

The boy said, "Don’t you worry. Let’s just enjoy this moment. A chance like this is priceless!"

Feng Bei suddenly turned to look at the boy. "I like you."

The boy replied, "Oh! What a coincidence! I also... No! I like you more!"

Feng Bei shook her head stubbornly. "No, I like you more!"

The boy, his childish competitiveness piqued, retorted, "I like you more!"

Feng Bei: "You can’t possibly like me more. I’m already full!"

The boy scoffed. "If you’re full, then I’m overflowing!"

People do the strangest things in dreams, things they just can’t seem to control.

When Zheng Xiu’s dream reached this point, he felt he was about to be scared awake.

But then, Feng Bei abruptly pulled on the reins, stopping the horse.

If the first half was a romance drama, the second half turned into a thriller.

The distant hills gradually crumbled into dust, revealing a gray abyss behind them.

Feng Bei stared at the boy, her gaze icy. Her long black hair whipped about as if in a phantom wind as she roared in anger, "Who exactly are you?"

She took off her glove and clawed at the boy’s face.

Zheng Xiu found he had turned back into "Master Zheng."

The furious Feng Bei slapped him, and he disintegrated into a cloud of ash.

Master Zheng was slapped awake by the Feng Bei in his dream, drenched in a cold sweat.

"Are you sick?"

Zheng Erniang finally noticed that the Master was soaked in sweat. She suddenly leaned close to Zheng Xiu’s face and pressed her forehead against his.

This was how Second Lady had always checked his temperature when he was a child.

He never thought anything of it before, but now, with them so close, the scent of cloves washed over him.

"You don’t have a fever."

Zheng Erniang was relieved and ordered someone to heat a tub of water for the Master to bathe and change.

While bathing, Zheng Xiu pressed a hand to his chest, pondering how he could have had such a shameless dream last night. ’Where is my conscience?’

Logically, what you think about by day, you dream of by night... ’No, that’s not it.’ Zheng Xiu didn’t believe in such things. He carefully replayed the dream’s plot in his mind, then slapped his thigh in a moment of realization.

After changing into a handsome brocade robe with a white velvet collar, the dashingly handsome Zheng Xiu stepped out of the main house and headed straight for the study.

Last month, under his alias of Zheng Er, he had painstakingly copied a basketful of books.

He had copied many works by the Great Scholar Ximen Bei, as they provided experience points particularly quickly.

With a strange expression, Zheng Xiu rummaged through the basket and pulled out a book titled "Wilderness Wolf Fate".

The book told the story of a woman who, angered by her husband, runs away from home. She encounters a Wolf Pack on the vast prairie, only to be saved by a wild man with whom she falls in love.

The wild man and the woman galloped on horseback, exchanging some wild and passionate dialogue.

The ending was still regrettable. The woman later discovered she was pregnant and returned home to give birth. Afterward, unable to forget the wild man of the plains, she secretly ran back to the wilderness and had another child with him, whom they named "Wolf." In the very end, to preserve the woman’s family, the wild man took their child and disappeared alone into the great mountains.

Silently rereading "Wilderness Wolf Fate", Zheng Xiu had the distinct feeling that his conscience was being polluted.

Awed by the Great Scholar Ximen Bei’s literary prowess, and even more shocked by the story’s outrageous plot, Zheng Xiu finally understood the origin of his nightmare. He now had a rough idea that under certain circumstances, a connection could be formed between Miracle Masters. Zheng Xiu called this phenomenon "fleecing the sheep."

This pattern made Zheng Xiu feel that the system of Path Mystic Skills was quite bizarre. It was less a path to the extraordinary and more like an uncontrollable, infectious disease.

Morning.

Bathed and dressed, Zheng Xiu felt refreshed and put last night’s nightmare behind him.

Early in the morning, many servants came to pay their respects to the Master, grinning and wishing him "Prosperity and good fortune, Master."

The Brotherhood, the maids, Zizi, Bobo, Pingping, Lily, the cook, Xi’er, and so on.

They knew the Master was always generous. Zheng Erniang, well-aware of the Zheng Family’s customs, had already prepared a stack of silver notes. The Master liked to give them out in red envelopes, saying it made him seem particularly domineering. For the wealthy, splurging once in a while was a form of pleasure.

After handing out red envelopes containing several thousand taels of silver as per tradition, Zheng Xiu went to the ancestral hall to offer incense to his late father and ancestors, praying for their blessing and protection.

Following these customs took Zheng Xiu nearly two hours.

On his way back from the ancestral hall, he unexpectedly ran into Feng Bei. Zheng Xiu was just about to reach into his robe for a red envelope when the final scene of his nightmare flashed before his eyes, making him feel inexplicably guilty. He pulled his hand back out.

Feng Bei was still dressed in black, her sleeves adorned with cloud and moon patterns, her long hair covering her right eye.

She was looking around the courtyard. ’Uh-oh,’ Zheng Xiu thought. It was too late to switch to his "alt account." They were about to meet in the corridor, so Zheng Xiu braced himself and walked forward.

"Miss Feng Bei, did you sleep well last night?"

"You are too kind, Marquis Zheng," Feng Bei replied calmly, and then, just as he expected, she asked, "Excuse me, where is Zheng... Zheng Er?"

A trace of regret was hidden in the depths of Feng Bei’s left eye.

He didn’t know what she regretted.

There was a certain information gap between Feng Bei and Zheng Xiu regarding the identity of "Zheng Er."

Feng Bei knew that Zheng Er was Zheng Shan’s son, but she thought Zheng Xiu didn’t know this. She believed that Zheng Er had deceived Zheng Xiu, making Zheng Xiu think that Zheng Er was his son.

To put it simply, it was a generational mess.

Hearing this, Zheng Xiu understood instantly, and a sense of relief washed over him. ’So Feng Bei knows to cover for Zheng Er now. That’s progress.’

Zheng Xiu casually fabricated a story, saying the child had been fussy all night and was still asleep.

Feng Bei immediately asked where the boy was sleeping and said she would go find him.

How could Zheng Xiu dare let her go looking for him? Instead, he cordially invited her to breakfast.

Feng Bei thought for a moment. It seemed that having the reunion dinner at the Zheng Family estate last night had somewhat improved her opinion of the Richest Person, Zheng Xiu. Finding it difficult to refuse, she reluctantly agreed.

Passing through the main hall, Zheng Xiu saw the orange cat, Xiaofeng, and wanted to tease it a bit. But his approach gave the cat a huge fright. Even though Zheng Xiu was right in front of it, the cat acted as if it couldn’t see anything, hiding in a corner and trembling. Zheng Xiu glanced back at Feng Bei and said nothing. ’Feng Bei really terrified the poor kitty.’

At the reunion table, a few pastries were served with delicate congee. Zheng Erniang and the other family members were already waiting, bowing and inviting the Master and Miss Feng Bei to take their seats.

During the meal, Zheng Xiu, in his persona as "Master Zheng," casually brought up the case of Princess Yu Run.

Feng Bei paused in the middle of sipping her congee and looked calmly at Zheng Xiu. After a moment of silence, she said, "The matter of Princess Yu Run has actually been clarified. It wasn’t the work of a Miracle Master."

Zheng Xiu had forgotten to ask before, so this was the first time he was hearing about the case from Feng Bei directly. He asked with some surprise, "Are you so certain, Miss Feng Bei?"

Feng Bei fell silent.

"If you have reservations, you don’t have to say anything."

"No." Feng Bei tucked a lock of hair from her left temple behind her ear. "The perpetrator cleanly and decisively snapped Princess Yu Run’s neck. If I’m not mistaken, it was someone from the palace."