Zhu Youshu tried to send a messenger to the capital for help.
The result came back faster than expected.
The messenger had barely stepped out of the residence before he was politely escorted back by a few Jinyiwei. Their faces carried faint, strange smiles.
"The capital is dealing with the Jianzhou problem," one of them said casually. "People from the Prince's residence should not wander around."
Zhu Youshu understood immediately.
He was under house arrest.
Just like the magistrate of Jinan.
No message was getting out.
Not unless his five hundred personal guards could somehow fight their way through the hundred thousand rebels outside.
Even a child would know the answer to that.
Impossible.
Even if those hundred thousand rebels had no weapons, no armor, and came barehanded, they could drown his guards in spit alone.
Zhu Youshu's scalp went numb.
He was panicking.
Right then, his trusted eunuch hurried in.
"Your Highness, several men wearing bamboo hats have come to visit."
"Bamboo hats?" Zhu Youshu frowned. "What kind of description is that?"
"Men wearing bamboo hats," the eunuch repeated weakly.
"I am not an idiot," Zhu Youshu snapped. "I am asking who they are. If they want to see me, they should state their names. What kind of nonsense is 'bamboo hat men'?"
The eunuch's face twisted.
"I asked… but they refused to say. They also said that if they revealed their identities to me, I would have to be silenced."
Zhu Youshu froze.
That was not just strange.
That was terrifying.
He understood now.
These people were not ordinary visitors. They were key figures among Liu Maopao's faction. High level rebel leaders.
If he refused to meet them, he might not live to regret it.
"Let them in."
A few minutes later, a small group entered the room.
They sat down in a row before him.
The man in the lead spoke first, deliberately roughening his voice.
"Dismiss everyone. No one is allowed near this room."
Zhu Youshu's heart tightened.
Was that a joke?
If he sent everyone away and these men suddenly decided to kill him, he would not even have time to scream.
The leader chuckled softly, as if reading his thoughts.
"Relax. If we wanted you dead, the hundred thousand outside would have stormed in already."
Zhu Youshu exhaled slowly.
That… made sense.
He waved his hand.
"Everyone leave. I will speak with these gentlemen alone."
Guards. Eunuchs. Servants.
All of them withdrew.
The room fell silent.
Only Zhu Youshu and the bamboo hat men remained.
Then the leader reached up and removed his hat.
A face in his fifties appeared.
Old, but not dignified.
There was something unmistakably frivolous about him, the kind of expression that spoke of a lifetime spent indulging rather than restraining.
Zhu Youshu stared.
Something felt familiar.
Too familiar.
Then it hit him.
A member of the Zhu clan.
The man smiled.
"My name is Zhu Cunji."
Zhu Youshu jolted upright.
"The heir of the Qin Prince. The number one feudal house under heaven."
Another man removed his hat.
"I am the Prince of Tang. Zhu Yujian."
Another.
"I am the Prince of Rui. Zhu Changhao."
Another.
"I am the Prince of Chu. Zhu Huadie."
One after another, they revealed themselves.
Zhu Youshu was completely stunned.
"You… all of you left your fiefs and came here to see me… I mean… to see your junior?"
He corrected himself quickly.
These men were all senior to him in generation.
He could not put on airs in front of them.
Zhu Cunji leaned back, completely at ease.
"We came to save you."
Zhu Youshu blinked.
"Save me? You have a way to wipe out the rebels outside and get me out of here?"
"No," Zhu Cunji said calmly. "Not that kind of saving."
He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a sheet of paper, slapping it down on the table.
"This is a page from King Yama's Book of Life and Death."
"Dao Xuan Tianzun retrieved it from the underworld and revealed it to us."
"Take a look."
Zhu Youshu hesitated, then picked it up.
His eyes scanned the text.
"Zhu Youshu, sixth generation Prince of De. In the first month of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Jinan falls to Qing forces. Zhu Youshu is captured. In the second month of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, he dies beyond the frontier."
His hands trembled.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
"What… what is this nonsense?"
"It is not even the twelfth year yet. How can it already record what happens years later?"
"And dying beyond the frontier? Who would believe something like this?"
Zhu Cunji folded his hands, completely calm.
"I told you. This is the Book of Life and Death."
"If Dao Xuan Tianzun does nothing, this is your fate."
"King Yama has already written it down. When the time comes, the underworld will collect your soul accordingly."
Zhu Youshu snapped.
"Are you serious? You actually believe this?"
"Yes," all of them answered at once.
Zhu Youshu froze again.
If one person said it, he could dismiss it.
If everyone said it…
That was different.
Zhu Changhao stepped forward and handed him another sheet.
"Look at mine."
Zhu Youshu took it.
"Prince of Rui, Zhu Changhao. Fifth son of the Wanli Emperor. In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Chuang Wang Li Zicheng captures Xi'an. Zhu Changhao flees south under protection. In the seventeenth year, Zhang Xianzhong captures Chongqing. Zhu Changhao is captured and executed."
Zhu Youshu frowned hard.
"This is impossible. Chuang Wang is already dead."
Zhu Changhao nodded.
"Because Dao Xuan Tianzun intervened."
"If you imagine this world without his intervention, the outcome becomes much easier to believe."
Zhu Youshu went silent.
Zhu Yujian then took out another page and handed it over.
"Look at mine."
Zhu Youshu read it.
And instantly felt his scalp explode.
It described the fall of the Ming.
The rise of a new regime.
The Qing entering the Central Plains.
Then the Southern Ming.
Then Zhu Yujian himself ascending the throne.
And what followed after that…
He did not even dare finish reading.
"This is madness," Zhu Youshu muttered. "How can you believe something like this? It is clearly fabricated."
"Fabricated?" Zhu Cunji laughed.
"Dao Xuan Tianzun does not fabricate things."
"He is not a fraud. He is a true immortal."
"Why would he lie to a group of mortals like us?"
"On the contrary, it is because he already knows how the world would have unfolded that he chose to intervene."
"That is why things look the way they do now."
Zhu Youshu stood there, speechless.
Zhu Cunji leaned forward slightly.
"We are here to save you."
Zhu Youshu forced himself to think.
"If Dao Xuan Tianzun has already dealt with Chuang Wang and blocked the Qing, then our recorded fates should no longer apply."
"So what exactly do I need saving from?"
Zhu Cunji sighed.
"The times have changed."
"Not long ago, the Prince of Shu resisted the people and refused to adapt."
"The People's Militia stormed his residence."
"All his property was confiscated."
"He has been sentenced to fifty years of labor reform."
Zhu Youshu's face went pale.
"What?"
Zhu Cunji continued.
"After seeing that, Zhu Yujian came to me."
"If we do not act, most members of the Zhu clan will end up the same way."
Zhu Youshu inhaled sharply.
Zhu Cunji's gaze turned serious.
"Give up your land."
"Return ownership to the state."
"This is inevitable."
"If you refuse, there is only one outcome."
Zhu Youshu's voice dropped.
"And my family? How are we supposed to live?"
Zhu Cunji smiled.
"Come with me."
"I will teach you how to become a private entrepreneur."
"Do something that actually benefits the world."