#so there.

Bingge is miserable. He's desperate to find his own kind shizun, but he just can't seem to figure out how to gain one, so eventually he sucks it up and asks the universe for a hint; he goes to Madam Meiyin.

Madam Meiyan, understandably, doesn't understand what he wants from her. They go back and forth for a bit before she finally, somewhat wrongly, concludes that Bingge is attempting to search more seriously for his soulmate. Bingge hadn't realized he HAD a soulmate and says so outloud, much to the Madam's exasperated disappointment. She tells him that his soulmate has been waiting for him for a long time, and that even Fate was beginning to feel unsure if they'd ever come to have a decent relationship- which was an odd way to phrase "meeting", but Bingge wasn't about to get on the Madam's bad side by nitpicking words. However! This did leave him at a bit of a loss. All he wanted was a kind shizun-

Oh. Wait. Could that pathetic other version of himself and that kind shizun have been...?

In his kind-shizun-addled mind, he tentatively concludes that that must be why those two were married: because they are soulmates! So theoretically, if he just searched for his own soulmate, he'd surely find his kind shizun too, right?

With his permission, Madam Meiyin reads his fortune. Slowly...she starts to make a face.

"Junshang, you..."

"..."

As it would turn out, they'd already met before. Bingge hovers in a moment of terror wondering if his old, cruel Shizun had infact been his soulmate all along before Madam Meiyin begins to describe them as, "Someone who admired you on first meeting, who did their absolute best to earnestly and sincerely earn your attention and regard-" her face twists in an out of character wince, "-only for you to banish them from your side."

That...

Did Bingge know someone like that?

Oh, sure, many played at admiration, and many more strove to gain his attentions, but "earnestly"? "Sincerely"? As for banishment...well, there certainly were not many compared to those executed, but that still left a significant number of names.

The longer Bingge sat in silence, the more the Madam's expression grew to be quite terrible indeed.

"Surely Junshang has some idea of who this one speaks of."

...he truly didn't.

She huffed, "Your son, Junshang."

His- What?!

----

So. It turns out that soulmates are not always romantic in nature. On one hand, this was good news for his harem. On the other hand, this was...really, quite terrible news for Bingge's desired future happiness.

But also- "Earnest"?? "Sincere"??? He'd banished his son for conspiring against him! He might have some odd lapses in memory due to Xin Mo and random bouts of Aphrodisiac Induced Fevers, but he remembers that very clearly!! There had been evidence!!!

Except when he tells her this, the Madam’s face flattens with the sort of despairing, deadpan expression one takes when listening to an underqualified idiot speak about things they don't understand.

"I am sure it is him, Junshang. There is no one in this world who loves you more."

But that doesn't...that didn't make sense! The evidence his wives presented-

His wives. Who...would definitely have motive to want to be rid of him. Would hate to see any son not of their own blood close to their dear Emperor.

curious because i definitely have noticed the shift from what i presume has been mostly rem to mostly nonrem dreams, but i have seen some people say that when they started smoking weed regularly it made them stop remembering dreams altogether

i definitely don't get elaborate narratives i can remember in detail upon waking to the degree that i could before i smoked, but i still get very vivid scenes and sometimes i get more involved narratives as well, though they tend to be more rooted in memories than wholly fantastic scenarios. in the past several years i've started getting a lot of recurring settings as well, to the point of recognizing locations in-dream and becoming lucid as a result, lol