Chapter 188

Chapter 188: Probably Done For

Shang Xing Yu took the item Sheng Zhi Wan handed over and held it under the candlelight. He saw the scene clearly: deep winter, an ice-sealed waterway, a raging fire, burning cotton bales, and people from the Ci Ji Orphanage wailing as they ran about to put out the flames.

At the very end, a group of Officials in Ya Men Runner uniforms stood not far away, gathered with several people who looked like Gentry. The whole scene looked as if Du Yi Zhi’s letter had come to life on the paper. Anyone who did not know better would have thought the painter had witnessed it in person.

Even the figures were drawn vividly, especially the faces of those Gentry, each expression lifelike. Then Shang Xing Yu’s eyes widened in shock. This brushwork, this technique, felt painfully familiar.

It looked like the style of a Garden Stroll Painting he had just acquired not long ago. But how could that be possible?

Shang Xing Yu’s gaze slowly, slowly moved to the end of the scroll. There were a few tiny characters there.

Xian Yuan Zi.

His guess was confirmed, yet what rose in his chest was a towering storm. Shang Xing Yu asked, “Princess, do you know Xian Yuan Zi?”

It was far more than just knowing. But he did not dare say what he suspected. If people found out that the Painting Immortal Xian Yuan Zi, praised by countless scholars and never found even by the Emperor, was actually a woman-and a woman not even twenty-it would be…

Shang Xing Yu’s eyelids twitched wildly.

Sheng Zhi Wan shot him a look. “Young Master Shang Er already knows, doesn’t he? Tomorrow, you’ll have to put this painting out. Also, find a few Hired Shill. Young Master Shang Er should know what they need to say.”

Shang Xing Yu nodded. “I understood. It’s just… Princess, could this painting have something added to it?”

Shang Xing Yu looked at Sheng Zhi Wan. Sheng Zhi Wan froze, then saw him draw a dagger from nowhere and drag it across his finger.

At once, several drops of blood spattered onto the painting.

Sheng Zhi Wan understood what he meant. The corner of her mouth twitched as she quickly handed him a handkerchief.

Shang Xing Yu took it and casually stuffed it into his robe. Sheng Zhi Wan frowned, but before she could speak, Shang Xing Yu said, “With a Painting Immortal’s blood-stained work like this, the Du Clan and the Ji Zhou Prefect are probably finished!”

“Not the Du Clan. The Southern Du Branch,” Sheng Zhi Wan corrected.

Shang Xing Yu hurriedly agreed. Without drawing attention, he pushed the handkerchief deeper into his clothes. Sheng Zhi Wan saw the movement, her lashes trembling, but she pretended not to notice.

In truth, Sheng Zhi Wan had not painted this based only on Du Yi Zhi’s letter. In her previous life, three years earlier, she had passed through Ji Zhou Manor with several Master. It had been a brief stop, but the scenery back then should not have differed much from the present.

She only needed to paint the framework.

As for the people in the painting, Du Yi Zhi was obvious. Ji Zhou Prefect Yan Hai, and the other Du Family members Du Yi Zhi had mentioned in his letter, were also people she had seen in her previous life.

So she did not painstakingly draw their features. She only captured their posture and expressions. Anyone who knew them would be able to guess.

That way, even if burning the cotton had not been done personally by these people, so what? The Painting Immortal Xian Yuan Zi had seen it with her own eyes. She had used her brush to put that misery onto paper.

Once the mud had rotted in their pants, how could they argue their way out? Those noble youths who worshiped the Painting Immortal would never believe their excuses.

The next morning, at Gathering Sages Teahouse.

As the largest and most luxurious teahouse in the capital city, Gathering Sages Teahouse had long displayed poems and paintings by scholars on its poetry wall. Many capital city Scholar came not only for tea and music, but also to check the new works posted on the first day of each month.

The Shopkeeper had said it plainly: any poem or painting chosen for the wall received a thousand taels of silver as a viewing fee.

A thousand taels. Even for many officials’ sons and noble youths who could afford to come here, it was not a small sum. And it was not only about money-it was about face and reputation.

Everyone knew the works hung on the poetry wall were the best of the best. Great Scholar from academies, talented men from every province, even the Crown Prince Grand Preceptor had left poems here.

If your work hung beside theirs, did it not prove you could stand with them?

The wall still bore an inscription by Great Scholar Du. But today, everyone who walked into Gathering Sages Teahouse saw Clerks carefully taking down every poem and painting on display.

In their place, a plain white cloth covered the entire wall.

“What are they doing?” a newly arrived Scholar downstairs asked, confused.

“Today isn’t the first of the month. Is there some shocking masterpiece that made the Proprietor break the rules?”

The Clerks did not answer. They only smoothed the white cloth with care.

That mystery only drew more curiosity. More and more Scholar gathered in the main hall. By the time even the street outside was packed with people, the Shopkeeper finally clapped his hands.

A thin cord was pulled, and the white cloth slid away. A painting slowly appeared before everyone.

At first glance, it even looked rough. Everyone present could tell it had been rushed, drawn in a short time.

Yet the moment it was revealed, it seized every gaze.

That unique technique. That style.

“Painting Immortal-Xian Yuan Zi!” a Scholar shouted.

“What? It’s really the Painting Immortal’s work?”

“Heavens! Who is the Proprietor of Gathering Sages Teahouse? He even managed to get a Painting Immortal painting! Even His Majesty wanted the Painting Immortal to paint one for the Empress Dowager, and he couldn’t find the person!”

“And now we can see Xian Yuan Zi’s painting here!”

“What kind of fortune is this?”

As they shouted, they could not help pushing forward. Countless Scholar’s eyes burned with feverish light. When scholars worshiped a sage or an Immortal, they could become downright mad.

But then someone finally noticed something wrong.

“Wait! Look there-is that blood?”

“Why would there be blood on a Painting Immortal’s work?”

“What a waste! What a waste!”

“The scene on this painting… I… why does it feel familiar?” a Scholar suddenly said.

“Familiar? Did you personally witness what’s in the painting? It’s just a painting by the Painting Immortal.”

“No-not that!” The man’s eyes went wide as he shouted, “I remember now! That’s my home! My family lives right next to Ci Ji Hall!”

“I haven’t gone back in three years. How can it be painted so much like it?”

“Brother Li, where is your home?” someone asked.

“Ji Zhou Manor!” he answered.

At that, the hall fell quiet.

Someone stared at the scene in the painting, then looked at the person beside them. “I heard Ji Zhou Manor is suffering a severe cold disaster right now.”

“I heard the waterway in Ji Zhou Manor has frozen over…”

“So this painting…” Someone pointed at it, stunned as the words slipped out. “This is a scene from Ji Zhou Manor?!”