"After all this time investigating, have you found any leads?"
Emperor Xiping, Zhao Shu, dressed in a round-collared vermilion everyday robe, stood behind a broad sandalwood table. With one hand behind his back, he casually wielded a small mixed-hair brush, sketching at leisure. Yet the Tiger Reclining Beneath Pines beneath his brush possessed both spirit and form. Though the tiger neither bared its fangs nor brandished its claws, the majestic dominance of the lord of beasts, looking down upon all around it, seemed ready to burst through the paper!
Shen Fa stood before the table with his head bowed, his python robe and black gauze hat immaculate. His eyes fixed on his toes, he answered softly and respectfully, "Your Majesty, the people pulling the strings behind this affair come from extremely complicated backgrounds. So far, I have uncovered senior provincial officials, great aristocratic clans, traces of the Bright Cult and the Tartars, and a handful of imperial relatives... I have yet to determine who masterminded it."
"Oh?"
Emperor Xiping seemed unsurprised. He smiled faintly. "Even members of the imperial clan dared to join in?"
Shen Fa's gaze grew solemn. He lowered his eyes to his nose and his thoughts to his heart.
Emperor Xiping straightened, shook out his broad sleeves, and smiled calmly. "What is there that you cannot say between sovereign and subject? Speak freely. I pardon you in advance!"
Shen Fa lowered his head and answered haltingly, "Please quell your anger, Your Majesty. Those implicated... are the Prince of Chu and the Prince of Xiang. However, their involvement is not particularly deep. Perhaps villains deceived them and used them as blades..."
He could hardly help hesitating. Both princes he named were Emperor Xiping's younger brothers, and the Prince of Chu was even his full brother.
Emperor Xiping had