The Spring Studio Hermit, who had vanished for so long, resurfaced and worked nonstop to produce the subsequent paintings, instantly setting off a buying frenzy.
The Bookshop worked through the night to print more copies. Soon, everyone in the Capital City had one, eagerly buying them and gathering to read them.
Whatever the situation in the capital, the closer a dynasty drew to its end, the more people wanted to find a little pleasure amid their suffering and the chaos.
They cried out again and again as they read, and even wanted to burn the paintings that very night to avoid bringing disaster upon themselves.
"Th-this... is this really something he can put in a painting?"
"Mr. Chunzhai, if all else fails, let's just draw more Spring Palace Paintings. This sort of thing is too dangerous. I'm afraid your entire extended family will be wiped out."
"I never imagined His Majesty was so depraved in private. The Son of Heaven has no virtue, and the common people have no recourse."
"Plenty more people will die at the Painting Appreciation Banquet. Using paintings to lure people to their deaths-how terrifying. As long as I flee with my whole family fast enough, the confiscations and exterminations won't catch up to me."
"Who exactly is the Spring Studio Hermit? He knows everything under heaven, great and small, and can predict the future too. Could he really be the Imperial Preceptor?"
"Surely the Imperial Preceptor wouldn't draw a Spring Palace Painting of himself..."
As usual, Imperial Preceptor Zhang Lanhe took the blame for Xie Huizhou.
Many people saw the danger of a bloodbath in Xie Huizhou's paintings and harbored their own thoughts. Some ran, some fled, while those unafraid of death continued to hold their ground in the Capital City.
After all, elsewhere,