In the Golden Dragon Hall, pages rustled as they were turned, the movements growing increasingly impatient.
One look at Xie Wangqiu told the eunuchs attending him in the Golden Dragon Hall that they were in for trouble again today.
Serving a sovereign was like living beside a tiger. Serving a tyrant made them even more cautious, wondering whether they would ever see tomorrow's sun.
Bang-
Before long, Xie Wangqiu swept everything off the desk. Brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones scattered across the floor, as chaotic as his volatile moods.
Xie Wangqiu's fury startled the palace servants in the Golden Dragon Hall. They wondered why the emperor had turned on them again for no apparent reason, and who had set this madman off this time.
"Who exactly is this painter?! Why have you failed to find a single trace of him after all this time? Useless incompetents!"
He berated his subordinates, but his curses were really directed at the Spring Studio Hermit's cunning and malice.
How dare he paint that!
The Spring Studio Hermit had depicted him as sinister and vulgar, with several trusted confidants sharing his bed. Those trifles were one thing.
But he had actually laid all his schemes bare for everyone under heaven to see, making him look like a fool. It kindled an inexplicable fury in his heart.
Xie Wangqiu wished he could drag out the painter who dared fabricate stories about him right now and torture him mercilessly, teaching him that failing to know his place could get him killed.
The Spring Studio Hermit knew far too much about him, understood him better than anyone at his side. It made Xie Wangqiu's blood run cold.
The Spring Studio Hermit was like an invisible ghost beside him, seeing everything he had done since childhood with perfect clarity,