By the Same Hand

Zhang Lanhe chuckled softly, and everyone around him instantly felt a chill wind sweep over them. A sense of danger sent shivers down their spines.

They felt as though a beast were circling among them. Restless and utterly inhuman, it might pounce and kill them at any moment!

Zhang Lanhe's green eyes grew colder, his displeasure becoming plain to see.

The others wailed inwardly: Why is the Imperial Preceptor suddenly angry again? It's not as though we refused to hand the man over. If you have any other demands, just say so.

No one could fathom Zhang Lanhe's thoughts, yet none dared approach and ask, afraid he might suddenly turn his anger on them.

The Eighth Prince, Xie Tingchun, felt he was being made a fool of. He summoned his courage and pressed for an answer. "If you are dissatisfied, Imperial Preceptor, you are welcome to inspect the other servants in my residence. Why say nothing and leave us guessing?"

Whether we live or die, just say it outright. Then we won't have to waste our energy guessing what you mean.

You might as well tell me you're simply looking for trouble. At least I'd feel better.

The Imperial Preceptor's heart was as unfathomable as a needle at the bottom of the sea.

"No need. I already know the answer." Zhang Lanhe shook his head in refusal, his voice cold. He looked thoughtfully at the strip of cloth around his wrist. "He isn't here. Continuing the search would only be a waste of effort."

His guess about the youth's hands, which did not look accustomed to rough work, had been right. The youth was no Shadow Guard. He was not even one of the Eighth Prince's men.

Zhang Lanhe reviewed what they had said during their second meeting and more or less understood.

That youth had deceived everyone. He was not one of the Eighth Prince's men. It seemed more likely that he had a grudge against the Eighth Prince and had deliberately used Zhang Lanhe to strike at him.

And he had succeeded.

Everyone had been caught in his scheme.

Zhang Lanhe had always liked using others against his enemies to avoid dirtying his own hands. Now, instead, someone else had used him as a blade to stab another man.

Their positions of control had been reversed in an instant. Zhang Lanhe felt that the man was taming him, a snake whose wild nature remained unchanged.

Zhang Lanhe instantly grew excited. He felt they would be the most perfectly matched people in the world, that they would be the same kind of person.

Who could he be?

The Eighth Prince had offended quite a few people, leaving him with a rather broad search. What a useless piece of trash-not even a single useful scrap of information.

Zhang Lanhe grew increasingly disdainful of the Eighth Prince, who had no value left for him to exploit.

He performed a divination in his mind.

Perhaps Heaven had taken pity on him. The divination did not indicate the man's precise whereabouts, but he could find a clue in the bustling marketplace.

Zhang Lanhe hurried off toward the marketplace. "My apologies for the intrusion."

The Eighth Prince found the whole thing utterly baffling.

He pondered for a moment, then finally concluded that the Imperial Preceptor was, in fact, picking on him.

After the Imperial Preceptor left, the Eighth Prince slammed a fist onto his desk, seething with resentment. "Damn him! He was clearly targeting me, just finding an excuse to torment me! He's only the Imperial Preceptor. What gives him the right to be so arrogant?"

The Eighth Prince's heart brimmed with murderous intent toward the Imperial Preceptor. He longed to have his head cut off and displayed in public.

He truly wanted to know why successive dynasties had placed such importance on the Imperial Preceptor. They clearly feared his existence, yet continued to rely on him. Even princes like them had to bow to his whims.

Those charlatans playing at supernatural powers ought to be driven to the frontier to herd sheep.

The princes had asked the old emperor before, but their imperial father had only told them that this was a secret known solely to the emperors through the generations.

If they wanted to know, they would have to inherit the throne. The moment they ascended would be the moment they learned the truth.

"Your Highness, don't act rashly. Once you ascend the throne, won't the Imperial Preceptor's fate be entirely up to you?" His advisers held the Eighth Prince back to keep him from running wild. "The Imperial Preceptor may be powerful now, but that doesn't mean he always will be."

If all else failed, they could wait a few decades. Once the Imperial Preceptor was old and frail, how could he possibly contend with them?

Zhang Lanhe did not care in the slightest what others thought of him. There was no one in the world who did not dislike him.

Zhang Lanhe simply enjoyed watching them loathe him while being powerless to do anything about him.

Zhang Lanhe walked alone through the bustling marketplace. The thronging streets were full of everyday life, and the people around him quietly moved aside at the sight of his lavish clothes.

"I remember he liked lively places. Would there be some trace of him somewhere crowded like this?"

Zhang Lanhe walked silently through the marketplace and spotted a familiar figure.

"What are you doing?" Seeing Li Xu skulking about with a book in his hands, Zhang Lanhe walked over and patted his shoulder to stop him. "Have you been causing trouble behind our backs again?"

Whenever Li Xu went quiet and furtive, he was always doing something bad behind their backs.

Li Xu had been planning to take the freshly printed picture book to Xie Huizhou so he could see how it had turned out. He had not expected to run into the Imperial Preceptor, Zhang Lanhe. His heart nearly leaped into his throat.

Why is the Imperial Preceptor alone in the marketplace?

He really was unlucky.

Despite his nerves, Li Xu did not forget to hide the picture book behind his back. His evasive gaze made it obvious he was hiding something. "This is just an ordinary Spring Palace Painting, utterly vulgar and shameless. It isn't suitable for you to see."

Li Xu's vision went dark. He could hardly believe his rotten luck.

I'm done for. This picture book is plainly a series of illustrations slandering the Imperial Preceptor, Zhang Lanhe. What will happen if he sees it?

It did not matter if he died, but he could not expose Xie Huizhou. How would he ever answer to him afterward?

They would not even be able to remain friends.

Li Xu clutched the picture book ever more tightly behind him. Under the gaze of Zhang Lanhe's green eyes, he nearly broke into a cold sweat, feeling as tormented as though he were walking through a mountain of blades and a sea of fire.

Zhang Lanhe saw that he was already breaking into a cold sweat. As far as he knew, Li Xu had always been outrageously bold, and the publishing house he ran carried all sorts of treasonous books.

There was no way he would be this afraid of being caught over a mere Spring Palace Painting.

There was something wrong with this Spring Palace Painting.

Zhang Lanhe asked him for the book. "Cousin, let me check whether that's really what it is. We mustn't let wicked people lead you astray. How would I account for it if you went down the wrong path?"

One look would tell him whether anything was wrong.

"Cousin, please have pity on me! If Father finds out I've been misbehaving, I'll have to kneel in the ancestral hall!"

Li Xu capitulated at lightning speed, hoping Zhang Lanhe had no interest in such things and would let him escape this calamity.

Last time, he had spent a stretch kneeling in the ancestral hall, and the marks were still on his knees. He did not want to suffer like that again.

Zhang Lanhe's decisions brooked no challenge. He held out his hand to Li Xu and lowered his voice in command. "Hand it over. Let me take a look. Don't make me say it twice."

As though bewitched, Li Xu told himself rationally that he absolutely could not let the Imperial Preceptor see the contents, yet he could not stop himself from presenting the picture book with his own hands.

By the time he came to his senses and realized something was wrong, that treasonous picture book was already in Zhang Lanhe's pale hands.

Li Xu's face turned ashen. He felt he was finished.

The name "Spring Studio Hermit" was written on the picture book's title page.

Seeing the familiar name, Zhang Lanhe finally recalled the artist people had mentioned during the Spring Hunt. He seemed to be a mysterious artist who had recently become very popular.

Come to think of it, he had said he would buy a picture book to take a look, but he had forgotten all about it while busy searching for someone.

Zhang Lanhe casually opened it for a look, then froze at the familiar style.

Leaving the contents aside.

This picture book was extremely similar to the paintings by Xie Huizhou he had previously collected. He could be almost certain they were by the same hand.