He understood him so well

"The artwork is quite good. This artist is truly outstanding-even the court painters could hardly match him."

Although the album's content was lurid, its superb artwork made it a work of art. The combination did not feel vulgar or obscene; instead, it had considerable aesthetic appeal.

It used a comic-strip format never before seen in the Great Xia Dynasty to tell a richly eventful story, making it immensely eye-catching.

It was refreshingly novel and made one want to linger over it.

Li Xu was drenched in sweat, but he chimed in, "Yes, yes, the artwork really is good. That's why everyone likes it so much."

These were the most popular illustrations at their bookshop lately, their very own money tree.

He would have been happier if Zhang Lanhe had not caught him on the spot.

Zhang Lanhe chuckled and continued his appraisal. "This is a very interesting illustrated album."

His smile gave Li Xu goosebumps. What does he mean by that? Is he being sarcastic, condemning us for running wild?

Every artist had his own style and unique ideas. Remembering Xie Huizhou's paintings in the study, Zhang Lanhe recognized from the little clues that this was Xie Huizhou's work.

Xie Huizhou seemed such a well-behaved prince. Who would have thought he had this sort of hobby in private?

For a prince to spend his days drawing Spring Palace Paintings rather than thinking about the throne or becoming an idle royal was beyond anyone's expectations.

There was not the slightest sign that he intended to follow a proper path.

Seeing the incriminating evidence fall into Zhang Lanhe's hands, Li Xu looked utterly miserable. In his anxiety, he hurriedly asked the Imperial Preceptor for it back. "Cousin, give it back to me. This sort of thing isn't suitable for you."

He was deeply chagrined. Was I bewitched by the Imperial Preceptor's face? I actually handed my own things over to him in a daze.

The Imperial Preceptor's face really was devilishly beautiful.

"You can read it, but I can't? What sort of reasoning is that?" The Imperial Preceptor, Zhang Lanhe, imperiously made off with Li Xu's album, with no intention of returning it. "I'll take this one away to destroy it. Buy yourself another copy."

Zhang Lanhe had originally intended to return it. After all, as the august Imperial Preceptor who held sway over half the court, he could hardly be unable to afford a book.

But during his cursory glance through it just now, he had spotted a familiar figure in the album, making him abandon that intention.

The ethereal beauty in the pictures had silver hair and green eyes. Although the name was different, Zhang Lanhe could hardly fail to recognize himself. The pictures all but declared outright that this was the Imperial Preceptor, Zhang Lanhe.

People had always feared him so much that they did not even dare make a few sarcastic remarks to his face.

This was the first time Zhang Lanhe had seen anyone dare draw him so openly, and in a defamatory light at that. He found it quite novel.

He wanted to see just how Xie Huizhou would portray him.

No matter how Li Xu tried to persuade him, there was no getting back the book he had handed over himself. He could only watch helplessly as the Imperial Preceptor strode away with the album.

Li Xu was deeply chagrined. "It's all my fault for not checking the almanac before going out. Now the Imperial Preceptor has caught me red-handed. Has he figured out who it is or not?"

Li Xu could only gamble that the Imperial Preceptor had not recognized himself as the model for the character. After thinking it over, he decided he had better hurry and give Xie Huizhou a heads-up.

Li Xu dashed off toward Xie Huizhou.

Zhang Lanhe found a nearby restaurant and booked a private room, then had his subordinates buy all the other albums. Before long, he had the full collection before him and began reading from the beginning.

He might have been fine had he not looked, but once he did, an extraordinary light shone in his eyes.

Leaving aside the plot that deliberately smeared him, Zhang Lanhe realized that Xie Huizhou understood him extremely well, as though he had been watching the entire course of his life.

Because Xie Huizhou had dreamed of a white snake, he had thought of Zhang Lanhe's silver hair, like a white snake's scales, and his emerald eyes, and made the character called [Azure Lord] a snake demon.

Flowers carefully tended might never bloom, while a casually planted willow could grow into a grove. Xie Huizhou had inadvertently seen through Zhang Lanhe's secret.

Smelling the ink and paper, Zhang Lanhe felt as though he could see through the pages to that clear-eyed youth, unraveling his secret thread by thread and laying it bare.

[I've seen through you.]

In all those long years, this was the first person besides the successive emperors to expose his identity.

Zhang Lanhe sensed the other's mischief and provocation. In his excitement, his Snake Pupils revealed their true form, his forked tongue hissed, and shimmering scales emerged on his wrists.

The silver-haired beauty sat beside the table, his hair loose. At rest, he looked like an immortal, yet the sight of his eerie, frightening snake pupils and scales made him appear demonic.

Here, the mingling of the immortal and the uncanny made for an alluring scene.

"You nearly made me reveal my true form from excitement. Ninth Prince, you really have made me see you in a new light."

With no one around, Zhang Lanhe simply let himself go and continued reading in that state.

Xie Huizhou had boldly woven in the turbulent course of Zhang Lanhe's life, even writing in the sordid histories of several people he hated, along with all manner of melodrama and conflict.

What was rather outrageous was that Xie Huizhou had given everyone male-on-male sex scenes, which also formed the erotic portions of the book.

Leaving those aside, it was excellent overall and well worth savoring.

What astonished Zhang Lanhe was how thoroughly Xie Huizhou knew his experiences.

Even little details and experiences he had never told them about were described in considerable detail, as though Xie Huizhou had once stood beside him and watched.

Zhang Lanhe said in surprise, "Why does he know it so clearly? How can he know so much at such a young age?"

This seemed less like a human and more like a god looking down from on high as he struggled through the mortal world. Yet Xie Huizhou was unquestionably a mortal.

Try as he might, Zhang Lanhe could not make sense of it.

This, too, had slipped beyond his control. He wanted so badly to know the truth.

To keep investigating the truth, Zhang Lanhe read on.

Outside the window, branches swayed and rustled in the wind. Zhang Lanhe's long-still heart began beating powerfully, blending with the sound of the wind turning the album's pages into heavenly music.

It was like beautiful flowers blooming in the parched wasteland of his heart, like spring returning to the earth-extraordinarily breathtaking and stirring.

After reading for a long while, Zhang Lanhe had only one thought.

He understands me so well. I love it so much.

Zhang Lanhe had been lonely for so long. At last, someone had seen the unease and loneliness in his heart, had seen through everything about him.

This was the person who understood him best in the whole world.

"He understands me so well. He's my kindred spirit." The more Zhang Lanhe read, the more deeply stirred he became. Xie Huizhou was close to winning him over completely. "No wonder so many people love his artwork. He truly was born to draw. Apart from the slanderous parts, I like the rest too."

The plot was simply too enthralling. Though Zhang Lanhe found it melodramatic, he was hooked.

In the past, Zhang Lanhe had always heard his colleagues clutching piles of Spring Palace Paintings and calling them divine masterpieces, wishing they could buy ten copies to keep in their studies. He had always scoffed at their frenzy.

They were only Spring Palace Paintings. What was there to get so excited about? Humans and beasts always took a peculiar interest in such things.

Now that he had read them, he had fallen in love too. His only regret was not finding them sooner and missing so many treasures.

With great reverence, he lifted the album and continued reading.

The more he read, the more certain rather excessive angles in the pictures gave him other ideas.

Zhang Lanhe brushed his hand over a mole on the figure in the picture. "He even knows where this mole is. Look what I've discovered."

Ordinarily, Zhang Lanhe's clothes covered his body tightly. No one could possibly know such private details. At present, only one person knew about this.

Only the youth who had mysteriously vanished that night.

Zhang Lanhe paused, and understanding immediately dawned on him.

"So it was you, Your Highness."