Soulmates

Xie Huizhou, an avid shipper of this pairing, was thrilled.

Whenever he thought about it late at night, he would sit up, as he had several times already, pondering where to sit at the Qionglin Banquet for the best spot to quietly enjoy the romantic mayhem.

After all, a universally adored protagonist had exactly that sort of protagonist halo, making everyone around him fall in love with him.

His Shadow Guard had reported that Zhou Yanqing had already befriended quite a few of the devoted supporting men from the original novel. Most would attend the Qionglin Banquet, so there would be a good show to watch.

The whole Qionglin Banquet would be a romantic battlefield of I love you, you love him, and he loves someone else. He loved this sort of exciting, entertaining drama.

Before the Qionglin Banquet began, Li Xu, who spent his days busy with the Bookshop's business, came to pester Xie Huizhou to draw again.

"Zhouzhou~"

His eyes instantly lit up at the sight of Xie Huizhou. He looked at him as though he were the God of Wealth, all but ready to put him on an altar right there.

His cloying voice gave Xie Huizhou goose bumps. He pushed away the fluffy head leaning toward him. "Nobody's this attentive without wanting something. What are you after?"

Whenever Li Xu spoke like that, he wanted a favor.

Li Xu cut straight to the point. "Zhouzhou, look how long it's been. Why isn't the next volume ready yet? Just look at how many people are clamoring for your drawings, like hungry chicks waiting to be fed."

The last Phoenix Painting had sold spectacularly well. Though its plot was outrageous, plenty of people had still bought it in wide-eyed shock, only to grow more hooked the more they read.

Who didn't love reading scandalous stories about the Imperial Preceptor, as unattainable as a flower high on a snowy mountain?

And these were erotic tales involving the Imperial Preceptor and generals, marquises, prime ministers, and other powerful figures. They seemed thoroughly fake, but people loved reading them.

The melodrama was addictive, and they devoured it with gusto.

Spring Studio Hermit was a genius!

Ordinary people wouldn't dare openly draw scandalous stories about the Imperial Preceptor in the Capital City, let alone anything this explicit. The Imperial Preceptor was not someone to provoke.

Having read only part of the story, they were left wanting more, desperate to know what happened next.

And so, people lingered around the Bookshop every day, urging Spring Studio Hermit to hurry up and draw the next installment before the Imperial Preceptor tracked him down and killed him.

"Why isn't it out yet? Is your Bookshop secretly keeping it all to yourselves?"

"I have plenty of money! It's not as if I can't afford it. Hurry up and tell the artist to keep drawing!"

"Please! Let me read just one more volume! Just one! The suspense is killing me!"

"Tell me where the artist is! I'll go to his door and supervise him myself! He'll do it whether he likes it or not!"

Li Xu, who had made a tidy fortune from the previous volume, smelled money and couldn't wait to rake in another haul.

Only an idiot would pass up a chance to make money.

His family was wealthy, but nobody complained about having too much money.

"Now you're not afraid the Imperial Preceptor will find out we're slandering him?" Xie Huizhou was a little surprised. He still remembered how terrified Li Xu had been at first. "You really would sell the rope used to hang you, so long as you could make money from it."

Now this was a true capitalist of the Great Xia Dynasty, willing to risk his life for money.

Li Xu brushed it off. Zhang Lanhe hadn't troubled him all this time, so they were perfectly safe. There was absolutely no way this would blow up in their faces.

"That cousin of mine has never been interested in erotic pictures. He thinks they sully his eyes. Chances are he doesn't even know what we're up to. Just draw without worrying. If anything happens, I'll take responsibility."

If the Imperial Preceptor ever read this stuff, he would chop his own head off and be struck by lightning every day.

Hearing his dire oath, Xie Huizhou felt too awkward to mention that he had already seen his own work on a bookshelf at the National Preceptor's Residence.

As the artist himself, even he felt too embarrassed to keep drawing.

Zhang Lanhe hadn't expressed any opinion about it, so it should be fine, right?

Several times at the National Preceptor's Residence, he had seen Zhang Lanhe holding Phoenix Painting and reading it. The sight of that aloof, silver-haired beauty reading his drawings was truly jarring.

Xie Huizhou had been so embarrassed that he wanted to flee the Capital City in the dead of night.

Several times, he had started to ask what Zhang Lanhe thought, only to lose the nerve when he saw the meaningful look in the other man's eyes.

Xie Huizhou felt that something terrible would happen if he dared to ask, so he wasn't going to risk it.

"Go ahead and do it. I went to a temple and asked a master for you. You can draw it. Nothing will happen," Li Xu continued urging him. "The master even said that if you keep at it, you might find a good match-someone who feels a connection after seeing your drawings."

Li Xu was a little excited.

Xie Huizhou's future partner might be someone who felt that connection. How wonderful would it be to have a soulmate?

Even if the connection came from reading smut.

Xie Huizhou was speechless. "Then I'd rather not."

It couldn't possibly be that perverted stalker fan, could it?

Please, no.

"But for the money, I suppose I can force myself to draw."

Xie Huizhou wanted more silver too, so he could run away at any time and live as a wealthy man. He got to work drawing with gusto.

Imperial Preceptor, I'm sorry, but this is for my future!

After all, you're destined to kill me. I have to save myself first.

At worst, I'll redeem you in the drawings!

"Ah Xu, do you think demons exist in this world?" As Xie Huizhou drew a beautiful silver snake tail, curiosity suddenly prompted him to ask, "Snake demons, for instance."

For some reason, he thought of the snake tail that had been winding around his waist lately. The feel of its scales was still vivid.

His experiences lately had told him beyond doubt that a white snake really did lurk in the Capital City, yet the book he had read said there were no demons at all, that it was all nonsense.

When he read the novel, it had never mentioned demons existing in its world, but after transmigrating into it, he had found that something was wrong.

If demons didn't exist, then what was the person who had been pestering him lately?

The two contradicted each other. Which was true?

Surely he hadn't gone mad.

Li Xu froze for a moment, then reached out to check Xie Huizhou's forehead. "You don't have a fever. Why are you talking nonsense in broad daylight? How could demons exist in this world? Only children believe that."

Though rumors had always circulated in the Capital City that the Imperial Preceptor was a demon incarnate, Li Xu had never believed that nonsense.

His business brought him into contact with foreigners, including plenty of blond, blue-eyed customers. Hair and eye colors varied throughout the world, so the Imperial Preceptor's silver hair and green eyes didn't seem strange.

Demons, indeed. It was nothing but slander against someone different.

Li Xu didn't believe a single word of the talk about demons.

He looked from Xie Huizhou to his drawings, then suddenly spoke in anguish. "Zhouzhou! Don't tell me you've become so obsessed with drawing that you're mistaking your stories for reality?"

Oh no. His God of Wealth and dearest friend, Xie Huizhou, had become addled from illness.

Xie Huizhou: "?"

"It's all right. We're brothers, after all. I won't give up on you."

"Don't get carried away. I'm just thinking about new material." Xie Huizhou pondered for a moment. "So there are no demons?"

He wanted to investigate, but had no idea where to begin.

He had an intuition that whether demons existed was very important to him. He needed to uncover the truth.

"Why not investigate the imperial palace during the Qionglin Banquet? Isn't there a legend about a white snake being sealed away?" Li Xu suddenly leaned toward him with a mischievous air and shared a rumor. "According to the rumors, the place where it was sealed is very likely the imperial palace."

As a child, Li Xu had heard stories about the white snake from his parents.

The enormous silver-white snake wound and coiled like mountains and rivers, a magnificent sight. His eyes shone like two green lanterns, and his immense body struck fear into those who saw him.

Some said the white snake had already become a flood dragon and was undergoing his tribulation. Sooner or later, he would ride the clouds and mist through a storm, transform into a dragon, and depart.

It was said that the founding emperor had lured the snake demon to this place and used an array to seal him away. Chains kept the white snake from escaping, and the emperor had built the imperial palace above him as his cage.

Supposedly, during thunderstorms, some people had heard the demon snake dragging his chains through the damp air. Some had even heard the giant snake's furious roars.

If someone found where the white snake was sealed and severed the chains binding him, he would regain his freedom.

But legends were only legends, after all. Nobody had ever seen a demon with their own eyes.

Li Xu pronounced the rumors false.

Xie Huizhou considered it for a moment and decided that exploring the imperial palace might not be a bad idea.

With so many people at the Qionglin Banquet, what would be wrong with stepping out midway to sober up and have a look around?

It was perfectly reasonable.

As they talked, Xie Huizhou handed his new drawings to Li Xu, who left thoroughly satisfied.

Xie Huizhou's new drawings stirred up heated discussion throughout the Capital City. Even the Eighth Prince, who was confined to his residence, heard about them.