Chapter 111: Chapter 103: Cannibal Painting

No wonder!

Zheng Xiu instantly understood why he had suddenly been locked up indefinitely as a suspect.

It was because the matter had already blown up without anyone realizing it.

But if the investigation ultimately revealed the killer was someone from the palace, it would be a Royal Family scandal.

No matter who the killer was, the Wei Royal Family couldn’t afford to lose face. What’s more, it was likely the Wei Clan already knew who the real culprit was but was unwilling to let the truth come out.

That was why the case had been taken away.

As long as they suppressed it for a while, the common people would gradually forget about it. Then, they could just find some excuse to release Master Zheng.

A happy ending for everyone, where the only ones who truly suffered were Princess Yu Run and Master Zheng.

He never would have thought that by forcing his way out of prison, he had inadvertently given the Wei Royal Family a convenient way out.

"Aren’t you curious who the killer is?" Zheng Xiu asked, looking at Feng Bei as he bit into an osmanthus cake.

"It has nothing to do with me." Feng Bei’s answer was perfectly reasonable.

She had no interest whatsoever in who the murderer was.

But Zheng Xiu was interested.

He had a feeling there was more to this than met the eye.

After his meal, Zheng Xiu whistled a few times. Qing Shisan wasn’t around, but a hidden lookout from the Brotherhood on the roof whistled back.

Zheng Xiu used the lookout to pass on an order for Qing Shisan to look into the matter, but to do so discreetly and avoid alerting anyone, especially people from the Royal Family.

Today was the second day of the special pardon. Completely unconcerned, Zheng Xiu calmly hid himself in the dungeon, used [Projection] to bring out his Zheng Shan Incarnation, and began to paint after laying out paper and grinding ink.

He had now gotten the hang of it and was trying to paint Feng Bei in various poses.

Ever since he comprehended [Danqing Painting Skill], his artistic abilities had improved as if by divine aid. The images of Feng Bei he painted were so vivid they seemed to leap off the page.

’What if I draw it as a comic strip?’

An idea struck Zheng Xiu. Looking at the painting of Feng Bei, he had a new thought. He took the scene from last night’s nightmare—of the youth and Feng Bei riding horses freely through the mortal world—and drew it as a ten-panel series, complete with dialogue. His [Danqing Painting Skill] gained a huge amount of practice, and his experience soared.

Satisfied, he hid the paintings away. Feng Bei must never see them. It also happened to be time for his alt-account to come online, so he used [Divine Travel]. Zheng Er pretended to have just woken from a long sleep and greeted Sister Feng Bei. Then, Zheng Xiu hid in the study and continued copying books.

He had already copied all of Ximen Bei’s works once, having sheared that sheep bald. Bored, Zheng Xiu began copying the Daqian History Books, secretly wondering if he should find a chance to meet the Great Scholar Ximen Bei and, while he was at it, find a way to increase the Great Scholar’s productivity.

’If it’s something that can be solved by throwing money at it, then it’ll be incredibly simple.’

Zheng Xiu had originally planned out the next two days perfectly.

But as noon approached, a visitor arrived, throwing his plans into disarray.

A visitor on the first day of the first month, the first day of the new year.

Zheng Xiu returned to the dungeon to switch accounts.

He combed his hair into the style of a tycoon, dressed impeccably, and, surrounded by his family members, Tycoon Zheng arrived at the front door.

On the way, Zheng Xiu learned from the Brotherhood’s lookouts that the visitors were once again from Ye Weiyang. Recalling Xu Shu’s visit last night, he wondered if something had happened to Ye Weiyang that required Feng Bei’s intervention.

Having inexplicably lost her temper last night and thrown Xu Shu out of the Zheng Family residence, Feng Bei felt a little bad about it, so she accompanied Zheng Xiu to meet the visitors.

A few whistles rose and fell from the Brotherhood. By the time Zheng Xiu reached the door, he already knew who was standing outside.

"Your whistles..."

Feng Bei, who had been silent the whole way, had actually been paying attention to the Brotherhood’s communicative whistles. She started to say something, then shook her head. "Never mind."

He didn’t know if she assumed he couldn’t understand them.

Zheng Xiu played dumb, pushing the door open with a welcoming smile.

"Well, well! I was wondering why the sky was so clear today. It’s because we have honored guests!"

Without her clothes, she was called Xi’er. Now, the woman standing outside was dressed... hmm, dressed in the Cloud-Sleeved Star-Concealing Black Robe. It was, of course, Yue Yan. She politely clasped her hands in a salute to Zheng Xiu. "Marquis, I am Yue Yan of Ye Weiyang. I have urgent business and request to see Lord Upper Three." With that, Yue Yan looked at Feng Bei, who was a few steps away from Zheng Xiu, and quickly made a few hand signs.

Zheng Xiu and Yue Yan’s strictly professional attitude made Dou Xie’s eyes go wide. ’So this is the world of adults,’ she thought.

Feng Bei frowned and was about to say something, but Yue Yan made a few more hand signs.

Zheng Xiu chuckled. "It seems this is an important matter for your department, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to listen in. If you don’t mind, please feel free to use the Zheng Family’s meeting hall. Someone, brew a pot of fine tea for our honored guests and have the kitchen prepare some exquisite pastries."

A family member accepted the order without a word and went to see to it.

There was nothing wrong with Tycoon Zheng’s words on the surface, but since they were already inside the Zheng residence, what was the difference between talking in the hall and having him present?

Everyone knew that his Brotherhood was everywhere in the Zheng Family estate.

Dou Xie was about to refuse, but Yue Yan just smiled with narrowed eyes and saluted again. "The Marquis is most generous. In that case, I will humbly accept your offer."

Huh?

Dou Xie was dumbfounded. ’Aren’t you even going to pretend anymore?’

She looked to Feng Bei for help.

Unexpectedly, Feng Bei also nodded. "Very well. Thank you for your trouble, Marquis." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

After signaling Zizi to lead the guests to the meeting hall, Zheng Xiu headed straight for the main building to switch accounts again.

This switching back and forth was a bit of a hassle, but now that the Zheng Family dungeon was built, it was much more convenient than switching at Heaven-Gazing Prison.

From now on, this place would be Master Zheng’s home field.

A youth came skipping in from the courtyard. The three of them—Feng Bei’s group—had just sat down to talk, and their expressions were a study in contrasts.

Yue Yan had a strange look on her face. ’This kid’s timing is a little too convenient.’

"Why did you barge in without asking?" Feng Bei’s tone initially sounded a bit reproachful, but a second later she crooked her finger at Zheng Xiu’s younger self. "Here, sit over here."

She motioned for the youth to sit beside her.

Feng Bei clearly didn’t treat the boy as an outsider.

If it were Zheng Xiu, Yue Yan would have had to keep up the pretense, and Dou Xie would have had to protest. But since it was Zheng Xiu’s alt-account, Zheng Er, neither Yue Yan nor Dou Xie could be bothered to waste their breath. After what happened at the Immortal Maiden Temple, Feng Bei’s spoiling of Zheng Er was plain for all to see; anyone who wasn’t blind could tell.

The youth took his seat, and Yue Yan’s expression turned serious as she got down to business.

For a while after, the only sound in the meeting hall was Yue Yan’s grave narration.

It turned out that Xu Shu’s visit last night and Yue Yan’s visit today were indeed about the same thing.

A series of bizarre cases.

In the heart of Shuzhou, over a thousand li south of the Imperial City, an ancient artifact that had been missing for decades had resurfaced.

It was a painting.

It was said to be the final work of a stunningly brilliant Painter from a hundred years ago, created just before his death.

This great Painter was a figure from a century ago, named Gongsun Mo. In his time, he was known as the "Ghost Painter." The records in the history books are somewhat exaggerated and inconsistent. Some claimed that the Ghost Painter Gongsun Mo didn’t paint mountains, rivers, or seas, nor did he paint fish, insects, birds, or beasts. He focused solely on painting tales of ghosts and oddities, of desolate tombs and lonely graves.

According to the history books, when his paintings were hung in a hall, the owner could hear the roars of Demon Fiends every night. Children who saw them would suffer from sleeplessness and recurring nightmares.

Over the past hundred years, the original works of the Ghost Painter Gongsun Mo had long since been lost to the turmoil of time.

Zheng Xiu could understand this. In this era, there was no concept of "protecting cultural relics," nor did they have the technology to keep a scroll from decaying for a century. It was normal for it to be lost to time.

The series of bizarre cases began when a destitute man, claiming to be a descendant of Gongsun Mo, pawned that authentic masterpiece at a pawnshop, warning the Shopkeeper not to unroll the scroll rashly.

Later, events unfolded just as Zheng Xiu had expected. To say "don’t open it" was basically an invitation to open it.

That very night, the Shopkeeper died suddenly at home. There wasn’t a single mark on his body, and Gongsun Mo’s painting had vanished into thin air.

"How are you sure the painting is the problem?"

Zheng Xiu’s interest was piqued. Perhaps it was his newly awakened Painter’s soul burning within him, but he took the initiative to ask.

Beside them, Dou Xie opened her mouth, wanting to say, ’Even if Lord Upper Three doesn’t treat you like an outsider, could you at least go through the proper channels and get a waist token first? Otherwise, we’ll get punished by our superiors when we get back.’

But Yue Yan just winked at Zheng Xiu’s alt-account. "Do you really think we at Ye Weiyang operate on baseless speculation?"

Feng Bei, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke. "Someone went. Who was it?"

"As expected of Lord Upper Three, your mind is sharp." Yue Yan held up five fingers and began to fold them down one by one. "Before that, from the West Seven Stars: Ang Ji and Bi Wu."

"From the East Seven Stars: Xin Hu and Wei Hu."

"All of them entered Shuzhou one after another, and we lost contact. Their Soul-Luring Lamps and Ravens have all disappeared. It’s highly likely... they all perished in Shuzhou."

"In total, four Constellations have entered Shuzhou, and none have returned."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xiu’s eyes lit up. "So, there are open Constellation positions?"

PFFT~ Dou Xie, who happened to be taking a sip of tea, choked and sprayed a mouthful onto the floor.

Yue Yan was speechless. "The Constellations have only lost contact. We haven’t seen any bodies."

Zheng Xiu’s interruption completely shattered the serious atmosphere Yue Yan had painstakingly built. She gave up on being dramatic, took out a long, narrow bamboo tube from her robes, and tossed it to the youth.

As for why she threw it to the youth instead of to Feng Bei...

Hmph, just as she expected, Feng Bei didn’t stop him, letting the youth pull the contents out of the bamboo tube.

That kind of bamboo tube was usually tied to a Raven’s leg to carry messages.

Yue Yan could practically see the word "Spoiling" written all over Feng Bei’s face. Her mouth twitched, and she continued.

"Yes. Shortly after Master Zheng was imprisoned, the Night Lord sent Lord Lower Four to Shuzhou to resolve the matter. It wasn’t until yesterday that Lower Four’s Raven returned to the Imperial City from a thousand li away, carrying a... Blood Letter."

A Blood Letter, as the name implies, is a letter written in blood. Regardless of whose blood it was, it was a visceral way to convey the urgency and importance of the message, and the gravity of the situation.

It was clear at a glance.

Zheng Xiu opened the Blood Letter.

Feng Bei leaned in closer.

Their two heads drew close together.

The Blood Letter had only two words written on it—

"Cannibal Painting"!