The Splendid Brocade of the Painting Physician – Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Chen Xu’s Probe

After all, it was an expulsion order issued by the Emperor of Chen, so even if some people were reluctant, they had to leave their seats and disperse.

The four Zhou envoys, including Yuwen Hui and Yuwen Zhi, quickly left the Eastern Palace. After getting into the carriage, Yuwen Hui couldn’t help but complain.

“The Emperor of Chen is really different from before. He came to the Eastern Palace this time to use that young lady to warn us, his words were full of hidden meanings!”

“After all, he is the ruler of a country, how can he still be the same as the hostage he was before? However, this Emperor Chen is hiding very deeply. Father probably guessed wrong, the new Emperor of Chen is not a cowardly and incompetent ruler, but an old fox who hides his true abilities.”

Prince Yuwen Xun said in a deep voice, his tone full of worry.

Yuwen Zhi didn’t agree, and smiled disdainfully.

“I don’t care how the Emperor of Chen is, but the young lady who Chen Shuling deliberately dropped a portrait to show us is really extraordinary. Although I don’t know what her true appearance is like, I observed that her skin is as white as snow, her figure is graceful, and her bones exude the kind of gentle and elegant demeanor of a great aristocratic family. She must be a lovely person.”

When it came to beauties, Yuwen Hui’s interest suddenly increased.

“You also think that this young lady deliberately concealed her appearance? Could it be that she is really as beautiful as in Chen Shuling’s portrait?”

“Whether she is or not, we will know when we have the opportunity to find out in the future!”

Speaking of this, Yuwen Zhi sighed again, “I’m just afraid that Gao Changgong has already gotten there first. At the Eastern Palace banquet today, I observed that he seemed to be very nervous about this young lady, and this young lady is said to have lived in Northern Qi with her mother for fifteen years. Could it be that as early as in Northern Qi, she and Gao Changgong…”

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Yuwen Hui, who sneered.

“You’re wrong about that. I observed carefully today, that young lady is clearly still a virgin…”

At this point, Dugu Shan, who had been standing silently by the side, couldn’t listen anymore, and interrupted, “Gentlemen, what is our purpose in coming to Chen? She is just a young lady who is good at painting, and not a concubine of someone else, how can you insult her at will?”

Yuwen Hui couldn’t help but laugh, and looked at Dugu Shan in surprise.

“You, a quiet person, I thought you wouldn’t speak. What, you also feel sorry for that young lady? But didn’t you miss a point? She is not only good at painting, but also skilled in medicine, a divine physician who can make a person who has been paralyzed for more than ten years and destined to die before the age of twenty-five stand up!”

Being good at painting is indeed nothing remarkable, it’s just a reputation for being a talented woman. But if she can prolong life and bring people back from the dead, that’s a different story.

Dugu Shan wasn’t thinking about this, but asked with some doubts,

“She said that her paintings can enter people’s hearts, understand human nature, and judge character. Have you ever thought about what that means?”

✿✿✿

“You said that your paintings can enter people’s hearts, understand human nature, and judge character. What do you mean?” In an empty hall in the Eastern Palace, Chen Xu also looked at Xiao Jinyu and asked.

Xiao Jinyu looked at Chen Xu coldly, and suddenly smiled.

“If Your Majesty can carefully look at the painting I drew, you will understand its meaning!” she said.

Chen Xu understood the painting, but the way the Zhou envoys looked at the Qi envoys, and the way Chen Shuling looked at Chen Shubao, the artistic conception depicted with the subtle brushstrokes was too thought-provoking, making it impossible not to think more about it.

However, he still didn’t believe it, and asked again, “You only met the Zhou envoys once today, can you really understand their personalities so well?”

Xiao Jinyu smiled again.

“Your Majesty, all appearances are illusory. Whether my painting can really understand human nature is not important. What is important is how Your Majesty sees and thinks about it. If Your Majesty believes it, it exists. If you don’t believe it, then leave it to fate, and time will tell, won’t it?”

Chen Xu was suddenly stunned, and felt a hint of mockery in the young girl’s faint smile.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly waved his hand and said, “Alright, you can go back!”

Xiao Jinyu raised her hand and bowed, then turned and walked towards the outside of the hall without looking back.

After walking about five or six steps, a voice suddenly came from behind,

“Xie, Yu, Qing!”

Xiao Jinyu didn’t stop, and didn’t look back.

The voice sighed in disappointment, and shouted again, “Xiao Jinyu!”

✿✿✿

Xiao Jinyu stopped then, and asked,

“Your Majesty, what is it?”

After another moment of silence, a voice came from behind,

“You are very much like an old friend of mine!”

After saying that, he sighed heavily again, and said in a meaningful tone, “So much so that I had an illusion, thinking that she had returned to the world. You said, can people really have an afterlife?”

Xiao Jinyu didn’t answer.

He continued to himself, “Sometimes I regret it when I think about it, but there was really no other choice at that time. If she hadn’t died at my hands, the ending might have been even more terrible than death. She was a noble lady of the Xie Clan, with her own pride and self-esteem. I knew that she would definitely not be willing to bear the humiliation of her enemy, so I fulfilled her pride and let her die pure and innocent, without any pain…”

“After that, I avenged her. I think she must be happy in the underworld, after all, I did it, I achieved the peace and prosperity of the people and the eternal stability of the country that she wanted to see!”

“This is her ideal, and also mine. You said, seeing the Chen Kingdom now, the increasingly prosperous and strong Chen Kingdom, she should be happy too, right?”

Speaking of this, he seemed to be waiting for an answer from Xiao Jinyu.

However, after a long time, Xiao Jinyu only replied, “This subject doesn’t understand what Your Majesty is talking about, and why you are telling me this. But if Your Majesty is done, this subject will take her leave!”

Chen Xu didn’t stop her this time, so Xiao Jinyu walked straight out of the hall, through the back garden, and out of the Eastern Palace.

Xiao Xian and Fenghuang had been waiting outside for a long time. Seeing Xiao Jinyu coming out of the Eastern Palace led by an attendant, they immediately went up to her.

“How was it? His Majesty, he…”

Seeing the sadness in Xiao Xian’s eyes and the anger in Fenghuang’s, Xiao Jinyu smiled slightly and shook her head, “It’s nothing, His Majesty just asked how my paintings can enter people’s hearts, understand human nature, and judge character.”

“Then how did you answer?”

Or how did you do it? How could you, in just a short time, capture the thoughts and feelings of all the guests in the Eastern Palace in your painting?

Such a vivid painting! As detailed as everyone’s movements, expressions, and eyes, as detailed as the unpredictable and deep smile at the corner of the emperor’s lips, even the ruthlessness and jealousy in Prince Shixing’s eyes, and the cunning and scheming in Yuwen Zhi’s eyes.

“It seems that Uncle Xian has carefully looked at my painting.” Xiao Jinyu smiled, “Do you remember that I said I can read faces, eyes, and analyze the situation? It’s not difficult to draw conclusions, but the key is that someone believes it!”

She believed that Chen Xu was not a man who believed in fate, so even if a seed of doubt was planted in his heart, it would be enough.

“A’yu, you are truly extraordinary. Today, even I, your Uncle Xian, have been broadened my horizons!”

Xiao Xian couldn’t help but sigh, and Xiao Jinyu smiled. The three of them got into the carriage and headed towards Jianxi Alley.

Eunuch Wu hurried back to the hall, but seeing that Chen Xu was still standing there with doubts, he bowed and came up to ask,

“Your Majesty, that young lady has left. Are you returning to the palace now?”

Chen Xu suddenly shook his head and smiled bitterly.

“I was really confused, to actually believe in the reincarnation mentioned in Buddhism. If a person dies, they really can’t come back, right?”

After sighing, he took out the Eastern Palace Night Banquet painting and looked at it carefully. As he looked at it, his expression suddenly changed, and he ordered in a deep voice,

“Find someone to investigate, see what Prince Shixing has been doing recently?”

“Yes!”

“Also, send my decree to Mao Xi, and have him send people to closely monitor the every move of the Zhou envoys!”

“Yes!”