Immortal Travel of Longevity

The King of Wei retrieved the portrait.

After nightfall, a candle burned in the study of Prince Wei's Manor.

Prince Wei carefully studied the portrait before him.

He held it up, scrutinizing its details, then raised it to the candlelight to see if anything was hidden within.

Finding nothing concealed inside the paper, Prince Wei frowned in confusion.

"Strange..."

Prince Wei paused, turning the matter over in his mind, but he ultimately came up empty.

There seemed to be nothing special about this portrait.

He ran his fingers lightly across the surface, feeling for any bumps or unevenness in the paper, but found nothing.

Prince Wei could not make sense of it.

He felt certain the portrait was not as simple as it appeared.

But why couldn't he see it?

Could the portrait be connected to something else?

But that didn't make sense either.

Prince Wei felt something was off.

If Tang Mingjing knew the painting was extraordinary, why hadn't he simply entered King Yu's Manor and taken it earlier?

The whole matter was truly bizarre, even a little eerie.

It was only now that Prince Wei truly began to pay attention to that estate.

Jingshi, King Yu's residence.

Prince Wei stroked his chin, then began flipping through historical records.

He flipped back until he found the accounts concerning King Yu.

However, the records of King Yu in the official histories were exceedingly sparse, and most were highly critical.

The historians of that time seemed to harbor a particular disgust for the man. This was likely because King Yu's actions appeared utterly foolish to them—acting with great fanfare, making no attempt at concealment, and ultimately being wiped out by Emperor Jing.

King Yu was a rebel. The historians had barely wanted to record him in the annals. A prince like him was a disgrace to Great Jing.

Prince Wei repeatedly scrutinized the contents of the history books, hoping to find a clue.

But in the end, he could only give up in frustration.

"Alas..."

Prince Wei sighed and glanced at the portrait once more.

He figured he would not be able to discern its use.

Or perhaps he simply had no affinity with it.

Since that was the case, he stopped dwelling on it.

"Men."

A moment later, a figure appeared behind Prince Wei.

It was a Shadow Guard of Prince Wei's Manor.

Prince Wei handed the painting to the subordinate and said, "Tomorrow, have someone deliver this painting to Miss Yun's estate in Boat Wind Alley."

"Understood."

Prince Wei waved his hand dismissively and sighed in resignation.

Feeling tired, he lay down on his bed to rest.

Before falling asleep, he kept mulling over what could be special about the painting, but to no avail.

In truth, it was exactly as he had suspected.

He simply had no affinity with this portrait.

...

Early the next morning.

Chen Changsheng went to eat at the noodle stall by the entrance of the tea house.

When he saw Prince Wei again, the man's spirits seemed much lower, as if he had not slept at all the night before.

Eating his noodles, Chen Changsheng watched him approach and asked, "Did you sneak out of the city to steal cows last night?"

Prince Wei paused. "A dog's mouth cannot spit out ivory."

Chen Changsheng paid the insult no mind and lowered his head to continue eating.

Prince Wei ordered a bowl of noodles and sat down opposite him.

"You didn't give me a fake painting, did you?" Prince Wei asked.

Chen Changsheng replied, "That's right, a fake. If you don't want it, give it back to This Chen. Return it right now."

Prince Wei muttered, "Return it? What's mine is mine."

Chen Changsheng glanced at him and shook his head helplessly. "That painting is naturally useful in the hands of someone who has a use for it. You should stop dwelling on it."

"You know what it's for?"

"This Chen does not know."

"You definitely know, you just don't want to tell me. You've always been petty."

"Who is the petty one?" Chen Changsheng smiled. "Didn't Prince Wei also guess that the painting had another use? Yet you didn't remind This Chen either. We are both pulling scams; neither of us is better than the other."

"You..."

Prince Wei wanted to argue back, but he had not slept well and his head was throbbing. In the end, his retort dissolved into a helpless sigh.

He asked, "How much do you know about that painting?"

Chen Changsheng said, "That painting originally belonged to King Yu."

Prince Wei said, "I checked the historical records last night, but the accounts of King Yu are exceedingly sparse. I couldn't make any sense of them. So the key really lies with this King Yu?"

"You could say that. King Yu, he..."

Chen Changsheng opened his mouth to continue.

Prince Wei waited quietly for his next words.

Instead, Chen Changsheng said, "To know what happens next, please pay twenty silver taels."

"What?"

"Even storytellers get tipped."

"Have you no shame? Have some shame!"

Chen Changsheng replied, "When This Chen told stories in Qingshan City, the tips from a single session amounted to more than twenty taels. I am letting you off cheap."

In truth, Chen Changsheng was running out of money.

He used to have quite a bit. He had given some to Ping'an and spent the rest on the road. Now, he had less than one tael of silver left, which would probably not be enough for the rest of his journey.

"You used to tell stories?"

"Indeed."

Chen Changsheng glanced at him. "If you don't believe me, ask around. There should still be people who know of This Chen."

Prince Wei rolled his eyes at him, then fished a gold ingot out of his money pouch.

"Is this enough?!"

Chen Changsheng smiled and accepted the gold ingot. "It certainly looks like enough."

"Then tell me, what is the deal with King Yu?"

Chen Changsheng cleared his throat lightly and said, "King Yu and the father of Yan Xun, the final Emperor of Jing, were of the same generation. Back then, the late Emperor took special care of King Yu. Even during the subsequent struggles for imperial power, he never made a move against him. King Yu himself had no interest in the so-called throne. He was a prince, yet he became obsessed with something else entirely."

"Oh?" Prince Wei paused. "What thing?"

Chen Changsheng said, "The Daoist arts."

"Huh?"

Prince Wei was taken aback.

Chen Changsheng smiled and said, "This isn't a fabrication. King Yu was different from the other princes; his mind was rather pure..."

Chen Changsheng vaguely remembered asking King Yu why he pursued those things.

His only reply had been, "My royal brother took special care of me back then."

Prince Wei frowned. "That shouldn't be possible. How could the imperial family allow a prince to study such things?"

Chen Changsheng asked, "Why wouldn't it be? Yan Xun had a son who ran off to roam the jianghu."

Prince Wei clicked his tongue. "Does the Yan Imperial Family really care so little about these matters?"

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