After bowing and greeting him, Yang Jie quickly said, "Prince Yi, to be honest, I didn't come to Cuihong Tower for fun this time, but to investigate a case."
Sima Yi raised an eyebrow and asked, "Investigating a case? What case? It wouldn't happen to be that case that's giving our Empress Dowager a headache, would it?"
Upon hearing this, Yang Jie nervously said, "Prince Yi, what are you saying? How could it be that we are the ones causing the Empress Dowager's headache? It was Zuoan Shanren who tampered with the paint in her paintings, which caused the Empress Dowager's headache. The problem ultimately lies with Zuoan Shanren."
Sima Yi: "You tampered with the pigments? You mean the 'Wutong Snow' fragrance that the imperial physician mentioned? What a coincidence, I just heard recently that your sister-in-law, oh, that is, your wife's personal maid, bought this fragrance."
Yang Jie's expression changed upon hearing this, and he stammered, "This...this is unlikely!" But he really didn't know whether Li's maid had bought Wutongxue or not!
“What’s impossible?” Sima Yi said. “The imperial physician said that young girls really like this kind of spice. And I just saw this Zuoan Shanren outside with my own eyes…” He pointed at Chu Nian, “…painting. She probably just likes to use whatever is nearby, or rather, whatever is convenient, as paint to add some color to her paintings. It’s not that she’s intentionally targeting or harming anyone.”
Upon hearing his words, everyone immediately chimed in, "Yes, Miss Niannian was just using vegetable soup as paint."
"How can spices be considered poison? Many girls use spices like Wutong Snow!"
"Lord Yang, you'd better stop making baseless accusations!"
"Yes, hurry up and release all the people you've arrested! Zuoan Shanren has already come forward on his own, why are you still holding onto a bunch of innocent people? What are you planning?"
...
Everyone had long disliked Yang Jie, and now that Sima Yi, who was of higher status than Yang Jie, was present and not on Yang Jie's side, people inevitably went from agreeing to complaining.
Seeing Sima Yi glance at the men his men had just tied up, Yang Jie quickly ordered, "What are you all standing there for? Release them right now! We've found all the people from Zuo'an Mountain. These people aren't from Zuo'an Mountain. Release them!"
He turned to Sima Yi, chuckled obsequiously, and explained, "Your Highness, I didn't know which one was the Left Bank Hermit just now, so I arrested the suspicious-looking people first, intending to interrogate them when I got back. But now that I know who the Left Bank Hermit is, I naturally won't arrest these people anymore."
Sima Yi turned to look at Chu Nian and said with some surprise, "I never expected that the famous Zuo An Shan Ren is actually a woman."
Chu Nian smiled faintly and said, "I'm sorry to have made you laugh, Prince Yi."
Sima Yi: "Why did you use the fragrance of 'Wutong Snow' in the painting 'Lone Chrysanthemum on a Cliff'?"
Chu Nian: "It was just because the ink was too dark at the time, so I casually added some incense ash to adjust the color."
Sima Yi: "Could you demonstrate how to mix colors on the spot?"
Chu Nian said, "What's the harm?" After saying that, she asked a maid to fetch some incense ash from the Wutongxue ink. She mixed some into the ink, and everyone saw that the originally pure ink, after being mixed like this, became lighter in color when drawn on paper. They couldn't help but marvel at the color mixing skills of this Zuoan Shanren.
Chu Nian smiled and said, "This is not difficult at all. It is much easier than mixing colors when we women apply rouge."
Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this.
Yang Jie chuckled dryly. He recalled the day this woman was chased and beaten by a group of kneeling slaves in the suburbs. He felt a strange mix of emotions. He wanted to teach this woman a lesson, but at the same time, he found this kind of woman particularly novel and wanted to possess her.
Sima Yi turned to Yang Jie and said, "Look, now the truth is out. They just casually mixed some incense ash to add color, and never expected that this kind of incense would cause the old man a headache."
My mother doesn't really think this is a big deal. Look at the huge fuss you've made! It'll only embarrass those officials, and they'll use you against you—you haven't forgotten that this painting was presented to the palace by your wife, have you? My mother will have to take the blame for you again.”
Yang Jie's face turned pale and then red. He didn't dare to do anything to Sima Yi, but he glanced at Chu Nian with burning anger: If it weren't for this woman, how could he have been publicly criticized by the Prince of Yi?
After reprimanding Yang Jie, Sima Yi ordered him to leave immediately with his men so as not to disrupt other people's business. He left two gold ingots as compensation for the delay of more than an hour at Cuihonglou, and then left with his men.
Before leaving, he glanced around Cuihong Tower, even looking behind the stairs, clearly searching for someone. Unfortunately, he didn't find them. A hint of doubt flashed in his eyes, but he didn't ask anything and walked away as if nothing had happened.
Inside the room, Zhao Feiyan and Li Wenzhuang both breathed a sigh of relief.
Sima Xiu, however, had doubts in his heart: Although he could not find fault with Tong Nian's words, with his keen insight, he felt that Tong Nian had foreseen that the painting "Lone Chrysanthemum on a Cliff" would enter the palace. Therefore, it was probably not so simple that she used the image of snow on a paulownia tree in her painting.
However, he had no evidence; and if Tong Nian really wanted to harm the Empress Dowager, she would have released far more than just Wutong Xue. Therefore, he did not want to actually punish her, but only wanted to verify whether Tong Nian had thought of or even planned to bring Hua into the palace from the beginning. What was her purpose?
The door creaked open, and Chu Nian walked in leisurely.
Zhao Feiyan happily went up to her and said with a smile, "Sister, what you just showed was really amazing."
"Is that so?" Chu Nian said calmly. Don't forget that she used to be a movie queen. In addition to filming TV series and movies, she has also participated in countless variety shows. She is exceptionally good at "showing".
She knew exactly how to grab people's attention.
“Of course,” Li Wenzhuang said with his eyes sparkling. “Your unique skill of painting with two brushes is probably unmatched in the entire Eastern Chu Kingdom.”
Zhao Feiyan had seen the concept of using two brushes in painting on TV back in modern times, but she didn't think much of it. What she admired was Chu Nian's composure on the spot and that he could even use vegetable soup to mix colors.
She said, "Sister, what were you thinking, using vegetable soup to color it?"
Chu Nian had already sat down at the table and reached out to pour tea, but Zhao Feiyan had already poured her a cup.
She replied, "I just didn't have any paint I had on hand at the time, but I happened to have some vegetable soup with the color I wanted, so I used that!"
Zhao Feiyan pondered, "But even if the color of the soup on the surface matches what you want, it might not actually be the color you want when it's actually on the paper!"
Chu Nian said, "That depends on experience. You have to understand, if children from poor families want to learn to write or paint, where do they get the money to buy paint? They can only use these common and familiar things to add color."
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