This Lady Is Trying to Kill Me

Chapter 73: Fire Bathing Picture (2)

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

This experience was too tragic. The empress dowager had long forgotten about these meditation techniques that nourished her body and extended her life.

But a few years ago, when she was bored and asked the palace maids to build a swing under the ginkgo tree in the back garden, Hongyu suddenly discovered a rusty iron box buried under the tiles.

She thought that it was a love object buried by a concubine from the previous dynasty. But when she opened it, she found a piece of golden paper inside.

She had seen the Jade Bone Qilin Picture in the palace and recognized it immediately. It was the Golden Phoenix Fire Bathing Picture in the Roaring Dragon Chart. As for who had buried it under the ginkgo tree, she didn’t know. Legend had it that after someone mastered the Fire Bathing Picture, their wounds could heal by themselves, and their limbs could regenerate. As long as one wasn’t killed in one strike, they couldn’t be killed at all.

Few people who walked Jianghu didn’t have hidden injuries. In the hearts of many people with disabilities, an intact body was even more important than immortality. The weight of this picture was imaginable.

After the empress dowager obtained this item, she was naturally happy. Every day, she went to the ginkgo tree to pray for blessings and thank the ginkgo tree for bringing a turnaround in her unhappy life.

But her good luck seemed to be limited to this.

Ever since she obtained the Fire Bathing Picture, she had never encountered anything else pleasant.

She had practiced this picture for many years. She felt that she practiced it well, but she couldn’t figure out what use this seemingly powerful secret technique had.

This picture said that wounds could heal by themselves and limbs could regenerate, but the premise was that the practitioner had to be injured!

She had been pampered since she was a baby, and this was even more so when she came to the palace. Even when she slept, the palace maids were afraid that the bed would be too hard and hurt her. How could she be injured?

In order to verify the authenticity of the secret technique, she had secretly cut her arm with a small knife.

In the end, her injury healed really quickly, but it was really painful. It even made Hongyu think she wanted to commit suicide and the Prince of Jing come to ask about her well-being.

After thinking about it, she found the only use of this page of the Roaring Dragon Chart might only be to leave her a healthy corpse a hundred years later…

And there was a high chance that she would live in the deep palace without illness or calamity until her lifespan reached its limit. She would probably live longer than the 120-year-old elder in Fengguan City…

Thinking of the long and lonely years in her future, the empress dowager opened her eyes and sighed faintly.

She turned to look at the painting of the chicken vendor on the wall and couldn’t help thinking of the cold young master who had accidentally entered her palace grounds a few days ago.

She didn’t know if she had been misunderstood when he bumped into this painting the day before yesterday…

Although it was a very small matter that ordinary people would forget immediately after turning around, the empress dowager’s life was too boring. This kind of accident caused a small wave that was enough for her to remember in her heart for a long time.

Just as she was letting her imagination run wild, footsteps suddenly sounded outside the bedchamber. A figure strode in. Her footsteps were heavy, and her expression looked angry.

The empress dowager looked up and found that it was Liren. She originally wanted to lie on the phoenix bed and pretend to be asleep, but she immediately sensed that something was wrong. She hurriedly flipped over and ran barefoot to the wall, wanting to take down the painting.

“Empress Dowager, you…” Dongfang Liren walked into the bedchamber and saw the empress dowager in a nightgown. Her feet were bare, and her clothes were disheveled. She was standing on tiptoes to retrieve the painting on the wall.

But because the painting was hung a little high, she couldn’t reach the hanging string and froze by the wall.

“Uh…” The empress dowager had an awkward expression and didn’t dare to turn her head.

Tread, tread, tread…

Dongfang Liren slowly walked up to her and raised her hand to help her take down the painting. She held it in her hand and sized it up… The anger she had suffered from her sister just now instantly dissipated by half!

What the heck is this painting…

She’s the same as my sister…

The empress dowager’s beautiful face was full of embarrassment. She didn’t dare to look at Dongfang Liren’s expression and said softly, “Well, I just had nothing to do, so 1 painted casually…”

“I can tell.”

“All? You can tell? Then…”

Dongfang Liren really couldn’t bring herself to attack the empress dowager, who was interested in painting. She looked at the painting and praised, “Although it’s a casual work, it has the style of an expert. The artistic concept of ‘living a hard life as a commoner in the market’ is vividly displayed in the painting…”

?

The empress dowager was taken aback. She looked up at her masterpiece and then at Dongfang Liren, whose eyes were full of praise. Her eyes first looked relieved, then gradually turned aggrieved and resentful. “Liren, this painting is imitating the one in your study. It’s a very handsome young master with a big bird…”

??

Dongfang Liren’s approving expression froze, and she carefully looked at the painting again…

How is this imitating it?

Other than the man and the bird, do the composition, artistic conception, and painting skills have anything to do with it?

If Ye Jingtang saw this, when he saw her take a bath the day before yesterday, he probably wouldn’t have been able to walk out of the Bright Yang Pool standing up…

But seeing the empress dowager pursing her lips and looking like she was about to become depressed, Dongfang Liren reacted extremely quickly and nodded slightly. “I can tell. Hmm… When I drew that painting, Ye Jingtang had just entered the capital and only had two taels of silver in his pocket. Even eating was a problem. Umm… My original intention was to draw ‘it’s not easy for commoners who have just entered the capital to earn a living’. Unfortunately, the painting style was too high-class and ungrounded, so I didn’t finish painting it. Empress Dowager, your painting is just right. It’s wonderful.”

The empress dowager was not stupid and had self-knowledge. She could tell that Liren was praising her.

But no matter how much she was praising her, there would at least be a pinch of truth, right?

The empress dowager was flattered. She moved closer to her and looked at the painting carefully. “Really? Can you recognize who it is?”

Dongfang Liren really wanted to praise her again, but she truly couldn’t endure it, so she just smiled and said, “Appreciating paintings requires standards. Everyone has their own opinions. I can recognize him at a glance.”

The empress dowager was skeptical. “Hmm… If the person in the painting sees this painting, do you think he can recognize himself?”

1 don’t think he can… Dongfang Liren really did not want the empress dowager, who suffered alone in the palace all year round, to be unhappy. She thought for a moment and said, “He’s just a martial artist. How can he understand the artistic conception in your painting? But if he looks carefully, he can still recognize himself.”

Oh… The empress dowager pondered for a moment and smiled. “I think your painting looks good. I’ve always wanted to learn painting, but I don’t know the essence. Why don’t you call that guard over to stand outside for me so 1 can practice my painting skills?”

It was rare for Dongfang Liren to see the empress dowager interested in zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, so she didn’t refuse. “Ye Jingtang has something on at home and has to leave the capital for a while. When he comes back, 1’11 call him over and let you draw him for a few days.”

The empress dowager was very happy to be coaxed, so she wasn’t in a hurry. Perhaps she was afraid of embarrassing herself, so she held Dongfang Liren’s arm and walked toward the garden. “That’s fine. I’ve been very interested in painting recently. Stand here and let me draw a painting of a beauty. You can also help me appraise it and give pointers…”

Painting of a beauty…

Dongfang Liren wasn’t sure whether after the empress dowager painted it, she would be able to tell if it was a man or a woman.

But experiencing the superiority of being an expert here was better than feeling slow-witted in front of her sister or Ye Jingtang, so she didn’t refuse…