Ashes to Crown

Chapter 43: Chapter 7: Spring Scenery

Spring had arrived in the Capital City. The young ladies donned their spring clothes to admire the flowers and scenery, and they too were a lovely sight of the season.

In recent days, however, the young ladies of the Capital City rarely went on outings, preferring to gather in the garden of one of their friends.

A carriage carrying a young lady entered the inner courtyard. Before it even came to a complete stop, she leaped out, earning a sharp glare from her maidservant. ”Miss, your decorum.”

The young lady hastily corrected her posture and adopted a graceful gait, but after only a few steps, she grew impatient. Hiking up her skirts, she broke into a trot toward the inner garden, leaving her maidservant behind, both exasperated and anxious.

Seven or eight young ladies were seated in the garden’s waterside pavilion. One was playing an instrument, but the music was listless. Another pair was in the middle of a board game, but the pieces had long sat untouched as the two conversed across the board. The others were also whispering amongst themselves.

”I’m here! I’m here!” the young lady called out from a distance.

The others immediately looked over, and some even stood up to greet her. Before she could even run inside, they barraged her with questions. ”Qi Leyun, how did it go?” ”Did you find anything out?” ”Did you see her?”

Qi Leyun ran in, but instead of answering, she poured herself a cup of tea and downed it in one go before finally catching her breath.

”I didn’t see her,” she said.

The girls gathered around her sighed in disappointment. ”How are you so useless?” ”Didn’t you say you’d dare to barge in anywhere?”

Qi Leyun said, ”Liang Qin is said to be gravely injured and isn’t seeing visitors. I can’t just force my way in, can I? And as for Chu Zhao, Chu Tang came out to see me personally. She said Chu Zhao isn’t seeing anyone either, and no one dares to disturb her. If I forced my way in, what would I do if she hit me?”

But then she raised a hand to get everyone’s attention.

”But, I did find out one thing for sure. After Chu Zhao’s tirade, there hasn’t been a peep from the Liang Mansion, and the Chu Family hasn’t gone back, either.”

The young ladies exchanged glances.

”So what does that mean?” ”Who won?”

Qi Leyun clapped her hands. ”Is there even a need to ask? Of course, Chu Zhao won! First she fought them, then she cursed them out, and in the end, nothing happened to her.”

In truth, they all understood this, but it was just too incredible to believe. The young ladies burst into a flurry of discussion. ”Is the Liang Family just being magnanimous, refusing to stoop to the level of a country girl?” ”If they weren’t going to ’stoop,’ they wouldn’t have started a fight in the first place. When you make a scene and then suddenly go quiet, it’s either because you’ve been paid off or you’ve been threatened.”

”I doubt the Chu Family can afford to pay them off.”

”Then they must have been threatened.”

”To think Chu Zhao could actually threaten the Liang Family.”

The waterside pavilion was abuzz with excited chatter, but after all that discussion, they reached no conclusion. Instead, the clamor just made their heads buzz.

”Alright, alright,” one of the young ladies called out. ”Let’s not dwell on it. We’ll all just pay close attention and watch how things unfold. We’re bound to find out eventually.”

”Then let’s go on an outing,” another girl suggested. ”We can’t really be afraid that Chu Zhao is going to come and beat us up, can we?”

That would be far too humiliating. The young ladies all agreed, deciding to take their carriages on a spring outing outside the city. A flurry of activity ensued as carriages, horses, and a chaotic retinue of servants and maids formed a procession through the streets. As expected, they hit a bottleneck at the city gate.

Without waiting for the City Gate Guards to direct traffic, their servants began to clear a path, shooing away the other people at the entrance.

”Make way, make way!”

Seeing the servants’ aggressive demeanor and the opulence of the large procession, the commoners quickly scattered. Only one carriage, which was a little further back, failed to notice and didn’t move out of the way in time.

”Why are you blocking the road!” one of the young ladies’ servants snapped. ”Get out of the way!”

As he spoke, he stepped forward and grabbed the horse by the bridle, intending to pull it aside.

The carriage was large but plain, with a single driver. Beside it stood a servant in blue robes with a sword strapped to his back. He had been standing silently, but the moment he saw their horse being grabbed, his expression turned cold.

”Insolent!” he barked, his hand flying to the hilt of the sword on his back.

At his shout, the driver gripped the reins tightly. The horse, which the other servant had grabbed, let out a sharp neigh, and with a toss of its head, it flung the man’s hand off.

The young ladies’ servants were stunned for a moment, then became even more furious. ”What do you think you’re doing!” ”You brat, are you pulling a weapon on us?” ”This is the Capital City, right under the Emperor’s nose!”

The servant in blue remained expressionless, his sword already half-drawn from its scabbard.

A voice suddenly came from inside the carriage. ”Du Qi.”

It was a young man’s voice, gentle yet forceful. With a soft CLICK, the servant in blue pushed his half-drawn sword back into its scabbard.

”Let them pass,” the man’s voice in the carriage continued.

At his words, the neighing horse calmed down and obediently pulled the carriage to the side, clearing the way to the city gate.

The servant in blue, Du Qi, shot the other servants a cold glare before saying nothing more and spurring his horse to follow.

Snapping out of their daze, the servants became even more incensed. ”Where did those country bumpkins come from!” ”No manners at all!” ”Maybe you need me to teach you a lesson on how things are done here.”

”Enough, let’s just go,” a young lady called impatiently from her carriage. ”What’s the hold-up?”

The servants hastily called out their assent, swallowed their anger, and after shooing away the last of the commoners, escorted the young ladies’ carriages out of the city.

The commoners at the city gate were accustomed to such sights and showed no dissatisfaction, simply re-forming their line to enter the city.

The servant in blue and his carriage rejoined the queue. Seeing his lingering look of displeasure, a commoner nearby couldn’t help but chuckle and try to placate him. ”Don’t be angry. It’s just how the rich and powerful act these days when they leave the city.”

Du Qi’s expression was grim. ”The city gate doesn’t belong to them. How can they be so arrogant?”

The commoner sighed. ’Truly a country bumpkin.’

”You obviously haven’t seen the Yang or Zhao Families on an outing,” the man said. ”When the old madam of the Zhao family leaves the city to offer incense, even officials have to dismount and make way. You were just blocking the road for a moment. If you’d run into people from the Zhao or Yang families, they’d have beaten you to a pulp by now. You have no money, no power. What can you do?”

Du Qi’s jaw tightened. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he held his tongue and just let out a cold sneer.

The commoners saw this and weren’t surprised, mocking him inwardly. ’A young man who’s never seen the world, wanting to be a hero and righting wrongs with a shout. In this day and age, who would be foolish enough to play the hero?’

The Capital City’s gate was wide, and the Soldiers weren’t conducting any checks, so the noisy crowd passed through rather quickly.

Just after passing through the city gate, they saw a party on horseback approaching rapidly from within the city. At the sight of these riders, the people on the street scattered without needing to be yelled at.

But the carriage with the servant in blue continued straight ahead, making the commoners who had been walking alongside them extremely anxious.

”That foolish country boy,” they muttered anxiously. ”Does he really want to be a hero that badly? He would have been better off picking a fight with that last group. The person he’s about to run into is an Eastern Palace Eunuch!”

That was one of the most—no, second most... hmm, or maybe tied for second most powerful group in the Capital City. The Third Prince’s influence was scarcely less than the Crown Prince’s; in fact, it might even be greater.

’This country boy is doomed!’

The onlookers by the side of the road were so nervous they nearly stopped breathing. But just as the two parties were about to collide, it was the Eastern Palace Eunuch’s retinue that reined in their horses first. The head eunuch dismounted, a respectful smile on his face, and scurried over to the carriage.

”Third Master,” he called out joyfully. ”You’ve finally arrived! The Crown Princess Consort has been asking about you. If you were any later, she was about to leave the palace to come find you herself.”

The nervous onlookers heard this, and their breathing stopped entirely.

’Third Master?’

’Being met by the Crown Princess Consort in person?’

’Could it be—?’

The carriage curtain was lifted, and a young man in his early twenties came into view. He was strikingly handsome, with refined features and a face as bright as the moon, dressed in black brocade robes.

”I have made Her Highness worry. Because I was delayed by sightseeing on my journey, it is Yanfang’s fault.”