Ashes to Crown

Chapter 52: Chapter 16: Counter-accusation

Chu Zhao knew nothing of the affairs of these important people, and even if she had, she wouldn’t have cared. Her sole focus was to stay far away from them.

As expected, she stopped going to her uncle and aunt’s quarters for meals, eating all three by herself.

Mrs. Jiang, her heart and stomach aching at the thought of the money Chu Zhao had stolen, decided to teach her a lesson.

The servants understood and deliberately made things difficult for her. Chu Zhao’s meals were either delivered late, or the portions were small and of poor quality.

When Chu Zhao asked, they would say with a smirk, ”You eat so late, miss. The stove fire had already gone out, so we had to relight it.”

As for the small portions and poorly made food, they had an even better excuse.

”Miss Ah Zhao, a lot of money was stolen from the family. Our finances were already tight, so you should be grateful we can afford to eat at all.”

Chu Zhao just smiled. ”In that case, we should indeed be more frugal.” She asked no more questions.

’What can she do? She’s living under someone else’s roof, after all.’ The servants were smug, but before they could even laugh out loud, problems started cropping up with the food sent from the kitchen to Mrs. Jiang. Either a prepared dish would suddenly have a portion missing, or the food that arrived would be so salty it was inedible.

Mrs. Jiang flew into a rage and wanted to punish the kitchen servants, who kowtowed and proclaimed their innocence. Amid the chaos, it was Chu Tang who broke the deadlock.

”Why would they do something so foolish as to ruin their own prospects?” she said, gesturing in a certain direction. ”This is Ah Zhao’s revenge.”

Mrs. Jiang came to her senses, both furious and annoyed. She had someone summon Chu Zhao. When Chu Zhao arrived, she, of course, denied everything. ”If you don’t believe me, Aunt, go ahead and search,” she said.

The food had long since been eaten; what was there to find? Mrs. Jiang sneered, ”Ah Zhao, stealing is not a good habit. I refuse to believe your father taught you such things.”

Chu Zhao said, ”Aunt, don’t make baseless accusations without any proof. Who saw me take any money when I left the house? I came back empty-handed, didn’t I?”

’As for proof, they never got that money back. Because Chu Ke believed her, he never mentioned the money being recovered. She was certain her aunt and uncle wouldn’t dare ask Deng Yi about it.’

’And even if they did ask, Deng Yi wouldn’t pay them any mind.’

She was going to deny it to the death. Mrs. Jiang was so choked with anger she was about to slam the table. Chu Zhao laughed. ”Besides, when I was at home, no one ever said I had a habit of stealing. Now that I’m in the Capital City, you’re the one saying this about me, Aunt. That can’t be because of how my father raised me, can it? What’s more, in one’s own home, there’s no need to steal. You can have whatever you need. If you go around saying I steal this and that, even food and drink, people will think you’re mistreating me.”

”Fine, fine, fine,” Mrs. Jiang said, taking a deep breath. ”You’re just like your father, with a silver tongue. No matter what you do, you always have a reason. You’re always right.”

Chu Zhao replied, ”Aunt, you can’t put it that way. What’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong. It’s not determined by who says it.”

For every sentence she spoke, the wretched girl had an immediate comeback. She’d never realized Chu Zhao was so sharp-tongued. Mrs. Jiang demanded furiously, ”And what exactly have you done that’s right? Was hitting someone right? Or was running away from home right?”

”I can’t say those two things were ’right’,” Chu Zhao answered softly, without the slightest hesitation. ”I can only say that doing them wasn’t ’wrong’.”

Mrs. Jiang was both exasperated and amused. ”You certainly have your reasons, don’t you? You’re not wrong? Do you have any idea that your actions could drag this family down? Back then, because of your father, your uncle was forced to resign from his post. Are you now trying to make it impossible for us to gain a foothold in the Capital City?”

At the mention of these painful memories, Mrs. Jiang couldn’t help but shed tears.

The servants in the room all withdrew. Chu Tang rose and sat beside her mother, dabbing at her tears.

’She had already experienced this scene in her past life. Her aunt was always like this. The moment her father was mentioned, she would claim he had dragged down the family, dragged down her uncle, and would weep with grief. In the past, she had been at a loss, feeling sad, blaming herself, and even resenting her father.’

’But not anymore, of course. Now that she was calm, she could see things from a different perspective.’

Chu Zhao thought for a moment, then said, ”I remember Uncle entered the court as an official later than my father did.”

Mrs. Jiang froze. ’What does this wretched girl mean? Is she implying Chu Lan only became an official because of Chu Ling?’

”Your uncle is exceptionally talented! He was invited to become a Langguan. They had to ask him three or four times before he accepted. If he had agreed from the start, he would have become an official even earlier than your father!” she said indignantly, quickly steering the topic back to Chu Ling. ”Your father refused to study and joined the army. He was fortunate enough to be favored by Your Majesty, but he was arrogant, overbearing, and acted recklessly, offending people everywhere. He was free and unfettered out on the frontier where no one could touch him, so everyone started blaming your uncle instead—”

Chu Zhao asked, ”So Uncle resigned just because other people blamed him?”

Mrs. Jiang said hatefully, ”Yes, and it’s all because of your father—”

Chu Zhao cut her off. ”It was clearly others who forced him. How can you blame my father?”

”If your father hadn’t done those things—” Mrs. Jiang retorted angrily.

”Did Your Majesty ever find my father guilty of a crime for those things he did?” Chu Zhao interrupted again.

Mrs. Jiang was taken aback. ’Of course not. That was precisely why Chu Ling seemed so favored and arrogant, and why his actions became even more outrageous. It only made the other officials hate him more and treat Chu Lan even more harshly—’

”If Your Majesty did not declare him guilty, then my father committed no crime. When others made accusations and questioned him, what did Uncle have to be afraid of? Not only should he not have been afraid, he should have questioned them right back,” Chu Zhao said. ”My father fights for the court on the frontiers. Military affairs are ever-changing; one cannot rigidly adhere to the rules. Being far from the court, he couldn’t explain himself. Uncle, being within the court, should have defended my father, argued on his behalf, and cleared his name.”

Mrs. Jiang and Chu Tang listened, stunned. They stared at her, momentarily forgetting how to speak.

”It’s just as the old saying goes: ’On the battlefield, fathers and sons fight as one; to hunt a tiger, brothers stand together.’” Chu Zhao’s brows shot up as she looked at Mrs. Jiang. ”But what did Uncle do? He was terrified of being implicated. As I recall, only one or two people had impeached my father back then, yet Uncle submitted his resignation that very night. He ignored Your Majesty’s attempts to make him stay and fled to Qiao Mountain Academy.”

”You... you... you’re talking nonsense,” Mrs. Jiang stammered, trying to argue.

But Chu Zhao didn’t argue with her. She stood up. ”If Uncle had possessed even the slightest intention of defending my father back then, of striking back against those who accused him, then today my father wouldn’t be the only one struggling out there alone. If the two brothers had advanced hand in hand, one earning a sterling reputation as a Civil Servant, the other famed for his valor as a Military General, supporting each other... what glory would our Chu Family have now? At the very least, when two children have a squabble, it would be Liang Siqing coming to our door, trembling with fear to apologize. And the one people would be eager to befriend wouldn’t be Miss Liang, but Sister Ah Tang.”

Chu Tang clasped her hands, imagining such a scene. ’Yes,’ she thought, ’a scene like that would be wonderful.’

Mrs. Jiang also found herself inexplicably imagining sitting in Mrs. Yan’s position, looking down on others—

But she was an adult, after all. She snapped back to her senses with a jolt.

”You’re just twisting words,” she said angrily, but her voice lacked its earlier force.

Chu Zhao didn’t press her advantage. Her expression turned wistful. ”It’s pointless to talk about the past.” Then her brows shot up again. ”But for Uncle to have enjoyed a quiet life and avoided trouble, only to turn around and resent my father for obstructing his future—that is absolutely unacceptable. If you insist on seeing it that way, then my father and I have every right to resent Uncle for his indifference and for failing to help. If Uncle had lent my father a hand back then, my father wouldn’t be just a General Wei today!”

With that, she flicked her sleeves and walked out.

Mrs. Jiang didn’t react at first. When she came to, she cried out, ”You—” but couldn’t find the words to continue. Her mind was spinning with ’what ifs’ about the past and how things could have been different today.

”She turned the tables on us,” she finally said, turning to Chu Tang. ”Now it’s as if *we* owe *them*.”

Chu Tang didn’t soothe or agree with her mother as she usually would. She rested her chin in her hand, her expression distant. ”They say Liang Siqing also started out as a Langguan.”

Just then, Chu Lan heard the shouting from this side of the house die down. Holding a book and shuffling in his slippers, he ambled over to deal with the aftermath, arriving just in time to hear that last sentence.

”So what if Liang Siqing was a Langguan back in the day?” he asked.

The moment he spoke, he saw his wife and daughter both turn to look at him, their eyes filled with a hint of resentment.

”I could have been Mrs. Yan.”

”I could have been Miss Liang.”

Chu Lan was completely and utterly bewildered.