Ashes to Crown

Chapter 116: Chapter 74: Drinking Together

When they suddenly showed up at her door, Chu Zhao had wondered who had tipped off the Third Prince.

After all, she and Chu Ke were like specks of dust in the Capital City. How could the Third Prince have possibly noticed them?

’She must have been framed by someone.’

However, she had suspected the culprit might be Xiao Xun. The thought of Third Young Master Xie had never even crossed her mind.

They had absolutely no connection, after all.

”My actions were not born from any grudge against you, Miss Chu, or General Chu,” Xie Yanfang said. ”I simply wanted to embarrass the Third Prince. I was visiting the Crown Prince at the time and happened to mention the Third Prince’s literary salon. Just then, the Princess came to complain that the Third Prince was forbidding women from attending. So, I told the Crown Prince that a certain Miss Chu Zhao had bested her own brother, who had qualified for the salon. With a woman of such skill, I asked, what right did the Third Prince have to be so arrogant as to bar other women from participating?”

’So that’s how it was.’ Chu Zhao’s mind wandered, not quite paying attention to his explanation. The situation with the Third Prince and the Princess had happened in her past life, too. But in that life, the incident with her and Chu Ke hadn’t occurred, so in the end, no women attended the Third Prince’s literary salon at Wangchun Garden.

’So this is how things changed in this life.’

She looked at Xie Yanfang and suddenly smiled.

’To think that a single dispute with Chu Ke was what made Xie Yanfang notice me at the restaurant.’

’In her past life, she was an Empress, but Xie Lang probably wouldn’t have cared even when she died.’

Perhaps not expecting the girl to smile, Xie Yanfang paused for a moment before smiling in return. ”However, Miss Chu, I didn’t do this to stand up for women, nor was it out of admiration for your talents. I was simply trying to make things difficult for the Third Prince.”

After speaking, he sat up straight and bowed again.

”Just as you asked my opinion of the Third Prince, Miss Chu, our respective positions destine us for this sort of conflict.”

”You came to warn me about the Third Prince, Miss Chu. That shows your trust and high regard for me, Xie Yanfang. Therefore, I cannot conceal the truth from you. The harsh treatment you suffered from the Third Prince today was all because of me.”

Chu Zhao understood. Xie Yanfang thought she had come to curry favor with the Crown Prince’s faction because of her own dispute and animosity toward the Third Prince.

’This Xie Yanfang is really something else,’ she thought. He was openly admitting that this all started because of him, and that in her eyes, he was no saint either.

’But what did it matter? She had never considered Xie Lang a good person to begin with.’

”So that’s how it was.” Chu Zhao nodded, looking at Xie Yanfang. ”No wonder the Third Prince found out about it, and the rumors were so embellished. It was Third Young Master Xie’s handiwork all along.”

She gave a slight smile.

”Third Young Master is truly impressive. The Third Prince must be fuming about how his literary salon has turned out, and you’ve stolen half his thunder.”

Xie Yanfang watched the smile on the girl’s face and smiled back. ”No, I should be saying that you are the impressive one, Miss Chu. When I used you to provoke the Third Prince, I never expected things to turn out like this. Your capabilities far exceeded my expectations.”

Chu Zhao picked up the teacup before her and said, ”Since I’m so capable, Third Young Master must listen closely to what I just said. Scholars aren’t necessarily limited to scholarly pursuits, and just because the Crown Prince is valiant and martial doesn’t mean he has nothing to fear.”

The struggle between the two princes was clear for all to see, but everyone assumed the Crown Prince would be the one to take the Third Prince’s life. After all, the Crown Prince was fierce and had a host of valiant warriors under him. No one would have ever thought the Third Prince would be the first to make a lethal move, nor that the Crown Prince, who had always excelled in martial arts and archery, would be the one to be killed.

She emphasized this last sentence.

Xie Yanfang raised his cup and gently tapped it against Chu Zhao’s.

”Please rest assured, Miss Chu,” he said solemnly. ”I will be sure to remember this.”

Chu Zhao smiled and drained her cup in one go.

Xie Yanfang did the same. He refilled their cups and raised his again. ”You bear no grudge, Miss Chu, but I cannot simply act as if nothing happened. An apology would be meaningless, so consider me in your debt. I will certainly repay you in the future.”

With that, he drained his cup again.

Chu Zhao watched him with a smile. ”There’s no need to be so formal, Third Young Master. And it’s not a matter of grudges. I didn’t come here because of my conflict with the Third Prince. You saw it yourself at the restaurant. If I truly respected the Third Prince, I wouldn’t have bickered with my brother in public.”

With that, she raised her cup and drank it all as well.

This was her way of showing that she had been hostile toward the Third Prince from the start. Xie Yanfang understood. He refilled both their cups and raised his once more.

”Then nothing more needs to be said. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Chu,” he said with a smile.

Chu Zhao looked at the dashing young gentleman before her. She had never imagined that in this life, she would be sitting across from Xie Lang, sharing a drink. She raised her cup, gently tapped it against his, and they both drained their tea.

After three cups of tea, everything that needed to be said had been said. Chu Zhao rose to take her leave.

Xie Yanfang did not ask her to stay, rising to see her off.

”There’s no need to see me out, Third Young Master,” Chu Zhao said, blinking with a smile. ”After all, I just publicly questioned your reputation on the street.”

Xie Yanfang laughed heartily. ”That’s all the more reason for me to see you out! It will show that I’ve heeded your questioning, humbly accepted the lesson, and admitted my error. My reputation will be instantly restored.”

Just as Chu Zhao had predicted, many people had followed the carriage to the Xie family’s front gate. When they saw her enter the residence instead of being taken to the government office, they began to discuss it in low voices.

But it was also as Uncle Cai had said: the crowd merely gossiped, curious and speculative, but showed no outrage, let alone stepped forward to confront anyone.

In the meantime, many people, finding it dull, had already dispersed.

Qi Leyun and the other girls, however, had not left. They sat in their carriages in twos and threes, lifting the curtains to watch and gossip.

”I don’t believe she’d actually dare to hit the Third Young Master,” Qi Leyun said.

Another girl laughed. ”She’d have to be able to win first! The Third Young Master isn’t Liang Qin, nor is he a weakling like Chu Ke.”

That was true. But it wasn’t a matter of winning or losing; the very image of Chu Zhao brawling with Third Young Master Xie was something they simply couldn’t accept!

Just as they were gossiping, the Xie family’s gate opened. Some of the girls squeezed toward their carriage windows, others lifted their curtains high, and some even jumped down from their carriages. They watched as Chu Zhao walked out of the residence, then turned back to bow and smile at someone inside.

The gate to the Xie residence was too small! The girls could only just make out a silhouette inside, slowly returning the bow.

Even though it was just a silhouette, they could recognize him: it was Third Young Master Xie.

The girls could no longer contain themselves and began to surge forward. Unfortunately, Chu Zhao had already turned to walk toward them, and the courtyard gate slowly closed behind her, obscuring everything from view.

”Why were you in such a hurry!” Qi Leyun stamped her foot and grabbed Chu Zhao.

Chu Zhao laughed. ”I wasn’t in a hurry.”

The girls surrounded her, a torrent of questions flying at her all at once. ”Did Third Young Master Xie see you out?” ”Did you see Third Young Master Xie?” ”Did you fight with him?”

”What are you all talking about?” Chu Zhao laughed. ”Why would I fight with a dashing young gentleman like Third Young Master Xie?”

Qi Leyun huffed. ”I knew it! You were just making up an excuse to see Third Young Master Xie!”

She had taken the opposite approach, using insults to get a chance to meet him.

”I even had tea with him,” Chu Zhao said to her with a mischievous grin. ”He brewed it himself, you know.”

This was met with a chorus of wails from the other girls.

”I’m so mad!” ”I’m so jealous!” ”Chu Zhao, you’re the worst!”

’Should we try insulting Third Young Master Xie like Chu Zhao did?’

’But how could we bear to do that!’

’How could we ever open our mouths to say such things to someone like him!’

’Only a brute like Chu Zhao! That heartless woman!’

The girls crowded around this ”brute” and ”heartless woman,” fighting to share a carriage with her as they departed in a lively clamor.

Watching this scene, the crowd of onlookers also dispersed in a hubbub.

’These young ladies are really troublemakers!’

’They’ll stir up any kind of commotion just to see Third Young Master Xie!’

’I suppose this is the trouble that comes with being so famous.’

As for the Xie family’s son who had been whipped, he was, for the moment, forgotten by everyone.

Well, not by everyone. Two men were still at the corner of the street.

The new recruit was squatting at the street corner, his legs completely numb.

”I never thought a Capital City native like you would love to watch a spectacle so much, Mr. Zhang,” he said.