Ashes to Crown

Chapter 264 -67: Overheard

Wait a minute?

Chu Zhao looked up at Xie Yanlai.

Zhong Changrong was her father’s most trusted man. Given her father’s current condition, for Zhong Changrong to be yelling for people—

Anyone would be rushing madly toward Chu Ling’s location.

And Xie Yanlai had the nerve to stop her!

Stopping her—

Chu Zhao grabbed Xie Yanlai’s arm. “What are you hiding from me? You’re lying to me!”

All that talk about wanting the Little Rabbit, about wanting her to make him soup!

She shook him frantically, tears blurring her vision. “You’re lying to me! Why are you lying to me, too? Why are you also lying to me!”

Xie Yanlai watched the girl’s unprecedented hysteria. Hearing her words, he thought, ‘What does she mean, “you, too”? Is it so strange that I would lie to her? Why shouldn’t I lie to her—’

Xie Yanlai gritted his teeth and pulled the girl into a tight hold.

“Chu Zhao, listen to me,” he shouted.

The rabbit took the opportunity to escape. Ah Le had been about to run toward Chu Ling as well, but she hesitated, not knowing if she should abandon her lady—

“Is my father dead? You’re lying to me, you’re lying!” Chu Zhao cried, struggling to break free.

Hearing this, Ah Le hesitated no longer and took off at a run. She would be her lady’s eyes; she had to see the General one last time for her sake!

“No!” Xie Yanlai said, holding the struggling Chu Zhao still and forcing her to look him in the eyes. “No, your father is meeting someone. He doesn’t want you to know. He’s fine.”

Chu Zhao stared at him. In the shifting light of dawn, the young man’s gaze was cold and solemn.

‘Father is meeting someone, and he didn’t want me to know? So he had Xie Yanlai trick me and lead me away—’

“Who?” Chu Zhao asked. “Who is it that my father won’t let me see?”

Xie Yanlai looked at her and said nothing.

“Xie Yanlai!” Chu Zhao clutched at him. “You never lie to me. You’re the only one who doesn’t. I know, and you know, that my father does things for my own good, but… I’ve been in the dark my whole life, and I can’t be anymore. I died and came back to life just to find out what’s really going on—”

The girl’s eyes were filled with tears, and her words seemed jumbled. Xie Yanlai couldn’t bear to look.

But Chu Zhao wouldn’t let him look away, reaching out to cup his face in her hands.

“Xie Yanlai, I know you know. We both know which is better: to be a clueless fool, or to live with the clear, painful truth.”

“If you were me, you would want to know. If I were you, I wouldn’t hide it.”

‘She doesn’t really need me to say it,’ he thought. ‘It’s obvious she’s already guessed. Guessed, but doesn’t dare say it aloud, needing someone else to confirm it for her. It just shows how important the word “mother” is to her—’

‘It’s impossible to go through life without getting hurt.’

Xie Yanlai gently pressed the girl’s hands down. “Your mother is here,” he said.

Chu Zhao gave him a deep look, then turned and ran.

“Wait,” Xie Yanlai called out again, grabbing her hand. But this time, he didn’t restrain her; instead, he led her forward. “Come with me.”

Chu Zhao didn’t struggle this time, letting him lead her by the hand at a brisk pace.

…

…

Xie Yanlai helped Chu Zhao over a different wall and into Chu Ling’s courtyard. As they crested the wall, Chu Zhao saw Ah Le being blocked at the gate.

“—I need to see the master!” Ah Le stomped her foot.

The guard was unmoved. “Vice General Zhong has given orders. No one is to enter.”

She felt a lightness as Xie Yanlai wrapped an arm around her and jumped down. Even with the extra person, his landing was light and silent.

The outer area had been cordoned off and cleared. The courtyard was empty. Xie Yanlai pulled Chu Zhao along as they crept silently toward the window.

Zhong Changrong was no longer roaring, but even through the window, they could feel the agitation in his voice.

“—Mu Mianhong, what face do you have to be here! What do you want!”

“Have you come to watch the General’s pathetic death!”

“Oh, no, that’s not right. You, Mu Mianhong, are as cunning as a fox and a master of manipulation. You wouldn’t do something so stupid.”

“Once the General is dead, you’ll show up, shed a few tears, reminisce about old times, twist right and wrong, and trick Ah Zhao into accepting you as her mother.”

As Zhong Changrong spoke these words, a woman’s voice sounded from inside the room.

“Brother Changrong, that’s not what I mean.”

…

…

The girl leaning against the window shuddered, about to jump up, but thankfully the person beside her reacted quickly, pressing her down and holding her steady.

Xie Yanlai saw the girl’s face flush in an instant, her expression a mask of disbelief, her breath catching in her throat. He knew she recognized that voice.

After all, they had traveled together for so long. Although that Aunt Ding rarely appeared before Chu Zhao, they were the only three women in the group. How could Chu Zhao not be familiar with such a distinctive woman?

She must have guessed that Aunt Ding’s identity wasn’t simple, that she was plotting something—be it for wealth or for power.

He, on the other hand, had gone a step further, guessing that Aunt Ding was also after Chu Ling—a spy bought by some faction, perhaps the King of Zhongshan, or even the Western Liang people.

But no matter how wild their guesses, neither of them had imagined that this was Chu Zhao’s mother, Chu Ling’s supposedly dead wife.

…

…

“Ha!”

Zhong Changrong sounded as if he’d just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world.

“That’s not what you mean? Then what could you possibly mean? Mu Mianhong—”

“Don’t think I don’t know. All these years, you’ve been watching Ah Zhao constantly. Was there a single gathering you missed?”

“Besides Luocheng, where you don’t dare to go, is there any place you won’t?”

“You watch her day in and day out, just waiting for the General to die so you can happily claim your daughter and enjoy a blissful family life.”

“Touch your heart and tell me, is that not what you want?”

Mu Mianhong looked at Zhong Changrong. She was still kneeling by the bed. Facing the crazed Zhong Changrong, whether he was cursing, yelling, or interrogating her, her expression remained calm. She didn’t cry, get angry, or shout back, only offering a rare rebuttal.

She placed a hand over her heart and said candidly, “Hand on my heart, what mother in this world wouldn’t want to acknowledge her own daughter?”

Zhong Changrong sneered. “But no mother in this world would hold her newborn daughter on the tip of a blade and threaten to smash her to death!”

“Changrong!”

Chu Ling, who had been silent until now, raised his voice and snapped.

But that couldn’t stop the furious Zhong Changrong.

“General, I can’t forget that scene,” he said, pounding his chest. “I never thought I’d witness something like that in my entire life.”

“She held that tiny infant and screamed that if you, Chu Ling, didn’t listen to her, she would smash the baby to death right then and there—”

“Such a tiny baby, held coldly on the tip of her blade—”

“This woman! First, she pretended to be a damsel in distress to bewitch you, General. When you had fallen deeply in love, so much so that you didn’t care about her mysterious origins, had told your family, and even reported to the Emperor that you wanted to marry her, what happened? She vanished without a trace.”

“After disappearing for so long, she reappeared as the bandit leader, Mu Mianhong.”

“Not only did she refuse to surrender and confess her crimes, she used her absurd affair with you as blackmail.”

“When she saw you wouldn’t be threatened, she produced an infant.”

“It’s laughable! How could that be the General’s daughter? She wasn’t even married to you. Who knows where that child came from—”

Chu Ling sat up in bed. “Zhong Changrong! Shut your mouth! —Ah Zhao!”

Ah Zhao?

Zhong Changrong froze. Mu Mianhong, still kneeling on the floor, turned pale, her pliant yet sturdy back seeming to snap—

Outside the window, Xie Yanlai hugged Chu Zhao tightly, but he still couldn’t stop the girl from trembling.

She was shaking so hard she could barely stand—

‘How could that be the General’s daughter? She wasn’t even married to him. Who knows where that child came from—’