Ashes to Crown

Chapter 81: Chapter 43: The Seedling Grows

The night was deep, and the candlelight flickered.

THUD. Ah Le, who had been dozing off, smacked her head on the table and startled herself awake with a jump.

Chu Zhao smiled. ”If you’re tired, go to sleep.”

Ah Le rubbed her forehead and watched Chu Zhao, who was holding a brush and writing earnestly. Beside her lay a sheet of calligraphy written by someone else.

Ah Le recognized it as the work of the young master who had defeated her lady that day.

The thought of this young master made Ah Le’s expression turn furious. He had been utterly insolent. Even after being declared the winner, he hadn’t let it go. He stood before the desk, writing sheet after sheet in various styles and throwing them at her lady.

”Can this calligraphy defeat you?”

”Can this calligraphy defeat you?”

He asked again and again, and her lady could only reply, ”It can,” over and over.

Ah Le had been furious enough to die, wanting nothing more than to go and beat that arrogant scholar. But her lady had remained calm and composed, enduring his humiliation. After the brute flicked his sleeves and stormed off, amidst the laughter of the onlookers, her lady had even bent down to pick up all the papers.

Ah Le had planned to burn these pages, not collect and organize them like the others—her lady now had all the manuscripts from the competitions in Chu Garden gathered and given to the people from the bookshop.

To her surprise, her lady wouldn’t let her burn them. Instead, she had been studying them while practicing her own writing all evening.

”His calligraphy is excellent. I learned some of it before and was about to master it, but Xiao—”

Chu Zhao stopped there. Ah Le, who had been listening intently, asked in confusion, ”Xiao who?”

’Xiao Xun had a new consort, a beauty who played the zither exceptionally well. Xiao Xun listened to her play every day, sometimes playing alongside her—he was an excellent musician himself.’

’So I dropped my calligraphy and rushed off to learn the zither—’

”It’s nothing.” Chu Zhao smiled at Ah Le. ”I was too young, impatient, and lazy. I couldn’t tell what was important, had no sense of propriety, and was utterly blind—so I didn’t learn. Now that I have this opportunity to see it again, I’ll pick it back up and study properly.”

Although she found the phrase ”utterly blind” a bit strange, Ah Le quickly nodded along. ”You’re right, my lady. This is what they call, ’When three people walk together, one is bound to be my teacher.’”

Chu Zhao clapped her hands. ”Ah Le, you’re getting impressive! You even know the sayings of the Master.”

Ah Le chuckled. ”I hear so much every day, of course I can’t let it all go to waste.”

She looked at the girl under the lamplight. The girl had clearly lost weight, even more so than when they were traveling through the wilderness.

During the day, her lady would hold three competitions, facing ten challengers at once. Though it wasn’t warfare with horses and arrows, by the end of each session, Ah Le could see her lady’s brush-holding hand trembling, her eyes bloodshot. She had become as thin as a piece of paper, looking as if a single puff of wind could knock her over.

The mental and spiritual exhaustion alone could kill a person.

But after a full table of food and a soak in piping hot water, her lady would be re-energized. She studied at night and competed during the day, then studied again at night. In this repeating cycle, her lady grew thinner day by day.

Yet her lady didn’t become withered and frail. Instead, she shone with an ever-brighter brilliance.

Ah Le took a deep breath and said, ”Since you’re working so hard, my lady, Ah Le can’t fall behind either.”

Chu Zhao reached out and caressed Ah Le’s cheek. ”I’ll write one more piece, then I’ll stop. Besides studying, I need to keep my body healthy. We’ll go to sleep early. Remember to wake me up for archery practice in the morning.”

Ah Le nodded. ”Don’t worry, my lady.” She added, ”When the time comes, you should compete with them in archery. Shoot arrow after arrow at them, never missing, with each one grazing their faces. Then ask them, ’Are you scared? Are you scared?’”

Chu Zhao laughed out loud.

”Miss Ah Zhao! Miss Ah Zhao!” a maid entered joyfully, holding a piece of paper.

This maid wasn’t one of Chu Zhao’s, but one of Chu Ke’s.

Chu Ke, a scholar who prided himself on his refinement, required his personal maids to be literate. In their daily lives, however, they had little use for these skills. Chu Ke never took them along when he socialized with friends, nor did he inspect their reading and writing when he was home. He simply wanted them to be able to understand his own reading, writing, and poetry so they could praise and admire him.

This time, however, their skills had come in handy.

Chu Zhao had Ah Le round them up to stand guard at the competition grounds, where they were responsible for recording, transcribing, and compiling the works into books.

Chu Zhao looked at the maid and asked with a smile, ”Why aren’t you asleep yet? If you haven’t finished today’s work, just wake up a bit earlier tomorrow to do it. Don’t stay up all night.”

The maid felt a surge of emotion. ’After Miss Ah Zhao came to the residence, Young Master Ao Ke took a dislike to his cousin and forbade them from getting close to her, lest they be tainted by her coarse and shallow air.’

’Later, Miss Ah Zhao first beat Miss Liang, then stole money from the family and ran away. Not long after returning, she beat Young Master Ao Ke until his face was black and blue and he couldn’t show himself in public. She really was as fierce and coarse as they said.’

’After people started blocking the gate to challenge Miss Ah Zhao to competitions, Young Master Ao Ke and Miss Ah Tang both fled the house. The maids, with nowhere to hide, were rounded up by Miss Chu Zhao—’

’But Miss Chu Zhao didn’t abuse or scold them. Instead, she gave them work to do.’

’At first, they were nervous and clumsy, unable to do the work well, but Miss Ah Zhao never berated them. She just told them to take their time.’

’And now, the first thing she did was ask why they weren’t resting.’

’To be honest, Young Master Ao Ke was also a very gentle young man. He was always fawning over his sisters and often brought the maids fun trinkets and tasty treats from the streets. He had just grown too accustomed to flattery.’

’But for some reason, Miss Ah Zhao’s simple question had made her heart melt.’

”I was just about to sleep. Everything that needs to be sent for printing tomorrow has been organized,” the maid said softly, her face suddenly lighting up with excitement. ”My lady, look at the results from the past few days.”

She placed the paper in her hand on the table. Ah Le leaned in for a look and saw it was covered in circles and crosses—she knew this was the tally of wins and losses.

”My lady, for the past three days, you’ve won one more match each day than the day before,” the maid said happily.

Chu Zhao laughed. ”That’s wonderful.”

’Just one more win each day is that good? Is it worth this maid getting so excited?’ Ah Le thought the maids of the Capital City acted more like country folk. She huffed, ”My lady will win several more matches every day from now on. She’ll win more and more.”

In the past, the maid would have found Ah Le’s words coarse. ’How could anyone praise their master so bluntly?’ she would have thought. ’It’s truly low-class.’ But right now, she didn’t find it improper at all.

’She had never imagined she would feel so happy for a girl who was only winning one more match per day than the last.’

’The head of the house was a Chief of Staff and a renowned scholar, and Miss Ah Tang was famous throughout the city for her intelligence. She was hardly some country maid who had never seen the world.’

Her gaze fell upon the desk. There were tall stacks of books and paper, sheets of Go scores, and brushes worn down to the nub.

’That single extra win each day was something this girl had fought for with everything she had.’

’Seeing effort yield reward is the most thrilling thing of all.’

”My lady,” she said, her gaze on Chu Zhao now gentle yet firm. ”You will win more and more.”

Chu Zhao smiled, her expression serene. ”As long as I dare to compete, I won’t keep losing forever.”

’In that life, she had learned things to please a man, and then abandoned them because of that same man. Now, those skills were reawakening, growing strong once more. This time, they weren’t to please a man, but to win a reputation for herself.’

’When people spoke of her, they wouldn’t say, ”That good-for-nothing daughter of Chu Ling.”’

’Nor would they say, ”A good-for-nothing father has a good-for-nothing daughter.”’