Ashes to Crown

Chapter 118: Chapter 75: Aftermath (Part 2)

’The Young Master is so worried he can’t think straight. He’s forgotten even this.’

It wasn’t that he’d forgotten. He was just insistent on seeing him. If Xie Yanfang refused, he would definitely try to force his way in, and then he’d just get beaten by Du Qi again—

”Young Master, you can’t go provoking Xie Yanfang again.”

”Young Master, if Xie Yanfang doesn’t want to talk about something, you won’t be able to get it out of him.”

”Young Master, if you’re really that worried, why not just ask Miss Chu directly?”

Hearing this, Xie Yanlai stopped trying to get up. He flopped back down onto his stomach and snorted. ”What would I ask her for? I couldn’t care less about her affairs.”

’He couldn’t care less?’ The maids exchanged a glance. They had heard what happened on the street, and they had seen what happened at home with their own eyes—that little lady who had appeared so suddenly, standing so gracefully in the courtyard...

”Young Master, you and Miss Chu—” they asked, their curiosity piqued.

”There’s nothing going on between me and Miss Chu,” Xie Yanlai cut them off.

The maids pressed on. ”Then what she did for you—”

”She didn’t do anything for me,” Xie Yanlai interrupted again, his voice cold. ”She only did it to see Xie Yanfang.”

’Any fool could see that. To achieve her goal of seeing her father, convincing Xie Yanfang through coercion was far more effective than trying to coerce me.’

’As for the price she’d have to pay to achieve her goal, that’s Chu Zhao’s problem to bear. It has nothing to do with me, and I don’t care!’

After he turned his head away, the maids stopped asking. The room finally fell silent.

But a sharp pain suddenly lanced through the wounds on his back.

The maids began applying medicine to him again.

”Why are you putting more on?” Xie Yanlai gritted his teeth, holding back his temper. He sneered, ”It doesn’t matter whether you use the family’s medicine or not. It’s all useless.”

”Young Master,” the maids said, ”this isn’t the family’s medicine.”

’Not from the family?’

Xie Yanlai turned his head. He saw one maid applying medicine from a porcelain vial while the other two were each holding similar vials, examining them.

”Miss Chu’s maid sought us out specifically to give us this medicine,” one of the maids said. ”She was so serious and detailed, telling us over and over how to use it and when, as if she thought I was an idiot who couldn’t remember a thing.”

Xie Yanlai stared at the vial, then at the maid. ”You’d use medicine from some random person on me? If you’re not idiots, what are you?”

The maids just giggled. The one applying the powder continued her work, while another shook a pill from a vial and moved to stuff it in Xie Yanlai’s mouth.

Xie Yanlai jerked away and snatched the pill. ”Don’t just shove it in my mouth—this thing is big enough to choke someone. I see you’re all trying to kill me.”

With that, he turned his head away again, ignoring them.

Unfazed by his anger, the maids continued their curious questions.

”Young Master, is that Ah Le the amazing maid you told us about? The one who can put ointment on her mistress without it hurting at all? The one whose mistress is a villain?”

”Young Master, I don’t think her mistress is fierce at all. If anything, that Ah Le is the fierce one.”

”Ah, for Ah Le to give such detailed instructions, her mistress must have drilled them into her.”

’So noisy. Why can women never stop talking?’

Xie Yanlai faced away from them, clenching his fist so hard it seemed he would crush the pill. In the end, however, the pill remained intact, growing warm and seeming to swell in his palm.

...

...

The night grew dim. Lanterns dotted the Xie family estate; some courtyards were quiet, while others were alive with music and dance.

Seated in the waterside pavilion, Xie Yanfang finished his last brushstroke. Du Qi took the letter, concluding the day’s business.

Uncle Cai entered the pavilion. ”We just received word,” he said. ”The handover of the two granaries gifted by the Wei Family is complete.”

Xie Yanfang nodded. ”Good,” he said, though he didn’t seem to pay it much mind. To him, it was a trivial matter.

He stood at the edge of the pavilion and stretched.

”It’s getting late,” he said. ”You should get some rest, Uncle Cai.”

Uncle Cai asked, ”Young Master, was Miss Chu’s action a response from Chu Ling? Does this mean he’s decided to align with our Xie family?”

’Did the Third Prince’s harassment of Chu Zhao make Chu Ling realize the Chu Family was weak and vulnerable, thus pushing him to ally with the Xie family?’

”Miss Chu said that wasn’t the case,” Xie Yanfang said with a smile. ”I openly admitted to framing her, and she openly admitted to provoking the Third Prince of her own free will.”

Uncle Cai knew what the girl had said, but he didn’t believe it. Words were one thing, but a person’s true intentions were another.

”It’s not her heart I’m after,” Xie Yanfang laughed. ”Besides, this isn’t an alliance. At most, it’s an acquaintance.”

’A true alliance requires sincere, mutual exchange, like the one between the Xie family and the Wei Family.’

”Still, the fact that she came to say those things at all was quite unexpected.”