Ashes to Crown

Chapter 119: Chapter 75: Follow-up 3

Xie Yanfang gazed at the surface of the water in the night.

”Perhaps this wasn’t Chu Ling’s idea, but just the girl’s own volition.”

Uncle Cai was somewhat surprised. ”She acted on her own? Why?” Without waiting for an answer, he looked at the dashing young master standing before him by the water and chuckled. ”Then it must be just as they say outside—that she’s using every trick in the book just to get acquainted with you, young master.”

Xie Yanfang also smiled and shook his head.

”No. This girl holds not the slightest admiration for me. When she looks at me, her eyes hold only curiosity and appraisal.”

Appraisal?

Uncle Cai and Du Qi were a little surprised.

”She was appraising my value,” Xie Yanfang said with a smile. ”Uncle Cai, this girl is a very bold person.”

Chu Zhao’s previous actions had already proven this point, and neither Uncle Cai nor Du Qi would deny that the girl was bold.

”She... is a bit like me,” Xie Yanfang continued.

Uncle Cai and Du Qi didn’t agree with that. There were many bold people in the world; Uncle Cai and Du Qi were bold people themselves, but they certainly didn’t think they were like Xie Yanfang.

”Young master, is it that you’ve never seen someone dare to curse you in the street, so you’re looking at her in a new light?” Du Qi said. ”Don’t you worry. With Miss Chu setting an example, I’m sure plenty of other women will pop up tomorrow and the day after to curse you in the street.”

Xie Yanfang burst out laughing.

”That’s not why,” he said, then smiled again. ”And Miss Chu isn’t doing it for that reason either.”

All this talk of ”this reason” and ”that reason” was making Du Qi’s head spin.

”Young master, let’s forget about all that for a moment,” he asked with a frown. ”What about Xie Yanlai and Chu Zhao? What’s going on between them?”

Xie Yanlai and Chu Zhao had already met on the road, yet Xie Yanlai hadn’t told them. At this thought, Uncle Cai’s usually kind face grew grim.

”He’s always been like this. He doesn’t tell us everything. It’s not strange,” Xie Yanfang said, unconcerned. ”He does what I command him to do. Anything else falls outside my orders, so naturally, he wouldn’t report it to me.”

Uncle Cai said coldly, ”Is he trying to latch onto Chu Ling as a patron, then?”

Xie Yanfang smiled again. ”His surname is Xie. He can never latch onto another patron.”

It was just as he had once told the Crown Prince: the Xie family had soared to prominence, but they were also shackled by it. The moment people saw you, the first thing they saw was your surname, your family—not you yourself.

Carrying that family name, no one will ever truly trust you.

Even if they wanted to befriend you, they wouldn’t truly care about an insignificant person like you; they would be befriending the family behind you.

Uncle Cai naturally understood this reasoning, but—

”The posthouse soldiers’ words were vague, but they clearly implied the two of them had a deep connection—”

”And when that Miss Chu left, she had her maidservant deliver medicine to Yanlai.”

Uncle Cai was about to say more.

Xie Yanfang interrupted him. ”Don’t overthink it. The two of them know each other, but it’s nothing more than that. Besides, Uncle Cai, don’t try to analyze Miss Chu through the lens of romance. That girl has no personal affection in her eyes.”

No personal affection? Uncle Cai was taken aback for a moment.

”That’s why I said earlier that the girl is bold, and a bit like me,” Xie Yanfang said. ”When she looks at me, and when she looks at Xie Yanlai, her gaze is completely clear.”

Xie Yanfang took a few steps forward, his eyes on the water’s surface.

”She is a young woman who looks upon the men of this world not with personal affection, but only with appraisal.”

”Without personal affection, there are no selfish desires.”

”I even told her directly that I was the one who framed her, yet she showed no sorrow, joy, or anger.”

”A person without selfish desires is the boldest of all.”

’Just like I was at thirteen.’

’That time, when I shot that arrow at the Crown Prince, was it for myself? For my family? Obviously not. That act would only have brought danger to my family and me.’

’I did that without any selfish desire. I did it simply because it was there to be done.’

”Stop speculating about Miss Chu. She has come to form a connection, and we should simply accept it openly.”

Uncle Cai assented, then asked, ”How should we interact with her?”

With Xie Yanfang, there were different ways of interacting for different people.

Xie Yanfang turned his head and looked toward a corner of the courtyard. ”Just as she treated Yanlai. No daily contact. But when she is humiliated and beaten, we will protect her, send her doctors, and deliver her medicine.”

If you want to understand what a person is after, you must treat them as they treat others. This is the essence of the old saying about exchanging one’s heart for another’s.

Uncle Cai and Du Qi assented.

Xie Yanfang lifted his foot and stepped into the water, stirring faint ripples. He walked on those ripples step by step toward the opposite bank, like an immortal treading on the waves.