Ashes to Crown

Chapter 196: Chapter 26: The Future

Xie Yanlai scoffed at the idea of eating candied fruit. He wasn’t a three-year-old child.

”Anyway, my mother was amazing too,” Chu Zhao continued, speaking to Xie Yanlai with a mix of sadness and happiness. ”She was beloved, and her family was influential. Even though it was just the Border County, the local gentry there were as powerful as any Aristocratic Family. After my mother died, they all blamed my father. That’s why they became so distant and never showed themselves to us. It’s perfectly normal that I didn’t know they existed in that life.”

Xie Yanlai asked, ”That life?”

Chu Zhao giggled. ”I misspoke. I meant ’that time’.”

’That doesn’t sound right either. But whatever. It’s not like she ever tells the truth.’ Xie Yanlai scoffed.

But they had extended their love and respect for her mother to her, only to be used by Xiao Xun in the end. Chu Zhao let out a long sigh. They were nameless and faceless, known only as ”her mother’s people.” She didn’t even know what they looked like.

Chu Zhao looked out the window and saw Xiao Man’s figure hiding not far away. ’Xiao Man must have been one of them in my past life,’ she thought. ’She was probably there during the turmoil in the Capital City, too.’

In that life, she had married Xiao Xun, so she never had to fight his men. But Xiao Man and the others must have fought to the death for her safety elsewhere.

At this thought, her eyes stung, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

Xie Yanlai looked away and scoffed. ”What’s there to cry about? You should be grateful.”

Despite his words, he extended two fingers and nudged the fruit platter closer to Chu Zhao.

”I’m crying because I’m happy,” Chu Zhao said, sniffling. She wiped away her tears and looked down at the letter.

In her letter, she had told her father she had lived another life. To make him believe her, she’d pretended it was a dream but emphasized how real it felt, how she could clearly recall every passing day.

She told him everything that happened in that life in painstaking detail, hiding nothing: the battle between the Crown Prince and the Third Prince, Xiao Xun’s ascension to the throne, and everything she had endured.

That was why this letter was so crucial. Nothing could go wrong with it; not a single person could see it. She hadn’t even dared to entrust it to Uncle Zhong. Thank goodness for Ah Jiu—

She glanced at Xie Yanlai.

Xie Yanlai noticed immediately. ’What is she doing? What’s with that look? It’s downright creepy!’

Fortunately, Chu Zhao looked away and lowered her head to continue reading the letter.

’Forget it. The girl is lost in her father’s reply, her mind wandering off to strange places. It’s not surprising she’s acting weird.’ He wouldn’t hold it against her. Xie Yanlai averted his gaze again.

She had told her father something so unbelievable, yet he hadn’t questioned or scolded her in the slightest. Instead, he had written her a serious reply with explanations. Chu Zhao reached out and gently brushed her fingers over her father’s handwriting.

The first thing her father wrote was, ”Ah Zhao, you have suffered.”

Tears blurred Chu Zhao’s vision again.

Only her father would ever cherish her like this.

In her past life, after she lost her father, there was no one left in the world to care for her or worry about her.

A soft scraping sound reached her ears. Chu Zhao lifted her eyes slightly and saw that the fruit platter on the desk had been pushed right next to her hand. The moment she looked over, the long, slender fingers on the other side of the platter shot back as if they’d been burned.

Chu Zhao couldn’t help but purse her lips in a smile. She reached out, picked a piece of candied fruit from the platter, and popped it into her mouth.

”Zhang Gu said your father met with him personally,” Xie Yanlai said, his gaze fixed on the hall’s interior. ”He took the letter, told him to rest, and then met with him again the next day to give him the reply. He even thanked him—”

He conveniently left out one detail. Zhang Gu had said, ”General Chu also told me to thank you.”

He had snapped back irritably at the time, ”Thank me for what? I wasn’t the one who delivered the letter.”

Zhang Gu replied, ”General Chu thanks you for looking after Miss Ah Zhao.”

Zhang Gu had worn a strange expression then—a mixture of being touched, relieved, and sad. He’d even said, ”Ah Jiu, you’ve suffered.”

’What the hell? This is so bizarre. Did that Vice General Zhong frame me or something?’

Xie Yanlai snorted.

”What was that snort for?” Chu Zhao asked with a smile. ”Did my father not thank you? Don’t worry, Brother Zhang definitely told my father you were the one who sent him. I’m sure my father thanked you.”

Xie Yanlai couldn’t be bothered to argue with her about it.

”Zhang Gu said,” he began, glancing at the girl, ”that your father seems to be in good spirits.”

Chu Zhao nodded and hummed in agreement.

”But,” Xie Yanlai continued—he wasn’t one to only say nice things; comforting people was the most boring task imaginable, and it was better to face reality—”Zhang Gu also said there was a very strong smell of medicine where your father was. He said that while your father *looked* spirited, the life in his eyes wasn’t genuine. It was... propped up by medicine.”

Chu Zhao’s expression dimmed, but this time she didn’t cry.

”I know,” she said. ”My father’s body is already spent. He... he doesn’t have much time left.”

Illness was not the same as fate.

She had managed to break free from Xiao Xun’s bewitchment and change the destiny of her past life.

But she had no immortal medicine to cure her father’s illness.

Xie Yanlai was silent for a moment before asking, ”What are you going to do?”

Chu Zhao looked down at the letter and pouted. ”Father said I shouldn’t be afraid of parting. If I miss him, he will always be with me.”

’If you miss him, he’ll always be with you.’ Xie Yanlai sneered inwardly. ’Something you’d tell a child.’

”I’m asking what *you* plan to do in the future,” he said.

The future? Chu Zhao looked up at him. ”The future? What future?”

Xie Yanlai frowned at her. ”Your future. When that little brat grows up, what will you do?”

Her future... Chu Zhao looked at the young man before her and smiled. ”Is that any way to refer to His Majesty? It’s a good thing I’m the only one here. I won’t blame you for your impertinence.”

Xie Yanlai just scoffed and ignored her.

Chu Zhao lowered her head, picked up another piece of candied fruit, and ate it. As the sweetness spread through her mouth, she shifted into a more comfortable position, leaning against the desk. ”My father asked me that, too,” she said.

She had suddenly become the Empress, and everyone was trying to guess her motives, wary of her intentions. Only those closest to her would ask about her future.

They didn’t believe she truly wanted to be the Empress.

’What does she mean by ”too”?!’ The young man was sensitive and immediately opened his mouth to say something, but Chu Zhao, anticipating his reaction, cut him off with a smile.

”Once the country is stable and the threat of the King of Zhongshan is eliminated,” she said, her voice filled with a mix of longing and sorrow, ”once my father can pass on without any worries, and once Yu is grown, I’ll go to the Border County. I’ll go to the place where my mother and father lived.”

At that point, even if she were alone in the world again, she would surely be happier and more content than she was as the Empress in her past life.

Besides, she would still have Xiao Man and Uncle Zhong—

Speaking of Uncle Zhong.

She quickly looked toward Xie Yanlai.

”And I’ll also wait for you—”

She extended her hand.

Xie Yanlai jumped and shuffled backward. ”What are you doing? Wait for me for what?”

”What are you so afraid of? It’s not like I’m going to eat you,” Chu Zhao laughed, holding her hand up in front of Xie Yanlai and closing it into a fist. ”I mean, I’ll also wait for you to command military power, looking all majestic, so you can take care of Uncle Zhong and the others.”

Xie Yanlai raised his hand and swatted hers away. ”Keep dreaming. As if all your wishes will come true.”

Chu Zhao drew her hand back and rested her chin on it. ”Of course I have to dream. Only by dreaming is there hope. Then you can work hard to make it a reality. You can’t just not dream at all. That’s when there’s truly no hope.”

Xie Yanlai glanced at her. ”So what are you dreaming of doing now?”

Chu Zhao propped her chin on her hand and looked at him, blinking her eyes as if she didn’t understand his question.

Xie Yanlai snorted coldly. ”Did you really think you could control Xie Yanfang and Deng Yi just by playing these kinds of tricks on them?”